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LESSON 1
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
Contents
1.1 Introduction
1.9 References
1) Chaucer’s life
2) His works
After reading this lesson you can understand the English social life as reflected in the
prologue, style and technique in Chaucer’s prologue.
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1.1 Introduction
The Age of Chaucer is one of the most active, complicated, vexed and entangled
transitional periods in the history of England. This age was a meeting ground of the
two divergent and incongruous periods—the old and the new, the Medieval and the
Renaissance. The leaven of the Renaissance or the modern spirit was discernible on
the horizon but the Medieval Age by no means had completely passed away. The
Medieval and the Renaissance stood side by side. The distinctive feature of the
Medieval mind is its belief in spirituality and abstract ideas, whereas the Reniassance
lays emphasis on the sensuous and the concrete. In the attitude towards society the
Medieval mind supports communism ; the Renaissance advocates individualism. The
Medieval mind does not tolerate free thought, speculation and reason. "The right of
private judgment, which lies at the very foundation of Protestantism is nothing but a
corollary of the individualism of the Renaissance." (R. K. Root)
Geoffrey Chaucer — the Father of English poetry and who is so much the
greatest figure in the English literature of the fourteenth century that he has thrown all
his contemporaries completely into the shade, was born about 1340 in London. His father
did a flourishing business as a merchant vintner.
No information is available about his childhood. But it is evident from the wide
and varied scholarship which characterises his writings that he must have enjoyed the
advantages of the liberal education.
Some time after this he married, and became valet of the king's chamber. From
that time onward he was for many years closely connected with the court. He was often
entrusted with diplomatic missions on the continent, two of them being to Italy. He was
thus brought into direct touch with Italian culture in the days of the early Renaissance and
may even have met Petrarch and Boccaccio, to the former of whom he makes pointed
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reference in the prologue to the 'Clerkes Tale'. During these years he received many
marks of royal favour, and for a time, sat in Parliament as knight of the shire of Kent.
But after the overthrow of the Lancastrian party and the banishment of his special
patron, John of Gaunt, he fell on evil days and with approaching age felt the actual
pinch of poverty.
Fortunately, on the accession of John of Gaunt's son, Henry IV, things mended
with him, and the grant of a royal pension at once placed him beyond want and anxiety.
Like Shakespeare and Milton he was, on the contrary, a man of the world and of
affairs. He had travelled much; he had seen life; his business at home and abroad brought
him into intimate relations with people of all sorts; and with his quick insight into character
and his keen eye for everything dramatic and picturesque and humorous, he was precisely
the king of poet to profit by such varied experiences. There is much that is purely bookish
in his writings; but in the best of them we are always aware that he is not merely
drawing upon what he has read, but that his genius is being fed by his wide and deep
knowledge of life itself.
It is usual and convenient to divide Chaucer's literary career into three periods,
which are called his French, his Italian and his English period, respectively. His genius
was nourished, to begin with, on the French poetry and romance which formed the
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favourite reading of the court and cultivated society during the time of his youth.
Naturally he followed the fashion, and his early work was done on French models.
Thus, besides translating portions at least of the then popular Roman de la Rose, he
wrote, among other quite imitative things, an allegory on the death of Blanche, John of
Gaunt's wife, which he called 'The Boke of the Duchesse' (1369), and which is wholly in
the manner of the reigning French school.
Then, almost certainly as a direct result of his visits to Italy French influences
disappear, and Italian influences take their place.
In this second period (1370-84), Chaucer is the disciple of the great Italian
masters, for 'The House of Fame' clearly owes much to Dante while 'Troylus and
Cryseyde', by far his longest single poem, is based upon, and in part translated from,
Boccaccio's 'Filostrato'.
To the close of this period the unfinished 'Legende of Good Women' may also
be referred.
To this last period belong, together with sundry minor poems, the 'Canterbury
Tales', in which we have Chaucer's most famous and most characteristic work.
When the sweet showers of April have pierced the dry soil of March down to
the roots, and bathed every vein in moisture so that from its vital power the flowers
are born. When the West wind has also breathed upon the tender shoots in every glade
and field with its sweet breath or the spring sun has completed half of its course
through the sign of the Rain and little birds that sleep all night with eyes open (for the
dawn) make their music because their hearts are so thrilled by nature - then people
become anxious to go on pilgrimage and palmers to seek strange shores (visiting the
shrines) of distant saints famous in many lands and above all from the ends of every
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county in England, they proceed to Canterburry to seek the holy blessed martyr (St.
Thomas) who has helped them when they were sick.
One day in that season, as I stayed at the Tabard Inn in Southwak ready to go
with devout heart on my pilgrimage to Canterburry, there happened to come to the inn
in the evening as many as twenty nine in a party, a mixed company whom chance had
brought together and they were all pilgrims who planned to ride to Canterbury. Rooms
and stable were ample and we were entertained comfortably in the best manner. And
to be brief, by sunset I had spoken with everyone of them so that from thereon I
became one of their party and we agreed to rise early to start our journey to
Canterbury, as I describe it to you.
But nevertheless, while I still have the time and space (and) before I continue
this tale, I think it is reasonable to tell you all of the condition of each of them as it
appeared to me and who they were and of what station and also the manner in which
they were dressed; and I will begin with a Knight.
There was a Knight who was an honourable man. From the time that he had first
begun to go on compaigns he had loved chivalry, truth, honour, generosity and courtesy. He
had been very brave in the war of his feudal superior ; Moreover while no man had ridden
further than he in Christendom and heathen countries and he had always been acclaimed for his
bravery. He had been at Alexandria when it was captured. On many occasions he had sat at
the head of the table as the most honoured guest in company with the Teutonic Knights. In
Lithuania and Russia had no Christian man of his rank so often gone on military expedition. In
Granada he had been present at the siege of Algeeria and had ridden in Benmarin. He was present'at
Layas and Attaila when they were captured and in the Medittareanean he had been a member
of many noble expeditions./ He had partaken in fifteen mortal battles and had fought for our faith
at Tremsen in three tournaments, always killing his foe. This same brave Knight had also at
one time been with the Lord of Palathia against another heathen in Turkey, since which he had a
great reputation. And although he was brave, he was also wise, and his bearing was as meek as a
girl's.
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He had never spoken in a manner unworthy of a gentleman to any sort of1 person in all
his life. He was a true perfect and noble Knight. But now to tell you of his attire, his horses
were good but he was not gaudily dressed. He wore a gypon (a short vest-like coat worn
under armour) of stout cotton cloth, which was soiled with his coat of mail, for he had recently
returned from his expedition, and was on his way to do his pilgrimage.
With him there was his son, a young squire - a lover and a gay'probationer
with hair curled as if it had been laid in a press. I think he was twenty years old. He
was of moderate height and very active and very strong and once only he had been on
a military expedition in Flanders, Artois and Picardy, where he had distinguished
himself, considering his lack of opportunity, as he wished to stand in his lady's favour.
His coat was embroidered all full of fresh white and red flowers, like a meadow. He
sang and played the flute all day and was as fresh as the month of May. His gown was
short, with long wide sleeves. He knew how to sit his horse well and how to ride
excellently. He could compose songs and verses, joust, draw well, write and also
dance. He was so passionate that at night time he slept no more than a nightingale
does. He was courteous, modest and ready to serve and carved for his father at table.
With him was a Yeoman but no other servant, for it was his pleasure' to ride in
that manner. The Yeoman wore a coat and hood of green and very carefully carried a
sheaf of shiny sharp arrows fitted with peacock feathers under his pouch. In true
Yeoman fashion he took great care over his equipment and his arrows never fell short
because of faulty feathers. He carried a long bow in his hand, his head was closely
shaven and his face was brown. He knew all the techniques of carpentry and carried a
fine guard on his arm, a sword and shield on one side, and a finely decorated spear-
shaped dagger on the other side. He wore a shining silver picture of St. Christopher on
his breast. He also carried a horn which had a green baldric. 1 feel certain that he was
a true Woodsman.
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There was also a Nun, a Prioress, who smiled very naturally and coyly. The
strongest oath was shown only by St. Loy and she was called Madame Eglentyne. She
sang the divine service fluently, nasalizing her singing in a fitting manner and she
spoke French very well and elegantly, according to the school of Stratford-by-Bow,
because she was not familiar with Parisian French, Moreover she had been taught well
how to behave at table. She allowed no morsel to fall from her lips nor wet her tongue
deeply in the gravy. She could pick up and keep a morsel well so that no food dropped
nor fell upon her breast. 2'
She set great store by good manners. She wiped her mouth so clean that no small particle
of grease was to be seen in her cup. When she had finished her drink she reached out very
daintily for her food and she certainly was very mirthful while her behaviour was very
pleasant and amiable. She took pains to imitate court manners and to be of stately
deportment so as to be regarded worthy of reverence. But now to mention her
sensitiveness, she was so charitable and so merciful that she would weep if she saw a dead or
bleeding mouse caught in a trap. She had some small dogs which she fed on raost-meat or
milk and bread made of fine white flour. But she would weep piteously if one of them died or
if somebody hit one sharply with a stick and she was all sensibility and tenderness of heart. Her
wimple was attractively pleated ; her nose was long and well formed, her eyes were as grey as
glass ; her mouth was very small and in addition soft and red but certainly she had a noble
forehead. I believe it was almost a span broad ; certainly she was not below average height. I
was aware that her cloak was very neat around her arm, she wore a small rosary made with
coral gauded with green beads and on it hung a beautiful gold broach on which was written
first a capital " A " and after ' Love conquers all things'. Riding with her were another Nun
who served as her assistant and three priests,
There was a Monk, a good one above all others, who had been appointed to visit the
various properties owned by the monastery and who loved hunting. He was an upright person
and well fitted to be an abbot. He had many valuable horses in his stable and when he rode one
could hear his bridle clearly jingling in a whistling wind as the loud as the chapel bell of the small
monastery where this lord was head. Because the rule of St. Maurers or of St. Benedict was old
and some-what strict, this same Monk ignored the seold things and held his course in conformity
with the new order of things. The Monk did not care for the value of a hen that had lost its
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feathers for the text that says that hunters are not holy men, and that a monk out of the cloister is
as a fish out of the water. But that same text he regarded as not worth an oyster and I said he had
good opinions. Why should he study and make himself mad by studying a book in the cloister, or
work and labour with his hands as Augustine bids? How will this benefit the world? Let
Augustine have his work reserved for himself. Thus he was a hard rider in the hunt all right,
and he had grey hounds who were as swift as birds on the wing, tracking and hunting the hare
by its footmarks was his only pleasure, for which he would spare no cost. I saw that his
sleeves were fringed at the wrist with expensive grey fur the finest in the land for fastening
his hood under his chin he had a curiously shaped brooch wrought in gold, while there was a
love knot in the bigger end. This bald head and his face shone like glass as if he had been
anointed. He was a very fat lord and in good condition. His eyes were bright and rolled in
his head, which shone like a cauldron furnace. His boots were supple and his horses in fine
condition; without a doubt he was a good prelate, He was not pale like a tormented and
wasted ghost and his favourite roast was a fat swan. His palfrey was as brown as a berry.
His companion (i.e. the Sergeant) was a Franklin, with a beard as white as a
daisy; he was of sanguine temperament, and liked to have wine, with pieces of bread
or cake dipped into it, in the morning. His desire was always to live in pleasure for he
was a true son of Epicurus, who held the opinion that great pleasure was in reality
perfect happiness. He was a great householder, being a veritable St. Julian in his
district and his bread cellar was known nowhere else. His house was never without
pies of fish and meat and those in such plenty that in house it snowed food and drink
and all the delicacies that one could think of; he varied his food or supper according to
the seasons of the year. He had very many fat partridges in a coop and great numbers
of beams and pikes in his fish pond. Woe betide his cook if his sauce was not
pungent and sharp and with food all the day long. At county meetings of the Assizes
he was representative and Chairman, and on many occasions, he had been Knight of
the Shire. A dagger and a hawking pouch hung at his girdle, which was as white as
morning milk. He had been a Sheriff and a legal auditor; nowhere was there such a
distinguished landowner.
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For this occasion they had brought a cook with them, to boil chickens with
marrow-bones, sharp flavoured powder and galingale spice. He could recognize the
flavour of London ale, and could roast, steam, boil and fry, make stew and bake a pie
well. But I felt it was a great pity that he had gangrene on his skin. His masterpiece
was minced chicken in white sauce.
There was a shipman who lived far away to the west country for ought I know,
he came from Dartmouth. He rode upon a farm – nag as well as he could, in a gown
of course woollen cloth, (stretching) to the knee. He had a dagger hanging on a cord
about his neck which passed down under his arm. The hot summer sun had made his
complexion quite brown, and undoubtedly he was a rascal. He had stolen very many
mouthfuls of wine on the journey home from Bordeaux while the merchant slept. He
was not troubled by a scrupulous conscience for if he fought and gained the upper
hand, he threw his prisoners into the sea; with regard to his profession there was no
one from Hull to Carthagena as good as (he) at calculating the tides, the currents and
the dangers that beset him, the harbours and (the phases of) the moon and the art of
piloting a ship. He was bold and prudent in his undertaking and his beard had been
shaken by many a tempest. He knew well the havens as they lay from Gottland to
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Cape Finisterre, and every creek in Brittany and in Spain. His vessel was named the
Magdalene.
With us there was a doctor of medicine; there was no one like him in all the
world in the sphere of medicine and surgery, for he was well versed in astrology; he
took very great care of his patients at the critical hours by means of astrology. He was
skilful in choosing a favourite time for making astrological figures for his patients
when the influence of the planets would make these most effective. He knew the
cause fo every disease; whether it came from excess of hot, cold, moist or dry and
where they had originated and in what ‘humour’ : he was a very perfect practitioner.
Once the cause and origin of the malady was known, he at once gave the sick man his
remedy. He had his chemists always prepared to send him drugs and medicinal
powders, as each of them brought profit to the other; their friendship was no new
thing. He was familiar with the old Aesculapius, with Dioscorides, and also Rufus.
Old Hippocrates, Hali and Galen, Serapion, Rhazes and Avicenna, Avenoes, John of
Damascus, Constantine, Bernard, Gaddesden and Gilbertine. In his diet he was
temperate, as it was very nourishing and easily digestible and contained no excesses.
He very seldom studied the Bible. He was dressed in red and blue- grey lined with
taffeta, and thin silk and yet his expenditure was moderate; he saved what he earned
during times of plague. Since Gold is the heart stimulant in medicine, he thus
especially loved it.
There was a good wife from near Bath, but she was somewhat deaf, and this
was a pity. She was so skilful at cloth- making that she surpassed those of Ypres and
Ghent. Of all the parish wives there was none who had the right to go to the offering
(i.e. bread and wine offered at the altar for consecration) before her, and if one did,
she became so angry that she showed no charity. Her head coverings were very finely
woven and I can swear that the ones she wore on Sunday weighed ten pounds. Her
stockings were of the finest scarlet and very tightly laced, while her shoes were very
soft and new. She had a bold fair face, with red complexion She had been a wealthy
woman all her life and had been married legally on five occasions besides having
other lover in her youth, but for the present there is no need to speak about that. She
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had thrice been to Jerusalem and had crossed many a foreign river. She had been to
Rome, Boulogne, Cologne, and to the shrine of St. James in Galicia ; she knew a great
deal about traveling along the roads. To tell the truth she was gap-toothed. She sat
easily upon her ambling horse, well provided with a wimple and with a hat as large as
a small round shield. She had a large foot-cloth about her hips and on her feet a pair
of sharp spurs. In company she knew well how to laugh and chatter; perhaps she
knew (Ovid’s) Remedia amoris for she was well versed in all the approved devices of
love-making.
There was a good religious man, a poor town parson, who (nevertheless) was
rich in pious thoughts and deeds. He was also an educated man, a scholar, who
genuinely preached Christ’s Gospel and devoutly taught his parishioners. He was
gentle, extremely hard working and had proved himself on numerous occasions to be
very patient in adversity. He was extremely reluctant to demand his tithes, and
undoubtedly would give his poor parishioners in the neighbourhood his Easter money
and also his own property. His material needs were easily satisfied. Those who were
in sickness or in adversity were visited by the Parson, who trudged staff in hand to the
farthest reaches of his wide parish, with houses far asunder, in all weathers and at all
times. The shepherd set a noble example to his flock, which he had learnt from the
Gospel. He first practised good works and then taught them. If a priest be ungodly in
whom congregants place their trust – then the sinful man will quickly degenerate for
should gold rust what can be expected of iron? But it is an even greater shame to
have a sinful shepherd and pure sheep. By his clean living, a priest should set an
example to his parishioners. The Parson did not hire out his services leaving his
congregants without leadership, nor did he run to St. Paul’s in London to answer the
advertisement of some craft gild for a chaplain to be retained by that body, instead he
stayed at home to guard his flock from mischief; he was a true parson, not a
mercenary. And although he was a virtuous and holy person, he did not despise sinful
men, nor was gentle and discreet. His task was to save souls by setting a good
example. But should a person prove obstinate, then the parson should sharply reprove
the erring parishioner, no matter what his station was in life, I believe that a better
priest is to be found nowhere else. He did not seek honour or respect, nor was he so
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over concerned with fine points that he lost sight of the lessons of Christ and his
twelve Apostles, which he taught though first followed them himself.
With him (i.e. the Parson) was his brother, a Plowman, who in his time, had
pulled many a cart- load of manure, for he was a good, honest worker who lived
peacefully and was charitable to all. Whether it caused him pleasure or pain, he loved
God with his whole heart at all times and (next to God) he loved his neighbours as
himself. To please God, he was prepared to thresh, dig ditches, and lay water
channels for all poor folk without charge if he possibly could. He paid the tithes
derived from his own labour and those derived from the profits on his stock fully and
regularly. He wore a sleeveless oat and rode a mare”.
The Miller was an exceedingly stout fellow, with very big muscles and bones;
these served him well, for everywhere he went he always won the wrestling contests.
He was a short-shouldered, broad thick set fellow and there was no door that he could
not heave off its hinge, or break open by running at it with his head. He had a broad,
spade-like beard, which was as red as a sow or a fox. He had a mark on the tip of his
nose, which was surmounted by a tuft of red hair, which resembled the bristles in a
sow’s ear; he had flaring black nostrils. A sword and a small round shield hung at his
side; his mouth was a wide as a great furnace. He was an idle talker and a teller of
indecent stories of sin and harlotries. He well knew how to steal corn and take his toll
three times, and yet, by God, he had a thumb of gold (in other words he illustrated the
old proverb, ‘An honest miller has a golden thumb’ – i.e. he was as honest as millers
go, which implies that he was not honest at all). He wore a white coat and a blue
hood. He could blow and play a bagpipe well, and with it he piped us. (i.e. the
pilgrim party) out of town.
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There was a noble Manciple who served a College for lawyers, from whom
buyers of victuals take an example on how prudently to purchase – for, whether he
bought for cash or on credit he always came out well and ahead of everyone else.
Now, is not God good to allow an ignorant fellow to surpass the learned in sharp
wits? He had ore than thirty masters who were expert and skilled lawyers of which
there were a dozen in that college capable of being stewards of income and property
for any lord in England not only could they have seen to it that such a lord lived
honourably on his own income or as economically as he pleased unless he was mad
but they were able to help a whole country in any legal dispute that might arise and
yet, in spite of all this, the Manciple made fools of them all.
The Reeve was slightly-built, bad tempered man, whose beard was shaven
closely to the skin, while his hair was cut around his ears and tonsured shortly at the
front of his head in priestly fashion; his legs were as long and thin as walking sticks,
and his calves could not be seen. He well knew how to keep a granary and a bin and
no auditor could detect mistake in his accounts, while by observing the dry and rainy
seasons of the year, he knew exactly when to sow and when to reap. This Reeve was
in complete charge of his lord’s sheep, cattle, dairy, swine, horses, stock and poultry.
Ever since his lord was twenty years old he had been under contract to render the
estate accounts and no one could ever discover him to be in arrears. There was no
bailiff, herdman or farm labuorer who was in any way cunning or deceitful that he did
not know about and they were as fearful of him as of the plague. His pleasant home
upon the heath was shaded with green trees. He could make purchases more
advantageously than his lord could and he had secretly enriched his own barns
through craftily pleasing his lord by giving and lending him even from his own
property and being rewarded with the lord’s thanks and gifts of a gown and hood. In
his youth he had learnt a useful trade and could work competently as a carpenter.
This Reeve sat upon a low-bred, undersized horse of dapple grey which was called
Scot; he wore a long overcoat of bluish grey carried a rusty sword by his side. This
Reeve of whom I am speaking came from Norfolk and lived near a town called
Baldewelle. His long coat was tucked into his girdle in friar-like fashion and he
always rode at the rear of the company.
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With us in that place was a Summoner (i.e. one paid to summon serves to trial
before an ecclesiastical Court) who had a fiery red cherubic face covered with
pimples. His eyes were small and he was as lustful and lecherous as a sparrow, while
his eye brows were scably and black and his beard scanty – children were afraid of his
appearance. There was no quicksilver lead-ointment sulphur, borax, white lead,
cream of tartar, or any other ointment which could cleanse and cauterize his skin, rid
him of his white pimples and cure the boils, which disfigured his cheeks. He was
passionately fond of garlic, onions and leeks and loved strong blood red wine, and,
under its influence, he would shout and loved strong blood red wine, and under its
influence, he would shout and cry out as if he had taken leave of his senses – (in fact)
when he was well he was well sodden with wine he would only speak Latin. He knew
two or three legal phrases which he had learnt from some document, which was no
wonder since he heard such terms all day long and it is well known that the parrot can
call out Walter as well as the Pope. But if any one questioned him on something else,
it would soon be found that he had exhausted all his knowledge and would cry out
‘What section of the law applies to this case?” Although he was a good-natured,
gentle rogue and one would not find a better fellow, yet, in return for a quarter of
wine, he would turn a blind eye on a friend’s immorality for 12 months. He well
knew how to plunder a foolish fellow and if he encountered some doubtful rascal, he
would put his mind at rest and teach him not to be afraid of the Archdeacon’s powers
of excommunication unless his soul lay in his purse (i.e. he was a miser) for it was
only in the purse that punishment need take place – ‘purse is the Archadeaon’s hell’
he declared. For my part I know quite well that he lied since every guilty man should
fear excommunication in which lies the path of death just as absolution will save the
soul so one should certainly be wary of excommunication (significant’ was the first
word in the writ authorising the seizure of the goods of an excommunicated person).
According to his own way, he had all the young people of the diocese in his power,
since he knew all their secrets and acted as their adviser. He wore on his forehead a
garland which was large enough to have served as an inn-sign, while he had made a
small shield for himself and of a loaf of bread.
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Alongside the Summoner there rode a noble Pardoner from the Priory of
Rouncivale, his friend and his companion, who had recently come from the (Papal)
Court of Rome, and who loudly sage the song ‘Come hither, love, to me!” while the
Summoner accompanied him in such a deep bass that a trumpet could never make half
as much din. This Pardoner had hair as yellow as wax which hung smoothly like a
bundle of flax, his lacks hung in narrow strands and covered his shoulders. Out of
jolliness he wore no hood, which was packed in his bag, for to him it seemed more
festive to ride bareheaded, except for a cap on his disheveled locks, on which he had
embroidered a copy of St. Veronica’s handkerchief. He had hare-like, staring eyes, a
voice as thin as a goat and wore no beard-nor was he likely to have one, as his chin
was as smooth as if just recently shaved. His bag lay on his lap before him brimful of
pardons, hot from Rome, and with regard to his profession, there was never such a
pardoner from Berwick down to Ware. In his bag he had a pillow case which he
claimed was our Lady’s Veil; he said he had a piece of the sail belonging to St. Peter
when the latter walked upon the sea until Jesus Christ saved him; he had a cross of
brass studded with stones, and the bones of a pig in a glass. By means of these relics
he made more money in a day than a poor county parson can make in two months.
And thus with feigned flattery and tricks he made fools of the person and his
congregants. But in conclusion he was a noble preacher in church; he could read well
a lesson or a story, but best of all he sang the ‘Mass anthem’ for he knew full well
that, when that song was sung, he might preach and polish his tongue to gain silver;
and as he could do this excellently, so he sang even more cheerfully and loudly.
Now in a few words I have accurately told you the condition, the attire, the
number and also the purpose of this company assembling in Southwark at this
excellent hostelry called the Tabard, close beside this excellent hostelry called the
Tabard, close beside the Bell. But now it is true to tell you how we spent that evening
after arriving at the inn, thereafter I will recount our journey and all the rest of our
pilgrimage.
But first of all, I beg your courtesy not to think me ill-bred, if I speak plainly
about this matter, telling you of their words and there actions, though I report their
speech accurately. For you know as well as I do that anyone who wishes to repeat a
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tale he had heard from another, must repeat if possible, every phrase as faithfully as
he can, eventhough these be rough and rude; otherwise, if it is recast into refined
works and fresh phrases, the story will no longer be genuine. The story-teller must
not filnch, eventhough it were his brother’s word he is repeating for, having spoken
one word, he might as well complete the tale. Christ himself spoke quite openly in
the Holy Scriptures, and you are well aware that there is nothing unseemly therein.
And Plato also says, for those able to read him that ‘The words must be closely
related to the facts’.
I also beg of you to forgive me if I have not placed the people of the story in
their proper places according to their rank in life, since you will realize that my
knowledge (about these matters) is limited.
Our Host provided good fare for everyone of us, set us down to supper without
more ado, and served as with an excellent meal, during which we were glad to drink
the strong wine. Our Host was a striking person, fit to be master of ceremonies in a
guild hall. He was a well-built man, with bright eyes-there was certainly no more
prosperous citizen in Cheapside; although outspoken in his speech, he was both
prudent and tactful and lacked none of the manly qualities. In addition, he was an
extremely cheerful fellow, and after supper began to play music, while among other
things, when we had paid our accounts, he spoke as follows : ‘Now my masters, you
are truly and heartily welcome : by my troth I am not lying when I declare that I have
not seen this year such a cheerful company in this tavern as is now gathered all
together. I am anxious to entertain you to the best of my ability and a thought has just
struck me of some fun to put you at your ease, which will cost you nothing at all.
You are going to Canterbury – May God speed you on your way and the
blessed martyr grant you your reward. And I have no doubt, that you go along the
way you intend to tell stories and entertain ourselves, since it is neither pleasure nor
fun to ride along the road in stony silence. Consequently, as I said just now, I shall
provide some fun for you and see that you are cheerful. If you are all in unanimous
agreement to stand by my decision and do what I tell you as you ride along the way
tomorrow, then, by the soul of my late father, you can have my head if I don’t succeed
in cheering you up’. Without further ado let us have a show of hands.
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We were not long about making up our minds as it was not worthwhile
making it a subject for serious discussion. We granted his request at once and asked
him to announce his plans whenever he pleased. ‘Masters, he said, Listen to me
carefully, but I pray you, do not be disdainful of what I have to say. To cut a long
story short, the point is this: to shorten the journey each member of his pilgrimage
shall tell two tales. I mean, two on the way to Centerbury, and a further two on the
homeward trip, of adventures that once actually happened. And that one who acquits
himself best of all, that is to say, the one who relates stories of the highest moral
teaching and edification on this occasion, shall be given a supper in this very tavern at
the expenses of all of us when we return from Canterbury. And, to cheer you up all
the more, I shall gladly accompany you on your trip. Pay my own expense and serve
you as your guide, And if any one disputes my decision he shall pay all our traveling
expenses. If you agree that this plan should be carried out tell me immediately
without any further discussion and I will straightway prepare myself.
The promise was made and we swore our oaths with glad hearts, requesting
him to carry on as he planned, and asking him to serve as our leader, so that he could
judge and comment on our tales and we would abide by all his decisions. We also
asked him to prepare a (return) supper at a quoted price. Thus we unanimously set
him up in judgment over us and wine was served at once. After drinking it, everyone
retired without further delay.
With the coming of dawn next morning our host was up first and awoke us all
like a cock. He gathered us all together in a company and we rode forth at little more
than a walking pace to St. Thomas’s Well. There our host reined in his horse and
said, ‘Gentleman, listen if you please – although you probably recall our plan, I shall
remind you about it. If you are still in agreement with what we arranged last evening,
let us now see who shall tell the first story. As I hope to go on drinking good wine
and ale, whoever opposes my decision will pay for all our traveling expenses. Now let
us draw lots before we go any further, and he who draws the shortest straw will make
a start. Sir Knight,” he went on, “my lord and master, draw your straw, for that is
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my decision. come nearer” he said “my lady Prioress, and you Sir Clerk, don’t be shy
and come out of your day-dream; let every one show a hand.
Immediately everyone came forward for the draw, and, to be brief. whether it
was by luck, fate or chance, the truth is that the draw fell to the Knight. This pleased
everyone tremendously, for he now had to tell his story as was only right, according
to our arrangement, as you have heard. What more need I add?” When this good
man saw what had happened, he said, like one who is prudent to his freely given
promise, “Since I must begin the entertainment, in God’s name let the draw be
welcome! Let us continue our journey, and listen to what I have to say.” And with
these words we rode forth on our pilgrimage; and in right cheerful mood, be began to
tell his tale forthwith relating it as follows :
In the “Prologue to the canterbury Tales” the members of the English society
pause before us long enough for us to identify each one. Each has his own life and an
identity which is for all time, yet together they sum up a society.
All the writers of the fourteenth century reveal some aspect of contemporary
life and of prevailing feeling and thought. In poets like Wychiff Gower and hangland,
and the unknown poet of Pearl, we get a partial view of life and society in which they
lived. But Chaucer’s work reflects his century not in fragments, but completely.
More than this, he is often able to discern permanent feathers beneath the garments of
a day, to penetrate to the everlasting springs of human action. His truthful pictures of
his age and country contain a truth which is of all time and all countries. He portrays
the social and literary tendencies of the eighteenth century in his poems in the most
faithful way, and voices forth its ideals, hopes and aspirations. Chaucer, can very
well be considered they representative of the world of fourteenth century England.
There are thirty of the pilgrims, following the most diverse trades. The knight
with his son, the squire, and the Yeoman who bore the Squire’s arms, represent the
fighting class. A Doctor of Physic, a Man of Law, a Clerk of Oxford, and the poet
himself, give a glimpse of the liberal profession. The land is represented by a
Ploughman, a Miller, a Reeve and a Franklin; trade by a Merchant and a shipman; the
crafts by a Wife of Bath, a Haberdasher, a Carpenter a Wabbe or Weaves, a Dyer, and
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a Tapicer; the victuallars by a Municipal, a cook, and the Host of the Tabard. The
secular clergy provide the good Parson, and the odios summoner of an ecclesiastical
court, who are joined on the road by a Canon addicted to alchnecy. The monastic
orders supply a full contingent – a rich Benedicture. Monk, a Prioress with her chaplin
Nun, a mendicant Frias; and not far from these religious lurks a doubtfully accredited
Pardones.
The type of the clergy abounding in worldliness that the Monk represents
becomes the subject of Chaucer’s satire. There is no evidence to establish the
individual identity of the mark. He is a composite portrait serving as a comment on
the general deterioration in monasteries and the need for reforms in the functioning of
the church. Though the portrait of the clerk recalls many of the trades of a philosopher
there is an undercurrent of irony in Chaucer’s pun on the meaning of philosophers.
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most disreputable among the pilgrims. All these characters represents the secular
interests. Medicine as a science was still in its infancy when Chaucer wrote. The
influence of the stars on man’s behaviour fortune and health is deeply believed by the
people. The doctor also shares this faith.
The position of women in the medieval church differed essentially from that of
men. Chaucer’s Madame Eglentine suits the world of the elegant country club in
every respect. In this she was typical of the common patterns of nuns who ought
normally to have remained unseen and in seclusion. She is simple and coy, given to
affection. For example, she sings the service divine in a nasal voice. She does not
know the French of Paris, but can speak French of the school of Straford Att Bowe
very well. She has fine table manners, and lets no morsel fall on her dress. She is
refined and delicate and does not soil her fingers in the sauce.
The wife of Bath has evoked diverse comments. Some consider her coarse and
dissolute, while others consider her to be a refreshing extrovert. But her good humour,
warmth and outspokenness are seldom lost on the readers. Next to her love affairs,
what she relish most if traveling in gay company. Love of travel rather than religious
zeal is what prompts her to undertake a pilgrimage. The prologue to her tale is vivid
account of her varied married life.
Chaucer endows the Prioress with physical charms normally associated with
the ladies of romance and of the court. Her habits too are more those of a secular
heroine than of an officer in a convent. He remarks that the Prioress is “charitable
and piteous”, that is she has the virtue of charity and mercy, to be expected of
someone dedicated to a religious life. The illustration he then gives of her charity and
pity concern not other people, but her pets. The “smale houndes” get the roasted
meat, milk and finest bread that were regarded as delicacies in a society, in which, a
good many people never had enough to eat. It seems a misdirected kind of charity
and pity.
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jewellery and harbouring a love of pets rather than human beings of the less attractive
sort.
Chaucer emphasizes the prioress’ basic feminity, rather than her spiritual
qualities, “But sikerly she hadde a fair forehead “(The Prologue, 11.154). He not only
draws attention to the lady’s beauty but also reminds that as a religious her forehead
should not have been thus visible. Chaucer’s characterization of the prioress is
extremely subtle, and his satire – if it can be called satire at all – is of the gentlest and
more sympathetic sort. The closing remark about her brooch and motto has often
been misunderstood, and the whole spirit of the passage consequently misrepresented.
Chaucer’s Monk show as a great scorn for such an old- fashioned practice as
working with his hands – he is a modern! In Chaucer’s representation of the Monk
there is the same element of irony as in that of the Prioress. The Monk is also
depicted as something of a worldling. Two fundamental rules for the conduct of
monks in the Middle Ages were the obligations to work and to remain within their
cloister. For Chaucer’s Monk hunting is the favourite pastime and he indicates his
irritation with those who objected to hunting clergy in a homely and vividly phrase: It
is significant that the aristocratic sport of hunting, to which he was so addicted, was
forbidden to all monks. He might only fish in preparation for the days of abstinence
when meat was forbidden.
The Friar had little interest in penitence; his purpose was to gain a “good
pittance”. Chaucer acidly describe the Friar’s view that all the sinner needs to do is
to give money to a “poor” order to obtain divine forgiveness. The Friar knows the
taverns and barmaids of every town far better than the lepers or beggers: The foibles
of the Prioress are also treated with amused indulgences. But for the two clerics the
Summoner and the Pardoner hold offices which lend themselves to abuse, and of this
they take full advantage. The Pardoner, the Friar and the Summoner are his interest in
rogues, ecclesiastics and preachership. For the Friar and the Summoner he has
created a comody of contempt, bordering in the case of the Summoner on hatred. His
full comedy of hatred is reserved for the Pardoner, who is the centre of the ironic
rather than a satiric vision.
Both men are shown as a sick men, hysterical and a little mad, and this should
be interpreted in both the spiritual and physical senses. Had they been healthy they
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might have been included earlier in the list of ecclesiastics and their power is literary
creations might have been diminished. Like many of Chaucer’s creation they stem
from the popular evaluation of living men.
That there were many abuses in the life and work of the Church in the later
fourteenth century is also evident from the prologue. They took many forms, but
underlying them all was a desire for personal gain, whether in the shape of wealth, or
personal honour, or greater material comfort. Chaucer’s Monk enjoyed hunting a
great deal more than the studious seclusion of his cloister, and a prioress is as aware
of worldly esteem as the very worldly wife of Bath or the equally aspiring
tradesman’s wives mentioned in the lines 376 – 78. And as for the desire for gain, it
is obvious from the clothes worn by pilgrims pledged to simple and austere living and
the unscrupulous dealings to others, whether men of the church like the Friar and the
Pardoner or the Shipman or the Miller. There were quite a few among Chaucer’s
twenty nine pilgrims who were ready to ignore both the teaching and the warnings of
their church for the sake of personal profit. One can be sure that Chaucer was not
exaggerating the evils of the society of his time.
On the other hand, there were those who took their faith and observances more
seriously, like the knight ho hastened to Canterbury to give thanks after his latest
campaign, or the Parson whom Chaucer singles out as a model of righteous unselfish
living. Chaucer is always ready to give praise when he finds to do so. It so happens
that the result in both cases is the same, for whether Chaucer is criticizing or
commending people’s conduct he is drawing attention to their relationship with the
Church and stressing the latter’s importance in his time. It is because the Church was
still so much the centre of the medieval society that Chaucer includes nines
ecclesiastical pilgrims among his company and devotes more than three hundred lines
of The Prologue to the description of the seven of them.
As professional churchmen and women they would attract attention not only
as individuals, but as representatives of the Church, and Chaucer packs a good deal of
criticism in to these seven portraits. Although he makes allowances, he speaks out
boldly against corrupt institutions like the selling of pardons, for which the church
itself was primarily to blame. The contrast with the lay pilgrims is obvious, for they
are not representatives in the same way: the Miller may not be scrupulously honest,
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but there is nothing wrong with milling as a trade, and similarly with the other crafts
and professions. This is not to say, of course, that the church pilgrims are somehow
“types” and others not; far from it; Chaucer does seem to suggest that while an
irresponsible or corrupt churchman does harm to the whole church a dishonest trader
does not in the same way harm the whole of his profession.
And with the exception of the Parson, and perhaps his brother the ploughman,
all pilgrims, especially the churchmen, have their eyes very much on things of this
world. In an age when so many members of the clergy were lax and selfish and
neglectful of their duties, he stands out as almost unbelievably righteous and
conscientious. Indeed, the only fault is his lack of patience with obstinate sinners.
Chaucer was not content to make his pilgrims typical only of their several
callings. Sometimes a classification of another kind crosses with that by traders and
enriches it. Thus the squire stands for youth and the Ploughman for the perfect
charity stands for the humble, while in the Wife of Bath there is the essence of satire
against women. Nor is this all. Chaucer, by details he was observed for himself, puts
life into conventional descriptions and generalizations made by others. He adds
individual to generic features; even when he paints a type he gives the impression that
he is painting some one person whom he hyappens to have met. He mixes these two
elements in varying proportions and with great although imperceptible skill. His
figures, a little more generated would be frozen into symbolism, mere cold
abstractions, while a few more purely individual features would cause confusion,
destroying landmarks and leading attention astray. Chaucer does not only draw frank
or delicately traced portraits which give to his character the immobility to
permanence. He also makes each pilgrim step out the frame in which he first placed
him.
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Thus English society, which to the visionary England seemed a swarming and
confused mass, a mob of men stumbling against each other in the semi-darkness of a
nightmare, was distributed by Chaucer among a group which is clearly seen, restricted
in size, and representative. Its members pause before us long enough for us to
identity each one. Each has his own life and an identity which is for all time, yet
together they sum up a society.
The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales has, ever since Dryden’s day, been
recognized as one of Chaucer’s sure master-pieces. The Prologue contains pictures
from the fourteen century England which no Medieval writer had ever attempted.
They are full of direct and personal touches. Chaucer with a universal artful talent
makes the speaker unconsciously a self – satirist. The extraordinary vividness and
precision of the presentment of images, whether complicated or simple, is remarkable.
His astonishing command of rhetoric, his “gold dewdrops of speech” is wonderful.
The inexhaustible freshness and propriety of his phrase deserve all praise and
appreciation. Chaucer is the earliest English poet who can, without reservations and
allowances, be called great and what is more, one of the greatest even to the present
day.
The Prologue describes the cavalcade of the pilgrims to the shrine of Becket
and depicts each in a series of wonderful vignettes. His catalogue opens with the
prioress and the Monk, who were fairly high in the scale; continues with the Friar and
Nun’s priest or Chaplain; turns next to the Person and the Clerk, and ends with the
Summoner and the Pardoner who are left at the tail of the list because they were in a
literal sense the dregs, and brought disgrace to the Church by their malpractices. Had
the prioress been less worldly she should have been excluded from the list, but since
she is the unique Madame Eglentine she is out in the world, and demands inclusion.
The Monk from his monastery; the prioress from her convent, her attendant
priest, the village parson, and the roaming Friar, sufficiently covered the more usual
religious categories. The courtly pretensions of the prioress and the humble origins of
the parson, the brother of Pluoghman, showed the comparative unimportance of
personal rank in the religious life. At an infinite moral and social depth below all
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these came the pardoner and the summoner. Chaucer, looking about him, sees fit to
define a large proportion of his character by where they stand with regard to the
church.
The simplicity of Chaucer’s method, its complete lack of any artifice, the sure
hand with which he traced portraits to form the prologue of his Tales, are surprising.
He made is group of pilgrims into a picture of the society of his time of which the like
is not to be found elsewhere. Except for royalty and the nobles one the one hand, and
the drugs of the people on the others, two classes whom probability excluded from
sharing a pilgrimage, he painted, in brief, almost the whole English nation.
Chaucer has collected the descriptions of the pilgrims in his general prologue,
which is a true picture – gallery. His twenty – nine traveling companions make almost
as many portraits, hung from its walls. They face us, in equidistant frames, on the
same plane, all hanging on the line. Chaucer is a primitive, aiming at exactness of
feature and correctness of emblem. He is primitive also a by a certain honest
awkwardness, the unskilled stiffness of some of his outlines, and such an insistence
one minute point as at first provokes a smile. He seems to a mass details haphazard,
alternates the particular of a costume with the points of a character, drops the one for
the other, picks either up again. Sometimes he interrupts the painting of a pilgrim’s
character to put colour on him face or his tunic. It is an endearing carelessness, which
hides his art and heightens the impression he makes of veracity. Whoever enters this
gallery is first struck by some patches of brilliant colour, dominating one or other of
the portraits, the squire’s gown :
Al full of fresshe Houres, white and reede, and near him the Yeoman who
serves him ‘in coote and hood of grene.” How the Prioress’s rosary, ‘of small coral’,
with its decades, ‘guaded al with grene’, and it handing brooch’ of gold ful scheme’,
stands out against her dress! There are faces as strongly coloured as any of the fabrics
or accessories – the pustulous countenance of the sompnour, ‘a tyr-reed cherubynes
face,’
‘With skalled browes blak, and piled berd, and the Miller, whose beard ‘as any
sowe or fox was reed’ with his ward whence sprouts a tuft of red hairs, his wide and
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black nostrils, and his mouth ‘as wyde as was a great forneys. There are also duller
colours to rest the sight, and to make the cruder hues more brilliant by contrast. The
pious and modest knight was ‘nought gay’.
The poor Clerk was ‘ful threadbare’, the Man of Law’ rood but hoomly in a
medled coote’, the Reeve wore a ‘long surcote of pers’, or blue, and the good Parson
is drawn without line or colour, so that we are free to imagine him lit only by the light
of the Gospel shining from his eyes.
Essential moral characteristics are thrown into relief with the same apparent
simplicity and the same real command of means as the colours and the significant
articles of clothing. Mere statements of fact, suggestive anecdotes, particulars relating
to calling and individual traits, lines of summing up a character – all these make up a
whole which stands out upon its canvas. The outline is strong and clear, although
sometimes a little stiff, in the steady light which is shed on it, and it is unforgettable.
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refinement he found in French poetry. "A Frenchman may enter Chaucer's country and be
conscious of no change" (Legouis).
Chaucer modernised grammar and vocabulary of his tongue. He coined many new
words, and imported many others. In this way, he enriched his tongue. He imparted to
English verse a rare music and melody which is learnt from France. "His claim on our
gratitude is two-fold," says Long, "first for discovering the music that is in our English
speech and second for his influence in fixing the Midland Dialect as the literary language of
England." He changed the very nature, syntax and grammar of the English tongue.
Chaucer is the supreme story teller in verse. He has greater sense of narrative
unities and can be more precise and to the point, when he likes, than any of his
contemporaries. His mastery of the art of narration has led many to call Chaucer, the
father of the English novel. His Canterbury Tales are so many novels in miniature. They
are only to be translated into prose to become so many modern novels. That is why
'Long' has called his Prologue to the Canterbury Tales as "the Prologue to the modern
fiction."
Chaucer has his own limitations. According to Matthew Arnold, he does not
have that sublimity and high seriousness which is the sign of great poetry. He
represents the growth of intelligence and the consequent weakening of passion and
imagination. Since a lyric is a compound of imagination and passion there is lack of
lyricism in his poetry. He cannot, therefore, be regarded as great as the great classics.
Limitations of his narrative art have already been noted above.
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irony of human existence, with the rather ludicrous mockery arising from joy and
ambition dashed unexpectedly by frustration and despair.
1.9 REFERENCES
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Daiches, David A Critical History of English Lift. 1960 ; rpt. London: Martin
Secker and Warburg Ltd., 1968. I.
Howard. J. Edwin Geoffrey Chaucer. London : The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1976.
Hussey, Maurice et al., An Introduction to Chaucer. 1965 : rpt. London : Cambridge
University Press, 1968.
Lamb, Sidney. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales The Prologue. London : Coles
Publishing Company Ltd., 1967.
Skeat, W. Walter ed. Chaucer : The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, 3rd ed.
Rev. London: Oxford University Press. 1967.
Wyatt, A.J. Cd. Chaucer : The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. 1960 : rpt.
London : University Tutorial Press Ltd., 1968.
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LESSON - 2
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
THE DESERTED VILLAGE
Contents
2.0 Aims and Objectives
2.1 Introduction.
2.2 Goldsmith’s life & works.
2.3 Outline of the Poem the Deserted Village
2.4 STYLE & TECHNIQUE
2.5 Pathos in the Deserted Village
2.6 Goldsmith’s use of contrasts
2.7 Nature descriptions in the poem
2.8 The character of the village preacher
2.9 Let us Sum Up
2.10 Lesson – End Activities
2.11 References
This lesson is devoted for making you know about the Oliver
Goldsmith’s poem entitled “The Deserted Village”. After going through
this lesson you will have clear understanding of “The Deserted
Village”.
2.1 Introduction.
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where wealth accumulates, and men decay’ As the Village that met this
fate was the poet’s birth-place Lissoy in Ireland, called Auburn in
the poem, a note of melancholy homesickness runs throughout. Gating
features of the poem is its portraits of the prominent figures of the
village.
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The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, was suitable,
for the whispering lovers. How often have I blest the coming day,
All the village when free from labour ‘led up their sports beneath
the spreading tree; While many a pastime circled in the shad’,, The
young contended while the old surveyed; ‘And many a gambol frolicked
o’er the ground’, ‘There were scenes of flights of art and feats of
strength’. As e a c h repeated pleasure tired, succeeding sports
inspired the mirthful band. The dancing pair, that simply sought
renown by holding out to tire each other down; ‘The swain mistrust
less of his smutted face’.
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began,
When every rood of ground maintain’d its man; For him light
labour spread her wholesome store, Just gave what life requir’d but
gave no more: His best companions innocence and health, And his best
riches ignorance of wealth.
The first of these paragraphs, ‘III fares the land, with all
its merit, which is great, for the sentiment is noble. The affair of
depopulation had been more fully described, and is followed by a
concluding reflection. The second asserts what has been repeatedly
denied, that ‘there was a time in England, when every rood of ground
maintained its man.’ If however such a time ever was, it could not be
so recent as when the Deserted Village was flourishing, a
circumstance supposed to exist within the remembrance of the poet;
But now times had changed and Usurped the land, and
dispossessed the swain;
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The village preacher was, to all the country dear, And passing
rich with forty pounds a year; Remote from towns he ran his godly
race, never had chang’d, nor wish’d to change his place. T h e
benevolent mind cannot but yield its hearty assent to this beautiful
oblique reprehension of that avarice which makes the crimes and
errors of the poor, a pretence to justify the indulgence of its own
parsimony. A t church with meek and unaffected grace, His looks
adorne’d the venerable place; Truth from his lips prevaile’d with
double sway, and fools who came to scoff, remaine’d to pray . . .
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have become memorable pieces and are remembered for their simplicity
and sympathy. The village preacher was dear to all the country, and
passing rich with forty pounds a year. Remote from towns he ran his
godly race. He did not fawn, or seek for power. In arguing too, the
parson owned his skill. For even though ‘ Vanquished, he could argue
still. While words of learned length and thundering sound. Amaz’d the
gazing rustics rang’d around. And still they gaz’d and still the
wonder grew. That are small head could carry all he knew.
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‘sweet’ and ‘smiling,’ and ‘the loveliest of the lawn.’ We had been
told, in line 34. that ‘all its charms were fled and we are now told
that ‘its sports are fled, and its charms withdrawn.’ The ‘tyrant’s
hand,’ seems mentioned rather too abruptly; and ‘desolation saddening
the green’ is common place phraseology. The eight lines, ‘No more the
glassy brook’ are natural and beautiful; but the next two, ‘And
trembling, shrinking, introduce the subject of emigration.
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rest in heav’n. As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form, Swells
from the vale, and mid-way leaves the storm, Though’ round its breast
the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head.’
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The village preacher was pleased with his guests and was
thrilled listening indulgently to them.
The parson’s heart went out to the poor man at once and then
his hand went into his pocket, “thus to relieve the wretched was his
pride” . By helping all indiscriminately he may have been unwittingly
encouraging laziness, imposture. This would be a defect Another would
be his conniving at the spendthrift’s lie and his giving away more
than his income. But these foibles were misguided virtue and hardly
blameworthy.
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rough winds of the upper atmosphere sweep round the middle of it and
the parson’s piety was equally lofty. Trembling pupils filled with
anticipations of punishment, when they did something wrong from his
cheerful or sullen look when school assembled, the pupils could
predict whether the day would be full of misfortunes or without them
a very natural touch like the others in this portrait. A
schoolmaster’s jokes are often dull, but his pupils laugh just to
please him. His warning was slyly and quickly circulated. The simile
of the bird teaching her young to fly, and of the mountain that rises
above the storm, are not easily to be paralleled, and yet the
construction of the last is not perfect. As, in the first verse,
requires so, in the third, either expressed or implied: at present
the construction is, 'As some cliff swells from, the vale, sunshine
settles upon its head, though clouds obscure its breast.'
2.11 References
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LESSON 3
JOHN MILTON
PARADISE LOST
Contents
3.0 Aims and Objectives
3.1 Introduction.
3.2 Milton’s life and works
3.3 The theme of paradise lost
3.4 out line of paradise lost
3.5 general characteristics of milton’s poetry
3.6 style and versification
3.7 Characteristic features of an epic
3.8 Paradises lost as an epic
3.9 Character of satan
3.10 Let us sum up
3.11 Lesson – end activities
3.12 References
3.1 Introduction.
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character of Satan.
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(Book I, II 194 – 7)
…. nor appeared
Less than Arch-angel ruined, and th’ excess
of glory obscured.
(Book I, 11 592-4)
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3.12 REFERENCES
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UNIT – II
LESSON 4
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
DR. FAUSTUS
Contents
4.1 Introduction
4.5 Mephistophilis
4.9 References
4.1 INTRODUCTION:
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will be the supreme one no this earth, if and only if he will be the
supreme one on this earth and the sole possessor of all knowledge.
He undertakes the most dangerous step of signing the bond with the
evil powers for the supreme knowledge and sovereign power by which he
could satisfy his appetites for the period of twenty four years. He
knows fully well that eternal damnation will fall on him, but he
cares only for the present life and does not even believe about the
life hereafter.
The tragic fall of Faustus gains more intensity with the close
of the twenty-four years contract with the devil, each time he
remembers God or thinks of repentance the devil threatens him with
dire consequences. As eleventh hour of the last day strikes, he is
in a state of extreme horror. He pleads with Christ to have mercy
on him and wash him with at least half a drop of His precious blood
shed on Calvary cross. But his heart is too hard to sincerely repent
because he had deliberately sold his soul to the devil; it is mere
remorse or sorrow for sin in view of the impending punishment. He
regrets but does not repent. He is finally dragged away from this
world in a state of deep anguish. Only the mangled remains of his
body are gathered by a few young scholars of Wittenberg.
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Helen of Troy, twice passing over the stage, pausing for one
brief moment yet speaking nothing, is the key figure in Dr. Faustus.
For this Faustus has sold his soul. All the glory that was Greece,
was embodied, for the Renaissance, in this woman; her story was the
story in brief of another world, superhuman and immoral.
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led the inquiring mind of Faustus to the distant corners of the earth
with the aid of Mephistophilis. Throughout the play the characters
focus on the importance they attached to the worldly life. Faustus’s
zest for life is brought out by Marlowe by his last minute acceptance
of God in the face of damnation. “…………. A world of profit and
delight, of power, of honour, of omnipotence” and to him, “a sound
magician in a mighty God” And it was this element of Romanticism
that.. a word derived from the word “Rome” – which meant “newness of
ideas” -- that enkindled curiosity, traveling, adventures and
exploration in the age. These elements moulded themselves into a
dominant passion in the character of Faustus.
To sum up, it can be said that as the whole play has its axis,
the figure of Faustus, it is through him that in the play was
introduced the Renaissance element.
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Faustus takes his first step along the primrose path when he
s e t s m a t e r i a l benefits before spiritual blessings. Contemplating
magic, anticipating its rewards with Valdes and Cornelius, he
promises himself all the glory and riches of the Renaissance world.
From Mephistopheles he demands to “live in all voluptuousness” even
before succumbs to the line of magic, his mind has been tempted by
thoughts of wealth.
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to be enticed,
The very act or his wish to see, the face of Helen of Troy
brings out the Renaissance love of beauty. Enjoyment is considered
to be the object of life as Faustus himself uses the twenty four year
span of his life, with the help of necromancy to enjoy his life to
the full. All his actions were based upon this principle. Even the
minor characters seemed to be intent upon enjoyment of life (e.g.
Ralph and Robin) There is no moral code that governs them.
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desires mastery of the world above everything else, whatever the cost.
This recklessness of spirit cannot but command admiration. It is the
result of his liberated will and intelligence.
The last scene is the most poignant scene in any drama. There
is no escape for him now. He is frantic with despair. The first scene
and the last scene are equally effective—and the last scene is most
impressive. And there is nothing preposterous about the conclusion.
The despair and final surrender of a human soul that defies sin in
its quest of knowledge and power could not have been more tragically
painted. The final solution is reached on the line of Christian
theology. Marlowe has been true to the age in which he lived.
Yet should there hover in their restless heads One thought, one grace, one wonder, at the least,
Which into words, no vertue can digest.” This love of beauty is also a Renaissance feature. So we find
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this first tragedy by Marlowe, saturated with the spirit of the Renaissance,
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Faustus does not find these flaws beyond defence and traces
the degeneration and drooping of spirits that sets in, within the
comic section also. He is aware of his tragic dimension as well as
comic or foolish aspects of his-failed venture. According to Steane,
these middle scenes, "illustrate the growing emptiness of the way of
life Faustus has chosen." The wonder in Faustus' European travel, his
enjoyment in the Vatican at the cost of the Pope "degeneiate" in the
scenes with the Emperor, the fun being at its. lowest with the Horse-
courser and without life in the Vanholt scenes.
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“Fastus repent, yet God will pity thee”. [II, ii, 12]
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4.9 REFERENCES
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LESSON - 5
JOHN DRYDEN
Contents
This lesson is devoted for detailing all things about the “All
for Love”; a classical work of John Dryden.
5.1 Introduction
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In All for Love the scene is laid in Alexandria and does not
shift elsewhere ; the action does not go beyond a single day. Within
such limits he has to develop the theme of the play. The theme is a
that Cleopatra still dotes on Antony, when she could saved herself
be done to shape the destiny of Egypt. So, all the information that
dialogues.
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recover his position. None but Ventidius could have handled him.
Antony realizes that he has degraded himself by his sensual love for
The first Act opens with the dialogue between Serapion and
Alexas, who prepare the audience for the future action of the play.
Antony who has sunk into despair, to rouse himself and fight his
delay into the presence of Antony; it is now only Ventidius who can
draw him out of his inaction, and rescue him from his enslavement to
dishonourable love.
with her, but is going to fight and not even see her again. She is
of a queen. And she replies that she is no queen when she is besieged
by the Roman Army, and when her country may be reduced to slavery at
any moment.
Absents weighs most heavily upon her. She is most unhappy because
Antony would not see her again. Charmion whom she sends to Antony,
returns to tell her that Antony is in the midst of his soldiers, and
that he received her though Ventidius frowned at it, and that Antony
would not rather see her if he could, and sends his respects to her.
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protect him from all dangers ; and with the message comes the gift of
he sees Cleopatra again, remarks that hard fates are separating them.
He charges her with having been obsessed with Caesar, while she was
in love with him ; and reproaches himself for having wasted his time
in lascivious love for her, for his infatuation for the raising of
his repudiation of her for the sake of Cleopatra, his defeat at the
In fact, Antony blames Cleopatra for all that has happened in his
life since his association with her Cleopatra replies to all these
supports him. She has refused a kingdom for him; but that is not
much. She will readily part with her life for him. Antony makes a
“Give, your gods, Give to your boy, your Caesar, This rattle of a
globe to play, withal, This gewgaw world, and put him cheaply off.
In the contest between love and honour, love routs honour. In the
first Act when Ventidius argues with Antony, honour prevailes against
love. To quote :
Our men armed: Unbar the gate that looks to Caesar’s camp: I
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try his best to bring about his ruin and destruction. Ventidius is
against the Queen (Cleopatra). One of the charges being that she had
reiterates that Antony’s infatuation has cost him his legions, his
honour and half the world he once ruled. He hints also that
honourable terms have been settled for him with Octavius. This is
daughters.
honour of Antony. She convinces Antony that by the terms agreed upon,
tells him that all that her brother seeks is Antony’s friendship, and
.that if he likes, he may discard her, and she will not complain.
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be dictated by Octavia’s duty, and not love as she does not mind
three, Cleopatra claims that her beauty attracted Antony who must
have come to her after having grown weary of dull, tame domesticity.
man, and claims that she loves Antony better, and deserves him more.
And Octavia censures her for having been his ruin, and made him
If you have suffered, I have suffered more. And she has lost her
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bears a hand in all the affairs of Cleopatra, now sees that Cleopatra
love in him who has a weakness’ for her, and thus she can win back
pours out his passion for her, and rather overdoes his part in
much upset. Then Dolabella goes down on his knees and recants, and
Then he takes her hand—and it is all the reward he claims for the
This is reported to Antony who will not at first believe it. When
Alexas turns up, Ventidius catches hold of him, and tells him that he
when her beauty has attracted kings from far and near, she had chosen
a Roman for’her love, and that Roman is Antony. Then he points out
that due regard of honour now disposes her to renounce her claim for
Octavia, though her heart may not have wholly altered. Then he
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Antony bursts out in his passion when he hears this, and Octavia
retorts:
Or infamous ? Am I a Cleopatra ?
Were I she,
Octavia and Antony. She leaves him never to return. She refuses to
Antony dismisses his mistress and his friend, he shows himself at his
worst, while Cleopatra shows herself at her best. Antony feels like
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which she cannot rid herself of even now. She brings out her dagger
to kill herself but she is restrained. But she can, as she tells
them, die inward, and her soul seems to struggle with all the agonies
of love and rage. Then seeing Alexas she vents her wrath upon him. He
diverted her from the path of plain and open love—and the result is
responsible for the calamity that has come upon her. Alexas still
flatters her with hopes of winning back Antony’s love when Octavia is
between the Egyptian fleet and Octavius’s which Antony has been
Serapion now enters and delivers the news that the Egyptian fleet
has gone over to the enemy, and that Antony cannot but think that he
has been betrayed, and warns Cleopatra to keep out of his way. Alexas
this offer for it would be but betraying Antony. She would now listen
now to save his own life, and to think no more of Cleopatra or Egypt.
Antony questions Alexas who tells him that Cleopatra had nothing
to do with the desertion of the Egyptian fleet and that she had
replies that when his queen is dead and that he has valued his power
and empire for her. Now that she is dead, let Octavius take the
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death. Antony desires him to live after him, and report him fairly,
and then suggests that he would better kill him and recommend himself
proposal At last the pact is made that he should kill Antony first
and then himself. But Ventidius plunges the sword into himself. He
prefers to die perjured rather than kill his friend. Antony next
throws himself upon his sword, but it misses his heart. Fortune seems
chair ; he has but few moments to live, and he is comforted when she
tells him that her fleet betrayed him and her; and that she is going
to die with him. He seals his love for her with a dying kiss. Now she
claims to be his wife, and she loved a Roman, and she is going to die
like the wife of a Roman. She will not submit to Octavius to grace
his triumph in Rome. She first crowns Antony’s head with a laurel
wreath and then she decks herself in her jewels like a bride, and
sits beside him ; then she puts the asp on her arm, and death slowly
Next it is the turn for Iras and Charmion to die by the bite of
the asp. Then enter Serapion, two priests, Alexas in chains and
5.4 THEME
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In the opinion of Dr. Johnson All for Love “has one fault equal
conduct, which, through all ages, the good have censured as vicious,
their end accordingly was unfortunate.” For Dryden the love affair
not demand full tragic pity because “the crimes of love, which they
ought to be, within our power” (Essays, ed. Ker, 1900 I, 191-192).
the lovers are not forced into their actions. But if we look closely
lovers and held there because their passions are not within their
power.
The theme of All for Love is the conflict of reason and honor
with passion in the form of illicit love. From the preface it seems
That Dryden wished to show how Antony, torn between these two,
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a Womans Toy / Shrunk from the vast extent of all his honours,” hopes
virtue,” by cursing the joy and revelry of the Egyp-; tians, and by
charges:
worth keeping, Ventidius offers to die with him. Thus, early in the
that they are unable to control themselves, although, both are well
aware of what they are doing. In Act V Dryden seems to have been
faced once and for all withtin,’ choice of punishing his lovers and
proving the “excellency of the moral” or closing the play with the
victory over reason and honor which has been inevitable since the
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hand and the play itself with its sub-title on the other, we had best
take Ttie World Well Lost as the more accurate statement of Dryden’s
intention.
since they violated one of the basic strictures of his age, but yet,
as we have seen, he could not regard his tragic hero and heroine as
world was “well lost.” The result was a conflict, to which the
Samson.
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The critical link between All for Love and Samson is perhaps more
Antony, too, is willing to sacrifice all for love, and in him the
postures of grief and hope; and his ability to assume such postures
affection for his frieni, He hugs Ventidius and weeps with him: Sure
too. Believe me, ’tis not For my own griefs, but thine. (V, 353). His
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Worlds than I can lose” (V, 357), but when the play begins he has
already effectively lost the world and we see him “walking with a
stage.
giving away worlds which are no longer in his power to give, but by
showing his capacity for sympathy and suffering. He can almost always
until I were lost again.” (V, 395)— and in virtually every situation
feeling, the man who “Weeps much; fights little; but is wond’rous”
least, and touch thy hand”—951)’ would bring Samson back to her is
from Cleopatra.
ask you, For manhood’s sake, and for your own dear safety, Touch not
(II, i)
throughout; her love for Antony never varies for a moment, even in
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her interview with Octavia, she defends herself ably for such love.
him fair terms. The terms give Antony entire freedom of choice. He
may even discard his legally wedded wife, Octavia, while he offers
audience. but there is more pity for Cleopatra. Octavia, behaves with
more grace and dignity than Antony. At last Antony confesses himself
Take me,
Octavia; take me, children: share me all
[Embracing them.
I’ve been a thriftless debtor to your loves,
And run out much, in riot, from your stock;
But all shall be amended.
bid farewell to Cleopatra for him, has been making love to her.
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Cleopatra and Dolabella the trick that seems to have been played upon
him. His reason and judgment seem to be of a very low order. The
to see it.
Octavius, and then the crisis comes—the Egyptian fleet goes over to
Ungrateful woman!
Ventidius now and then. His love for Cleopatra does not seem to be a
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captured alive by his enemy. He throws himself upon his sword, but it
basely. Nor left his shield behind him,—only thou Couldst triumph
5.6 CLEOPATRA
That both the sweets of mutual love may try. (p. 216)
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Cleopatra’s false cloak of virtue does not enrich her personality but
detracts from her essential character of mature sophistication: she
is hardly a woman who would mourn the loss of honor through love.
harmless household Dove, / Fond without art; and kind without deceit”
(p. 47; V, 399), and although these lines can be misleading out of
(p. 3; V, 346).
on, ev’n when I find it Dotagel” (p. 63; V, 418). Although she
proclaims the heroism of this dotage and its simplicity (her love,
not upon the magnanimity of her fidelity but upon the hardships which
she must endure because of it. Her major scenes are those in which
she must face the loss of Antony, and in all them she proves herself
has cast her off unkindly, “she sinks quite down” on the stage (p.
50; V, 402), and after her encounter with Octavia, she exits to a
“solitary Chamber,”
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queen, and a woman infinite in variety, but because she suffers and
Yet she who loves him best is Cleopatra. If you have suffer’d, I
have suffer’d more. You bear the specious Title of a Wife, To guild
your Cause, and draw the pitying World To favour it: the World
contemns poor me; For I have lost my Honour, lost my Fame, And
Stain’d the glory of my Royal House, And all to bear the branded Name
of Mistress. There wants but life, and that too I would lose For him
I love.
character in the play. She is the triumph of Dryden’s art. The title
of the play, All for Love, or The World Well Lost is appropriate only
Cleopatra is rightly the heroine of the play. She is all for love
and love absorbs her whole being and she cannot think of anything. It
Antony. But she is more than that, and love raises her above the
separate Antony from Cleopatra, and is biased against her from the
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with her, has not the understanding or insight to fathom the depth of
her being. Alexas knows too well that Cleopatra cannot disentangle
herself from her love for Antony. He remarks that she “dotes.....on
this vanquished man and winds herself about his mighty ruins ;” and
his opinion, is that she can save herself and her kingdom by giving
pure and simple. When he reports to Antony that Cleopatra has been
You know she’s not much used to lonely nights. Cleopatra has not
the remotest intention of exchanging one lover for another. She would
not even save herself by casting off Antony when Antony had cast her
off. Alexas suggests that he can persuade Octavius to spare her life.
Cleopatra protests :
Twas thy design brought all this ruin on me. Alexas persuades her
Antony:
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The above words express her true and sincere love. Cleopatra is
f a r f r o m Octavia’s notion that she is “an abandoned faithless
prostitute.” It is an accident, and it is her misfortune that she has
the position of a mistress to Antony. But she bears him true, all
undying love. She might have better graced the position of a wife to
Antony. She asserts
Ah, no : my love’s so true,
That I can neither hide it where it is,
Nor show it where it is not. Nature meant me
A wife, a silly, harmless, household dove,
Fond without art, and kind without deceit;
But Fortune, that has made a mistress of me,
Has thrust me out to the wide world unfurnished
Of falsehood to be happy.
play except by Charmion and Iras who are sincerely devoted to her.
With good reason she defends her love for Antony. When Octavia
accuses her with being the cause of Antony’s ruin, of his being
cheapened and scorned abroad, of his losing the battle of Acturn, and
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honour, fame and the dignity of her royal house for love. But honour
royal pride”.
Cleopatra she may, match her in love for Antony. Enobarbus, comments
“her passions are made of nothing but the finest part of pure love.”
“This is literally true only that the love is not pure in the
that she has none, "and none would have." She has loved "with such
view" and now is lost above it. She is incapable of thought and
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and who prefers death with him to life without him, is merely
pathetic.
5.7 OCTAVIA
because it is her pride, her regard for honor in the form of her
plea: To quote,
For you are mine, and I was born to suffer, (p. 226)
with passion and against the reason and virtue he urges in his
specious Title of a Wife, To guild your Cause, and draw the pitying
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speaks in the name of the Roman empire, her role in the play is
“well-natur’d”; she leaves Antony ; only after she has exacted from
and Antony stage a brief debate in what appears to be the old style,
“and strife of sullen Honour.” But she confesses her love, and as
Antony himself makes clear, the debate shifts from honor to pity.
“Pity,” he says, “pleads for Octavia; But does it not plead more for
Cleopatra?” Ventidius answers that ‘Justice and Pity both plead for
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and Octavius. When Antony deserts her for Cleopatra, she is out for
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price and cement of your peace, I have a soul like yours; I cannot
the peace and friendship between her brother and husband. Though for
going to own his friendship and his life to her duty. Octavia says
that when she had been denied her wifely right it is but proper that
two little daughters round Antony. They are to pull him away from
succeeds. Octavia has been used, and is still being used as pawn in
here. However, Antony surrenders to his wife and daughters. They are
And then she claims that she loves Antony best. To this Octavia
can make no suitable reply. Octavia boldly announces that she has
come to free Antony from bondage, who was once a Roman, but is now a
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bonds.
which Antony cannot yet be safe, and when he tells her that Antony
stiffened against Cleopatra. She declares that she will not allow
Cleopatra. She cannot bear to see the passion in her husband for an
has pushed the matter to extremes. His objective has been to separate
5.8. VENTIDIUS
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again and again, for Antony seems to be little alive to it. Ventidius
philosophy, Up, up, for honour’s sake; twelve legions wait for you.
push him and his army back a little, but they do not leave Alexandria
effect does not last long. He applies himself more seriously to the
him for indolence. He may indeed think highly of Antony and his
capabilities :
But you are love misled, your wandering eyes, Were sure the chief
and best of human race, Framed in the very pride and boast of
nature.”
again, he says:
“Caesar shall know what ’tis to force a lover From all he holds
most dear.”
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has the first place in his heart, and then comes honour. If Ventidius
Dolabella as his old friend and he too harps on honour, and says that
relations with Cleopatra. Ventidius’s next move spoils the game. When
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5.9. Dolabella
reported to be seeking his ruin, for “some private grudge.” But this
and Antony welcomes him as his old friend. There was but a temporary
they meet again now. Dolabella has no guile ! He is frank and candid—
nature.
excused :
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I should speak
So faintly with such fear to grieve her heart, She’d not believe
it earnest.
from Cleopatra. Now he feels that he should not have blamed his
parting message of Antony in the harshest words. And the shock is too
much for Cleopatra. Then Dolabella goes down on his knees and
confesses that he had been a traitor for the love of her and reported
Cleopatra too openly admitting her own part in kindling love in him.
Antony has fallen from his fortune—the battle of Actium being lost,
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5.10. ALEXAS
“You [Cleopatra] misjudge; You see through Love, and that deludes
inflicted upon the lovers. But then the whole problem of sympathies
and motiva^ tions in the play becomes confused because Alexas is the
least sympa-1 thetic character in the play and is, as such, a poor
intense poetry; some have even believed that if Shakespeare had never
drama. But this study suggests that the play is full of confusions:
the role of reason in the play; is ambiguous. Clearly the play is not
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word, a unity.”
Antony cries three times onstage (V, 353, 388, 417) and once his
exiles him (V, 417) and even Ventidius cries twice, once in grief for
Antony (V, 352) and once in joy over Antony’s family reunion (V,
390).
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Antony and Cleopatra, Antony and Octavia, Octavia and Cleopatra. One
with the characters. And the style is rarely good enough to redeem
passion. The complex human being, with her infinite variety, gives
the poet does not even trouble to excuse his characters for appearing
so promptly and so pat. They saunter in and saunter out from the four
Poetic justice is not respected except in the death of the hero and
form, yet the passion is rarely wild or indecorous. Even the diction,
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the best thing in the play, is for the most part smooth and flowing.
tried to accomplish with his source, the author of All for Love
deny to the great name of Dryden one scruple’of the praise that such
genius does not oblige us to like this play or, for more than a
cited. “As for the verse of ‘All for Love’ and the best of Dryden’s
has had credit for; and that it is really the norm of blank verse for
his job from the outside. The superior structure with which his play
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stylized decorum.
to another, and so again, but the shift is always clean and obvious;
yielding in my Soul; But Cleopatra, who would die with me, Must she
be left? Pity pleads for Octavia But does it not plead more for
Cleopatra?
(Embracing them).
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strength.
6
I tell thee, eunuch, she has quite unmanned him. (I, i)
The first Act has but one scene, and so has every other Act. This
has been done to make sure of the unities of time and place.
beginning of the play Antony has lost his reason; he has dis graced
to make him see his plight rationally and to act according to the
acts, now rationally, now impulsively, as his passions spin the plot.
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The heroic play was invested with, “the greatness and majesty
of a heroic poem”. It was not to hold merely a mirror to nature but
to magnify reality. It was the representation of nature but nature
raised to a higher pitch. The plot, the characters, the passions, the
descriptions were all to be exalted above thelevel of common
converse. The style was also to be made epical. It was not to imitate
conversation of real life too closely, since sublime subjects ought
to be adorned with the sublimest expressions.The purpose of the
Heroic play was not to arouse, “pity, and fear” but admiration.
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‘Tis well; and he, Who lost them, could have spared ten
thousand more.
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A Restoration tragedy like All for Love depends for its effect
not on character interest or on situation, and least of all on
exploit. The last is always off stage, and the others are
contrivances for exhibitions, in fine rhetoric, of emotions which,
although they are in All for Love invariably pertinent to situation
and role, are there for their own sake.
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me,
Octavia — take me, children — share me all.
Embracing, them.
I've been a thriftless debtor to your loves,
And run out much, in riot, from your stock,
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Secure from human chance, long ages out, While all the storms
of fate fly o'er your tomb;
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Think we have had a clear and glorious day, And Heaven did
kindly to delay the storm Just till our close of evening. Ten years'
love, And not a moment lost, but all improved " To the utmost joys —
what ages have we lived! And now to die each other's; and, so dying,
While hand in hand we walk in groves below, Whole troops of lovers'
ghosts shall flock about us, And all the train be ours.
lovers die, and die within the dramatic framework of the tragedy.
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brought about almost wholly by the love affair; all through the play
inevitable end. Dryden gave to the early part of his play the same
motivation for their deaths, the quarrel which leads to the suicide
same.
monument, the false suicide; whereas in All for Love Alexas on his
own initiative tells the lie which sets off the chain of forces. Thus
he assumes the immediate responsibility for the deaths, which are not
the inevitable result of the love affair but the result of a casual
verse; the life in them is, in fact, the life of the verse.
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a metaphor that is a simile with the ‘like’ or the ‘as’ left out. The
be random.”
the unity of action as its nature will permit. The picture of Antony
last phase, full of fretting and nerves and morbid suspicion. Nor has
Cleopatra the ‘infinite variety’ that she once possessed. Antony and
the Restoration stage most closely, for this is the only one of his
mature tragedies in which love is made the dominant theme. All for
motives of love and honor are subordinated, and their place taken by
fit the Restoration taste for the language of direct statement. Thus
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety.
Other women cloy The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry Where
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2) Plot – Construction
5.18 References
· Kirsch, Arthur C., All for Love from Dryden’s Heroic Drama
Princeton, N/J.: Princeton Univer-ify Press, 1965.
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Unit – III
Lesson – 6
Francis Bacon
Contents
6.0 Aims and Objectives
6.1 Bacon's Life and Works
6.2 Of Ambition
6.3 Of Revenge
6.4 Of Love
6.5 Bacon’s Regard for Structure
6.6 Poetic Qualities
6.7 Bacon's Use of Allusions and References
6.8 Let Us Sum Up
6.9 Lesson – End Activities
6.10 References
6.0 Aims and Objectives
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all seasons'.
6.2 Of Ambition
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6.3 OF REVENGE
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6.4 OF LOVE
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of folly.
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life.
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6.10 REFERENCES
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Lesson 7
Charles Lamb
Contents
This lesson aims to present you the life and works of Charles
Lamb; a towering essayist and critic besides detailing various
styles, feeling techniques and detailing of employed by him in his
works.
7.1 Introduction.
The true art of the essay was born with Lamb. He ranks very
high as an essayist and critic. He is compared to Addison but he is
far, superior to Addison in depth and tenderness of feeling, and in
richness of fancy. Goldsmith comes nearer to Lamb in delicacy of
feeling and sentiment, and also in pathos and humour, but does not
posses Lamb’s exquisiteness and quaintness of fancy. After all, Lamb
is the true inventor of the essay. In his own style he has woven
together into one charming whole the quaintness’ of the Elizabethan
manner, and the clearness and common source of modern times.
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barrister’s clerk, with seven children, and had to fight hard against
the encroach-ments of poverty. Little money could be spared for
educational purposes, and it might have fared ill with Charles had
not Samuel Salt, his father’s patron, obtained for him, when he was
seven, a presentation to Christ’s Hospital. He could thus bid
farewell to his earlier mentor, “ Mr. William Bird, eminent writer
and teacher of languages,” whose readiness with the birch was more
obvious than his readiness with learning.
In his scanty leisure, Lamb threw himself with keen zest into
the joys of reading, a joy he shared with his sister Mary. This was
varied by occasional visits to the theatre, a brief excursion to
Hertford-shire — where some of his happiest moments were spent, and
where the one romance of his life budded and faded. His home life was
wearisome and gloomy. His father was growing childish and querulous ;
his mother was an invalid, and the strain of insanity in the family
suddenly showed itself in poor Mary, upon whom all the household
cares had devolved.
In 1821 John Lamb died. In the summer of 1823 the Lambs once
again migrated yet further north, this time to Islington, failing
health made Lamb consider retirement, perhaps the loss of some of his
best friends weighed upon him also. The fact remains that neither
brother nor sister got so much pleasure from this retirement as had
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been anticipated.
He found the folk at Enfield slow, and too prone to talk about
cattle. To relieve his boredom he would indulge in farcically
extravagant letters.
Lamb started as a writer about 1795, when Burke and Gibbon were
at the height of their glory, and some years before Scott had given
romantic narrative verse its astonishing vogue. He experimented both
in prose and verse. The tenderness of Lamb, and his genius for
reminiscence, find expression in Mrs. Leicester’s School and Poetry
for Children (1809) works written also in collaboration and designed
for Mrs. Godwin’s “ Juvenile Library.” For some years he wrote
little, but his literary friendships helped to stimulate his slowly
maturing powers.
Later the judge purchased all the pigs of the town. In a few days
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his house was observed to be on fire. Then it followed that every house
was on fire. Throughout the district, fuel and pigs became very costly.
Insurance offices were closed. After a long time a practical
philosopher like Locke invented a cheaper way of roasting the flesh
of pigs and other animals.
Our ancestors were very particular about the way they sacrificed
such tender animals. How will a pig taste when it is whipped to death?
The young students at St Omer discussed a similar problem. If the pig
killed by whipping adds a new taste to the roasted flesh, is death by
whipping justifiable? Whatever be the decision, the young pig is a weak
ling a flower.
Lamb considers the roast pig as one of the best delicacies in the
world. "Of all the delicacies in the whole mundus edibilis, I will
maintain it to be the most delicate—princeps obsoniorum". Like a true
epicurean, Lamb describes the taste of this delicate dish, "There is no
flavour comparable, I will contend, to that of the crisp, tawny, well-
watched, not overroasted, crackling, as it is well called—the very
teeth are invited to their share of the pleasure at this banquet in
overcoming the coy, brittle resistance with the adhesive oleaginous O
call it not fat, but an indefinable sweetness growing up to it – the
tender blossoming of fat – fat cropped in the bud.
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This essay reflects Lamb's concern for the lowly placed chimney-
sweepers. This is one of his best essays. His concern for humanity
and his profoundly sympathetic nature is vividly displayed throughout
the essay. No doubt he speaks only for the "young" chimney-sweepers
but that does in no way lessen the importance of the essay. He refers
to them as "those tender novices."
' Lamb's appeals for such boys for their wont is strenuous as well
as dangerous. They deserve charity from us. He urges people to give a
penny or a two-pence to such a boy meeting them on the way.
Lamb hates jeers and ridicules of a street crowd but he does not
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' Lamb testifies to their social or family status. They are born
in high aristocratic family but are kidnapped from their homes in
their infancy. Once a young chimney-sweeper was found asleep in a
lordly bed. Had he been of low-birth, he would have dared not do so.
The possible explanation can be that the boy must have got some
natural instinct to get into that aristocratic bed.
Finally, Lamb tells us how his friend Jem White used to entertain
a large number of young chimney-sweepers every year. Mr. White was a
kind man. He had a great deal of sympathy for these unfortunate
chimneysweepers. During the feast Mr. White would go round offering a
morsel here and a slice there. They had a sumptuous meal. He used to
propose several toast to the king, to the chimney sweepers. The
slogan of one of the toasts was: "May the brush supersede the
Laurel". The young chimney-sweepers really used to enjoy themselves on
these occasions. It is a sad lot, Lamb says, that after the death of Jem
White, the practice has come to an end. No one else could undertake to
continue the tradition.
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Another quality of the essay is that Lamb often slips into his
fancy. He imagines that some of chimney-sweepers were born in a
aristocratic family and were kidnapped from their homes in their
infancy. In order to make his argument appear sound, he relates an
anecdote concerning a young chimney-sweeper who crept into the lordly
bed in Arundel Castle.
"Him shouldest thou haply encounter, with his dimvisage pendent over
the grateful steam, regale him with a sumptuous basin."
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Children like to hear about their elders when they were children. So, our author’s children sat
around him to listen to the stories of childhood of their great grand-mother Field. She lived in a great
house in Norfolk. The most interesting fact about this house was that the whole story of the Children in
the Wood was carved in wood upon the chimney piece of the great hall. But this was replaced by a
marble chimney-piece by a rich person afterwards. Great grand-mother Field was not the real owner of
the house but her behaviour and manners, and her religious devotions were so great that she was
respected by every one. She however used the house as if it was her own. But later, the ornaments were
taken off from the house to the real owner’s home, which was in the adjoining country. When Mrs.
Field died, her funeral was attended by both, poor folks, and the rich people. Men from many miles .
round, came to show their respect for her memory. She was indeed a very gentle-hearted and pious
person. She knew the Psaltery by heart and also a great part of the Testament.
Then Lamb began telling them about their great grandmother’s youth, when she was regarded
as the best darcer in the country. But she was attacked by cancer, and that desisted her from dancing
any further. Her good spirits, however, could not be broken, and she continued to be good and
religious. She used to sleep by herself in a desolate chamber of that great house. She thought she saw
two apparitions of infants at midnight, but she was sure that they were good creatures, and would not
hurt her. She was also very kind to her grand--children, who went to her during the holidays.’ Lamb
himself used to spend hours in gazing upon old busts of the Emperors Rome. He used to roam round
the large silent rooms of that huge house, and looked through the wt;rn-out hangings, fluttering
tapestry, and carved oaken panels. He also used to hang about the garden, gazing at the trees and
flowers. He was satisfied thus roaming about and preferred this to the sweet flavours of peaches,
nectarines, and such like common habits of children.
Though great grand-mother Field loved all her grand-children, she had a special favour for
their uncle John Lamb, because he was a handsome and spirited lad He was dashing sort of fellow.
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While others would have preferred a secluded corner, he used to mount on horses and ride around the
country and join the hunters. Their uncle John Lamb was really a brave man, and when he grew up to
be a man, he won the admiration of every one. When our author was a lame-footed boy, John who was
few years senior to him used to carry him on his back for many miles. In after-life, John, however,
became lame-footed. Lamb now fears that perhaps he had not been considerate enough to bear the
impatient pains of John, or to remember his childhood, when he was carried by John. But when Juhn
died, Lamb came to miss him very much, and remembered his kindness and his crossness, and wished
him to be alive again. The children then demanded that Lamb should say something about their dead
mother. Then Lamb began telling them how for seven long years he patiently courted the fair Alice
Winterton. As he was relating these experiences of his, he, ’suddenly felt that the eyes of that old Alice
were gazing from the face of the little Alice, sitting before him. As Lamb looked, and looked, it seemed
that the two chitdren, John and Alice, were receding from him. At last just two mournful features were
left of them, and they told him that they were neither of Alice, nor of Lamb, that they were not
children. For, the children of Alice, had Bartrum for their father. So they were merely dreams. At this
point. Lamb woke up and found himself sitting in his bachelor arm-chair, where he had fallen asleep
with the faithful Bridget by his side.
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For this reason the Essays of Elia especially, and the critical
essays to a less extent, are practically autobiographical fragments,
from which we may reconstruct with little difficulty the inner life
and no little of the outer life of Lamb. In spite of his apparent
carelessness as to the comfort of his brother and sister, Charles
had always retained a strong affection for him. This most
pathetically expressed in Dream Children. The streets of London are
his fairy-land, teeming with wonder – with life and interest to his
retrospective glance, as it did to the eager eye of childhood; he has
contrived to weave its tritest traditions into a bright and endless
romance. To one chief feature of city life, Lamb was indifferent. He
took no interest in politics. Lamb was so thoroughly a lover of the
town.
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One can notice the usual wit and humour in this essay. The
description of how a young-chimney sweeper disappears into a chimney
and emerges at the top, is interesting. Similarly, the description of
"Sassafras" tea and the Chimney-sweeper's liking for that is
humorous. Then follows the incident of Lamb's stumbling and falling
on his back in the street causing laughter of a young chimney-
sweeper. The odd reference to young beautiful ladies showing their
"white and shining ossifications" is satirical as well as humorous.
Then the whole account of Jem White is also very interesting. Thus
humour is the chief quality of the essay. As pathos also runs beside
humour in Lamb's writing, mean find moving references about chimney-
sweepers' poverty and fate. He writes, "Reader, if thou meetest one
of these small gentry in thy early rambles, it is good to give him a
penny." Pathos is present also in the description of how these young
chimney-sweepers might have been kidnapped from their aristocratic
homes in their infancy and left to suffer the whole life.
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Lamb’s humour that keeps him human and makes up a large part of
his benign personalities. His humour in a mingling of laughter and
tears. and they are again acrylic laughter tears. He had a comic
view o f l i f e and he could see life and see it steadily and as a
whole. Lamb is represented by the finer shade of perception and
sensibility expressing itself in delicate humour, which in rendered
in language subtle and perfect. What largely describes as a
“ghastly make – believe of humour as a gross judgment. It is rather
diving a veil over the ghastliness of his experience in life. His
humour makes a sense appraisement of life. He does not jest with
life; he cannot for he has known all that is grim in life; but his
humour relieves him of the painfulness and tendencies of life.
Lamb’s humour, in all its shifting colours, touches everything he writes. The romantic essence
of things and personalities which he very subtly brings out is a part of his humorous understanding and
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sensibility. His humour, his wistful longing, his haunting sense of the painful realities of life, his loving
interest in his habitat and neighbors, as well as in things that are gone or going and lastly his style and
fancy are all moulded together by his essentially human personality are all of a piece. Hence we cannot
separate his style from his humour. His essays are alive with his being and iridescent with his character
and sensibility, and fully develop all the graces, nobility, tenderness and whimsicality that make Lamb
what he is. Humour lends enchantment to all his reveries, fantasies and speculations, and humour is a
very important element in his character as well as in his writings.
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7.10 REFERENCES
Lucas; E.V. The Best Lamb London: Methuea and Co. Ltd., 1966
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LESSON - 8
JOHN BUNYAN
Contents
8.7 References
John Bunyan was born at Elstow near Bedford in 1628. His father
was a tinker by trade, and he brought up his son also in the same
job. There is no record of his having gone to any school, but in the
years of the Civil War, lie was drafted into the army, but stayed in
it for little more than a year. For he returned to his native village
in 1645 while the Civil War was still in progress, and married in
1649—the year of the king's trial and execution—a poor girl who
brought him curiously enough two old books as her dowry! These were
well-known religious tracts entitled ' Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven'
and ' The Practice of Piety." In 1653 he became a member of a small
Christian oommumfes-whioh had no other dogma except to follow the
teachings of Christ implicitly. Thereafter Bunyan began to address
small groups of his acquaintances and the public on the message of
Christianity as he understood it.
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attained only by the stalwart ‘For but few of them that begin to come
hither, do shew their face on these Mountains,’ remark the shepherds
on which Christian and Hopeful anticipate pleasures to be realized
more fully in Beulah. The ‘Gardens, and Orchards, the Vineyards, and
Fountains of water’ serve as tangible proof of God’s marvellous
bounty. When Christian reaches Beulah the gate of the New Jerusalem
is ‘within sight’ and he is able to solace himself with delights of
the place: flowers, singing birds, ‘abundance’ of corn and wine, and
, not least, the presence of ‘Shining Ones’.
The Delectable Mountains suggest a large region named
Immanuel’s land that embodies the promise of salvation, Beulah a
whole ‘country’. By the time Christian and Hopeful have reached the
River of Life the landscape itself sustains them; it is an oasis
where they may ‘lie down safely’ and enjoy the life giving fruit and
water of the place.
In addition to the River of Life the springs and fountains
that Christian encounters in his journey, beginning with the spring
at the foot of the hill Difficulty, embody the ‘Spirit of grace’. As
Christian drinks these waters, and eats the fruit of the Tree of Life
and of the vineyards of Beulah and the Delectable Mountains, he may
be said to grow in spiritual strength and vitality.
The delights of Beulah suggest the high level of spiritual
satisfaction that can be attained by the faithful in this life, but
Chrisitian must cross the river, a spiritual Jordan to reach the true
promised land.
Bunyan shows his pilgrims, ‘transfigured’ by their heavenly
garments, entering into a state of bliss and rest that surpasses
anything they could have known in the world and justifies all the
trials they have endured there. The holy joy that they experience can
be attained only in the presence of God, in the act of praising him.
We last see Christian and Hopeful as they blend into the festive
chorus of angels and saints singing: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord’
(p.162).
Pilgrim’s Progress consists of two parts, each complete in
itself. The first recounts the full journey of the pilgrim, who was
called Graceless and is now known as Christian, from the City of
Destruction to the Celestial City. Concerned as it is with the
individual, this first part presents one facet of the Christian life,
and does not deal primarily with the larger life of the Christian
community.
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Considering the real qualities of the novel, ocean find it very hard
to discover one which is not eminently present in Pilgrim’s Progress.
It has a sufficient and regular plot in each of its parts, the two
being duly connected – a plot rather of the continuous or straight –
line than of the interwoven or circular order, but still amply
sufficient. The action and interest of this plot rather of the
continuous or straight – line than of the interwoven or circular
order, but still amply sufficient. The action and interest of this
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The Doubting Castle episode proves that Christian can lose the
way at a relatively late point in the journey through overconfidence,
not that he has failed to grow in faith and understanding. In
Doubting Castle Christian is baffled and dismayed by the fact that it
seems impossible either to defeat his enemy or to get his key. The
brilliance of the episode lies in the fact that Bunyan makes escape
seemingly so difficult yet paradoxically so easy; Christian has only
to remember that Scripture has provided him with his own key, a
solution that comes to him as a result of prayer.
Christian again lapses into doubt at the River of Death, this
time a paralyzing ‘ darkness and horror’ that causes him to forget
temporarily the ‘ sweet refreshments’ he had met with in the way and
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the assurance they had given him of reaching the ‘ Land that flows
with Milk and Honey’. Bunyan’s emphasis upon the ‘ sorrows of
death’ does not subvert the metaphor of the journey it merely
indicates his acute sense of the dangers of this final obstacle, even
for those who have persevered in the way of holiness. Reaching the
plane of assurance represented by Beulah does not relieve one of the
necessity of making the crossing.
Christian continues to be vulnerable to doubt throughout his
pilgrimage because Bunyan believed that faith could never be
completely secure in this world. But his doubts are prompted by very
different kinds of trials, appropriate to different stages of the
journey, and in each case we are reminded of what has gone before.
Christiana’s journey presents a clearer, less interrupted sense of
progress, of course, because her way is so much easier.
To understand the nature of Christian’s spiritual progress
one must look more closely at the stages of his journey, particularly
at his experience in such places as the Delectable Mountains and
the land of Beulah. Those episodes that mark Christians growing
awareness of divine favour serve to establish the truth embodied
in the biblical metaphor of the journey and hence to convince the
reader that the goal for which Christian strives is real.
Bunyan’s narrative insists that the claims of the way and
those of the world are mutually exclusive. The pilgrim must set his
course ‘against Wind and Tide’ as Christian increasingly realizes.
Faithful relates that he has learned to ignore the ‘ hectoring
spirits of the world’ because he recognizes that ‘ what God says, is
best, though all the men in the world are against it.
The Vanity Fair episode constitutes the most important
statement of the warfare between spirit and flesh in The Pilgrim’s
Progress. The whole episode illustrates the necessity of choosing
between two modes of life that are irreconcilable, between ‘ carnal
sense’ and ‘things to come’, to use the distinction made for
Christian by Interpreter. All the assumptions about the end of human
activity that underlie Vanity Fair, and the indulgence of ‘ fleshly
appetite’ that they allow, can be comprehended in the term ‘ carnal
sense’.
The Valley of Humiliation, the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
the Delectable Mountains, and the other landscapes that Christian
must traverse define a world that is open only to those who believe
in the Word sufficiently to seek the goal that he does. These
landscapes do not exist for Pliable, who refuses to enter the
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8.7 References
Raju, Anand Kumar The Pilgrims’ Progress New Delhi, Macmillan Indian
Ltd., 1999.
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Unit – IV
Lesson - 9
JONATHAN SWIFT
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS
Contents
9.1 Introduction
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scientific problems.
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tone,
have a charm and vivacity that delight the old and the young. The
satire
lurks in the allegory, but it is so delicately tinselled over that it
does
not repel. The crowded incidents are plausible and lively, and they
are often spiced with a quaint and alluring humour.
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Thus the High heels and the low heels are the
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perhaps attained here and there a noble profundity, and here and
t h e r e a subtler complexity ; but never has maintained such a
constant level of inspired expression."
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Unit – V
LESSON 10
PHILIP SIDNEY
Contents
10.1 Introduction
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EXORDIUM
Employs a recognised method of indirect approach to the
case and seeks to capture the goodwill of the audience by
humorous anecdote, mock expostulation, and modesty
formulas. The anecdote adumbrates the concern of the
Apology with the relation between the theory and practice
of an art.
NARRATION
Relates the facts which give dignity to poetry.Brief
transitional argument to lower the personal creditof the
opponents of poetry Facts indicating worth of poetry(a)
bits superior antiquity the universality of poetry
its names and etymology title of vates title of '
maker.
III PROPOSITION
That poetry is to be commended and approved for what it
essentially is — Imitation.This is the central issue of
the controversy and sums up what is about to be discussed
step by step.
IV DIVISION
Shows the way in which the facts averred in the NARRATION are
going to be systematically interpreted to prove the
PROPOSITION.
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CONFIRMATION
V CONFIRMATION or PROOF
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Digression
Indicates the ways in which contemporary English writers
disgrace the ideal of poetry set out in the rest of the
Apology, and how they should amend. The DIGRESSION has the
structure of an independent oration.
NARRATION giving an account of situation
(i) great men in the past honoured poetry
(ii) even in England poetry was once honoured
(iii) poetry now despised and produced by base writers
ii PROPOSITION that poets must seek to know what to do and
how to do it, if poetry is to be esteemed properly
in DIVISION indicating the need for art, imitation, and
exercise, followed by ENUMERATION of matters to be
discussed
iv CONFIRMATION by consideration of
(a) subject-matter or fable
(b) (i) deficiencies in past practice
(ii) defects in drama
in disregard of unities lapses in decorum
(iii) defects in the other kinds (6) words or expression
(i) verbal affectations
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delightfully.
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nothing.
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10.8 References
Shepherd, Geoffrey An Apology for Poetry, London,
Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1964.
Shuck Burgh, Evlyn S. An Apology for Poetry.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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