LitAide

The quote is taken from the play "The Way of the World" by William Congreve, a famous Restoration playwright renowned for his comedy of manners. The above line is spoken by Millament, the heroine of the play who engages in a witty conversation with her lover, Mirabell. Millament knows that Mirabell loves her and she as his beloved loves to give pain to Mirabell. Women love to give sweet pain to their lovers. They throw tantrums to keep sexual tension between their lovers and them. In a similar manner, this also depicts the power of one's dominant nature; how one's stringent behaviour is necessary to get respect or get things done from others. And if one loses such dominance, nobody listens to them.

This poem was written in the year 1889 by Tennyson and he died three years later. He was old and grappling with the idea of death, he wrote this poem. The narrator is figuratively walking towards his end. He is nearing his death and he compares his impending death to crossing a sandbar (see the below image).  Sandbar It is nearly sunset and the evening star is visible in the sky. It means the poet has lived and savoured his life and now he is on the verge of death, here dusk is compared with old age. He also receives confirmation from heaven that the time has come for him to return. As he returns, he doesn't want to disturb/erode the sandbar. But he has to cross it in order to reach the ocean. Tennyson wants to get carried to heaven on a silent tide peacefully or while he is asleep. In other words, Tennyson wants to die peacefully or we can say that all he wants is painless death.  The tide on which he will be carried, should not be full of foam which will make noise as tides ...

 The narrator introduces herself as a "nobody" and asks about the listener's identity. Before (s)he replies, she enquired whether he/she is also a nobody like her. She feels she has an affinity to the listener because they share a common ground of being "nobody". Her metaphor of "nobody" definitely suggests an ordinary person who attracts no attention from people. She shushed the listener to keep quiet about their identity because if others know, they will no longer be nobody i.e. anonymous. People will "banish"  them i.e. this publicity will cause them to lose their anonymity which is precious to the narrator.  The next line shows how much she is afraid of getting under public eye. She finds it "dreary". She compares a celebrity or an attention-loving person to a frog who does nothing other than blabbering (uttering) his name to a non-living thing like a bog which refer to flatterers who keep repeating artificial or false praises a...

 

 

 

 

 

The speaker wonders whether a life offering every comfort and luxury is worthwhile (perfect) if one doesn't have enough time to stand relaxed and appreciate a wonderful sight.  If one doesn't have the time to stand below a branch of a tree and stare at the grazing sheep and cows in the open pasture, then it is a pitiful life, no matter how wealthy one is. How dull a life could be when he can't even explore a forest/woods that he passes by often and doesn't have the time to solve the mystery of seeking the place where squirrels hid their nuts in grass. A man's hurried life in which he can't even look at a beautiful girl and appreciate her physical elegance and her dance, then that man is missing the little joys of life. His hasty manner will prevent him from waiting to enjoy the girl's fully formed smile that begins with her eyes and reaches her mouth forming a mesmerizing portrait. These little joys account for the true happiness one can attain because bigge...

 The Minority Poem is a poem written by Nissim Ezekiel, the foremost Indian poet who wrote in English after independence. CONTEXT In order to understand this poem, you must learn the background of the poet, i.e. Nissim Ezekiel. He belonged to a Jewish community known as the Bene Israel, who migrated to India from Israel centuries ago. He was born, lived and died in the city of Bombay and spent considerable time in the city. He suffered from identity crisis being a member of a minority community in India, but at heart, he was an Indian.  In India, Hinduism is the majority religion and people following Judaism accounts for a minuscule population, even much lesser than other "minority" religion such as Islam and Christianity. Ezekiel though accepted his identity to be Indian, he used to feel alien here. He used to observe Hindu people and their practices, which sometimes seemed peculiar to him. SUMMARY In his symbolic "room", the narrator is entertaining guests i.e. pe...

According to the narrator, nuns, who dedicated their lives to God, don't complain about their small rooms in the convent. Neither do hermits ask for more than an ordinary cell to stay. It is more than what they ask for.  A student, who is a devotee of his studies, who is busy in his books in his limited confinement, shuts himself away from distractions in his "citadel" i.e. a solitary place to study and think deeply about it and to arrive at new findings. Whether one looks at maids who spin wheel or the weaver who works on his loom, they work without making a fuss and remain happy in it.  Even minute creatures such as bees also take flight as high as the "highest peak of Furness-fells", and then murmur (means working tirelessly) inside the bell-shaped flowers of fox-glove. A bee going inside fox-glove He adds that it is us that put ourselves into our own mind-generated prison of a sort. We desire excessive liberty, which is not good for us, in reality. We need r...

The Thorn  The narrator mentions an old-looking thorn but he says that it is not very old, its height is same as that of a two-year-old child. It has no leaves, nothing noteworthy, it is meagre "a mass of knotted joints, A wretched thing forlorn." According to the narrator, the thorn is under attack by mosses and lichens, that intend to "bury this poor Thorn forever." This thorn is situated on a high ridge where sharp "scythe" (blade-like tool) like winds blow and drag clouds from one valley to another. The thorn lies on the five yards left from the mountain path on it. Three yards left, the narrator, points to a "little muddy pond" which never dries despite lying below  "thirsty suns and parching air." Near the thorn, lies a small mound of a foot's height. It is covered by moss and looks beautiful. It seems a fair lady crafted it with her hands. Also, he praises the cup lichens (a cup-shaped fungus) whose vermillion colour looks ex...

The narrator, a woman, talks about men. She reveals that it is easy to receive men's love, a woman just has to be candid about her sexual needs. A man is driven by carnal desire, so she will certainly get his attention.  She is aware of the man's need to show his masculinity, so she advises women to stand with her man before the mirror. He will admire his own stronger physical figure as compared to the woman who looks "softer, younger, lovelier". Here the poetess knows that men play into the female's recognition of his masculinity. Further, she says that the woman should openly show her admiration of the male body. Also, she instructs women to pay attention to his body parts as he walks with shyness on the bathroom floor. She can see his red eyes while under the shower and how he drops his towel and urinates in a "jerky way". She appreciates his male features which separates him from her. She admits her sexuality and "gift" her lover all pleasu...