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The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy

Hardy’s work – Naturalism, Wessex (countryside), pre-industrial England, nostalgia Role of destiny in everything Society of consumption, consumerism The industrialized were brought back to their human nature “Had chosen thus to fling his soul (<3) Upon the growing gloom” The Darkling Thrush BY  THOMAS HARDY I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-grey, And Winter's dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. dusk The tangled pine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires. All have returned home to warmth and love, but speaker is alone, leaning on a coppice-gate The land's sharp features seemed to be Rigor mortis The Century's corpse outleant, Century – Victorian Era Death is the starkest contrast to life His crypt the cloudy canopy, Crypt – enclosure, pit The wind his death-lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth Was ...

Easter 1916 by W. B. Yeats

YEATS not Yates Remember that. Marks the transition Irish nationalist movement – strong folk tradition (Irish); independent of Great Britain (republic) W.r.t. revival of Ireland and its spirit Written after the Irish uprising of Easter 1916 Fiery spirit (Irish, not Hardy’s) About choosing roles in life – societal, macrocosmic pressures stronger than personal drive Personal choice subservient to social pressure Speaker indifferent at first but then realizes the enormity of what Ireland was trying to achieveContrast between pre- and post-uprising – all has changed Evolution – nation-public-common cause – how he changes through the poem Cursory nods show indifference which is later transformed into celebration and glorification Motley – grey – commonplace existence (no more nonchalance) Significance of "grey/Eighteenth century houses" http://www.enotes.com/topics/easter-1916/in-depth   Countess Markievicz – sweet-voiced then shrill from shouting and fighti...

The Windhover by Hopkins

Hopkins is fangirling over the kestrel - extreme Romanticism minion = subordinate/darling dauphin = nobleman (title) Hopkins is observing the bird on a brilliant morning, where the bird is the lord of the morning dappled = spotted dawn-drawn = morning brings him in riding in the wind = hovering in gusty winds; it does not just fly - it rolls metaphor of humility and contro in your own terms not always the one who's highest that's in control fact that he is witness to this bird lets him explore its inscape and the instress - it is an individual experience compared to a horse (reins) the windhover rules the sky with just two foldable wings lives in the present = unaffected, gliding smoothly in the roughest, harshest winds "My heart in hiding/Strirred for a bird" = gave up poetry, didn't write for years and then a bird comes along and makes him sit up and take notice again achieve, mastery = master of himself, without pretense or self-conscio...

First-Person Narrative

http://www.ohio.edu/people/hartleyg/ref/fiction/pov.html http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-effect-does-use-first-person-pov-bring-story-280953 http://classroom.synonym.com/analysis-effects-first-person-narrative-point-1783.html This might help with tomorrow :P

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

SOCIETY: Aristocracy > Middle class > Working class Middle class dominated the poor POVERTY: move to city to chase the urban dream institutional crime Oliver the illegitimate child of an aristocrat - Dickens makes him suffer like the oppressed but not all middle-class people are evil IDENTITY: mistaken identity orphans don't know their roots GOOD VS. EVIL SOCIAL CRITICISM: origins matter more than character - rather assumptions made about character on the basis of only origin bias showed England at its worst - but if he sugar-coated it, the book would be dismissed rich-poor divide ------------- Oliver neglected, starved, ill-clothed Mistreated even as a child Theme of innocence - where do you begin to differentiate between naivete and stupidity "inappropriate" time of birth Reality of workhouses portrayed ---------------- SOCIAL CONTEXT English Poor Law biased implementation - emphasis on virtues of hard...

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Transition from Early to Late Victorian Beginning of modernism, ecological discourse spoke about environment poems published posthumously, in 20th century, but it just so happened that the questions he raised in his poems were relevant then they questioned the false sense of progress, man's insensitive attitude towards Nature - how man is not in tune with Nature and has smudged the Earth {God's Granger - world charged with the electric energy of God} INSCAPE - God's utterance of himself outside himself in this world - totality of all characteristics, unique to all creatures, uniquely and that differentiates it from the world INSTRESS - force of being that holds inscape together - the impulse of recognition - because one impulse of being is different from the other how everything - people, experiences, places, things - affects us perhaps most importantly, "the ice cream is also doing things to you" Inscape and Instress " Hopkins’s mimetic langua...

Economics

ECONOMICS: Developed and under-developed economies Capitalism Communism Socialism Nehruvian Socialism Five-year plans Nationalization License Raj system Stock market as a barometer of economy Liberalization  Privatization Globalization Alternative to GDP - Quality of Life Crony capitalism Each country has its own economic identity, just as India does. For instance, America is considered a rich country, and in terms of non-Americans' aspirations, chasing the American dream. However, in any analysis we must always consider comparisons as opposed to "sops" and unrealistic yardsticks. We discussed status, the role of advertisements in desires, "keeping up with the Jones'" and skipped over a thousand other topics. Economies may be categorized into first-world, third-world, in-between (or still-developing) and oil-producing countries. Parameters of development: (Discuss facets of development keeping India in mind. - 15 marks' poten...

Politics

POLITICS: Difference between nation and state http://www.sparknotes.com/us-government-and-politics/political-science/nations-and-states/section1.rhtml http://glossary.usip.org/resource/state-versus-nation Features of Parliamentary democracy http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/444221/parliament http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/444244/Parliament http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1384209/parliamentary-democracy Indian states reorganized on linguistic ground - reasons and consequences Sub-nationalism w.r.t. North-East and Telangana Secularism and communalism - votebank politics  http://himalmag.com/monolith-india-vote-bank/ Coalition politics - pros and cons:  http://www.academia.edu/4954609/The_Least_Worst_Option_The_Pros_and_Cons_of_Coalition_Government   http://www.aventure.ac.in/coalition-politics-pros-cons/ International relations - Indian foreign policy Neo-imperialism  http://www.suu.edu/faculty/ping/pdf/TheNe...

To Every Englishman in India (open letter from M.K. Gandhi)

tone is of sly civility - civil but if you read between the lines, THREAT!!! cooperation in spite of circumstances because he thought it was for the greater good of India risked life during Boer war treachery of Mr Lloyd George and the fact that it was appreciated by the British exploitation of resources - basically saying "we know what you're up to" Punjab atrocities condoned sick burn: "But though my faith in your good intentions is gone,I recognise your bravery, and I know what you will not yield to justice and reason,you will gladly yield to bravery."-Englishmen do not respond well to reasoning-brawn over brains,which they lack. disregard of India's poverty disarmament and emasculation  degrading treatment meted out to Indians "ensured our incapacity to fight in open and honorable battle" however, bravery of the soul still an option - strong spirit cooperation would only lead to greater enslavement   the masses not responding to ...

Transports of Delight by Manjula Padmanabhan

Manjula Ranganathan's style Wicked commentary on TSRs dangerous - physiological hazard motorized disasters also mentions unemployment and the general bad attitude of the drivers make up in numbers what they lack in size and agility, like flies personalizations and modifications remove the reverse gear to sell as spare parts bikaneri phut-phut autorustic god's rocket baroques-on-wheels hell's trishaw auto-ethnotic strato-darter road rani