ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher Ajay M as well as our
principal Mrs. Leena Daniel who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project,
which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know about so many new things I
am really thankful to them.

Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this
project within the limited time frame.

Thanking you,

Vineet R.
 PART ONE
The Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeare

Antonio believed in the distribution of wealth and Shylock believed in the concentration of wealth.
State your views for or against the statement in 400 words.

Antonio borrows money from Shylock to give to his friend Bassanio, who is courting a wealthy
woman named Portia.

With his trading ships reportedly wrecked, Antonio is unable to repay Shylock. Shylock demands a
pound of his flesh for repayment, as stipulated in their contract.

The case is tried in court, where Portia, dressed as a lawyer, turns the case in Antonio's favour.
Shylock must convert to Christianity, while Antonio is released and his wealth restored.

My thoughts for the above lines are against the statement as Money is a very big deal in this play.
(Big surprise there, right? The plot revolves around a Venetian merchant who can't repay a loan to a
hated moneylender.) In much of The Merchant of Venice, the characters' attitudes toward wealth,
mercantilism, and usury (lending money with interest) function as a way to differentiate between
Christians and Jews.

The Christians in the play are portrayed as generous and even careless with their fortunes. The
money-grubbing Shylock, on the other hand, is accused of caring more for his ducats than human
relationships. At the same time, there's textual evidence to suggest that Shakespeare calls these
stereotypes into question.

On the surface, the main difference between the Christian characters and Shylock appears to be that
the Christian characters value human relationships over business ones, whereas Shylock is only
interested in money. The Christian characters certainly view the matter this way. Merchants like
Antonio lend money free of interest and put themselves at risk for those they love, whereas Shylock
agonizes over the loss of his money and is reported to run through the streets crying, “O, my ducats!
O, my daughter. With these words, he apparently values his money at least as much as his daughter,
suggesting that his greed outweighs his love. However, upon closer inspection, this supposed
difference between Christian and Jew breaks down. When we see Shylock in Act III, scene I, he
seems more hurt by the fact that his daughter sold a ring that was given to him by his dead wife before
they were married than he is by the loss of the ring’s monetary value. Some human relationships do
indeed matter to Shylock more than money. Moreover, his insistence that he have a pound of flesh
rather than any amount of money shows that his resentment is much stronger than his greed.

The usual view of Shylock 's attitude about money is a view unfavorable to Shylock. He is extremely
money-minded which can be seen with him being more interested said to be obsessed with money and
unloving to his daughter, placing his wealth in jewels and ducats very far above her. As his regards to
the accumulation of money as the most important thing of life.

PART TWO
Define the following types of poetry:

Sonnet: A sonnet is a 14 line poem, typically (but not exclusively) concerning the topic of love.
Sonnets contain internal rhymes within their 14 lines; the exact rhyme scheme depends on the style of
a sonnet

Elegy: An elegy is a poem that reflects upon death or loss. Traditionally, it contains themes of
mourning, loss, and reflection.

Ode: An ode is a short lyric poem that praises an individual, an idea, or an event. In ancient Greece,
odes were originally accompanied by music—in fact, the word “ode” comes from the Greek word
aeidein, which means to sing or to chant. Odes are often ceremonial, and formal in tone.

Dramatic Monologue: a poem written in the form of a speech of an individual character; it

compresses into a single vivid scene a narrative sense of the speaker’s history and psychological
insight into his character.

Ballad: A ballad is a type of poem that tells a story and was traditionally set to music. English
language ballads are typically composed of four-line stanzas that follow an ABCB rhyme scheme.
The ballad is one of the oldest poetic forms in English.

Epic: An epic poem is a lengthy, narrative work of poetry. These long poems typically detail
extraordinary feats and adventures of characters from a distant past. The word “epic” comes from the
ancient Greek term “epos,” which means “story, word, and poem.”
 PART THREE
Write a original review on any one of the books recommended below in 300 words. Paste
relevant pictures .

One of my favourite books is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling. It is a story
about Harry Potter, an orphan brought up by his aunt and uncle because his parents were killed when
he was a baby. Harry is unloved by his uncle and aunt but everything changes when he is invited to
join Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and he finds out he's a wizard. At Hogwarts Harry
realises he's special and his adventures begin when he and his new friends Ron and Hermione attempt
to unravel the mystery of the Philosopher's Stone.

I can read this book over and over again. From the very beginning until the end J.K. Rowling has me
gripped! There is never a dull moment, whether it's battling with trolls, a three-headed dog, or Harry
facing Lord Voldemort. I would definitely recommend this book because it keeps you reading without
ever wanting to put the book down. By the end of the book you come to love the characters and you
want to read more. You won't be disappointed because the second book in the series, Harry Potter and
the Chamber of Secrets is just as great! If you haven't read any of the Harry Potter books you are
missing out on the best series ever!

PART FOUR
Explain the main elements of horror incorporated in the short story “A Face in the Dark” by
Ruskin Bond.

Provide pictures of the Pine Forest and the Boarding School.

Ruskin Bond is a masterful artist of paranormal in his literature. In the short story “A Face in the
Dark”, he has used all the elements of a horror story — fear, surprise, suspense and mystery to
explore humanity’s collective fascination with the dark. Set in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, the story is
about an uncanny experience of Mr. Oliver, a teacher in an English public school, who stumbles upon
a boy and then a watchman, both of whom have no eyes, no ears, no nose and no mouth.

So, understandably the plot of the story is all about coming across paranormal figures, as it should be
in a ghost story or horror story. But only the theme or main storyline doesn’t make it a great
supernatural story. It is, indeed, all about creating the perfect setting and atmosphere for a
supernatural story that makes it a masterpiece. And Bond has done that to perfection in this case. In
fact, the author has been able to do all this keeping the story concise.

Mr. Oliver returning after dark, the strong wind, the sad eerie sounds made by the pine trees, the
narrow forest path, the flickering light of the torch, figure of a boy sitting alone on a rock, the strange
soundless weeping, the torch falling from Oliver’s shaking hands, lantern swinging in the middle of
the path, the wind blowing out the lamp — all these contribute to creating an atmosphere of fear,
suspense and mystery in the story. Even the title of the story evokes suspense in the readers’ minds.
With his masterful narrative and other techniques the author has made an ordinary event look
extraordinary. In its theme and setting “A Face in the Dark” is a gem of a supernatural story, no
doubt.

PART FIVE

Write short biographical notes on William Wordsworth, Sarojini Naidu, R K Narayan, O Henry,
Ernest Hemingway, Robert Southey and Roald Dahl.
50 word limit each with relevant pictures.
1. William Wordsworth: William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 at Cockermouth in
Cumbria. His father was a lawyer. Both Wordsworth’s parents died before he was 15, and he
four siblings were left in the care of different relatives. As a young man, Wordsworth
developed a love of nature, a theme reflected in many of his poems.

While studying at Cambridge University, Wordsworth spent a summer holiday on a walking

tour in Switzerland and France. He became an enthusiast for the ideals of the French
Revolution. He began to write poetry while he was at school, but none was published until
1793.

In 1795, Wordsworth received a legacy from a close relative and he and his sister Dorothy
went to live in Dorset. Two years later they moved again, this time to Somerset, to live near
the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who was an admirer of Wordsworth's work. They
collaborated on 'Lyrical Ballads', published in 1798. This collection of poems, mostly by
Wordsworth but with Coleridge contributing 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', is generally
taken to mark the beginning of the Romantic Movement in English poetry. The poems were
greeted with hostility by most critics.

2. Sarojini Naidu: Sarojini Naidu was an India political leader born on February 13, 1879 in
Hyderabad, India. At a young age she wrote poetry and plays, a hobby she kept throughout
her life. She later studied in England, and in 1916 she met Mahatma Gandhi which sparked
her interest in the fight for India’s freedom. In 1925 she was elected as the first female
President of the India National Congress. After India’s independence from England, Naidu
became the first woman Governor of Uttar Pradesh. Naidu died on March 02, 1949 at

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

 Naidu's poetry includes both children's poems and others written on more serious themes
including patriotism, romance, and tragedy. Published in 1912, "In the Bazaars of Hyderabad"
remains one of her most popular poems. She married Govindarajulu Naidu, a general physician,
and had five children with him. She died of a cardiac arrest on 2 March 1949.

3. R K Narayan: Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayana Swami was born on 10 th October

1906 commonly known as R.K.Narayan, was an Indian writer known for his work set in the
fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in
English along with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.

Narayan’s mentor and friend Graham Greene was instrumental in getting publishers for
Narayan’s first four books including the semi-autobiographical trilogy of Swami and Friends,
The Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher. The fictional town of Malgudi was first
introduced in Swami and Friends. The Financial Expert was hailed as one of the most original
works of 1951 and Sahitya Academy Award winner The Guide was adapted for the film
(winning a Filmfare Award for Best Film) and for Broadway.

In a career that spanned over sixty years Narayan received many awards and honors including
the AC Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature, the Padma Vibhushan and the
Padma Bhushan, India's second and third highest civilian awards, and in 1994 the Sahitya
Akademi Fellowship, the highest honor of India's national academy of letters. He was also
nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.

4. O Henry: O. Henry was an American writer whose short stories are known for wit, wordplay
and clever twist endings. He wrote nearly 600 stories about life in America.
 He was born William Sidney Porter on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina.
His father, Algernon Sidney Porter, was a medical doctor. When William was three his
mother died and he was raised by his grandmother and aunt. He left school at the age of 15
and then had a number of jobs, including bank clerk. In 1896 he was accused of
embezzlement. He absconded from the law to New Orleans and later fled to Honduras. When
he learned that his wife was dying, he returned to US and surrendered to police. Although
there has been much debate over his actual guilt, he was convicted of embezzling funds from
the bank that employed him, he was sentenced to 5 years in jail. In 1898 he was sent to the
penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio.

O. Henry is credited for creation of The Cisco Kid, whose character alludes to Robin Hood
and Don Quixote. The Arizona Kid (1930) and The Cisco Kid (1931) are among the best
known adaptations of his works.

5. Ernest Hemingway: Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an
American novelist, short-story writer, journalist, and sportsman. His economical and
understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-
century fiction, while his adventurous lifestyle and his public image brought him admiration
from later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and
the mid-1950s, and he was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature. He published seven
novels, six short-story collections, and two nonfiction works. Three of his novels, four short-
story collections, and three nonfiction works were published posthumously. Many of his
works are considered classics of American literature.

Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school, he was a reporter for a few
months for The Kansas City Star before leaving for the Italian Front to enlist as an ambulance
 driver in World War I. In 1918, he was seriously wounded and returned home. His wartime
experiences formed the basis for his novel A Farewell to Arms (1929).

In 1921, he married Hadley Richardson, the first of four wives. They moved to Paris where he
worked as a foreign correspondent and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and
artists of the 1920s' "Lost Generation" expatriate community. He maintained permanent
residences in Key West, Florida (in the 1930s) and in Cuba (in the 1940s and 1950s). He
almost died in 1954 after plane crashes on successive days, with injuries leaving him in pain
and ill health for much of the rest of his life. In 1959, he bought a house in Ketchum, Idaho,
where, in mid-1961, he committed suicide.

6. Robert Southey: Robert Southey was born on 12 August 1774 was an English poet of the
Romantic school, and Poet laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets,
William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey had begun as a radical, but
became steadily more conservative, as he acquired respect for Britain and its institutions.
Other romantics, notably Byron, accused him of siding with the establishment for money and
status. He is principally remembered as author of the poem "After Blenheim" and the original
version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".

Robert Southey was born in Wine Street, Bristol, to Robert Southey and Margaret Hill. He
was educated at Westminster School, London (where he was expelled for writing an article in
The Flagellant attributing the invention of flogging to the Devil), and at Balliol College,
Oxford. Southey later said of Oxford, "All I learnt was a little swimming and a little boating."

7. Roald Dahl: Roald Dahl was born on 13th September 1916 in a Cardiff district called
Llandaff. Dahl’s parents were Norwegian. Nine years after his father had died, his family
moved to Kent in England and Roald attended Repton School: he was just 13.
After school, he decided that he wanted to travel (voyager). So he got a job with the Shell Oil
Company and two years later was sent to East Africa. In 1939, he joined the Royal Air Force
(R.A.F.) and became a fighter pilot during World War II.

Dahl started writing in the 1940s. He married the American actress Patricia Neal in 1953.
They had five children together but got divorced in 1983. He wrote some of his best books
between 1975 and 1986 (‘Danny the Champion of the World’ in 1975, ‘Matilda’ and ‘The
BFG’ seven years later and ‘Boy’ in 1984). Roald Dahl died on 23rd November 1990 in
Oxford, England.