Studies in English Language and Literature

Question: Discuss Donne’s  The Anniversary  as a metaphysical love poem. / Write a critical appreciation of  The Anniversary . / Attempt a critical analysis of the poem. Answer: At the outset, let us have a clear concept of metaphysical love poem.  A metaphysical love poem is distinguished by the preponderance of the intellectual over the emotional element, and it is expected to make use of some conceits that are brilliant. In John Donne’s metaphysical poem named The Anniversary , we find that all these conditions are fructified complacently.  The poem gives an account of a couple celebrating their first year in a relationship. The fundamental conceit of the entire poem is the metaphor of royalty. Simultaneously, imagery of divinity and death permeate the poem. The vital interest lies in the manner in which Donne uses royal imagery to convey the thought of a love.  The opening lines imminently proclaim that not only Kings, but also ...

Question: The Prince by Machiavelli is a handbook of an ambitious Renaissance man. – Discuss. / Machiavelli’s The Prince is pragmatic; it is a practical and amoral handbook for the modern politicians. – Discuss. / Discuss the value of The Prince as a handbook for modern political rulers. / Point out the modernity in Machiavelli’s discourses on the eligibility of an efficient ruler or prince. Answer : Machiavelli, the Italian statesman and dramatist, is widely known as “the first realist in politics”. Niccolo Machiavelli's  The Prince is a treatise on politics and it is based upon his first-hand experience as an emissary of the Florentine Republic to the courts of Europe. In fact, Machiavelli added a dimension to one of the major philosophical and political issues of his time, especially the relationship between public deeds and private morality. His book gives us a detailed picture of the true nature of power, no matter in what age or by whom it is ex...

Examine Keats’ treatment of brightness and fulfilment in To Autumn . Ans. To Autumn  records the poet’s meditations on maturity. It encapsulates his efforts to achieve it issuing into a disciplined poetic art. The complete maturity exemplifies Keatsian virtues of sensuousness and pictorial beauty, felicity of diction, perfectness of form and splendid vividness of imagery. This impersonal  ode celebrated the season of autumn as a time of natural fulfilment and as a part of the living process of nature. The season of ripeness and abundance is a reminder of the mortality of things, a herald to the approaching desolation of winter.  In Stanza I, we come to know autumn as a ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’. The sun matures the earth, ripening the grapes, the apples, the gourds and the hazelnuts etc.  Stanza II describes the imagery of arrested motion. It echoes the upcoming winter. The reaper is the messenger of death so, ‘the last drop ...

       Discuss sensuousness and pictorial qualities in Keats’ poetry with reference to Ode to a Nightingale and To Autumn . A thorough study of Keats’ poems like Ode to a Nightingale and To Autumn   justifies how Keats lived for ‘a life of sensations’. Opening up with a keen sensation of agony,   Ode to a Nightingale soon gives place to ‘a drowsy numbness. Keats’ poetry excels in vividly sensuous images in the lines full of sensuousness and the visual picture of a drinking vessel. In the closing stanza of   Ode to Autumn , a fantastic reconstruction of the dying autumnal twilight suggests the magnificent perfection of Keats’ poetic sensibility. Ode to a Nightingale   seems to be suffused with pictures, mostly visual, but occasionally manifested with the aural, the tactile and the olfactory portraits. To Autumn   is also full of sensuous pictures. Stanza I depicts the fruits of autumn. Stanza II of the ode a...