Text of the Poem: IT LITTLE profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. I cannot rest from travel; I will drink Life to the lees. All times I have enjoy’d Greatly, … Read more
Summary of the poem Stanza 1: Now-a-days the people run after money. Every time they think of it. Earning and spending it has been their sole aim. In this way, much of their power is wasted. They find no time to look at and appreciate the objects of Nature that are made for them. Alas, … Read more
Introduction: “An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ was published in 1751. It brought Gray into lime light and his genius was recognized. Its success was instantaneous and overwhelming. A dignified elegy in classical diction celebrating the graves of humble and unknown villagers was, in itself, such a novelty that all paid attention to it. … Read more
What is Sonnet: The word sonnet has been derived from the Italian Sonnetto meaning a little strain. Originally it was a poem to be sung or recited to music, but now it stands for a written lyric of fixed form, expressing a single idea (one main idea) or emotion consisting of fourteen decasyllabic. The rhyme, … Read more
Stanzawise Summary: Stanza 1: Fear death? -to feel the fog in my throat, The mist in my face When the snows begin, and the blasts denote I am nearing the place. Explanatory Word-Meanings: Fog in the throat = choking sensation felt in the throat. Mist = dimness of sight. Snows = coldness of death. Blasts = hard breathings … Read more
Introduction: “Dover Beach” is one of the early poems of Matthew Arnold. It was, however, published quite late in 1867 in New Poems. According to J. D. Jump, “Dover Beach is a short poem but it embraces a great range and depth of significance. As elsewhere, Arnold discloses his melancholy pre occupations with the thought … Read more
Keats’ High Imagination: Keats’ faculty of high imagination comes to light in his great odes. In Ode on A Grecian Urn for example, he imagines that the piper, the lover, the lady and the tree engraved on the urn have the blessings of eternity. The piper will never tired and his songs will never be … Read more
Sensuousness in the Poem: Sensuousness is the paramount quality of Keats’ poetical genius. Keats is pre – eminently the poet of the senses and their delights. No one has created to and gratified the five human senses (touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing) to the same extent as Keats. He is a great lover of … Read more
Introduction of the Poem: Keats wrote in September, 1819, from Winchester to Reynolds about the background of the composition of the Ode to Autumn: “How beautiful the season is now — how fine the air — a temperate sharpness about it … I never like stubble – fields so much as now —aye, better than … Read more
Introduction: “An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” develops in the background of the Churchyard at Stoke Poges. Sitting there, the poet accounts for the rural activities at evening. The evening bell has warned people to cover their fires, put out their lights, and go to bed. The crying group of animals is going on … Read more