DON BOSCO COLLEGE, KOHIMA

Class Notes

B.A. ALTERNATIVE ENGLISH 3rd Semester

Assistant Professor : Dr. Toshimenla Paper Name : Poetry, Short story and Composition Subject Code : ALTE-301 Date : 07-10-2021 Topic: 1. W.B. Yeats: A Prayer for My Daughter 2. T.S. Eliot: Journey of the Magi 3. Robert Frost: Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening Unit 2: POETRY Structure

2.1 A Prayer for my Daughter by W.B.Yeats 2.1.1 Introduction 2.1.2 Critical Appreciation of the poem

2.2 Journey of the Magi by T.S.Eliot

2.2.1 Introduction 2.2.2 Critical Appreciation of the poem

2.3. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

3.3.1 Introduction 3.3.2. Critical Appreciation of the poem

2.4 Important Questions 2.5 Some Useful Books

2.1 A PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER BY W.B.YEATS 2.1.1. Introduction

“Prayer for My Daughter” is a beautiful personal poem by William Butler Yeats reflecting his gloomy mood and a fear of a disturbing future. The poem was composed in 1919 and appeared in 1921. It was written during the World War I, thus it reflects the post-war agitation that was prevalent during that time. Though the war ended but Ireland was still in disturbance. William Butler Yeats’ daughter Annie was born that time and the poet was worried for her future. He is worried that his infant daughter has to face the challenges and hardships of the future and how best would she be able to fight them. The poet suggests some characteristics that she must undertake which can sustain her future and keep her safe and happy.

This poem written for his infant daughter, Anne. He worries about her. Maud Gonne was a radical, opinionated intelligent woman he had loved, but who had rejected his proposals. In this poem he vents his thoughts on her. In his age of 52, he marries a half aged women to him named Georgie Hyde Lees and Anne was their first child.

The poem consists of ten eight-line verses, which divide into five pairs of verses where I and II, setting the scene; III and IV, first wish for the girl, let her not be too beautiful; V and VI, second wish, let her be kind; VII and VIII, third wish, let her not be a modern woman; IX and X, conclusion

2.1.2. Critical Appreciation

Stanza 1: A violent, dreadful storm is blazing outside. The poet says that the ‘haystack and roof-leveling wind’ is blowing directly from the Atlantic but is obstructed by just one naked hill and the woods of Gregory’s estate. The poet then introduces her infant daughter who is sleeping in her cradle, well protected from the assaults of the dreadful storm that is raging outside. The poet keeps pacing the cradle up and down while praying for her daughter because a storm has been raging in his soul too. He is worried for his daughter’s future and his mind is full of apprehension for the future of humanity. Stanza 2: In the following stanza, the poet describes the condition of the place the poet dwells in. The poet can hear the shrill sound of the sea-wind that is hitting the tower and below the arches of the bridge which connects the castle with the main road and in the elms above the flooded river. The poet has been praying for over an hour and he is disturbed by the shrill sound of the sea-wind. He is haunted by fear. The poet imagines the future, in course of his excitement and fear; that the future years have come out of the sea and it is dancing to the crazy beat of the drums. Like every affectionate and caring father, the poet is anxious for his infant daughter.

Stanza 3: Now the poet talks about what he is praying for his daughter. He says he is praying that his daughter may be granted beauty but not so much that it disturbs or distracts others. The poet says that women who are very beautiful forget their natural kindness and are unable to accept sincere love. Thus, they fail to have an appropriate life partner and hence they remain unsatisfied. Stanza 4: Here the poet refers to the Greek mythological character, Helen. Helen was the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda. She eloped with Prince Paris of Troy which led to the destruction of Troy. Aphrodite also married Hephaestus and betrayed him later on. In the same manner, Maud Gonne too had rejected Yeats’ proposal and had married a foolish man and was not happy with him. Yeats says that beautiful women are too proud and foolish and therefore they suffer and lead a miserable life. Stanza 5: The poet prays for his daughter that she should have something more than just bewitching beauty. She should be courteous. The poet believes that hearts can be won by the virtue of courtesy; even those who are not beautiful can win hearts by their courtesy. Maud Gonne was very beautiful and Yeats was a fool to believe that she loved him too. Later on he realized his mistake and he ultimately understood that it was courtesy and not beauty that won his heart. Stanza 6: The poet pleads that the soul of his daughter should flourish and reach self-fulfillment like a flourishing tree. Like the linnets, her life should be clustered around happy and pure thoughts. These little creatures are symbols of innocence and happiness that make others happy too. So he wishes his daughter to be happy within as well as keep others happy too. Stanza 7: The poet then talks about his own mind and heart. He says that on looking into his own heart, he finds hatred which has come because of the experience of life and the sort of beauty he loved. He prays for his daughter to keep away from such evils and says that if the soul is free from any kind of hatred, nothing can ruin one’s happiness and innocence. Stanza 8: The poet feels that intellectual hatred is the worst kind of hatred. He considers it as a great flaw in someone’s character. So he wants his daughter to shun any such kind of hatred or strong bitter feelings for anyone. He wants his daughter to avoid the weaknesses that Maud Gonne had. Maud Gonne’s good upbringing and charming beauty proved useless when she chose a worthless person for a husband. Stanza 9:The poet says if his daughter is free from this intellectual hatred, she will be a happy soul. She will have inner peace within herself. She will be able to keep herself and others happy even when she is going through hardships and misfortunes.

Stanza 10: In the final stanza of “Prayer for My Daughter”, the poet prays that her daughter gets married to a good, aristocratic and decent family. He prays that she would get a husband from such a family who would take her to a house where the aristocratic traditions are followed. He wants his daughter to live a life on high, spiritual values. Arrogance and hatred should not be entertained there. He believes that in the atmosphere of custom and ceremony, real beauty and innocence can take place.

Detailed Stanza wise Explanation

Stanza 1:

Once more the storm is howling, and half hid Under this cradle-hood and coverlid

The weather is a reflection of Yeats’ feelings about the post-war period which was dangerous. Here he personified the “storm” which is howling. The “storm” works as also a symbol which means outside forces that can threaten the baby’s safety. The “cradle-hood” and “coverlid.” symbolize Anne’s innocence “And half hid” shows that Anne is protected by the temporary “coverlid.” Or bed cover or quilt which cannot save her all lifelong. My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle But Gregory’s wood and one bare hill

Anne is surrounded to the violent forces around her. The forces may be riots, violence, starvation, or decay of moral values. But she is ignorant to the violence around her because she “sleeps on”. Her ignorance protects her from the uneasy knowledge. But Robert Gregory’s father could not protect him from death.

William Robert Gregory was an Irish cricketer and artist who was an associate of W. B. Yeats. He became a “Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur” in 1917, and was given “Military Cross” award. He was killed in Italy at the age of 36 when an Italian pilot mistakenly shot him down. Yeats passes many summer with Gregory in his woods or garden but now his now the hill which was named after him is bare, empty. Robert's death had a lasting effect on W. B. Yeats, and he became the subject of four poems by him.

Whereby the haystack- and roof-levelling wind, Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed; And for an hour I have walked and prayed Because of the great gloom that is in my mind

The poem opens in the Yeats home on the west coast of Ireland, where a stormy wind is blowing almost straight off the Atlantic Ocean. It is making the poet think and gloomy of the stormy world he has known, just coming out of the First World War (1914-1918), in which his baby girl will have to grow up. Here, “Roof-levelling wind” symbolizes turbulent forces like riots, war, murder or social decoy.

Stanza-2

I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower, And under the arches of the bridge, and scream In the elms above the flooded stream;

Yeats is worried about Anne. He cannot sit stably and having a perambulation in his room. He sees the weather reflects threatening forces like big flooded stream and tidal waves. “Flooded stream” is a complex metaphor that represents huge harm caused by wrongdoer people. It is “flooded” because the flows of troublemakers exist in large numbers which is strong as a flood. The weather that the poet created here is not merely a weather we think like hot or cold rather this weather is the weather of war. So the weather is stormy and destructive which shakes the “elm” trees. The “elms” are tossed due to the destructive forces. So here we find another excellent metaphor. Here, elms are the people who are affected and fearful and screaming for the war. And the weather what affects the elms meaning people is nothing but war, social decoy etc.

Imagining in excited reverie That the future years had come, Dancing to a frenzied drum, Out of the murderous innocence of the sea. Here, Yeats is thinking with great reverie or anxiety that that the turbulent weather of war has already visited the world that was supposed to happen later in future he doubted. Yeats is concerned that he hears the overloaded harsh sound of the war drums. Anne’s innocence is juxtaposed with the contrasting “sea” which is “murderous.” “murderous innocence” is an oxymoron. The sea represents the world and the crowds around her, and as they are evil, destructive and take advantage of her innocence, they are “murderous.” Moreover, the “sea” or the world is termed as “murderous innocence” because as part of the “sea”, Anne’s innocence is ‘murderous’ to herself because it enables others to manipulate her.

Complete summary of stanza-1&2 .

Setting the scene: the poem opens in the Yeats home on the west coast of Ireland, where a stormy wind is blowing almost straight off the Atlantic Ocean. It is making the poet think of the stormy world he has known, just coming out of the First World War (1914-1918), in which his baby girl will have to grow up (verse I). He has been praying for her hard, because just as the wind is tormenting every feature of the landscape around, so Yeats can picture the whole world being whipped to a frenzy in the years to come, by some wild force like the wind off the sea (v.III). He has an intuition of what the 20th century will be like!

Stanza-3 May she be granted beauty and yet not Beauty to make a stranger’s eye distraught, Or hers before a looking-glass, for such, Being made beautiful overmuch,

Yeats prays that Anne will be beautiful but not excessively. Beauty can be distracting and destructive, because it draws the attention of all even if he is an unknown person. The much beauty makes him “distraught” and unhappy as if he cannot fulfill his desire to possess this beauty. Even Anne also can be derailed for the beauty she has. If she loves her beauty exceedingly, it will make her stand repeatedly in front of mirror which ultimately draws her away from the practice of very practical life of hard times.

Consider beauty a sufficient end, Lose natural kindness and maybe The heart-revealing intimacy That chooses right, and never find a friend.

Yeats fears that beauty will make her think that it is sufficient because beauty would help her. Beautiful people are more attractive. They can get more favour. For this, Anne may think that she needs not perform acts of goodness, because her beauty is sufficient to place her in a position of security and acceptance. This causes her to lose “natural kindness”. She does not see or appreciate the values of kindness and virtue. She would think herself superior without helping others. Furthermore, having many admirers the beauty of beautiful people allows them to be fastidious in their choice of partners. Hence, they cannot love truly and care for outfit and showy qualities, for they cannot truly feel or know who “the one” is they are looking for.

Stabza-4

Helen being chosen found life flat and dull And later had much trouble from a fool, While that great Queen, that rose out of the spray, Being fatherless could have her way Yet chose a bandy-leggèd smith for man. Yeats alludes from Greek mythology. He brings here Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. Being free from parental control, she could marry as she could choose as she wants. But, with all her power and advantages “chose a bandy-legged smith for man” (Hephaestus) – someone inferior to her. Then she marries Menelaus, a much older man than her. Again, Helen elopes with the prince of Troy, Paris for seduction. But she is doomed although she is the daughter of God Zeus. Helen was beautiful and was granted woman. Her beauty makes her fool. Helen had no father to guide her. Yeats intends to guide his daughter in the choice of a suitable life partner.

It’s certain that fine women eat A crazy salad with their meat Whereby the Horn of Plenty is undone.

The Horn of Plenty was a horn given by Zeus. The possessor of this Horn would be granted his wishes. “Whereby the Horn of Plenty is undone.” This is because Maud Gonne misused her gifts of intellect, grace and beauty. She also misused the benefits she could have from John McBride, her husband. She could obtain what she desired with these gifts – similar to the Horn of Plenty. John McBride is symbolized as an unsubstantial “salad.” Maud Gonne wasted her supposed power; she could have done better for herself, instead she made the wrong choice or desire. For her right chaise is undone, the horn of plenty is undone.

Complete summary of Stanza 3 & 4

First wish: with half a century’s experience of life behind him, the poet hopes firstly that his little girl will not be too beautiful. Too much beauty could distract either the young men around her, or herself, because if it became her purpose in life, she could turn self-centered and unkind, and finish up being left alone (v.III). Yeats recalls from ancient Greece two examples of very beautiful but unhappy women: Helen of Troy and the goddess of love, Aphrodite (today we might think of fashion models). There is some craziness that gets into very beautiful women, Yeats has observed, so that all their gifts turn poor (v.IV)

Stanza 5

In courtesy I’d have her chiefly learned; Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned By those that are not entirely beautiful; Yeats wants Anne to be courteous. Love does not come freely and unconditionally. Love is not inspired by mere physical beauty; it is earned by good efforts “by those who are not” even “beautiful” but are kind and helpful. Yet many, that have played the fool For beauty’s very self, has charm made wise, And many a poor man that has roved, Loved and thought himself beloved, From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes. Many people foolishly love beautiful women depending only on the outer beauty. They think these women as their beloved or they are loved by these beautiful women. Yeats tells these men fool, poor and stupid. Because, these man are “charm made wise”, in a single word “stupid” as glory of kindness cannot attract their eyes. According to Yeats, “Charm” of a good woman has charmed a man eventually. He becomes “wise” by realizing the goodness of loving a kind woman. An ugly woman “cannot take his eyes” because she is not physically beautiful. But her kindness makes him glad. This could be a reference to Yeats’ wife, Georgie Hyde Lees who

was not beautiful, but they had a happy marriage. Georgie loved him much. The poet praises good unbeautiful women like Georgie who should be more loved by men compared to harsh beautiful one Maud Gonne. Stanza 6

May she become a flourishing hidden tree That all her thoughts may like the linnet be, And have no business but dispensing round Their magnanimities of sound,

Here, in this stanza, the poet uses many literary term like, symbolism, metaphor, simile etc. Yeats hopes that his daughter will grow and flourish with virtue and modesty. She must be “hidden” – not too open and opinionated like Maud Gonne. A “tree” is fresh, soothing and natural. Yeats wishes that Anne will have pleasant thoughts. He wants her to talk of good, pleasant things. The linnet is a bird which flies, representing a merry, sweet, girl – not too serious, bombastic and violent like Maud Gonne. He uses linnet bird as a nice metaphor that make merry making sound around the natural trees without any seriousness. It is also a simile to bright thought as it is a bright colored bird.

Nor but in merriment begin a chase, Nor but in merriment a quarrel. Yeats wants Anne to chase and quarrel only in merriment. He wants her to be happy and not too ambitious or opinionated. He does not want her to “:chase” ambition ruthlessly. Here, The “quarrel” indicates simple arguing for fun. O may she live like some green laurel Rooted in one dear perpetual place.

Yeats wants Anne to have a solid stability in her mind. “Rooted in one dear perpetual place.” Means she should be confined in a single marital life at a single home. The home is happy, so it is “dear.” This may also indicate loyalty to one man. Maud Gonne had a relationship with Lucien Millevoye – with two premarital children but married John McBride. Yeats wants Anne to be loyal to one man, unlike Maud Gonne .

Here, Yeats uses mythology. The “green laurel” is a metaphor which refers to the nymph Daphne who was pursued by Apollo. Eager to protect her virtue, Daphne turned into a laurel tree. Similarly, Yeats wants Anne to be virtuous, unlike Maud Gonne. The word “green” in turn may symbolize peace, innocence and youth.

Complete Summary of Stanza 5 & 6

Second wish: for his own girl the poet wishes that she may have kindness of heart rather than beauty, because whereas a woman’s exterior beauty can turn men into complete fools, her inner warmth and charm can make a man lastingly happy (v.V). May his girl grow and flourish

like a tree hidden away, may her thoughts be as tuneful as the song of a bird, rejoicing everyone around, getting into no arguments or silly pursuits, rooted and thriving in one place, like a laurel-bush, happy to stay at home (v.VI).

Stanza-7

My mind, because the minds that I have loved, The sort of beauty that I have approved, Prosper but little, has dried up of late, Yeats states that whom he loved was beautiful but not prosperous with virtues. For loving such a heart or the mind of Maud Gonne, his mind cannot be benefited but “has dried up of late” or weakened, tired and not stimulated. He has mentioned her deficiencies. Yet knows that to be choked with hate May well be of all evil chances chief. If there’s no hatred in a mind Assault and battery of the wind Can never tear the linnet from the leaf. However, he states that hatred is the worst thing and paves the way to do everything which is chiefly evil. The” battery of wind” symbolizes the destructive forces around Anne and it “cannot tear” Anne. Here, linnet symbolizes Anne and leaf is symbolizing perpetual married life. Actually, “Linnet and “leaf” portray something fragile. Sufferings and destructive forces cannot destroy the fragile who do not hate as their minds are clear, calm and free. Because, negative thoughts make us suffer.

Stanza 8

An intellectual hatred is the worst, So let her think opinions are accursed. The hatred of an opinionated intellectual like Maud Gonne is the worst because it is strong, destructive, and opinionated. The intellectual resists opposition and fights for his cause. There are good reasons for this cause and hatred. Trivial hatred is weak because there is little reason. An intellectual fights for a cause with passion and determination because he/she is determined and clever. Yeats does not want Anne to be over-opinionated. So he wishes “let her think opinions are accursed.” Have I not seen the loveliest woman born Out of the mouth of Plenty’s horn, Because of her opinionated mind Barter that horn and every good By quiet natures understood For an old bellows full of angry wind?

Yeats states that Maud Gonne had plentiful gifts which she exchanges or loss for her strong opinion. The horn here is the “Horn of Plenty” quoted before in the last line of stanza 4 symbolizes the gifts given by god. The “bellows full of angry wind” depicts her strong opinions. “and every good / By quiet natures understood” are her advantages which are understood and appreciated by people with quiet natures. This makes sense especially with McBride’s abuse of his wife. The “angry wind” is despicable (McBride). Maud did not use her gifts properly, though she had courtesy, grace, ceremony, and aristocracy.

Complete summary of Stanza 7 & 8

Third wish: by way of contrast, the poet’s mind turns back to his own harsh experience. He has cultivated minds and sought out a kind of beauty that brought him only to hate, the greatest of misfortunes. Whoever keeps no hatred within the heart, he/she will never be disturbed by outside storms (v.VII). Yeats recalls particularly the love of his life, without mentioning her name, who by spurning others opinion and receives hatred pushing herself and her opinions on everyone around, trashed her splendid gifts (v.VIII)

Stanza 9

Considering that, all hatred driven hence, The soul recovers radical innocence And learns at last that it is self-delighting, Self-appeasing, self-affrighting, When all hatred has been driven away from the spirit and the soul, the soul becomes pure and acquires an almost divine innocence, and she becomes aware of the power of the spirit over life. Her pure spirit will control and determine the quality of her life. And that its own sweet will is Heaven’s will; She can, though every face should scowl And every windy quarter howl Or every bellows burst, be happy still. Here, Yeats personified “Heaven” which symbolizes God. He is expecting her daughter will submit her wills and fate completely in the hands of God. When this happens, his daughter will be happy, in spite of all life’s problems and tribulations.

Stanza 10

And may her bridegroom bring her to a house Where all’s accustomed, ceremonious; For arrogance and hatred are the wares Peddled in the thoroughfares.

Yeats is preoccupied with Irish folklore and tradition. His writings usually treat Irish legends. His almost all writings also reflect his fascination with mysticism and spiritualism. Finally, Yeats hopes that his daughter’s husband comes from a background where traditional beliefs and ideas are very much a part of life, and that culture and tradition are infused into his daughter. He believes that adhering to one’s roots and values gives one a sense of identity and those without his background and culture are the men of arrogance and hatred. But with the cultural practice all hatred and arrogance can be paddled away. How but in custom and in ceremony Are innocence and beauty born? In this last part of the poem, the speaker throws a rhetoric question which answer he is known to. He asks the readers “without tradition and ritual, is it possible to grow beauty and innocence?” we all must answer it negative like somebody may ask you, “can you take a bath without water?” and you must reply “No.” so he wishes his daughter to live with custom and ceremony and thus beauty and innocence. Ceremony’s a name for the rich horn, And custom for the spreading laurel tree

Then, to emphasize more in this two, he recalls the mythology he used before in this poem, “rich horn” in line 32 and “laurel tree” in line 47. He makes simile to rich horn with ceremony and a holy pure laurel with custom what can spread peach and security to her in all lifelong like the laurel tree is green all lifelong.

Complete summary of Stanza 9 & 10

Conclusion: let his daughter drive out hate, and she will discover that all joy, peace and fear arise only from inside of herself, and Heaven will be with her. Then, whatever, all men disturb, storms roar or all anger burst upon her, but still she will be happy (v.IX). And when she marries, he wishes her to keep all pride and anger out of her home, and foster there what “custom” and “ceremony”.

2.2 JOURNEY OF THE MAGI BY T.S.ELIOT 2.2.1. Introduction Journey of the Magi is the first poem in Eliot’s collection of poems the Ariel Poems which was published in the year 1927, shortly after his baptism. The poem was written shortly after Eliot's conversion to the Anglican faith. Accordingly, though the poem is an allegorical dramatic monologue that inhabits the voice of one the magi (the three wise men who visit the infant Jesus), it's also generally considered to be a deeply personal poem. Indeed, the magus in the poem shares Eliot's view that spiritual transformation is not a comfort, but an ongoing process—an arduous journey seemingly without end. The magus's view on the birth of Jesus—and the shift from the old ways to Christianity—is complex and ambivalent.

2.2.2. Critical Appreciation The poem Journey of the Magi is based on the theme of the Bible. It is full of religious feelings. The visit of the Three Wise Men from the East to Palestine at the time of Christ’s birth has been described in a very realistic way. The wise men start their journey in the extreme cold of the winter to reach the place of Christ’s birth to offer presents to him.

‘Journey of the Magi’ was penned down by Nobel prize winner, TS Eliot, and is a contrast of experiences based on the nativity of Christ. The monologue describes the journey of the Magi to Bethlehem in search of spiritual pacification and is an account of Eliot’s own conversion to Anglican faith, making the journey an objective correlation for Eliot.

As per the Gospel story, the Magi were the three wise men namely Balthazar- King of Chaldea, Gaspor – King of Ethiopia, Melchoir -King of Nubia who belonged to the priestly class of magicians and had come to Bethlehem to pay homage to infant Christ presenting him with gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense. They symbolise wandering human souls in search of spirituality, the eternal spiritual quester.

The poem, ‘Journey of the Magi’, opens with the nativity sermon of Lancelot Andrews preached in 1622 which describes the hardships Magi faced due to deep ways, sharp weather, melting snow and hostile conditions which were hard to combat: ‘ A cold coming we had of it/ Just the worst time of the year’ in ‘the very dead of winter’. The Magus admits that there was introspection promoted for ‘there were times we regretted’ as they had given up materialistic pleasures and sensuality of ‘Summer places on the slope’ and ‘silken girls bringing sherbet.’

Besides wondering whether it was worth the effort, their major issue of the search was ignored and the day to day difficulties bogged them down with ‘camel men cursing and grumbling’, ‘night fires going out’ and ‘villages, dirty and charging high prices. And they admitted, ‘A hard time we had of it’.

The Magi now ‘preferred to travel all night’ and faced agonising moments of self-doubt: ‘voices singing in our ears saying that this was all folly’ before they finally reached a temperate valley.

The second half of the poem abounds in symbolism with the temperate valley signifying the change in their lives that followed the arduous journey. They come across a ‘ running stream’ depicting the timelessness of their journey; ‘watermill beating the darkness,’ continuing the image of extinction and renewal; ‘three trees signifying three crosses at Calvary; ‘an old white horse’, a metaphor for the rebirth of Christ, the Savior and the defeat of paganism; ‘Vine leaves over the lintel’ again symbolic of the vine that Christ metamorphosed into his blood; ‘Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver’ refers to the betrayal of Christ by Judas and lastly ‘feet kicking empty vine skins ’is symbolic of the worn-out forms and rituals of the old dispensation.

The Magus describes their destination as: ‘Finding the place, it was ( you may say) satisfactory. Such a deliberate understatement reflects the turmoil in the minds of the Magi as an outcome of the clash of their old dispensation and new beliefs.

The last twelve lines describe the psychological change in the Magi as they are caught in confusion and perplexity and claimed that ‘This birth was hard and bitter agony for us like Death’. The journey marked the end of their old dispensation but does not give them the satisfaction of faith for the Magus claims, ‘I should be glad of another death’ so that he may be born into a new faith.

The poem can be studied at three levels: The actual journey of the Magi; Eliot’s journey from doubt to faith while his conversion to Anglicanism, and the journey of any individual in spiritual quest.

Belonging to the Ariel poems, the journey traces Eliot’s own spiritual quest and his yearning for sublime peace. The monologue reconfirms the universal truth that the brave and the dauntless who embark upon journeys with conviction are graced with divinity but it is sensual desire and temptation that need to be overcome.

Themes and Poetic Devices in the Poem

Suffering: The “Journey of the Magi” begins and ends with suffering, and the Magi suffer a whole lot during the journey, the bad weather and even worse people. The psychological suffering of the dying culture of the Magi, in addition to the physical and mental anguish we know about Jesus would experience as he grew up to become Christ. So what do we make of all this? We think Eliot’s reminding us that a whole lot about spirituality and religion Tradition and Customs: The “Journey of the Magi” is chock full of traditions being challenged left and right. There’s this strange sense of impending doom about the birth of Jesus, and the dawning knowledge that the old way of life for these Magi is long gone. You would think that a poem about the birth of Jesus would be all kinds of happiness, about ushering in a new era of religious exaltation, but mostly, this poem is talking about the past. Death: To the Magi, the loss of their traditions to impending Christianity is like staring both death and defeat in the face at once. Death doesn’t make its real entrance until the end of “Journey of the Magi.” The death of Jesus on the cross brings transformation and redemption. Religion: The birth of Jesus, the three kings, the death of Jesus “Journey of the Magi” are religious themes. Since the whole poem is about the coming of Christianity, every word is packed with religious meaning in the poem. Poetic Devices in Journey of the Magi Eliot uses anaphora or starting the lines with the same word. This provides a rhythmic effect, as well as the sense of reciting a litany. One finds this in the repeated use of the word “And” to begin lines, for example:

And the camel . . . And running away . . . And the night fires . . . Anaphora is used too in the final stanza, though in a more muted way, in the repetition of the words “but” and “this.” However—and this is where it gets interesting—Eliot, the master of allusion, uses the anaphora technique allusively. An allusion is a literary device in which a poet refers to another work of literature in his own text. In this Biblically-themed poem, about the birth of Christ, the anaphora echoes the Bible, especially the Psalms, which are noted for their use of anaphora. Eliot also uses allusions to the Bible when he mentions, among other things, wineskins and three trees (referring to Jesus being one of the three men hung together on crosses). Eliot uses alliteration to build a rhythmic effect. Alliteration means beginning words with the same consonant within a line. Eliot does this in such lines as The summer palaces on slopes . . . The camel men cursing . . . Vivid imagery helps bring the poem alive as well. Imagery is using the five senses to put the reader in a scene: Eliot writes in ways that allow us to see glimpses of what the narrator telling the story sees, such as “silken girls bringing sherbet” and “villages dirty.” The imagery in the first section depicts the harshness of the journey, the cold, the animals’ stubbornness, and their guides desertion. The journey, in the second stanza, becomes more pleasant, seeing a “temperate valley,” and a tranquil stream, both symbols of peace and harmony.

While here, the readers are given the picture of men gambling at a tavern, which alludes to the gamblers Christ drove out of the temple in the Bible and infers the need for a savior. The darkness has turned to light; they are in Bethlehem and find the infant.

However, years later, the magi reflect on this miraculous event. Christ has already been crucified. He was essentially born to die, making the magi wonder” were we lead all that way for Birth or Death?” This question is universal? All men are born; all men die. “The Journey of the Magi” is a narrative poem that uses an outsider point of view to illuminate the well-known story of the nativity. The Biblical narrative does not consider the feelings of the Magi towards the journey; Eliot’s poem foregrounds these and uses dramatic irony in that while the narrator does not understand the import of the allusions he makes—the “white horse,” the “pieces of silver,” the “vine skins”—we, the reader, understand these to be images related to Christ’s crucifixion.

The semantic field of suffering that begins in the first stanza, then—”a long journey,” “a hard time we had of it,” “the very dead of winter,” “sore-footed”—is extended and amplified towards the end of the poem, where Death comes to the fore.

The narrator explains that “this birth was hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death,” and the dramatic irony again is that the reader understands that Christ’s purpose is not only

incomplete without both his birth and death, but also that he symbolizes the death of “the old dispensation” of “alien people clutching their gods.” The Magi, then, have journeyed to see a birth that will lead to the death of their own civilization, leaving the narrator “no longer at ease” and longing for “another death.” Eliot’s ‘Journey of the Magi’: An Exploration of Man in Search of God: In this poem, Eliot describes journey of the magi to Bethlehem in search of spiritual pacification. Many critics parallel the Magi’s journey with Eliot’s own journey in search of the Divine. Eliot adapted the opening lines from “Nativity Sermon”, preached by Lancelot Andrews, the bishop of Winchester, before James I on Christmas day 1622. Andrews original text reads: A cold coming they had of it at this time of the year, Just the worst time of the year to take a journey, And specially the long journey in. The ways deep, the weather sharp, the days short, ‘the very dead of winter’. Eliot, through these lines from “Nativity Sermon” describes the quest of the Magi for the Christ child. The journey undertaken by the Magi was a long and arduous one against the discouragement of nature and the hostility of man, to find at last, a mystery, impenetrable to human wisdom. Eliot has successfully used the framework of the Biblical incident in his poem. The Biblical account of the magi’s journey is found in the Gospel of Matthew 2:1-12. According to the Bible, the ‘Magi from the east came to Jerusalem’ enquiring about the new born king of the Jews. They went to King Herod and asked him about the new born king and told him that they ‘saw a star in the east and have come to worship’ the new born king. When they learned that King Herod knows nothing about the new born king, they went on their way. In fact, King Herod ordered them to make a careful search for the child and when they find the child, he wanted the Magi to report it back to him. The Magi followed the star. The Bible says, the star “went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with the gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” The Bible says that the Magi were warned and they took another route. Eliot’s own journey to faith in Christ is not without struggles. Eliot’s own struggles as he journey towards faith in Christ was reflected in his poem Journey of the magi. The magi’s long, hard and arduous journey towards Christ child was depicted in such a way that Eliot seems to be influenced by the poem Dark Night of the Soul written by the sixteen-century Spanish poet and Roman Catholic mystic Saint John of the Cross. Thus, Eliot’s own journey and the magi’s journey to Christ is a journey through the “Dark Night”. The magi as well as Eliot himself had to go through temptations as they journey towards Christ. The magi were tempted by their old materialistic way of life “Summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,/ And the silken girls bringing sherbet,” Eliot seems to allude to Dark Night of the Soul, which says that God’s intention for the soul at the early stage of the “Dark Night” is to “quench and purge its sensual desire... allow[ing] it not to find attraction and sweetness in anything whatsoever”. The magi were abandoned by their camel men “the camel men cursing and grumbling/ And running away, wanting their liquor and women”. The camel men choose sensual pleasures “liquor and

women” instead of accompanying the magi in their journey to find Christ child. The magi themselves were also tempted by the choice made by their camel men “liquor and women”. But they overcome it. Their quest for Christ was more important to them then the momentary pleasures of “liquor and women”. Consequently, they press on with their journey towards Christ. Jesus said in the Bible, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up the cross daily and follow me...” (Luke 9:23 NIV). Pursuing Christ was not an easy one for the magi as well as for Eliot himself. When the magi embark their journey to find the Christ child, it was “the very dead of winter” and the ways were deep and the weather was sharp. Even their camels felt the strain of the journey as they were ‘galled and sore footed’ and became unmanageable. At times they even regretted their own decision, “There were times we regretted... A hard time we had of it”. As man takes on his journey towards Christ, feelings of fear and doubt and even regret will come along his way as an obstacle on his road to perfection in Christ. As a result, man has to undergo a ritual of purgation, expiation and self-sacrifice. Sometimes, the ‘night-fires goes out’ exposing the magi to extreme cold. They were often without any shelter and the people of various towns and cities which they have passed were ‘hostile’ and ‘unfriendly’ toward them. Man, as he journeys towards perfection in Christ has to undergo the moment of doubt, pain, fear and at times even regret – the “Dark Night”. But one must allow this “Dark Night” to come over them because it will help them to deepen their faith. To put it in the words of St. John of the Cross,“ Into this dark night souls begin to enter when God draws them forth from the state of the beginners which is the state of those that meditate on the spiritual road and begins to set them in the state of progressive which is that of those who are already contemplatives to the end that, after passing through it, they may arrive at the state of the perfect, which is that of the divine union of the soul with God”. The magi’s quest for Christ child was so intense that even the bitter cold and sharp weather could not stop them from undertaking the journey towards Christ. Even the temptations of their ‘Summer palaces on slopes’ and the ‘silken girls’ could not stop them. The magi could overcome all the obstacles on their way to find the Christ child. In the second stanza, the magi talked about the early morning descent into the temperate valley. The magi also talked about three trees at a distance and an old white horse galloping away in the meadow. All these images are suggestive of emerging new faith. The images of ‘three trees’ and the images of ‘six hands playing dice for pieces of silver’ bring to one’s mind the crucifixion and betrayal of Christ. Thus, binging in the theme of death and rebirth in the poem. The magi after a long, hard and ardours journey, reached the place and saw Jesus. For the magi, the experience of finding Jesus was ‘satisfactory’. In the third stanza, the magi realised that the birth of their new life involve the death of their old life. The magi suffered a spiritual crisis in embracing the new and breaking away from their old life. Michael Dean in T.S. Eliot’s Journey of the Magi: Confrontation with Christianity observes that “difficulty arises from the mixing of the old and new dispensation, as the Magus, transformed by the revelation at the end of his journey, lives on uncomfortably as a man of the new dispensation among people of the old”. In The Sacrament of Penance T.S. Eliot’s Journey of the Magi, A. James Wohlpart concludes: “ Instead of beginning with contrition and ending with satisfaction, an order which might connote fulfilment of the sacrament and an end to the process of perfection, Eliot opened with contrition in stanza one, move on to satisfaction in stanza two, and then concluded with confession in stanza three, suggesting that the soul, in its

journey towards Christ and heavenly perfection, akin to the journey of the Magi, can never rest in the certainty of perfection but must be continually engaged in the process of becoming perfect”. According to Wohlpart, “The Journey becomes, then, not only a physical movement towards Christ but also the first step in Magi’s spiritual progress as they truly regret their previous spiritual stasis”. Conclusion Eliot has successfully employed the medium of poetry to impart religious cognizance to his readers. He was interested in finding a way to write about the ‘experience of man in search of God’. He said in a letter written in 1930: “Between the usual subjects of poetry and ‘devotional’ verse there is a very important field still very unexplored by modern poet—the experience of man in search of God, and trying to explain to himself, his intense human feelings in terms of divine goal” (Gardner 29). Eliot’s Journey of the Magi is one such poem, which is a poem about ‘man in search of God’. This poem is of great significance as it reflects Eliot’s own spiritual quest. It also reflects Eliot’s effort to express his thoughts and feelings of the human soul as they embark their journey towards God to quench their spiritual thirst. In The In-firm Glory of the Positive Hour: Re-conversion in ‘Ash Wednesday’, Melissa Eiles observes, Eliot’s Magi engages in “a physical and spiritual journey to the... Christ Child and experiences conversion in the form of a spiritual death and rebirth” (119). The poet concludes his poem with “I should be glad of another death” (Eliot 104). This seems to suggest that the magi has realized that in order to have ‘new life’ in Christ, one has to get rid of his ‘old life’. Death of ‘old life’ gives way to birth of ‘new life’.

2.3 STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING BY ROBERT FROST 2.3.1. Introduction "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" was written by American poet Robert Frost in 1922 and published in 1923, as part of his collection New Hampshire. The poem is told from the perspective of a traveler who stops to watch the snow fall in the forest, and in doing so reflects on both nature and society. Frost wrote "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" while working on the long poem "New Hampshire," both of which would later be published in 1923 in a collection of the same name. New Hampshire would become a watershed publication in Frost's career, winning him the Pulitzer Prize and containing other famous poems like "Fire and Ice" and "Nothing Gold Can Stay." These works all maintained naturalistic and philosophical themes while relying heavily on traditional meter and verse forms. Historical Context: "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" was written just several years after the conclusion of World War I, which had forced Frost to move from England, where he briefly lived, back to the United States. Though his poetry never overtly dealt with the war, the devastating conflict cast a huge shadow over much of modern literature and art at the time.

Poets found themselves grappling with the place of the individual in a world that perhaps lacked meaning or God. Such questions can be seen indirectly in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," whether it is the speaker's meditation on solitude or the more foreboding and ominous symbol of despair that may be suggested in the powerful draw of the woods. 2.3.2. Critical Appreciation The speaker thinks about who owns the woods that he or she is passing through, and is fairly sure of knowing the landowner. However, the owner’s home is far away in the village, and thus he is physically incapable of seeing pause to watch the snow fall in the forest. The speaker thinks his or her horse must find it strange to stop so far from any signs of civilization. Indeed, they are surrounded only by the forest and a frozen lake, on the longest night of the year. The horse shakes the bell on its harness, as if asking if the speaker has made a mistake by stopping. The only other sounds besides the ringing of these bells is that of the wind and falling snowflake, which the speaker likens to the feathers of goose down. The speaker finds the woods very alluring, drawn both to their darkness and how vast and all-encompassing they seem. However, the speaker has obligations to fulfill elsewhere. Thus, though he or she would like to stay and rest, the speaker knows there are many more miles to go before that will be possible

Themes: Nature and Society

In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” the speaker describes stopping to watch the snow fall while riding a horse through the woods at night. While alone in the forest, the speaker reflects on the natural world and its implicit contrast with society. Though Frost’s poem res ists a definitive interpretation, the natural world it depicts is at once “lovely” and overwhelming. The fact that it seemingly lures the speaker to linger in the dark and cold suggests that nature is both a tempting and a threatening force, a realm that resists people’s efforts to tame it while also offering respite from the demands of civilized life.

The poem presents the natural world as distinctly separate from human society. The poem begins with the speaker thinking about who owns the property he is passing through—“Whose woods these are I think I know”—yet it’s clear that there's no one there to actually stop the speaker from trespassing. The owner’s “house is in the village,” meaning “he will not see” the speaker. While this owner may think the woods belong to him, he can’t control who passes by “his” land any more than he can stop the woods from “fill[ing] up with snow.” The land owner’s absence and futility, in turn, suggest that the human impulse to dominate the natural world is misguided.

The complete lack of signs of civilization, meanwhile, further emphasizes the distance between society and nature. There are no farmhouses nearby, and the only sound apart from the “harness bells” of the speaker’s horse is that of the wind. Though the speaker acknowledges that, at least conceptually, he or she stands on someone else’s woods, the physical isolation indicates the impotence of conceptual structures like ownership in the first place. In other

words, people can say they "own" land all they want, but that doesn't really mean anything when those people aren't around. Far from the sights and sounds of the village, the speaker stands alone “Between the woods and frozen lake” on the “darkest evening of the year.” Together all these details again present nature as a cold and foreboding space distinct from society.

At the same time, however, the woods are “lovely” enough that they tempt the speaker to stay awhile, complicating the idea of nature as an entirely unwelcoming place for human beings. Indeed, though the setting seems gloomy, the speaker also recounts the “sweep / Of easy wind and downy flake.” This language makes the setting seem calm and comforting. The speaker finds the wind “easy” or mellow and the snowflakes “downy,” like the soft feathers that fill a blanket or pillow. Finally, in the final stanza, the speaker definitively says, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep.” This suggests the speaker’s particular interest in the solitude that the woods offers.

Though the speaker knows that he or she “has promises to keep”—suggesting certain societal demands that pull the speaker to continue—the woods are a tempting place to stop and rest. For a moment, the speaker is able to pause for no reason other than to simply watch the falling snow. However raw and cold, then, nature also allows for the kind of quiet reflection people may struggle to find amidst the stimulation of society.

Social Obligations vs. Personal Desire

Though the speaker is drawn to the woods and, the poem subtly suggests, would like to stay there longer to simply watch the falling snow, various responsibilities prevent any lingering. The speaker is torn between duty to others—those pesky “promises to keep”—and his or her wish to stay in the dark and lovely woods. The poem can thus be read as reflecting a broader conflict between social obligations and individualism.

This tension between responsibility and desire is clearest in the final stanza. Although “the woods are lovely,” the speaker has other things to which he or she must attend. This suggests that the speaker is only passing through the woods on some sort of business—which, in turn, helps explain how unusual it is that the speaker has stopped to gaze at the forest filling with snow. Indeed, the fact that the speaker’s horse must “think it queer”—even a “mistake”—that they’re stopping implies that the speaker’s world is typically guided by social interaction and regulations, making solitary, seemingly purposeless deeds especially odd. The speaker doesn’t seem to be the kind of person who wastes time or reneges on his promises. However much the speaker might like to stay in the “dark and deep” woods, then, he or she must continue on, once again prioritizing responsibility to others and social convention.

Of course, the speaker seems to show some ambivalence toward these social obligations. The speaker subtly juxtaposes his or her interest in the woods with regret about his or her duties to others: the woods are lovely, “but I have promises to keep.” The promises seem to be a troublesome reality that keeps the speaker from doing what he or she actually wants to do—

that is, stay alone in the woods for a little while. Indeed, the specific language that the speaker uses to describe the woods suggests he or she isn’t quite ready to leave. They are “lovely, dark and deep,” implying the woods contain the possibility for respite from the comparatively bright and shallow world of human society. Social responsibilities thus inhibit the chance for meaningful reflection.

Additionally, the image of snow’s “downy flake” suggests that the speaker is as attracted to the woods as one might be to a comfortable bed. In fact, the speaker seems wearied by travel and social obligation, and the woods seem to represent his or her wish to rest. But this wish cannot be realized because of the oppressive “miles to go,” which must be traveled as a result of duty to others (i.e., in order to "keep" those "promises"). Thus, the final lines may suggest the speaker’s weariness both toward the physical journey that remains and the social rules that drive that very journey forward in the first place.

Ultimately, we don't know if the speaker satisfies his or her social duties or remains in the woods. On the one hand, the admittance of having “promises to keep” can be read as the speaker accepting that social obligations trump individual wishes. Yet it's also possible to read the final lines as the speaker’s continued hesitation; perhaps the speaker is thinking about the miles left to go but not yet doing anything about it, instead remaining torn between the tiresome duties of society and the desire for individual freedom that is manifested in the woods.

Hesitation and choice

Throughout the poem, the speaker seems to be stuck in a space in between society’s obligations and nature’s offer of solitude and reflection. Though the speaker reflects on the possibilities offered by each, he or she is ultimately never able to choose between them. In fact, the speaker’s literal and figurative placement seems to suggest that choice itself might not even be possible, because societal rules and expectations restrict the speaker's free will. In other words, beyond exploring the competing pulls of responsibility and personal desire on the speaker, the poem also considers the nature—or mere possibility—of choice itself.

The speaker starts and ends the poem in a state of hesitation. In the first line, the speaker says, “Whose woods these are I think I know,” a statement which wavers between a sure declaration (“I know”) and doubt (“I think”). This may suggest that the central conflict of the poem will be the speaker’s battle with uncertainty. The physical setting of the poem, in which a speaker stops partway through a journey, mirrors this irresolution, finding the speaker neither at a destination nor a point of departure but rather somewhere in between.

The speaker also notably pauses “between the woods and frozen lake”—literally between two landmarks. On top of that, the speaker has stopped on the “darkest evening of the year.” If we understand this to mean the Winter Solstice, then the poem also occurs directly between two seasons, autumn and winter. Thus, the speaker is physically poised on the brink between a

number of options, suggesting the possibility of choice between physical worlds, and, later in the poem, between duty to others and a personal wish to rest in solitude.

However, it's unclear in the end if the speaker chooses to fulfill his or her "promises" or merely accepts the obligation to do so as an incontrovertible fact of life; that is, whether he or she actively makes a choice to continue or accepts that there is no choice at all. Though the speaker seems to indicate in the end that he or she will continue on and keep his or her promises, this doesn’t seem to be a straightforward decision. In fact, it may not be a decision at all, but rather an embittered consent to the rules of societal life. The speaker may very well wish to stay in the “lovely” woods, but is ultimately unable to do so.

However, we can also read the final stanza as demonstrating that the speaker hasn't left the woods yet. Although he or she has obligations, there are “miles to go,” and the dreamy repetition of the final lines could suggest that there are either too many miles left to travel, or even that the speaker is slipping into sleep—effectively refusing to make a choice (or implicitly choosing to stay, depending on your interpretation).

Thus, it is possible to read the entire poem as embodying a moment of hesitation, wavering between two poles but never leaning toward one or the other. This would further complicate the outcome of the poem, resisting a definitive reading and suggesting that the tensions between society and nature, and between obligation and individualism, are never black-and-white, but constantly in a murky state of flux.

Symbols: Woods

The woods in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" may represent not only the natural world that stands in opposition to the world of society and culture, but also the allure of individualism and, even further, the possible allure of death.

On the one hand, the woods seem to epitomize a certain freedom for the speaker. In the woods, as in lines 1 and 4, the speaker can move easily and freely, without the owner noticing. The woods offer the speaker a kind of radical freedom that is unencumbered by the normal rules or regulations of society (such as rules of ownership that would make the speaker's actions into trespassing). In so doing, the woods also symbolize that freedom from those rules of society, represented by the "village" in which the owner lives.

At the same time, that "freedom" offered by the woods can also be viewed in darker terms. In spite of the speaker's apparent reverence for the woods, the woods are also described in somewhat morbid terms. Lines 7 and 8 note the woods' frigidity and darkness, while line 13 calls them "dark and deep." All of these terms gesture toward desolation and nothingness, the opposite of life and vitality. And yet, the speaker still seems to be drawn toward the woods, calling the wind "easy" and likening the snow to the "downy" qualities of a bed in line 12. The wish to sleep in the "dark and deep" woods, of course, would eventually be fatal. Thus, the speaker's interest in the woods as a place to rest and "sleep" may be read as the woods' larger

symbolism as a place of ultimate rest, or death, which offer the ultimate escape from the burdens of life and society (those wearily repeated "miles to go"). Ultimately, social bonds ("promises to keep") and sense of responsibility (the "miles to go") keep the speaker from succumbing to that fatal dream of rest, but nonetheless in the speaker's internal struggle against the attractions of the woods, the poem captures the way that all people sometimes long for an escape from the wearying responsibilities of life.

Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

Alliteration occurs frequently throughout the poem. It creates a musical quality that, paired with the poem's meter and rhyme scheme, makes the poem feel extremely polished. For example, line 1 features both /wh/ and /w/ alliteration as well as /th/ alliteration. These recurring sounds, paired with the perfect iambic tetrameter, cause the line "whose woods these are I think I know" to flow easily off the tongue, with the melodiousness of a song.

More importantly, however, the alliteration often has a sonic effect that helps evoke the actual sounds of the scene. The /w/ and /wh/ sounds in "Whose woods" and "watch his woods" in lines 1 and 4 conjure the whooshing of the wind and the rustling of tree branches. Additionally, the /s/ and /sh/ sounds in "see me stopping," "snow," and "sound's the sweep" in lines 3, 4, and 11 evoke a similar sound, and especially recall the hissing of wind and falling snow. Even before the images of snow and wind are actually described in the poem, there is a sense in the musical quality of the lines that wind is blowing through the trees and that snow is lightly falling; it is both a cold, dreary sound and a tranquil, quiet one that contributes to the poem's general ambience.

One other notable use of alliteration is in "dark and deep" in line 13. Here, the repeating /d/ sound serves both to stress the importance of these two adjectives and their relationship to one another; the darkness and deepness both contribute to the "lovely" qualities of the woods. The /d/ sound also has a certain weightiness, like the toll of a bell. This gives the phrase "dark and deep" a more profound or even ominous feeling, as if the woods ring with the heavy knell of death or finality.

2.4. IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

1. Critically analyze the content of all the three poems mentioned above. 2. How does the poem “Journey of the Magi” relate to the Bible? 3. Comment on the theme of religion and suffering in Journey of the Magi. 4. Examine the poetic techniques employed in the poem, Journey of the Magi. 5. What does the poet pray for in "A Prayer for My Daughter"? 6. What does W. B. Yeats mean by "intellectual hatred"? 7. Narrate how the storm outside is reflected in the poet's mind in "A Prayer For My

Daughter."

8. What virtues does the poet want her daughter to be blessed with? 9. What is the central theme of Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"? 10. Why does the speaker stop in the woods in Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a

Snowy Evening"? 11. Why does the horse give his harness bells a shake in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy

Evening?" 12. What does the line "but I have promises to keep" mean in this poem?

2.5 SOME USEFUL BOOKS

1. Prosaic Musings: NU Anthology 2. https://poemanalysis.com/ 3. Tiwari, Nidhi. Imagery and Symbolism in T.S. Eliot’s Poetry. New Delhi: Atlantic

Publishers and Distributors, 2001. Print.