Lit.Guruji

Ballad Ballad is a short story in verse. It is one of the oldest form in literature. A ballad is sung from village to village with the accompaniment of a harp or a fiddle, by strolling singers or bands of singers. The subjects dealt are adventure,  family disaster, feud, love and war, and life. The story is tragic and fierce with supernatural elements. I) The poem is written in Ballad Measure (abcb). II) The tale opens abruptly without any introduction. III) The Ballad is impersonal in treatment. The writer’s identity or personality is never revealed. IV) The same lines are repeated from stanza to stanza as a refrain. Kinds of Ballad I)  Ballad of Growth or Authentic Ballad:  It is a   Ballad of unknown authorship. This type of ballad is primitive in existence and has grown naturally. Eg: Chevy Chase, The Wife of Usher’s Well. II)   Ballad of Art or Literary Ballad: This kind of ballad as Hudson says is the " literary development of the traditional fo

Idyll Idyll derives from the Greek word meaning "a little picture". Idyll in poetry is associated with  a) relative brevity   b) pictorial effect. The poet presents a picture in a few words. Idyll aim at visual presentation of its theme. Eg: 1 . L' Allegero  - Milton (picture of happy life) 2. Line Written in March - William Wordsworth (a spring scene in England). 3. As You Like it - Shakespeare (Pastoral scene) Idyll is an imaginative rendering of a picturesque scene or experience. It is the poetic colouring. The language is carefully choosen to give a pictorial impression. It may be direct or straight forward but creates a image in readers mind. Greek poet Theocritus idylls differed in theme. Town and country life, poet's experiences and themes were the themes. Half of his idylls are pastoral in form and deals with shepherds life in ancient Silicy. Roman poet Virgil adopted the same form in his Eclogues. English Idyll generally followed

Beau Tibb his Character and family Beau Tibb his Character and family is an extract from The Citizens of the World written by  Oliver Goldsmith. He is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. These letters are written in the perspective of Lien Chi Altangi, a Chinese philosopher living in London. Goldsmith's essays are humorous. Rickett writes , "He was a poet of talent, a prose man  of genius, a prose man, moreover, of distinctive and original genius". Beau Tibbs is a character in Goldsmith's "Citizen of the World," noted for his finery, vanity, and poverty”. He is an elderly man concerned about his dress. Mr. Tibbs is a poor man but he concealed his poverty.  The writer remarks, “Heaven has made him poor”.  He has an eccentric and ridiculous nature. Beau Tibbs is perfect in the art of flattery. His looks were pale, thin and sharp. He wore a broad black ribbon round his neck and in his bosom a buckle studded with glass. He wore a newly wa

Epic Epic is a long tale written in the form of a verse. In Greek Iliad and Odyssey are two great epics of Homer. In Epic mighty warriors and princes are the leading figure. They have endowed with superhuman qualities. ·        Supernatural and magical elements are present. ·        The language is exalted and noble. Conventions of the epic A) The epic starts with an invocation (prayer) to God. The theme of the poem is stated at the beginning (proposition). ·        Eg. Milton’s Paradise Lost ·        Virgil’s Aeneid ·        Homer’s Iliad. B) The Epic employs certain poetic devices like Homeric Epithet and Homeric Simile. 1.      Homeric Epithet – a term or phrase quite lengthy applied to a person repeatedly. Eg. In Tennyson’s Morte D’ Arthur   “faint Homeric echoes” occurs. 2.      Homeric Simile – comparison between two similar objects. Eg. In Arnold’s Sohrab and Rustum, Rustum is unaware his own son lying in a deadly state. This is compared to an eagle unaware abo

Elegy Elegy is a mourning poem lamenting for the dead. Death became a predominant theme for an Elegy. It was written in the elegiac measure, a couplet composed of a dactylic hexameter followed by dactylic pentameter. Poem written in this metre is ranked as elegy. At modern times theme is given utmost importance and not metre. Elegiac measure is not followed in English verse. The theme of elegy is mournful and sad. Elegy is less spontaneous than the lyric. Dr. Johnson remarked “Where there is leisure for fiction there is little grief”. Examples for Elegy Milton’s Lycidas – mourns at the death of Edward King. Tennyson’s In Memoriam – laments at the death of Arthur Henry Hallam. Shelley’s Adonias – death of Keats The Pastoral Elegy A new kind of elegy was introduced in English poetry. In this kind the poet represented himself as a Shepherd bewailing the loss of a companion. Milton’s Lycidas and Mathew Arnold’s Thyrisis are pastoral elegies. Theocritus poems I

Sonnet The word Sonnet is derived from the Italian word Sonnetto which means little sound or music. It is a fourteen lined poem expressing a single thought or feeling. Italian Sonnet The Italian Sonnet is also known as Petrarchan Sonnet. It is named after the Italian poet Petrarca. This Sonnet consists of Octave (8lines) and Sestet (6lines) . The rhyme scheme is abba abba, cde cde or cdc dcd. 1.     The octave may be divided into two stanzas called quatrains. 2.     The sestet may be divided into two of three lines each called tercets. 3.     At the end of octave there is a pause or caesura. 4.     Caesura is followed by volta , a turn in thought. The English Sonnet English Sonnet was introduced by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey during the 16 th century. English Sonnet is named after Shakespeare.        English sonnets have three quatrains with the rhyming scheme ab ab, cd cd, ef ef, gg. As it in a quatrain form there is no caesur

                         Summer Wood " Summer Wood " is a poem written by Sarojini Naidu. This poem is an extract  from her book “The Broken Wings”. She is a naturalist. She communicates her aversion for the artificiality of human life in the modern society. The poet has become tired about luxury and comfort. She no longer desire  to exist under the “ painted roofs ” and " soft and silken floor ".  She craves for  "summer-houses with over-hanging canopies of bright-red Gulmohars" .  The poet is tired of honour, fame and conflict and she aspires to "fly where cassia-woods are breaking into flame". She desires to enter the forest along with her lover to rest in peace.  “O let us fling all care away, and lie alone and dream".  Both of them are lying under the tangled boughs of tamarind, molsari and neem. The poet wishes  to play on carved flutes to awaken the slumbering serpents among the thick banyan roots. She longs to walk wit