Studies in English Language and Literature

Substance of the Invocation in Paradise Lost by John Milton/ John Milton’s Paradise Lost : Invocation part explained thoroughly/ An analytical study of the Invocation of John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost / Invocation of Milton’s Paradise Lost (synopsis) (Book 1)/ Explanation of the first 26 lines or the invocation part in Paradise Lost by John Milton/ Paradise Lost by John Milton Invocation explained line by line and word for word John Milton’s Paradise Lost is an example of secondary epic. This epic is written in blank verse. The deeper we delve into the epic, the better we can understand the excellence of the same. In the light of this discussion, an analysis of the Invocation—the first twenty-six lines—of Paradise Lost (Book 1) is given below: “Of man’s first disobedience”, which is the opening phrase of the epic, depicts the biblical picture found in The Book of Genesis , the first book of the Pentateuch and of the Old Testament . Here, the word man’s refers to Adam, the Fi...

Thorough and in-depth study or analysis of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" Act 1 Scene 1/ The opening scene of 'Macbeth' explained line by line and word for word At the outset, we all must know that William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" is a psychoanalytic tragedy that consists of five acts. Now, we shall discuss the opening scene (Act 1, Scene 1) of the said drama or the mentioned play. In the tragedy "Macbeth", we get to know the three weird sisters or the three witches who meet in an abandoned place. Broadly speaking, it was a heath. When the three sisters came across one another, it was a hostile guise of nature; there was thunder and lightning. They resolved to re-meet in the same weather: "In thunder, lightning, or in rain". In course of time, the First Witch's dialogue was completed. Thereafter, the Second Witch gave the suggestion that they should meet after the 'hurlyburly'. Apart from that, she gave the idea that they ...

  Today, we shall discuss about Gerund in a nutshell. Gerund is actually derived from a verb. However, it is used as a noun. Hence, we may say that gerund is a verbal noun. Gerund is formed by adding ‘-ing’ to the base form of the verb. Well, we must still keep in mind that it conveys the sense of a noun. Let us take a glance at an example. So, when we say, “Where can I find some drinking water?”, we are actually using a gerund. It is conspicuous to note that the word written in bold font is actually used as a noun in this sentence, even though it appears to be different, perhaps. It will become easy indeed for us to understand the matter if we analyse the sentence in this way. Does the word qualify the noun ‘water’? The answer is “No”. Why? It is so because the water is needed for the sake of or for the purpose of drinking. Note that the water is not drinking; that is to say, the word ‘drinking’ does not modify the word ‘water’; it is not used as an adjective. However, the...

  Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess : Explanation, Reference to Context, RTC “…………..This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together………..” Ans.  These lines have been extracted from My Last Duchess by Robert Browning. Broadly speaking, this extract gives us a vent to Browning’s one of the best dramatic monologues ever. Apart from that, these couple of lines delineate the climax of the same. These words were uttered by the Duke of Ferrara to the emissary or the envoy of the Count whose daughter was about to be the new Duchess. Thus, we come to know that these words were spoken at the time of their interaction about the new marriage of the Duke. Here, it can be discerned that the Duke murdered his jubilant, innocent and simpleminded Duchess. Even after that, he is conspicuously organised in his words. He never likes to stoop, thinking of his blue blood. He is transcendentally boastful of his aristocracy. These lines startle us with fear, as and when we com...

  William Blake, a mystic, a visionary, a pre-Romantic as well as a Romantic poet, is best known for his Songs of Innocence and of Experience . In his Songs , we get a reverberating message of the ‘two equal states of the human soul’. In this regard, we should note that The Lamb is the theme poem of his Songs of Innocence , while The Tyger is the theme poem of his Songs of Experience . However, here, we shall discuss a bit about his The Lamb . Broadly speaking, The Lamb is a poem of two stanzas with ten lines each. It is usually said that this poem is composed in nursery rhyme. It produces a jingling sound in our hearts, as we go through it. However, this creation by Blake, no doubt, conveys great messages to us, as and when we intend to discover those. It must be noted that this poem is spoken through the voice of a little human child to a lamb. Most strikingly, as we advance reading the poem, we, slowly but surely, come to discern the serious meanings of life in an easy wa...