Say This City Has Ten Millions Souls

W.H Auden

Auden was born in 1907 and was educated at Oxford. He moved to the U.S in 1939 and became
an American citizen.

W.H Auden in this touching poem captures the sense of alienation and isolation of outsiders
coming to a country not their own. Particularly, the poet is talking about the German Jews who
fled their country afraid of Hitler s’ persecutions. The passport is used as a symbol of personal
identity, yet it is meaningless document that excludes any human considerations, the only reality
is that the possession of the passport is not the fact of being alive. The sense of deprivation is
remarkably conveyed through the image of pampered dog, the fish which swim freely and the
birds which sing in the woods-the pity is that the human life falls beneath the animal level.

Man is imprisoned in thousand shackles of race, colour and creed, of nationality, of passports.
These immigrants become hunted, the most unwanted and are being tracked by the soldiers and
for them all doors and windows are closed. There is no one who can hear and solve their basic
problems. This poem reflects the plight and bad condition of the German Jews who fled from
Germany to ward off the atrocities of Adolf Hitler. But they were not sure that they will face the
same problems in the country where they are going to settle.

In America, their basic human rights are not being recognized. They are being treated worse than
animal level. They have no passports and are considered dead in official language. There the
voice of Hitler on radio terrifies them. The native politicians politicize this issue in order to get
fame and to get some votes.

In that country the fish and birds are free and dogs are looked after well but basics human rights
are not being given. The city is very big having thousand storied buildings but there is not a
small place for German Jews who are only confined to their camps in the open areas in the
intense weather.

This poem is a severe criticism on the so called civilized American society. They raise the
slogans of giving basics human rights but this law does not apply at their own country. This story
is a criticism on the urban life. Everybody is moving to and trying to settle in the big cities but in
administrative point of view it becomes very difficult to provide them the basic necessities of
life.

Summary
This poem is about the international problem of refugees. It is an outcome of political difference
or religious and racial discrimination. In these touching lines Auden has expressed the scene of
alienation of refugees coming to a country not their own. He is talking specifically of the
German Jews who fled their country afraid of Hitler's persecution. However, the feelings
expressed here can be shared by refugees and immigrants anywhere in the world.
The poet regards refugees the most unfortunate people. 
They are given merciless and inhuman treatment by the so-called civilized societies. Human life
and its dignity fall beneath the animal level. Man is imprisoned in a thousand chains of religion,
race, nationality and passport. The poet condemns the division of mankind due to selfishness and
narrow-mindedness. He believes that we should rise above these barriers and accept the right of
refugees to live. The poem is sentimental in impact. It arouses the feelings of sympathy and pity
for the refugees. The poem is very pensive and ironic. The author seems to be lamenting the
refugees, and it would seem he is one. He seems to be admiring the fish and birds, and
their freedom and the peace that they have.

Woman Work
Maya Angelou
Summary 

“Woman Work” is a very domestic poem depicting the typical routine life of a woman who
performs her daily chores effectively and then yearns for a fantastic break amidst the elements of
nature to give her strength and comfort.
As a housewife, she has to perform many chores. She has to tend her children, mend their
clothes, mop the floor and do some shopping for their meals. Then she has to fry chicken, dry the
baby, feed her animals, weed off her garden, press the shirts, dress her tots, cut the canes and
clean up her whole house to make it beautiful and appealing.
This is the drudgery of her routine, which makes her life so monotonous and prosaic; but the
woman in the poem is an idealist and wants to go in the lap of nature to give her relief and
comfort. She calls forth the sun, the moon, the mountains, cold ice, and the curving sky to take
her away into the space so that she can fly there, forget her neck-breaking routine, and feel the
freshness of natural elements to stimulate her body and soul to once again.

So The poem is an expression of a woman's struggle and her desires. The poem gives us a
message that the woman is a very hardworking human being. She needs care and comfort as she
cares for other members of her family. The poem tells us that a woman does have some desires;
she wants to enjoy nature, she wants to be famous, she wants to spare some time in which she
may live her own life. She has a desire to be given love and passion which would give her energy
and strength to do more work.

Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson

Summary and Critical Analysis

Because I Could Not Stop for Death is one of the most admired poems of Emily Dickinson. The
greatest charm of the poem is in its ambiguity and the elusive nature of the heart of the meaning
of the poem. The poem inspires more doubts than can be answered and therefore lends itself to
multiple interpretations. The poem is indeed a challenge to the critical insights of the reader.
Because of its multiple layers of its significance and the scope, the poem offers for further
exploration of newer layers of meaning, it has attracted a good number of great critics. The
speaker of the poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson is a girl whose
marriage proposal has been confirmed. Her fiancé (the boy fixed for the marriage) is dead. She
and her fiancé are going out for a ride in a cart pulled by a horse. First, she describes the scenery
on the journey and then expresses her idea that she had not yet started her real and married life
but the life of eternity. The idea is that this life is only a wait before an everlasting life begins:
according to Christianity, good people will live forever in heaven after dying from this life. But,
since Dickinson says that she is in love with death, the idea is rather complicated. In simple
words, we may say that this poem is a poem of 'suicidal feelings'.
In a bold and striking fashion, Emily Dickinson personifies death as a lover, kind and civil who
stops at the house of his beloved to give her a courteous ride. The carriage has three characters,
life represented by the beloved, Death and his inevitable companion, Immortality. The carriage
drives forward its journey is a journey from life to death and ultimately to eternity. The hectic
life and its setting in time and space, symbolized by the school children playing in the ring: the
fields of gazing grain and the setting sun are left behind (presumably to the living), as the
carriage moves forward. In the next phase of the journey, the carriage pauses before the house of
death symbolized by the 'swelling of the ground' (grave). The last stanza speaks of eternity
towards which the horse's heads have turned. Thus the three characters in the carriage. Life,
Death and Immortality are represented by the three phrases of their journey presented in the
structure of the poem.
The poem 'Because I could not Stop for Death' deals with the poet’s desire to leave her physical
life in this world and begin the eternal spiritual life of the soul. For this, the speaker of the poem
assumed Death as her fiancé. She has been engaged to death, and she is impatiently waiting for
uniting with him, so as to begin her endless life. On the way to death, the speaker realized that
her life before marriage (or death) is temporary, and the real life will only begin after that; in the
eternal journey of the soul. She feels eager and impatient like a bride before marriage to ccess the
path of the eternal journey of death.
The poem is a narrative one. It ends with the narrator’s commentary about waiting, or life. The
journey (or drive) she made with her partner Death is an allegory of life. The carriage held the
narrator and Death, and also immortality. This means that she is living a life (journey) with the
certainty of death and also an immortal soul in her. She brings both of them along with her. After
death, the married life would begin and extend to eternity. The short journey has parts: early,
they passed a school which symbolizes childhood; then they went past a field which must stand
for work, maturity and necessity; then they came to a grave with the setting of the sun. The grave
reminds the narrators of her own marriage with death. The grave is a “Swelling of the Ground”
under which must be a room for the body to rest. The surface looked like a roof to the house of
the dead. There they paused for a while. The narrator realized the reality of this short life
journey. Since then, it has been like a century of waiting for the right moment. She wants the
wedding with Death very soon. She wants to live the life after that. Her gown and clothes are
ready and she has put aside her labor as well as leisure. She is not willing to go on with the busy
and the meaningless humdrum of this life.
The first line, which also makes the title now, is an odd one. The speaker, like any human being,
cannot wait death on her choice. That is the fact and quite true, so we live until death waits for
us. Life is a short span of time that death allows. As Dickinson would say, the real life will begin
after death. The horse is time that pulls the narrator and her companions. That is “turned toward
Eternity’. This means time is of two types: the time of our temporary life on earth and the eternal
time of the soul. All this is rather religious and not agreeable to all people. Besides, the whole
idea is rather pessimistic even to a devout religious person. But the poem is remarkable is its
style and metaphor.
The style and form of the poem is also unique. The capital letters mark the emphasis to be given
in words. The pauses also mark special emphasis and tones where demanded. The technique is
Dickinson’s original technique. There are also strange phrases like “Gazing Grain.” This is a
personification of the grain and the projection of human emotion into it. The poem is unique for
both its style and its treatment of love and death as the same.

The Telltale Heart by Edger Allen Poe

Summary

The story “The Tell-Tale Heart” throws light on the fact that a criminal cannot conceal his crime
and the voice of one’s conscience cannot be subdued. It is impossible to ignore its pricking for
long.
The narrator of the story decides to kill and old man just because of one of his eyes. That eye is
very ugly. He also wants to prove that he is not mad, so he tells the reader how he killed the old
man and why.
Whenever the old man’s eye fell on him he felt afraid, and so he decided to kill him. He kept on
going to the old man’s room for seven nights. However, he did not kill him because his was
always close.
On the eighth night, he was very careful. He found the eye open. He took a lot of time to kill the
old man. He enjoyed the fears of the old man and laughed at him. Then he killed the old man.
The old man screamed before dying. After killing him, he dismembered the dead body. He
concealed the pieces under the flooring of the room.
Some neighbor had heard the screams and he had informed the police. Two police officers came
to check the premises. He welcomed them and satisfied them that nothing wrong had happened.
He took them to the old man’s rom.
Then suddenly he started hearing the heartbeat of the old man. This sound went on increasing.
He tried to overcome it but failed. He thought that the police officers knew about his crime and
they want him to confess to his crime. He could not bear this situation for long. At last, he
confessed to his crime before the police officers.

1. Discuss the elements of horror in the story “The Telltale Heart”.

The story “The Telltale Heart” is a horror detective and crime story.
Discuss.

The Story “The Telltale Heart” is full of elements of horror.   It also fulfils the requirements of a
detective and crime story.
First, the motive of the murder creates horror. The killer did not want to kill the old man because
of some object or passion. The killer loved the old man. The old man had never wronged him.
He had not insulted him. The killer had no desire for the old man’s gold. The height of cruelty
was that he wanted to kill the old man because he did not like one of his eyes. This motive of the
killing creates horror.
The process of the killing also creates horror. When he went to kill the old man on the eighth
night, he was very proud of his sagacity. Therefore, he laughed quietly and the old man heard
him. He jumped on his bed with fear. It is very horrible that the killer enjoyed the fear of the old
man. Then he yelled and jumped into the room the old man shrieked with terror. The killer
dragged the old man to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. When the old man died, he
removed the bed and tried to feel the heartbeat of the old man. When the reader reads about the
fear of the old man and the process of killing, he feels afraid.
We find the most horrible situation when the killer dismembered the dead body to conceal it. He
cut off the head, the arms, and the legs. It is very horrible. We feel near nausea. How cruel the
killer is! After killing the old man his own condition is a very horrible. The way his conscience
pricks him is also very horrible. (290)

2. Discuss the elements of suspense in the story.

Suspense starts from the start of the story. The start of the story is very sudden. The word
‘nervous’ and ‘mad’ create a lot of suspense.
The narrator of the story sets the reader to a task. He wants him to find out whether he is mad or
not. He keeps talking to the reader. He asks our opinion repeatedly. He gives arguments in his
favour and keeps the suspense alive until the end of the story. This suspense is not satisfied. The
reader is left to guess whether the narrator is mad or not. This is first element of suspense.
When the narrator kills the old man, the reader wants to know whether he will be caught or not.
When the police officers come, the suspense reaches the highest point. This is the second
element of suspense.
This element of suspense is satisfied when the killer confesses to his crime. Therefore, the story
is full of suspense. (158)

3. Was the killer a mad man?

Why did the killer kill the old man? Was he a mad man?

We can rightly say that the killer was not mad, although he was very nervous and sensitive.
Perhaps he had some sort of disease. That disease had made him too sensitive.
When we read the story “The Telltale Heart” carefully, we find that he was not mad at all. In our
daily life, sometimes we do not like certain things without any serious reason. Sometimes we
express our dislike and sometimes we do not. Therefore, the killer’s dislike of the old man’s eye
was not abnormal. Problem was that he was too sensitive and nervous. When he looked at the old
man’s eye, his blood ran cold. Therefore, by degrees he made up his mind to get rid of the old
man’s eye by killing him.
The process of killing also suggests that he was not mad. He kept on going to the old man’s room
for seven nights. However, he did not kill the old man, because he found his eye open. It means
he had full control over his nerves. The killer was right when he said that he was not mad
because a mad man knows nothing. On the other hand, he knew the safest way of killing. He put
the heavy bed over the old man. The way he concealed the dead body also proves that he was not
mad.
The most important pint is that he told a lie to the police officers that the old man was not present
and it was his own shriek. Now we do not expect that from a mad man. Besides, the way he
handled the police officers also proves that he was not mad. Therefore, the killer was not mad.
(282)

4. Discuss the title of the story. OR Why did the killer confess to his
crime?
Justify the title of the story. OR How was the murderer caught?

Confession of the killer at the end of the story is very sudden and unexpected. However, the title
of the story suggests that the killer will make this confession. In the title, “The Tell-Tale Heart”
the word “heart” means the guilty conscience of the killer. That “heart” forced him to confess to
his crime.
At the start of the story, the killer was very nervous. We find him sensitive too. We see that after
committing the crime he was quite satisfied and proud at his work. He even laughed.
When the police officers came, he satisfied them with his lies and peaceful manners. Everything
was all right for him. However, suddenly, he grew pale. Now he wanted to get rid of the police
officers. His head ached. He imagined a ringing in his ears. This ringing became louder. He was
so nervous that he said, “Oh God! What could I do?” He talked wildly. He swore, and grated the
chair on the floor. He wanted to overcome the ringing, but could not. He feared that the police
officers might hear the ringing.
He thought that it was old man’s heartbeat. Actually, it was his guilty conscience. Its pricking
was unbearable. He said. However, anything was better that this agony! I felt that I must ream of
die.” And he screamed.
It was all due to his heart or guilty conscience that he confessed to his crime. The title of the
story suggests this. (243)

5. How did the killer kill the old and how did he conceal the body?
How did the killer execute the murder and conceal the dead body?

The killer had been going to the old man’s room to kill him for seven nights. However, he did
not kill him because he found his eye close. Actually, he wanted to kill the old man because he
did not like one of his eyes. That eye was very ugly.
On the eighth night, he was very cautious in opening the door. He opened the door very slowly.
He was proud of his sagacity. Therefore, he laughed quietly and the old man heard him. He
moved on his bed. When he was about to open the lantern, his thumb sloped, and the old man
sprang up in the bed. He started enjoying the fear of the old man and he chuckled again. He
threw a thin ray of light on the old man’s eye. It was open. However, he delayed in killing the
old man. Then suddenly with a loud yell, he jumped into the room. The old man shrieked. The
killer dragged him onto the floor and pulled the heavy bed over him. When the old man died, he
removed the bed. He tried to feel the heartbeat of the old man’s heart. He was dead.
To conceal the dead body first he dismembered it. He cut off the head, the arms, and the legs. He
took up planks from the flooring of the room. He put the dead body in the hole and then replaced
the planks. Therefore, in this way he killed the old man and concealed the dead body. (253)

6. What is the lesson or moral of the story/

The lesson or moral of the story “The Tell-Tale Heart” is that a criminal cannot conceal his
crime and subdue the voice of his conscience. It is impossible to ignore it s pricking for long.
When we read the story carefully, we find that the killer is quite satisfied after killing the old
man. In fact, he is proud of his successful work. He has killed the old man in the safest way.
There is no blood spot. He had also concealed the dead body under the flooring. No one can
detect anything wrong. Therefore, he laughs ha! Ha! Everything is all right. He is rather
enjoying.
When the police officers come, he receives them with complete peace of mind. He is confident
that there is nothing to fear. He satisfies them that nothing wrong has happened. He tells a lie. He
tells them that the old man is not present. He also tells them that he shrieked in his dream. Now
the police officers are satisfied.
Suddenly, he grows pale. Now he wants to get rid of the police officers. He feels headaches. He
imagines a ringing in his ears. This ringing becomes louder. He is so nervous that he says, “Oh
God! What could I do?” He talks wildly. He swears. He grates the chair on the floor just to
overcome the ringing, but cannot. He fears that the police officers may hear this ringing. He
thinks that it is the sound of old man’s heartbeat. Actually, it is his guilty conscience. Its pricking
is unbearable. He says, “But anything was better that this agony!” he further says, “I felt that I
must scream or die.” And he screams. It is all due to his heart or guilty conscience that he
confesses to his crime. The title of the story suggests that. (304)

7. Discuss the atmosphere of the story.

There is an atmosphere of horror and suspense in the story “The Tell-Tale Heart”.
 To create the atmosphere of horror first the writer presents the motive of the murder. The killer
did not want to kill the old man because of some object or passion. The killer loved the old man.
The old man had never wronged him. He had not insulted him. The killer had no desire for the
old man’s gold. The height of cruelty was that he wanted to kill the old man for one of his eyes.
This motive of the killing creates horror.
The process of the killing also creates horror. When he went to kill the old man on the eighth
night, he was very proud of his sagacity. Therefore, he chuckled and the old man heard him. He
moved on his bed. It is very horrible that the killer enjoyed the fear of the old man. Then he
yelled and jumped into the room. The old man shrieked with terror. The killer dragged the old
man to the floor, and pulled the heavy be over him. When the old man died, he removed the bed
and tried to feel the heartbeat of the old man. When the reader reads about the fear of the old
man and the process of killing, he feels afraid.
We find him most horrible situation in the story when the killer dismembered the dead body to
conceal it. He cut off the head, the arms, and the legs. It is very horrible. We feel near nausea.
How cruel the killer is! His own condition after committing the murder and the way his
conscience pricked him are also very horrible.
We find the atmosphere of suspense right from the start of the story. The start of the story is very
sudden. The word ‘nervous’ and ‘mad’ create a lot of suspense. The writer sets the reader to a
task. He wants him to find out whether he is mad or not. He keeps talking to the reader and asks
his opinion repeatedly. He gives arguments in his favour and keeps the suspense alive until the
end of the story. When he commits the crime, the reader wants to know whether he will be
caught or not. When the police officers come, the suspense reaches the highest point. This
suspense is satisfied when the killer himself confesses to his crime. Therefore, there is an
atmosphere of horror and suspense in the story