3sem Final Text

Optional English (A1)
III Semester B.A. Honours
REFLECTIONS – III
Prasaranga
BANGALORE UNIVERSITY
Bengaluru-560056.
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FOREWORD
Dr. Jayakara. S.M.

Bangalore University,
Bengaluru -560 056.
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Members of the BoS
Dr. Chitra Panikkar

Professor and Chairperson
Board of Studies in English- UG
Bangalore University, Bengaluru
Dr. Geetha Bhasker (Co- opted Member)

Professor, Department of Englis h,
Bangalore University, Bengaluru
Dr. L.N. Seshagiri

Associate Professor, Department of English,
GFGC, Yediyur, Jayanagar, Bengaluru
Dr. Fahmeeda. P
Assistant Professor, Department of English,
GFGC, Vijayanagara, Bengaluru.
Dr. Shankara Murthy

GFGC, Kengeri, Bengaluru.
Dr. Thammaiah R.B.

Associate Professor & Head, Dept. of English
Padmashree Institute of Management and Sciences,
Kengeri, Bengaluru
Prof. S. Manjunatha,
Assistant Professor, Dept. of English
GFGC, Magadi
Prof. S. Kathyayini
Jain College, Bengaluru
Prof. Ramesha S.M.

GFGC, Thyamagondlu
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Prof. Chetana P.
Associate Professor and Head, Dept. of English
Maharani Women Arts, Commerce and Management College
Seshadri Road, Bengaluru
Dr. Shivalingaswamy
Professor and Chairman, Department of English,
Tumkur University, Tumakuru
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B.A., (Hon) English Textbook Committee Members
CHAIRPERSON
Dr. Fahmeeda P.
GFGC, Vijayanagar, Bangalore.
MEMBERS
Prof. Dhanyashree C.M.

Dr. Rajashekharayya Mathapathi,

Assistant Professor,Department of English,
Prof. Gnaneshwara. T.N.

Dr. Madhuramozhi V.
St. Francis de Sales College, Electronic City, Bangalore.
Prof. Shruthi T.
GFGC, Peenya, Bangalore.
Prof. Chaitra N.S. Murthy,

Surana College,
South End Campus,
Bangalore.
Prof. Nice Aravind,

Claret College, Bangalore.
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PREFACE
The text book of B.A., Honours for III Semester coming under the Discipline Specific Course – DSC
ushers the learners into a pleasant literary world through two papers namely Course 5: British Literature
up to 1800 -From Chaucer to the Age of Transition & Course 6: Indian Literature in English Translation.
Course 5: British Literature up to 1800 -From Chaucer to the Age of Transition presents an array
of history, representative major authors and their works, of British Literature up to the 1800s. The 18th
century in Europe was the Age of Enlightenment, and literature explored themes of social upheaval,
reversals of personal status, political satire, geographical exploration and the comparison between the
supposed natural state of man and the supposed civilized state of man. Eighteenth century literature
reflected the thinking of the era. It is considered the Age of Enlightenment because philosophers,
writers, artists, and scientists explored social status, political satire, the state of man versus the state of
nature, and social upheaval. Therefore scholars have different names like the Age of Reason, Age of
Individualism, and Age of Empiricism for this period. Students of the present generation find relevance
in these writings because the themes and contentions that reverberate are ubiquitous.
Course 6: Indian Literature in English Translation presents to the students the manifold questions
that exist in the field of translation of Indian Literature into English language. The history, the journey
consisting of 1) the colonial phase (1776-1910), 2) the revivalist phase (1876-1950), 3) the nationalist
phase (1902-1929), and 4) the formalist phase (1912 to the present) are comprehensively explained that
will definitely lead the students to explore the topic further. It introduces the students to the issues of
translation in the field of fiction, drama, short story and vachana sahitya. The text also raises pertinent
questions an active translator faces in the contemporary scenario of translation.
Dr. R. Geetha
Editor & Chairperson,
Department of English,
Bangalore University,
Bangalore.
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B.A. ENGLISH (BASIC/HONS) DSCC
BA (Hon) Semester – III

(Effective from 2022-23)
Discipline Specific Course (DSC)
AS PER NEP 2020
SEMESTER III
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Course 5: British Literature up to 1800 (Paper I)
(From Chaucer to the Age of Transition)
CONTENTS
CHAPTER NO.1 CONTENT Page no.
UNIT I
HISTORY OF ENGLISH
LITERATURE UP TO 1800S
1 The Social Context of Medieval English

Literature, Renaissance, Elizabethan Poetry
And Drama, Metaphysical Poetry,
Restoration Drama, 18th Century Prose,
Development Of Novel in 18th Century,
Neo-Classical And Transitional Poetry
UNIT II
MAJOR AUTHORS
2 Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, Alexander

Pope, Dr. Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, John
Bunyan, Aphra Behn, Margaret Cavendish,
Elizabeth Cary, Anne Finch, Amelia
Lanyer, Fanny Burney, Elizabeth Carter
MAJOR WORKS
3 King Lear, Volpone, Paradise Lost, Rape Of

The Lock, Pamela
UNIT III
REPRESENTATIVE TEXTS
4 Sonnet- On His Blindness—John Milton
Lyric- A Poison Tree—William Blake
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Essay- Of Studies- Francis Bacon
Man In Black- Oliver Goldsmith
5 Play- Dr. Faustus -Marlowe
UNIT I
HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE –UPTO 1800
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1. THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE
"Middle English literature or medieval English literature" refers to English literature that developed
during the roughly 300-year period from 1150 CE to around 1450 after the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
(Anglo-Saxons) settled in England in the latter part of the fifth century and eventually gave the country
its name and language. During this period, English gained widespread popularity among people in every
stratum of society. Gradually, the language gained maturity, and by the late 1300s, Chaucer’s poetry
made English the perfect medium for literature.
Characteristics of Middle English Literature
One of the most important characteristics of Middle English literature is its impersonality. Most of its
literature was anonymous. The names of those who wrote it are not properly recorded. The reason is
partly that then, people were interested in the poem rather than in the poet. The medieval author was at a
disadvantage compared with popular writers today in having no publisher interested in keeping his name
before the public. Originality was not a major requirement of medieval authors. Story material, in
particular, was looked upon as communal property and the notion of intellectual property did not yet
exist. To have based one’s work on an old, authoritative source was a virtue. The reader of Middle
English literature must be prepared for a less personal or individual quality than is expected in modern
literature. It is common to find that the original author of a work is not named.
Religion is important in Middle English literature, as it was an important element of social life in the
medieval ages. It is said that then, men and women looked upon religion as a means to the next life.
They lived in constant fear of hell and its torments and were vitally concerned with the salvation of their
souls. That’s why religious writing forms a greater part of Middle English Literature. Due to the
church's authority over people's lives, Middle English literature is didactic, full of teachings and
warnings instead of entertainment.
Oral Quality
Another important characteristic of Middle English Literature is its oral quality. Most Middle English
literature was meant to be listened to rather than read. As there were no printing facilities in those days,
most literature was memorised. People used to memorise and retell poems or stories instead of reading
them from printed sources. One of the things that hindered the spread of published literature among the
general public was the unavailability of books, as they were so expensive that common people could not
afford to buy them. As a result, the verse is the normal medium for most
forms of Middle English literature. Much that would now be written (prose, history, instruction, etc.)
was earlier put into verse, this made the words more memorable and more pleasant to listen to.
Courtly Love
In 1883, Gaston Paris was the first person to popularise the phrase "courtly love," which is a code of
behaviour that determined the relationship between aristocratic lovers in Western Europe during the
Middle Ages. According to the conventions mentioned in The Art of Loving by Ovid, the Roman poet, a
knight who was in love with a married woman of high rank or high birth was required to prove his
heroic deeds and present love letters to his beloved without disclosing his identity. Courtly love was a
secret affair between the lovers. It was tantamount to adultery.
Chivalry
Chivalry is a prominent feature of Middle English literature. The term came to mean the gallantry and
honour expected of knights and a general sense of courtesy. Middle English poetry is mostly concerned
with the heroic deeds of knights. Look at the tales of Chaucer, wherein he gives full-fledged accounts of
chivalry. It was the main subject for authors of Middle English Literature. Beowulf, The Canterbury
Tales, and The Arthurian Legends dwell upon the heroic deeds of knights.
Romance
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Romance is another important characteristic of Middle English literature. Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight, King Horn, Athelston, Gamelyn, and Sir Orfeo are the best examples of medieval romance.
Infra-Literary
Much of medieval literature (continental as well as English) is infra-literary (lowbrow). This does not
mean that there are no great works of imagination in the Middle Ages. There are some, but most works
written between the Fall of Rome and the Renaissance do not claim a place among the world’s greatest
books, not to deny real interest in and importance of the period. To the true humanist, every human
effort to express itself is of interest. The child is the man’s father and, in medieval literature, there is
much of the child’s simplicity.
Why Read Middle English Literature?
Medieval writing lacks the immediate appeal of the contemporaneous. There are fewer obstacles to
understanding. Differences in language and custom will always limit the enjoyment of early literature to
the cultivated few. But acquaintance with the past brings understanding, and understanding begets
sympathy, appreciation, and pleasure. A modern reader might waive aside the literature of the Middle
Ages for the reason that with life so short and art so long to learn, it is better to snatch the pleasure
within easy reach. But if so, that reader will not understand how modern literature fits in a historical
perspective, and he will miss a body of writings which, sympathetically approached, will be found to
contain much of interest and, as Rossetti observed, “beauties of a kind which can never again exist in
art.”
Beowulf; As the representative work of the Medieval Age
• The Angels brought the oral story of Beowulf with them to England in the sixth century. This
was about seventy years after the death of Muhammad (PBUH) and coincided with the beginning
of the great Tang Dynasty in China.
• Three hundred years later, they committed the story to written text, and that manuscript still
survives. What happened to it for the next seven hundred years is unknown.
In 1706, it was recorded as being in Sir Robert Cotton’s library. Twenty-six years later, a disastrous fire
broke out in the library, and the Beowulf manuscript narrowly escaped. The charred edges of its leaves
can still be seen in the British Museum.
Beowulf was not the only poem of its time. Two fragments of another poem, Waldere, which may
originally have been as long as Beowulf, were discovered in 1960 in the binding of a book in the Royal
Library in Copenhagen.
Chaucer’s Contribution to Language
One of the most important contributions that Chaucer made is his contribution to the English language.
It was all due to his treatment of the English language in his poetry that English secured a prominent
position among the languages of the world not only today but in that time as well. It was Chaucer, who
preferred the English language over Latin and French. It was fashionable to use Latin and French
languages in church, courts and in any literary work, but Chaucer refused to adopt these languages for
his poetry. Though the English language was in raw form, he ventured into using the English Language
for his poetry. It was not as polished and full of vocabulary as Latin and French. He transformed the
East Midland dialect into a full-fledged language of England. Chaucer knew that Latin and French, due
to its complex grammar, would lag behind the English language. He was pretty sure about the bright
future of the English language. That is why; he adopted the English language in his poetry.
Chaucer’s Contribution to Poetry
Chaucer’s second and most prominent contribution to the English language & literature is his
contribution to English poetry. In the age of Chaucer, most poets used to compose allegorical poetry. It
was poetry, which had no relationship with the reality of the time. In the beginning, Chaucer also
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followed his predecessor and wrote poetry in their manner. But later on, he came to know that any piece
of literature must deal with real life. That is why; The Canterbury Tales is the product of this change. It
deals directly with life as it was in his age. He describes every character in its true colours. He does not
exaggerate or underrate any character. Rather, he paints every character in words as it was before him.
Chaucer’s Contribution to Versification
In the field of versification, English poets owe much to Chaucer. He was the first poet who tried his
hands at English poetry. During his time, poetry was in its raw shape. He made several experiments in
versification and gave it a new shape. His contemporaries used too much alliteration in their poetry.
Chaucer could not withstand it and brought about drastic changes in alliteration. In old fashioned poetry
alliteration, the number of syllables was irregular. Chaucer discarded this method of alliteration and
introduced a new one, which had a regular number of syllables, end rhyme and absence of frequent
repetition.
Chaucer’s Contribution to Drama
Chaucer’s other contribution that resulted in the birth of secular drama was his contribution to the
drama. His poetry had something that contributed to the development of drama. Characterization in The
Canterbury Tales is said to be the first element of drama that gave rise to drama. Drama is a collection
of dialogues through the mouths of living characters. Characters in The Canterbury Tales are free to talk
about everything and the author has very little intervention in their dialogues.
2. THE RENAISSANCE
ORIGIN:
The Renaissance (from the French word for "rebirth") refers to the emergence and new interest in
classical Greek and Roman texts and culture that took place between the Middle Ages and the modern
period. With the advent of the printing press in 1440, the development of vernacular languages, and the
weakening influence of the Catholic Church on daily life, among other historic events, Renaissance
writers and scholars had new avenues for expressing their views. Many Renaissance works survive into
the twenty-first century as celebrated in history.
REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORS
Elizabeth Carey (1585-1639)
Elizabeth Carey was born in Oxford, England, in 1585. She was a voracious reader from a young age
and had an aptitude for languages. She married Sir Henry Carey in 1602 when she was only seventeen
years old, but her husband was soon gone to fight in the war with Spain. In 1603, she moved in with her
husband's family despite his absence. Her mother-in-law forbade her to read, so Carey wrote instead.
The Tragedy of Mariam was completed soon thereafter, by 1609 at the latest. Carey also became
interested in Catholicism during this time, a dangerous pursuit in post-Reformation England. She is
remembered and celebrated as the first woman to write a play in English.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)
Miguel de Cervantes was born on or about September 29, 1547, in Alcaláde Henares, Spain. After
studying under a humanist teacher in Madrid, Cervantes enlisted in the Spanish military and helped to
defend southern Europe from the invasion of the Ottoman Turks. While involved in this effort,
Cervantes suffered an injury that crippled his left hand. On the way back home from the front, Cervantes
and other Spanish soldiers were captured by pirates and detained in northern Africa for five years, at
which time they returned to Spain as heroes. However, economic times were tough, and Cervantes's
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status as a hero soon waned. He turned to writing plays but with little success. He finally was able to
secure a civic position as a supplies manager, whereupon he was blamed for the mismanagement of food
and jailed. Following these misfortunes, Cervantes wrote his masterpiece Don Quixote, which details the
misadventures of a madman. Cervantes died of oedema on April 22, 1616, in Madrid, Spain.
Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536)
Desiderius Erasmus was born October 27, 1466, in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He attended cathedral
school, where he was first exposed to Renaissance humanist thought, and his desire for intellectual life
was born. He used his religious education to access as many classics as he could find. Unlike many
Renaissance writers who followed him, Erasmus wrote entirely in Latin, still considered at this time to
be the language of the educated. Although he made plans to obtain a degree in theology, these plans
were constantly postponed because of his intellectual pursuits, including several trips to England, where
he met influential English humanists such as Thomas More.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)
Niccolò Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469, in Florence, Italy, to a middle-class family of civic
workers. He studied Latin from an early age and was drawn to the classics, particularly texts about the
Roman Republic. He followed family tradition and entered the Florentine political scene during Italy's
politically unstable city-state period, when large cities such as Florence acted as independent republics.
Within Florence, a number of factions vied for power. In 1498, Machiavelli helped one of them
overthrow the dominant religious and political figure. Through a few other political posts he held over
the next fourteen years, Machiavelli gained influence, while observing the harsh realities of politics.
Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
Christopher Marlowe was born in February 1564 in Canterbury, England. Although he embarked on a
humanistic education, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Cambridge while on
scholarship, Marlowe was initially denied his Master of Arts degree due to his absences during his
studies. Marlowe's activities were vouched for, however, by the court of Queen Elizabeth. Historical
evidence suggests that during his educational absences, Marlowe was serving as a spy in the queen's
service, helping to uncover and foil an insurrection plot by expatriate Roman Catholics. Marlowe wrote
plays, the most famous of which is Dr. Faustus.
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592).
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, was born on February 28, 1533, in Perigueux, France. Montaigne studied
and practised law for several years and served two terms as mayor of Bordeaux. However, his major
focus during his adult life was writing. Despite his background in Latin, Montaigne wrote his major
work, TheEssays, in his native French. Montaigne died on September 13, 1592, in Perigueux.
Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)
The records for Sir Thomas More's birth are not exact, although historians surmise he was born February
7, 1478, in London, England. While in his early-to mid-twenties, More lived with monks and adopted
their lifestyle. Like his friend Erasmus, More combined his religious and intellectual pursuits into one
humanistic ideal that he pursued for the rest of his life. The ultimate expression of this ideal came with
the publication of Utopia in (1516). More resigned his chancellor position and three years later refused
to swear an oath endorsing the authority of Henry VIII over the Church of England and nullifying that of
the pope in England. More was sent to the Tower of London and was beheaded on July 6, 1535.
François Rabelais (1494–1553)
It is believed that he was born in 1494 in Chinon, France, into a wealthy family. Rabelais embodied the
spirit of the Renaissance, which encouraged the pursuit of multiple vocations and interests. In his varied
career, Rabelais worked as a priest, physician, scholar, and writer. He also served his brother, the
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governor of Italy's Piedmont region, as an intermediary in the escalating conflicts between Catholics and
Protestants. Rabelais's writings influenced other European humanists as well, most notably Cervantes.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Historians believe that William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Because his father was a man of some civic importance, it is assumed that Shakespeare received a well-
rounded, humanistic education. Some scholars also take Shakespeare's references to schools in his plays
as proof of his own education. Given the enormous variety of experiences Shakespeare describes in his
plays, it is also assumed that he pursued or observed many vocations and activities. Not much else is
known about Shakespeare until 1592, when he became popular as an actor and writer in the London
theatre scene. He wrote more than thirty plays, including Hamlet, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar. Tradition
holds that Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon, on April 23, 1616, exactly fifty-two years after his
birth.
REPRESENTATIVE WORKS
Don Quixote
The two parts of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote, were published in 1605 and 1615, respectively.
Both parts generally appear in one publication. The story details the misadventures of an old man who
has gone mad from reading too many chivalric romances, a form of medieval literature that was popular
in Spain during Cervantes' lifetime.
The Essays
When Michel de Montaigne wrote his collection of inquiries known as The Essays, first published in
1580, he created the modern literary essay form. However, the book itself—composed of three books of
107 chapters of widely varying length—is not organised into essays as recognized by modern readers.
Rather, the term "essays," translated from the original French title of the book, Les essais - meaning
"tests" or "attempts", refers to the introspective, or self-driven, experimental methods that Montaigne
used to explore the limits of his own human experience—the dominant idea of Humanism. Montaigne's
in-depth, critical examination of subjects both large and small emphasised the idea of extreme
scepticism popular in humanist thought, which influenced later Renaissance writers, including
Shakespeare.His work is noted for its merging of casual anecdotes and autobiography with intellectual
insight. Montaigne had a direct influence on numerous Western writers; his massive volume Essais
contains some of the most influential essays ever written.
During his lifetime, Montaigne was admired more as a statesman than as an author. The tendency in his
essays to digress into anecdotes and personal ruminations was seen as detrimental to proper style rather
than as an innovation, and his declaration that "I am myself the matter of my book" was viewed by his
contemporaries as self-indulgent. In time, however, Montaigne came to be recognized as embodying,
perhaps better than any other author of his time, the spirit of freely entertaining doubt that began to
emerge at that time. He is most famously known for his sceptical remark, ''Que sçay-je?" ("What do I
know?", in Middle French; now rendered as "Que sais-je?" in modern French).
The Praise of Folly
Desiderius Erasmus published his satire The Praise of Folly in 1511. Making use of the goddess Folly,
the book features biting commentary on the injustices the author perceived in his world, most notable
examples of religious foolishness such as the sale of indulgences (vouchers people could buy to absolve
themselves of sin). The work immediately angered conservative Church officials. In Renaissance
fashion, Erasmus incorporates classical references throughout the work and parodies the blind idealism
of medieval times, a technique which influenced later humanist writers in the sixteenth and seventeenth
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centuries, including Cervantes. Erasmus's various uses of the word "folly" have perplexed readers for
over four centuries.
The Prince
It can be argued that no other work in the history of literature has inspired more long-term, widespread
distaste than Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince, published in 1532, five years after the author's death.
Although Machiavelli intended the work to be a handbook for political leaders, most readers in the
sixteenth century were openly disgusted by the book's cold discussion and support of the unethical
methods, such as murder, that successful leaders used to acquire and remain in power. At the time of its
publication, the book was condemned as a manual for tyranny, and many critics since that time have had
a similar response to the work.
The Tragedy of Mariam

Elizabeth Carey's The Tragedy of Mariam is celebrated as the first play written in English by a woman.
Carey wrote it between 1602 and 1604 when she was a young woman, but it was not published until
1613. Her source was Antiquities of the Jews, by Josephus, which recounts the story of King Herod's
cruelty toward his wife Mariam.
Utopia
Thomas More's Utopia, published in 1516, is one of the most influential works written during the
Renaissance. The book has two parts. The first critiques the social and political problems More saw,
while the second describes life in an idealistic fictional society called Utopia. Utopians employ various
communist methods to prevent problems experienced in sixteenth-century England.
The Essays
When Michel de Montaigne wrote his collection of inquiries known as The Essays, first published in
1580, he created the modern literary essay form. However, the book itself—composed of three books of
107 chapters of widely varying length—is not organized into essays as recognized by modern readers.
Rather, the term "essays," translated from the original French title of the book, Les essais (meaning
"tests" or "attempts"), refers to the introspective, or self-driven, experimental methods that Montaigne
used to explore the limits of his own human experience—the dominant idea of Humanism. Montaigne's
in-depth, critical examination of subjects both large and small emphasized the idea of extreme
skepticism popular in humanist thought, which influenced later Renaissance writers, including
Shakespeare.
THEMES
Antiquity
The Renaissance was sparked by a return to a classical style of learning, which had largely been ignored
during the Middle Ages, when most writers glorified the Catholic Church and its teachings. As cities
began to prosper, religious corruption increased and the influence of the Church waned; however,
writers rediscovered the classics and began to incorporate them into their own works.
Individualism
Study of the classical languages and values moved Renaissance writers to incorporate the classical style
into their own works and encouraged a more worldly view than that of Middle Age religious writings, so
that writers and scholars began to look beyond the Church's teachings and to take matters into their own
hands, including the interpretation of the scriptures. This dramatic shift in thought, from relying totally
on the wisdom of the Church to developing understanding through scholarship, led to the intense
examination and appreciation for the human individual. This movement was called Humanism. The
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glorification of humans and human experience eventually led to the idea that humans could achieve
perfection in this life as opposed to only in a divine paradise.
Faith in Reason
With the resurgence in classical learning and the focus on more secular, or nonreligious, human issues,
scholars and writers embraced a spirit of skepticism and began to place a greater importance on reason.
This belief was directly contrary to Church teachings, which encouraged people to have faith in the
Church alone. However, it is important to note that the humanists were not against the Church. On the
contrary, most humanists believed their faith was strengthened by reason, and when they used rational or
skeptical arguments against the Church, it was in an attempt to inspire reform of the Church practices. In
addition to their application of reason to Church practices, humanists also used reason to rebel against
the unrealistic ideals popular in medieval literary works, most notably the chivalric romances.
Education
Education was extremely important to Renaissance writers, and they pursued their own education with
diligence. As literacy increased due to the printing revolution and people other than scholars were able
to read, writers also turned their focus outward. From students, Renaissance writers turned to other
specific sections of the public, toward whom they aimed a number of educational publications detailing
the proper ways to do just about everything. In 1518, Baldassare Castiglione wrote The Courtier, a
manual for courtly behaviour. In 1530, Erasmus wrote Manners for Children. In 1532, Guillaume Budé
emphasised the importance of learning itself in The Right and Proper Institution of the Study of
Learning, while in the same year, Machiavelli wrote The Prince, his handbook for government leaders.
Vernacular
The Renaissance began with resurgence in classical learning, including the study and proper use of
Latin. However, Latin was the language of scholars, not the common people. As more people became
literate, many authors began to write in their vernacular, or native language, to reach this wider
audience. At the same time, many writers attempted to demonstrate that their native languages were just
as good as Latin, as Rabelais did when he published his Gargantua and Pantagruel in his native French.
Irony
Irony is used in various ways. Two of these are verbal and situational. In its most basic sense, verbal
irony entails saying one thing when meaning the opposite, often for a humorous effect. Situational irony
occurs in the contrast between what a given set of circumstances appear to be and what in fact they are.
Satire
Satire is an attack or protest, created by portraying the object of the protest in an unfavourable manner
and hoping to bring about change. In Renaissance times, writers such as Erasmus and his friend More
responded to the social injustices they saw with satirical attacks.
Utopia
More's Utopia inspired many imaginary societies in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and is so
famous that the word "utopia" came to signify both any idealised place and the literary form that depicts
such a place. Renaissance utopian works sought to inspire social change by creating a new, imaginary,
society that addressed problems in a different way.
The Renaissance Man
The ideal human in physical, mental, and moral condition came to be known as the Renaissance man. A
Renaissance man is a person who pursues and excels at many vocations and diverse interests, following
the humanist notion that man's capacity to learn and improve is endless. This ideal was emphasised in
Renaissance education, which included study in several different areas. A famous example from the time
is the Italian Leonardo Da Vinci, who was accomplished as a painter, sculptor, and scientist, who
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designed inventions such as a helicopter, specialised in human anatomy, and painted masterpieces, such
as the fresco The Last Supper and the oil portrait titled Mona Lisa. Davies says Leonardo "possessed
seemingly limitless talents to pursue his equally limitless curiosity." In the twenty-first century, the term
Renaissance man or woman applies to someone who is a genius in many, often highly dissimilar fields
of study.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
From the mid-fifteenth to the early sixteenth centuries, Europe experienced many vital changes, many of
which were interconnected, and most of which were built upon technical, social, and political
developments from the late Middle Ages. The most notable of these was the development of printing,
which in turn influenced a number of other events. In Germany, Johann Gutenberg's invention of the
moveable-type printing press in 1450, which combined a number of existing technologies, quickly
caught on in other European countries. With the renewed interest in classical literature and the
increasing contributions to Renaissance literature, book production rose steadily. Johnson notes, "By
1500, after forty-five years of the printed book, the total has been calculated at nine million." As
vernacular languages gained in popularity, the number of printed books increased even more.
Meanwhile, an increasing number of people were flocking to universities, which had been created in the
late Middle Ages to educate members of the clergy.
CRITICAL OVERVIEW
The confusion over what constitutes the official period of the Renaissance and its role in history dates
back to 1858. Samuel Johnson says, "The term 'Renaissance' was first prominently used by the French
historian Jules Michelet." Two years later, Jacob Burckhardt immortalised the term in the publication of
his The Civilization of the Renaissance, in which the period was viewed as the beginning of the modern
age.
From that time until late in the twentieth century, historians and critics alike envisioned the Renaissance
as a transition period between the Dark Ages—in which there was little or no technical innovation or
cultivation of the arts— and the modern age. In fact, Renaissance critics themselves were under a similar
impression about the importance of the time period.
During the Renaissance, the new humanistic literature inspired both positive and negative responses
from readers and critics. Because many Renaissance works criticised the Catholic Church, they were not
received well by either the Church or the Church's supporters, who would often ban or burn these works.
On the other hand, for those who were open to the new ideas Renaissance literature proposed, the works
were received very well. So to a large extent, the reception of a work depended on the predisposition of
the critic examining it. In addition, in many cases, the writer and critic were the same, as in the
aforementioned examples of works promoting the use of vernacular language. Hall says about the
Renaissance critics, "regardless of whether their influence was good or bad they succeeded admirably in
doing one thing. They established literary criticism as an independent form of literature."
3. ELIZABETHAN POETRY/DRAMA
The Elizabethan era (1558-1603) was a golden age of English poetry, drama, and songwriting. The
Elizabethan age was a great age of English literature. During this time the writing of poetry was the part
of education among the educated people. That is why many books of poetry by different writers
appeared during this age.
The proper Elizabethan literary age began in 1579, but before that year, Sir Thomas Wyatt and The Earl
of Surrey made their poetic contributions. Sir Wyatt brought the sonnet from Italy and made it popular
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in England. He followed the tradition of the Petrarchan sonnet with octave and sestet. There was later
changed to English sonnet style by Shakespeare, who divided the sonnet into three quatrains summed
up by a couplet. The Earl of Surrey wrote the first blank verse in English. The Elizabethan age produced
many beautiful lyrics. One of the finest lyricists was Sir Philip Sidney.
1. Edmund Spenser – The Faerie Queene.
Edmund Spencer was a famous poet who introduced the Elizabethan age properly. In 1579, he wrote
The Shepherd’s Calendar, a poem in twelve books, one for each month of the year. His greatest work
was The Faerie Queen. Though it was planned to be written in twelve books, he could complete six of
them. It is an allegorical work with three themes: a political theme, a moral theme, and a fairy tale. More
than the story, this work is known for its magic feeling, wonderful music in verse, and the beauty of the
sound. It is written in Spenserian stanza of nine lines, with the rhyme scheme ababbcbcc.
2. Sir Philip Sidney - ‘Loving in Truth’.
The sonnet sequence really came into its own in English literature during the reign of Queen
Elizabeth I, and its pioneer was one of Elizabeth’s courtiers, the soldier, statesman, poet, and all-
round Renaissance man (in the truest sense of the phrase), Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86).
In this, the opening sonnet from his sequence Astrophil and Stella, Sidney – as ‘Astrophil’ tries to
find inspiration so he can pay due tribute to the beauty of ‘Stella’, the woman he could have married
but turned down, only to see her married to another (and then to realise that he loves her, after all)…
3. Chidiock Tichborne - ‘Elegy’.
One of the greatest Elizabethan elegies was written by one of Queen Elizabeth’s deadliest enemies:
the Catholic conspirator Chidiock Tichborne is thought to have penned this elegy for himself in the
Tower of London, the night before his execution in 1586. It begins:
My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,
My feast of joy is but a dish of pain,
My crop of corn is but a field of tares,
And all my good is but vain hope of gain;
The day is past, and yet I saw no sun,
And now I live, and now my life is done …
4. Christopher Marlowe– ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’.

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the Rocks,
Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow Rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing Madrigals …
‘Come live with me’ is an old line in lyric poetry stretching from ancient Rome to Heaven 17, but
perhaps the poet who gave this sentiment the definitive treatment was Christopher Marlowe (1564-
93). In ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’, Marlowe’s speaker sings the praises of a life in the
countryside (as opposed to the town or city), in an attempt to win round his would-be beloved,
whom he addresses.
William Shakespeare
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The greatest dramatist Shakespeare was also a great poet of this age who wrote around 130 sonnets and
they are very famous in English literature. He developed a new form of sonnet called the English sonnet
or the Shakespearean sonnet, which rhyme abab cdcd efef gg. It is different from Petrarchan sonnet.
Many of his sonnets refer to a girl, a rival poet and a dark-eyed beauty.
Lyrics of the Elizabethan Age
The Elizabethan age produced many beautiful lyrics. One of the finest lyricists was Sir Philip Sidney,
who was a courtier, statesman, soldier and a poet. His books of sonnets Astrophel and Stella was printed
in 1591, after his death. Another great poet was Sir Walter Raleigh, who was also a soldier, sailor,
explorer, courtier and a writer. Some examples of best Elizabethan lyrics can be found in the plays of
Shakespeare. His longer poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece are rather cold and without
feelings. But the occasional lyrics found in his dramas are full of feelings and passion. The famous
dramatist Marlowe has also written some fine lyrics.
4. ELIZABETHAN DRAMA:
From the Elizabethan Age come some of the most highly-respected plays in Western drama. Although it
is generally agreed that the period began at the commencement of Queen Elizabeth I's reign in 1558, the
ending date is not as definitive. Some consider the age to have ended at the queen's death in 1603, while
others place the end of Elizabethan Drama at the closing of the theatres in 1642.
Some of the most important playwrights come from the Elizabethan era, including Shakespeare, Ben
Johnson, and Christopher Marlowe. These playwrights wrote plays that were patterned on numerous
previous sources including the Greek tragedy, Seneca's plays, Attic drama, Plautus, English miracle
plays, morality plays and interludes. Elizabethan tragedy dealt with heroic themes, usually centering on
a great personality by his own passion and ambition. The comedies often satirised the fops and gallants
of society.
Authors/Playwrights:
• George Chapman (1559-1634)

• Thomas Deckker (c.1572-1632)
• Thomas Heywood (c.1573-1641)
• Ben Johnson (1572-1637)
• Thomas Kyd (1558-1594)
• Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Representative Works:
a)Everyman in His Humour, by Ben Johnson is a comic drama in five acts that established the
reputation of Ben Jonson, as a playwright. It was performed in London by Lord Chamberlain’s Men in
1598 and revised sometime before its publication in the folio edition of 1616. With its galleries of
grotesques, its scornful detachment, and its rather academic effect, the play introduced to the English
stage a vigorous and direct anatomizing of “the time’s deformities”—the language, habits, and humours
of the contemporary London scene.
The characters in Every Man in His Humour are based on the four humours of medieval physiology,
bodily fluids that were held to influence personality or temperament. They are driven by their
unchangeable personalities and tend to avoid interaction.The term derives from the Latin humor (more
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properly umor), meaning “liquid,” and its use in the medieval and Renaissance medical theory that the
human body held a balance of four liquids, or humours: blood, phlegm, yellow bile (choler), and black
bile (melancholy). When properly balanced, these humours were thought to give the individual a healthy
mind in a healthy body.
Jonson explains that the system of humours governing the body may by metaphor be applied to the
general disposition, so that a peculiar quality may so possess a person as to make him or her act in one
way. Jonson’s characters usually represent one humour and, thus unbalanced, are basically caricatures.
Jonson distinguished two kinds of humour: one was true humour, in which one peculiar quality actually
possessed a man, body and soul; the other was an adopted humour, or mannerism, in which a man went
out of his way to appear singular by affecting certain fashions of clothing, speech, and social habits.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare is considered by some scholars as Shakespeare's most well-loved play.
It was first produced around 1600 with Richard Burbage, the leading actor in Shakespeare's company, in
the title role. The ghost of the King of Denmark tells his son Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the
new king, Hamlet's uncle. Hamlet feigns madness, contemplates life and death, and seeks revenge. His
uncle, fearing for his life, also devises plots to kill Hamlet. The play ends with a duel, during which the
King, Queen, Hamlet's opponent and Hamlet himself are all killed.
b) The Jew of Malta: Christopher Marlowe's play was first produced in 1592. Though it is described on
the title page of the 1633 edition as a tragedy, it is really a dark, satirical comedy.The plot primarily
revolves around a Maltese Jewish merchant named Barabas. Barabas begins the play in his counting-
house. Stripped of all he has for protesting the Governor of Malta's seizure of the wealth of the country's
whole Jewish population to pay off the warring Turks, he develops a murderous streak by, with the help
of his slave Ithamore, tricking the Governor's son and his friend into fighting over the affections of his
daughter, Abigal. When they both die in a duel, he becomes further incensed when Abigail, horrified at
what her father has done, runs away to become a Christian nun. In retribution, Barabas then goes on to
poison her along with the whole of the nunnery, strangles an old friar (Barnadine) who tries to make him
repent for his sins and then frames another friar (Jacomo) for the first friar's murder. After Ithamore falls
in love with a prostitute who conspires with her criminal friend to blackmail and expose him (after
Ithamore drunkenly tells them everything his master has done), Barabas poisons all three of them. When
he is caught, he drinks "of poppy and cold mandrake juice" so that he will be left for dead, and then plots
with the enemy Turks to besiege the city.
When at last Barabas is nominated governor by his new allies, he switches sides to the Christians once
again. Having devised a trap for the Turks' galley slaves and soldiers in which they will all be
demolished by gunpowder, he then sets a trap for the Turkish prince himself and his men, hoping to boil
them alive in a hidden cauldron. Just at the key moment, however, the former governor double-crosses
him and causes him to fall into his own trap. The play ends with the Christian governor holding the
Turkish prince hostage until reparations are paid. Barabas curses them as he burns.
c) The Spanish Tragedy: It is an Elizabethan tragedy written by Thomas Kyd between 1582 and 1592.
Highly popular and influential in its time, The Spanish Tragedy established a new genre in English
theatre, the revenge play or revenge tragedy. The play contains several violent murders and includes as
one of its characters a personification of revenge. The story deals with a father's desire to avenge his
son's death.
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d) Tamburlaine the Great: Part one of Christopher Marlowe's Tam. The Great was produced around
1587. The play was so successful that Marlowe immediately wrote a sequel. Both parts were published
in 1590.These were the only published works of Marlowe during his brief lifetime. The story is based
upon the career of the Mongolian conqueror Timur the Lame, or Tamerlane, who overthrew the Turkish
Empire in 1402. Tamburlaine is an ambitious character who overcomes all resistance through the use of
both arms and rhetoric. Throughout the course of the play, he gains allies, conquers kings, and succeeds
in winning the affection of the woman of his dreams. While the Elizabethan audiences appreciated the
story of Tamburlaine, it was the poetry that really set this play apart from other plays. Previous drama
had often been halting and didactic in its speech, but with this production, Marlowe took Elizabethan
Drama to a higher level of eloquence and sophistication.
5. METAPHYSICAL POETRY:
When the songs and sonnets of the great Elizabethan age passed away slowly, the lyrical power began to
lose its force. The following age, the Jacobean Age, was more interested in the mind than in heart or
eye. A group of poets, known as the metaphysical poets, began to write poems which were less beautiful
and less musical, but contained tricks of style and strange images. These poets tried to say what they
hoped had never been said before. Metaphysical poetry is marked by the use of elaborate figurative
language, original conceits, paradoxes, and philosophical topics.
The metaphysical style was popularised by John Donne, early in the 17th Century. Donne was a lawyer
and a priest, and he also wrote religious poetry. His songs and sonnets are his finest works. He had made
good use of direct speech to give a colloquial touch to his poems. He also used dramatic realism in his
poetry. He said effective things in fewer words.
Donne’s influence was seen in the religious poets that followed him. One of them was George Herbert.
He wrote poetry that was simpler than Donne’s because his experience was narrower. But his imagery
appealed to the mind rather than the senses. Henry Vaughan considered both Donne and Herbert as his
masters. He was more lyrical and gave sensitive descriptions of nature. Richard Crashaw showed the
influence of Donne in the use of conceits. But he gave importance to the emotional and sentimental sides
of conceits. Andrew Marvell combined Donne’s wit with lyrical beauty.
Others include Andrew Marvell, John Cleveland, and Abraham Cowley as well.One of the most
prominent characteristics of this movement is the spoken quality of the poetry, something that many
other writers of that time did not approve of. Other common features include the use of colloquial
diction, philosophical exploration, new and original conceits, irony, and the relaxed use of meter.
Poets whose works have been categorised as “metaphysical” often seek out the answers to questions
such as, does God exist? Or, does humankind really have free choice? Or, what is the nature of reality?
6. RESTORATION DRAMA
Before the Stuart dynasty was restored to the throne of England, in 1660, Puritan rule made it very
difficult for dramatists to perform. There was little inspiration, and performances were given in secrecy:
in taverns or private houses miles from town (Bellinger). During this time period, known as the
Commonwealth, theatres were closed. As a result, people were forced to engage in theatrical activities in
privacy. Drolls, or a shorter version of plays, quickly became popular because performers could evade
some of the restrictions by having “musical entertainments” with friends in their own homes. Charles II
was reinstated in 1660. During his years of exile in France, Charles II came to admire the French
entertainments and theatrical styles. Upon reaching London, he issued two patents to leading
playwrights of the time and performances began once again (Bellinger).
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During the time of the Restoration, 18th-century drama was very critical. Many of the Elizabethan
Playwrights blended tragedy and comedy, whereas the Restoration dramatists chose to separate the two
(Nettleton). The drama of this period can be broken into two categories, comedies and tragedies.
Restoration tragedy is classified as a heroic tragedy. The heroic tragedy is very extraordinary and
usually encompasses some extremely good deed done by a very willful, admirable character. Restoration
tragedy refers to neoclassical rules making it very imitative. Usually, these tragedies are reworkings of
Shakespearean plays.
There are three types of comedies that were popular during the Restoration. These three types are
Humour, Manners, and Intrigue. Comedies of Humour were made popular by the Renaissance
playwright and poet Ben Jonson earlier in the century. These plays centralised around a specific
character who had an overshadowing trait. Comedy of Manners was the most popular form of
Restoration Drama. These plays would typically mock the upper class and would usually include vulgar
and sexually suggestive language. The third and final form of comedy during the Restoration is the
comedy of Intrigue. This type of comedy has a somewhat complicated plot and usually revolves around
romance and adventure.
George Farquhar was another late arrival to the Restoration scene. Born in 1677, Farquhar began writing
for the theatre in 1698 where he finished his first play, Love and a Bottle, at age 20. His most notable
works were The Recruiting Officer and The Beaux’ Stratagem, composed in 1706 and 1707,
respectively. The latter was written during the final months of his life at the behest of a close friend, and
would go on to become his most renowned play. Farquhar is best known for his roguish humour and
rakish characters, as well as his witty dialogue and light atmosphere (NNDB).
William Wycherley was born in 1640 and created plays during the height of the Restoration. His works
were best known for their wit and high spirits, as well as lewd undertones and fast plots that audiences
of the time desired most. The Country Wife, written in 1675, is a piece that in many ways represents the
vast majority of the comedies produced during the Restoration. The play features an overtly sexual pun
in its very title, as well as robust language and devious character motives that, while popular at the time,
have often prevented it from being performed in a more modern setting
7. 18th CENTURY PROSE
The century was essentially an age of prose and reason. It was so dominant in form that even the poetry
of this period had the qualities of prose. Since the poetry and prose of this age were characterized by
terseness (brevity), neatness, condensation and elegance, this age has been considered as the Age of
Prose.
The whole of the 18 century prose can be divided into two categories:
th
(a) The prose of the Age of Pope (1700-1744) and

(b) The Prose of the Age of Transition (1745-1798)
The Prose in the Age of Pope

The Prose in the Age of Pope holds the history of the growth of periodical literature in the early of 18th
century. Daniel Defoe, Richard Steele, Addison, Goldsmith and Jonathan Swift are the four great writers
of periodical essays in the 18 century.
th
Defoe pioneered the trend in this regard. His Review exhibits the germs of a periodical essay. But he is
famous for his semi-fictional work “Robinson Crusoe”. Later he wrote successful works like “Moll
Flanders”, “Colonel Jacque” “The Unfortunate Mistress” or “Roxana”. All these works are closer to
being novels.
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Richard Steele and Joseph Addison laid the foundation of the periodical essays during the 18 century.
th
Steele started “The Tatler”. Later, its place was taken by “The Spectator”. These two periodicals
portrayed 18th-century life with fidelity. The 18th-century life was portrayed with its gay affection, its
ball dances, club sittings, its cock-hunting and its literary discussions.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) is another important name in the field of 18th-century prose. His main prose
works include few minor satirical pieces such as “The Modest Proposal”, “the Battle of Books”, “A Tale
of a Tub”, “Gulliver’s Travels”, etc. Swift’s prose was marked by satire, humour and Irony. In fact, he
was the greatest prose satirist of the 18 century.
th
Then there were some minor prose writers like Defoe, Gibbon, Burke, Berkeley, Bolingbroke,
Arbuthnot, and others.
The Prose of the Age of Transition
During the 18 century, particularly in the period of Transition, prose was immensely enriched by the
th
contributions of a host of writers. Dr. Samuel Johnson was the most important among them. His prose
works may be divided into two classes, those in which he is primarily a moralist and those in which he is
primarily a critic. His “rambler” and “The Lives of the Poets” belong to the latter category. He also
produced a large quantity of miscellaneous prose works.
Oliver Goldsmith is also an important prose writer of this age. His famous prose works are “The
Citizens of the World”, “the Public Leader”, “the Bee”, etc. His novel “The Vicar of the Wakefield” is
in the first rank of 18 century novels.
th
Apart from these great prose writers, we have James Boswell. His “Life of Johnson” is one of the
classics of the 18 century prose. Memoir literature also enjoyed a great popularity during the 18
th th
century. Almost all the letters and memoirs were similar in character. The most important memoir writer
was Horace Walpole.
In all, we find that there was a tremendous growth of literature and a prose dominance in 18th century
existed. The dominance of prose had many factors responsible for and it had many forms.
Unequivocally, 18th century is the century of prose and the richest period for this genre
8. RISE OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL IN 18 CENTURY th
The rise of the English novel occurred primarily in the 18th century; this does not mean that there was
no form of novels before this time. It only means that there was an increased release of novels and
novelists during this period. The 18th century was a period that lasted from 1685 – 1815.
Most often, the term is used to refer to the 1700s. This is the century between January 1, 1700, and
December 31, 1799. This period witnessed a great revolution that shook the society structure of its time.
The elements of enlightened thinking were at the fore of this revolution. This was experienced in the
French, American, and Haitian revolutions.
On a larger scale, slave trading and human trafficking were at their peak. These revolutions were
pivotal, so much so that they began to challenge the structure that threatened to asphyxiate its emergence
from the monarchical system to the aristocratic privileges, especially the systems that nurtured to flame
the slave trade.
In retrospect, a more profound sense of appreciation can be ascribed to this revolution that was seen as a
threat but somehow waded through all the hurdles in its way. This Age of Reason, also called the
Enlightenment bore cutting-edge schools of thought spread from thinkers in Britain to France and even
throughout Europe. These thinkers began to question the traditional normalcy they were born into and
had adopted through their lives.
The 18th century marked the period where novels were distributed on a large scale, and a certain level of
demand arose among English readers. This demand is also due to people’s desire for reading about
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everyday events, events which went on to shape the lives and actions of fictional characters. Some of the
earliest novels include Robinson Crusoe and Tom Jones which were respectively written by Daniel
Defoe and Henry Fielding.
It happened that this century was replete with literature in all its forms – poetry, drama, satire, and
novels especially. This period saw the development of the modern novel as a major literary genre. Many
novelists who revolutionised the sphere of this literature genre can be dated back to this century.
Novelists like:
1)Sir Thomas Malory, wrote Le Morte d’Arthur also known as Le Morte Darthur is a 15th-century
Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur,
Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, along with their respective folklore. In
order to tell a "complete" story of Arthur from his conception to his death, Malory compiled, rearranged,
interpreted and modified material from various French and English sources. Today, this is one of the
best-known works of Arthurian literature. Many authors since the 19th-century revival of the legend
have used Malory as their principal source.
It tells the famous legend of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, the knights of the Round Table and
their quest for the mystical Holy Grail. Malory worked from a late-14th-century French poem, adding
some material from other sources, to produce his English prose translation.
In 21 books, the story covers the founding of Arthur’s kingdom and the institution of the Round Table;
the various adventures of individual knights; the quest for the Holy Grail; the death of Arthur and the
fall of his kingdom.
This page opens the third book. It starts, “In the beginning of Arthure, after he was chosen kynge by
adventure and by grace…” People’s names and some place names are shown in red lettering, known as
‘rubrication’. Malory goes on to describe the wedding of Arthur to Queen Guinevere. Arthur tells
Merlin, “I love Guenever the king’s daughter, Leodegrance of the land of Cameliard, the witch holdeth
in his house the Round Table that ye told he had of my father Uther.”
Despite the upheavals of Malory’s day, there was a strong revival of interest in chivalry and Britain’s
past. The adventures of Arthur’s knights epitomised the self-same aristocratic values that were being
eroded by the political opportunism of the War of the Roses. Loyalty had become an endangered virtue.
In his narrative, Malory compares the behaviour of its lords and ladies to that of contemporary nobility.
He criticises the current reluctance to reward faithful service – an injustice he felt particularly keenly, no
doubt, as he languished in jail.
2) William Baldwin, who authored Beware the Cat (1561) is an English satire written by the printer's
assistant and poet William Baldwin (sometimes called Gulielmus Baldwin), in early 1553. It has been
claimed by some academics to be the first novel ever published in English of any kind. The novel,
Beware the Cat, was first written in 1552 before many of the more well-known early modern writers
published their first work. It tells a tale of witchcraft, religious controversy, and talking cats in a bid to
help us imagine what animals might say about the world if they had the ability to talk.
It centres on the grisly chemical experiments of a priest seeking to understand the language of cats, the
story asks a question that has provoked humans across the ages: do birds and beasts have a reason?
3) Margaret Cavendish – The Description of a New World, also called The Blazing-World The
Description of a New World, better known as The Blazing World, is a 1666 work of prose fiction by the
English writer Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle. Feminist critic Dale Spender calls it a
forerunner of science fiction.It can also be read as a utopian work. As its full title suggests, Blazing
World is a fanciful depiction of a satirical, utopian kingdom in another world (with different stars in the
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sky) that can be reached via the North Pole.It opens with a poem written by William Cavendish, 1st
Duke of Newcastle. Cavendish's book inspired a notable sonnet by her husband, William Cavendish, 1st
Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which celebrates her imaginative powers. The sonnet was followed by a
letter to the reader written by Margaret Cavendish herself. In the letter to the reader, Cavendish divides
The Blazing World into three parts. The first part being “romantic”, the second “philosophical”, and the
third “fancy” or “fantastical”.
The first “romantical” section describes a young woman being kidnapped and unexpectedly being made
Empress of The Blazing World. The second “philosophical” section describes the Empress' knowledge
and interest in the natural sciences and philosophy. She discusses these topics with the scientists,
philosophers, and academics of The Blazing World. In the final “fantastical” section, the Empress acts in
the role of a military leader during an invasion. She clothes herself in jewels and special stones that give
her the appearance of a deity. When the Empress triumphs over the naval battle, the Blazing World is
described again as a utopic empire.
Finally, Cavendish ends the novel with an Epilogue to the Reader. In this Epilogue she describes her
reasons for writing it and compares creating her work to the conquests of Alexander the Great and Julius
Caesar. A young woman enters this other world, becomes the empress of a society composed of various
species of talking animals, and organises an invasion back into her world complete with submarines
towed by the "fish men" and the dropping of "fire stones" by the "bird men" to confound the enemies of
her homeland, the Kingdom of Esfi.
4) John Lyly, authored Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578), and Euphues and his England (1580) is
a didactic romance written by John Lyly, was entered in the Stationers' Register 2 December 1578 and
published that same year. It was followed by Euphues and his England, registered on 25 July 1579, but
not published until Spring of 1580. The name Euphues is derived from Greek (euphuēs) meaning
"graceful, witty." Lyly adopted the name from Roger Ascham's The Scholemaster, which describes
Euphues as a type of student who is "apte by goodness of witte, and appliable by readiness of will, to
learning, having all other qualities of the mind and partes of the bodie, that must an other day serue
learning, not trobled, mangled, and halfed, but sounde, whole, full & hable to do their office" (194).
Lyly's mannered style is characterised by parallel arrangements and periphrases .
The style of these novels gave rise to the term euphuism.
5) Jonathan Swift – Gulliver's Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. in Four
Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships is a 1726 prose satire
by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, satirising both human nature and the
"travellers' tales" literary subgenre. It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a classic of English
literature. Swift claimed that he wrote Gulliver's Travels "to vex the world rather than divert it".
The book was an immediate success. The English dramatist John Gay remarked: "It is universally read,
from the cabinet council to the nursery. "Gulliver’s Travels recounts the story of Lemuel Gulliver, a
practical-minded Englishman trained as a surgeon who takes to the seas when his business fails. In a
deadpan first-person narrative that rarely shows any signs of self-reflection or deep emotional response,
Gulliver narrates the adventures that befall him on these travels. the book is divided into four parts- a)
Voyage to Lilliput, b)Brobdingnag, c) Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and d) Japan
and Land of the Houyhnhnms.
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6) Philip Sidney -The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia (a.k.a. Arcadia) (1581) is a prose pastoral
romance by Sir Philip Sidney. The first version was completed by the late 1570s. Sidney then went on to
write a revised and expanded version that remained uncompleted at the time of his death in 1586. The
story takes place in a province of Ancient Greece called Arcadia. Duke Basilius rules Arcadia well,
maintaining peace and prosperity in the region. Basilius has a loyal wife, Gynecia, and two beautiful
daughters, Pamela and Philoclea. A crude servant, Demetas, his wife, Miso, and their daughter, Mopsa,
care for the family.
Curious about what the future holds for his family and country, Basilius travels to the oracle at Delphos
to receive a prediction. Shockingly, the oracle tells him that Pamela will be stolen from him, Philoclea
will enter into an unsuitable love affair, and Gynecia will cheat on him. Basilius tells his friend Philanax
what has happened and leaves Philanax in charge of the kingdom while Basilius takes his family and
retires to the countryside accompanied by Demetas’s family.
7) Jonathan Swift – A Tale of a Tub was published in 1704. The main plot of A Tale of a Tub concerns
three sons who inherit coats from their father with a command never to alter them. In youth, the brothers
are committed to obeying their father's dying wish, but fashions change and they begin to feel left
behind by polite society. They begin scrutinising their father's will to see if there can be any justification
for altering the coats after all. By twisting his words, they manage to rationalise the addition of
decorative knots, then of gold lace, and eventually of numerous other decorations. Each time, they
depart further and further from the obvious intent of their father's will, until eventually they are not even
pretending to consult it.
8) John Bunyan’s – The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come, published in
1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of
theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of the narrative aspect of Christian media. It
has been translated into more than 200 languages and never been out of print. In his writing, Bunyan
commanded a good effective style. It was simple, strong, masculine, and direct, without any literary
flourishes or affectations. As he more than once said, "do not affect high expressions; they will drown
your children . . . Words easy to be understood do often hit the mark when high and learned ones do
only pierce the air
."The Pilgrim’s Progress tells the story of Christian and his journey from The City of Destruction
(representing earth) to the Celestial City (representing heaven). Along the way he meets characters such
as Pliable, Obstinate and Hopeful who, as their names suggest, embody particular qualities that may help
or hinder a Christian in his or her journey to heaven. The work’s language is permeated by that of the
King James Bible, which Bunyan mixes with the colloquial language of his day. In applying the idea of
the voyage/quest narrative to a spiritual subject. He had a very observant eye for graphic and significant
detail in his descriptions of incidents, landscapes, and characters. He could tick off a character by merely
giving him a name — Pliant, Obstinate, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Evangelist, Mr. Talkative, Lord Hate-
good, Mercy, Great-heart, Miss Much-afraid, et al. His syntax is often faulty, his punctuation
misleading, and his spelling very erratic even by the lax standards of his day (in the seventeenth century,
almost every man was his own speller). Even so, he captures and holds the reader's attention, and knows
how to keep his story going except in those passages where he gets his characters involved in long
conversations about abstruse points of theology.
9) Aphra Behn’s – Oroonoko or the Royal Slave was published in 1688.

Although the book was not familiar during the lifetime of Behn, currently Oroonoko of the is among the
broad read books of Aphra Behn and most respected work. Oroonoko, also known as The Royal Slave,
26
remains critical as it impacted the English novel development, establishing females’ narrative voice and
handling anti-colonial and abolitionist themes. It is the narration of African prince Oroonoko and
Imoinda, his beloved wife, who was held captive by the British colony and imported as slaves to
Surinam. The story is set in the south of America’s northern coast in the year 1640, as the English had
given up their powers to the Dutch colony. However, the unknown storyteller, a young English woman,
lives on Parham’s plantation, waiting to travel back to England.
She is the new deputy governor’s daughter who lost his life during the family’s voyage to assume his
new post. Moreover, the narrator can meet and be friends with prince Oroonoko and Imoinda, his lovely
wife. Besides, the narrators offer great details of the inhabitants and colony and provide excellent
information concerning the author and accounts of narration from the first and third-person accounts.
These are some of the earliest novels, including Robinson Crusoe and Tom Jones, written by Daniel
Defoe and Henry Fielding, respectively. Also, the theatre as an art form was not available to every
member of the population. The novel was popular because it could reach a larger audience, even those
who could not afford a ticket into a theatre. It is also important to note that during this period, drama had
begun to decline in England. The growth of the novel can also be attributed to the need of individuals to
create something new, something different. The social and intellectual circle longed for something
completely new yet individualised. The people wanted stories that mirrored their own lives, stories that
had a recognizable nature, and this need birthed the novel. Furthermore, the rise of the middle class in
the 18th century have a direct effect on the rise of novels. David Daiches, a historian said, the novel
“was in a large measure the product of the middle class, appealing to middle-class ideals and
sensibilities, a patterning of imagined events set against a clearly realised social background and taking
its view of what was significant in human behaviour from agreed public attitudes.” Another factor
responsible is the popularity of newspapers in the 17th century, and the growth of periodicals. For
example, the novel Pamela by Samuel Richardson was originally intended as a series of letters, but
instead, it was made into a novel. The newspapers helped the reading culture among the lower class. The
democratic movement that gripped England after the Glorious Revolution of 1689 could also be
regarded as one factor that gave rise to the novel in the 18th century. This is because the democratic
system emphasised commoners’ stories, who were the subjects in many of the novels written during this
period. Also, the novels by Richardson, Sterne, Smollet, and Fielding centre around commoners’ lives,
rather than that of the ruling class.
In conclusion, the rise of realism in the 18th century also affected the growth of the novel. Factors such
as reason, intellect, and satirical spirit were all adopted into the novel form and were principal subjects
in the realist movement. The rise of the English novel was affected by a number of factors; one of the
most significant is the medieval romance, and the courtly tales of Italy and France. Translations from
classical Greek materials also gave to the rise of the English novel.
8. 1. FACTORS THAT FURTHER GREW THE SPREAD OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL.

i) Novelty
Firstly, apart from the novel being a break from the norm, its novelty attracted a lot of traction. People’s
curiosity peaked; not only that, it delivered a satisfaction of a craving that was hitherto non-existential.
ii) The Printing Press
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A second factor responsible is the Print Press. The teeming popularity of newspapers in the 18th century
and the growth of periodicals and bulletins gave people something tangible to look forward to. These
reads held reforms that were rational even though not yet implemented. By this, there was something
new to learn, a cause to propagate, or some pioneer movement to look forward to. One of the
repercussions of the Print Press is the novel Pamela by Samuel Richardson, which was created to be a
collection of letters.
The growth of the reading audience allowed authors to write more novels, and readers better able to read
them. This factor significantly led to the English novel’s rise and by this posterity thanks its bequeather.
The newspapers and the varied print media helped the reading culture among the lower class and
prepared the soil for the seeds of what the novel brought to the existing society then.
iii) The Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution of 1689 is a factor that aided the growth of the English novel because the
democratic system emphasised the stories of commoners, who were the subjects in many of the novels
written during this period. This brought it so close to home and spiked the emotions of the people.
The novels of Richardson, Sterne, Smollet and Fielding centre around the life of commoners, rather than
that of the ruling class, and very well became a constant among the people.
iv) The Rise of the Middle-Class

The rise of the middle class as a factor that aided the rise of the English novel can be seen through the
growth of the lower class. The middle class was made up of numerous merchants and manufacturers
who amassed great fortunes and were able to enlarge their political influence and consequently increase
their social influence. This made a lot of trades more lucrative and dignified. These further gave rise to
the middle class. Also, the middle class of the 18th century became quite liberated in their thoughts and
began to challenge certain laws that existed.
v) Literacy
Then there was an increase in education. The only way novels became a thing was if people could read
them and talk about them. This is not to say people of that age never showed any literacy. There is a
difference between just saying things out loud, talking about them, and being able to read or write about
them.
An example is the Canterbury Tales, which were not only penned down but were mostly spread through
folklore. A written book could appear to be longer and with a more complex plot, the oral stories tend to
be shorter because it was passed on through word of mouth and can not be put down to be read or
listened to later.
On the other hand, the novel could be put down to be read later without losing the storyline. Those who
could not read made sure they learned how to, and so did generations after them. This was no longer a
luxury a select few could afford. It became a necessity – a way of life, and no one was to be left out.
vi) Leisure
To buttress, a factor that aided the growth of the English novel came from the leisure a lot of folks then
started to experience. The industrialization that gave rise to the middle class’s economic and financial
status also afforded them options. More time meant more leisure cum rest. Life became a lot easier for
them. There was an increase in the number of people who had time to rest and experience some leisure.
The middle class could now afford certain luxuries like candles and oil lamps which could be used to
read at night after the day’s work.
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9. NEO-CLASSICAL AND TRANSITIONAL POETRY
It was the mid-eighteenth century and poets were growing tired of the neoclassical ideals of reason and
wit. Neo Classical poets, such as Alexander Pope, prized order, clarity, economic wording, logic,
refinement, and decorum. Theirs was an age of rationalism, wit, and satire. They wanted to leave the city
far behind and travel back to the simple countryside where rustic, humble men and women resided and
became their subjects. These poets, William Blake, Thomas Gray, and Robert Burns, caught in the
middle of neoclassical writing and the Romantic Age, are fittingly known as the Transitional poets.
William Blake is, however, arguably the most important transitional poet. As a poet he did away with
the common standards of "rationality and restraint", and favoured writing with "bold, unusual symbols
to elaborate the divine energies at work in the universe" in poems such as The Tyger. This poem makes
use of an awe-inspiring mood, coupled with deeply universal concerns and experiences. In this case, the
tiger is a symbol of the evil in mankind and the heavy knowledge of experience that is brought with
adulthood.
Humble settings were also readily used by Robert Burns, a Scottish poet "frequently counted wholly as a
romantic poet", but whose work makes him more of a transitional poet as incorporates both neoclassical
and romantic verse ideals. To a Mouse, also takes place in the country, and this time the humble subject
is not a man, but a lowly mouse. One of Burns's most significant influences though, was his use of
Scottish dialect to write his poems; it was "a great departure from the elegant and artificial diction of
eighteenth-century poetry." His use of dialect gave the reader a sense of connection to the common man
and the humble subjects of this poetry. It created a rawer, more real mood that would have been lost in
the ornamental heroic couplets used by the Neoclassic writers.
Thomas Gray’s poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is a wonderful example of natural settings
in transitional poetry. It "reflects on the lives of common, unknown, rustic men and women, in terms of
both what their lives were and what they might have been". Gray is unafraid to see the poor, and
emotionally illustrates how death affects their life: "For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, / Or
busy housewife ply her evening care: / No children run to lisp their sire’s return…."
The transitional poets were no longer afraid to feel and were brave men who put their hearts on paper for
all to see. They expressed a simple affection for uncomplicated country life, and used such settings to
make profound comments on mankind in general, death, and religion. These poets idealized the humble
man, the country setting, and universal truths. It is fitting to call Gray, Burns and Blake adventurers,
whose guides to new lands were their pens. They dared change through the use of unconventional
devices, such as dialect, the invocation of emotions, and the egotistic use of the first person singular.
These changes in verse, and the subsequent popularity, and admiration received from the public, for
Gray and Burns (Blake was not appreciated until the next century) and their transitional poetry marked
the beginning of the end of Neoclassicism.
9.1. THE AGE OF TRANSITION (1850-1898)

The second half of the eighteenth century is known as a transitional period. It was an era of change from
pseudo-classicism to romanticism. The decline of party spirit and the democratic upsurge exercised great
influence both on life and literature.
· The Characteristics of the Period:
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I. Influence of the French Revolution: During the second half of the eighteenth century new ideas
were germinating and new forces were gathering strength. The French Revolution of 1789 was only the
climax of a long and deeply diffused unrest. Revolutionary ideas gave birth to democratic and
humanitarian feelings. And it influenced literature greatly.
II. The Revival of Learning: This period is characterised by a kind of mild revival of learning. In
literature, it revealed itself in the study and editing of old authors like Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton.
The writers revived the old form of ballad.
III. The New Realism: The birth of a new spirit of inquiry was at the root of realism which is expressed
in the novels of this period and is noticeable in the poetry of this century.
IV. The Humanitarian Spirit: This period is characterised by the rapid growth of democracy. Stress was
laid on the individual mouth of the man. People became familiar with the notions of equality, liberty and
brotherhood. The philosophy of Rousseau and the French Revolution popularised democratic and
humanitarian ideals, which immensely influenced the literature of this period.
THE TRANSITIONAL POETS

The transitional poetry marks the beginning of a reaction against the rational, intellectual, formal,
artificial and unromantic poetry of the age of Pope and Johnson. It was marked by a strong reaction
against stereotyped rules. The transitional poets derived inspiration from Spenser, Shakespeare and
Milton. Unlike Augustan poetry, it is the poetry of the countryside, of common and ordinary people, and
not of the fashionable, aristocratic society and town life. Love of nature and human life characterise this
poetry.
i) James Thomson (1700-48) was the first to bring a new note in poetry both in his Seasons and The
Castle of Indolence. The Seasons is a blank verse poem and consists of a long series of descriptive
passages dealing with natural scenes. Though its style is clumsy, the treatment is refreshing, full of acute
observation and acute joy in nature. The Castle of Indolence is written in Spenserian Stanza and is
remarkable for its suggestiveness, dreamy melancholy and harmonious versification.
ii) Oliver Goldsmith (1728-74) represents the poetic tradition of neo-classicism so far as the use of the
heroic couplet is concerned. His treatment of nature and rural life, a note of human sympathy and
simplicity of expression are characteristics of transitional poetry. His first poem, The Traveller is written
in the heroic couplet and deals with his wanderings through Europe. He uses simple and polished
language. He reveals human sympathy for the sufferings of the poor. In The Deserted Village Goldsmith
described the memories of his youth.
iii) William Collins (1721-59) wrote his first work Oriental Eclogues in prevailing mechanical couplets
but it is romantic in spirit and feeling. His Ode To Evening is instinct with a sweet tenderness, a subdued
pathos, a love of nature and a magical enchantment of phrase. His Ode To Popular Superstitions of the
Highlands introduced a new world of witches, fairies and medieval kings. So it strikes a new and
interesting note in romantic revival.
iv) William Cowper (1731-1800) is an immediate forerunner of the romantics. His first volume of
poems, containing The Progress of Error, Truth, Table Talk etc. shows the influence of the neoclassical
rules. The Tasks is Cowper‘s longest and finest poem. His descriptions of homely scenes of woods and
brooks, of ploughmen and teamsters and the letter carriers indicate the dawn of a new era in poetry.
Cowper was a pioneer who preached the gospel ―return to nature‖. He foreshadowed Wordsworth and
Byron. In his love of nature, his emotional response to it and his sympathetic handling of the rural life he
certainly anticipates Wordsworth. His minor poems On the Receipt of My Mother’s Picture and
Alexander Selkirkshow the rise of romanticism in English poetry.
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v) George Crabbe (1754-1832) is a pioneer of the naturalistic reaction against the Augustan tradition.
His main poetical works are written in the heroic couplet but thematically they deal with the life of
simple country folk and show his sincerity, sympathy and acute observation of human life. His
descriptions of nature are neither sentimental nor picturesque nor sentimental. They are characterised by
sincerity and minute observation. As a pioneer of the naturalistic reaction against the Augustan tradition,
Crabbe‘s place is certainly very high.
vi) Mark Akenside (1721-1770) began his poetic career with Epistle to Curio which is a brilliant satire
in the Augustan tradition. His best- known poem The Pleasures of Imagination is a long poem in
Miltonic blank verse. It contains some fine descriptive passages on a nature.
Other poets of the transitional period are Christopher Smart, Bishop Percy, Thomas Chatterton and
James Macpherson. Percy‘s Reliques revived the romance of the Middle Ages. He also revived the
ballad which was deftly used by Coleridge and Keats.
Further Reading:
• Elizabethan Drama. United States, Chelsea House Publishers, 2004.

• Old Age in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Interdisciplinary Approaches to a Neglected
Topic. Germany, De Gruyter, 2012.
• The Routledge Companion to Literature and Economics. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis,
2018.
• Wallace, David. Geoffrey Chaucer: A New Introduction. United Kingdom, OUP Oxford, 2017.
QUESTIONS
1) Write a note on characteristics of Middle English literature.

2) Why read Middle English literature?
3) Discuss the representative authors of Renaissance period.
4) Explain the major works of Renaissance period
5) What are the characteristics of Elizabethan poetry?
6) Critically examine the role of the Renaissance in the growth of the Elizabethan Drama.
8) Elucidate feature of Restoration drama.
9) Write a note on 18th century prose.
10) Record the causes for Development of novel in 18th century.
11) Write a short on Neo-classical poetry or The Eighteenth Century poetry.
12) Trace the development of English drama in the Elizabethan period.
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UNIT II
MAJOR AUTHORS AND WORKS
❖ Francis Bacon
❖ Ben Jonson
❖ Alexander Pope
❖ Dr. Johnson
❖ Oliver Goldsmith
❖ John Bunyan
❖ Aphra Behn
❖ Margaret Cavendish
❖ Elizabeth Cary
❖ Anne Finch
❖ Amelia Lanyer
❖ Fanny Burney
❖ Elizabeth Carter
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1) FRANCIS BACON
Francis Bacon was born on 22nd January 1561. As a boy, his wit and precocity attracted the attention of
the queen, who sometimes jested and called him her 'young lord keeper'-his father then being the Keeper
of the Great Seal of England. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and in preparation for a
career of statesmanship was sent to Paris in the suite of the English ambassador. His father's death in
1579 threw upon him his own resources; he chose the law as his profession; was called to the bar in
1582, and became Queen's Counsel in 1589. By this time he had also made his mark as an orator in the
House of Commons. After the accession of James I, he rose rapidly in favour and fortune. He was
knighted in 1603; became Attorney General in 1613; Privy Councilor in 1616; Lord Keeper in 1617;
Lord Chancellor and Baron Verulam in 1618; Viscount St. Albans in 1621. Then came a sudden crash.
He was impeached before the House of Lords on various charges of official malpractice, offered no
defence, and was sentenced to a fine of £ 40,000, imprisonment during the king's pleasure, and perpetual
banishment from parliament and court. This sentence, however, was never carried into effect, and
ultimately he received a royal pardon. He spent the few remaining years of his life in scholarly pursuits,
and died in 1626 from complications arising from a cold caught while he was making a scientific
experiment.
The word "essay" was, as far as we know, first used by the Frenchman Montaigne, from whom it was
borrowed by Bacon. Since his day it has been applied in widely differing ways, the crude schoolboy
effort falling equally under the same category with the scholarly productions of Froude or Macaulay, the
delicate fantasies or noble literary critiques of Lamb, or the polished and witty character sketches or
table talk of Addison and Steele.
Bacon's Essays are a class apart from all these. He himself calls them "pithy jottings, rather apt than
curious" and the description exactly fits the earlier writings. The Essays of Bacon were published in
three successive editions. They were first published in a small duodecimo volume in the year 1597. It
contained only ten essays, the subjects of which were as follows:(1) Of Studies, (2) Of Discourse, (3) Of
Ceremonies and Respects, (4) Of Followers and Friends, (5) Of Suitors, (6) Of Expense, (7) Of
Regiment of Health, (8) Of Honour and Reputation, (9) Of Faction, (10) Of Negotiation. These were
printed in English. The number was increased to thirty-eight in 1612, the earlier ones being carefully
revised, while in 1625, a year before his death, a much-augmented edition appeared, in which the
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number was brought up to fifty-eight. In this edition, all the earlier ones had been altered at places,
increased or diminished in size, for Bacon was not of those who "never blot a line".
The essays of Bacon are thus divisible into two parts-(1) Earlier Essays, and (2) Later Essays. One
notices distinct changes in these early and matured attempts of the learned essayist. The first written
essays are hardly more than collections of brilliant aphorisms. He speaks of them as "dispersed
meditations". He ranks them as recreations in comparison with his more serious studies. In early essays,
the sentences are nearly all short, crisp and sententious. There are few connectives. Each sentence stands
by itself, the concentrated expression of weighty thought. These earlier essays are nothing but an
"attempt" at a subject. They are remarkable for the extraordinary condensation of thought, almost every
phrase being capable of expansion into a paragraph at least. The connections are not worked out and
expressed, but are implicit and can be supplied by the intelligence of an alert reader.
But in the essays of 1612 and 1625, we notice a distinct contrast with the earlier essays. Bacon finds
room for conjunctions and connective clauses. He imparts warmth and colour to the style. Metaphors
and similes are frequent, and sometimes, though not very often, they have a poetic quality. "Virtues are
like precious odours most fragrant when they are caused or crushed, for prosperity doth best discover
vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue." "It is heaven upon earth to have a Man's mind move in
charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth." "Suspicions amongst thoughts are like bats
amongst birds, they fly best by twilight." Compositions in which such sentences as these occur are
obviously a good deal more than mere jottings. They might have been in the early stages merely jottings
of his talks or some illuminating ideas that struck him, but the later essays are neither purely dispersed
meditations nor mere 'jottings'. The later essays are rich products of his genius and it is with reference to
these later essays that Bacon made the following observation :
"Of all my other works, my essays have been most current; for that, as it seems, they come home to
men's business and bosoms."
Taken from-Curiosities of Literature: First series By Isaac Disraeli New York: D. Appleton and
Company, 1932.
Bacon's Essays according to the nature of the subject dealt in them can be divided into three broad
classes namely-(1) Moral and Religious, (2) Domestic, and (3) Political.
The moral and religious essays of Bacon make no pretence to any system. The essays seem to be the
work of an opportunist. They do not embody high principles of morality. The essay Of Simulation and
Dissimulation (1625) shows his moral standard. Bacon states that to preserve secrecy dissimulation is
often necessary and in some cases even simulation or the pretence to be what one is not. "The best
composition and temperature is to have openness in fame and opinion, secrecy in habit, dissimulation in
seasonable use, and a power to feign if there be no remedy." It is not an elevated or an elevating ideal.
On the whole, Bacon gives the impression of singular aloofness from moral considerations, His maxims
are prudential. He condemns cunning, not as a thing loathsome and vile, but as a thing unwise.
Occasionally he even lays down the rule for immoral conduct without a word of disapproval. Further his
belief in religion, like his belief in moral principles, was largely prudential and was destitute of fervour.
It had its root in the understanding, whereas the religion of saints and martyrs has its root in the heart. As
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Hugh Walker states, "Though he could upon occasion compose grand prayers, religion seems to have
played very little part in his life."
In Bacon's domestic Essays, we find the same coldness and lack of warmth which we notice in his moral
and religious Essays. We are quite familiar with the extraordinary coldness of the essays Of Presents
and Children, Of Marriage and Single Life, Of Love and Of Friends. His political Essays are the best of
the lot. He felt himself more at home in the character of a statesman than in that of a moralist and among
the weightiest of his essays are those which treat political questions. Nowhere does his wisdom show to
better advantage. The essay Of Great Place 1909-1914 shows the manner of the great and the high in
public life, while the essay Of Plantations (1625) is a compendium of principles whose soundness has
been gradually established by the experience of generations and centuries. Had they been accepted,the
worst mistakes of England in her relations with the colonies might have been avoided. The Essays of
Bacon have been highly admired for their practical wisdom, the universality of their appeal, their sane
advice and their learning, but they remain no better than notes or jottings. Their general character
continues in the enlarged and expanded ones of Bacon's later years. They are like chapters in Aristotle's
Ethics and Rhetoric on virtues and characters.
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2)Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson was born in 1572 or 1573, possibly a month after the death of his father who may have been a
reverend preacher. He was schooled at Westminster under William Camden but was recalled in about 1588
to follow his stepfather‘s trade as a bricklayer. He was married to Anne Lewis and lost a daughter at six
months and a son (commemorated in a poem ) at the age of seven In 1597 he was imprisoned for his share
in Nashe’s seditious satire, The Isle of Dogs. His work as a poet and playwright won him a wide reputation
and high patronage which culminated in the issue of folio Works in 1616. In 1630 a quarrel with Ingo Jones
temporarily lost him court patronage. But in spite of illness and paralysis, harassing criticism and debt,
Johnson maintained his identity with his friend, until his death and burial in Westminster Abbey in 1637.
Ben Jonson‘s main Dramatic works:
Ben Jonson’s first comedy was Every Man in His Humor. This is a realistic comedy of London life and a
satirical expression of the life of gallants and revellers. In this comedy, Ben Jonson created the fine
characters of Bobadill and Kitley . This play at once made Ben Jonson the idol of the literary world and
was hailed as the harbinger of new comedy of humour . Every Man out of His Humour was enacted in
1599, through the character of Asper, the harsh and pitiless judge of whatever is ridiculous and vicious,
Ben Jonson laid down for the first time his intention of being a satirist in drama He stated his aim as a
dramatist in the following words of Asper :
I'll strip the ragged follies of the time,
Naked, as at their birth, and with a whip of steel,

36
Print wounding lashes in their iron ribs.
Taken from Every Man out of His Humour (1692: Folio)
The other comedies, Cynthia's Revels1600 and Poetaster 1601 are satirical in tone. In The Poetaster
Ben Jonson is Horace, and the whole of this Roman allegory is constructed for the author's greater glory.
In his next play Sejanus His Fall, 1603, Ben Jonson carried his theories of art into tragedy. This tragedy
was inspired by the desire to emulate Shakespeare. Sejanus His Fall, is so strongly constructed, presents
history so honestly, and is so full of vigorous and exactly touches that it can be read even today with
respect for the author's learning and energy of mind.
In 1605 Ben Jonson produced his great masterpiece Volpone which is the most powerful and almost in
the tradition of the morality plays. It is a violent attack, reminiscent of Marlowe's extravagance, on
cupidity and mean avarice and Machiavellianism. Since it contains hardly anything to balance its display
of vices, the view it gives of human nature is cynical, analogous to that so persistently put forward by
the French theatre rosse of the end of last century, for which school of drama Ben Jonson might have
provided most striking models. This comedy achieved a triumph both in London theatres and in the two
universities.
In the next decade Ben Jonson was at the height of his glory. He had attained the acme of perfection in
his art as a comedy writer. He produced The Silent Woman (Epicone )in 1609, The Alchemist in
1610,Catiline in 1611, and The Bartholomew Fair in 1614. Ben Jonson presents the character of Morose
in a very delightful and interesting manner. Fundamentally Epicone is of the nature of farce, it is
robustly constructed as Volpone. So Dryden regarded it as the model of well-made comedy. In this play
Ben Jonson’s theme is no longer execrable vice, but a whim, an oddity. Morose, an egotistical bachelor,
has an abhorrence of noise. He lives in a blind alley and makes war on all who make noise. He marries
Epicoene, the silent woman. But after marriage this silent woman turns into a rattling type of woman.
She outwits Morose by noisy talks and turns out to be the one who makes his life hell. The entire
comedy is farcical and delightful.
In The Alchemist he returns to satirical comedy. He once again denounces rogues. Face, a servant,
brings a swindler named Subtle to his master's house while the latter is absent in London. Subtle poses
as an Alchemist, who can transform base metals into gold. Subtle deceives many seekers of gold and
makes capital out of their cupidity. The two puritan brethren of Amsterdam who are eager to be
benefitted by Subtle art are satirically exposed, and the play provides Ben
Jonson got his first real chance to ridicule the sect of Puritanism which had been hostile to the stage. In
this remarkably constructed comedy, which, unlike its predecessors, has a theme of lasting interest
longer-lived than alchemy, prominence is chiefly given to the rhetoric of Sir Epicure, whose boastful
manner of speech recalls Marlowe’s style of writing. In the end, the duper and the dupes are duly
punished.
In The Bartholomew Fair Ben Jonson comes out with an open and scathing tirade against Puritanism.
The chief character of this comedy is Rabbi Zeal-of-the land Busy, a man of low origin. He sets out to
the Fair where he guzzles more than anyone else, and in his cups upsets a hawker's basket of
gingerbread, which he calls a "basket of popery". He is put in the stocks, and concludes by interrupting a
puppet-show which he regards as a symbol of the public stage. All his comedies are rich in details taken
from life and glimpses of actual manners, but no other as much so as Bartholomew Fair, for which he
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certainly made copious notes on the spot. Volpone is a satire against cupidity. It reveals the heights of
degradation to which man descends in the lust for wealth.
The last years of Ben Jonson's life were full of sufferings and sorrows. He was ill and bed-ridden. He
died in 1637 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. On his tomb are inscribed the words : "O rare Ben
Jonson".
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3) ALEXANDER POPE
Alexander Pope, (born May 21, 1688, London, England—died May 30, 1744, Twickenham, near
London), poet and satirist of the English Augustan period, best known for his poems - An Essay on
Criticism (1711), The Rape of the Lock(1712–14), The Dunciad (1728), and An Essay on Man (1733–
34). He is one of the most epigrammatic of all English authors.
Pope’s father, a wholesale linen merchant, retired from business in the year of his son’s birth and in
1700 went to live at Binfield in Windsor Forest. The Popes were Roman Catholics, and at Binfield they
came to know several neighbouring Catholic families who were to play an important part in the poet’s
life. Pope’s religion procured him some lifelong friends, notably the wealthy squire John Caryll (who
persuaded him to write The Rape of the Lock, on an incident involving Caryll’s relatives) and Martha
Blount, to whom Pope addressed some of the most memorable of his poems and to whom he bequeathed
most of his property. But his religion also precluded him from a formal course of education, since
Catholics were not admitted to the universities. He was trained at home by Catholic priests for a short
time and attended Catholic schools at Twyford, near Winchester, and at Hyde Park Corner, London, but
he was mainly self-educated. He was a precocious boy, eagerly reading Latin, Greek, French, and
Italian, which he managed to teach himself, and an incessant scribbler, turning out verse upon verse in
imitation of the poets he read. The best of these early writings are the “Ode on Solitude” and a
paraphrase of St. Thomas à Kempis, both of which he claimed to have written at age 12.
When the “Pastorals” was published, Pope was already at work on a poem on the art of writing. This
was An Essay on Criticism, published in 1711. Its brilliantly polished epigrams, e.g., “A little learning is
a dangerous thing,” “To err is human, to forgive, divine,” and “For fools rush in where angels fear to
tread”, which have become part of the proverbial heritage of the language, are readily traced to their
sources in Horace, Quintilian, Boileau, and other critics, ancient and modern, in verse and prose; but the
charge that the poem is derivative, so often made in the past, takes insufficient account of Pope’s
success in harmonizing a century of conflict in critical thinking and in showing how nature may best be
mirrored in art. If the aim of the poet is to teach sound moral lessons, and make poetry a didactic
instrument for edification, then certainly Pope is a poet of a thousand years. He is the great moral poet of
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England, and all his poems are didactic and moral in tone. Byron eulogised Pope and paid warm tributes
to his poetry because of its moral appeal. Byron says about Pope - "As to Pope, I have always regarded
him as the greatest name in our poetry. Depend upon it, the rest are barbarians." Byron further says in
the same context, "Neither time, nor distance, nor grief, nor age, can ever diminish my veneration for
him (Pope) who is the great moral poet of all times, of all climes, of all feelings, and of all stages of
civilization. His poetry is the Book of Life. Without canting, and yet without neglecting religion, he has
assembled all that a good and great man can gather together of moral wisdom clothed in consummate
beauty."
Pope is the poet of civilization, of the town, of the fashion able society, and no one has been able to
voice and express with exquisite beauty that entire people in the higher circle of society ever did. He is
the perfect spokesman of a class of society which will ever be present in all stages of human progress, I
mean, the society of fops and fashionable ladies.
Pope is the supreme poet of peace, poise, balance, and internationalism. His poetry is for toleration and
human brother hood. Wilson Knight in Laureate of Peace, places this point of view in the following
words: "We to-day expect a world state, a world-order; and if that new order is to be one of religious
tolerance and inclusion, if it is to balance correctly the positive and negative, masculine and feminine
principles, in exact descent from Hellenic culture and the New Testament; then we scarcely do better
than take the Essay on Man as our guide. Here we draw close to a new understanding of Byron's
powerful intention of Pope as the national poet of mankind."
As an artist and craftsman Pope is the supreme master. He employs the right word at the right place. He
is the master of literary mosaic. His exquisite finish and detailed touches are remarkable in their own
way. His heroic couplet is a marvel of metrical skill. If at times the glitter and sparkle fade into dullness,
the occasions are comparatively rare, and the amazing thing is that he sustained his mercurial smartness
and aptness for so long. His couplet is perfect in its own way.
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4) DR. JOHNSON
Samuel Johnson, also known as Dr. Johnson, born Sept. 18, 1709, Lichfield, Staffordshire, England,
died Dec. 13, 1784, London, English man of letters, one of the outstanding figures of 18th-century
England. The son of a poor bookseller, he briefly attended the University of Oxford. He moved to
London after the failure of a school he had started. He wrote for periodicals and composed poetry,
including The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), the first work he published under his name. In 1755,
after eight years of labour, he produced A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), the first great
English dictionary, which brought him fame. He continued to write for such periodicals as The
Gentleman’s Magazine, and he almost single-handedly wrote and edited the biweekly The Rambler
(1750–52) and Rasselas (1759) was his only long work of fiction. In 1765 he produced a critical edition
of William Shakespeare with a preface that did much to establish Shakespeare as the centre of the
English literary canon. Johnson’s travel writings include A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
(1775). His Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets (1779–81) was a
significant critical work. A brilliant conversationalist, he helped found the Literary Club (1764), which
became famous for its members of distinction, including David Garrick, Edmund Burke, Oliver
Goldsmith, and Joshua Reynolds. His aphorisms helped make him one of the most frequently quoted of
English writers. The biography of Johnson written by his contemporary James Boswell is one of the
most admired biographies of all time
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5) OLIVER GOLDSMITH
He was born in Ireland, then essentially a colony of England, in the townland of Pallas, near
Ballymahon, County Longford, where his father Charles was the Anglican curate of the parish of
Forgney. His grandfather, Oliver Jones, was a clergyman and master of the Elphin diocesan school, at
which Goldsmith was a student. When the future author was two years old, his father, Charles, became
rector of the parish of Kilkenny West in County Westmeath. The family moved to the parsonage at
Lissoy, between Athlone and Ballymahon, where they lived until his father's death in 1747. This
ecclesiastical family background is reflected in his sentimental novella The Vicar of Wakefield (1766).
Sixteen-year-old Goldsmith entered Trinity College, Dublin, on 11 June 1744. Here he was temporarily
expelled for political agitation (the storming of the Marshalsea Prison in London) in 1747, but graduated
with a Bachelor of Arts in 1749, without distinction or academic specialty. His main interests in
university were drinking, singing Irish songs, playing cards and the flute, and cultivating a taste for fine
clothes and high living. Between 1752 and 1755, he did, however, undertake the study of medicine at
the University of Edinburgh, where he remained on his usual carefree terms until 1754, when he
proceeded to another centre of medical studies, Leyden. After completing a walking tour of the Low
Countries, Switzerland, and Northern Italy (which he financed by playing his flute as a busker -- a person
who performs music or other entertainment in the street or another public place for monetary donations),
he determined to settle in London in 1756. He also spent some time with eminent scientist Rev. John
Mitchell, whom he probably knew from London. In London he worked as an apothecary's assistant, a
physician to the poor, and an usher in a school at Peckham. In 1757 he was writing for the Monthly
Review. The next year he applied unsuccessfully for a medical appointment in India, and in 1759, he
embarked upon his first important literary venture, An Enquiry into the State of Polite Learning in
Europe. Although published anonymously, the report attracted some critical attention, and brought him
other work.
He first came to prominence in London's literary circles with the publication of The Traveller (1764), in
which he made a survey of national modes of happiness in didactic verse. As a result, Dr. Samuel
Johnson, London's literary lion, and his literary club praised the work and invited the young Irishman to
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become a member. He had already published his most famous tales, "Asem,The Man Hater: An Eastern
Tale" (1759) and "Reverie at the Boar's Head Tavern" (1760), in the periodical The Bee, and became a
best-selling author in 1762. The publication of The Citizen of the World: Letters from a Chinese
Philosopher Residing in London to his Friends in the East (based on Montesquie's LettresPersanes,
1721), in which all things English come under the scrutiny of Goldsmith's foreign persona, he became
popular. Goldsmith also published Lien Chi Altangi, an epistolary novel as a series of essays in
Newbury's Public Ledger (1760-61).
Settling into a career as a hack writer on Grub Street, Goldsmith wrote a good deal of commercial non-
fiction such as A History of the Earth and Animated Nature (1774), but also produced three great works
of literature besides the sentimental novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), She Stoops to Conquer (1773),
a brilliant comedy of manners, The History of Little Goody Two-shoes 1765, the children's classic , and
one of the greatest elegiac poems in the English language, The Deserted Village, 1770. She Stoops to
Conquer, produced at Covent Garden, was an immediate success from its opening night (15 March
1773), and has never been off the stage for long. Despite his prolific career as a writer in many different
genres, Goldsmith never enjoyed the celebrity of his friend Dr. Johnson, whose name after 1756
acquired that status of household word as The Great Lexicographer.
Had Goldsmith not given his only novel to Johnson to review, it might never have been published. But
Goldsmith trusted Johnson's literary instincts, and allowed him to present the manuscript to bookseller
and publisher Francis Newberry.
Goldsmith's premature death in 1774 may have been a consequence of his own misdiagnosis of his
kidney infection. Goldsmith was buried in Temple Church, London, but there are significant monuments
to him in the town centre of Ballymahon, Ireland, and in the South Transept of Poets' Corner,
Westminster Abbey, with an epitaph written by Dr. Samuel Johnson. Above the door to the Chapel of
St. Faith, is a memorial tablet to Oliver Goldsmith:
"To the memory of Oliver Goldsmith, poet, philosopher and historian, by whom scarcely any style
of writing was left untouched and no one touched unadorned, whether to move to laughter or tears; a
powerful, yet lenient master of the affections, in genius sublime, vivid, and versatile, in expression,
noble, brilliant, and delicate, is cherished in this monument by the love of his companions, the fidelity of
his friends, and the admiration of his readers. Born in the parish of Fernes, in Longford, a county of
Ireland, at a place named Pallas, on the 29th November 1731. He was educated at Dublin and died in
London on 4th April 1774." — Samuel Johnson, translated from his Latin inscription.
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6) John Bunyan
He was born in 1628 and passed away in 1688. He is considered to be the only other really great name
in the prose literature of Dryden’s age is that of John Bunyan .The son of a tinker, whose trade he
himself afterwards followed Bunyan was born at Elstow, Bedfordshire. He fought for a time in the civil
war though on which side is uncertain; was converted; married early; and in 1655 began to preach on
village greens. Continuing the practice of several unlawful meetings and conventicles', and committed to
the Bedford jail, where he remained for twelve years. His autobiographical Grace Abounding was the
work of his captivity; the first part of The Pilgrim's Progress belongs to a second imprisonment of six
months in 1675. Meanwhile, he had obtained a license to preach, and had become the regular minister of
the Baptist Congregation, then meeting in a barn, at Bedford. In his later years, he was also famous as a
preacher in London. It was on a visit to London that he died, and; and he was buried in the old
Dissenters' Burial Ground at Bunhill Fields.
Bunyan's Contribution
Bunyan wrote in all sixty books, but is known by his four books, all steeped in religion. Bunyan was a
religious man and had a great reverence for the Bible. Bunyan's first book is Grace Abounding (1666). It
is a spiritual autobiography auto biography in which the author relates his spiritual history, his mean
birth, wicked childhood and youth. He draws a horrible picture of his own depravity, but as religious
converts are well known to take delight in depicting their original wickedness in the darkest colours, this
need not be taken too seriously. The book is written with intense fervour and sincerity.
Bunyan's next work The Pilgrim's Progress, was published in 1678. It is an allegory. In fact, except for
Grace Abounding, all of Bunyan's major works are allegorical. In each case, the allegory is worked out
with force and clarity. In The Pilgrims Progress, the allegory takes the form of a dream by the author. In
this, he sees Christian with a burden on his back , and reading from a book which he loves that the city
in which he and his family live, will be burnt by fire. On the advice of the Evangelist, Christian flies
from the city of Destruction. His wife and children fail to keep company with him. Christian goes all
alone moving through the slough of Despond, the Interpreter's House, the Palace Beautiful, the Valley of
Humiliations, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, Vanity Fair, Doubting Castle, the Delectable
Mountains, the Country of Beulah to the Celestial City. In the course of his journey, he comes across
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many allegorical figures such as Mr. Worldliwiseman, Mr. Faithful, Mr. Hopeful, Giant Despair and
many others. This is the first part of The Pilgrim's Progress. The second part of the allegory relates how
Christian's wife, Christiana moved by a vision, sets out with her children on the same pilgrimage
accompanied by her neighbour Mercy. They are being escorted by Great-heart, who overcomes Giant
Despair and other monsters and bring them to their destination.
The Pilgrim's Progress is loved for its tale as well as for its style and has enjoyed great popularity. The
work is remarkable for the beauty and simplicity of the language, the vividness and reality of
impersonations and the author's sense of humour and feeling for the world of nature. The extraordinary
appeal that which it makes to the human mind is shown by the fact that it has been translated into no
fewer than 108 different languages and dialects. The style of this book is homely, but not vulgar; strong,
but not coarse; equable, but not monotonous; it is sometimes humorous, but it is never ribald; rarely
pathetic, but never sentimental. It has remained the pattern of a plain style, and is one of the
masterpieces master pieces of the English language.
"The Pilgrim's Progress is as much a book for the twentieth century as it was for the seventeenth. It is
like a landscape in which one is forever pointing out fresh loveliness that comes come into sight and
remains remain ineffaceable in memory, and many besides professing Christians would select as the
finest single passage of English prose the description towards the end of The Pilgrim's Progress of the
death of one of Bunyan's Christian heroes, Mr. Valiant Truth."
Bunyan's third book, The Life and Death of Mr. Badman, was published in 1680. It is the counterpart of
The Pilgrim's Progress. Whereas in The Pilgrim's Progress Bunyan deals with the journey of a
nobleman noble man from this world to Paradise, in Mr. Badman he gives us the picture of a soul on its
journey from this world to Hell. The entire life of Mr. Badman is presented in a delicious manner. The
allegory is in the form of a dialogue in which Mr. Wiseman relates the life of Mr. Badman, recently
deceased. Mr. Attentive offers his comments on the life of Mr. Badman. By reading the allegory we
know that from his the early life Mr. Badman was a man of vicious disposition. He was a debauch. He
played tricks onwith many women and ruined them. His wife died of despair and several women with
whom he flirted proved false to him for he was false to them.
Mr. Badman is a realistic novel, a picture of low life such as Nashe had first drawn in Jack Wilton, and
Defoe carried to a high level in Moll Flanders. It presents a realistic picture of the shadier side of
country life in Stuart times. The Stuart period of British history lasted from 1603 to 1714 during the
dynasty of the House of Stuart. (The period ended with the death of Queen Anne and the accession of
King George I from the German House of Hanover).
John Bunyan's last book is The Holy War which appeared in 1682 is an allegory of a soldier's life and
for its subjects-matter Bunyan drew from his own experiences as a soldier in the Parliamentary war.
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7)APHRA BEHN
Aphra Behn (1640 to 1689) was born in Wye, near Canterbury to Bartholomew Johnson and
Elizabeth Denham with a Catholic upbringing. She married a merchant named Behn in the year
1664. From the year 1666-67, she served King Charles II as a spy in Antwerp, Netherlands and was
unable to pay off the debts so she served a stint in debtors’ prison.
Her first play “The Forced marriage” appeared in 1670. This is followed by the “Amorous Prince”
and “Abdelazer” her sole tragedy. After this, she started writing witty comedies of sexual intrigue
such as “The Town Fop” in the year 1676, “The debauchee” in 1677, “The Counterfeit Bridegroom”
in 1677. Her best play the “Rover game” gained the attention of King Charles’ mistress famous
actress Nell Gwyn who came out of her retirement to play the role of Angelica Bianca. In theThe
war in the Rover, the play centres on pair of lovers Helena and Willmore, Florida and Belville. The
Comedy was produced and published in 2 parts, in Madrid and Naples, set as s etting during the
exile of King Charles II, displays display and depicts the English Cavaliers.
Her short novel “Oroonoko” is about an African Prince who falls in love with athe young woman,
Imoinda. When their law is discovered, Imoinda is sold into slavery into Suriname. Oroonoko who
is a slave owner himself, Lourdes by the captain of an English ship and taken as a slave to Guiana.
Here he meets with Imoinda and tries to attain freedom but gets badly beaten. When he realises that
there is no way of escaping he kills his love and their unborn child. As soon as he attempts to
commit he is captured and later executed. This writing portrays Aphra Behn’s versatility with her
popular works of fiction. She often adapted works by older dramatists and wrote poetry. Her
collection of poems is published as “Poems upon several occasions with the voyage to the island of
love (1684) and “Lycidus; or, The lover in fashion” (1688).She is considered as the first professional
women writer because she wrote numerous plays at a time when women were censured to take up
writing as their career. She is a radical writer who spoke about the sexual desire of women when
women were expected to neither being seen, nor heard. Being a radical writer and for her way of
managing to break the new grounds Aphra Behn is acclaimed by Virginia Woolf as “All women
together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn…. For it was she who earned them
the right to speak their minds”. Behn died on 16 April 1689.
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8) MARGARET CAVENDISH
Margaret Lucas Cavendish was a poet, fiction writer, philosopher, play writer, and essayist. She
brings the concept of Naturalism and Metaphysics. In current day philosophy and science her works
anticipate the central views and arguments which are associated with Thomas Hobbes and David
Humes. Her works offer the understanding of 17 century impressions whether human beings are
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free in a libertarian or compatible list sense or is there any true disorder in the natural world.
Margaret Cavendish known in 1660 as Mad Madge Buxar, for her works “Poems and
Fancies”(1653) and “Philosophical Francis”(1653) covers variety of subjects including science.
She applies materialism in the works, for example in her first work she has written a brief dialogue
between mind and body in which she says that the only way mind can attain any sort of life after
death is by fame, she elsewhere claims that “All the actions of sense and reason are corporeal” and
“Sense and reason are the same in all creatures in all parts of the nature.”
Her works debate on social and political philosophy, issues of agency and authority. Especially with
the modern scientific worldview of her time she emphasised on distinctive motions of all things that
nature processes each knowing and executing their distinctive motions. When it comes to political
and social issues she argues that each person in society has a particular place and distinctive activity
and social harmony only arises when people know their proper place and perform their defining
actions. Being from aristocratic family she always felt it was crucial for the lower economic orders
to have social mobility and political liberty. Even her writings contain the complex discussions of
gender and religion. She has written dozens of books among which five are on natural philosophy.
She wrote on dizzying array of other topics, her philosophically informed poetry, plays, letters are
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as philosophically valuable. She published the “World’s Olio” and “Philosophical and Physical
Opinions” in 1655, which contained 5 parts and 210 chapters, and “Nature’s Picture” in 1656.
The birth records of Margaret Lucas were lost during English civil wars in 1640s and she was
probably born in 1623 outside Colchester. Being youngest in the family of 8 children comprising 3
sons and 5 daughters the early years of Cavendish autobiography can be seen in “A True Relation of
my Birth and Breeding”, published first edition of nature’s pictures drawn by “Francis Pencil to the
Life”(1656). Her father Thomas Lucas, died when she was very young and mother Elizabeth
Leighton Lucas donned the responsibility of the care of the family. Margaret Lucas grew up among
royalty where everybody maintained arm’s length from strangers which has left its mark both on her
practice and her theory of rhetoric. She got little education at home from a governess and visiting
tutors, she was never forced to study against her will. She secretly preferred to amuse herself by
scribbling, writing and designing her own clothes. In the year 1641 when the political situation
reached crisis, Lucas’ were attacked in their family home in 1642. Margaret and her mother moved
to Oxford and in the year 1643 Margaret applied to become Maid of Honour to queen Henrietta
Maria and accompanied her in 1644, when queen escaped to France in the year 1645. Margaret met
William Cavendish of the Newcastle, the famous royalist in exile and got married in December
1645. Her husband has been great influencer for her life. He encouraged her to write, paid for her
publication and gave her confidence. William Cavendish himself was a patron of arts and science
and his brother was a noted scholar. Margaret Cavendish spent her early years of marriage by
writing first in Paris, later in Rotterdam, finally in Antwerp. With restoration of Charles II to the
throne, she returned to England with her husband and continued writing. She also wrote plays and
poems of fantastic utopia, the description of a new world called “The Blazing World” in 1668.
Margaret Cavendish throughout her works engaged with the issue of women reflecting on her own
experience as a woman and how it shaped her writing as a philosophy. Cavendish can be seen as
precursor for more explicit feminist writers.
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9)ELIZABETH CARY
Elizabeth Cary holds the privilege of being the first female playwright to write in English, a poet
dramatist, translator, and a Renaissance playwright who had fluency in multiple languages. Being
the daughter of Sir Lawrence Tanfield and Elizabeth Symonds. At the age of 15 she married Sir
Henry Cary and lived in Ireland. Together they became viscount and viscountess of Falkland with
11 children. Elizabeth gets converted to Catholicism during 1626 protest during which Henry Cary
divorced her and took the custody of their children until he died in the year 1633. After his death
Elizabeth regained the custody and refused further financial assistance. As her father also
disinherited her, Elizabeth was forced to rely on her close friends. After the alienation from her
husband she converted her children and became partially successful as four of her daughters became
Benedict nuns and one of the son joined priesthood.Her prominent play, “The Tragedy of Mariam”
was written between 1602 and 1604 which got published in the year 1613. This is considered as the
first original English play to be published by a woman. It is also known as “Closet Drama”,
implying that it was not intended to be staged rather read out loud among friends, like it regularly
happened in Mary Sydney’s Wilton House circle. Elizabeth used iambic pentameter and was fond of
poetic form which was written in formal, rhyming and was different from classical and French
metres. The play focuses on themes of marriage and divorce. The protagonist being female as sole
title character Mariam the wife of king Herod, Elizabeth Cary writes powerful scenes involving 2
strong women Mariam and Salome. Elizabeth Cary remained unknown until 1970s where feminist
movement discovered her literary significance. Much of her works have been lost but few of her
earliest works are a translation of “The Mirror of the World” by Abraham Ortelius in the year 1598,
when she was 13 years old. A verse life of St. Agnes, St. Elizabeth of Portugal and St. Mary
Magdalene. Translations of Seneka and Blosius. Elizabeth Cary died in London, in October 1639
and was buried in Henrietta Maria’s Chapel in Somerset House among loyal friends in London.
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10) ANNE FINCH
Anne Finch, was born in April 1661-died on 5 August 1720 in England and was the Countess of
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Winchilsea. She was also a poet and courtier. Her works often expressed respect for female poet
about the position of a woman in literary establishment with political ideology, religious orientation
and aesthetic sensibility. She gives great respect for the female authors of her time such as Aphra
Behn and Katherine Phillips. She claims that equality on both the mental and spiritual aspects of the
genders is important for a woman to fulfil her potentials, a moral duty to themselves and society.
She is an integral female poet of Restoration Era and she died in West minister in 1720, and was
buried at her home Eastwell Kent.In her works she reflects upon nature finding emotional and
religious relationship commenting on philosophical and political policy of her time with Lyric
poetry, Ode, Prose and poetry. Literary critics recognised her poetic output with personal and
intimate style which paved greater attention after her death.
Anne Finch is descended from an ancient Hampshire family the 3 and youngest of Anne Haselwood
rd
and Sir William Kingsmill. At her age of 21 she served as maid to Mary of Modena, The Duke of
New York in the court of Charles II. Her writing began during this reign and was encouraged by
Sarah Churchill and Anne Killigrew. She met colonel Heneage Finch, gentleman to the Duke of
New York and uncle of the 5 Earl of Winchilsea .He fell in love with Anne and they both got
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married. Anne Finch resigned for her post and he continued to serve in various government
positions.Several letters and early poems portray her marriage is a happy one. They both resided in
West Minister, then in London. Heneage Finch involved in public affairs with the exception of
James II in 1685. The couple supported James and remained forever loyal to the Stuart court.
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Changing situation and Finch losing his government position led to the subsequent loss of income.
Finch refused alliance to the incoming monarchs and this made the couple to take temporary
refuge with various friends in London and later Charles, his nephew invited them to settle
permanently in Eastwell in the year 1689. They settled in their family estate in Eastwell for more
than 25 years. Finch adopted the pseudonym “Ardelia” and many of her poems are dedicated to her
much-lovedmuch loved husband who appears as “Dafnis” in her work. Along with celebrating her
love, her earlier verses also record records her frustration and sense of loss for the departure from
the court in 1689. She also writes an elegy titled Upon the Death of King James the Second. During
her time in Eastwell Finch demonstrates the increasing awareness of poetic traditions of those
governing older verse. Her affinity with metaphysical tradition is reflected in her poems such as
“The Petition for an Absolute Retreat”, which reflects the perspective of the speaker through the
image of the telescope, an emblem common to religious poetry of the 17th of 17th century. Finch
has experimented with rhyme, meter, occasional poems, satirical verse, and religious meditations.
But her fables comprise the largest portion of her work of art. Finch got praised for her Christian
virtues and persistent loyalty to her family and friends . She merits a the greater appreciation for her
poetic experimentation and her fluent usage of Augustan diction and forms.
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11) AMELIA LANYER
Amelia Lanyer, is the first English woman to publish a volume of original verse and to identify
herself as a professional poet through her single book of poems “Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum” 1611.
This book begins with 11 poems and letters which celebrates female wisdom and virtue from
“James I’s wife queen Anne to all the virtuous ladies in general”. Her language includes radical
elementselement with self-assured defence. She acknowledges the rarity of women’s writing on
religious themes. The long central poem about the story of Christ told from a woman’s perspective
derived from the Latin title “Hail, God, King of the Jews”.
Lanyer at the age of 18 serves as a mistress of Henry Careycarey , Queen Elizabeth Lord
Chamberlain the one who became the pattern of Shakespeare’s theatre company. Amelia Lanyer has
many times many a times linked with William Shakespeare. She lived in London on the fringes of
the court and got the favour of powerful people. A. L. Rowse refers to her as the “ Dark Lady” of
the Shakespearean sonnet. Amelia Lanyer is a serious devotional poet with poetic ambitions which
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can be compared to John Milton’s intensely conscious status as “A woman’s writing of divinest
things”, She uses the biblical sources and boldly transforms to rewrite the place of women in history
and culture. Of Italian, court musician Baptista Bassano and his English wife Margaret
Johnson, Amelia being in a household of Susan Bertie, Dowager countess of Kent, gets
benefited from classical humanist education which included history , rhetoric , arithmetic ,
geometry and astronomy . At the age of 18 she becomes an orphan and she inevitably is under the
financial aid of Henry Carey Lord Hanson, a 45 year old man. She becomes pregnant with his child
and hastily marries her distant cousin Alphonso Lanyer. He is a court musician who intended to
make his name as an adventurer and speculator. She also gave birth to a daughter Odillya after many
miscarriages even though the baby survived only for 9 months. This spirited woman places the
“woman question” which both attacks and defends women. Her works show the reflection not only
of who they are but also of who they should be.
Her concluding poem “The description of Cooke-ham” takes a different form and tone written in
the rhyming couplets, it’s a bittersweet ode to the intellectual and spiritual pleasures she shared with
Margaret Clifford and her daughter. Lanyer’s poems praise praises the spiritual power of a woman
for whom the creator is the ultimate landowner and through her works Emilia Lanyer post
extraordinary poetic skill and ambition, her Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum remains a monument.
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12) FANNY BURNEY
Fanny Burney, is an English Novelist and Diarist who was born in King Lynn, Norfolk, England in
the year 1752. She was born to Doctor Charles Burney, a musical historian and Esther Sleepe.
Fanny Burney lost her mother when she was 9 years old and then her father married Elizabeth
Allen, the wealthy daughter of King Linz , a wine merchant.
Fanny Burney was a writer, composer of songs, odes, plays, poems at a very early age. Under the
influence of her stepmother who proved to be an overbearing stepmother she burned all writings at
the age of 15, as she was persuaded with the thought that writing was inappropriate for women. But
Fanny could not suppress her will to write and started keeping a diary at the age of 16. To reveal her
every thought every wish of her heart she addressed it to “Certain Nobody.” Her diary recorded
personal and public events from the reign of George III to the Dawn of Victorian age.
Fanny’s literary output includes 4 novels, 8 plays, biography, 25 volumes of journals and letters
which became famous. Her work influenced other novelists of manner and satire. Fanny Burney’s
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first novel, “Evelina or The History of a Young Ladies Entrance into the World” was published
anonymously in 1778, being an epistolary novel focusing on young girls social development the
novel received great critical acclaim from illustrious men Edmund Burke and Doctor Johnson.
Hester Thrale, a well-known patroness of art invited Fanny Burney to visit her home in Streatham.
She served as a correspondent of doctor Johnson till 1783. Her second work “Cecilia or Memoirs of
an Heiress” appeared in 1782. She served as keeper of the robes to Queen Charlotte and stopped
writing novels during 1786 to 1791. After her release from court life Fanny Burney married
Alexander d‘ Arblay. They both settled at Bookham buying a cottage with her pension. And in the
year 1793 she produced her brief reflections relative to the immigrant front clergy. Her 3 novel
rd
Camilla, or A Picture of Youth, was published in 1796 proving to be her biggest financial success.
She published her last novel “The wanderer or Female Difficulties” in 1814. Fanny Burney died in
London on 6 January 1840.
th
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13) ELIZABETH CARTER
Elizabeth Carter (1717-1806) is one of the most acclaimed female writers during 18 century. She
th
was born in Deal, in a gentry family who always supported parliamentary causes during civil war
and they were loyal to Hanoverian succession. She was born as the eldest daughter of reverent
Nicholas Carter, an accomplished linguist and author of several pamphlets and his wife Margaret
Swayne. Nicholas Carter was seen to be married again, where in the children of second wife were
much loved by Elizabeth Carter who helped in their upbringing and taking care of the
household. Elizabeth Carter’s father always gave her the university equivalent education being a
perpetual curate of Deal Chapel and most famously Samuel Johnson claims that “Elizabeth Carter
ought to be celebrated in as many different languages as Lewis Le Grand”. Her poem “ Go to
Wisdom” established solid literally reputation through her contribution’s to the “Gentlemen’s
Magazine”, a small volume of poetry “ Particular Occasions (1738) and translations “ Sir Isaac
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Newton’s Philosophy Explain’d for the Use of Ladies”. In the year 1739 and “An Examination of
Mr Pope’s Essay on Man, From the French of M Crousaz” gained critical acclaim and financial
independence. Her subsequent translation work of Greek “ All the works of Epictetus”(1758) and
her second volume of poetry, poems on several occasions(1762) gave her the status as most
prominent woman of her era. She personified the combination of intellect, fortune chastity and
presented it as a role model for learned and creative professional women.
QUESTIONS:
1. Critically analyse Ben Johnson’s contribution to Drama.

2. Discuss the satirical expressions of Ben Jonson with reference to his works.
3. Elucidate Francis Bacon as an essayist.
4. Comment on John Bunyan’s contribution in literary history and usage of allegory as a
figurative tool.
5. Comment on Oliver Goldsmith as a versatile writer.
6. Elucidate Alexander Pope as a critic and poet.
7. Comment on Alexander Pope’s contribution to the world of literature.
8. Discuss Alexander Pope as the master of literary mosaic.
9. Discuss Aphra Behn as a radical writer with reference to her works.
10. Elucidate Aphra Behn’s versatility with reference to her popular works of fiction.
11. Comment on Margaret Cavendish as a precursor for more explicit feminist writers with
reference to her works.
12. Discuss Elizabeth Cary’s contribution as first female playwright in English.
13. Comment on Amelia Lanyer as a professional poet.
14. Discuss Fanny Burney’s portrayal of English aristocracy and issues of women’s place in
society with reference to her fiction or( her writings.
15. Discuss Elizabeth Carter as one of the most acclaimed female writers of the 18th century.
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UNIT II
REPRESENTATIVE WORKS
❖ KING LEAR
❖ VOLPONE
❖ PARADISE LOST
❖ RAPE OF THE LOCK
❖ PAMELA
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1) KING LEAR
King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of
Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his
daughters. He becomes destitute and insane and a proscribed crux of political machinations. The
first known performance of any version of Shakespeare's play was on St. Stephen's Day in 1606.
The play was often revised after the English Restoration for audiences who disliked its dark and
depressing tone, but since the 19th century Shakespeare's original play has been regarded as one of
his supreme achievements.
Both the title role and the supporting roles have been coveted by accomplished actors, and the play
has been widely adapted. The dramatic devices and techniques which William Shakespeare used in
constructing his play King Lear. Shakespeare used the Elizabethan five-act structure, which is
derived from the Greek form and remains an often starting point for contemporary plays. The major
plot in this play deals with king Lear and the misfortunes that he has to face as a result of the
ungratefulness of his two eldest daughters.
Among many other Shakespearean tragedies, King Lear, which was published in 1623, is
considered one of the most tragic plays ever written in English literature. The tragedy of King Lear
results when man's law gains precedence over the law of nature. The main source of tragedy in King
Lear, therefore, is the character. Perhaps Shakespeare was more concerned with human behavior
than any other elements of life. His major goal was to illuminate the dark side of humanity and
penetrate into the heart of its nature. However, the four most significant generic contexts influencing
this play are history, romance, comedy and tragedy. In King Lear, there are many elements of
dramatic conventions one should be aware of so that analyzing these elements can help to
understand the action as connected, purposeful, and oriented to a logical end rather than considering
it as a haphazard gathering of apparently accidental incidents. This confirms the fact that anything
we are told by Shakespeare is for purpose and has some consequences. However, in constructing the
tragedy of King Lear, Shakespeare uses different literary devices. The most important one is the use
of double plot. This device serves an important function, as it highlights the natural law as a crucial
aspect of both plots. By emphasizing the important role of nature which seems absent in King Lear,
Shakespeare is able to demonstrate the tragic consequences that result from the absence of such an
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important role.
STRUCTURE OF THE PLAY
The structure of the play was common among most Elizabethan plays. It is a five-act tragedy. Most
Elizabethan theatre adheres to the five-act structure, which corresponds to the divisions in the action
and makes the audience easily figure out and thus understand the various parts of the tragedy. The
first act is the exposition, in which the play wright sets forth the problem and introduces the main
characters. In addition, it establishes the nature of the conflict between Cordelia and Lear, among
Goneril and Regan and Lear, and between Gloucester and Edgar. Consequently, the opening scene
gives rise to the problem of domestic and personal relationships which are closely linked with royal
power and authority. Act two is the complication -rising action in which the entanglement or
conflict develops further. The erosion of Lear's power and respect begins, the depth of the conflict
between Lear and his daughters is revealed, and the conspiracy that unites Goneril. Regan, and
Edmund is established. Act three is the climax in which the action of the play takes a turning point
and the crisis occurs. In this act, Lear has been cast adrift in the storm and his words reveal that he
begins to lose his mind and his sanity. Likewise, the extent of Regan and Cornwall's depravity is
revealed as they torture Gloucester. Ultimately gouging out his eyes. Act four is called the falling
action, which signals the beginning of the play's resolution. In this act, we have Edgar reuniting with
his father and Cordelia with Lear, who begins to recover from his madness. This act indicates that
the story may be moving towards a good-triumphing-over-evil happy ending are the deaths of
Cornwall and Oswald as it is approaching downfall of the conspirators and foreshadows the tragedy
of the hero. In the final act, (act five) the play draws to a close and the action brings closure to the
play. This act presents the catastrophe to the play, where in the conclusion occurs, a resolution to the
conflict is established, and the tragedy is actualized. In this act, good and bad characters are dead:
Regan and Goneril die, Edmund is killed in a duel with his brother, and Lear and Cordelia die. As
the play draws to an end, Edgar is nominated to restore peace and control to the kingdom.
Having this short version about the story of the whole play in mind, one needs to understand how
Shakespeare has structured his play so that it has become a great work of art. According to Steele
1991 Shakespeare has used an "explicit structure" to form his plays. Basically, the way the plays are
performed on the stage and produced in a written text has caught the attention of many scholars of
Shakespeare. The dramatic structure of King Lear reveals Shakespeare's topicality, whether he
writes about a specific topic or variation of topics, or whether he writes about a particular time or
for the age, and finally, whether he writes about a specific group of people or about human beings in
general. In his essay "What does Shakespeare leave out of King Lear?” Brink (2008) convincingly
argues that by the virtue of his status in the canon, Shakespeare in associated with the view that
great art is timeless and speaks to universals in the human condition. Shakespeare's fame, therefore,
lies in the appeal to his persistent relevance, and his capacity to speak to one generation after
another.
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2) VOLPONE
Volpone, Italian for "sly fox" is a comedy play by English playwright Ben Jonson first produced in
1605–1606, drawing on elements of city comedy and beast fable. A merciless satire of greed and
lust, it remains Jonson's most-performed play, and it is ranked among the finest Jacobean era
comedies.
Volpone is today Ben Jonson’s most performed play, and its savage portrayal of human greed, self-
interest, selfishness and lust is as biting as it was in 1606. Set in Venice, the play is both a city
comedy and a type of beast fable, in which the wily and gold-obsessed trickster Volpone, or ‘fox’,
dupes a range of foolish Venetians and foreigners with the help of his clever servant Mosca (‘fly’ or
‘parasite’).
Volpone pretends to be a wealthy old man who is bedridden and close to death, and courts the
attentions of three eager gold-diggers, the merchant Corvino (‘crow’), the lawyer Voltore (‘vulture’)
and the elderly gentleman Corbaccio (‘raven’), who believe that they have a shot at being made heir
to his immense fortune. He extracts extravagant gifts from Corvino and Voltore, and persuades
Corbaccio to disinherit his own son, Bonario, in favour of Volpone. Learning that Corvino has a
beautiful wife, Celia, Volpone visits her in disguise and decides to seduce her. He convinces
Corvino that his illness will only be cured by sleeping with a young woman. The greedy Corvino
agrees to ‘lend’ him Celia, because Volpone promises to make him his heir. When Celia is not
seduced by Volpone’s offers of wealth, he attempts to rape her, but is interrupted by Bonario. In the
ensuing court case Mosca and Voltore conspire to acquit Volpone, and it is Celia and Bonario who
are arrested for adultery. Bound up in the play’s ‘cross-plots’ (Volpone, ‘Argument’) are a foolish
English couple, Sir and Lady Politic Would-Be, and their savvier acquaintance Peregrine, a newly
arrived traveller from England. Mosca and Volpone manipulate the vain and easily deceived Would-
Bes for their own benefit.
As a parting trick, Volpone has Mosca announce his death and that he (Mosca) is his heir, so that he
can gloat at the fortune-hunters’ disappointment in disguise. But this last scam spirals out of control.
The truth of the earlier court case starts to be revealed, and Mosca refuses to give up Volpone’s
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fortune: Volpone is ‘dead’, after all! Volpone decides that he must reveal everything to the
authorities, and everyone is roundly punished.
Ben Jonson's Volpone has for centuries been acclaimed a masterpiece. Volpone might fairly be
viewed as a turning point in Jonson's work for the public stage. Apart from depicting some of
human beings' negative attributes, the play also shows the extent of human beings' compulsion to
make others suffer. Jonson, however, seems to be worried here not that critics will question the
unity of and between character and structure, but that they will find the plot too darkly didactic for
comedy. Jonson wants highlights the effect of greed has on traditional values for his audience. This
drama has been a centre of discussion among the comedy of the Elizabethan standards. It is not
exactly the traditional fable, wherein there are characters similar to the witty characters in a comic
satire. But, in Volpone, this character is not as successful as the fable prototype. Jonson was well
acquainted with the comedies of Aristophanes. Some of the excess of Aristophanic (pertaining to
the writings or style of Aristophanes, the great comic poet of Athens; shrewd; witty) comedy, the
savageness of the satire, the farce, and the burlesque, are to be found in Volpone. But, in Jonson,
one has a greater concern for moral issues than in Aristophanes. Though Jonson adapts what he
takes from the Old Comedy, he is more concerned with serious issues, one can see how essential the
Old Comedy relationship of Impostor and Ironical Buffoon is to the play; it is this relationship that
makes clear the nature of the drama of Volpone. Volpone is a comedy, but close in tone and certain
aspects of its technique to Old Comedy, the comedy of Aristophanes setting.
The most obvious way in which Jonson has matched the language of Volpone with its Venetian
setting is the occasional Italian term with which he has seasoned the speech of the play's characters.
Italian vocabulary that finds its way into this English play includes: sforzati, "gallie-slaves";
scartoccios, "a coffin of paper for spice"; canaglia, "raskalitie, base people, the skum of the earth";
gondole; saffi, “a catchpole, or sergeant"; clarissimo, a grandee; strappado, a Venetian torture; and
Pomagnia, a popular wine in Venice. Jonson's attention to these Italian touches as well as his care in
such details as literary references and coinage contributes bit by bit to the exotic and foreign
atmosphere of the play as a whole. Indeed, the English subplot is itself a clever device for separating
the Venetian setting from London. The very presence of two "affective travellers" is a constant
reminder that London is not the setting of the play.
Although Volpone is a richly multi-layered text which satirises greed and corruption at a general
level, it can also be read as an overtly anti Catholic discourse based around two key areas: the
profanation of the Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist and the allusion to corrupt priesthood through
the presentation of the bestiary fox figure. The presentation of vice and corruption then acquires a
resonance which links to a tradition of anti-Papist Tudor Reformation drama such as that presented
by John Bale and his contemporaries who sought to play out doctrinal dispute in a dramatic arena.
Volpone speaks to the audience directly, and informs them that his punishment will not cause any
suffering provided the audience shows their praise of him. This moment is both silly and brilliant
for Jonson. He is aware that the audience has been there throughout the play, and that he has shown
himself on the stage as much as any of the characters.
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3) Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in free verse in the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–
1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of
verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books minor revisions throughout. It
is considered to be Milton's masterpiece, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest
English poets of all time. The poem concerns the biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of
Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. he subject
matter, is distinctly Christian.
This epic poem, even though 355 years old, remains a work of unparalleled imaginative genius that
shapes English literature even now. In more than 10,000 lines of blank verse, it tells the story of the
war for heaven and of man’s expulsion from Eden. Its dozen sections are an ambitious attempt to
comprehend the loss of paradise – from the perspectives of the fallen angel Satan and of man, fallen
from grace. Even to readers in a secular age, the poem is a powerful meditation on rebellion,
longing and the desire for redemption.
In Paradise Lost, Milton draws on the classical Greek tradition to conjure the spirits of blind
prophets. He invokes Homer, author of the first great epics in Western literature, and Tiresias, the
oracle of Thebes who sees in his mind’s eye what the physical eye cannot. As the philosopher
Descartes wrote during Milton’s lifetime, “it is the soul which sees and not the eye”. William Blake,
the most brilliant interpreter of Milton, later wrote of how “the Eye of Imagination” saw beyond the
narrow confines of “Single vision”, creating works that outlasted “mortal vegetated Eyes”.
When Milton began Paradise Lost in 1658, he was in mourning. It was a year of public and private
grief, marked by the deaths of his second wife, memorialised in his beautiful Sonnet 23, and of
England’s Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, which precipitated the gradual disintegration of the
republic. Paradise Lost is an attempt to make sense of a fallen world: to “justify the ways of God to
men”, and no doubt to Milton himself.
The poem follows the epic tradition of starting in medias res (in the middle of things), the
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background story being recounted later.
Milton's story has two narrative arcs, one about Satan (Lucifer) and the other, Adam and Eve. It
begins after Satan and the other fallen angels have been defeated and banished to Hell, or, as it is
also called in the poem, Tartarus. In Pandæmonium, the capital city of Hell, Satan employs his
rhetorical skill to organise his followers; he is aided by Mammon and Beelzebub. Belial and Moloch
are also present. At the end of the debate, Satan volunteers to corrupt the newly created Earth and
God's new and most favoured creation, Mankind. He braves the dangers of the Abyss alone. After
an arduous traversal of the Chaos outside Hell, he enters God's new material World, and later the
Garden of Eden. God has created the World, culminating in his creation of Adam and Eve. While
God gave Adam and Eve total freedom and power to rule over all creation, he gave them one
explicit command: not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil on penalty of death.
The story of Adam and Eve's temptation and fall is a fundamentally different, new kind of epic: a
domestic one. Adam and Eve are presented as having a romantic and sexual relationship while still
being without sin. They have passions and distinct personalities. Satan, disguised in the form of a
serpent, successfully tempts Eve to eat from the Tree by preying on her vanity and tricking her with
rhetoric. Adam, learning that Eve has sinned, knowingly commits the same sin. He declares to Eve
that since she was made from his flesh, they are bound to one another – if she dies, he must also die.
In this manner, Milton portrays Adam as a heroic figure, but also as a greater sinner than Eve, as he
is aware that what he is doing is wrong. After eating the fruit, Adam and Eve have lustful sex. At
first, Adam is convinced that Eve was right in thinking that eating the fruit would be beneficial.
However, they soon fall asleep and have terrible nightmares, and after they awake, they experience
guilt and shame for the first time. Realising that they have committed a terrible act against God,
they engage in mutual recrimination.
Meanwhile, Satan returns triumphantly to Hell, amid the praise of his fellow fallen angels. He tells
them about how their scheme worked and Mankind has fallen, giving them complete dominion over
Paradise. As he finishes his speech, however, the fallen angels around him become hideous snakes,
and soon enough, Satan himself turns into a snake, deprived of limbs and unable to talk. Thus, they
share the same punishment, as they shared the same guilt.
Eve appeals to Adam for reconciliation of their actions. Her encouragement enables them to
approach God, and sue for grace, bowing on supplicant knee, to receive forgiveness. In a vision
shown to him by the Archangel Michael, Adam witnesses everything that will happen to Mankind
until the Great Flood. Adam is very upset by this vision of the future, so Michael also tells him
about Mankind's potential redemption from original sin through Jesus Christ (whom Michael calls
"King Messiah"). Adam and Eve are cast out of Eden, and Michael says that Adam may find "a
paradise within thee, happier far." Adam and Eve now have a more distant relationship with God,
who is omnipresent but invisible (unlike the tangible Father in the Garden of Eden). Hence the title
Paradise Lost.
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4) RAPE OF THE LOCKE
The heroic epic Rape of the Locke was written by Alexander Pope and first published in the year
1712 with 2 cantos and later expanded into 5 cantos in the year 1714. Rape of the Locke is dedicated
to John Carroll and it is based on Lord Petre’s cutting of a lock of hair of Arabella Fermor. In
Alexander Pope’s poem, Belinda is based on the historical Arabella Fermor and Baron is the
pseudonym for the historical Robert Lord Petre. The poem begins with rising sun awakening the
residents of a wealthy household. Even though everybody has reason including the lap dogs,
Belinda remains asleep. In her dreams she sees a handsome youth, who informs her that she is
protected by “1000 bright inhabitants of air,” the spirits of human women who are now protecting
the virgins. Belinda’s guardians Slyph is Ariel and her lap dog is named Shock.
The poem is about idleness, late rising, about the fondness of aristocratic ladies towards pets. Pope
criticises the feminine frivolous nature where in many young and wealthy socialites in the social
gatherings played cards over coffee. Baron takes up a pair of scissors and cuts off the locke of
Belinda, who is outraged with this act. But Clarissa who helps Baron in this crime urges Belinda to
drop her anger in favour of good. The battle then is between ladies and gentlemen and amidst all the
confusions the lock is lost and Pope assures Belinda that her lock has been immortalised in the
heavens as a constellation. The Pope’s mock epic is not a mark of form itself but it’s about society
where every failure to rise to epic standards exposing its pettiness against the grandeur of traditional
epic subjects and bravery of epic heroes. Pope speaks about the ridiculousness of a society in which
values have been lost. All the proportions and the small things or trivial things are handled with
gravity and solemn to be accorded to truly important issues the poem is a reflection of artificial and
hollow life during 18th century.
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5) PAMELA
Samuel Richardson’s Pamela or Virtue Rewarded is an epistolary novel published in the year 1740.
The novel narrates the journey of 15 year old Pamela Andrews who is a servant in the estate of the
county of Bedford Shire, England. At the hands of a master of estate master B, who is the son of her
Late Mistress she becomes a victim of harassment and he continuously seduces her, abducts her in
spite of her resistance. Mr B forces Pamela to become his mistress but she refuses his terms and
conditions. He tries to get close to Pamela at night by impersonating a drunken maid servant but she
soon avoids his advances. Finally Mr B plans to get Pamela through love rather than force. Pamela’s
virtue finally rewards when Mr B proposes to marry her.
The story ends with their marriage and blissful conjugal life which reiterates the nature of virtue in a
woman, class politics and sexual politics. Pamela gained fame during mid-18th century even though
it got mixed responses, when it was published. Many contemporaries looked at the “ licentious”
content of the novel and its portrayal of social mobility. Contemporary writers and critics published
satirical responses on the trajectory of novel where in Pamela’s terror of Mr B swiftly transforms
into love upon the proposal of marriage and the question of reliability of Pamela on account of
events. The works of Henry Fielding’s “Shamela” and Eliza Haywood’s “Anti-Pamela” in the year
1741, has portrayed Pamela with a different and elevated social position. Even Charlotte Bronte’s
Jane Eyre alludes to Pamela and many critics have explicitly done the comparative study of both the
novels. Critics have often compared Edward Rochester with Mr B from Pamela. Thus Pamela
belongs to conduct book tradition which aims mainly at girls and young women about moral
behaviour, social norms and code of sensitivity, sensibility and Richardson has brilliantly employed
the novel form to instruct through entertainment along with the description of psychological
activities, the shackles of patriarchal society and the longing for an independent life with social
position.
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REFERENCES
• Bowers, F., 1980. The structure of King Lear. Shakespeare Quarterly, 31(1): 7-20
• Brink, J.R., 2008, What does Shakespeare leave out of King Lear? King Lear: New critical
essays. Ed. Jeffrey Kahan. New York: Routledge.
• Dobson, M. and N.J. Watson, 2004. England's Elizabeth: An afterlife in fame and fantasy.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Goldberg, S.1.., 1974. An essay on King Lear. London: Cambridge University Press. Halio,
J.L., 2001. King Lear: A guide to the play. Westport: Gremwood Press
• Halio, J. 2005. "Introduction" in the tragedy of King Lear. Ed. Jay L. Halo. 1992.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
• Jonson, B. (2004). Volpone and Other Plays. United Kingdom: Penguin Publishing Group.
• Milton, J. (2003). Paradise Lost. United States: Hackett Publishing Company.
• Pope, Alexander. The Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings. United
Kingdom, Penguin Books Limited, 2011.
• Pope, Alexander. The Rape of the Lock: An Heroi-comical Poem in Five Canto's. By
Alexander Pope, Esq. United Kingdom, James Reid Leith, 1751.
• Regis, Pamela. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. United States, University of
Pennsylvania Press, Incorporated, 2013.
• https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170419-why-paradise-lost-is-one-of-the-worlds-
most-important-poems
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#References
QUESTIONS:
1. What are the main characteristics of Milton Poetry?

2. Explain the autobiographical elements in Milton poetry.
3. Write an essay on Milton as the child of renaissance and reformation.
4. Trace the development of English prose during the age of Milton or the seventeenth century.
5. Bring out a comparative estimate of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson as dramatist of
Elizabethan Age.
6. What are the factors responsible for the decline of Drama during the Jacobean period or the
post Shakespearean period?
7. Write a note on the life and main dramatic works of Shakespeare.
8. Is Paradise Lost only a bleak and tragedy story? Why or why not?
9. What was Milton’s goal in writing Paradise Lost?
10. What are some qualities that Satan possesses and why are they important to the narrative?
11. Who is the protagonist of King Lear? Why do you think so?
12. What role does age play in the development of the narrative in King Lear?
13. Volpone is a satire on the contemporary English Society?
14. The theme of Metatheatricality is important to the moral of Volpone in so far as it conveys
Jonson’s criticism of Elizabethan theatre. Which scenes of Volpone qualify as play –within-
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the play?
15. Comment on the theme The Rape of the Lock.
16. What does hair represent in The Rape of the Lock?
17. Why is it called The Rape of the Lock?
18. What are the themes of Pamela?
19. Comment on the character of Pamela?
20. Do you think Pamela is a feminist character? Discuss.
UNIT III
Representative Texts
Sonnet - John Milton’s On His Blindness

Lyric - William Blake’s ‘A Poison Tree’,
Essay - Francis Bacon’s Of Studies,

- Goldsmith’s Man in Black
Play - Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus.
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On His Blindness
John Milton
(9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674)
Introduction to the poet

John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, man of
letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a
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time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost
(1667), written in blank verse.
Milton's poetry and prose reflect deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-
determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day. Writing in English, Latin,
Greek, and Italian, he achieved international renown within his lifetime and his celebrated
Areopagitica (1644)—written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship—is among history's
most influential and impassioned defenses of free speech and freedom of the press.
William Hayley's 1796 biography called him the "greatest English author," and he remains generally
regarded "as one of the preeminent writers in the English language," though critical reception has
oscillated in the centuries since his death (often on account of his republicanism).
Milton's poetry was slow to see the light of day, at least under his name. His first published poem
was On Shakespeare (1630), anonymously included in the Second Folio edition of William
Shakespeare. In the midst of the excitement attending the possibility of establishing a new English
government, Milton’s work includes 1645 Poems, the anonymous edition of Comus was published
in 1637, and the publication of Lycidas in 1638 in Justa Edouardo King Naufrago was signed J. M.
Otherwise, the 1645 collection was the only poetry of his to see print, until Paradise Lost appeared
in 1667.Milton adopts a Petrarchan rhyme scheme in order to write this sonnet. The first two
quatrains follow an ABBA rhyming pattern, and the sestet uses two tercets of CDE. Following the
traditional form of a sonnet, the octet presents a problem that the sestet then resolves.
Petrachan Sonnet
The Petrarchan sonnet, perfected by the Italian poet Petrarch, divides the 14 lines into two
sections: an eight-line stanza (octave) rhyming ABBAABBA, and a six-line stanza (sestet)
rhyming CDCDCD or CDECDE.
The Petrarchan sonnet, also known as the Italian sonnet, is a sonnet named after the Italian poet
Francesco Petrarca although it was not developed by Petrarch himself, but rather by a string of
Renaissance poets like, William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Sir Philip Sidney, Ben Jonson,
John Donne, and John Milton. Because of the structure of Italian sonnet, the rhyme scheme of the
Petrarchan sonnet is more easily fulfilled in that language than in English. The original Italian
sonnet form consists of a total of fourteen hendecasyllabic–is a line of eleven syllables (in English
sonnets, iambic pentameter is used) in two parts, the first part being an octave and the second being
a sestet.
The octave introduces a problem or conflict in the mind of the speaker, in the first four lines (known
as the first quatrain). The next quatrain explains the problem or provides an exposition to the reader.
The sestet begins with a volta (Italian: “turn”) the turn in thought in a sonnet that is often indicated
by such initial words as But, Yet, or And yet.which marks the change in rhyme scheme as well as
the change of the conflict into a solution or some form of resolution.
Milton adopts a Petrarchan rhyme scheme in order to write this sonnet. The first two quatrains
follow an ABBA rhyming pattern, and the sestet uses two tercets of CDE. Following the traditional
form of a sonnet, the octet presents a problem that the sestet then resolves.
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ON HIS BLINDNESS
By John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need

Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly: thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
WORD MEANINGS:
LINE 1- In this context, “light” is a metaphor for both the speaker’s life span and his sight. Since
this poem is called “On His Blindness” and we know that Milton went blind in 1652, “light” can be
read throughout the poem as a conceit for sight.
The word conceit has two meanings–
a) excessive pride in oneself

b) a fanciful expression in writing or speech, an elaborate metaphor.
LINE 1- “Spent” can either mean “passed,” as in, "when I consider how I have spent my days," or it
can mean “gone,” as in, "when I consider that my sight is gone."
LINE 2–ere” is an adverb that means “before.” the speaker expresses disbelief that he has lost his
sight before even half of his life has yet to be lived.
LINE 3–The speaker suggests that his'one talent’ is to present “my true account.” This signals to the
reader that the speaker’s talent is writing, an activity that would have been nearly impossible to do
in Early Modern England without sight. Because Milton himself went blind in 1652, this poem is
conventionally read as autobiographical.
The speaker’s reference to his “one talent” suggests a third metaphorical meaning of light. Light is a
classic motif for knowledge—intellectual illumination. For the writer, light represents inspiration.
When the speaker claims that his “light is spent,” one can say that he is lamenting a case of “writer’s
block.”
LINE 4—This is one of the few lines in the sonnet in which Milton breaks from perfect iambic
meter. The first four words are intended to be read with stress on "Lodg'd" and then on "use" in
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"useless." This emphasis is appropriate since the words are intended to sound like a cry of anguish
in an otherwise uniformly tranquil and metrically regular poem betokening Milton's "Patience" and
his conviction, as expressed in the beautiful concluding line, that "They also serve who only stand
and wait."
LINE 5–My Maker- referring to God.
LINE 6- True account- to present work done
LINE 7 –Light denied” in this context means blindness. Notice that there is an undercurrent of
blame in this metaphor. “Denied” suggests that someone took his sight. This reveals both the
speaker’s anger over losing his sight and his inability to express this anger at God.
LINE 8-“Fondly” in this time meant foolishly. The speaker immediately apologizes for the question
that he has posed by calling himself foolish. In a way, this shows the speaker recant his question.
Notice that Patience begins speaking at the volta, or thematic turn. This turn marks a change in the
speaker’s mentality. He stops despairing about his lost sight and begins to believe that there is
divine purpose in what seems like an unfortunate event.
LINE 9-Note that the speaker's response to his personal loss is a stance of yielding. The word
"murmur"—which describes how "Patience" communicates to the speaker—is appropriate to the
overall tone of the sonnet. He is resigned to accept whichever fate God imposes upon him. This is
also indicated two lines later in the words "mild yoke." When Milton concludes with the words,
"They also serve who only stand and wait," he seems to be suggesting that he can serve God by
serving as an example of patience, faith, and humility.
LINE 11-“Mild yoke” is an allusion to the Bible: “My yoke is easy, my burden is light” (Matthew
11:30). In the law of the Old Testament, Jewish people were required to follow over 600 strict
religious laws. Jesus used this metaphor to relieve them of the burden of these laws. He claimed that
there were only two laws man needed to follow: love God, love each other. Thus the “yoke” and
“burden” of Jesus was both forgiving and “light.” To “bear his mild yoke” means to follow Jesus’s
two commandments to love God and love each other.
A “yoke” is a heavy wooden bar attached to the heads of two oxen, horses, or mules so that they can
pull a cart or plow. It is designed to limit the animals’ mobility so that they walk together in the
direction in which the farmer wants them to go. A yoke is extremely heavy and implies a great
burden or difficult task.
LINE 14–Patience reminds the speaker that God is like a king and has many servants across the
world to do his bidding. Some ride over land and ocean carrying out His will, but others simply
need to serve him by waiting. Patience relieves the speaker’s anxiety by telling him that it is
acceptable to wait for divine inspiration to tell him what God wants him to do.
QUESTIONS:
1. What does light represent in the poem?

2. What is the central idea of the poem?
3. Discuss Milton’s feelings after he became blind?
4. How does Milton begin the octave?
5. What is the central point in the sestet?
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A POISON TREE
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William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827)
William Blake was a famous poet, painter, and engraver of the late 18th century and early 19th
century. He was a radical, anti-authority figure. Born at 28 Broad Street in Soho, London on 28
November 1757. His father James Blake was a hosier. He and his wife Catherine had 6 children.
From an early age, William Blake was artistic. He also had ‘visions’ of things like angels. When he
was 14 William was made apprentice to an engraver called James Basire, where he served 7 years
and became an engraver himself in 1779. Blake also wanted to paint and the same year he became a
student at the Royal Academy of Arts.On 18 August 1782, William Blake married Catherine Sophia
Boucher at the Church of St Mary in Battersea. Blake also wrote poems. A book of poems called
Poetical Sketches was published in 1783. In 1789 he published a book of poems called The Song of
Innocence.In 1793 Blake published Visions of the Daughters of Albion. The Marriage of Heaven
and Hell and America, a Prophecy. In 1794 Blake published, The Book of Urizen, and a book of
poems called Songs of Experience. It included the famous poem- The Tiger. He published Europe,
a Prophecy in the same year.
William Blake wrote and illustrated his work Milton A Poem in two Books. The preface included
the famous poem now known as Jerusalem, which was written in 1804. (Blake did not actually give
it that title. It was originally called ‘And did those feet in ancient time’. Hubert Parry wrote music
for it in 1916). In 1820 Blake painted The Goblin. He also painted a miniature called The Ghost of a
Flea.
In 1825 Blake was commissioned to illustrate Divine Comedy by Dante but he died before he could
complete the task on 12 August 1827. He was buried in Bunhill Fields in London.
A POISON TREE
By William Blake
I was angry with my friend;

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I waterd it in fears,

Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night.

Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.
And into my garden stole,
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When the night had veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
WORD MEANINGS:
1. Wrath: extreme anger, rage, fury, indignation

2. Foe : enemy, opponent, enemy, competitor
3. Stole: past tense of steal, move somewhere quietly
4. Sunnd: to sun bathe in sunlight, bask
5. Deceitful : dishonest, misleading
6. Veild: expressed in an indirect way, not openly declared
QUESTIONS
1. What is the message of A Poison Tree?
2. What does the tree symbolize in the poem?
3. How did the wrath of the poet grow?
4. Why did the foe want the fruit?
5. What does ‘apple’ signify? Explain with Biblical reference.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was born in London to parents who were members of the court of
Queen Elizabeth I. He attended Trinity College, entered the practice of law in his late teens, and
became a member of the House of Commons at the age of 23. His career flourished under King
James I, but later scandals ended his life as a politician. A philosopher/scientist by nature and one of
the most admired thinkers of his day, Bacon was a founder of the modern empirical tradition based
on closely observing the physical world, conducting controlled experiments, and interpreting the
results rationally to discover the workings of the universe. Of his many published works, he is best
remembered for his Essays (collected from 1597 until after his death), brief meditations noted for
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their wit and insight.
In his classic essay, “Of Studies,” Francis Bacon explains how and why study—knowledge—is
important. Along with Michel de Montaigne, who published his first essays less than twenty years
before Francis Bacon published his first collection in 1597. Bacon is considered the father of the
English essay (with Montaigne the father of the French essay). Bacon’s essays differ from
Montaigne’s in being more compact and more formal. Where Montaigne conceived of the essays as
an opportunity to explore a subject through mental association and a casual ramble of the mind,
Bacon envisioned the essay as an opportunity to offer advice. The title of his essay collection:
“Essays or Counsels: Civil and Moral,” suggests that didactic intent. In “Of Studies,” Bacon lays out
the value of knowledge in practical terms. Bacon considers to what use studies might be put. He is
less interested in their theoretical promise than in their practical utility—a proclivity more English,
perhaps, than French. Bacon’s writing in “Of Studies” is direct and pointed. It avoids the
meandering find-your-way free form of Montaigne’s essays. From his opening sentence Bacon gets
directly to the point: “Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.” He then elaborates on
how studies are useful in these three ways. And he wastes no words in detailing the use of “studies”
for a Renaissance gentleman. One of the attractions of Bacon’s essay is his skillful use of parallel
sentence structure, as exemplified in the opening sentence and throughout “Of Studies.” This
stylistic technique lends clarity and order to the writing, as in “crafty men condemn studies, simple
men admire them, and wise men use them,” which in its straightforward assertiveness exhibits
confidence and elegance in addition to clarity and emphasis.
ESSAY --- OF STUDIES
Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness
and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of
business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general
counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best, from those that are learned. To spend
too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make
judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by
experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning, by study; and studies
themselves, do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.
Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not
their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to
contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to
weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be
chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not
curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may
be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important
arguments, and the meaner sort of books, else distilled books are like common distilled waters,
flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And
therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need
have a present wit: and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know, that he
doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep;
moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores. Nay, there is no stond or
impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies; like as diseases of the body, may have
appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast;
gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let
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him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must
begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the Schoolmen; for
they are cumini sectores. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and
illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special
receipt.
QUESTIONS:
1. What are the main benefits of study in the essay “Of Studies” by Francis Bacon?
2. What does Bacon mean “Studies serve for delight” in the above essay?
3. What does Bacon mean “Studies serve for ornament” in his essay “Of Studies”?
4. What does Bacon mean “Studies serve for ability” in the essay?
5. What is Bacon’s view about to spend too much of time in studies?
6. What is the theme ‘”Of Studies”” by Francis Bacon?
7. What are the three views of Bacon on the importance of studies?
8. What type of essay is “”Of Studies”” by Francis Bacon?
9. What are Bacon's ideas on studies in 200 to 300 words?
10. According to Bacon the exercises of gentle walking and riding are good for which diseases
as mentioned in his essay “Of Studies”?
The Man in Black
By Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774)
From The Citizen of the World
THOUGH fond of many acquaintances, I desire an intimacy only with a few. The man in
black, whom I have often mentioned, is one whose friendship I could wish to acquire, because
he possesses my esteem. His manners, it is true, are tinctured with some strange
inconsistencies, and he may be justly termed a humorist in a nation of humorists. Though he is
generous even to profusion, he affects to be thought a prodigy of parsimony and prudence;
though his conversation be replete with the most sordid and selfish maxims, his heart is dilated
with the most unbounded love. I have known him profess himself a man-hater, while his cheek
was glowing with compassion; and, while his looks were softened into pity, I have heard him
use the language of the most unbounded ill-nature. Some affect humanity and tenderness,
others boast of having such dispositions from nature; but he is the only man I ever knew who
seemed ashamed of his natural benevolence. He takes as much pains to hide his feelings as any
hypocrite would to conceal his indifference; but on every unguarded moment the mask drops
off, and reveals him to the most superficial observer.
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In one of our late excursions into the country, happening to discourse upon the provision that
was made for the poor in England, he seemed amazed how any of his countrymen could be so
foolishly weak as to relieve occasional objects of charity, when the laws had made such ample
provision for their support. “In every parish-house,” says he, “the poor are supplied with food,
clothes, fire, and a bed to lie on; they want no more, I desire no more myself; yet still they
seem discontented. I am surprised at the inactivity of our magistrates in not taking up such
vagrants, who are only a weight upon the industrious; I am surprised that the people are found
to relieve them, when they must be at the same time sensible that it, in some measure,
encourages idleness, extravagance, and imposture. Were I to advise any man for whom I had
the least regard, I would caution him by all means not to be imposed upon by their false
pretences; let me assure you, sir, they are impostors every one of them, and rather merit a
prison than relief.”
He was proceeding in this strain, earnestly to dissuade me from an imprudence of which I am

seldom guilty, when an old man, who still had about him the remnants of tattered finery,
implored our compassion. He assured us that he was no common beggar, but forced into the
shameful profession, to support a dying wife, and five hungry children. Being prepossessed
against such falsehoods, his story had not the least influence upon me; but it was quite
otherwise with the man in black; I could see it visibly operate upon his countenance, and
effectually interrupt his harangue. I could easily perceive that his heart burned to relieve the
five starving children, but he seemed ashamed to discover his weakness to me. While he thus
hesitated between compassion and pride, I pretended to look another way, and he seized this
opportunity of giving the poor petitioner a piece of silver, bidding him at the same time, in
order that I should hear, go work for his bread, and not tease passengers with such impertinent
falsehoods for the future.
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As he had fancied himself quite unperceived, he continued, as we proceeded, to rail against
beggars with as much animosity as before; he threw in some episodes on his own amazing
prudence and economy, with his profound skill in discovering impostors; he explained the
manner in which he would deal with beggars were he a magistrate, hinted at enlarging some of
the prisons for their reception, and told two stories of ladies that were robbed by beggar men.
He was beginning a third to the same purpose when a sailor with a wooden leg once more
crossed our walks, desiring our pity, and blessing our limbs. I was for going on without taking
any notice, but my friend looking wishfully upon the poor petitioner, bid me stop, and he
would show me with how much ease he could at any time detect an impostor. He now
therefore assumed a look of importance, and in an angry tone began to examine the sailor,
demanding in what engagement he was thus disabled and rendered unfit for service. The sailor
replied, in a tone as angrily as he, that he had been an officer on board a private ship of war,
and that he had lost his leg abroad, in defence of those who did nothing at home. At this reply,
all my friend’s importance vanished in a moment; he had not a single question more to ask; he
now only studied what method he should take to relieve him unobserved. He had, however, no
easy part to act, as he was obliged to preserve the appearance of ill-nature before me, and yet
relieve himself by relieving the sailor. Casting, therefore, a furious look upon some bundles of
chips which the fellow carried in a string at his back, my friend demanded how he sold his
matches; but, not waiting for a reply, desired in a surly tone to have a shilling’s worth. The
sailor seemed at first surprised at his demand, but soon recollected himself, and presenting his
whole bundle, “Here, master,” says he, “take all my cargo, and a blessing into the bargain.”
It is impossible to describe with what an air of triumph my friend marched off with his new
purchase; he assured me that he was firmly of opinion that those fellows must have stolen their
goods who could thus afford to sell them for half value. He informed me of several different
uses to which those chips might be applied; he expatiated largely upon the savings that would
result from lighting candles with a match instead of thrusting them into the fire. He averred
that he would as soon have parted with a tooth as his money to those vagabonds, unless for
some valuable consideration. I cannot tell how long this panegyric upon frugality and matches
might have continued, had not his attention been called off by another object more distressful
than either of the former. A woman in rags, with one child in her arms, and another on her
back, was attempting to sing ballads, but with such a mournful voice, that it was difficult to
determine whether she was singing or crying. A wretch, who in the deepest distress still aimed
at good humour was an object my friend was by no means capable of withstanding: his
vivacity and his discourse were instantly interrupted; upon this occasion, his very
dissimulation had forsaken him. Even in my presence he immediately applied his hands to his
pockets, in order to relieve her; but guess his confusion when he found he had already given
away all the money he carried about him to former objects. The misery painted in the woman’s
visage was not half so strongly expressed as the agony in his. He continued to search for some
time, but to no purpose, till at length recollecting himself, with a face of ineffable good nature,
as he had no money, he put into her hands his shilling’s worth of matches.
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. QUESTIONS
1. Why does Goldsmith call the Man in Black a ―humorist in a nation of humorists?
2. Narrate the incident that had led to his parting with the bundle of matches.
3. How did he dismiss the soldier with a wooden leg?
4. What does Goldsmith discuss in The Man in Black?
5. What kind of character is the man in black?
6. What is the theme of the essay The Man in Black?
7. Who is the narrator in The Man in Black?
8. How does Goldsmith portray the man in black?
DR. FAUSTUS
BY
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593), was an
English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous
of the Elizabethan playwrights.
Based upon the "many imitations" of his play Tamburlaine, modern scholars consider him to have
been the foremost dramatist in London in the years just before his mysterious early death. Marlowe
was the first to achieve critical acclaim for his use of blank verse, which became the standard for the
era. His plays are distinguished by their overreaching protagonists. Themes found within Marlowe's
literary works have been noted as humanistic with realistic emotions, which some scholars find
difficult to reconcile with Marlowe's "anti-intellectualism" and his catering to the prurient tastes of
his Elizabethan audiences for generous displays of extreme physical violence, cruelty, and
bloodshed.
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Doctor Faustus is the best representation of Renaissance of the 16 century. The play shows the
th
conflict between the Renaissance and medieval values. In medieval times, God was at the center of
everything while man and nature were kept aside. Renaissance was a revolt against those medieval
values. People started getting education and realizing themselves. Faustus, by pointing out each
major subject of the medieval age, called them of no use and frustrated them. Being a man of
Renaissance he wished to acquire the knowledge about God and questions the existence of God.
The play opens with Doctor Faustus, a famous German scholar, who is sitting in his study
wondering about his extensive knowledge that he has of the four major subjects of the time-
philosophy, religion, law, and medicines. Faustus grows frustrated with the traditional form of
knowledge and plumps that he wants to study to practice magic. Two of his friends Valdes and
Cornelius guided him in the black magic.
Faustus begins his new career as a magician by summoning up Mephistopheles, a secretary to

Lucifer (the master of devils). Faustus presented his desire to practice magic in front of
Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles warns him of the horrors of hell but Faustus tells him to return
back to his master with an offer of Faustus’s soul for an interchange of Mephistopheles’s services
for twenty-four years. In the meantime, Faustus’s servant Wagner picks up some magic tricks from
Faustus and applies it on Robin to press him into his service (a comic scene).
Mephistopheles comes back to Faustus and tells him of Lucifer’s approval of his offer. Faustus
seems to be confused and experiences some misgivings and wonders whether he should repent and
save his soul; however, he decides to carry on as he signs the deal with his blood. Just as he does so,
words such as “Homo Fuge” (Latin words for “O man, fly”) appear tattooed on his hand.
Faustus, once more, has a second thought but Mephistopheles changes his mind by imparting rich
gifts on him. Faustus receives a book from Mephistopheles to learn different spells. Faustus, later,
asks questions from Mephistopheles about nature and the world that Mephistopheles answers;
however, he refuses to answer Faustus when Faustus asks him about the creator of the universe.
This refusal stimulates another stint of doubt in Faustus’s mind, but to distract him Mephistopheles
and Lucifer carry in the characterization of seven deadly sins to dance in front of Faustus that has
impressed him a lot.
Faustus, equipped with new powers and company of Mephistopheles, begins to travel across the
world to gather more and more knowledge. At first, making themselves invisible, they go to the
pope’s courtroom. At Pope’s court, Bruno, the king of Germany, was about to deliver a punishment.
Faustus, having special association with Germany, plays a trick and releases Bruno from Pope’s
imprisonment. Afterwards he interrupts Pope’s meal by stealing food from him and boxing his ears.
After this mischievous incident, he goes to Europe. His fame was spreading across the world like a
fire in the forest.
Eventfully, He gets an invitation from the Emperor of Germany, Charles Ⅴ, to the court and asks
him to make him see his ancestors particularly Alexander the Great. Faustus tells him that it is
impossible for him to show him the actual of his ancestors, however, he will manage to show him
the shadows of them to him; moreover, he must not touch them as they are merely the shadows.
Charles, after watching his ancestor, seems inspired and impressed with Faustus’s conjuring
abilities. A knight, who is watching all these, taunts at Faustus’ conjuring abilities, eventfully,
making Faustus angry. Faustus punishes him by making his head horn’s leaf. Consequently, the
manic knight pledges to avenge Faustus.
In the meantime, Robin, Wagner’s servant, along with his friend Rafe, learns some spells and
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summons Mephistopheles by chance. Mephistopheles gets very angry at this misadventure and
looms both of them to turn them to animal and perhaps he does so to chastise them for their
silliness.
Faustus continues with his travel where he comes across a horse-courser on the way and plays a
trick on him. Faustus sells him a horse at cost of $40 and warns him not to ride it in the water. The
horse-courser ignores his advice and rides the horse into the water and the horse turns to heap straw.
Horse-courser gets angry and comes to Faustus to take his money back which he refuses to pay
back. The horse-courser takes away his leg with him.
Faustus, being immortal for twenty-four years, regenerates his leg. Meanwhile, he gets an invitation
from the Duke of Vanholt, where he impresses the Duke with his feasts. The horse-courser, Robin,
Robe, Dick along with few other people, who fall victim to Faustus's tricks, shows up in the court of
the Duke of Vanholt to protest against Faustus. Faustus spells on them and made them a source of
amusement for the Duke and Duchess.
The twenty-four years of his deal of the exchange of the soul for the services of Mephistopheles
come to end. Faustus starts to fear his dreadful death. Mephistopheles calls upon Helen, the most
beautiful lady in Greek mythology, to diverge Faustus’s thoughts and uses her existence to excite
the scholars.
An old man appears, as a symbol of faith, and asks Faustus to repent; however, Faustus pushes him
away. Faustus calls Halen time and again to diverge his attention. The time is growing shorter and
coming to an end. Now, Faustus reveals his pact to the scholars who become fearful and pray for
him. The final night of the expiration of his pact with Lucifer, Faustus kills his fears and beg for
mercy. As soon as the clock strikes 12, the devils come and take his soul away. The scholars,in the
morning, come to Faustus’s study and find his limbs and agree to have a grand funeral for him.
1.
QUESTIONS
1. Discuss Doctor Faustus as a tragedy play.

2. Discuss Doctor Faustus as a typical Renaissance man.
3. Consider Doctor Faustus as a morality play.
4. Comment on the dramatic significance of the last scene.
5. What is the main theme of the play?
6. Why is Dr Faustus a tragic hero?
7. What are the main conditions of the bond in Dr Faustus?
8. What is the irony in the play?
REFERENCES
Marlowe. Christopher. Dr. Faustus. Dover Publications. 1994.
Suggested Reading
1. Albert. Edward. History of English Literature. OUP. 2014.
82
2. Abrams. M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Cengage Publishers. New Delhi. 1999.
3. Barbara Hanawalt, Ed., Chaucer’s England: Literature in Historical Context .1992.
4. Blake, William. William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books. United Kingdom. Thames
& Hudson.2009.
5. Davenport. Tony. Medieval Narrative: An Introduction. OUP. New York.1996.
6. James J. Murphy, Ed., Medieval Eloquence: Studies in the Theory and Practice of Medieval
Rhetoric . University of California Press. California. 1978.
7. Krueger. Roberta L. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance. Cambridge
University Press.1981.
8. Richetti, John. A History of Eighteenth-Century British Literature. United
Kingdom, Wiley, 2017.
9. Sanders. Andrew. English Literature. OUP.2005.
10. Woolf, Judith. Writing About Literature: Essay and Translation Skills for University
Students of English and Foreign Literature. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2005.
CHAPTER NO. CONTENT PAGE NO.

1 UNIT I
Introduction to Translation Studies in India
UNIT II
2 1.Vachanas of Ambigara Chowdaiah
2. Vachanas of Akkamahadevi
3. Vachanas of Sarvagna
4. Vachanas of Sharif
5. Vachanas of Kanakadas
6. Vachanas of Kuvempu
83
UNIT III
3 Novel- Breaking Ties- Sara Abubakar
Short stories
1. Pudhumaippithan- God and Kandaswamy Pillai
2. Sadat Hasan Manto- A Tale of 1947
3. kodagina Gowramma- Sacrifice
4. M.T. Vasudevan Nair- Sacred Sword and
Anklets
Indian Literature in English Translation

Unit I: Introduction to Translation Studies in India
84
1. A Brief Outline of the Major Indian Languages
Indian literature is written in languages belonging to two families of languages, the Indo-Aryan and
the Dravidian. The mother of the Dravidian family is the Tamil language with a continuous literary
tradition from tenth century B.C. From Tamil emerged Kannada around the fourth century A.D., but
its literary tradition stems from the eighth century. Malayalam from the eleventh century, and
Telugu from the fourteenth century, are the two later literary traditions in the Dravidian family. The
Indo-Aryan family of modern Indian literatures comes out of a complicated synthesis of Sanskrit
with various offshoots (apabhransh) of Sanskrit itself as well as the older local dialects. In the
north-east, Sanskrit gave rise to Bangla and Assamiya in the eleventh century, and Criya in the
thirteenth or the fourteenth century. The literatures of these three languages can be treated together
as one group (though at present very violent conflicts are going on in the north-east about linguistic
and racial differences). In the north-west, Sanskrit gave rise to Punjabi in the fifteenth century, to
Kashmiri in the eleventh, to Sindhi in the fifteenth. In the central parts of India, the dialects of
Sanskrit developed into a more or less common language called Hindi from the thirteenth century
onwards. In the West, it gave rise to Rajasthani, which is close to Hindi, in the fifteenth century; and
prior to that Sanskrit split into Marathi and Gujarati in the eleventh century. “With the establishment
of the first universities in 1857 English for all practical purposes became an Indian language.”
2. Indian Literature in English Translation
85
Indian Literature in English Translation (ILET) is rapidly becoming an indispensable component of
literary and cultural studies in India. Given the multilingual composition of Indian society and the
status of English as one of its two official languages, state patronage of ILET is inevitable and,
predictably, the two state-funded agencies set up for the promotion of Indian literature, the Sahitya
Akademi and the National Book Trust, have earnestly advocated the cause of ILET. A greater
impetus to its growing importance comes however from certain profound sociological changes
affecting India.
One of these changes is that the spread of education during the last fifty years has been phenomenal
in scale. At present there are about one thousand universities and more than fifty thousand colleges
providing low-cost or cost-free education to all classes of Indian society. As a result, aspirant from
all levels and classes of the population have started publishing literary works in Indian languages,
giving rise to an unprecedented variety of literary styles, subjects and themes. At the same time,
there has emerged a substantial class of Indians who speak an Indian language but cannot read it
well. English has been the socially privileging language in India for over a century; and the
importance of English in trade and technology makes it the most attractive choice as the medium of
school education. Invariably, therefore, the children sent to English medium schools need to be
instructed in Indian myths, epics and other narratives in English translation. Translation is now the
bridge between the literature of the past and the present generation. It has also become the bridge
between new writings in Indian languages and the new readership that is gradually losing touch with
these languages.
It may be interesting then to note in passing that, at least once before in the long literary history of
the Indian subcontinent, translation has played as vital a role as it is now playing. About a thousand
years ago, when the modern Indo-Aryan languages started developing into independent vehicles of
literary expression, translation acquired high importance and most modern Indian languages
initiated their respective literary traditions with translations of works from Sanskrit, either the epics,
the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, or philosophical texts like the Gita. From the thirteenth
century, there were numerous translations from one regional language to another as well as many
important translations from Indian languages into Persian and Arabic, the two languages of political
dominance at the time. Today literary translation in India shows a comparable vitality and the
similarity between the two epochs should be of interest to sociologists and literary theorists.
Other sociological changes, such as modern means of communication, and a shift away from an
agrarian society and a joint family structure, have caused a unique growth in inter-state migration
with the result that traditional language loyalties are undermined, and translation as a compromise
substitute for the absent original of a mother tongue becomes acceptable to the second or third
generation of the linguistically dislocated. At the same time, conventions of translation which admit
a large number of Sanskrit and Hindi/Tamil features at morphological and syntactic levels have
emerged, making the task of translation “just for Indian audiences” less demanding. To judge from
the amount of book and periodical publishing devoted to ILET, the supply of literary translations at
present can be said to correspond to the demand.
One of the conspicuous features of Indian-English literature has been its anxiety over “betrayal” of
the mother tongue, expressed through loud self-defensive statements and mutual accusations from
writers and critics. Now that India can place a modest but justified claim on English as one of its
many languages used for literary creativity, the anxiety does not relate so much to the choice of
86
language as to the tradition within which a writer situates himself or herself. Often, and not without
reasons, Indians writing in English are seen as being cut off from the long history of literature in
India. ILET however cannot be accused of being superficial, for this body of literature includes
works from all periods, genres and styles, and has the advantage of being able to circulate
internationally by virtue of its being in English, as well as the “merit” of being fully representative
of the country and culture of its origin.
Furthermore, an important change is taking place in English studies outside India. The romantic
notion of homogeneity among various Anglophone post-colonial literatures that had given rise to
the label “Commonwealth literature” is now fast making way for a more realistic understanding of
the different national identities of these literatures. This transition in critical fashion implies that in
future Indian-English literature will be seen more as an integral part of the mosaic of Indian
literatures rather than as a part of the lame-duck group of literatures in English. The English
language was considered at one time to be India’s window on the world. It is now the world’s
window on India, particularly since the valuable tradition of learning Indian languages founded by
European Indologists during the early colonial period has entirely declined. Hence, ILET is
acquiring greater importance outside India too.
Despite the benevolence of the Sahitya Akademi and the National Book Trust, ILET has not
acquired the institutional support it fully deserves, and not enough bibliographical, critical or
historical material related to it is available as yet. A history of Indian translations into English is
likely to prove as complex as the history of colonization itself. In this direction a beginning has been
made by Tejaswini Niranjana. Criticism of works in translation is a branch of scholarship rather
poorly developed in the West and is at best left to the critic of comparative literatures. Among the
first few Indian critics to show an interest in this area are Meenakshi Mukherjee and Krishna Rayan.
Both critics take up a range of works translated from various Indian languages and test them against
a common theoretical framework. The most notable bibliography of ILET so far has been compiled
by Jatindra Mohan Mohanty. Published by the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, in
1984, it lists about seventeen hundred titles translated from all Indian languages. Ample
supplementary material can be found in several works by Sujit Mukherjee, the ten volume History
of Indian Literature edited by Jan Gonda, and the single volume History of Indian Literature by
Sisirkumar Das. All these pioneering works, though inadequate in many respects, point to the range
and complexity of ILET.
3. The Four Phases of ILET
If Nathaniel Brassey Halhed’s translation of the anthology of Hindu laws, mainly drawn from the
Manusmriti, is considered to be the first work of ILET for historical convenience, the field can lay
claim to a dynamic history of a little over two centuries. Within this span of time, at a crude but
conservative estimate, more than fifteen thousand Indian works of literature or literary scholarship
have been translated into English by Indologists as well as by Indians. In terms of their dominant
themes and orientations, the works can be said to fall into four roughly divided and overlapping
phases: 1) the colonial phase (1776-1910), 2) the revivalist phase (1876-1950), 3) the nationalist
phase (1902-1929), and 4) the formalist phase (1912 to the present). It is in the last phase that we
get works of literature rendered into English with translation as the primary motive. It is the
translations made during this phase that are the focus of Sujit Mukherjee’s somewhat theoretical
book, Translation as Discovery.
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3.1 The Colonial Phase
The colonial phase of ILET extends from Halhed’s A Code of Gentoo Laws, or Ordinations of the
Pundits, from a Persian translation made from the Original, Written in the Shanscrit Language
(1776) to the fifty volumes of translations edited by Friedrich Max Muller, The Sacred Books of the
East, translated by various oriental scholars (1879-1910). During this phase, translations of books
on all subjects were attempted, provided they were written in Sanskrit or Persian. The colonial
Indologists did not touch works written in modern Indian languages. The main interest in translating
Indian works during this long period was philological and anthropological in nature, the agenda for
which was set with a great clarity of vision by Sir William Jones. It was Jones’s translation of
Kalidasa’s Abhignanshakuntala which made Kalidasa famous in Europe. However, Jones was not
interested in Indian literature after the eleventh century. He looked upon the literature produced
after the eleventh century as indicative of the cultural decadence in India. As a consequence,
colonial Indology rarely crossed the borders of Sanskrit and Persian.
The practice of abstracting works of literature from their social contexts and history caused a lack of
balance in European response to Indian literature during the nineteenth century. Western readers of
Indian literature were inclined to be either Goethes or Macaulays, they experienced either ecstasy or
disgust and no middle course lay open. But, their limitations apart, there is no doubt that the
adventurous explorations in Indian literature attempted by colonial Indology helped to revive
numerous Sanskrit texts that had ceased to engage popular interest in India.
3.2 The Revivalist Phase
The revivalist phase of ILET was a natural fall-out of colonial Indology. A century after Halhed’s
Laws, Sir Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar published his critical edition of Bhavabhuti’s
Malatimadhav (1876). Between Halhed and Chandarkar stands a whole tradition of Historical
Linguistics, sprung from Halhed’s grammar of Bengali (1786) and reflected in Bhandarkar’s
editorial procedures. The major difference between the colonial and the revivalist translations was
that, in the latter case, it was often Indian scholar with ready access to Indian traditions of texts and
meanings who did precisely the same kind of work as the foreigner had done in the past. The most
remarkable of these scholars was Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877-1947), but there were also many
dedicated specialists as well as inspired visionaries whose translations were either philologically
accurate to the last detail, as in the renderings by occultists, godmen and social radicals. Two useful
bibliographies of the works on poetics translated during this phase have been compiled by K.
Krishnamoorthy in Comparative Indian Literature, and Edwin Gerow in Indian Poetics. As for the
liberal translations, it would be interesting to study several versions of one text. The plays of
Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti and Bhasa, for example, were translated several times. Similarly, the Gita
went through a large number of translations and, in 1896 alone, three different versions of it were
published in London. They were Edwin Arnold’s very popular The Song Celestial; or, Bhagwad-
Gita (from the Mahabharata) being a discourse between Arjuna, Prince of India, and the Supreme
under the form of Krishna; the Theosophist Annie Besant’s The Bhagwad Gita; and Mohini
Chatterji’s The Bhagwad Gita; or, The Lord’s Lay, with commentary and notes, as well as
references to the Christian scriptures. With so much of Indian metaphysics in circulation in the
Western world, it is not surprising that English and American poets writing in the early twentieth
century, for instance W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot, should borrow frequently from Indian texts. It was
Yeats moreover who said that the ultimate aim of his life was to write a poem like the Gita.
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The more important achievement of ILET during the revivalist phase, however, was the recovery of
treatises on poetry, drama and language. The works of ancient Indian theorists had been entirely
neglected by the poets and scholars of the intervening centuries. It was during the revivalist phase
that many of these were edited, printed and translated into English. If modern Indians can today talk
about Panini, Bhartrihari, Bharata, Abhinavagupta, Vishwanatha and others, it is thanks to the
translations carried out by scholars such as Bhandarkar, M. Hiriyanna and Ananda Coomaraswamy.
Initially, these translations were aimed at the Indologists who could read Sanskrit, or Indian students
of Sanskrit who could read English. The sociology of readership was reflected in the technology of
production which created the orthographic and typographic conventions in publishing Sanskrit-to-
English translations and standardized phonetic transliteration of Indian languages. The typography
of the revivalists which combined English and Indian words is perhaps the first important step in the
process of Indianization of English.
3.3 The Nationalist Phase
If the colonial translations were aimed at the overseas reader and the revivalist at the expert, the
translations during the third phase were aimed at a general Indian readership. This phase can be said
to begin with the essays which Sri Aurobindo wrote between 1897 and 1904 on translation, with
particular reference to translating Vyasa, Valmiki and Kalidasa, and to end with the serialised
publication of Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography translated by Mahadev Desai, An Autobiography
or the Story of My Experiments with Truth (first published as The Story of My Experiments with
Truth, 1927-29). Because the translators had Indian audiences in mind, these translations are not
cluttered with notes, explanations and other editorial paraphernalia. Moreover, with the nationalist
phase of ILET the principle of the translator’s impersonality seems to have entered the practice of
translation in India. The best-known translation of this phase is obviously Tagore’s own English
rendering of his verses under the title Gitanjali (1912). Like translations of the Gita earlier,
Gitanjali was issued in several editions, and translations into other languages were attempted
quickly after the English translation was first published. Andre Gide, for instance, produced a
French version of Gitanjali in the same year as the English version was published. It was this
translation of a slender book of Bangla poems, a translation not regarded as satisfactory by its
publisher, Macmillan, and its promoters, William Rothenstein and W.B. Yeats, which helped to
bring the award of the Nobel prize for literature in 1913 to India, the only Nobel prize for literature
awarded to an Indian author so far. Sri Aurobindo, Tagore, and Gandhi were at the very forefront of
Indian nationalism, and their works, translations, and attitudes to translation display an
unmistakable awareness of selfhood and native traditions. As such, during this phase, ILET stepped
out of the boundaries of Sanskrit and Persian, and turned a part of its attention to the great saint
poets of medieval India. Gandhi used the rhymes of Narsi Mehta and Meera (Gujarati and Hindi) as
a symbolic means of translating India into modernity. Tagore translated the dohas of Kabir, turning
these terse aphoristic lyrics into intimate, romantic poems of religious evocation. One gets the
impression that Tagore took away the spinning-wheel to the accompaniment of which Kabir
composed his lyrics, and replaced that with a beautiful organ. The majesty of Tagore’s Kabir cannot
be overlooked. What is important, however, is that Tagore chose a Hindi poet to translate. As for Sri
Aurobindo, he was at home in various languages, including Latin, Sanskrit, French, Tamil, Gujarati
and Bangla, and his translations are now available in a single volume as part of his Collected Works.
All these translations mentioned above did something more than merely turn towards medieval
languages. They founded a register of English for use in the context of an Indian language-English
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translation. After the nationalist phase of ILET, it became possible for Indian translators to render
into English without much difficulty Indian works dealing with romance, spiritual longing, pathos,
and the romantic aspects of Indian landscape.
3.4 The Formalist Phase
Tagore’s unexpected success as a translator aroused in him the desire to present his other works –
plays, poems, stories, novels – through English translations to the world at large. Therefore, after
Gitanjali, he started publishing his own translations through Macmillan; and these are now the
subject of many research projects. There have been, on the other hand, several attempts to out-do
Tagore in translating Tagore. Whatever the relative merits of Tagore’s own translations, he
undoubtedly made a lasting impact on other Indian writers. It is possible to consider, as such, 1912
as the beginning of the formalist phase of ILET in India, for since then, following Tagore, Indian
translators have turned to translating contemporary Indian works.
The emergence and growth of Indian-English literature has contributed to the growth of ILET in
two important respects during this century. First, and the more important, creative writers have
invented modes of representing Indian turns of speech, shades of feeling and facets of social
manners, thus creating a ready language to be used by the translators. After reading G.V. Desani,
Raja Rao, and Salman Rushdie, the reader of translations from Indian languages is less likely to find
the translation register affected, un-English, and alternatively un-Indian. The second contribution of
Indian-English literature to ILET springs from the fact that many Indians writing in English have
often been able translators too. Among them are: Sri Aurobindo, R.C. Dutt, Rabindranath Tagore,
Nissim Ezekiel, Raja Rao, R.K. Narayan, P. Lal, Gauri Deshpande, A.K. Ramanujan, Jayanta
Mahapatra, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Gieve Patel, Saleem Peeradina, Dilip Chitre, Arun Kolatkar,
Kamala Das and Khushvant Singh.
3.4.1 Fiction
The majority of Indian works translated into English during the last seventy-five years has been
works of fiction, beginning with the ten-volume translation by N.M. Penzer of Somadeva’s
Kathasaritsagar and moving towards Katha India, an annual commencing in 1991 of best Indian
stories translated into English by a voluntary organization. Many of the important writing in Indian
languages have been translated into English so that at least a short representative piece by each is
available and Indian readers have access to the writings of Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee,
Sarat Chandra, T.S. Pillai, U.R. Anantha Murthy, Premchand, Suresh Joshi, Raoji Patel, Nirmal
Verma and so on. The formal range of these translations is widening, as is evident from recent
translations of detective fiction, fantasy, short fiction and philosophical prose. The most recent
initiative to reading novels in translation is the frequency with which regional films based on novels
are winning national awards.
3.4.2 Drama
In contrast to fiction, drama is poorly represented in English translation. Fewer ancient plays have
been translated in this century than in the nineteenth. Among the more notable efforts should be
mentioned Manmohan Ghosh’s translation of Rajashekhara’s Karpurmanjiri, a prakrit play of the
shataka type, written in the forerunner of the Marathi language in the tenth century. While the
earlier translation by Konow and Lanman (1901) had been far from satisfactory, Ghosh’s translation
shows a greater cultural and linguistic understanding of the theme, and has appropriately run into
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several editions. The translator has to his credit also the most authoritative translation of Bharata’s
Natyashastra, the second-century compendium on performing arts that founded Indian theatrical
traditions. Karpurmanjiri itself is important as being the only play extant in the Maharashtri prakrit.
Other outstanding translations of dramatic works are by J.A.B. van Buitenen, who has also
translated from the Mahabharata. The two plays he has translated, Mricchakatika of Shudraka and
Mudrarakshasa of Vishakhadatta, belong to the classical Sanskrit period and are among the very
best examples of Indian literature. In Buitenen’s versions, respectively The Little Clay Cart and The
Minister’s Seal, the political complexity and turbulence of ancient Indian society, the ferocity of the
conflicts between Buddhism and Hinduism, and the trials of the intellect and love come alive.
The most important anthology of Sanskrit plays in English translation to have been published in the
last fifty years is P. Lal’s translations, that of Harsha’s Ratnavali is the most readable as a modern
rendering. A bibliography of Sanskrit plays in English translation was compiled by V. Raghavan,
Indian Literature. 3:1, 1959-60. It is waiting to be revised and updated. There is no comparable
bibliography of translations of contemporary Indian plays into English.
The publication of Three Modern Indian Plays in 1989 by Oxford University Press, suggests that
some improvement in the publishing of this branch of ILET is round the corner. This anthology
reproduces Badal Sircar’s Evam Indrajit translated by Girish Karnad, Karnad’s Hayavadana
translated by the playwright himself, and Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence, the Court is in Session
translated by Priya Adarkar. These translations are polished without being unfaithful to the original.
It is to be hoped that, in due course, there will be translations of works by Habib Tanvir and
Chandrashekhar Kambar, from Hindi and Kannada respectively, both of whom make innovative use
of folk traditions; by Satish Alekar and Mahesh Elkunchwar from Marathi; and Bhupen Khakar and
Sitanshu Yashaschandra from Gujarati. Safdar Hashmi, who died very young in 1989, having been
brutally assaulted in the middle of a performance by his political opponents, popularized the sheri
nataka, a form of street theatre. His works are now being made available by the Hashmi Trust in
Delhi. Generally speaking, the audience for English theatre in India is almost non-existent, though
the readership for printed English is very large. Translation of plays may have to wait for the day
when English becomes a truly spoken language in India, or else for an “India” wave in theatre in
London and New York. At the moment the few Indian plays available in English are published by
Oxford University Press in its Three Crown Series or by Orient Longman.
3.4.3 Poetry
Translations of poems and poets are plentiful. As in every century in the past, the Mahabharata and
the Ramayana have been given several renderings, including some in limpid prose by C.
Rajagopalachari and R.K. Narayan. P. Lal has been translating Sanskrit classics for the last two
decades. Similarly, the ancient Tamil lyrics have been given a polished modern form by A.K.
Ramanujan in several of the anthologies of translations he has published. Along with Tamil lyrics,
Ramanujan has tried his hand at some medieval Kannada lyrics by a group of radical saints known
as the Lingayata and who belonged to a pan-Indian movement for social, philosophic and literary
reforms. Other medieval poets who have been translated are Meera, Kabir, Tulsidas, Surdas, Nanak,
Tukaram, Chandidas, Dnyanadev, and the non-Hindu, Amir Khushrau. Ghalib of the nineteenth
century has been translated at least three times over; and readers of Indian English poetry may have
noticed a moving poem inspired by a translation of Ghalib’s letters in Vikram Seth’s All You Who
Sleep Tonight. As for contemporary Indian poets, several collections and anthologies of Indian
91
writing in English translation have been published. The more accessible among them are those
edited by Adil Jussawalla (Penguin, 1974), Amritjit Singh and David Ray (Swallow Press,1983),
Nissim Ezekiel and Meenakshi Mukherjee (Penguin, 1990). Two brilliant and recent collections are,
first, Truth Tales: Contemporary Writing by Indian Women. Edited by Kali for Women, a political
programme and a publishing house, it contains six long stories in translation and one written
originally in English and the authors included are: Mahasveta Devi (Bangla), Ila Mehta (Gujarati),
Suniti Aphale (Marathi), Mrinal Pande (Hindi), Laxmi Kanan (Tamil), Ismat Chugtai (Urdu) and
Vishwapriya Iyengar (English). Second, there is Susie Tharu and K. Lalita’s two volumeWomen
Writing in India, which covers practically all languages of India and an impressive span of two
thousand and six hundred years. These two volumes, it is expected, will influence theoretical
approaches to women’s studies. More immediately, they show that Indian translators have at last
found an aesthetic route of diachronic translations; in Tharu and Lalita, no longer do translations
make the readers aware of the distance between themselves and the original works.
4. Variations in ILET
An overseas reader is likely to find ILET a somewhat confusing field when newly exposed to it
because it comprises numerous literary periods, genres, and language traditions, with very specific
local histories behind them. For instance, the two thugs in Karnad’s Tughlaq are drawn after the
traditional pair of characters called akara and makara, while the plots of his Hayavadana and
Nagamandala are derived from traditional stories from non-Kannada sources. But, when the hero in
Tendulkar’s Sakharam Binder shouts at the imaginary people outside the stage, he is following a
style of characterization developed by the tamasha form of folk drama. When the narrator in Rag
Darbari by Shrilal Shukla sleeps on the roof of the house, he is following a social practice well
known in the central India. A novelist from Kerala will not document such a detail because the roofs
of houses in Kerala are slanting. It is desirable for the new readers of ILET to keep initially to the
translations of literature from a single language or a group of associated languages. It will be easier
to make sense of the strategies of style and structure if one were to follow a specific literary
tradition in India. Indian languages, like languages elsewhere, have a remarkable sense of
continuity. One finds a proverb like “you don’t need a mirror to see your own bracelets” in
Karpurmanjiri, tenth-century Marathi, as well as The Wild Bapu of Garambi, a twentieth-century
work. On the other hand, there can be amazing variations in style among the different languages
belonging to the same chronological period.
5. Some Problems in ILET
Some writers in a few languages have been repeatedly translated while others have not been
translated at all. Malayalam fiction is represented in English translation more by novellas than by
full-length novels.
Whenever an Indian language work is translated into English, we invariably seem to have
something to say about how well or ill the work has been rendered into English – more so if the
translator is an Indian. Such comments generally relate to the English of the translation, without
much reference to the original.The shadow that constantly hangs over the translation work by an
Indian from an Indian language into English is that the translator unwittingly commits errors of
idiom or syntax or tone in communication. While the foreign translator has to perfect his knowledge
of the Indian language he is translating from, the native translator has constantly to improve the
English he has used for translation. This is where the Indian translator most needs the assistance of a
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native speaker of English.
A bad translation is as often the result of poor language control as it is the result of poor
understanding of the original work. A living and accessible author ought to be consulted whenever
he is in a position to read and comment on the translated manuscript. One reads a translation when
one can’t read the original; hence, the translation is meant primarily for the reader who has no
access to the original. No reader of a translation who can read the original work should expect to be
wholly satisfied with the translation. It remains to point out that given the classroom situation which
has been assumed here, the question of the quality of the translation works chosen for a particular
course cannot be discussed to any purpose. That question is better tackled in a course on translation,
and in a situation where the teacher as well as the taught can read the original works also.
Rupantar (meaning ‘changed in form’ or ‘in changed form’) and anuvad (‘speaking after’ or
‘following after’) are the commonly understood senses of translation in India, and neither term
demands fidelity to the original. The Urdu term tarjuma is sometimes used in the sense of
translation, but sometimes also as paraphrase and not necessarily in another language. The notion of
‘transcreation’ has been criticized as a method which permits excessive divergence from the original
and encourages liberty in translation to the point of practically abandoning the original. Filming a
literary piece may be regarded as a species of ‘translation’.
As Rabindranath’s case warns us, a translator who is not the author of the original is likely to be
much more respectful of the original and strive to produce the closest approximation he can in
translation, while the author who translates his own work is likely to take undue liberties with the
original while translating in the hope of improving upon the original.
Many publishers do not consider it necessary to acknowledge the translator conspicuously or at all.
There is the belief that those who cannot write, translate – hence, it is an inferior activity altogether.
Translators of poetry would rank higher on this scale, but the translator of fiction seldom gets due
credit for good work while his lapses are always chastised. Large number of people in India
undertake the considerable physical labour of translating a full-length novel without even thinking
whether or not it will be published.
6. Present Scenario
Opportunities have grown in modern India for the publication of literature in English translation. In
recent decades, Indian periodicals have invariably provided space for translations. Vagartha, edited
by Meenakshi Mukherjee, gave prominence to translations. Setu, edited by Suresh Joshi, was
entirely devoted to translation of Indian literatures. At present, Kavyabharati, edited by R.P. Nair,
and Bombay Literary Review, edited by Vilas Sarang, carry translations regularly; other journals,
like The Commonwealth Quqrterly, Indian Literary Review and New Quest, are also hospitable to
translations. Indian Literature, published by the Sahitya Akademi, is committed to translating
literature from Indian languages.
The Sahitya Akademi also publishes translation titles and has recently introduced a Translation
Prize for every language. Other spirited efforts are made by publishers such as Bharat Bhavan
(Bhopal), Katha-India (Delhi), and Garutman (Lucknow). At a commercially more ambitious scale,
Penguin India has given a boost to ILET. Many writers are so anxious to be represented in English
that they have known to exhort or sponsor translators to render their works into English.
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7. Future
During the nineteenth century the number of works translated from English (or through English)
literature into Indian languages used to exceed several times over the number of Indian works
translated into English. That situation has now changed, and the opposite is true today. Of course,
what ILET represents of Indian literatures is just the tip of the iceberg; even so, the future of ILET
appears to be very promising.
References
• Devy, G. N. (1993). Indian Literature in English Translation: An Introduction. The Journal of
Commonwealth Literature. 28(1),123–138. https://doi.org/10.1177/002198949302800110
• Mukherjee, Sujit. Translation as Discovery. Allied Publishers Private Limited. 2000. Print.
• Mathai. Samuel .Preface. Indian and British English: A Handbook of Usage and Pronunciation, by
Paroo Nihalani, R.K. Tongue, and Priya Hosali. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1979. vi. Print.
Answer the following questions:
1. Give a brief outline of major Indian languages.
2. What are the sociological changes that gave impetus to the growth of the translation of Indian
literature into English?
3. Explain briefly the four phases of Indian Literature in English Translation (ILET).
4. Trace the growth of Indian Literature in English Translation (ILET) in the revivalist phase.
5. Trace the growth of Indian Literature in English Translation (ILET) in the nationalist phase.
6. Trace the growth of Indian Literature in English Translation (ILET) in the formalist phase.
7. Discuss the variations one can find in Indian Literature in English Translation (ILET).
8. What are the problems in the growth of Indian Literature in English Translation (ILET)?
9. Comment on present and future of Indian Literature in English Translation (ILET).
Suggested Reading:
• Indhumathi, P, and Subha, M. Indian Writing and Translation in English: Literature,
Culture and Media. Portugal, Royallite Academic; Royallite Publishers, 2020.
• Kothari, Rita. Translating India. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2014.
• Naikar, Basavaraj.S. Indian Literature in English Translation. India, National Publishing
House, 2005.
• Naikar, Basavaraj,S. Glimpses of Indian Literature in English
Translation. India, Authorspress, 2008.
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UNIT-II
Vachanas of:
i) Ambigara Chowdaiya-126
ii) Akkamahadevi – 124 and 73(from speaking of Siva)
iii) Sarvagna – Guru and Spirituality
iv) Sheriff – The Leaking Roof
v) Kanakadasa- Do Not quarrel over caste
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vi) Kuvempu – Wake up O youth.
VACHANA SAHITYA
Vachana sahitya is a type of Kannada rhythmic composition (also known as Kannada poetry) which
originated in the eleventh century and thrived throughout the twelfth century as element of the
Sharana movement. The word "vachanas" literally means "that which is said". These are readily
intelligible prose texts.Articulated close to a thousand years ago in Karnataka, the vachanas of the
11th and 12th centuries resonate in relevance even today. Composed of simple words, in just four or
five verses, vachanas propounded profound philosophical and reformistideas. They advocated social
justice and equality. Madara Chennaiah was an 11th-century Kannada vachana poet and saint who
was a cobbler by profession. He is widely regarded as the first Vachanakara/karti (vachana poets)
in India who lived in the reign of Western Chalukyas.
Vachanakaras like Basavanna condemned Vedic rituals. Basavanna, who is credited with starting
the vachana movement, believed that the body itself was an ishtalinga, that the divine was
within.The follower of the vachana movement is called a sharana or sharane. The vachanas provided
some of the strongest critiques of social, economic and cultural practices of the time. The verses
provoked listeners to rethink racism, gender, caste and class discrimination that was entrenched in
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society. At the apex of the movement, Basavanna and other vachana poets are said to have taught
cobblers, farmers, potters, blacksmiths, cleaners and other unlettered people how to read and write.
They emphasized that the oppressed castes and classes were no different from the privileged
ones. Women were important contributors to the vachana movement as well. Women like Kalavve,
Kadira Remmavve, Sule Sankavve and Rechavve, who hailed from deprived castes and engaged in
professions shunned by the larger society, brought dignity to their occupations through creative
expression. They deconstructed the concept of superiority and inferiority and challenged the
domination of Brahmanism and religious texts.
Vachanas have captured the public imagination through musical renditions. Ganayogi Panchakshari
Gawai of Gadag first taught vachanas in classical ragas to his students in the early
20thcentury. MallikarjunMansur is another famous singer who rendered different vachanas on
stage.In today’s fraught times, as divisions between different communities widen, the values that the
vachanas preach are more important than ever.
In the following section, you will find tripadi, tatvapada and dasa sahitya forms of vachanas.
i) AMBIGARA CHOWDAIYA-126
Note on the Poet:

Nijasharana Shri Ambigara Chowdaiya was a saint, poet and social critic who lived in 12th century
India. He was a boatman by profession and he stands out among the sharanas for his outspoken and
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blunt way of expressing his views about the people. He was a true follower of Lingayata dharma
and lived his life practicing the philosophy he believed in. He was a prominent member of the
Anubhava Mantapa. His vachanas are characterized by the imagery drawn from his profession.
Not much information is available about Chowdaiah's early life or why he went to Basavakalyana. It
is said that he hailed from Chowdadanapura village in Ranibennur taluk, Haveri district. There is a
memorial in his name near the place on the banks of river Thungabhadra, which has now become a
pilgrimage centre.
His fairly crude compositions, which were influenced by Basavanna, were critical of the higher
classes. He is revered as a saint for his 274 inspiring Pravachans. He professed that a person with
clean ideas, words, and deeds has no doubt that god resides in their heart. In this vachana ,
Ambigara Chowdaiah is impatient with those who are ignorant of Shiva.
VACHANA 126
After they have read the four Vedas,
The dog dwelling in the house of a Shiva devotee
Should not smell their food
Swapachyya covered the food with his slippers
On seeing Saamavedi pass by
I say “A dog is superior’
‘Disprove it’, O the sons of a cheap harlot
Slap in the face of those curs
Who bark that there are two gods instead of one
Said our Ambigara Chowdaih, a true devotee
Glossary:
Swapachyya- person belongs to a lower caste
Saamavedi- one who has read the vedas
Comprehension Questions:
1. Explain the views of Ambigara Chowdaiah about people who are ignorant of God.
2. Write a note on the vachanas of Ambigara Chowdaiah.
3. Write a note on the concept of God according to Ambigara Chowdaiah.
Note on the Translator:

Dr. C.R.Yaravintelimath was born in 1939 at Nidgundi in Vijayapur Dist.,Dr.C.R. Yaravintelimath
passed B.A. in 1960 and M.A. in 1963. He was awarded the degree of Ph.D. in 1975 by Karnatak
University, Dharwad for the thesis "The Comic Vision of Noel Coward" written under the
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supervision of Dr. M. K. Naik.
He was appointed lecturer in English in Vijaya College in 1963. He was promoted Reader in 1968.
He became Commissioned Officer in the N.C.C. Sr. Div. in 1964 and served as the Officer
Commanding of 26/3 Battalion for five years. He was appointed Lecturer in English at P.G. Dept of
English, Karnatak University in1969. Besides teaching, he held various positions of responsibility
such as Professor and Chairman; Dean, Faculty of Arts; member of the Senate; Director,
Prasaranga. After his superannuation in 1999, Dr. Yaravintelimath devoted himself to translation.
Well-versed in both English and Kannada languages and literatures, besides translations, Dr.
Yaravintelimath has written valuable books in both languages. His areas of special interest are
criticism and translation.
Heaven of Equality 2003–a UGC major project in collaboration with Shri BasaveshwaraPeetha
Karnatak University, Dharwad, is an enlarged version of the caste eradication vachanas of Sri
Basaveshwara. Vachanas were analysed from all the Vachana writers of the 12th century and more
systematically classified. Madivala Machayya was one of the trusted assistants of Basavanna. This
book has two sections - the first section is an elaborate introduction containing a brief biography
whereas the second section contains translations of select vachanas of Machayya.
Vachanas of Women Saints-2004- has translations of 3 Shivasharaneyas. It was published by
Basava Samithi, Bangalore, and won the prestigious Karnataka Sahitya Academy Book Prize in
2006. It is a comparative study of two stalwarts belonging to two different ages and two different
communities. But both had similar agendas of uplifting the down-trodden, socially and religiously
condemned sections of society.
Chennabasavanna – 2007 Original by Dr Jayashree Dandin published by Basava Samithi,
Bangalore, is one of the 10 books in the Sharana Katha Manjari Series.
108 Vachanas of Chennabasavanna – 2007, contains English versions of 108 representative
Vachanas of a prodigy of a Vacahana writer closely associated with Basavanna and his
revolutionary activities in Kalyana.
His original workisJesting Jeremiah: A studyof the Comic Vision ofNoel Coward (1978) and
Adventures inTime- A Study of J.B. Priestley’s Time Plays (1988) among others.
Important Awards:
Dr. C.R.Yaravintelimath has been awarded the S.S. Malwad Prashasti-200, and Emeritus
Fellowship, U. G. C. New Delhi-2001, Karnatak Sahitya Academy Book Prize - 2006 (for Vachanas
of Women Saints), Basava Bhushana Prashasti-2014, Basava Samithi, Bangalore,
S.S. BhusanoormathPrashasti -2019 and Shunya Peetha Allama Prashasti -2019 Chitradurga
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ii) AKKA MAHADEVI
Note on the Poet:

Akka Mahadevi was born at Udutadi in the Shivamogga District of Karnataka State, India to Sumati
and Nirmalashetty, who were devotees of Shiva. They were staunch followers of Trividhi
philosophy of Guru , Linga and Jangama . As a child Akka showed great interest and devotion to
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religious practices. As an adult, she renounced the world and accepted the life of Sanyasin (Holy
One/ saint). This was an unusual step for a woman and she was questioned extensively by
Allamaprabhu and Kinnari Bommayya. Both questioned her actions and her decisions but she
explained and defended herself fully. She later settled in Basavakalyan, called Kalyan, which was
the capital of the Western Chalukya dynasty at the time. She is seen as representing the
whole Vachana movement and she is clearly a major figure in the social empowerment of women.
Right from her childhood unlike other young girls she chose the beautiful Lord Chennamallikarjuna,
as her playmate, while her friends chose to play with dolls instead. She was never content in
fulfilling the restricted role of a girl in the house. It was more interesting to hear the glories of the
Lord. The urge to go beyond the average practice of Shaiva sampradaya was compelling. The
limitations placed on women, in the pursuit of spirituality and otherwise, were unacceptable to her.
In the following vachana Akkaeventually leaves Kalyana and wanders alone through a forest in
search of Chennamallikarjuna and then up a mountain, where she will be "united with God like
hailstone melting in water, salt dissolving in water, and milk mixing with milk":
Vachana no -73
O twittering birds,
don't you know? don't you know?
O swans on the lakeshore,
O high-singing koils,
O circling swooping bees,
O peacocks in the caverns,
don't you know?
don't you know?
Tell me if you know:
where is He,
my lord
white as jasmine?
Vachana -124
You can confiscate

money in hand;
can you confiscate
the body's glory?
Or peel away every strip
you wear,
but can you peel
the Nothing, the Nakedness
that covers and veils?
To the shameless girl
wearing the White Jasmine Lord's
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light of morning,
you fool,
where's the need for cover and jewel?
NOTE ON VACHANA 124:

Female ascetic Akka Mahadevi teases prudish listeners by calling herself "the shameless girl,"
equating herself with a woman who has taken an illicit lover. But her secret lover is "the White
JasmineLord"--Shiva.
She does in fact wear clothing, a gift from her Beloved, his "light of morning." She wears the dawn,
the light of enlightenment. What can cover as well as the light that touches everything? What jewel
can compare to its dazzle? For Mahadevi the sadvi, there is nothing else worth wearing.
GLOSSARY
Koils- name of a bird. Cuckoo in English
White Jasmine Lord—name of God Shiva.
1. Akka Mahadevi's keen sensitivity to sights and sounds of nature make her one of the most
magnificent nature-poets -comment.
2. Akka Mahadevi’s ardent desire is to be united in Chennamallikarjuna and trying to find his
image in whole of nature comment.
NOTE ON THE TRANSLATOR:

A.K. Ramanujan (1929-1993) -- poet, philologist, folklorist, translator, and playwright, wrote
widely in a number of genres spanning across disciplines. Well versed in five languages -- English,
Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit, his theoretical and aesthetic assimilations and articulations,
vis-à-vis translation, argued for non-standardized dialectics, context-sensitive and pragmatic
hermeneutics and sensibilities and glocalized aesthetics espousing at the same time a cosmopolitan
approach to translation theory and practice.
Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan occupies a unique position among Indian and post- colonial
theorists and practitioners of translation. His independent work focuses on the underrepresented
language combination of English, Kannada and Tamil, and his work in collaboration with other
scholars enlarges the combination to include Indian languages like Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi
that continue to be marginalized in world literature. Over almost forty years – between the mid-
1950s and the early 1990s – he translated texts in several genres from most of the important periods
of Indian literary history, covering classical poetry and bhakti poetry in Tamil, Virasaiva vachanas
in Kannada, bhakti and court literature in Telugu, folktales and women’s oral narratives recorded in
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and poetry and prose fiction written in the post-
independence, decades. He usually chose originals of exceptional aesthetic, historical or cultural
significance, and produced a large number of versions that are marked by literary excellence in
themselves. His output as a translator is distinguished not only by its quantity, quality and variety,
but also by the body of prefaces, textual and interpretive notes and scholarly commentary that frame
it, reflecting on particular materials and cultures as well as the general process of translation. His
theoretical and aesthetic contributions span several disciplinary areas. In his cultural essays such as
"Is There an Indian Way of Thinking?" (1990), he explains cultural ideologies and behavioral
manifestations thereof in terms of an Indian psychology he calls "context-sensitive" thinking. In his
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work in folklore studies, Ramanujan highlights the intertextuality of the Indian oral and written
literary tradition. His essay "Where Mirrors Are Windows: Toward an Anthology of Reflections"
(1989), and his commentaries in The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil
Anthology (1967) and Folktales from India, Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages (1991) are
good examples of his work in Indian folklore studies.
Speaking of Siva is a selection of vachanas dedicated to Siva as the supreme god. Written by four
major saints, the greatest exponents of this poetic form, between the tenth and twelfth centuries,
they are passionate lyrical expressions of the search for an unpredictable and spontaneous spiritual
vision of 'now'. Here, yogic and tantric symbols, riddles and enigmas subvert the language of
ordinary experience, as references to night and day, sex and family relationships take on new
mystical meanings. In the Preface, he states, Vachana means literally ‘saying things said’ and also
says “…though vacanas continue to be written to this day and later writers have occasionally
composed striking ones, not one of the later 300 or more vacanakaras comes anywhere close to
these four saint ... poets in range, poetry, or passion” (Speaking of Siva: 1973).
iii) SARVAJNA
Note on the Poet:

Sarvagna was a great saint and philosopher of the 16th century and was born in Karnataka. His birth
name was Pushpadatta. He was known as “the person who knows everything” and he was the
master in all forms of art, and was a great scholar.
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He lived during the 16th century. Sarvagna was against ancient customs and traditions. He was
against untouchablity and caste discrimination. He treated all people alike, irrespective of their
gender, caste, creed or religion. He was not only a poet but also a great saint, who was entirely
devoted to Lord Shiva. He has spread spirituality among the masses, through his speeches. People
eagerly listened to his speech and changed their life in a better manner. He cultivated good habits
among the people.
(Selected Vachanas from Guru and Spirituality)
2
Passing through countless wombs,
Taking innumerable births unmindful,
PrayLord. Could you not release me
From this mesh of maya?
Sarvagna.
Note on the Vachana:
According to Hindu belief, man has taken several births coming to human life. Countless wombs
therefore, suggest innumerable lives in the past. Maya suggests illusion.
4
Like a monkey,
My mind climbs
The body-tree and
Eats the sense-fruits.
Note on the Vachana:

In Kannada spiritual literature mind is usually compared to a monkey to suggest its fickleness.
6
Sugar in my tongue
And dagger in my heart.
Lo!My conscience is pricked.
Pray,Lord,take me into Your bosom
And desert me not.
Sarvagna.
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1. According to Sarvagna māyā is both the cause and the content of this world. Elucidate
2. Comment on Sarvagna’s view on mind.
3. Write a note on the concept of conscience in Sarvagna’s vachanas.
NOTE ON THE TRANSLATOR

Dr. Basavaraj Naikar, Professor Emeritus, Former Professor and Chairman, Department of English,
Karnatak University, Dharwad, is a well-known creative writer and critic in both English and
Kannada. So far he has published four novels, three novellas, three plays and two collections of
short stories in English, more than twenty-five critical works in English and more than thirty books
in Kannada including creative writing.
iv) SHISHUNALA SHARIF
Shishunala Sharif was an Indian social reformer, philosopher and poet. He was popularly referred to
as the Kabir of Karnataka. Shishunala Sharif was born of Muslim parents in Shishuvinahala, a
village in Dharwad district of Karnataka in 1829. He studied under the Hindu Guru Govinda
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Bhatta andat the same time discovered Vachana literature and the teaching of mystic saint Allama
Prabhu. Under these influences, he composed devotional lyrics. His own philosophy is based on
Hindu-Muslim unity, discarding the inequalities of caste, creed and religion. Poverty and death of
his wife made him a wanderer and he toured the country singing his songs. He died in 1889.
His compositions of tatvapada (metaphysical poems) are in Kannada language. They cover various
aspects of life and call for a loving, steadfast devotion to God.
The Leaking house is one such metaphysical poem in which our being is likened to a dilapidated
house.
The housetop is leaking water,
In ignorance
The housetop is leaking.
The housetop is leaking water,

There are none to fix the timber;
Alas! In the deep dark, however,
I cannot ascend and repair.
Broken beams, languorous lumbers,

That are nibbled, and are slid,
And the hinge is debilitated;
Ragged hovel, fractured ventilators
I cannot ascend and repair.
Grass and weeds having grown

Like ants the blights of the world shown;
The stormy rain has spread the soil
Within and without all alike.
O my beloved, listen,
Graciously pours Hubby rain;
The Lord of Shishuvinäla
Will foster abidingly, I ween.
1. Comment on the philosophy of family/life by sheriff.
2. Explain Sharif’s comparison of Self /family to the House.

Basavraj Yeligar is a police officer, presently serving as the Deputy Superintendent of Police,
Chikkodi. He is a BA graduate from the most coveted Karnataka Arts College,Dharwad. He did his
primary education in his native village Hadali in Gadag District,Karnataka. From his childhood he
developed an interest towards sharana philosophy and spirituality.
106
v) KANAKADASA:
Note on the Poet:

He was born in a shepherd family at a village called Bada in Haveri district in 1495 and died in
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1593. His parents were Beerappa and Bachchamma. They believed that the child was a boon of Shri
Venkateshwara of Thirupathi and therefore they called him Thimmappa.
When he was a young man, he was defeated in a battle and mortally wounded, but he was
miraculously saved. This incident led him to give up his profession and he turned his mind towards
a spiritual path.
He joined the Haridasa tradition and was renamed Kanaka Dasa by his spiritual master, Vyasaraja.
Kanaka Dasa composed beautiful literary works in Kannada. He was a poet-composer, a religious
and social reformer, and a devotee of Lord Vishnu.He was a social reformer who lashed out at the
evils of society, like the caste system and the divide between the privileged and the poor.
Kanakadasa’s writings not only touched devotional but also social aspects. In fact, his
Ramadhyanacharitre is an allegorical work depicting the divisions between the rich and the poor.
The following vachana talks about caste system. Kanaka Dasa was disgusted by seeing the people
quarrelling over the superiority of their caste.
DO NOT QUARREL OVER CASTE

Do not quarrel over caste
Do you know the source of your caste?
No vagina unborn ,no part of the earth untrodden:

Nothing left unrelished and un-eaten
Big or small mystery unravelled perfectly
O man pray to the All-knowing directly
Is not water the matter of all matter?

Do you know the caste of water?
This body is like a bubble on water
O man grasps and clasps the source and remembers.
Discern Hari as the Best and Master of all

Who presides on all that rise and fall
He alone is truely a high born who fawns on the lotus
Feet of Adikeshava of Kaginele.
1. Explain the views of Kanakadasa about caste system.
2. Kanakadasa’s vachanas are the rare blend of spiritualism and rationalism discuss.

Dr. Shashidhar G.Vaidya: a native of sortur, a village in Gadag District glisof Karnataka. He
graduated from Gulbarga University and is presently working as Associate Professor of English in
Karnataka University,Dharwad.
108
He writes in English as well as in Kannada. His research articles are published in regional, national
as well as international peer reviewed journals. He has authored books in English and Kannada. He
is a reputed translator too. He is a recipient of Sadashiva Kori Memorial Endowment award for his
short story collection. His work includesSelect Songs of Kanakadasa (2020), Select Songs of Sharif
Saheb of Shishunala (Kabir of Karnataka)- ( 2020) and Image of India in the Novels of B.M. Croker
(2019).
vi) KUVEMPU
109
NOTE ON THE POET:
Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa (29 December 1904 – 11 November 1994) popularly known by
his pen name Kuvempu was an Indian poet, playwright, novelist and critic. He is widely regarded as
the greatest Kannada poet of the 20th century. He was the first Kannada writer to receive
the Jnanpith Award.
Kuvempu studied at Mysuru University in the 1920s, taught there for nearly three decades and
served as its vice-chancellor from 1956 to 1960. He initiated education in Kannada as the language
medium. For his contributions to Kannada Literature, the Government of Karnataka decorated him
with the honorific Rashtrakavi "National Poet" in 1964 and Karnataka Ratna "The Gem of
Karnataka" in 1992. He was conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 1988.
He penned the Karnataka State Anthem Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate.
WAKE UP, O YOUTH!
Old time is fading away; new time is arriving,

New vision and new aspirations are coming.
Old life is disappearing, new life is arriving,
Swelling in the hearts of youth.
Get up! Awake! Listen!
The western new juicy breeze is blowing

Shaking the dried up life-tree of India;
The ripe leaves on old stalks are falling
New sprouts are dancing sprightly.
Young people, get up! Awake! Listen!
Till yesterday it was the slum of the west

Today Russia is smiling as lovely garden.
The Russia sleeping till now
Has started roaring opening its tuft of
Let the dirt of old practice be swept off

By the flood of the new arrival, scientific thinking.
Let not the achievements of Independence
Be destroyed in the mirage of Vedic justification.
Sing the song of new life so as to crack all roads,

Raise your head, hand and voice to sing.
If you walk united, none can stop you.
NOTE ON THE TRANSLATOR:
110
Narayanappa Shivamogga works as a lecturer in English and has worked in NCERT, Delhi for 34
years. He has vast experience in teaching critical analysis to students of different universities in the
capacity of visiting faculty. He has published works on Noam Chomsky’s writings, in 2015
translation of Kuvempu’s poems 2016 and Philosophy of Life in 2016
QUESTIONS:
1. Write a note on the message given by Kuvempu to the youths.
2. “Young people, get up! Awake! Listen! Comment on the views of Kuvempu.
Suggested Reading:
• Boratti, Vijayakumar M.. The "discovery" of Vachanas: Halakatti and the Medieval
Kannada Literature in Colonial Karnataka. India, Prasaranga Kannada University, 2012.
• Narasimhacharya. R. History of Kannada Literature. New Delhi: Penguin Books. (1988).
• Ramanujan. A.K. Speaking of Siva. Penguin Books Ltd. 1973.
• Rice, Edward P. A History of Kannada literature. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services,
Oxford University Press (1982).
• Sastri, Nilakanta K.A. A history of South India from prehistoric times to the Fall of
Vijayanagar. New Delhi: Indian Branch, Oxford University Press. (2002) .
• https://www.deccanherald.com/spectrum/spectrum-top-stories/the-value-of-vachanas-
1114581.html
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UNIT III
BREAKING TIES
-SARA ABOOBACKER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
One of the finest radical authors in Indian writing in English, Sara was born in Kasargod, Kerala on
30 June 1936, to Pudiyapuri Ahmad and Zainabi Ahmad. She has four brothers.She was one of the
first girls in her community of Muslim families in Kasargod to be educated, graduating from a local
Kannada school. She was married after school, and went on to have four sons. Aboobacker has
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stated that her desire to further her education was constrained by community norms that restricted
female access to higher education, and that she was only able to obtain a library membership in
1963. Sara is a well-known Kannada fiction writer.
Sarah Aboobacker is an outstanding author who has succeeded in revealing the patriarchal and
unjust rules obligatory on women in the religion of Islam. Her novels are straightforward and
portray the evils of the social and the non-secular codes that apply solely to the women's
community that is created as per the convenience of men. Her books target the oppression and
discrimination faced by the Muslim women in Kerala and throw light on the patriarchal conventions
and sexism existing within the society.
In 1981, Aboobackar published her first article, an editorial on communal harmony, in a local
monthly Kannada-language magazine, Lankesh Patrike. Following this she began writing stories
and novels, focusing on her own community, the Beary people, a Muslim community living across
parts of the Indian states of Karnataka and Kerala.
Her novels are Chandragiri Teeradalli, Sahana, Kadana Virama, SuLiyalli Sikkavaru, TaLa oDeda
doNiyali, Pravaha-suLi, Panjara and Ilijaru. She has also authored five collections of short stories
and translated six major works from Malayalam into Kannada.
The novel Chandragiri Teeradalli (1981) has been translated into Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu,
Marathi, English and Hindi and has been widely acclaimed. It has been prescribed as a textbook in
Bangalore, Mangalore, Kuvempu and Karnataka Women's universities. Her short story 'Niyama
Niyamagala Madhye' has been included in the pre-university second year textbook.
Her novel, Vrajagalu (1988) is currently being made into a film produced by Devendra Reddy,
titled Saaravajra. The film stars actress Anu Prabhakar Mukherjee as the protagonist, Nafisa, and
traces her life from childhood to old age, as she navigates marriage, and divorce within the Muslim
community in Kasargod.
From 1994, Aboobakar has been publishing her works under her own publication company,
Chandragiri Prakashan.
Sara Aboobacker has received many prestigious literary awards, such as the Karnataka Sahitya
Akademi Award, 1984; Anupama Niranjan Award, 1987; Rathnamma Heggade Mahila Sahitya
Award, 1996, etc. She has seven novels, four collection of short stories, and one collection of essays
to her credit.
About the novel

Aboobackar is acclaimed for her first novel, Chandragiriya Theeradalli (1981), which was later
translated into English by Vanamala Vishwanatha as Breaking Ties and into Marathi by Shivarama
Padikkal in 1991.
The novel was initially published in serialized form in a local monthly magazine, Lankesh Patrike,
and later republished as a novel. It focuses on the life of Nadira, a young Muslim woman attempting
to assert independence first from her father, and later, from her husband.
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Nadira is illiterate and comes from a poor, uneducated family with a Scottish, autocratic father. The
younger sister of Nadira and her mother are slaves to her father. Nadira's mother believes that a
woman should be submissive and understanding. She raised her girls in the same way she would
frequently tell her daughters that men are capable of many different types of lunacy. “Thank God
none of that is with your Abba”, she says to her daughters. She is relieved that her spouse has no
intentions of getting remarried again. Nadira hails from the largely Islamic region of coastal
Karnataka.
They strictly adhere to Islamic values. They think a wife should be subservient, and Nadira fits that
description. She had the option to decline her marriage at the age of 14, but she gives in to her
father's violent pressure and marries.
She feels fortunate to have a son and a good family even though her husband is unyielding in
different issues of adjustment in marital life. She tolerates everything because she doesn't want to
gain a poor reputation. When her violent, egotistical, and manipulative father returns her home and
demands "talaaq" from her husband, and when her kid is also taken back by her mother-in-law,
Nadira feels she has faced the last straw.
Later, her demented father asks her to reunite with her spouse.
According to custom in coastal Karnataka a husband who divorces his wife after telling her "talaaq"
three times is not allowed to remarry her until she marries and divorces another man, - Al-Baqara,
Sura 2, ayat 231 of the Qur'an. Nadira agrees to that out of respect for her family's reputation and
because she thinks it violates Islamic law.
Through this novel Breaking Ties, Sara Aboobacker has voiced as an ambassador for feminine
sensibility and oppression and subordination in the patriarchal hegemony.
QUESTIONS:
1. The novel portrays the subaltern experience of the Muslim women. Discuss.
2. How does patriarchy control the life of Nadira in the novel? Elucidate.
3. Explain how the novel brings out the elements of triple oppression of family, society and
religion.
4. Nadira is a resolute radical symbol assessing humanity and dignity in the face of the cultural
oppression Discuss.
5. Nadira’s predicament reflects the psychological trauma arising from the conflict in which the
female body stands at the centre. Comment.
6. Write short notes on
• Fathima
• Mohammed Khan
• Nadira
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Unit-
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III: Representative Texts
Short Stories in Translation
1) The God and Kandasamy Pillai

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–Pudhumaippithan
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Pudhumaippithan
Pudhumaippithan
“A master craftsman who produced, like a man possessed, a hundred or more short stories, each
different from the other in form, technique, diction, style and intent. At will and with great ease, and
at a pace that could only be described as frenzied, he commanded the pathos of any section of the
community,..Could evoke any atmosphere. He lampooned the gods, and those in authority,
unsparing of both brown and white…” Venkat Swaminathan, thus captures the essence of the
writings of the Father of modern Thamizhl short stories, the most influential and revolutionary
writers of Thamizhl fiction -Pudhumaippithan.
Cho. Viruthachalam, who was famously identified with his pen name Pudhumaippithan (25 April
1906 – 5 May 1948) was born in Thirupaathiripuliyoor, now known as Cuddalore in Thamizhl
Naadu'. Though he was born in Thirupaathiripuliyoor, he emerged to be a great writer from the land
of Thirunelveli cradled by river Thamirabarani. He was a voracious reader and during his days in
college, he made sure that he completed at least one detective novel a day.
The pseudonym which implies ‘mad over novelty,’ fitted him well as he wrote with no fear to
shatter the glass ceiling. He became one of the pioneers of short story writing along with the
Manikkodi group of writers wholooked afresh at things. His works were characterised by social
satire, progressive thinking and outspoken criticism of accepted conventions.His short stories traced
an anti-establishment stance in a subversive voice.
His career as a writer began in 1933 with an essay “Gulabjaan Kaadhal” (Love for Gulab jamun).
Pudhumaippithan’s active writing period was less than 15 years (1934–46) in which he wrote nearly
100 short stories, an equal number of essays on a variety of subjects, 15 poems, a few plays, scores
of book reviews and translated around 50 short stories. His writings gave him a reputation as a
maverick. He dealt with a wide array of subjects in his stories while also experimenting with the art
of storytelling. His writing included sarcasm and wit and the stories appeared natural and realistic.
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The stories like ‘Kodukkapuli Maram’ and ‘Naasakkaara Gumbal’ stand as a testimony to these
qualities of his writing. He co-authored a biography of Hitler and that of Mussolini. The 1930s and
‘40s were the years of free verse in Tamil and Pudumaippithan experimented with it by working out
a connecting media between prosodic forms and verse libre. An enthusiastic polemicist, he indulged
in vigorous debates with his fellow writers. Pudumaippithan wrote two one-act plays: Bakhta
Kucela and Saar, Nichayama Nalaikku.
Pudhumaippithan satirised the worst financial crisis that Indian economy witnessed during the great
depression in the 1930s, he wrote brazen portrayals of urban working-class life, foregrounded the
plight of the dispossessed, spoke of the regional and local, made bold use of dialect and of
humour, irony and satire.
His stories were set either in Madras or in Thirunelveli, the two places where he spent considerable
portions of his life and he has deftly used those dialects in his stories. His writing style had a
mixture of colloquial and classical words. Gentle satire even while handling complicated and
serious situations was his hallmark. His writings reflected the influence of foreign writers like
Maupassant, Nathaniel Hawthorne and others.
In the short story, ‘The God and Kandasamy Pillai’,God visits Kandasami Pillai, the 45-year-old,
who looks like he has been “deprived of food for 45 years”. God reveals his identity and wants to be
Pillai’s guest, but the latter is unimpressed and agitated. “Please stay as long as you wish, I have no
objection at all. Only, please don’t tell everyone that you are God. It doesn’t matter if others take
you for a madman but my wife mustn’t take me for one.” The story registers the equanimity of a
struggling Siddha medicine practitioner and God’s disappointing moment when he realises that his
venerated dances were dismissed by modern audiences. The satire and the simple narration of the
story will take our breath away.
Pudhumaippithan is remembered, talked about, read and researched even today. As a fitting tribute,
the Government of Tamil Nadu nationalized his works in 2002.
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The Text:
God and Kandasami Pillai
(kaTavuLum kandacaamippiLLaiyum)
Melakaram Me. Ka. Ramasami Pillai's only son Chellappa, also known as Me. Ka. Ra. Kandasami
Pillai, Esq., was standing in a safe corner at the junction of Broadway and Esplanade lost in deep
thought. ‘If I travel by tram, then it will cost one and a quarter annas. That will leave me with a
quarter anna. I can then use that quarter anna to get betel leaves and nuts at the shop next to the stop
and walk home. Suppose I take the bus; then if I can avoid paying the conductor till we are past
Central Station and if from there I take a ticket up to Triplicane, I could buy half a cup of coffee and
then go home; in which case, however, there would be no betel leaves.
‘When the conductor is in effect asking to be cheated, to cheat him without actually duping him is
certainly unethical. If yesterday I had paid him the fare from Central only, I could have enjoyed half
a cup of coffee.’
‘Right now, it would be really nice to enjoy some coffee!’
It was just at the time when Mr.Pillai of the above-mentioned town was engaged in this
contemplation of ethical matters that God appeared before him.
He did not suddenly appear and shock him into a state of ecstasy by insisting, ‘Here, take this
boon!’
He simply asked, ‘Excuse me, sir, how does one get to
Triplicane?’
‘You could take a tram, or take a bus, or you could go on foot, asking your way from time to time,
the way to Madurai is in your mouth,’ said Sri Kandasmni Pillai.
‘I’m not going to Madurai; I simply asked the way to Triplicane; What’s the shortest way to get
there?’ asked God. The two of them doubled up with laughter.
They both stepped aside from the pushing, shoving, jostling, hurrying crowds and stood on one
side near a cobbler who was busy repairing sandals.
Melakaram Ramasami Pillai's son and heir was forty-five years old; his physical appearance gave
the impression of one who had been deprived of food for forty-five years; apart from a few strands
of black hair, his head was covered in grey, his face carried two weeks’ growth of beard and his
eyes were sharp enough to pick out his friends in however dense a crowd and at whatever distance;
he wore a shirt, dhoti and upper cloth that were all of unbleached cotton.
Kandasami Pillai looked intently at the person who had asked the way. It was impossible to
assess his age with any degree of certainty. He could have been sixty, or equally well sixty thousand
years old. Whatever his age might be, he had the well-rounded figure verging on plumpness of one
who had had no worries about food.
The hair on his head was completely grey, without a speck of black, was neither combed nor tied
back, but fell on his neck like the mane of a lion. At the centre of his throat there was a big black
swelling. His sharp and piercing eyes were constantly looking round in all directions. At times they
looked down like those of a man possessed. His laughter? At times that laughter put fear in
Kandasami Pillai; at other moments there was an innocent childlike simplicity about it.
‘I'm very thirsty,' said God.
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‘There's no water or whatever here; if you wish, we can take coffee; look, there’s a café over
there,’ said Kandasami Pillai.
‘Why don’t you come with me?’ said God. ‘We can try it and see what it’s like.’
Kandasami Pillai was a broad-minded fellow. He was not the one to bother about trivial
differences between strangers and people he knew.
‘Fine! Come, let's go!’ he said. A doubt flashed through his mind as to whether he might be stuck
with the bill. However, he pulled himself together with the thought, ‘Nothing venture, nothing win.’
The two of them walked into a large restaurant. Kandasami Pillai led the way, with God
following close behind.
The two of them sat down at a table. Without giving the waiter a chance to recite the menu,
Kandasami Pillai, shaking his head vigorously, said, ‘Hot, strong, two cup coffee!’
‘Don't forget your Tamil,’ said God. ‘Say, “Two cup coffees.”
‘'No; not like that; one should say “two cups of coffee”,’ said Kandasami Pillai, hoisting the Tamil
flag.
Thoroughly beaten, God looked around the room. ‘A fine, tall building,’ he said. ‘Nice and
bright!’
‘What do you expect? That a big hotel should be modelled on a chicken coop? Do you think it's as
simple as building a temple? The hygiene inspectors won’t let you get away with that,’ said Pillai
consolidating his victorious position.
The very mention of the word ‘temple’ caused God to tremble all over.
‘Meaning ...?’ said God, who, though defeated, did not give up. ‘Tell me what hygiene means.’
“Oh! That! It implies washing the table with antiseptic liquid to ensure that health officials don’t
impose a fine upon you. It’s also a subject taught in school just to make our students fail in the
exams; according to it, flies and mosquitoes are equal to demons. If such creatures get inside hotels
of this kind, it will be really dangerous. They claim that you won't be able to escape with your life’,
said Kandasami Pillai. He was amazed at what he had said. He began to wonder whether the
Goddess Saraswati had graced his tongue with fluency.
God did not pay much attention to him. He was looking at a fly that had been trapped in a small
pool of coffee that had been spilt by the previous occupant of the table. It was struggling and
straining to free itself from the sticky liquid.
‘Here you are!’ said God, stretching out a finger to help the fly. It flew off. But some of the spilt
coffee was on God’s finger.
‘Careful, Sir! You’ve touched somebody else’s spilt coffee! Take this water and wash your hands
under the table!’ said Pillai. ‘Flies are prohibited from coming in, but washing one’s hands under the
table is hygienic!’ God muttered to himself.
The waiter brought the ‘two cup coffee’ and placed them on the table.
God picked up his coffee and drank it. His face glowed as if he had drunk heavenly soma juice.
‘It's our special preparation’, said God.
‘No, it is not your preparation, dear sir, but the hotel keeper’s. He has added some chicory
powder. Your contribution will come in the final chapter of paying the bill,’ Kandasami Pillai
whispered in God’s ear. He felt overjoyed at having dealt with the problem of the bill so cleverly.
‘Chicory powder ... what’s that exactly?’ said God, raising his head rather dubiously. ‘Chicory
powder resembles coffee powder; but it’s not coffee; it’s like people deceiving everybody while
uttering the name of the Deity!’ said Kandasami Pillai.
The mention of the name ‘Deity’ took God by surprise.
When they went to the cash counter to pay the hill, God proffered a new hundred-rupee note in
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pristine condition. Kandasami Pillai was flabbergasted.
‘If it's the change you’re after, wouldn’t I have given it to you? Why do you use a mere three
anna bill as an excuse? Was it to make you feel better?’ asked the hotelier.
‘We really did come here with the intention of taking coffee,’ said God.
‘If that’s the case, couldn’t you have brought some change with you?’ said the hotel manager.
Because by then a long queue of people who had finished eating were waiting to leave and because
he did not want a pointless scene, he counted out the change and handed it over. “Ninety-nine
rupees and thirteen annas - that’s correct, isn’t it? ‘Please check it, saami!’
‘If you say so, it’s fine with me; I’m not much good at such arithmetic,’ said God.
The hotel manager was quite pleased with himself for having disposed of one counterfeit ten rupee
note.
The two of them came out of the hotel. There wasn’t much of a crowd at the entrance. They
paused there for a while.
God took the fifth note out of the pile he had in his hand, tore it into little pieces and threw them
on the ground.
Kandasami Pillai wondered whether the person standing by his side had suddenly taken leave of
his senses. He stood there open- mouthed and bewildered.
‘A counterfeit note; he tried to cheat me, but I was too smart for him,’ said God with a terrifying
laugh.
‘If only you had given it to me, I’d have grabbed the Brahmin’s tuft and made him change it!’ said
Kandasami Pillai.
‘You went along with the use of chicory powder, did you not? In the same way, you must accept
that I tolerated this. Ten rupees is a lot to him; that’s why I let him swindle me,’ said God.
Kandasami Pillai now wondered how he could simply take leave of someone who had so readily
treated him to a coffee.
‘You’re bound for Triplicane, are you not? Let’s take a tram,’ he said.
‘I’d much rather not; they make my head spin; why don’t we take a leisurely stroll there?’ said
God.
‘Sir! I’ve been on my feet the whole day. I can’t walk another step; let’s take a rickshaw instead!’
suggested Kandasami Pillai. He gave himself the excuse that he was showing him the way and that
it was entirely in order for someone who could afford to tear up a ten- rupee note to pay the fare.
‘A vehicle pulled by a man? That’s the best of all’, said God.
The two of them climbed into a rickshaw. ‘Sir, please wait a moment; I’ll light the lamp’, said the
rickshaw puller. It was already dusk and the streetlights were shining brightly.
‘We’ve struck up a friendship so quickly! You don’t even know who I am, and I don’t know who
you are. To think that we should meet like this, in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city…’
God laughed. In the darkness his teeth shone brightly. ‘Never mind who I am. First tell me who
you are’, He said.
Kandasami Pillai was always keen to talk about himself. Was he going to miss an opportunity like
this when he had a captive audience in a moving rickshaw! He cleared his throat and began:
‘Have you seen a medical journal called Siddha Vaidya Deepika?.’ he asked.
‘No,' said God.
‘Then we can take it that you are not familiar with the classical treatises on medicine,’ said
Kandasami Pillai.
‘I do know them,’ said God.
‘That's going to be a bit of a problem!’ thought Kandasami Pillai. Then he continued, ‘You are
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familiar with medical literature; but you have no knowledge of Siddha Vaidya Deepika. If that is so,
your knowledge of medical literature is not complete. We have in our possession a run of seventeen
years in bound volumes. You absolutely must come home with me at least once and look through
them. Only then will you…’
‘The complete set for seventeen years! Seventeen times twelve makes two hundred and four.’
God’s mind seemed to shudder at the thought. Then he had a comforting idea: perhaps it came out
only once a quarter.
‘Deepika is a monthly journal. The annual subscription within the country is one rupee; overseas it
is two and three quarter rupees; life membership is twenty-five rupees. If you take out life
membership, you’ll find it very useful; if you like, I shall send it to you for a year first of all. After
that we can think about life membership,’' said Kandasami Pillai, trying to persuade God to become
a subscriber.
‘Does he think that, on top of making me read seventeen volumes, he can take twenty-five rupees
from me and then drive me out?’ thought God. ‘I certainly couldn’t allow that.’ Then he asked,
Whose life?’
‘It's for your lifetime. It’s not my lifetime. It’s not the journal’s lifetime; that’s everlasting. Even
after I’m gone, someone else will be there running the Siddha Vaidya Deepika; all arrangements
have been made for that,’ said Kandasami Pillai.
Just then the rickshaw puller reduced his speed and looked back at them.
Kandasami Pillai was afraid that if the speed was reduced, the other man might jump out and run
away.
‘Hey! What are you up to, turning back to look at us? There’s a car coming; don’t crash. Just keep
going, without slowing down!’ he said.
‘Just tell me something,’ said the rickshaw puller. Are you men or ghosts? The rickshaw feels as if
there are no passengers in it - nothing but the wind.’
Kandasami Pillai reprimanded him, saying, ‘We shall pay you a fare as if you are pulling the wind.
Get on with it and pull the rickshaw.’
He then went on with what he had been saying: ‘Moreover, I’m also a medical practitioner. The
Siddha style of treatment. What I earn through my medial practice is barely sufficient to cover the
running of the journal and my family’s requirements. In the current issue I have written an article on
condensed mercury; you see, we were able to obtain an old palm-leaf manuscript; in it many strange
applications are recorded.’
‘What's all this,’ thought God, “There's no way of stopping the fellow.' Then he asked,
‘Approximately how many people will you treat on average each day?’
‘I can't boast of very impressive figures. Moreover you should take into consideration that my
medical practice is my main source of income. As far as possible, an illness should not be totally
cured and the patient must not be allowed to die. Only then can one transact business with the
incoming patient. You can’t be too rough with the person or with the illness itself during the period
of treatment. It won’t work. The illness should be allowed to reduce its impact very gradually. The
medicines should not harm either the person or the illness. This is how to conduct business.
Otherwise, would I have been able to run the journal all these seventeen years?’ asked Kandasami
Pillai.
God nodded his head as if he understood all this.
‘Please give me your hand; lei me check up your pulse; said Kandasami Pillai, taking hold of
God’s right hand.
‘Are you doing it in a moving vehicle?’ said God with a laugh.
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‘All that depends on 'the doctor’s skill,’ said Kandasami Pillai. He felt the pulse carefully for a
while and then remarked deferentially. ‘Your bile level is rather high; are you in the habit of taking
poisonous substances?’
‘You're a clever chap; you’ll find lots of other things,’ laughed God.
‘Yes, well, we’ve been talking about a lot of things; anyway, enough of that. Where are you
making for in Triplicane?’ said Kandasami Pillai.
‘Door number seven in Office Venkatachala Mudali Lane,’ said God.
‘Oh my goodness! But that’s my own address. Whom do you wish to meet there?’
‘Kandasami Pillai!’
‘Get away with you! That’s me. It’s divine providence that has brought us together. Who are you,
sir? I don’t seem to recognise you.’
‘Me? I am God!’ he said casually, looking at the sky and stroking his beard.
Kandasami Pillai was taken aback. God, and down here!
‘I came to visit the earth; I shall be here for a few more days as your guest.’
Kandasami Pillai now spoke with some tension. ‘You may stay as long as you wish; there’s no
objection to that. There’s just one thing: please don’t declare publicly that you are God. It doesn’t
matter to me if others think you are a madman. But I don’t want my wife to think of me as one.’
He then said to the rickshaw puller, ‘Stop next to that lamp post!’
The rickshaw came to a halt; the two of them alighted.
God pulled out a brand new one-rupee note and gave it to the rickshaw puller.
‘May you live long!’ said the man heartily.
A man blessing God! Extraordinary! Kandasami Pillai reprimanded him: ‘Hey, you wretch! How
dare you presume to bless a respected elderly person!’
‘It’s quite all right for you to say that,’ said God. It’s quite some time since I heard words so
comforting to my ears and to my mind. Why should he not utter such things?’
‘If you’d given him two annas short, then you’d understand!’ said Kandasami Pillai.
‘Master! I’m a person who cares only for what is fair; I care nothing for what is unfair! Sir! I can
always be found sitting at that particular spot; if you want me, look out for me there,’ said the
rickshaw-puller as he lifted up the shafts of the rickshaw.
‘You're a fine one to talk about what is just and fair! I know your sort; all you care about is toddy,’
said Kandasami Pillai.
‘If you had to run around all day in the hot sun pulling a hired vehicle, then you’d know what it
feels like. What can I say to you? God has no eyes; He lets you say such things and makes me listen
to them.’ With that, he went off pulling the rickshaw behind him.
God burst out laughing. He laughed loud and long, He felt happy and relaxed.
‘Such is the World!’ said Kandasami Pillai. ‘Is that how it is!’ said God.
The two of them walked towards the house. As soon as they reached the lamppost in front of the
house, God came to a halt.
Kandasami Pillai stopped too. ‘Devotee!’ said God.
There was no old man standing before them.
God appeared before him in his tiger skin, matted locks, with his deer, axe and crescent moon. Joy
shone from his eyes. On his lips was a gentle smile.
‘Devotee!’ he said once again.
Kandasami Pillai understood what was going on.
‘Hey, God! All your tricks of “Come on, accept this boon now!” will not work with me. You’ll
grant me a boon and go off about your business. Then another deity will turn up and ask for my
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head. I am not the sort of fool who will accept your blessing and thus carelessly put my head in
danger. It’s all right that you came to have a look at the World; you wish to stay as our guest; I have
no objection to any of this. If you want to move around with me, then you should behave like a man,
in other words like me; you should be governed by the rules of human conduct. So keeping in mind
what I have told you, please come into my house in a proper manner,’ said Kandasami Pillai.
God followed him in silence. Kandasami Pillai’s arguments seemed reasonable. It seemed to Him
that there was no answer to the question of whether there was any person in the world who had
prospered after having received a blessing from God.
Kandasami Pillai stood for a while at the threshold of his house. “My Lord! Shall I call you
Paramasivam or Ammaiyappa Pillai?’ he asked.
‘Paramasivam would be fine. Paramasivam the elder.’ Very well then; I shall address you as
“Appa”; please agree to this,’ said Kandasami Pillai.
‘I don't care for ‘Appa’; please address me as ‘Periappa’ or ‘Uncle’. That way my property will
not be at risk,’ said God with a smile. God smiled at his own readjustment to the materialistic values
of this world, just like other human beings. Now he began to understand the need for caution in his
speech.
‘What is the extent of your property?’ asked Kandasami Pillai. ‘The whole of this Universe;
replied God. ‘Don’t be scared; not that greedy; said Kandasami Pillai. Then he stepped into his
house.
2
There was a small tin oil lamp which gave the front corridor the status of a temple. Behind that there
was a rectangular hall which was dark and elongated. After that something else; we don’t know
exactly what. There was a child; it was may be around four years of age. A beauty that was a joy to
see.A pair of happy eyes that sparkled without any obvious reason. Her hair style was in conformity
with orthodox tradition, being parted in the middle, with two separate pigtails curled from behind
looking like rat’s tails. The banana fibre which was tied up with a lock of hair in front fell forward
and covered her eyes, bothering her when she bent down. She was carrying a piece of charcoal and a
small piece of broken pot. Round her waist she had a ragged, knee-length skirt. Because the banana
fibre fell over her eyes and troubled her when she tried to draw some figure on the floor, she
grabbed hold of it and pulled at it as hard as she could, but to no avail. It hurt. While she was
wondering whether to cry or to give it one more pull, her father came in.
‘Daddy!’ she shouted, flinging her arms round his legs. She looked up and asked him, ‘What did
you get for me today?’
‘I’ve brought myself for you; replied Kandasami Pillai. ‘What's this, Daddy? Every day you say
you’ve brought just yourself; couldn’t you at least bring me some fried gram?’ she grumbled.
‘Fried gram's not good for you. But look! I’ve brought you a new grandpa!’ said Kandasami Pillai.
‘Is this your child?’ asked God, unable to take his eyes off her. Kandasami Pillai hesitated a little.
‘Just say it; nowadays I’m a strict vegetarian; I only care for what is cooked in an earthenware
pot. I don’t even take milk or curd,’ said God with a laugh.
‘This is the fruit of love’s labour, born quite belatedly, like the tender shoot of a curry-leaf plant
that sprouts when the season is over.’
Then, saying, ‘Please sit clown here. It’s too late now to get water from the tap. I shall fetch you
some from the waterpot, Kandasami Pillai vanished into the darkness of the rear part of the house.
God took off his upper cloth and sat down in the parlour. His mind was filled with a certain
excitement and at the same time with a deep sense of quiet contentment.
Holding out his arms, he said, ‘Come here, my darling tender curry leaf shoot!’
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In a single jump she came and climbed onto his lap.
‘I’m not a tender curry leaf shoot; I’m Valli. But my daddy sometimes calls me ‘darkie’; am I
really like that?’ she asked.
She didn’t expect an answer. Her eyes turned to the black swelling on Grandpa’s throat.
‘What’s that on your throat, Grandpa - so black, like a jamun fruit? I feel like-eating it,’ she said,
her eyes twinkling. She stood up on his lap and pressed her flower-like lips against his neck. Her
tiny teeth tickled his neck. His whole body shivered.
‘It tickles,’ said God, squirming.
‘Why, grandpa? Did some fire touch your neck and burn it? Look, the same thing happened to
me!’ she said, and showed him a dark, hardened scab on the end of her finger.
‘My child, it really is a jamun fruit; long ago many people gave it to me, and so I put it in my
mouth. Some felt jealous at not getting their share and grabbed hold of my neck. Since then it has
been stuck there; anyway, let it be so. Don’t you have any playmates?’ he asked.
‘What I do have is this bit of broken pot and piece of charcoal; will you come and play hopscotch
with me?’ she said.
The child and God began to play the game.
God bent one leg back and hopping on the other made a big jump.
‘Grandpa! You've lost,’ she said, clapping her hands in glee.
‘Why?’ God asked.
It seemed that his foot had touched a black line.
‘Couldn't you have told me about that earlier?’ said God.
Arms folded, the child asked, ‘Should you join in the game without knowing the rules?’
At this juncture Kandasami Pillai emerged out of the darkness followed by his wife, who was
carrying the water pot on her hip. This is my uncle from Kailasavaram; the girl from
Karisalankulam was given in marriage to the son of his first cousin once removed. You remember?
said Kandasami Pillai.
‘Oh, the one they say went off on a pilgrimage - you mean that uncle? You are most welcome,
uncle! Allow me to pay my humble respects to you,’ she said, as she set down the water pot and fell
at his feet. The old-fashioned, heavy pambadams dangling from her ears swung against her cheeks.
God gave her his blessing with the words, May you and your family live long and enjoy good
health and prosperity:
Kanthimathi Ammaiyar (for that was Kandasami Pillai's wife’s name) had a feeling of inner
contentment such as she had never experienced before. Her heart overflowed. Her eyes filled with
tears.
God, by way of a gentle reminder, said, ‘Are you just going to leave the bag of rice there in front
of the house?’
‘I can't tell you how forgetful he is.’ said Kanthimathi Ammal. It was just a few moments ago that
I asked whether he had bought some rice, and he said he had not. He prescribes medicines to all and
sundry around the town; but he seems to have no remedy for his own forgetfulness. The God who
created him should stand by his side and take a look at him.’
‘He really is standing there and looking at him,’ said God, imitating a rural accent. ‘Then He
should look at him and laugh; only then will he come to his senses!’ she said.
God laughed.
sadatasami Pillai went together to the front door.
‘Didn't I tell you to cut out all this sleight of hand?’ whispered Kandasami Pillai,
‘From now on I will,’ said God.
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Kandasami Pillai heaved and strained as hard as he could; the bag did not budge.
‘A fine young man!’ said God with a laugh, as he picked up the bag and tucked it against his
waist.
‘You shouldn't be lifting it up on your own,’ said Kanthimathi Ammaiyar in a rather agitated
tone. ‘My dear, take one end of it and give him a hand, instead of just standing there looking on.’
‘Calm yourself, dear lady; why don’t you just tell me where to put it?’ said God.
‘It’ll be fine in this room. Please just put it down here,’ said Kanthimathi, blocking his way.
When Kandasami Pillai and God finished their dinner and came to the front veranda, it was eleven
o’clock.
‘What do you have in mind next?’ asked God.
‘Sleep,’ said Pillai, yawning.
The little girl ran up and said, ‘Grandpa, I want to lie down next to you.’
‘Go and ask your mummy to spread out the mats and pillows,’ said Kandasami Pillai.
‘Are you saying that I too should sleep?’ asked God.
‘'If you move with human beings, you must do as they do; if you don’t want to sleep, just lie
down quietly. If you walk about during the night, you’ll be open to criticism,’ said Kandasami
Pillai.
3
Kandasami Pillai is sitting on the floor of the Siddhanta Deepika office in Pavazhakkara Street
drafting a textual commentary. An explanatory commentary on Bohar's treatise on medicine is being
serialised month by month in Sri Pillai's journal.
‘Finally, there was one more thing that you should note, dear reader: add to a well-boiled jaggery
mix such medicinal herbs as garudappichu, kalluruvi, pulluruvi and umattai [datura] (an alternative
reading has garudappachai)
‘As he wrote this he was looking at the postman who walked straight past his door without coming
in. Mumbling to himself, ‘So the journal won’t come out today either,’ he rolled up what he had
written, put it on one side and held his hands together and cracked his fingers.
A rickshaw stopped in front of the door. God and the child got down from it. Valli was wearing a
silk skirt; in her hands there was a paper bag packed full of sweets.
Jumping up and down, she said, ‘Grandpa and I went to the Natural History Museum and to the
Zoo.’
‘Why do they put up these building just to keep piles of skin and bones in them? Is it with the idea
of making fun of me?’ asked God. There was a touch of displeasure in his voice.
‘Do you suppose there’s anyone here clever enough to think in those terms? What they have in
mind in exhibiting them in this way is to depict the wonder of creation. So be it.’ Then, stretching
out his hand, Pillai said, ‘Please give twenty-five rupees and I shall admit you to life membership;
this month’s issue must go out today.’
‘Who's getting taken in by this? For whose benefit is it?’ God asked with a laugh.
‘I don't wish to accept charity; nor do I have in mind to get into debt. That’s why I’m proposing a
business deal. You just now talked about gaining benefits. In this world, everything is adulterated,
from ghee to goodwill. Don’t you know this?’ said Kandasami Pillai, hitting out.
God was lost in thought.
‘Anyway, never mind all that. In Bohar there is a mention of garudappachai; is there a medicinal
herb of that name? Or should it be garudappichu?’ Kandasami Pillai asked.
‘The responsibility for creation was mine; you seem to want to lay the task of naming it too upon
me. Is that fair? What do I know about it? I created you; you were named Kandasami Pillai by your
127
father; am I to be held accountable for that too?’ said God firmly.
‘The two of you have been wandering about in the hot sun and that seems to have made you
sharp-tempered. You should not on that account be thinking of putting me down; my one concern at
the moment is that if you suddenly put a curse on me, then twenty-five rupees will go to waste
unnecessarily,’ said Kandasami Pillai.
The child, who had undone the packet and was eating the contents, looked towards God and said,
‘Grandpa, why do you talk to daddy? He doesn’t know anything. Come and taste this; it’s really
sweet!’
As he ate the bits of laddu that the child gave him, God said, ‘My child, if it’s a bit that’s broken
off, it’s for me; if it's a whole piece, it's for you.’ The child took a laddu, held it in her hand and
thought for a while.
‘Grandpa! The whole piece is too big to go in my mouth. But you say that any broken bit is for
you. So there’s none for me, is there?’ she asked.
God fell over himself with laughter and said, ‘It’s all for you and only you,’ God said.
‘All this? Just for me?’ she asked. ‘Yes! For you alone!’ God said.
‘Then I should’t feel hungry later. If I don’t eat my dinner, Mummy’ll beat me! Daddy’ll give me
some lehiyam to swallow!’ said the child anxiously.
‘You’ll get your appetite back; don’t worry!’ said God. ‘Even though you bought it, it’s hotel
food. Please keep that in mind,’ said Kandasami Pillai.
‘But I am here!’ said God.
‘When did I say you weren’t?’ said Kandasami Pillai. A few moments later he asked, ‘After what
you’ve spent today, how much is left of the hundred rupees?’
‘Af1er I've given you twenty-five, I'm left with fifty,’ said God with a smile.
‘What do you have in mind after that?’
‘That I haven’t yet worked out.’
‘You might practice medicine, just as I do!’
‘I've no wish to become your competitor!’
‘Please don’t think like that. You are not competing with me; you are in competition with the
world’s folly. If you don’t care too much for that, how about giving a few philosophical
discourses?’
‘You’re talking of a way for me to make a living; is there any money in it?’ God asked with a
laugh.
‘So?’
‘Well, I’m pretty good at dancing; what do you say? If necessary, I could arrange for Devi to be
there with me too.’
Kandasami Pillai thought about it for a while and then said, ‘Somehow I don’t quite care for it!’
‘Then what can I do to make a living? After all, the whole universe survives because of our
dance, does it not?’
‘As you please!’ said Kandasami Pillai. Once again he thought about it for a little while, and then
said, ‘Come, let's go.’ With that, he took his upper cloth from the nail on which it was hanging,
shook it out and put it on.
‘The little girl!’ said God.
‘She’s asleep; let her enjoy her sleep till we come back,’ said Pillai.
A quarter of an hour later, three people entered the house of Diwan Bahadur Brahadeeswara
Sastrigal. One was Kandasami Pillai; another was God; and the third was a woman - Devi.
As he climbed up the steps to the front veranda, Pillai was explaining, ‘I regularly prepare for him
128
medicine made from powdered gold. He is sure to listen to me if I ask him a favour.’ The other two
followed him closely. Devi was carrying a small bundle in her arms.
‘Is swami in? Tell him I’ve come!’ said Kandasami Pillai in an authoritative tone to the servant
boy.
Hurrying towards them, with his shrunken body, came a Divvan Bahadur, wearing a thin mull
dhoti and sporting gold-rimmed glasses. -In a cheerful tone he said, ‘Oh, it’s Dr.Pillai, is it? Do
come in, please! The powder ran out yesterday; I was getting worried because I hadn’t seen you.’
He greeted them all effusively and sat down on an easy chair.
‘Sit down, please sit down!’ said Diwan Bahadur.
Kandasami Pillai felt his pulse and said, ‘Nothing to worry about; I shall send you the powder by
this evening. My purpose in coming is in fact to introduce these two to you. Both of them are an
absolute ocean of knowledge as far as the Natya sastra is concerned. It will be so nice if you could
arrange for them to perform in your Dance Academy.’
All Diwan Bahadur’s enthusiasm withdrew like the head and legs of a tortoise going back into its
shell. He placed the palms of his hands together, placed his index fingers against his nose and his
thumbs against his chin, and nodded his head, saying, ‘Mm, Mm…’
‘This gentleman’s name is Kuthanar; this lady’s name is Parvati. They are a married couple,’ he
said by way of explanation of the relationship.
‘I am not familiar with these names. Have you danced elsewhere before coming here?’ Diwan
Bahadur enquired of Kuthanar, while keeping his eyes on Devi.
Without giving God an opportunity to open his mouth, Devi replied, ‘There is no place where we
have not danced!’
‘Somehow or other, it hasn't come to my notice. Be that as it may; the lady is rather dark of
complexion. I am a little concerned that in a public performance she may not really be attractive to
the audience,’ said the colour-conscious Diwan Bahadur.
‘Do you have in mind to look for a bride, or are you interested in a dance performance?’ asked
Devi.
‘Dear lady, please don't be annoyed. Please listen while l tell you something; there is no
connection between a dance performance and dark complexion apart from the fact that that both
begin with a‘d’. For the past thirty years I have been President of this Kalamandalam. It is the eyes
of all members of the audience that will be black—with displeasure.
Devi got up to go, saying, ‘Your Mandalam or a mouse, it's all one to me!’
‘Please don't feel so upset; said both Diwan Bahadur and Kandasami Pillai, rising from their seats
together.
Once again Kandasami Pillai added his recommendation with the words, These two dance in a
truly innovative style. Nothing like it can be seen in these parts. The sastras themselves are put to
shame by them. Why don’t you see them perform at least once?’
“Very well. I’ll watch them perform; what objection can there be to watching?’ he said and leaned
back in his easy chair. Right! Let it begin,’ he said, closing his eyes.
‘Where is there a sufficiently wide space?’ said Devi as she stood up and looked around.
‘Why don't we go into the central hall?’ suggested God. They agreed on this, went into the hall
and closed the door behind them.
Within just a few moments, there came from within the hall the melodious sound of a majestic
voice, clear as a bell:
He is Rudra of the cremation ground,
Rudra of the cremation ground.
129
The doors opened.
God stood there, eyes closed and as still as a statue; he was draped in a tiger skin, he carried the
trident, and snakes were entwined with his hair, through which flowed the Ganges.
Once again, the music. Like a bolt of lightning that leaps from the sky to the earth and in a split
second, the weapon in God's hand flashed and jumped; his eyes filled with frenzy, his lips bearing a
smile, he raised his leg.
Kandasami Pillai heart was filled with trepidation. Thinking that God had forgotten the promise he
made to him, he jumped up from his seal.
‘I say, Kuthanar! Please stop your dance for a moment. Then Diwan Bahadur started to reprimand
him: ‘Tsch! This is nothing more than a street performance; what's all this—dressing up like a wild
man of Borneo!’
God stopped in the pose he had assumed and stood leaning on his trident looking at them.
‘Hey!' said Diwan Bahadur. ‘Have you any idea at all what art is? You've wrapped a real tiger skin
about you. If one wants to suggest a snake, does one have to come on with a real snake? You should
simply wear a snake-like ornament; in the same way, you should wear something in silk that looks
like a tiger skin; the first principle of art is that it should be pleasing to the eye! Even if the real
Parvati and Parameswarar were to perform like this, it would not be in accordance with the Natya
Sastra. There is nothing of this sort to be found there. First remove all of those snakes and put them
away carefully in their basket, and then get rid of your costumes. This is a place where little children
play, and you have to be careful!’
He did not spare Kandasami Pillai either. ‘Look, Mr Kandasami Pillai, just because you have been
preparing certain medicines for me, I can't be a party to all this nonsense; nor can I arrange for a
performance; after this, can I show my face in public?’
A quarter of an hour later, two people were sitting in the office of Siddhanta Deepika Publications;
Devi was no longer present. The child was lying asleep on a mat.
Both of them were silent for a while. Then God said, ‘It seems that it is not possible to make a
living on earth by simply doing the work one knows.’
‘You didn't care for what I told you; neither was what you like appreciated by the world; if you
like, you could try running a tevaram institute.’
God clicked his tongue in a way that showed his dislike of the idea.
‘Has the world already gone sour on you?'’
‘Seeing you is like seeing the whole world,’ said God.
‘And what about seeing you…? said Kandasami Pillai with a laugh.
‘It's fine to stand at a distance and give all of you people my blessings; but it is impossible to live
among you,’ said God.
‘Your sort are fit only to do that,' remarked Kandasami Pillai.
There was nobody there to reply to him.
On the table there were twenty-five rupee notes by way of a life subscription.
Kandasami Pillai made a ledger entry thus: Received the sum of Rs. twenty-five, being a life
subscription in the account of Paramasivam Pillai the elder of Kailasapuram.’
Awaking from her slumber, the child sat up and asked, ‘Daddy, has grandpa gone back to his
hometown?’
*****
Glossary:
130
Ana- It is six paise and remember this story was written in 1943.
Angavastiram - a long pleated piece of cloth worn on the shoulder or around the neck.
Paramasivam- one of the many names of Lord Shiva.
garudappachai-Eagle Green.
Thanga Paspam - a tonic made out of Gold dust which keeps you in good health and helps in
longevity.
Diwan Bhagadhur - A title given to prominent people during British rule.
Nirthiya Kala Mandali- a cultural association for dance programmes.
Koothanar – dancer, it’s one of the names of Lord Shiva in Tamil.
Note on the Translators:

This text has been sourced from Pudumaipittan: The Complete Short Stories translated
by R.E.Asher, Vridhachalempillay Subramaniam.
R.E. Asher is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, University of Edinburgh, and also visiting
Professor of several universities in India, the USA and France. His publications
include Malayalam(1997), The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (1994), Atlas of the
World's Languages (1994), Colloquial Tamil (2004), The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Speech and
Language (2005) and the list goes on. He was the recipient of the medal of the College de France,
and a fellow of the Kerala Sahitya Academy, Royal Asiatic Society and Royal Society of Edinburgh
and Honorary Fellow of Sahitya Akademi.
Vridhachalem Pillay Subramaniam has the experience of teaching English language and literature at
various levels for more than forty years. Holding M.A. and Ph.D degrees, he was trained in E L T in
Deccan College, CIEFL and Edinburgh. He was the recipient of the UNESCO Fellowship in
Pedagogy and a British Council Bursary in Micro teaching. He has evolved a new concept of
transmemes as part of Ethno- methodology.
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:
1. Discuss the social satire that’s replete in the story, God and Kandasamy Pillai.
2. Pudhumaippithan, once stated that, “my creations are not bound by conventional standards. I
am not responsible for that and neither are my creations…” Substantiate with reference to
the story and the style of his writing.
131
3. Analyze the character of Kandasamy Pillai.
4. Discuss the character of God and Goddess as depicted in the story.
5. Pudhumaippithan has infused wit, humour and sarcasm as he uses the mythological
characters in the story. Discuss.
6. God and Kandasamy Pillai, narrates the tale of a society that is corrupt and refuses to
change. Substantiate.
7. God and Kandasamy Pillai, throws open the financial struggles of the suffering families at
that time. Explain with reference to the story and its background.
8. Discuss the role of the female characters in the story.
9. The child in the story is the symbol of hope that lightens their world amidst disappointments
and deceit. Explain.
10. Discuss how Pudhumaippithan the writer, voices for writers like him in the undisguised
depiction of a writer's world in God and Kandasamy Pillai.
Source: Pudumaipittan: The Complete Short Stories translated

by R.E.Asher, Vridhachalempillay Subramaniam.New Delhi:Sahitya Akademi, 2014.
132
2) A TALE OF 1947
-Sadat Hasan Manto
Sadat Hasan Manto
“If you find my stories dirty,the society we are living in is dirty, With my stories, I only
expose the truth” Monto's statement stamps his identity as a fearless rebel who flouted
conventions to express the blatant truth. The traumatic memories of partition, the killings of
kith and kin, left a deep mark in the psyche of this writer par excellence. Sugata Bose and
Ayesha Jalal, commented that, “ The colossal human tragedy of the partition and its
continuing aftermath has been better conveyed by the more sensitive creative writers and
artists - for example in Saadat Hasan Manto’s short stories and Ritwik Ghatak’s films –
than by Historians”
133
Saadat Hasan Manto, a novelist, playwright, essayist, screenwriter and a short story writer
was born into a middle-class Muslim family of barristersin Ludhiana in 1912. Ethnically a
Kashmiri, he once wrote to Nehru and commented that being ‘beautiful’ was the second
meaning of being ‘Kashmiri.’ In his twenties he was encouraged by a scholar and polemic
writer Abdul Bari Alig, to read Russian and French authors and to translate Victor Hugo's
The Last Day of a Condemned Man into Urdu. He translated Oscar Wilde’s Vera into Urdu
and also other western writers like Tolstoy, Gorky and Chekhov.
From 1937-1941, Monto lived in Mumbai and worked as an editor of Mussawir along with
Nazir Ludhianvi and the magazine Samaj. During his Mumbai years, he explored his skills
in scripting for films and radio plays. Unfortunately as the situation after partition worsened,
he left Mumbai and settled along with his family in Lahore.
His stories like The New Law, A Tale of 1947, Yazid and The Dutiful Daughter, documents
the cultural history of the subcontinent during its tumultuous times from 1919 to 1955. He
usually wrote an entire story in one sitting, with very few corrections, and his subjects
tended to be those on the fringes of society. Manto strongly opposed the partition of India,
which he saw as an "overwhelming tragedy" and "maddeningly senseless". Manto has
humanized Partition by portraying it as a thoughtless political move. Manto’s literary genius
can be seen in the way he used fiction to provide a raw imagery of the individual as well as
the collective reality of people who suffered great pains during India’s partition. Deeksha
Bhardwaj rightly states that ‘Saadat Hasan Manto’s understanding of society, morality and
ethics translated into a narrative of psychoanalytical portraits that often described the
divided selves borne out of the 1947 India-Pakistan Partition.’
His short stories speak of the victims who were far removed from the insensitive politicians
who decided their fates. Historian Ayesha Jalal, wrote that, “Whether he was writing about
prostitutes, pimps or criminals, Manto wanted to impress upon his readers that these
disreputable people were also human, much more than those who cloaked their failings in a
thick veil of hypocrisy.”
Manto life became a subject of intense discussion and introspection. There are several stage
productions on the life and struggles of Monto, the mind that was deeply wounded by the
harsh financial and socio-political situation at the time of partition. The 2018 film Manto,
made by Nandita Das and starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, is one such portrayal.
His Story, A Tale of 1947 set in a linear plot deals with the lives of few friends, torn by
partition. When the political unrest was at its peak, Mumtaz and Jugal discuss what might
happen when Hindus start butchering Muslims and vice-versa. Even though he had nothing
but deep love for his friend, Jugal casually replies that he might have to slaughter Mumtaz.
A disheartened Mumtaz leaves for Pakistan at the end, revealing how humanitarian bonds
lose meaning under the influence of religion and politics.
134
The Text:
Mumtaz was speaking with great passion, ‘Don’t tell me a hundred thousand Hindus and the same
number of Muslims have been massacred. The great tragedy is not that two hundred thousand
people have been killed, but that this enormous loss of life has been futile. The Muslims who killed
a hundred thousand Hindus must have believed that they had exterminated the Hindu religion. But
the Hindu religion is alive and well and will remain alive and well. And after putting away a
hundred thousand Muslims, the Hindus must have celebrated the liquidation of Islam; but the fact is
that Islam has not been affected in the least, Only the naive can believe that religion can be
eliminated with a gun. Why can't they understand that faith, belief, devotion, call it what you will, is
a thing of the spirit; it is not physical. Guns and knives are powerless to destroy it.'
Mumtaz was very emotional that day. The three of us had come to see him off. He was sailing for
Pakistan, a country we knew nothing about. All three of us were Hindus. We had relatives in West
Punjab, now Pakistan; some of them had lost their lives in anti-Hindu riots. Was this why Mumtaz
was leaving us?
One day Jugal had received a letter, which said that his uncle who lived in Lahore had been
killed. He just couldn't believe it. He had said to Mumtaz, ‘If Hindu—Muslim killings start here, I
don't know what I will do.’
‘What'll you do?’ Mumtaz had asked.
‘I don't know. Maybe I'll kill you,’ he had replied darkly.
Mumtaz had kept quiet and for the next eight days he hadn't spoken to anyone; on the ninth day
he had said he was sailing for Karachi that afternoon.
135
We had said nothing to him nor spoken about it. Jugal was intensely conscious of the fact that
Mumtaz was leaving because of What he had said: ‘Maybe I'll kill you.’ He wasn't even sure if the
heat of religious frenzy could actually bring him to kill Mumtaz, his best friend. That afternoon
Jugal was very quiet; it was only Mumtaz who didn't seem to want to Stop talking, especially as the
hour of departure drew close.
Mumtaz had started drinking almost from the moment he climbed out of bed. He was packing his
things as if it was a picnic he was going on, telling jokes, then laughing at them himself. Had a
stranger seen him that morning, he would have concluded that his departure from Bombay was the
best thing that had ever happened to him. However, none of us was fooled by his boisterousness; we
knew he was trying to hide his feelings, even deceive himself.
I tried a couple of times to talk about his sudden decision to leave Bombay but he didn't give me
an opportunity.
Jugal fell into an even deeper silence after three or four drinks and in fact left us to lie down in
the next room. Brij Mohan and I stayed with Mumtaz. There was much to do, Mumtaz wanted to
pay his doctor's bill; his clothes were still at the laundry, etc. He went through all these chores with
the utmost aplomb, However, when we went to buy cigarettes from our regular shop on the corner,
he put his hand on Brij Mohan's shoulder and said, ‘Do you remember, Brij ten years ago when we
were all starving, this shopkeeper, Gobind, lent us money?’ His eyes were moist.
He didn't speak again till we got home—and then it was another marathon, an unending
monologue on everything under the sun. Not much of what he was saying made a great deal of
sense, but he was talking with such utter sincerity that both Brij Mohan and I had no option but to
let him go on, getting in word edgeways when we could, When it was time to leave, Jugal came in,
but as we got into the taxi to go to the port everyone became very quiet.
Mumtaz was looking out of the windows silently saying goodbye to Bombay, its wide avenues, its
magnificent buildings. The port was crowded with refugees, mostly poor, trying to leave for
Pakistan. But as far as I was concerned, only one man was leaving today, going to a country where
no matter how long he lived he would always be a stranger.
After his baggage was checked in , Mumtaz asked us to come to the deck. Taking Jugal’s hand ,
he said, ‘Can you see where the sea and the sky meet?’ It is only an illusion which is not really
there.
Jugal kept quiet, Perhaps he was thinking. ‘If it came to that, I may really kill you.’
Mumtaz ordered Cognac from the bar because that was what he had been drinking since morning.
We stood there, all four of us, glasses in our hands. The refugees had started to board. Jugal
suddenly drank his glass down and said to Mumtaz, ‘Forgive me. I think I hurt you very deeply that
day.’
After a long pause, Mumtaz asked, ‘That day when you said, ‘May be I’ll kill you,’ did you really
mean that? I want to know.’
136
Jugal nodded. ‘Yes I am sorry.’
‘If you had killed me, you would have been even sorrier,’ Mumtaz said philosophically. ‘You
would have realized that it wasn’t Mumtaz, a Muslim, a friend of yours but a human being you had
killed. I mean, if he was a bastard, by killing him you wouldn’t have killed the bastard in him;
similarly, assuming that he was a Muslim, you wouldn’t have killed his Muslimness, but him. If his
dead body had fallen into the hands of Muslims, another grave would have sprung up in the
graveyard, but the world would have been diminished by one human being.’
He paused for breath, then continued, ‘It is possible that after you had killed me, my fellow
Muslims may have called me a martyr. But had that happened, I swear to God, I would have leapt
out of my grave and begun to scream, ‘1 do not want this degree you are conferring on me because I
never even took the examination.’ In Lahore, a Muslim murdered your uncle. You heard the news in
Bombay and killed me. Tell me, what medals would that have entitled you to? And what about your
uncle and his killer in Lahore? What honour would be conferred on them? I would say that those
who died were killed like dogs and those who killed killed in vain.’
‘You are right,’ I said.
‘No, not at all.’ he said in the tense voice. ‘I am probably right but what I really wanted to say, I
have not expressed very well. When I say religion of faith I do not mean this infection, which
affects ninety-nine percent of us. To me, faith is what makes a human being special, distinguishes
him from the herd, proves his humanity.
Then a strange light came into his eyes. ‘Let me tell you about this man. He was a diehard Hindu
of the most disreputable profession, but he had a resplendent soul.’
‘Who are you talking about?’ I asked.
‘A pimp,’Mumtaz said.
We were startled. ‘Did you say a pimp?’ I asked.
He nodded. ‘Yes, but what a man, though to the world he was pimp, a procurer of women!’ Then
Mumtaz began his story.
‘I don't remember his full name. It was something Sehai. He came from Madras and was a man of
extremely fastidious habits. Although his flat was very small, everything was in its right place,
neatly arranged. There were no beds, but lots of floor cushions, all spotlessly clean. A servant was
around but Sehai did most things himself, especially cleaning and dusting. He was very straight,
never cheated and never told you anything entirely true. For instance if it was very late and the
liquor had run out, he would say, “Sahib, don't waste your money because in this neighbourhood
they will only sell you rubbish at this hour.” If he had any doubts about a particular girl, he would
tell you about her. He told me once that he had already saved up twenty thousand rupees. It had
taken him three years, operating at twenty-five per cent. “I need to make only another ten thousand
and then I’ll go to Benaras and start my own retail cloth business.” Why he wanted to earn no more
than that I didn’t know nor did I have any idea what he found so attractive about the retail cloth
137
trade.’
‘A strange man,’ I said.
Mumtaz continued, ‘First I thought he cannot really be what he appears to be. Maybe he is
nothing but a big fraud. After all, it was hard to believe that he considered and treated all the girls
that he supplied to his customers as his own daughters. I also found it strange that he had opened a
postal savings account for each of them and insisted that they should put their earnings there. There
were some whose personal expenses he subsidized. All this was unreal to me because in the real
world these things do not happen. One day when 1 went to see him, he said to me, “Both Ameena
and Sakeena have their weekly day off. You see, being Muslims, they like to eat meat once in a
while but none is cooked in this house because the rest of us are all strictly vegetarian.” One day he
told me that the Hindu girl from Ahmedabad, Whose marriage he had arranged with a Muslim client
of his, had written from Lahore, “I went to the shrine of the great saint Data Sahib and made a wish,
which has come true. I am going again to make another wish, which is that you should quickly make
thirty thousand that you can go to Benaras and start that retail cloth business of yours.” I had
laughed, thinking that he was only telling me this story about the popular Muslim saint because I
was a Muslim'’
‘Were you wrong?’ I asked Mumtaz.
‘Yes—he really was what he appeared to be. I am sure he had his faults but he was a wonderful
man.’
‘How did you find out that he wasn’t a fraud?’ Jugal, who hadn’t spoken until now, asked.
‘Through his death,’ Mumtaz replied. ‘The Hindu—Muslim killings had started. Early one
morning, I was hurriedly walking through Bhindi Bazaar, which was still deserted because of the
night curfew. There were no trams running and taxis were out of the question. In front of the J.J.
Hospital I saw a man lying in a heap on the footpath. I first thought it was a patiwala, who was still
sleeping, but then I saw blood and stopped. I detected a slight movement and bent down to look at
the man's face. It was Sehai, I realized with shock. I sat down on the bare footpath. The starched and
spotless twill shirt that he habitually wore was drenched in blood. He was moaning. I shook him
gently by the shoulder and called his name a couple of times. At first, there was no response but
then he opened his eyes; they were expressionless. Suddenly his whole body shook and I knew he
had recognized me, “It's you,” he whispered.
‘I showered him with questions. What had brought him to this preponderantly Muslim locality at
a time when people preferred to stay in their own neighbourhoods? Who had stabbed him? How
long had he been lying here? But all he said was, “My day is done; this was Bhagwan’s will.”
‘I did not know what Bhagwa’'s will was but I knew mine. I was a Muslim. This was a Muslim
neighbourhood. I simply could not bear the thought that I, a Muslim, should stand here and watch a
man, whom I knew to be a Hindu, lie dying at the hands of an assassin who must have been a
Muslim. I, who was watching Sehai die, was a Muslim like his killer. The thought did cross my
mind that if the police arrived on the scene I’d be picked up, if not on a murder charge, certainly for
questioning. And what if I took him to the hospital? Would he, by way of revenge against Muslims,
138
name me as his killer? He was dying anyway. I had an irresistible urge to run, to save my own skin,
and I might have done that except that he called me by my name. With an almost superhuman effort,
he unbuttoned his shirt, slipped his hand in but did not have the strength to pull it out. Then he said
in a voice so faint I could hardly hear it, “There’s a packet in here… it contains Sultana’s ornaments
and her twelve hundred rupees... they were with a friend for safe custody. I picked them up today
and was going to return them to her … these are bad times you know ... I wanted her to have her
money and the ornaments. would you please give them to her... tell her she should leave for a safe
place but please look after yourself first!”
Mumtaz fell silent but I had the strange feeling that his voice had become one with the dying
voice of Sehai, lying on the footpath in front of the J.J. Hospital, and together the two voices had
travelled to that distant blue point where sea and sky met. Mumtaz said, ‘I took the money and
ornaments to Sultana, who was one of Sehai’s girls, and she started crying.
We stepped down the gangplank. Mumtaz was waving.
‘'Don’t you have the feeling he is waving to Sehai?’ I asked Jugal.
‘I wish I were Sehai,’ he said.

Daniyal Mueenuddin is best known for his translations of the short stories of Saadat Hasan Manto.
He is a Pakistani-American author who writes in English. Born in Los Angeles, USA, he spent his
childhood in Pakistan. At the age of thirteen he moved back to the US, where he received higher
education and worked as a journalist, a director, a lawyer, a businessman, before finally devoting his
efforts to writing.One of his short stories, "Nawabdin Electrician", was selected by Salman
Rushdie for the Best American Short Stories of 2008 Another story, "A Spoiled Man", was selected
for the 2010 edition of The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories. Mueenuddin's first published story, "Our
Lady of Paris," which appeared in Zoetrope, was a finalist for the 2007 National Magazine Awards
in fiction. His other work includes In Other Rooms, Other Wonders. (2009).
QUESTIONS:
1. The tale of Sehai narrated by Mumtaz points to the act of humanity, which was the ray of
hope in the story. Discuss.
2. Critically analyse the character of Mumtaz.
3. Critically analyse the character of Jugal.
4. What are the themes discussed in the story A Tale Of 1947.
5. Monto’s partition stories are ‘Highly realistic in mode, it achieves remarkable objectivity
because it neither shows any bias for the contending nationalisms of the traumatic times, nor
his socialism, nor the specific cultural visibility of most characters, nor any geographical,
political or religious markers.’ Discuss this with reference to A Tale Of 1947.
139
6. Discuss how Monto depicts the plight of different communities in the face of partition.
7. Discuss the character of Sultana in the story.
8. Daniyal Mueenuddin stated that, ‘Toba Tek Singh’, ‘The Return’, ‘A Tale of 1947’, ‘Jinnah
Sahib’ echo the “dilemmas of people caught up in a great internecine massacre,” Explain
this with reference to the story A Tale of 1947.
9. Monto bemuses at the absurdity of violence. Substantiate with reference to A Tale of 1947.
10. Discuss Monto’s style of writing.
Source: Sadat Ḥasan Manṭo. ‘Mottled Dawn: Fifty Sketches and Stories of Partition’. Trans.
Daniyal Mueenuddin.Penguin Books India, 2011.
****
3)SACRIFICE
-Kodagina Gouramma
140
Kodagina Gouramma
“Gowramma inspired women writers with her feminist ideology and strove to create an awareness
about the atrocities on women through her works.” Said Asha Hegde, secretary of Karnataka
Lekhakhiyara Sangha after conferring Gauramma Datti Nidhi award for 2016-17 to Shanthi K
Appanna.
Kodagina Gowramma, Ms. B.T.G. Krishna was born in 1912 to N.S Ramayya and Nanjamma in
Madikeri and married to B. T. Gopal Krishna of Somwarpet taluk in Kodagu, then known as Coorg,
a province in British India. She was a significant writer with a modern and progressive vision and
made all possible efforts to forge a meaningful artistic destiny for herself. A writer of such
eminence met with her unfortunate premature death when she drowned in the cold currents of
Cauvery at the age of 27 when she went for her evening swim on 13 April 1939.
Gowramma wrote in Kannada under the name 'Kodagina Gowramma'. The stories that shot her to
fame include Aparaadhi Yaaru (Who is the criminal), Vaaniya Samasye, Aahuthi and Manuvina
Raani. A volume of her best-known stories, Gowramma Kathegalu, was issued from Madikeri.
Another volume of Gowramma's stories titled Mareyalagada Kathegalu was published with a
preface by Kannada writer Vaidehi.
She studied in a convent, played tennis and indulged in swimming even after her wedding, learnt
Hindi in a remote town, corresponded with the important writers of her times, women as well as
men, and she was deeply influenced by the independence movement. She was much more
emancipated than most of the characters that inhabit her stories. This, however, did not transform
her into a firebrand revolutionary, out of tune with the ground realities of her times. Her oeuvre is
141
more concerned with the unsaid and unattainable, rather than idealistic portrayals. Hers was a
nascent universe that contained the seeds of change, which later sprouted in the novels of Triveni,
decades later.
Gowramma empathized with the anguish of the individual and searched deeply into the socio-
political causes for the trouble. She represented the positive effects of the much-disparaged western
education system. The fact that she lived in Coorg which was relatively free from the fetters of
Indian orthodoxy must have assisted her intellectual development and social attitudes. “Her
ideology was truly feminist, at a time when feminism was in its infancy even in the West.”
In her writing style, she displayed excellent control over the modes of narration. She narrated stories
through letters, followed non-linear structuring of events, had a balanced outlook which does not
indulge in foolhardy criticism of men and exhibited a keen interest in facets of life other than the
plight of women. Her style is neither effusive nor overly mawkish. Her artistic vision combines with
emotional and the intellectual to create a balanced world view. H.S. Raghavendra Rao rightly points
out that, “Her world is peopled by young adolescent girls who are enraptured in their dreams as
manifest in their innocent prattle which is often shattered by harsh realities. Gowramma is relevant
by the intrinsic merits of her stories…”
Moved and inspired by Gandhi’s appeal, Kodagina Gowramma, invited Mahatma Gandhi to her
house, during his visit to Coorg when she was around 22 years at the time, famously donated all her
gold ornaments to the Harijan Welfare Fund.
Most of her stories deal with the problems faced by young women on the approach of marriage or in
the immediate repercussion of that event which is often disastrous for many of them. Any act of
upheaval or protest would result in tragic consequences. However, Gowramma succeeded in
puncturing the male ego and created a sense of guilt as evident in the Story Sacrifice. Her stories
transgress the boundaries of caste and religion and try to offer solutions that are modern and
progressive. Though she was aware of the fact that some of her solutions may be impractical for her
own times, yet, she does not shy away from portraying the hardiness of her characters.
142
The Text:
I was a graduate, holding an M.A. My parents were planning my marriage and were looking for a
girl. After a bit of search, they found the right girl, in a village about 12 miles from our house. Her
parents were very poor. I had always dreamt of getting a well-off girl as my wife. I had hoped to go
to England and become a barrister. To do so, I needed a lot of money, but, my parents could not
afford it. My dream would be fulfilled only if I found a father-in-law who could sponsor me; I did
not want to marry this poor girl.
After an evening walk, I returned home. My father was very conventional and performed his
religious duties without fail. He also expected me to do so, but I set out for my evening walk and
was engrossed in a conversation with friends, and forgot all about it. When I returned home, my
father was meditating. I went to my room to change clothes, and found my sister Vijaya studying
there. I had nicknamed her ‘Vi.’. She too used to spend time every evening in the prayer room
singing devotional songs. Surprised, I asked her, ‘What are you reading, Vi?’
Vi' threw the book on the table and said, ‘Nothing!' What can this worthless book possibly have?’
‘Aren’t you singing today?’ I asked, and she said, ‘Finished, already!’
I took off my coat and began loosening my tie, when Vi asked, ‘ Anna, do you
accept?'
‘Do I accept what?' I asked.
‘Oh! Of course, you have no idea at all! I ask you if the girl is acceptable to you and you ask me
what?!' she said.
‘But I haven’t even seen her. How can I givc my consent?’I asked.
‘Anna, I have seen her and feel she will be a suitable life partner to you in every way. Also, she is
educated. And beautiful too.’ Vijaya said.
‘How much is' the dowry?
Vijaya said, ‘Anna, father is against taking dowry in any form, as the girl’s family cannot afford to
give anything. But the girl is a beauty. Her parents wanted to give about Rs.500, but father refused
to accept it.’
‘Vi, I have a great desire to go to London to study Law. I will marry the girl only if her family can
afford to send me there.'
143
‘Anna you have a Masters degree, how can you afford to speak like this? Do you wish to sell
yourself?’ she said angrily and walked away as I did not respond.
I finished my round of meditation and found that father had completed his.
‘What was it that you told Vijaya?’ he asked me, but again, I preferred maintain silence. Father
continued, ‘You seem to have decided that you will marry only if they can assist you in continuing
your education. Their family is very poor, with six to seven girls. Is it not such a struggle to marry
the girls? You are not an innocent young child that cannot understand matters of the world. The girl
too is beautiful. I am not agreeable to you getting married to a well-off girl and going to London. I
want you to marry the girl we have selected for you and continue your education in Law right here. I
will finance it even if it proves a little difficult for me. If you don't listen to me, I cannot accept you
as my son.Think about it and tell me tomorrow.’
I was furious. I did not wish by any means to marry this girl, although I would not dare to say so to
my father. That night, when everybody at home was asleep, I left the house. The railway station was
four miles from our house, and it was midnight when I reached there. There was still about 10
minutes for the train to leave. I got a ticket to Madras and sat in an empty compartment. Wondering
about my future, I fell asleep, but my sleep was disrupted by some sound in the compartment. I
found somebody sitting in front of me. It was a full moon night. with enough light so I could tell
that it was an elderly gentleman. I was all alone in the compartment when we left my village, and
the gentleman must have gotten in somewhere on the way. Although quite senior in age he was
dressed like a much younger man. It was also evident from his clothes that he was well-off, and I
felt that it would benefit me if I befriended him. He was looking at me, but did not speak. Instead, I
took a chance at beginning a conversation with him, Sir, could you please tell me the time?'
‘It is 10 to two,’ he said, looking at his watch.
********
He seemed fond of a good chat, and initiated a conversation after I started talking. By the time we
reached Madras, we had become good friends. The old man was a jeweller. When he asked about
me, I said that although I was from a poor household, I had completed an MA and was going to
Madras in search of employment. He, in tum, told me to meet him if I did not get any job in Madras.
We reached Madras by then, and I went to the YMCA hostel, where I had stayed as a student. Many
of my old friends were still there. I stayed there that day, spending time with
them.
My hunt for a job began the next day, but my search proved futile. Even after two weeks, I had no
job in hand. The little money I had was all spent, and I worried about food also. As a last resort, I
went to the house of my old friend from the train. Fortunately for me, he was at home when I went
there. He was greatly pleased to meet me again.
His daughter and a niece by distant relation were staying with him. He asked me if I would take
classes for them. As I was jobless and struggling, I agreed gratefully.
144
I started taking classes right from the next day. His daughter was about 14-years-old, while his
niece was about 16-years-old. His daughter was good-looking, but his niece was extremely
beautiful. The daughter was a good learner, but again, the niece was very quick at picking whatever
I taught. But, while the daughter was quite a talker, the niece preferred to speak only when spoken
to. Also, the daughter always had a smile on the face. The nieces beautiful face seemed to have
some hidden pain on it — and yet, the withered look gave a charm to her face, making you want to
keep looking at it. The daughter’s name was Seetha; Shanthi was the niece.
It was now six months since I started taking classes. Both the girls were good students. Shanthi’s
beauty, the look of sorrow along with the good looks, her interest in studies, the preference for
silence over talk, continued to attract me towards her greatly, and made me want to keep looking at
her. She was the niece of a High Court judge, but her parents were very poor. They had been
struggling for long to marry her off, as they could not afford to give dowry.
I was lost in my dreams of Shanthi, But, if I married her, my dream of going to London would
remain merely a dream and tried to forget her. It was not an easy task, as her beauty and other
features kept attracting me.
I could, for one, marry Seetha. In fact, there were several occasions when her father used to call me
his son-in-law jovially. She was his only child too. It seemed quite obvious that her father wished to
marry her to me, while for me, going to London would become quite easy if I married Seetha. But,
my love for Shanthi had led my mind to prefer love over money.
I still hoped to go to London, which kept me from approaching Shanthi's parents and beg for her
hand.
It was nine o'clock that day. I was sitting in my classroom, waiting for my students. I was, in
reality, waiting for Shanthi, and this made me look up with great excitement as the door opened.
But, it was Seetha who entered. I was surprised that Shanthi, who always accompanied her, was not
there, and also a little disappointed.
I found it odd to ask immediately, ‘Where is Shanthi?' But, before I could say anything, Seetha
herself said, 'Sir, Shanthi's father came here last night and took her home. Do you know why? For
marriage!'
Now, I realised that I could not live without Shanthi. I cursed myself for not asking her parents for
her hand. But what could I do now? I also realised now that I had wrecked my life in the name of
money. Without Shanthi, my life was certainly meaningless, and practically impossible.
Having lost Shanthi, I spent the entire day in a lot of turmoil. The next day, at the time of class,
Seetha showed me a letter that she had received that morning by post. It was a letter from Shanthi.
‘My dear friend Seetha,
You would be in joy and my letter is one of sorrow, please forgive me! I would not have spoken
of my sorrow to you, but I have no other friend in this world but you. And I have not taken any step
145
without informing you about it. Father has arranged my marriage. The groom is older than my
father, and I am the bride for his third marriage. He has four grand-daughters too. The boy who was
selected last time rejected the proposal as my parents were unable to give dowry. Seetha, I am sure
marrying this old man would make me no different from a corpse. I find it, therefore, better to kill
myself instead. After all, would it not be a wise decision to go for the better of the two options?
‘People say committing suicide is a sin. But if marrying of a young to an old man is an act of
great merit, then too, I will prefer a sin to such a noble act.
‘By the time you receive this letter, your unfortunate cousin would have departed from this world.
I am sure at least you will not call me a sinner who committed suicide. Forgive me!'
Yours,
Shanthi
***
After reading Shanthi's letter, I cursed the rogue who demanded not just an angel like Shanthi, but a
huge sum as dowry too. In the midst of my sorrow, I completely forgot that I too had once refused
to marry a girl in the name or dowry. I cursed the Almighty. Yet, I felt within that if only I had kept
aside my desire for money and gone ahead and married Shanthi, an innocent girl would have been
happy now. I cursed myself for my mistake. How many innocent girls like Shanthi must have
become victims of the practice of dowry! I too learnt of its devilish nature only after I lost my dear
Shanthi.
That very night, I left for my village. When I reached home the next morning. Mother was
cleaning the entrance to the house and drawing a rangoli. My father and Vi were inside. My mother
was delighted on seeing me and welcomed me back with a hug. I spoke to her and went into the
house. My father was sitting in the hall, but did not speak to me even as I entered.
I went to my room. Vijaya was looking at a photograph, but immediately hid it, as I entered the
room. She threw a newspaper at me and said, ‘I was looking at the girl you killed!'
I was greatly surprised by her words. I pulled open the newspaper hurriedly. It was Shanthi's
picture, with a note below: A victim of dowry. Shanthi was the girl I had rejected!
But, now...
A note on the Translator: Chitra Phalguni is a journalist by profession. She is interested in

literature.
QUESTIONS:
1. Discuss how Gowramma empathises with the angst of Shanthi in the story ‘Sacrifice’
2. Bendre described the stories of Gowramma as khatu-madura, something which would
translate to 'bittersweet' in English. Substantiate this with reference to the story Sacrifice.
146
3. Explain the significance of the title ‘Sacrifice’.
4. Critically analyse the character of the narrator.
5. The story Sacrifice is a bold representation of the evil practice of Dowry. Explain.
6. Discuss Sacrifice as a feminist text.
7. Gowramma was ‘much more emancipated than most of the characters that inhabit her
stories.’ Explain this with reference to the story Sacrifice.
8. Explain the role of the narrator’s Father and sister in the story.
9. Discuss the tragic ending of the story. Is modernity progressive?
10. Critically analyse the situation today with reference to marriages and the practice of Dowry.
Is it any different from what’s been portrayed in Sacrifice.
4) Sacred Sword and Anklets
M.T .Vasudevan Nair
147
Sadanand Menon hails MT Vasudevan Nairas ‘a one-man literary movement in the Malayalam
language’. Eight major novels, 18 volumes of short stories, nine books of essays, 55 film scripts and
the list goes on… Most Keralites would have grown up with his literary consciousness drenched in
the ink from his pen. He had delighted the land and its people in his prodigious output.
Madathil Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair was born on 9 August 1933 in Kudallur, a small village in
the present-day Palakkad District, which was under the Malabar District in the Madras Presidency
of the British Raj. Born into a penurious middle-class agricultural family in a sleepy little village, he
developed passion for reading and writing at a young age. He read and worshiped writers like
Basheer, Thakazhi, Pottekkat, Ponkunnam Varki, Karur, Kesav Dev, Lalithambika Antharjanam,
P.C. Kuttikrishnan and others. He was sure that he wanted to be a writer. He stated that, to become a
writer, “ was my only prayer.”
He started writing when he was just fourteen. From then on, his journey in writing never had a stop
over. He went on to receive India's third highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan in In 2005. He
was also given the highest literary award in India, Jnanpith for his work Randamoozham.
The thematic kernel of much of MT’s writings is the changing human behaviour and the complexity
of human nature. He analyses human feebleness with empathy. His fiction delves deep into the dark
recesses of the individual mind and sheds light on its hidden aspects. MT’s cleverly crafted tales
captured the human mind and the psychology of the individual. His writings narrated the stories of
lonely, angry and alienated individuals fighting a society that was falling apart, a society that is on
the verge of disintegration. He adorns no theories in writing his stories, human situations form his
material. He affirms that,
“I lay no claim to scholarship or a comprehensive knowledge of any one subject. I have spent the six
decades of my life in a tiny unknown village and a small town. The village that is familiar to me is
148
the background of most of my fiction. Its river is my lifeblood. The village gave me sounds,
words and images.”
As a writer, he could understand the struggles between “the ruling classes and the ruled”. “culture
and anti-culture”, “sin and salvation.” As a writer he was committed to “wade through the
turbulence of life, hoping to discover “a tranquil zone of justice, truth and human dignity.” But he
was no judge of any sort. Though “there is a deafening commotion in the marketplace that is life,”
MT affirms that “The writer stands in the vortex of it.” He is not a commentator but a partner in the
processes of life. He shares his anxiety, anger and pain with the readers. “That gives him some
solace.”
Pallivalum Kalchilambum (Sacred Sword & Anklets), is a poignant, almost angry, 19-page short
story from 1954. It was converted in 1972 into the 76-page screenplay Nirmalyam (daily ritual
purification of the idol). The film won the Swarna Kamal award and Malayalam actor P. J. Antony
won the National Film Award for Best Actor in 1974 for his performance as a velichappadu (an
oracle or a medium between the Goddess and the worshipper in a Hindu temple) in this movie. The
film received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film and Kerala State Film Award for Best
Film in 1974. It is one of the classics in Malayalam cinema. It was the debut of M. T. Vasudevan
Nair as director.
The narrative unfolds through the experiences, thoughts and feelings of the central character,
Velichapad. In this story, MT transforms the delicately nuanced, if ambiguous, story of an outdated
structure of values and beliefs, confronted with their painful obsolescence, into an emphatic
contemporary melodrama whose climax leaves no room for ambiguity. The story revolves around a
neglected temple and its Velichappadu or oracle. There is a smallpox outbreak in the village and
Velichappadu’ daughter, Ammini is affected by it. His struggles in maintaining his dignity as a
Velichappadu and his desperation to save his family, forms the crux of the story. Because of
extreme poverty Velichappadu starts to beg. If the Velichappad is even forced to beg for rice from
houses nearby, he has a rebellious son, equally frustrated with life. Weighed down by the hangover
of a glorious past and a hopeless future in the changed era.
149
The Text:
Image courtesy: “Demon Seed: and other writings by M.T. Vasudevan Nair”. Trans.Gita
Krishnankutty, V. Abdulla. New Delhi: Penguin Books,1998. Print.
People had begun to disperse. The temple and its precincts were slowly slipping into the black
silence of the night.
When he removed his waist belt and anklets and stretched his limbs, the velichappadu felt a sense
of relief. He took off the silk cloth at his waist, threw it over the towel on his shoulder and
straightened his mundu. Wiping the perspiration off his forehead and chest, he leaned against the
stone pillars in the cooking area. A cool breeze crept in as if to comfort him.
Why had the Embrandiri not come out yet? He had to wait for him before he dragged himself
home.
At last the priest closed and locked the sreekovil, the inner shrine, and came out. In his left hand
was an oil lamp with a wick which still smoked.
'You're leaving, velichappadu?'
150
'Hmm, it's very late, there's no time to sleep now.'
The priest put the lamp down on the stone floor. And the pooja kindi in his right hand beside
it.
'Is there any water in the kindi, Embrandiri?'
'To drink? Not even a buffalo would drink water at this time of night.' The velichappadu did
not say anything. He cupped his hands and the Embrandiri poured water into them. Cold Water.
How tired he was!
'Shall I leave, Embrandiri?'
'Oh, all right. Let me give you this—'
He groped at his waist, took out a four-anna bit and four quarter-anna coins and gave them to
the velichappadu. In the faint glow of the oil lamp, the coins smiled in his palm. The velichappadu
looked at them for a while, then sighed gently and tucked them away at his waist.
He picked up his waist belt and sword and went

out.
It was pitch dark outside. It looked well past midnight.
He went down the steps. He would have to wade a mile and a half through dark lanes before
he reached home.
How exhausted he was!
And yet, he had not worked harder than usual that day. He has only performed the daily
ritual as the Devi's temple dancer. But he was inexpressibly tired. And with reason. He had eaten
nothing at night. And he had merely sat before his bowl at noon and pretended to be satisfied after
gulping down four spoonfuls of the clear kanji water in his bowl. He had shared out what remained
among the little ones seated stoically in front of their empty plates.
How thick the darkness was. Little stars hung sleepily on the edge of the endless expanse of
sky. He stumbled along, trying to find his way. The anklets he had hung around his wrist gently
prodded awake the silence of the night with a soft tinkle.
This evening's flower offering at the temple, the niramala, with the long strands of flowers
decorating the shrine, was not worth thinking about too much. In the old days it used to be a daily
offering during the mandalam festival. But now there was scarcity everywhere and the offerings had
become rare. Some rich man who had come from Ceylon had arranged for it today. The
velichappadu had danced, made his pronouncement as an oracle, accepted his fee and come away.
At home, everyone would be asleep. But—an unpleasant thought took shape in his mind.
How could sleep come to those who lay down with empty stomachs?
151
The velichappadu was one of the people the common folk in the village liked very much. A
forty-year-old man, six feet tall, with a thin body, long hair and a shrivelled face. For all of them, he
was simply their Bhagavathi's velichappadu.
The Bhagavathi temple was a part of the social life of the village. It was one of the better
maintained temples in the region. Its kitchen and dining areas and the shrine for the guardian of the
temple were all still in use. The people of the village had firm faith in the power of the deity,
Kunnathu Kavilamma. Offerings came in plenty on Tuesdays and Fridays, her special days.
The villagers made known their requests to the Devi and performed their worship to her
through the medium of the priest. And the Devi's sacred words reached them through the
velichappadu. He had a very special status since he was the person most closely associated with the
Devi.
His father had been a velichappadu in the same village and so had his father's father. The
sword and anklets had been used by two generations before they came into his hands.
It was said that his grandfather had performed many superhuman feats. Even now the old
men of the village talked about the wonders he had performed while possessed by the goddess. He
himself had only heard about them.
There was a story that had been widely circulated in the village. A group of non-Hindus had
polluted the temple, arousing the fury of the velichappadu, his grandfather, who had sprung at the
spectators in the temple, roaring with rage, brandishing his sword and anklets. It was said that
everyone who had seen him perform as the oracle that day had trembled with fear. 'Shall I conduct
the festival?' he had shouted, throwing a handful of rice grains on the ground.
The grains had become smallpox vesicles and rolled over the ground in all directions. The
village headman had come to the temple, begged for forgiveness, and made an offering of a hundred
coins. The things on the ground had turned back into rice grains!
People who knew the story had related it to him.
Rama Kurup's father had been no insignificant figure either. He had been not only a
velichappadu but an excellent sorcerer as well. He had only to call out to the Bhagavathi for her to
go to him, wherever he was. Because of this, there were no evil spirits or ghosts that he could not
exorcise. He had performed the rituals of a komaram until he was sixty. Even as an old man, he
used to wrap the sacred cloth around his waist, take the sacred sword in his hand and perform the
ritual dance with a violence that made the earth tremble. There was not a single person who did not
shudder in fear when he heard the roars that emerged from that sixty-year-old throat.
When his father died, Rama Kurup became the velichappadu.
His father had not had much to say when he was dying. 'Always be honest and truthful. All
we have is our Mother's blessing.'
The Devi who had the power to create and destroy was their mother.
152
He obeyed his father and became a great devotee of the Devi. He had been twenty-three
years old when, possessed by the Goddess, he had performed as a komaram for the first time. That
was two decades ago…
The villagers had accepted the young velichappadu. People said it was beautiful just to
watch him perform the ritual dance. men the sturdy young man took up the sacred sword, he could
make even the granite walls of the temple tremble.
And so the years had gone by. Now he could no longer roar like he used to or make the
temple quake when he danced. Indeed, he had begun to feel that even his emaciated frame had
become a burden for his legs. He delivered the oracular pronouncements in a very soft voice now.
'It is for the Bhagavathi that I do this. I cannot neglect her rituals,' he would say to himself as
he climbed the steps to the temple on the days when he had to perform the sacred dance.
When his shoulder-length hair was parted in the centre, a broad scar could be seen across his
head. It was a relic of the strength and power he had wielded as a young man. Everytime he
performed the ritual dance, blood used to spurt from his head. On festival days, he always left the
temple with turmeric pressed to his burning scalp.
His wife used to be full of resentment.
'Isn't it enough if you carry out the ritual? Do you have to break open your head as well?'
He always had a ready answer. 'I don't do it consciously, after all. How can I think of these
things when I am possessed?' She found this impossible to believe. He had once admitted to her
unthinkingly that he had always had to convince himself that he was possessed before he began to
perform the ritual.
He explained, 'It's all part of being a velichappadu. When my father danced, he used to place
the sword on his head and hit it with his anklet.'
He had not shed a drop of blood for more than seven years now. A persistent headache had
begun to plague him as a result of having lacerated his head in those early years. He had been sure
the wound would heal if he had the Bhagavathi's blessing. He had prayed. It must have been the
influence of his evil destiny that the headache still persisted.
The Devi never abandoned a person who appealed to her. That was her slogan. He used to
repeat it over and over again when he made the oracular pronouncements.
He had begun to worship the Devi as a child. It was more than twenty years now since he
had become her ritual dancer and oracle, the komaram. He thought of the blessings he had been
granted during that period. A body drained of strength, five children. What else?
'May all be as the Devi desires. Thampuratti, be my refuge!'
He often thought of the Embrandiri, the priest who performed the puja in the temple. The
153
man had come to the village with nothing but the mundu he wore, and a body that was skin and
bones. He had become the Bhagavathi's priest. And now? He had a mansion of a house! A coconut
grove of his own! His children went to school.
Apart from what the Devaswom, the temple trust, paid him, the priest made a lot of money
through offerings made to the temple. Eight annas for a pushpanjali, a flower offering. A good
portion of the collection at the shrine reached his hands. Rich people who came to worship gave him
a gift of money as dakshina. And from the money they gave him for special offerings --no, the
velichappadu would not actually say so, but he thought, it is the Devi's money, no good will come to
him, I am certain of it.
In the twenty-odd years that he had served the Devi, the velichappadu had never done anything
dishonest or untruthful. He had been comfortably off in the old days. There used to be niramalas and
song offerings very often in the temple. Apart from what they gave him as dakshina,
people used to place money on his sword as well. Those had not been times of scarcity.
Now offerings were made only during the mandalam festival. This meant hard work for a
whole night. Because he was no longer as strong as he used to be, he would begin to feel very tired
even as he became possessed. One of his most difficult tasks now was performing as the
velichappadu for the annual talappoli festival in the temple.
The fee for a whole day's work was a panam. Thanks to the kindness and courtesy of the
Embrandiri, he was given five annas from this. This had been the remuneration that
velichappadus had received for generations. His grandfather had received the same payment in the
days when he had performed the ritual. But in those days, an entire shop could have been bought for
a panam.
He moved along like an isolated morsel of darkness. He went through the lane, past the
platform beneath the banyan tree and descended into the fields. How sharp they were, the paddy
roots left over after the harvest! They seemed to pierce his feet.
His house was on the other side of the field. It was in a small compound, with a few ancient
coconut palms and a cluster of banana trees. The little house was in the middle. It was a low house,
with a thatched roof and earthen walls. His wife and four children lived in it. Slivers of darkness that
lurked inside even in the daytime were their constant companions.
The house and compound belonged to him; he had inherited them from his father.
Four sons and a daughter. People said that the velichappadu was very fortunate. What if
daughters had been born to him instead of sons? The Devi had been kind to him, that was certain.
The oldest son was old enough to look after the family. He would be about twenty-one. But
the velichappadu knew very little about him now. Was he alive? It was three years since he had left
the village—for no reason in particular. The boy had justified his father's conviction that he was a
good-for-nothing. He had had neither the spirit of devotion nor the fear of God as he grew up. True,
the velichappadu had brought him up, and yet--
154
Watching the family being devoured by starvation, the boy used to shout, 'Let your
Bhagavathi bring us rice, Acha. After all, you've been hanging on to the woman's tail for years,
haven't you?'
What could he have said in reply? He did not know whose nature the boy had inherited. He
certainly could not blame his wife. She was devoted enough to God.
He had sent the boy to school with great difficulty until he reached the eighth standard. He
had had to stop there, because he could not afford to educate him anymore. The boy had grown up
as the acknowledged leader of all the vagrants in the village.
The reason he had run away-- oh, well, he could not really be sure that was the reason . . .
The father had thrashed the son one day until his hand had begun to hurt. He had been convinced
that the punishment was not too great for the wrong his son had done. He had seen him cutting
down mangoes with the Bhagavathi's sacred sword that morning! Did the boy know the value of the
sacred sword? Fire had blazed in the father's soul.
That evening, the boy had not come back home. There were people who had seen him at the
railway station.
That was how the family had decreased by one.
He knocked on the front door. Everyone was asleep.
'Lakshmi, Lakshmi .. .'
He heard the sound of a match being struck inside the house. The flame of a lamp pierced
the dark. Lakshmi Amma appeared at the door.
He felt too tired to speak. Placing his waist belt, anklets and sword in a corner of the room,
he swallowed mouthfuls of water from the earthen pot and sat down on the mat spread on the floor.
Dropping with sleep, Lakshmi Amma said, 'Ammini has fever—’
He grunted and looked at Ammini, who was lying on the mat next to him. She was his third
child and his only daughter. He moved aside the shawl and touched her back. It was hot.
Appu, Balan and Damodaran lay on the other side of her, their limbs entangled.
'Ah ... Amme ... ' He sank down on the mat.
His life lay before him like a confused question mark.
Next morning he watched the day break, seated on the platform in front of the house, and
thought despairingly, what shall I do?
Ammini had been running a temperature for the last two days. It refused to subside.
155
Lakshmi told him that there was no rice to cook. And that she had exploited her friendship
with all the women in the neighbourhood to its limits.
There had been a time when devotional songs danced on his tongue in the mornings. Now,
he could not recite even the Devi stotrams. The thought of God refused to enter his aching heart.
He knew there was a way out. One that his father and grandfather had refused to take. His
pride kept rejecting it. But if there was no other way pride would not fill their stomachs, he
thought.
He finally took a decision.
He immersed himself in the tank. He smeared vibhuti and sandal paste plentifully over
himself. He tucked tulasi flowers in his hair and behind his ear.
'Lakshmi—!'
'Yes?'
'Are there any freshly washed clothes?'
'Just one mundu. It's torn in places.'
'Give it to me.'
He put on the mundu and wrapped his silk cloth around his waist. Then he put on his waist
belt and anklets. His wife realized what he was going to do.
Little Balan, busy making a mouth organ out of a papaya stem, asked, 'Where are you going,
Acha?'
'There's some place I have to go. Don't we have a sack?'
Lakshmi Amma threw him a sack. He folded it, put it over his shoulder, took up the sacred
sword and went out.
It seemed to him that with every step he took, the foundations of his pride were giving way
beneath his feet.
Velichappadus often walked from house to house while the crops were being harvested
during the months of Kanni and Makaram. Since they were the oracles of the gods, the villagers
used to measure out rice or paddy for them. After all, these gifts could be considered offerings to
God.
But until now, he had never gone to gather these gifts. Nor had his father or grandfather.
He could not help asking himself: Am I, the velichappadu, going to beg? Yes, he was. But
because of his sword and anklets, he seemed like a decent beggar, that was all.
156
Where was he to go first? A huge building reared its head before him. It was the house of the
most important landlord in the village. He might as well start there.
Standing before the front entrance, he felt a sudden twinge of fear. It was shameful! What
would he say to them?
There were no adults in front. Some of the children playing there looked as if they were
afraid of him and tried to slip into the house.
'Go in and tell them that the velichappadu is here,' he said in a firm voice.
One of the children shouted, 'Achamma, the velichappadu wants alms.'
In a few minutes, an old woman came to the door and peered out.
'Which temple are you from?'
The velichappadu felt as if he was choking. He cleared his throat and said, 'The Kunnathu
Kavil temple.'
'Fine thing indeed! Tell me, velichappadu, when did you start this?'
He did not reply. The insult made him writhe as if she had trampled on him.
In a little while, a servant woman came out with a handful of paddy in a corner of a
winnowing tray, barely two nazhis. He transferred it to his sack and left.
The sun blazed. Exhausted by hunger and thirst, his tired body was bathed in perspiration.
Still, he walked on.
When he got back home in the evening, he had about six idangazhis of paddy in the sack. It
would see them through the next two days. The children were happy. If their father had known of
this device, why had he not made use of it all these days?
They expected him to go again next morning. Seeing him hunched up on the earthen
platform outside the house, his youngest son asked, ' Why aren't you going, Acha?'
'Shut up, boy, and go away!'
The child's face fell. His father looked at him for a moment and said in a softer voice, to
comfort him, 'I'm not going any more, do you understand ...
Even as he suffered, he tried to console himself. With the blessing of the Devi, all could still
go well.
He wondered why the Devi did not bless him. Why did she keep testing him?
Meanwhile, his problems multiplied.
157
Early in the morning, when he took a look at the feverish Ammini, he found that spots had
appeared on her body. He had been wrong to think it was just a fever. She had smallpox.
Smallpox in the velichappadu's house! No one could believe it. Smallpox and cholera were
games the Devi played. Would she throw their seeds into the house of her own oracle?
‘How did it happen, velichappadu?' asked the old man in the house next door.
‘How do I know?'
'Did you do something to upset the Devi--’
The velichappadu gave the old man an angry look.
'What nonsense! Haven't I always fallen at her feet?'
His emotions were aroused. He could find no words, anger choked
He had to send his wife and other children away. The disease was infectious. He had to find
someone to nurse the patient. There was no one suitable in the neighbourhood. There was an old
man who lived four miles away but he would not come unless he was paid an advance. This was not
something everyone could afford.
Anyway, an attendant would have to be paid his expenses. If his wife and children stayed
somewhere else, he would have to pay for their maintenance as well. He needed money for all this.
If only he could get hold of ten rupees from somewhere! He thought of all the people he
could ask. What if he went to the Namboodiri's house and asked? Or the people at the big house?
It was then that he remembered the Embrandiri. He always had money. Besides, the
Embrandiri knew more about his problems than anyone else did. After all, both of them were the
Devi's dependents.
The velichappadu reached the temple just as the Embrandiri was leaving after the early
morning puja.
'Ah, the velichappadu. I never see you these days.'
'I am in despair, Embrandiri—
In his left hand, the Embrandiri had a copper vessel covered with a leaf. It probably
contained the rice which had been offered as naivedyam, thought the velichappadu.
'Didn't you hear, Embrandiri?'
'What?'
'The disease has come to our family
158
'What? The pox?' The priest looked agitated.
'Yes, we saw it this morning.'
'The Devi must be angry about something. Why don't you set out the cowries and find out?'
The velichappadu could not contain himself.
'What can she be angry about? I haven't stolen food from her, have I?'
The priest was annoyed.
'What's wrong with you?'
'I meant what I said.'
'To talk like this at the shrine ... you're mad …’
'That's all I need now. But let all that be, Embrandiri. I have to get an attendant for the child.
I don't have any money. You must give me a loan of ten rupees. '
The priest made a gesture of refusal. 'I don't have a pie.'
'Please don't say that. You have to help me somehow. I'm in a terrible situation. '
'But I must have something to give you.'
'How can you stand at the Devi's shrine and tell me such a lie?'
The Embrandiri was furious.
'A lie? What a Harischandra! The Devi has punished you because you've gone away from
the path of truth and righteousness.'
The velichappadu would have liked to twist the priest's sacred thread and land a blow on his
mountainous stomach. But he did not do so.
The Embrandiri left with his vessel of rice. The velichappadu looked at the closed door of the
shrine. If it was the all-powerful Devi who was in there, the Goddess who cared deeply about her
devotees ...
He went back home. The sun was burning hot, but the thoughts in his head burned even
hotter. He walked through the lane and over the empty fields, feeling as if he was trapped in a bad
dream.
His pace quickened as he neared home.
Ammini lay moaning on the mat. The other children were playing noisily in the next room.
159
Lakshmi was seated on the doorstep, crying.
He went into Ammini's room. Lakshmi Amma asked him something, but he did not reply.
He picked up the sacred sword leaning against the wall in a corner of the room and lifted his
anklets from the nail on which they hung.
'Acha—'
'I'll come soon, daughter.'
'Where are you going?'
He walked out.
He went to the forge of the village smith, Nanu. Nanu stood up respectfully when he saw the
velichappadu.
'What could have brought you here?'
'What is the price of old bell metal?'
'I buy it at two and a half rupees a pound.'
Here, weigh this and tell me how much they are worth.'
The smith was transfixed. The Bhagavathi's sacred sword and anklets lay before him.
Glossary
Velichappadu- Velichappadus are an important aspect of temples in Valluvanad region in Kerala.

They are the followers of the deity Bhagavathi. The Velichappadus, men and women, have the
power to know the mind of the deity and they communicate it to the people. Possessed by the deity,
Velichappadu (oracle) dances in frenzy at the festivals in Bhagavathi temples. They are noted for
their deep red color dress, long hair and the unique sword that they carry which are decorated with
small bells. They wear heavy waist belts decorated with bells and carry an anklet in their left hand.
Mundu-a rectangular cloth that is wrapped around the waist chiefly in Kerala
Embrandiri- Embranthiris are Brahmins who migrated to Kerala from Tulu Nadu (present day
Udupi in Karnataka).
pooja kindi- Vessel made of bell metal, which is commonly used during Poojai to dispense holy
water
kanji-is a type of rice porridge or gruel eaten in Asian countries.
komaram-Oracle
160
Thampuratti-princess or queen or Goddess
Devaswom-are socio-religious trusts in India, whose members are nominated by the government
and community. They oversee Hindu temples and their assets to ensure their smooth operation in
accordance with traditional rituals and customs.
Talappoli-Thalappoli is a traditional and ritual procession carried out to attract happiness and
prosperity
Panam-Money
Achan-Father
Stotrams- hymn of praise
Achamma-Father’s mother
Nazhis- It is a unit of measurement. It refers to the smallest of the measuring vessels associated with
the rice-paddy system in Kerala. 1 Naazhi is around 200g.
Idangazhis- is a measuring vessel made of clay
naivedyam- Meal offered to an idol
Note on Translator:
‘Gita Krishnankutty is a name inextricably intertwined with the history of Malayalam translations
into English’ states Janaky Sreedharan. She has a doctorate in English Literature from the
University of Mysore and has been actively involved in translating short stories, novels and
anthologies from Malayalam into English. She has trans-created the works of stalwarts like
Lalitambika Antharjanam, Kamla Das, M.T.Vasudevan Nair, Anand, Paul Zacharia and
M.Mukundan, to name but a few. Dr.Gita Krishnankutty’s humongous efforts have been duly
crowned with many prestigious awards, like Sahitya Akademi Award, Katha Award and Crossword
Award for Translation. No wonder, she says in an interview, “… translation itself pursued me!”
QUESTIONS
1. Discuss Sacred Sword & Anklets as a poignant and irate portrayal of human conflict.
2. Explain Sacred Sword & Anklets as depicting caste discriminations in the society at that
time.
3. Critically analyse the character of Velichappadu, Rama Kurup, in the story.
4. What does the eldest son of Velichappadu represent?
5. Describe the significance of the female characters in the short story.
6. What does the end of the story signify?
7. Discuss Sacred Sword & Anklets as documenting the social milieu at that time.
8. Is it pessimism or glaring reality that is reflected in the story,Sacred Sword & Anklets?
9. Discuss the style of writing of M.T. Vasudevan Nair.
161
10. Have you watched the film Nirmalyam. If so, comment on it with reference to the story
Sacred Sword & Anklets, which forms the base for the film.
Source: Demon Seed: and other writings by M.T. Vasudevan Nair. Trans.Gita Krishnankutty,
V. Abdulla. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1998. Print
*****
162
Question Paper Pattern
III Semester B.A. Examination

OPTIONAL ENGLISH
COURSE 5
BRITISH LITERATURE (UPTO 1800)
Time: 2 &1/2Hours Marks: 60
SECTION-A
(History of English Literature)
I. Answer any FOUR questions. 5X4=20
SECTION-B
(Authors and works)

SECTION-C
I. Answer any TWO questions. (Play) 5X2=10

II. Answer any TWO questions. (Poems) 5X2=10
163
Question Paper Pattern
OPTIONAL ENGLISH
COURSE 6
Translation Studies in India
Time: 2 & 1/2 Hours Marks: 60
SECTION-A
(Introduction to Translation Studies)
SECTION-B (Poems)
SECTION-C (Novel and Short Stories)
I. Answer any TWO questions. 2X5=10
II. Answer any TWO questions. 2X5=10
164
MODEL QUESTION PAPER
OPTIONAL ENGLISH
COURSE 5
BRITISH LITERATURE (UPTO 1800)
Time: 2 &1/2Hours Marks: 60
SECTION-A
(History of English Literature)
1. Write four of the most important features of Middle English literature?
2. What are the three main categories of Middle English literature?
3. Name some important factors which influenced Middle English literature?
4. What were the two most popular form of literature during the Middle English period?
Why?
5. Why is the British Literature up to 1800s called as the Age of Enlightenment? Give two
reasons.
SECTION-B
(Authors and works)
II. Answer any FOUR questions. 4x5=20
1. Critically analyse John Bunyan’s contribution to Drama.
2. Discuss the satirical expressions of Ben Jonson with reference to his works.
3. Discuss the factors responsible for the rise of the novel.
4. Comment on Oliver Goldsmith as a versatile writer.
5. Discuss Alexander Pope as a critic and poet.
SECTION-C
III. Answer any TWO questions. (Poems & Essays) 2X5=10

1. Discuss Milton’s feelings after he became blind?
2. What does the tree symbolize in the poem A Poison Tree?
3. What are the three benefits Of Studies according to Bacon?
IV. Answer any TWO questions. (Play) 2X5=10

1. Is Faustus' damnation tragic or an act of justice? Discuss.
2. What is the function of the Good Angel and the Evil Angel in the drama?
3. How are the Good Angel and the Evil Angel related to earlier morality plays?
165
Model Question Paper
OPTIONAL ENGLISH
COURSE 6
Translation Studies in India
Time: 2 & 1/2 Hours Marks: 60
SECTION-A
(Introduction to Translation Studies)
II. Answer any FOUR questions. 4X5=20
1. Trace the growth of Indian Literature in English Translation (ILET) in the nationalist
phase.
2. Trace the growth of Indian Literature in English Translation (ILET) in the formalist
phase.
3. Discuss the variations one can find in Indian Literature in English Translation.
4. What are the problems in the growth of Indian Literature in English Translation
(ILET)?
5. Comment on present and future of Indian Literature in English Translation.
SECTION-B (Poems)
II. Answer any FOUR questions. 4X5=20

1. What is the focus of vachana sahitya?
2. Explain briefly the impact of vachana movement?
3. Write a note on the vachanas of Ambigara Chowdaiah.
4. Akka Mahadevi's keen sensitivity to sights and sounds of nature make her one of
the most magnificent nature-poets -comment.
5. According to Sarvagna māyā is both the cause and the content of this world.
Elucidate.
SECTION-C (Novel)
III. Answer any TWO questions. 2X5=10
1. Nadira’s predicament reflects the psychological trauma arising from the conflict in which the
female body stands at the centre. Comment.
2. The novel portrays the subaltern experience of the Muslim women. Discuss.
166
IV. Answer any TWO questions. ( Short Stories) 2X5=10
1. Discuss the role of the female characters in the story God and Kandaswamy Pillai.
2. Briefly explain the themes discussed in the story A Tale Of 1947.
3. Critically analyse the situation today with reference to marriages and the practice of Dowry.
Is it any different from what’s been portrayed in Sacrifice.
167
1.
168
169
170

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III Semester B.A. Honours

Dr. Jayakara. S.M.

Dr. Chitra Panikkar

Dr. Geetha Bhasker (Co- opted Member)

Dr. L.N. Seshagiri

Dr. Shankara Murthy

Dr. Thammaiah R.B.

Prof. Ramesha S.M.

Prof. Dhanyashree C.M.

Dr. Rajashekharayya Mathapathi,

Prof. Gnaneshwara. T.N.

Prof. Chaitra N.S. Murthy,

Prof. Nice Aravind,

BA (Hon) Semester – III

AS PER NEP 2020

CHAPTER NO.1 CONTENT Page no.

1 The Social Context of Medieval English

2 Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, Alexander

3 King Lear, Volpone, Paradise Lost, Rape Of

4 Sonnet- On His Blindness—John Milton

Lyric- A Poison Tree—William Blake

Man In Black- Oliver Goldsmith

5 Play- Dr. Faustus -Marlowe

The Tragedy of Mariam

4. Christopher Marlowe– ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’.

• George Chapman (1559-1634)

7. 18th CENTURY PROSE

(a) The prose of the Age of Pope (1700-1744) and

The Prose in the Age of Pope

The style of these novels gave rise to the term euphuism.

9) Aphra Behn’s – Oroonoko or the Royal Slave was published in 1688.

8. 1. FACTORS THAT FURTHER GREW THE SPREAD OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL.

ii) The Printing Press

iv) The Rise of the Middle-Class

9.1. THE AGE OF TRANSITION (1850-1898)

· The Characteristics of the Period:

THE TRANSITIONAL POETS

• Elizabethan Drama. United States, Chelsea House Publishers, 2004.

1) Write a note on characteristics of Middle English literature.

MAJOR AUTHORS AND WORKS

Ben Jonson‘s main Dramatic works:

I'll strip the ragged follies of the time,

Naked, as at their birth, and with a whip of steel,

Taken from Every Man out of His Humour (1692: Folio)

1. Critically analyse Ben Johnson’s contribution to Drama.

STRUCTURE OF THE PLAY

1. What are the main characteristics of Milton Poetry?

Sonnet - John Milton’s On His Blindness

Essay - Francis Bacon’s Of Studies,

Introduction to the poet

That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need

a) excessive pride in oneself

1. What does light represent in the poem?

I was angry with my friend;

And I waterd it in fears,

And it grew both day and night.

And into my garden stole,

1. Wrath: extreme anger, rage, fury, indignation

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

The Man in Black

By Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774)

From The Citizen of the World

He was proceeding in this strain, earnestly to dissuade me from an imprudence of which I am