Studies in English Language and Literature

  “If music be the food of love, play on…” Explain/ Elucidate/ Comment The given excerpt has been taken from William Shakespeare’s five-act comedy Twelfth Night or What You Will . This expression occurs in the opening line of the play. That is to say, it has been extracted from Act 1 Scene 1 of the said comedy. These words have been uttered by Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, to Curio, one of the two male attendants of the Duke, the other one being Valentine. It is known to all that the purpose of our taking food is to keep ourselves alive. Yes, food keeps us alive by nourishing our entire physical process. It provides us with lots of energy alongside quenching our hunger. Similarly, we need some nourishment for our mental process as well. How can that be done? Broadly speaking, it can be done by taking in “the food of love”, that is, “music”. We all know that “love” and “music” are associated with each other in some way or the other. Moreover, it is distinctly discernible that ...

  We come across the character called Malvolio in William Shakespeare’s five-act comedy Twelfth Night or What You Will . Malvolio is the main character in the subplot of this comedy. Broadly speaking, he venerates his dreams, though they are usually melancholic or gloomy by nature and in character. In course of the play, we come to find that Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, dreams of Olivia’s hand. In this connection, we must note that Malvolio, the steward to Olivia, also, dreams the same as the Duke. However, it has to be mentioned that both of them are ensnared due to their own mistakes. Yes, they mistakenly confuse dreams to be real. Malvolio has been alleged of being too sick of loving himself. Most conspicuously, this remark has been made by none other than Olivia. As we see, he is self-obsessed through and through. Apart from that, Malvolio is an advocate of untrue puritanism. He is usually too serious to bear with the revelry of Sir Toby Belch and of his comrades. He finds M...

  Explain the following in your own words: Reade not to Contradict, and Confute; Nor to Beleeve and Take for granted; Nor to Finde Talk and Discourse; But to weigh and Consider. This excerpt has been taken from Francis Bacon’s essay ‘Of Studies’. These words have been spoken in the reference of discussing the various aspects of studies by the essayist. We all need to study, but the point is that the purposes of study are not the same. However, in this regard, Bacon leads us to the actual direction. We must not read for the sake of contradiction or to ‘confute’. That is to say, the purpose of study is neither to dispute nor to become a faultfinder. We are forbidden to nurture our censorious attitude always. Again, the purpose of study is neither to believe everything nor to take things for granted without applying our consideration. That is to say, we are not supposed to be credulous as well. Moreover, it should also be kept in mind that study is not meant for conversation a...

Collective Nouns: Thorough Study with Examples Today, let us have a brief idea about what collective noun is. Well, before that, let us remember that a noun, no matter what kind of a noun it is, is actually a nomenclature of a person or an object or of something else. In other words, we can say that a noun is a name. That is to say, for example, as and when we utter the word "dog", the picture of the mentioned domestic animal comes into our visualisation. Again, if we utter the word "sky", the endless blue canopy above our heads flashes upon our vision. So, it goes like this. There are five kinds of noun in English grammar. They are the following: 1. Common Nouns 2. Proper Nouns 3. Collective Nouns 4. Material Nouns 5. Abstract Nouns Again, in the respect of countability, there are two types of nouns. They are mentioned below: 1. Countable Nouns 2. Uncountable Nouns Well, now we shall plunge into our mentioned topic and try to explore more and eve...

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...