Treatment of love and time or interplay of love and time in Shakespeare's sonnets

The sonnets written during the Elizabethan period were based on the impact of time,love,beauty and mutability on the lives of human beings. Being a poet of this time Shakespeare uses all these themes in his 154 sonnets ,but he uses them in his own way. They unlock the fathomless soul of the genius. However, they are not overtly autobiographical for Shakespeare adds a ray of fancy to render them in an objective way that elicits our praise. Time appears as an arch-enemy in the world of Shakespearean sonnets which tries to siphon off the cream of life and hurl men to nothingness. In them we find a poetic tug-of-war with the onslaughts of Time.
Dympna Callaghan remarks,  "Shakespeare’s treatment of time in the sonnets essentially rehearses fundamentally Ovidian themes, namely the progress of mutability, loss, grief, and death that constitute the central themes of Ovid’s great mythic work, the Metamorphoses. In Ovid, metamorphosis is the mythic equivalent of the movement, the shifts and changes that occur over the course of time, to bring about decay, death, and, ultimately, the disintegration of form that is the fate of all organic matter. The changes Ovid describes invariably involve a diminished rather than enhanced human identity – healthy and attractive young people are regularlyturned into plants and animals, far less glorious renditions of their
former selves."
Shakespearen sonnets are an attempt to immortalize love in a mortal world which is constantly threatened by the ravages of time.In sonnet no 18 ,shakespear is frank in his admission about how time wrecks different natural elements .The "darling buds of may" are shaken ,where as "summer's lease hath all too short a date."The gold complexion of the sun even dims.The power of this time is also estabilshed on the other sonnet Let me not to the marriage of true minds.Here ,again the poet shows how time kills rosy lips and cheeks.In fact,there is no effort by the poet to deny the grim fact that time desoys all things.The ravages caused by the time is also felt by the poet in his personal life.He perceives how time has played on him and anticipates aptly in the sonnet That time of year the decay that will nring to him ere long.
Yet,Shakespeare's sonnets are not only useless mourning over that which cannot be averted.He is quite assured that love is not time"s fool.In Sonnet no73,the poet refers to the restorative power of love amidst the destructive forces of time.He hopes to immortalise his love, -"So long as men can breathe ,or eyes can see.So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.'

BHARATTIRTHA [THE INDIAN PILGRIMAGE]: a thematic analysis

“As the mission of the rose lies in the unfoldment of the petals which implies distinctness,so the rose of humanity is perfect only when the diverse races and nations have evolved their perfect disinct characteristics but all attached to the stem of humanities by the bond of love.” In search of spiritual commonwealth:Tagore.
In the poem Bharattirtha ,Tagore envisioned an India imbued with the noblest of her ideals:that of tolerance,acceptance,exchange.The poem depics the soul of both Indian philosophy,culture, tradition ,The poem is the string of garland around which the flowers of poesy is imitated and established successfully.
The poet hails motherland as the land of great births .According to him, the land is so pious and honourable to be worshipped whole heartedly.India is the land which welcomes every individual human race,tribe with same warmth of heart.Tagore’s words echo the same as saint Tulsidas viewed that the Indian culture is the garland of various flowers of distinctive cultures.It is a unique quality of mother India that she never closed her door over any one, enduring immense pain. -”Nobody will go empty handed from the sea shore .”
Tgore calls for universal brotherhood and spiritual awakening from bondage,tyranny .Until and unless the soul is awakened ,it cannot resist attacks on its culture.We know that tagore was a believer in an interactive,dialogic world ,given to a deep sense of sympathy,generosity and mutuality , and in which nations wouldnot be parochial ,xenophobiac and cemtripetal but poised towards a morally ,spiritually enlightened community of nations through the espousal of centrifugal outlook,multilateral imagination ,principle of universality.This belief is got embodied in the beautiful lyric Bharattirtha.

CHARACTER OF CLYTEMNESTRA IN AGAMEMNON

Of the characters of Aeschylus which has been wrought with the greatest care , and which leave the most profound impression on the memory,is clytemnestra.It is to the delineation of this character that our dramatist has devoted maximum care.
she is an accused wife,pitiless and contemptuous,but resolutely bent on revenge.The virile masculinity of purpose gets a reference when the watchman says, "victory!Great news for clytemnestra ,in whose woman's heart/A man's will nurses hope."
Clytemnestra possesses a power of intellect which reigns throughout her speeches-she prepares an elaborate welcome for Agamenon.Her next insistence most famously known as the carpet scene ,displays an excessive zeal in giving Agamemnon a welcome that is unexpected.In an instance of irony she adds after her instructions to the slaves to spread the silk tapestries beneath his feet-"Justice herself;/shall lead him a home he never hoped to see."
She has often been compared to Lady Macbeth.But the comparison is too far fetched.Lady Macbeth provoked a lot but did the task of an accomplice while clytemnesta executes the act herself.
In a masterly fashion ,Aeschylus has drawn the portrait of clytemnestra.She is not merely a bad woman who has an adulterous intrigue ,she is an outraged mother.

"Silence! The court is in session "as a drama of protest: a critical overview

Vijat Tendulkar, ”the angry young man of Marathi theatre”, protests against the various problems of his contemporary society.He once said-“As a social being,I am against all exploitations,and I personally believe that all exploitations must end”. His plays, such as “sakharam binder”,”kamala”,etc, are all violent attacks on the society with its cockroach –ridden customs and prejudices.In Silence! The Court is in Session, Tendulkar has depicted the plight of a young woman, who is betrayed by the male dominated society. A traditional male dominated society cannot relinquish its paralyzed values and customs. The society does not like to perceive or receive any social change. Tendulkar presents a treatment of those ugly ways of society in this play. It is a bitter satire against the social ills and an interesting attempt to criticize the follies that prevail in our society.Here,multiple themes are woven in the texture of the drama.
Benare,,a lively sportive woman,is subjected to different atrocities.From the outset, Benare is presented as a happy, communicative woman. She cultivates the acquaintance with samant as soon as she arrives at the village for the show. As a school teacher she is very punctual.she takes part in a play concerning the trial of president Johnson. But as they have plenty of time berore the drama, they decide to stage a mock trial.Benare is singled out as a culprit who is to be tried.she is charged with infanticide and unmarried motherhood. Benare gets dumb at the change of situation.Witnesses after witnesses heap charges against her, as they would peel the layer of an onion. The accusations against her are based on conjectures and hearsay,but they strike home.The accuser and the accused become one.The judge verdicts that the child in Benare’s womb should be destroyed.They spare Damle who exploits the gullibility of Benare and her body.
Tendulkar also hammered the contemporary judicial system.A judicial court is supposed to be a seat of Justice, seriousness and decorum. Through this play, Tendulkar also makes a review of the present day court procedures, and points out the problem of degradation and the loss of the dignity of the court. It is a matter of fact that a witness has to take an oath keeping his hand on the Gita or some such religious scripture, during the court procedures.In the play, the witnesses take oath touching the Oxford English Dictionary. What is more, Mr. Kasikar, the judge, also jumps into the witness box in violation of all court procedures and decorum, and declares his personal views from the witness stand: "A sinful canker on the body of society- that's my honest opinion of these grown-up unmarried girls."5 It reminds us the words of Lord Bryce,-“If the lamp of justice goes out in the darkness, then how deep is that Darkness.”
Tendulkar has criticized the middle-class morality that throttles the tender desires of Benare, a middle class woman, to mother a child in the play. Tendulkar seems to leave the play without suggesting any solution to the problem. None in the play is ready to sympathize with Benare. Only Mr. Kashikar, the judge, feels that they are going too far in their mock-trial but, then, he immediately silences his conscience. After all the Court is in session, and everyone is expected to keep silence! Tendulkar covertly pleads for sympathy for the victims of the society through this flash of humanity for a moment in the heart of Mr. Kashikar.

SYMBOLISM IN TAGORE'S "THE POST OFFICE"

Symbolism denotes something that stands for something else.It has two meanings; apparent and hidden.In post office,Tagore uses differnt phrases,words,characters symbolically.
On the surface leve,the play is the story of pain and agony of human condition.It is the story of an orphan boy amal who has been adopted by madhav.Amal is suffering from some fatal disease and is restricted by the physician.Amal expects a letter from the king .So it is the story of agony of a child.
But beneath the natural level,the play symbolizes man's yearning for the union with God.Human being,the finite,seeks fulfillment with the God,the infinite.And he is elated whenever the union takes place.This is illustrated through exquisite symbols.
AMAL: See that far away hill from the window. I often long to go beyond those hills and right away.
MADHAV: Oh! yoy silly!As if there is nothing more to be done but just get up to the top of the hill and away.
The conversation shows the difference between the materialist and a spiritualist. Unlike a materialist, a spiritualist believes that there is another world beyond this world.The post office is therefore a symbolic representation of two currents of thought.The post office itself provides a symbolic background.It is a sort of bridge between the known and the unknown.
The king's letter is a suggestive symbol .It comes from a distant,mysterious world bringing a message from someome whom we hold very dear ro us.It is an invitation to leave the world of pain and enter into the world of eternal bliss.Time is an essential symbol, played by the watchman.we are bound by time ,but we can conquer it.It calls for great suffering and pain.Amal's deliverance suggests the note.
The symbol of death is also praiseworthy. Death is suffused with a great aura of liberation.It comes always at the moment when the self of a man,seeking no longer for personal gains, is able to say ;all my work is thine. we know that amal is sleeping, but when he will awake,he will find himself in a world of eternal freedom.We are reminded of DONNE:
"One short sleep a spent,we wakw eternally,
And death shall be no more,death thou shall die."
The character of sudha also contributes much to the symbolic structure of the play.The word sudha is both connotative and denotative.Sudha means nectar.W hen she asks the physician to tell amalthat sudha has not forgotten him,we understand that amal is not dead,because he has with him sudha,the drink of immortality.
Thus,the play has several symbolic meanings.Amal represents the soul or atma.The king represents the God.Dr.Iyenger talks of these symbols very well; " One of the deeply significant plays ,which a child could read and understan,though it might intrigue the grown ups".

TAGORE AS A SHORT STORY WRITER:AN EVALUATION

R.N. TAGORE is an outstanding figure in the realm of short story genre. His multi-dimensional vision of life is discernable in his 61 short stories, telescoping man’s relationship with nature and social milieu. Endowed with boundless love for human beings, he emerged as a singer of the weal and woe of common life .
As a short story writer, Tagore was a practitioner of psychological and spiritual realism. What Tagore did was to record certain moments in the lives of the common people. CABULIWALLAH is study of peculiar bond of relationship between the people despite the vast hiatus of ages. Here love transcends social barrier and makes us sympathize with a poor cabuli fruit seller.
Tagore saw that while the privileged persons were enjoying in the cosy inn, others were “wallowing in the mud”. Tagore defied the class barrier between the haves and have- nots. He represented the ordinary mass who were neglected.
Tagore believed that man can upgrade morally and spiritually if he lives a life in close contact with nature. THE HIDDEN TREASURE is an apt illustration of that. Fatik, the protagonist of THE HOME COMIG ,is a child of naure. The delirious talk of the boy with his ultimate welcome of holiday is heart rendering.
Tagore hated the prevailing education system which cramped the personality of the children.Problems faced by the wards by their teachers is mirrored in HOUSEWIFE .In THE EXERCISE BOOK the agony of a child is presented. Tarapada is after his heart, a settled life is not for him.Balai clings to his flowers.
Hardships of Bengali women due to unhealthy customs is seen in many of his stories.In NUMBER ONE a woman suicides to get rid of biases.THE LIVING OR DEAD deals with the same thing.In PUNISHMENT a man kills his wife to save his brother.Extraction of dowry from marriage leads to the stoppage of marriage in THE UNKNOWN.In DEBITS AND CREDITS the evils are scathingly castigated.
Thus we see that Tagore sings the saga of the pathos of common life from the standpoint of a sympathetic humanist.He envisions a better future for mankind despite its present woes.His stories are universal and eternal in their appeal as Tagore himself feels excited “ If I do nothing but write stories, I am happy….my characters are with me when I am shut up in my room.”

THOMAS HARDY'S DARKLING THRUSH ;AN ANALYSIS

Thomas Hardy's (1840-1928) "The Darkling Thrush" was published in 1901, New Years Day. It refers to the beginning of a new year, a new century and the uncertainty of change. The rhyming scheme is formulaic ababcdcd, the tone is pessimistic and yet there is something that resonates long after the poem has been read.
In the first line the narrator says,
"I leant upon a coppice gate"
This refers to a gate leading to a wood. Woods are often dark and gloomy. Normally a door or a gate leads to new beginnings but in this case it doesn't seem hopeful. He leans upon it, which suggests reflection but also tiredness. The season reflects the mood. It is winter and frosty, which reminds us of a coldness of emotions. He is alone taking in his surroundings.
The descriptive language about the frost being "specter-gray" highlights the bleakness of the environment. Gray isn't an interesting color. There is a tremendous sense of loneliness in the following lines:

"And Winter's dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day."
For some people this time of year is a desolate time when others are surrounded by families. The word "dregs" suggests distaste; the last of something. There is a musical quality to the rhythm of this poem and even the following lines reflect this:
"The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres, (lines 5 and 6)"
The imagery unfolded by the above two lines could refer to the score of music and related to the words "strings" and "broken lyres". Broken strings would make an unpleasant sound, which reflects the narrator's mood. Score can also mean to cut something. It is as the stems are cutting into the sky. The coldness has meant that people have hurried inside to warm up by "their household fires" (line 8)
If the first stanza is about loneliness, the second one reflects the death of the century.
The imagery of death is used with words such as "corpse;" it is the death of not just a year, or a decade but a whole century. For Hardy, who would have been in his 50s, change would have felt harder to deal with. The world has "sharp features" not only physically but perhaps surrounding him with change. Even the wind reflects the mood of the poem it is described as a "death-lament."
Hardy concludes his second stanza with:
"And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I."
There is stillness. If "fervor" suggests excitement and energy then "fervourless" suggests Hardy, like nature is lacking. He has no enthusiasm for change. It is the third stanza
that will alter the mood of the poem slightly making it less pessimistic.
Even if the whole of the surroundings appear bleak, a thrush will sing breaking the spell of the quietness. It has "joy illimited." There is reference to religion with the words "evensong" as if the thrush is in touch with his creator. The thrush can bring some joy with his voice in the gloomy circumstances. This is a turning point in the poem; there is some hope that makes the narrator think. He is momentarily distracted with the noise.
The final stanza is controversial. It can be interpreted that the thrush brings hope to the narrator and ends the poem on a positive note. We are told how the bird has "such ecstatic sound" (line 3) when there was no reason for it, "so little cause for carolings" (line 1). Nature has found a secret source of hope the narrator is not familiar with and so the narrator feels a sense of peace.
Or it can be perceived that whilst the thrush is happy, the narrator is still not convinced. In the final two lines the narrator says,
"Some blessed hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware."
The narrator isn't aware of feeling anything positive. It is simply the bird who is content. The narrator still feels sorry for himself and a sense of despair.