Studies in English Language and Literature

  Dost thou look back on what hath been, As some divinely gifted man, Whose life in low estate began And on a simple village green... These lines have been taken from Lord Tennyson’s elegiac poem 'In Memoriam'. The poet, after the untimely death of his intimate friend named Arthur Henry Hallam, was mentally broken down. That is to say, he composed these lines in the remembrance of his deceased chum. Here, the poet asks Hallam in a trance whether he is looking back on this earth or not "as some divinely gifted man", whose humble life began in a low land of a simple village. Tennyson seems to wonder if his departed friend thinks of him from heaven or not, because of the poet's constant contemplation of Hallam from the earth. Moreover, the tone of speaking of the poet sounds as if his heavy heart is wallowing in utmost lamentation for Arthur, his crony. Such distress makes him wonder whether the deceased chum ever looks back to ruminate the past unison of thei...

"The dawn, the dawn", and died away; And East and West, without a breath, Mixt their dim lights, like life and death, To broaden into boundless day.   These lines have been taken from Lord Tennyson’s elegiac poem In Memoriam . The poet, after the untimely death of his intimate friend named Arthur Henry Hallam, was mentally broken down. That is to say, he composed these lines in the remembrance of his deceased chum. In this elegy, we find Tennyson oscillating like a pendulum between the Christian faith in the immortality of Hallam’s soul and the scientific doubts that was typical of the Victorian Age. Here, the poet states that it is ‘dawn’; the night has ‘died away’. It feels as if ‘dawn’ is like a mirage that tries to allure him to even more despair. Moreover, both the Orient and the Occident become mixed up in life’s ‘dim lights’ breathlessly, just as ‘life and death’ become fused with each other in the natural cycle. Moreover, it may be evident that there is no distinction...

  ‘The Second Coming’ by William Butler Yeats: Stanza 1 explained line by line/ Explanation of the First Stanza/Elucidation of the Opening Stanza with critical comments   Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.   Ans. These lines constitute the first stanza of the poem The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats. The opening line of the poem mentions of a spiral or a ‘gyre’ that is a geometrical figure. As we see, the vortex is getting widened more and more tirelessly. Broadly speaking, the more the gyre is widened or turned, the more strength it does lose. Again, in another words, it can be said that the falcon—a predator bird—fails to hear the instruction of the fal...