R. Adhikary (9848021418)

CHINAR: IAn Anthology of Prose and Poems

PCL Nursing First Year

English

For 20 Marks

R. Adhikary

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R. Adhikary (9848021418)

THE SUITOR AND PAPA

Anton Chekhov

Summary:

The story "The suitor & Papa" by Russian writer, Anton Chekov describes the futility of marriage relationship and family in European society. It tells us about the contemporary society where marriage is given second importance rather than job & enjoyment.

Pyotr Petrovich Milkin was a single man living in the town. He used to visit Kondraskins frequently. He used to have dinner and supper at them together. He used to walk out with Nastya Kondrashkin and used to take bunches of flowers to her. Due to this, everybody thought that he was going to marry Nastya.One day at the summer ball, one of Pyotr's friends asked him when he was going to arrange his stag party. He refused to accepta that he had affair with Nastya. He couldn't defend himself because his behaviour had already shown this possible marriage. In order to avoid the calamity, he went to Kondraskin's study to say goodbye to him because he wanted to leave the town as soon as possible.

Kondraskin wanted Pyotr to marry Nastya but Pyotr on the other hand wanted to avoid this marriage. So he pretended that he was bad man so that Kondraskin would think that Nastya should not marry him. He said that everything Pyotr said was false. Pyotr again tried to escape from them saying that he was a drunkard, he was runaway convict, he was on a trial for embezzlement and even he was mad. But Kondrandraskin refused to accept all of them because mad man couldn't speak so logically. Pyotr said that he would bring certificate of madness and further said that marriage is forbidden to mad & insane. Then Pyotr went to his friend, Dr. Fitiyuv. But the doctor also refused to certify him mad as he was wise to avoid marriage. He further said that he would certify him mad when he would come & say that he would marry Nastya. So he failed to bring that certificate too.

Q. Why did Pyotr’s friend ask for a stag party?

Pyotr’s friend asked for a stag party because there were rumours all around about Pyotr’s marriage.

Q. Why did pyotr’s friend conclude that he was planning to marry Nastya?

Pyotr’s friend concluded that Pyotr was planning to marry Nastya because Pyotr would spend days with the kondrashkins. He would dine with them and go for walks with Nastya and Konrashkins. He would take bunches of flowers to her.

Q. Pyotr’s friend says, I’m glad for Kondrashkin’s sake rather than yours. Why?

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Pyotr’s friend says like that because he was glad for Kondrashkin’s sake for Kondrashkin had seven daughters and Milkin’s marriage with Nastya would mean that the poor father would get one of his problem settled.

Q. I’ll drop in tomorrow and sort if out with that blocked of Kondrashkin’s….”What was Pyotr’s planning to sort out with Kondrashkin?

Pyotr was planning to sort out with Kondrashkin that he was having no plan for marrying his daughter. He wanted him to know that he was not interested in getting married to his daughter though he had been dinning at his place and walking with Nastya and that all this would never mean that he would marry his daughter.

Q. What issue was Kondrashkin accusing Pyotr of evading?

Kondrashkin was accusing Pyotr of evading the issue of his marrying his daughter Nastya.

Q. Pyotr cited many reasons for not proposing to Anastasia-list them.

Pyotr cited many reasons in order to avoid getting married to Anastsaia. The reasons are listed as under:

He was a drunkard.

He took bribes.

He had embezzled a hundred and forty four thousands

He was on trail for embezzlement /that he was a runaway convict.

He was mad and that marriage is forbidden to a mad person.

Q. Do you think the reasons Pyotr put forth were genuine? How do you know?

I think the reasons were somehow genuine for Pyotr was left with no choice but to concrete reasons in order to avoid getting hitched with Nastya for the court councillor seemed to be using his hospitality as a pressure tactics to force the young Milkin to agree to marry Anastasia.

Q. When he failed to convince Kondrashkin, what did Pyotr almost family decided to do?

After having failed in convincing Kondrashkin, Pyotr decided to feign insanity, a Hamlet’s device so that it would not be legally allowed for him to marry. He almost decided to visit one of his friends, a doctor, and get from him a certificate proving his being insane.

Q. Why does Fituyev refuse to certify Pyotr as mad, despite being his friend?

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Fithyev refuses to certify him as mad for he believed that anyone who did not want to get married could not be insane. He thinks that avoiding marriage is being wise.

THE STAR DUCKSBill Brown

Summary:

Ward Rafferty, a reporter of The Times, got a bluff call from someone that reported him that there was an airplane crash near Alsop farm. He went to Alsop farm to discover more about the incident and make a newspaper story. When he left the car, he could see the Alsop place. He stepped to Alsop house and asked Mr. Alsop if there had seen any airplane crash. But he denied and repeated the same information to Mrs. Alsop as she looked a little more intelligent but she also denied. But Mrs. Alsop responded that it was not an airplane as it didn't have any wings. It was a contraption. Rafferty wanted to have a look at it. So Mr. Alsop led him to the barn. It looked like an awkward machine, globular on the top, half inflated. Rafferty thought of a newspaper headline "Local Farmer Builds Rocket Ship for Moon Voyage". When Rafferty went closer to the device, he collided with some imaginary lines. Mr. Alsop said that it had some gadgets to prevent the device from children. He said that the aliens had come to his house. Mr. Alsop said that they had come to their house six years ago and this is the second time they had returned to the Alsop place to get eggs, feed and brooder so that they could raise them in their place.

As Rafferty heard about the aliens, he was interested to see and know about them. So he asked the Alsops if he could talk to them. But Mrs. Alsop told that it's pretty hard to talk to them. Mrs. Alsop asked where they came from and let Rafferty hold up his finger if he wanted to have an answer. He felt as if he was a complete idiot. But as he raised his finger, he felt as if someone was wringing and twisting and pounding around and moulding his brain into something new. Then suddenly, he could see a void and dazzling light and the stars whizzing around. After sometime, all these pictures were gone. He was clutching the door due to fear. When his mind was released, he asked Mr. Alsop if he could get a telephone as the aliens were not fake and wanted his photographer to take photos for publication. Mr. Alsop said that there was one at the station. Rafferty further asked if they had got a camera. Mr. Alsop responded positively and went to search for it. But the aliens, coming to mutual agreement, moved around the room and quickly went out of the door. Mr. Rafferty followed them. When Rafferty was halfway to the barn, the device disappeared from the farm. All that was left was a steaming place in the mud and a little circle of burnt earth. Rafferty was sad because the greatest story in the world had gone off into the sky. Suddenly, he thought if the aliens had paid for it. He asked Mr. Alsop about payment. He replied that they had bought their own eggs on trade six years ago. They were star shaped and they didn't know what to do with them. So they set them under the brooders. Only two of them hatched. The chickens were like hippopotamus and had six legs. The Alsops ate them on the Thanksgiving occasion. Rafferty asked if they could show the bones of star ducks. Mrs. Alsop said that they were given to their dogs and even the dog was dead now. She could show the bones of the dogs. Finally Mr. Alsop came out of the parlor saying that he found the camera but unfortunately it didn't have a film.

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Q. Who was Rafferty? Why had he gone to the Alsop farm?

Word Rafferty was a news reporter of the times. He had gone to the Alsop farm because he had received a telephonic information that these had been a crack-up of an air plane around there about which he wanted to get full information for his newspaper’ The Times’.

Q.What made him conclude that the news was hoax?

After having reached around the Alsop farm, Rafferty found no crowd of confused or curious farmers over there around the Alsop house. There was no sign of the incident that Rafferty had been informed about. This made ward Rafferty conclude that the news of an airplane crash was a hoax, a false alarm intended to deceive the reporters.

Q. How did Rafferty know Alsop wasn’t a times Reader?

Rafferty knew that Alsop was not a Times reader for Alsop would have know Rafferty’s name if he had read the times. But Alsop did not seem to be knowing of the name when Rafferty mentioned his name and it was clear from the episode that Alsop was not a reader of the Times.

Q. Describe the visitors who had come in the contraption?

The visitors who had come to the Alsop in the contraption were strange creatures. They were aliens from somewhere in space. They had long flexible antennae. Their faces were pale blue completely bereft of expressions. One of them was a woman, and other the man. They could not talk. They would only make pictures for anyone talking to them.

Q. How did they communicate with the Alsop?

The visitors communicated with the Alsop by moving their antennae towards them (Alsop) and by bending them down until they focused on them between the eyes which would make them think what the visitors thought.

Q. Why were the visitors in a hurry to leave?

The visitors were in a hurry to leave because they had to catch the tide or something like that. They couldn’t wait for they had to leave as it was the time when the moon was in the right place. If they would have waited, they would not had found the moon in that right position.

Q. Why had the visitors returned to the Alsop farm?

The visitors had returned to the Alsop farm to get eggs and brooder and feed for their use in space.

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What happened to the star ducks?

Years back the aliens had brought to the Alsops some eggs of their own trade . The Alsop called those eggs as ‘star ducks’. They set them under a hen which bothered the hen awfully. According to the Alsop only two of them had lived and they ate them for thanksgiving.

Q. Do you think Rafferty had a story? Why/ why not?

No, Rafferty did not have a story for his paper ‘the Times’ because the visitors (aliens) disappeared in to space hurriedly. He didn’t get the camera to photograph them. Without a photograph of those creatures his reporting would have been convincing. So, he was made to leave without a story, completely dejected and unhappy.

DAFFODILSWilliam Wordsworth

Summary:

Daffodils is a poem about the beauty of nature written by a famous romantic English poet, William Wordsworth. This poem describes the beauty of nature in a superb way. The poet is very happy to be in the lap of nature. When the poet sees a place where daffodils are fluttering and dancing, he imagines that he is wandering lonely as a cloud that floats high over the valleys and hills in pleasure. He sees thousands of daffodils in continuously in the never ending lines. The daffodils are seen to be continuous as stars that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way. They seem to be tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The poet could not remain without being happy in such a cheerful company of nature. Then he gazes and thinks about how splendid the sight is. When the poet lies on couch in his vacant or in pensive mood, the scene of daffodils flashes upon his mind which for him, is the bliss of loneliness. The poet is extremely happy when he recollects his emotions in tranquility.

Q. Describe the 2nd stanza as you like.

In the lines under reference the poet compares the golden daffodils with the stars that shine and twinkle in the sky .The poet feels the number of the daffodils as never ending as the stars in the milky way .The poet is not capable to count the number of the daffodils in much the similar way as he could not count the number of stars .He also personifies the dancing of the golden daffodils with the dancing of men and women who toss their heads in a very cheerful dance. Q. Why have daffodils been compared with milky way?

They have been compared to the Milky Way because the poet feels the number of the daffodils as unending as the stars in the Milky Way.

Q. What did the poet see at a single glance?

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The poet saw a countless number of daffodils at a glance. No, they were not really ten thousand in number. It is poet’s way of describing the innumerable and unending sight of the daffodils.

Q. What is the wealth that the poet is referring in it? What kind of poetic device is used?

The poet is referring to the wealth of being, happy, the wealth of joy .It is not a reference to the material gains or whatever amounts be worldly. It is the wealth of being happy in the company of daffodils. The poetic device used in it is’ metaphor’. The poet refers to it as ‘wealth’ because it brings both emotional and spiritual satisfaction and emotional bliss.

Q. When does the poet feel blissful?

The poet feels blissful even when he is not in the company of daffodils and also simply when he gets reminded of them.

Q. Why does the poet refers to it as a blissful state?

The poet refers to it as being blissful state because he derives a spiritual and emotional bliss. Even when the poet is completely alone where normally a person can not be but sad. The remembrance of the beauty of the daffodils makes his solitude blissful..

QUALITYJohn Galsworthy

Summary:Mr. Gessler used to make boots of the narrator's father from his extreme youth. The Gessler brothers had a shop in a tenement house in west end of London. They used to make fine boots. The narrator visited their shop quite often. When the narrator asked him whether making boots was a hard job, he would reply that it was art. The two brothers were exactly alike. The narrator was often confused. The only way to differentiate between them was that the elder brother would ask his brother for making any decision. Both the brothers used to make fine boots made of leather. The Gessler brothers used to stress quality, but were not fashionable. Perhaps he was the best boot maker in town.

Once the narrator told Mr. Gessler that his boots had creaked. Mr. Gessler was very unhappy to hear this. He replied that he would like to see them and if they really created, he would return the money. He was a very honest professional man.

One day the narrator went, by mistake, to Gessler's shop wearing the shoes which Gessler had not made. He looked at those boots seriously and remarked that they were not his boots. He also said that those big firms had no self respect, that they were only concerned with fashion but not with quality, that they had taken away their customers and the skilled shoemakers had lost their job.

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For two years, the narrator went abroad. When he came back, he found that Gessler brother's shop was contracted. There had come another boot maker who would of course make boots for royal family. The narrator talked to Gessler, felt sympathy for him and ordered 3 pairs although he only needed 2. When he went to the shop to collect his boots, he had expected the elder brother but to his surprise, Gessler replied that his elder brother was dead. The younger brother himself had become aged. The narrator said that he was sorry for the death of his elder brother. Then he ordered several pairs of shoes. After a year, the narrator went to Gessler's shop again. Gessler asked him if he wanted some boots. He said that it was a slack time so he could make them quickly. The narrator ordered the boots of all kinds, designs and qualities. The boots came to house with fine make, finishing and quality. The amount of bill was attached to the shoes. He quickly wrote the cheque and sent to pay for them. A week later he came to visit Gessler's shop but he did not find it. Instead there was a young English man who reported that Mr. Gessler died of slow starvation. He worked hard but could not complete with the firms. He could not make enough money.

Q. How long had the narrator known Gessler brothers?

The narrator had known the Gessller brother from the days of his extreme youth. It was nearly at the age of fourteen or so that the narrator was promoted to one of the Gessler Brothers.

Q. How did the narrator differentiate between the two brothers? Who was the more skilled?

According to the narrator, the narrator would identify the Gessler brothers after the conversation is over. The elder brother would say "I'll ask my brooder" whereas the younger brother would take decision immediately. He would say "Come tomorrow fortnight". Among these two, the younger brother was more skilled.

Q. Why does the narrator compare the atmosphere of the shop to that of a church?

The narrator compares the atmosphere of the shop to that of a church to highlight Sincerity and the work culture combined with utmost devotion to which Mr. Gessler was wedded as a shoemaker. His shop was the church where he served his customers without any selfish motives..

Q. On one occasion the shoe maker offered to take back the narrator’s shoe. Why did he do so?

The narrator told Gessler that the pair of town walking boots creaked. The shoemaker said that they shouldn’t have done so. He, however, offered to take them back if he could do nothing to them because he thought it to be a reflection on his professional skill.

Q. What were the changes that the narrator observed when he visited the shoemaker’s shop after two years? Why had he not visited him for such a long time?

The narrator observed that outside one of the two little windows of Gessler’s shop another name was painted, also that of a boot maker. The old pair of boots was huddled in the single window. Inside it was then a

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contracted well and even darker than ever. The narrator had not visited the shoemaker’s shop for a few years owing to the fact that the shoes got made lasted more terribly than ever.

Q. Why did the narrator order three pairs of shoes when he wanted only two?

The narrator actually wanted only two pairs of shoes but ordered three after coming to realise that the shoe maker had lost half of his shop owing to the fact that his business was getting too different to carry on. He felt sympathy over the Gessler brothers' condition.

Q. Why was the narrator shocked to receive the bill for his shoes?

The narrator was shocked to receive it for the time along with the parcel of shoes which was quite unusual for Gesslers wouldn’t send it till quarter day.

Q. What were the reasons that led to the death of the younger of the Gessler Brothers?

The younger of the Gessler brothers could not tackle with the pressures of his declining business and financial constraints and ultimately died of slow starvation.

Q. Why did the Gessler brothers lose customers even though they made the best shoes in town?

The Gessler brothers made the best shoes in the town even though lost customers. It was owing to industrialization that made people resort to prompt services rather than the quality and durability of the product. As Gesslers wouldn’t compromise on quality and make shoes with devotion which naturally called for time and the seekers of prompt services stopped buying shoes from them.

THE LISTENERS

Summary: Walter De La Mare

'The listeners' by Walter De La Mare is a poem about the supernatural and mysterious condition of the haunted house in a rural part of the country. The poem describes about the traveler's visit to the house and his eventual return from that place without any significant achievement except that the traveler kept his words.

The traveler knocked at the door and asked if there was anybody inside the house but nobody answered. Suddenly a bird flew up out of the turret. The traveler knocked at the door again but there was no answer again. So he stood perplexed and still. It seemed that there were only phantom listeners who dwelt in the house. They listened to the voice from the world of men. The empty hall was stirred and shaken by lovely traveler's call. He could simply feel that their strangeness and stillness were answering his cry.

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When his horse moved, the traveler suddenly knocked at the door and said, "Tell them I came, and no one answered. That I kept my word." His words simply echoed through the shadowiness of the still house. Then the traveler rode on his horse and went back leaving the silence once more in the lonely house.

The poem leaves impression of supernatural and mysterious atmosphere of apparently ghost house where the phantom listeners seemed to be living.

Q. Why did the traveler knock at the door?

According to the atmosphere with which the poem begins, the traveler Knocked at the door for he wanted to meet somebody there with whom he seemed to have promised to come perhaps after a long gap of time.

Q. Did anybody answer his Knock?

The traveler kept smitting at the door but nobody answered his knock.

Q. What does the poet refer to as the voice from the world of men?

The poet refers “the voice from the world of men” as the voice of the traveler who belonged to the world of humans.

Q. Explain the phrase “perplexed and still”

The phrase ‘perplexed and still’ refers to the feelings of the traveler after not having been responded at his constant smitting. He feels totally Chaotic and stands without moving i.e., perplexed and none has come out to see him.

Q. What time of the day is described in the poem? Pick out the words that suggest this.

It is the night time. It is suggested by the use of the words as under :-

‘The moonlit door, the moonlight beams, faint moon, dark stair’ dark turf and starred sky.

Q. List out the words that have been used to describe the listeners. What kind of a picture is created by these words? Do you think they are ordinary people?

The poet has described the listeners in fascinating and attractive words like-a host of phantom listeners, their strangeness, their stiffness etc. These words create the picture of a mysterious place around which every thing is still and silent. The listeners are no ordinary people. If they had been so, they would have come out and met the traveler. They were most probably ghosts for according to the poet the traveler’s voice was the only voice from the world of men.

Q. Why have been the hoofs of the horse been described as ‘plunging’?

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The hoofs of the horse have been described as plunging to bring out the picture of the traveler being in tremendous hurry. The traveler is fleeing from the place which is all mysterious and eerie and weird.

Q. What is the effect created by the words the silence surged softly backwards?

The words create the effect of the immediate returning of the silence after the departure of the traveler on his horse. The silence comes back and the surroundings again plunge in quite.

ONCE UPON A TIME

Gabriel Okara

Summary:This poem is composed by a Nigerian poet Gabriel Okara. In this poem the speaker is father who addresses his son revealing the reality of the modern man's behaviour. This is a satire on modern life of human beings. It mocks and ridicules some of the common behavioral patterns of modern man. The modern man says one thing politely but he means another. There is a difference between appearance and reality. This poem is an ironical expression in which the hidden truth is the language in different. He talks about the manner of the modern people who use double talk very often. Their laughter is very meaningful. The persona of this poem, addressing his son, says that the people in the past used to laugh with their hearts and eyes. They were very lovely. They did not have any bad intention. They were kind and generous, helpful and unselfish. But the people now have changed their behaviour. With the passing time, they have become selfish. Now they laugh only with their teeth and winning eyes. In the past they used to shake hands with their hearts. But now their left hands are busy to search his empty pockets. Their generous hands changed into the hands of thief. They use very polite and formal language. They welcome him with flattery he has learnt many things. He has learnt to behave differently with different people. He has learnt to change his face like dresses. It means that he can show his manners differently with everyone he meets. He hides the truth using double talk. He can change his face like home face, office face, street face, host face and cocktail face. The speaker (father) wants to move with time. The modern age has taught him to be selfish. He also smiles like the smile of a fixed portrait. He also laughs with only his teeth and shakes hands without his heart. The double talks he uses are "Goodbye" when he means "Good riddance", "Glad to meet you" without being glad. "It's been nice talking to you" after being bored. The poet expresses a desire to his son to teach him how to smile as he used to do in past, when he was a child.

Q. What frightens the poet when he sees his smiles on the mirror?When he see his smiles on the mirror his teeth frightens him because he sees them like a snakes bare fangs.

Q. Do you think people use double talk very often? What is double talk?Yes, I think people use double talk very often in this modern age. They say one thing but their intention is just opposite. This is called Irony. For example, they say “nice to meet you’ but actually they might have felt bored.

Q. Why have the eyes of modern man been compared with the block of ice?

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Modern man’s eyes are like the block of ice that means they have no love, pity and sympathy. They are cold and lifeless. They deceive other people as ice seems beautiful but it deceives us when it melts.

Q. how does one laugh with the teeth?One laughs with the teeth like the laugh of the fixed portrait.

Q. What does the father learn and why?The father learns to laugh with his teeth and shake hands without heart. He does so because he has to live in the modern world.

THE SURGEONRoald Dahl

Summary:Dr. Robert sandy had recently saved the life of a Saudi Arabian prince. And as a reward he was given a very large diamond. Sandy was amazed when his local jeweler told him it's worth almost a million dollars. He rushed home to show it to his wife, who was just as excited. Robert and Betty wished to go on a tour to Egypt and turkey and also baalbek, and other places. They are going away for the weekend, though, so they decided to freeze the diamond into an ice cube tray in order to hide it from any thieves. When they returned, they were shocked to see that their house had, in fact, been burgled. Everything in their kitchen had been smashed and thrown on the floor, including the contents of the freezer. The police were called and searched them every where, but they couldn't locate the diamond. The next day, another surgeon at the hospital was operating on a young man with something lodged in his intestine. To the surgeon's amazement, it was a large diamond. He and one of the hospital theater sisters took it to the local jeweler to have it appraised. The jeweler recognized it as Dr. Sandy's and called the police. Sandy was also notified, and by the time he got to the spot the surgeon and sister were both in handcuff. Sandy recognized him and they told him their story. He had the police release them and told them to head to the hospital to arrest the recovering thief. The young hooligan had evidently made himself a drink in Dr. Sandy's house and he had swallowed the ice cube

Q. When the embassy tried to move the prince to the luxurious hospital, the prince refused to move. Why? When the embassy tried to move the prince to the luxurious hospital, the prince refused to move because Robert Sandy saved his life and he was grateful to him.

Q. Who gave the diamond to Robert Sandy? Why?The Prince of Saudi Arabia gave the diamond to Robert Sandy because he had saved his life and he didn’t have take money for his treatment.

Q. Why did Sandy decided to hide the diamond in house? Where did they hide it?They decided to hide the diamond in the house because it could be safe there. It could be stolen or lost if they took it with them out. They decided to hide it in the ice cube of the freezer.

Q. In what state did Robert and Betty find their house when they came back?

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They found that their house was robbed, the fridge was broken and the ice was eaten up by somebody. There diamond was lost.

Q. Who did the police think had committed the crime/ Why?Police thought that Mr. Haddock and sister had committed the crime because they came to Harry Gold’s shop with the diamond; the police found them red hand.

NATIONAL PREJUDICESOliver Goldsmith

Summary:The essay “National Prejudice” by Oliver Goldsmith is writer’s own personal experience about the European people. This essay is on prejudices that we harbour about people from other nations. Prejudice is an unfair and unreasonable feeling that develops in us over a period of time. Every common man has prejudice to some extent.

As the writer is one of the wanderers of Europe, he got an opportunity to observe the characters of Europeans closely. Once he suddenly reached into a group of half a dozen gentlemen who ware making a hot dispute about political affair. They were equally divided and were expressing their sentiments. Each group tried to convince the writer to support and share the conversation. He was engaged in one of the companies. They talked about different characters of several nations of Europe. One of the English gentlemen showed his prejudice over the people of other nations. He said that Dutch were a parcel of greedy wretches, French were flatterers, Germans were drunkards and beastly gluttons, Spaniards were proud, haughty and rude tyrants but in all other aspect, English were brave, generous, merciful and virtuous.

Almost all the participants agreed with the opinion but when the writer was asked to put forth his sentiments, he gave more impartial judgment on them. He said that Dutch were more frugal and industrious, French were more temperate and polite, Germans were hardy and patient of labour and fatigue, Spaniards were sober and peaceful but English though were at the same time rash, headstrong and impetuous. When the writer presented such a judgment among his friends they began to see him with a jealous eye. Then the writer came to know that it was in vain to argue with the men full of national prejudices. So he went back home thinking of the absurd and ridiculous nature of national prejudice.

According to the writer, philosophers consider a man of any country as ‘a citizen of the world’. They globalize everything and do not have national prejudice, unlike the English gentleman who was narrow-minded, and thought only the particular country or petty society. The writer says that national prejudice infects our minds and influences our conduct. It makes our mind vulgar, unnatural and proud. We should love our country but without hate towards the natives of other countries. He says that it is just like the superstition and enthusiasm which too is the product of religion. Therefore we should be the citizen of the world, not the citizen of a particular country or petty society. He prefers the title “a citizen of the world” to that of an English, a French, a German, a Spaniard, a European or so on.

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Q. How does the writer spend time when he travels?The writer Goldsmith spends time by observing everything even when he travels.

Q. What were the views expressed by the Englishmen? Did the writer share this view?The Englishmen expressed his views on National prejudice. He said that Englishmen were brave, generous, and virtuous but the other people were not. The writer didn’t like it as it was not told with observation. It was just prejudice feeling.

Q. Why did the other man begin to feel jealous of the writer?The other Englishmen began to feel jealous as he was not ready to accept their baseless prejudice about English nationality. They were telling them all without observation. They also called him unpatriotic.

Q. What is the evil effect of national prejudice?The evil effect of national prejudices is that they infect our mind and influence our conduct and makes us narrow minded.

Q. What is the quality of gentleman?The gentleman is generous and benevolent. He has broad mind. He is free from national prejudice.

"THE MOSQUITO"D. H. Lawrence

Summary: "The mosquito" by English poet D.H. Lawrence, deals with the tricks, cruelty, cunning and some surprising activities of a mosquito. The poet has described the mosquito as magician, musician and a weak creature. He has explained the mosquito with various qualities like phantom, sorcerer, trump etc.

In this poem, the poet addresses the mosquito in various ways to explain its activities. The poet asks when it starts its tricks and why it stands on tall legs. The poet says that it has long and thin legs to raise its body high. It raises its body high to lift its central body. It sits upon the poet but it seems to be a phantom because it is weightless. The poet has heard a woman call him a winged victory. The poet thinks that it joins head and tail and smiles. He asks how it can put so much mischief in weak transparent body. It has capacity to sail in the air like a heron in water as if there is no presence of it. The poet explains the way of living of the mosquito and says it can exist in aura of environment by doing some tricky activities. It remains invisible and the poet cannot feel its arrival and sucking blood as a senseless person. The poet has now known the existence, trick and arrival of the mosquito by using various ways to come to the poet as an evil spirit. The poet thinks that it understands the negative thought of the poet and roams in the air that the poet does not like. The poet threatens the mosquito to fight and judge who will win. He wants to come to the conclusion to see who is powerful. The poet hates it because it is like a monster to shock him. The poet complains the bad

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policy of mosquito but says that it also cannot exist without sucking blood. So the poet believes that God saves the innocent creature. The poet turns to the beautiful sound of the mosquito and thinks he sings a victory by flying away after taking the blood. The mosquito acts in a low manner to take blood breaking simple norms. The poet says the weightlessness saved it from the anger of the man. The mosquito wins and flies away by taking bood. The poet thinks that it can win the mosquito and easily kill it. Finally, the poet kills it and gets surprised because the sucked blood makes a big red mark but the body of the mosquito makes a very small black mark. The mosquito is supposed to be disappearing but actually it is killed.

Q. What according to the poet mosquito’s purpose of standing high in its leg?The purpose of mosquito’s purpose to stand on high leg is to keep its body up from our body that we couldn’t notice when it bites us.

Q. How does mosquito draw the poet’s attention away from itself?Mosquito draws the poet’s attention away from itself by making the filthy magic and by being invisible from his sight.

Q. Why does the poet call mosquito a ghoul?The poet says that it is a ghoul because it becomes invisible and sucks blood without being noticed.

Q. What is the mosquito’s trump?Mosquito makes different trump like it becomes invisible, it sucks blood secretly being unnoticeable.

Q. Give the evidence to suggest that the poet has killed the mosquito?The poet has killed the mosquito as he tells that there is only dark spot on his hand and its body was disappeared.

MACHINE & EMOTIONBertrand Russell

Summary:This essay "machines and emotions" written by English philosopher and mathematicians, Bertrand Russell deals with some merits and demerits of machines, human responses and some remedies to the problems created by the use of machines. The relationship between machine and human emotion are clearly identified. In the beginning the writer takes the side of machine and machinery developments, later, he comes to feel some problems created by machines which are and gives some hopeful solutions to solve the problems which are not addressed by the sciences or machines.

Bertrand Russell in the essay says that machines and human emotions contradict to each other. This contradiction is growing more along with the growth of the use of machine in modern time. He includes some examples of Japanese people and Asiatic civilization that they dislike their own traditional cultures but like western automobiles. Western people also like machinery but some poets and aesthetes criticizes this attitude. Machines are beautiful, attractive and ugly and hideous. They provide power and impose slavery. This liking disliking attitude can't be absolutely wrong. Machines are slave for their masters and dreadful weapons for their enemies. The master of machine doesn't know the harmful effects of the machine because

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he stays away from the noise and smell of machine only those who stay and work with the machines are directly and terribly affected and harmed. But the master claims that because of only the operations of the machines they are having much better life than their forefather.

The possessions of material goods increase happiness of human beings. The person who has more goods becomes happier than the person who has fewer goods. Some moralists and religious personalities reject the emphasis given to material goods but that is only superficial and prejudiced because with much money and better income they also become happier than they remain with less income. So happiness felt by human beings is related to psychological factors along with the goods. Human emotions are also related with physical needs. A physical fulfillment increases satisfaction. In poverty and lack of goods human beings can't be satisfied and happy. All of then people try to increase their income because their happiness with better life depends on material prosperity. Material prosperity gains social prestige as well as mental and spiritual satisfaction. Although people don't know everything about the things that they have and they keep that because other people in society know the value and importance of the things. Social prestige and respect differ from society to society.

The possession of material prosperity should work as a competitive matter. People who have much material prosperity are superior and the people who don't have material prosperity get pain if they are poorer than their neighbors. On the other hand, human happiness depends on the control of population. If any country has smaller population, people can be more prosperous than that of the people of those countries which have greater population. So if we think only machine brings happiness and prosperity that is a wrong concept. So, to replace the importance of machine4 and material prosperity, we should control starvation too. Machine makes people regular and lack of it makes them irregular. Irregular life is called bad life because there is no punctuality, seriousness and exactness.

Q. Do you think science is the cause of all problems facing man today?I think the misuse of science is the cause of problem but not the science itself. Science has given many things for our easy life. But people use them negatively.

Q. How, according to the writer machine has made the ferocious nature of modern war?The writer says that due to the advanced weapons developed by science has made the ferocious nature of modern war. The destructive weapons like chemical weapons have created the terror in the world. War is really destructive due to the modern invention of science.

Q. Why does the writer say that machine is like a Djinn?The writer says that a machine is like Djinn because Djinn is beautiful to the master but terrible to his enemies. Machine is also useful to master and harmful to workers. It means machine should be used properly to make it beautiful and useful.

"THE NEW HANGMAN"Lawrence Houseman

Summary:

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"The New Hangman", a play by Lawrence Housman, deals with a theme of humanity against the execution of culprits. The refusal of the Hangman to do his job is the main theme of the play. The play tries to show that it is wrong to execute the people and also states that execution is the main thing to make human civilization really worse. The writer presents the bad points in the old civilization. It is the expression of hatred to the system of execution and expresses this idea through the Hangman.

In this drama, the warders had prepared everything for hanging. The priest was also uninterested to see the execution so he was a bit drunk. His heart was full of pain. When the Governor came for the order of hanging, the Hangman disagreed to perform his duty. He rejected to execute the criminal. He had been an assistant of the earlier Hangman for twelve times but says that being an assistant, he found himself immoral and criminal. The heart of the Hangman was full of pain and guilty feelings. He was aware that society and even authority didn't like the system of execution and hanging job of anyone. The Hangman wanted to have a prestigious life in society. So, he decided not to carry on the hanging job. He was ready to give up job and take any new job in London instead. Less money from any job was no matter for him. The priest was in real dilemma because in the beginning, he was against the execution and indirectly he was supporting the Hangman but later when the Governor scolded him, he reprimanded the Hangman. He accused the Hangman of making them feel ashamed. After the refusal of the Hangman to hang the waiting criminal, the Governor asked the warders to take the job of the Hangman but no one there was ready to execute the person. It was much difficult situation for the Governor to complete his responsibility for execution. So, he threatened and scolded the Hangman. But he didn't do it after his decision. So the Governor asked the Chief Commissioner to instruct him for what he could do at the time. But there was no way out to conduct the execution right away as no one was ready to carry out the job of hanging. The execution was postponed because it was eight o' clock, the time of hanging. The bell was ringing and the time of hanging was almost over. People gathered outside the prison. Finally, the Hangman left the place and went out to make the crowd hear his decision of giving up his job. The crowd welcomed and appreciated his decision; they cheered up and shouted with a loud sound. It was the symbol of rejection and avoidance of the system execution.

Q. Why did the hangman not need an assistant?The hangman didn’t need an assistant because he was not going to hang any other man from that day and he was going to leave his job.

Q. Why was the governor angry with Chaplain?The governor became angry with Chaplain as he had drunk that day. He was not doing his duty properly.

Q. Why was the Chaplain drunk?The Chaplain was drunk because he didn’t like to see anyone hanging. He couldn’t face it.

Q. What reasons did Hangman give for not doing his job?He said that he had no sense of honour for his job and nobody in the society liked him.

Q. Briefly state the hangman’s view on capital punishment.Hangman thought that to hang a man is also a crime and sin too. The right to live should be given even to the criminal. It is uncivilized and barbaric practice.

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Q. What is the reaction of crowd outside to the prison to the hangman’s decision?The crowd excited and cried with loud cry with happiness with the decision of the hangman. It shows that people were against the capital punishment and only so called the democratic government was in favor of the capital punishment.

"A Handful of Dates"Tayeb Salih

Summary:The story "A Handful of Dates" written by Tayeb Salih is a story about a rich man, speaker's grandfather and a poor man, Massod. The writer's grandfather had bought most of the land which once belonged to Massod. Massod married many women and each time he got married, he sold some part of his land. Now he has been very poor although he was once a rich man.

The story teller was a small boy. He used to go with his grandfather anywhere he went. He used to go to the mosque to learn Koran. He was talented at learning Koran by heart. The Sheikh used to ask him to recite the poem of the chapter Merciful when visitors used to come to visit the mosque. Except the mosque, he used to go to the river and fields. After coming from the mosque be used Jo eat and go to swim in the river. Sitting on the bank of the river he used to imagine that there were some giants like his grandfather living behind the forests. His grandfather had fairly white beard and a long nose. He was tall and slim too. So, everyone used to look him up and he used to bend down low to enter any houses.

The boy narrator was a favourite grandchild of his grandfather. He was called an intelligent child. He was obedient and sincere to help his grandfather. He used to do some usual works such as to bring a blanket and fill the jug (pot) with water for his grandfather. His grandfather used to listen to bis reciting Koran in free time. Once be asked his grandfather about their neighbour, Masood. Grandfather commented that he was a lazy person and he didn't like such lazy people. Then he showed a large part of land from the side of the desert to the Nile to him He also said that the land once belonged to Masood, The boy had only known that there he used to play. Grandfather further said that fifty years ago behind come there. At that time he had no piece of land but later on be bought land from Masood. The land was now full of date palms. But die boy had been thinking that his grandfather bad possessed them from the God's creation. The boy came to know about die story of the land fill of dates. He asked why Masood sold the land to him. Grandfather answered that me cause was Vonun'r He also knew mat Masood married more than0 ninety women- He still used to know his many wives, his poor condition, and his Tame donkey. Masood came and they stopped talking about him because Masood was coming there. Masood explained (bat it was the day of harvesting dates and be unwillingly invited die grandfather. Grandfather and me boy went la me field of dates. Many people gathered there. The date palms belonged to Masood but he was totally unconcerned to the dates. A boy climbed up the tree and cut down me fruits of dates and asked him not to cut the 'heart' of dates. Finally, the dates were gathered and put into the sacks. There were Hussein (a businessman) Mousa (A neighbouring landlord) and two strange men. They divided the sacks of dates. Hussein took ten, Mousa took five, the strangers took five

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for each and grandfather took five. Grandfather gave the boy a fistful of dates. He started to chew them.

The boy saw Masood coming towards them. He was walking so slowly that the boy saw his feet moving with difficulty. When Masood arrived there grandfather told him Out he still had to pay him fifty pounds. The boy heard a painful sound inside the throat of Masood. Although the boy didn’t know the cause he felt unbearable pain in his his chest due to the pitiable condition of Masood. The boy ran away from there. He reached the river bank, Unknowingly he put his fingers into his throat and vomited all the dates he had eaten.This story reveals a fact that the boy loves Masood by seeing his poor and helpless condition. The boy even hates the activities of Ms grandfather so he vomits out the dates at last. During the childhood human thought is so sacred, innocent, selfishless, and sensitive that children want to create better world man the old do. The writer has tried to convey the idea of being just against injustice and corruption.

Q. Why did the boy spew up the dates he had eaten?The boy saw the painful condition of Masood and he disliked to eat the dates given by his grandfather. He thought his grandfather had done inhuman treatment over Masood and he spews up the dated what he was chewing in his anger towards his grandfather and pity towards Masood.

Q. What changes do you notice in the boy’s feeling towards his grandfather at the end? Why?The feelings of the boy towards his grandfather are completely changed at the end of the story. In the beginning of the story the boy used to take his grandfather an ideal Muslim, but when he saw his cruel and inhuman behavior towards Masood, his attitude changed into hatred towards his grandfather. He spews up the dates and goes away.

Q. Why did the grandfather dislike Masood?

The grandfather disliked Masood because he was indolent and lazy person.

Q. Why did the narrator wish to grow up to be like his grandfather?

The narrator wanted to be like his grandfather because he was very much impressed from the tall and attractive personality of his grandfather. He used to wear white dress and he had white beard. He seemed to have been a real Muslim.

Q. What made the narrator his grandfather’s favourite?

The narrator was his grandfather’s favourite because he was intelligent then his other grandsons and he was skillful in reading Koran. He used to love to go to Mosk with his grandfather.

The Rule of the Road

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AG Gardiner

Summary:

The stout old lady, from the classic AG Gardiner essay Rule of the Road, was striding with her shopping basket down the middle of a road in Petrograd. When told it would be safer to walk on the footpath, she retorted, I’m going to walk where I like. We’ve got liberty now. It did not occur to the dear old lady, wrote Gardiner, that if her liberty entitled her to walk in the middle of the road, it also entitled the cab driver to drive on the footpath, and the end of such liberty would be universal chaos. Everybody would be getting in everyone else’s way and nobody would get anywhere, said Gardiner (1865-1946). Individual liberty would become social anarchy.

Liberty is not a personal affair only, wrote Gardiner. Its a social contract. It is an accommodation of interests. In matters which do not touch anybody else’s liberty, of course, I may be as free as I like. If I chose to go down the street in a dressing gown, with long hair and bare feet, who shall say me nay? You have liberty to laugh at me but I have liberty to be indifferent. We have the liberty to play music, but not so loudly that it destroys the freedom our family members and neighbors’ have to rest undisturbed. Yet we allow this destruction of liberty to happen, with screaming loudspeakers during festive times that murder the liberty to sleep, study, or work in peace. It would be as great an impertinence to trespass on their peace as it would be to trespass into their houses, says Gardiner.

A.G. Gardiner has rightly pointed out in one of essays —’Liberty is not a personal affair, it is a social an accommodation of interests’. This only that your personal liberty gets qualified by your social being. You have the liberty to sit within room and play upon your guitar at full volume but cannot do so at the dead of the night at the roof of our house, when there are neighbors’ wanting to enjoy an undisturbed sound sleep. Your liberty gets restrained by a social consideration. You can be undressed in your bedroom but cannot walk on the road in that manner. There are social inhibitions that forbid you from doing so or behaving in that manner.

Q. The writer says individual liberty leads to social anarchy? Do you agree or disagree?

Yes I agree with the writer’s statement that individual liberty brings social anarchy. Liberty has the relationship with social contract. We should respect other’s liberty too when we like to utilize ours.

Q. Why should we not feel offered when stopped by a traffic policeman?

We should not feel offend when traffic policeman stops us because it is to create rules and order on the street and stops us from creating anarchy. It protects the other’s right as well as ours.

Q. What is a blue-book? Why does he read them?

A blue-book is a book containing official record. It is the permission to keep a vehicle. The writer read the blue-book to get the official information.

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THE SNIPER

Liam O’ Flaherty

sa. Historical Background

.......In 1919, the newly formed Irish Republican Army launched guerilla warfare during the Irish War of Independence to liberate Ireland from the British. Unable to contain the rebels, London agreed in the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty to create an Irish Free State. However, the agreement would recognize the Free State only as a dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations. Moreover, it would permit six counties in northern Ireland to withdraw from the Free State, allow the British to maintain ports in the south, and require the Free State to pay part of the debt Britain incurred in waging the war. Consequently, not all Irishmen accepted the agreement, the provisions of which became effective in 1922. (The six northern counties seceded, as expected.) Once-united Irish fighters were now split into two factions–disgruntled IRA members and supporters of the Free State–and fought a civil war. O’Flaherty, himself a member of the IRA, centers his short story on a scene of fighting in Dublin in which an IRA sniper shoots at Free Staters from a rooftop

Plot Summary

.......At nightfall in Dublin, heavy guns and small arms boom and crack intermittently near the River Liffey as Republicans battle Free Staters. From a rooftop near O’Connell Bridge, a Republican sniper with fanatical eyes observes the scene while eating a sandwich and swigging whiskey.

.......When an armored car pulls up fifty yards ahead, he does not shoot at it, realizing that bullets will not pierce heavy armor. An old woman stops to inform the car’s turret gunner of the position of the sniper. When the gunner emerges from his dome, the sniper kills him, then the woman. The armored car speeds away. .......Gunfire from the opposite roof then wounds the sniper in the arm. He drops his rifle as blood oozes from his wound, although he feels no pain. His arm is numb. He opens a first-aid kit and drips iodine onto the wound. Now there is pain. Then he places cotton on the wound, bandages it, and thinks about his predicament. He can no longer handle his rifle. He has only his revolver to defend himself. If he tries to get off the roof, he will be an easy target for the gunman across from him. A plan occurs to him, and he executes it immediately. Placing his cap on the muzzle of his rifle, he pokes the barrel over the roof parapet. A bullet zings through the cap. The sniper tilts the weapon so that the cap falls onto the street. Then he hangs his left

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hand limply over the roof. A moment later, he drops the rifle to the street and slumps to the roof, dragging his hand back over the parapet.

.......After crawling to a new position, he peeks out and sees his enemy standing up and looking across, apparently believing he killed the IRA man. The latter brings his revolver into position, holds his breath, and fires. The enemy reels on the roof, drops his rifle to the street, and falls to the pavement. .......The sight drains the sniper of his “lust for battle,” the narrator says. “Weakened by his wound and the long summer day of fasting and watching on the roof, he revolted from the sight of the shattered mass of his dead enemy. His teeth chattered, he began to gibber to himself, cursing the war, cursing himself, cursing everybody.” .......In disgust, he throws the smoking revolver to the roof.  It discharges, sending a bullet past his head. The shock of the near miss sobers him, steadies his nerves. Then he laughs, swigs whiskey, and gets off the roof via a skylight and a house beneath. On the quiet street, he is curious about the other sniper, who was a very good shot. Who was he? Could he have been a member of his own company before the army split into rival factions. He decides to have a look at the man. When he dashes across, a machine gun opens fire but misses him. He drops to the pavement next to the body as the gunfire ceases. When he turns over the body, he sees the face of his brother.

Setting

"The Sniper" takes place in Ireland's largest city, Dublin, located on the country's east coast on Dublin Bay, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The time is nightfall in June after the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. The sniper posts himself on a rooftop in central Dublin near the Four Courts building, which houses the high courts of Ireland, and O'Connell Bridge, which spans the River Liffey. The Liffey divides the city into two sections as it runs eastward to Dublin Bay. 

Characters

IRA Sniper: Man posted on a roof in Dublin. Opposing Sniper: Enemy gunman posted on a roof across from the IRA sniper. Turret Gunner: Man shot by the IRA sniper. Old Woman: Informer who betrays the position of the IRA sniper to the turret gunner. Unseen Machine Gunner: Person who fires at the IRA sniper after the latter leaves the roof.

Themes 

The Ironic Ending

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of Adam and Eve. When they fight, they become Cain and Abel. No doubt, the IRA sniper now wonders about the identities of the turret gunner, the old woman, and the person manning the machine gun. 

Study Questions and Essay Topics

Q. Why does the sniper kill the old woman in the tattered shawl?

The sniper killed the old woman in tattered shawl as she was working to spy over him when he saw her pointing towards him.

Q. What problems does the sniper face in escaping from the rooftop? How does he solve these problems?

He couldn’t escape from the roof top as his enemy snipers had known that he was hiding there. By killing them applying trick, he got success to escape from there.

Q. What are his feelings after he has killed the enemy sniper?

When he killed the enemy sniper he felt happy and victorious, but when he knew that he was his own brother, he felt too much pain and realized the pain of war.

Q. What do you think is the central meaning or theme of “The Sniper”?

War reduces human beings to mere objects. They have no names, no faces. They are targets, nothing more, to be shot at from a distance. War knows no boundaries–age, sex, location, time of day, family ties. The IRA sniper is a young man, and the informer is an old woman. The fighting takes place in the heart of a city after sundown. The IRA sniper unwittingly shoots and kills his own brother.

Q. Civil war is a complex and horrific situation. What is ironic about a civil war?

The story ends ironically when the IRA sniper realizes that the enemy he killed was his own brother. But there are larger ironies here: first, that all of the sniper’s Free State enemies are, in a sense, his brothers, for they had been comrades in arms fighting for the same cause; second.

Personal Helicon

Seamus Heaney

Summary:

The poem “Person Helicon” by Seamus Heaney is a curious and thought-provoking poem about a child’s fascination with wells. On the surface, the poem is very straight forward. The narrator is recalling a

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childhood spent exploring wells and old pumps however, like most poems; “Personal Helicon” has a deeper meaning. It is a nostalgic poem. A lot of the depth in this poem can be seen just from examining the title. Helicon, a mountain situated in Greece, was celebrated in Greek mythology because of the two springs that were located there. The springs were said to be the source of poetic inspiration and they were very sacred to the muses, the gods and goddesses who inspire literature and art. This suggests that the poem “Personal Helicon” is about Heaney’s own inspiration for his writing. The poem talks about wells and mentions dark drops, reflections, and echoes which could signify that Heaney gets the inspiration for his work from himself. His poems are a reflection of himself and, by looking deep into his soul just as the narrator of the poem looks into wells; he is able to find the motivation and vision necessary to create his literary works. This meaning is furthered through several lines in the poem. The poem could also be about coming of age and the transition for childhood into adulthood. In the last few lines of the poem the author mentions that exploring wells is “beneath all adult dignity” therefore the poem could be about childhood innocence and how the simplicity of youth is lost when a person grows up.

The poet has presented the images of well, wall, bucket, pump etc. Then he has given the references from Greek myth. Helicon is the mountain of Greek, a symbol of inspiration. He also gives the reference of Narcissus. Narcissus was a Greek mythological handsome young man. Many girls loved him but he didn’t respond anyone. He had not realized himself as a handsome man. Once he went to the spring to drink water, he saw his face into it. He loved his face and died looking his face there. The poet compares himself to Narcissus because the poet also used to go to the well and looked into the water. He also loved the well and remains around the well.

Q. Explain the topic “personal helicon”.

In Greek Mythology, Helicon was the name of the mountain where the Muses lived. The word is now used, like "Muse," to describe a source of poetic inspiration. So in choosing this title, Heaney can be seen as setting out to describe, explore and/or explain his personal source of inspiration.

Q. Why did the poet find well and old pumps fascinating?Old pump and the well were fascinating to poet because he used to play with them. He used to enjoy with the fall of bucket into well and its sound He used to love the smell of well.

Q. Why does the poet write poetry?The poet writes poetry to see himself and to remember his past, he writes the poem to collect the childhood experiences.

Q. Who was Narcissus? Why does the poet compare himself with Narcissus?Narcissus was a Greek mythological handsome young man. Many girls loved him but he didn’t respond anyone. He had not realized himself as a handsome man. Once he went to the spring to drink water, he saw his face into it. He loved his face and died looking his face there. The poet compares himself to Narcissus because the poet also used to go to the well and looked into the water. He also loved the well and remains around the well.

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Q. What differences do you notice between the poets as a child and the poet as a matured adult?As a child the poet used to go to the well and pump. He used to look into the well and play with the bucket. He used to shout into the well. But as a matured adult man, he remembered those things and got inspiration to write his nostalgia. He compared himself with Narcissus.

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