Summary of Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies

William Shakespeare

Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies, a poem taken from William Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest” is a song sing by the spirit Ariel to Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, who mistakenly thinks his father died by drowning in the sea in Act 1 Scene 2. The poem makes death as a valuable and meaningful element as death transforms the temporary and mortal human body into something valuable, permanent and precious element.

As Ariel sings to Ferdinand n his sad, gloomy mood to console him, he mentions that his father is lying (sleeping) dead under thirty feet below in the sea. His bones have been changed into coral. His eyes have been changed into pearl. No parts of his body has been spared and gone in vain. Receiving these precious elements, the sea has also become rich and strange. All the sea nymphs have done all the formalities required like ringing the knell ding dong.

Summing up, the main theme of this poem is that death, considered as a meaningful element, is regarded as an art that converts the temporary mortal body into something eternal, immortal, valuable, and precious. So, death is not the end of life but it is just a transformation of life from one form to another.

In the poem, the figurative tools are used esp. Alliteration, Assonance and onomatopoeia.

 Alliteration: The repetition of the same consonant sound in the initial position of several words, marking the stressed syllables in a line of poetry or prose. A simple example is the phrase “through thick and thin.” The device is used to emphasize meaning and thus can be effectively employed in oratory. So alliteration is the echoing of consonance e.g.

He healed him over the heel on the hill.

Tell me a tale of tail.

Assonance: The repetition of the same stressed vowel sounds with different consonants is called assonance: Assonance is used in poetry and prose as a phonetic device in which writers repeat similar vowel sounds without a corresponding repetition of consonants. Assonance helps to provide rhythmic structure in informal metrical schemes. The assonant a sounds in these lines from the Shakespeare’s poem “Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies” function as vowel rhymes. The excerpt is recited by a character, Arial.

Onomatopoeia: Onomatopoeia is an imitation of natural sounds by words. Examples in English are the italicized words in the phrases “the humming bee,” the cackling hen,” the whizzing arrow,” and “the buzzing saw.” So the use of sounds that supposedly echo or suggest the meaning is called onomatopoeia: It’s a literary device in which the sounds of words suggest a sense of the subject. In this poem, the phrase ‘Ding Dong Knell’ is exemplified as an onomatopoeic words.

Summary: The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner

W.B. Yeats

The poem entitled “The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner” by W.B. Yeats is spoken from the point of view of an old man who looks upon the political and romantic obsessions of the youth. This poem is the remake version of the poem “The Old Pensioner”. The latest version presents the poet’s reminiscences of his young life which become more agonizing when he looks at his present stage and contrasts his time of youth with his state in old age. This version begins in a state of rejection and misfortune, and consequently leads to a more aggressive and raging tone. Because of his dissatisfaction with the act of time, he doesn’t surrender like the general people rather he shows his contempt for time.

It begins with the conjunction ‘Although’ which states something unexpected. ‘The rain’ stands for the troubles and suffering of the old man whereas ‘the broken tree’ stands for the carelessness and neglect of the youth toward the old. He states that once upon a time he too “talked of love and politics” but that now, with his age and perspective, his thoughts rest on Time and eternal questions. He is more aware of the outside world and looks towards it for the evil force that has caused him his demise. In the second stanza he makes a comparison of the direction of his own rage to the direction of the rage of “lads” and “crazy rascals.” His rage is toward Time that has done him direct harm unlike the more abstract concepts of “conspiracy” and “human tyranny” that others direct anger toward. The pikes to which the “old pensioner” refers are the weapons traditionally used in nationalist uprisings against the British, which the man is too old for, so regards as futile. In the final stanza we learn that these meditations are not pleasant, as he suggests that no woman pay him attention due to his age, though he still recalls the women he once loved. The poem ends as he curses Time, which has changed him from young to old.

The elderly pensioner’s lamentation is that time has transformed him into someone that is no longer important or viable. This is in contrast to Yeats’ other, more wistful and gentle portrayal of age in the rest of the collection. This old man, who is forced away from politics and love, shows the downside of such contemplative non-participation in life. Of course, he is still tormented by the passions of his youth for women and conversation.

The speaker is crying out rather than muttering softy at that which has been unjust to him: time. It is repetition of the words “Time that has transfigured me” in lines 11-12, 17-18 and “Time transfigured me” in line six that plays a particular role in the Personification of time and the attitude of bitterness directed upon it. The repetition of the words “Time…transfigured me,” forms a transition from an object that grows into a threatening being. The first instance in which time is mentioned, it is of an object that has caused harm to the speaker. The next instance “Time” is given a more ominous tone because the speaker contemplates its destruction. This gives the impression of “Time” as a more complex object of enmity. By the end of the poem “Time” has become a monstrous entity with the specific human characteristic of a face that the speaker spits into.

However, this is paradoxical in itself because the personification of Time is extremely abstract. The speaker is saying it is Time that has caused him to become “a broken tree” against his will. It is Time, as an evil force that has caused his destruction. This is demonstrated in the last stanza when the speaker says he is capable of loving women, and it is not his fault that women no longer look at him. Rather, it is Times fault. It is Times fault that the only women he can love now are in his memory. It is Time that has changed him, which is why he “spits into its face.”

Summing up, the poem of the second version ends with a terrific declaration of the speaker’s contempt for Time. The words “transfigured me” are rhythmically interrupted in the last line in order to bring special attention to the fact that this is a statement of the harm that Time has done to the speaker himself. The poem ends with a sound of loud violence and hatred. The speaker in this version does not harbour the same inward feeling of depression, but rather directs his misfortune on an outward force. This leads to a stronger voice of aggression within the poem.

Summary of About love

Author’s Background:

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), Russian writer, who brought both the short story and the drama to new prominence in Russia and eventually in the Western world. Taking a cool, objective stance toward his characters, Chekhov conveys their inner lives and feelings indirectly, by suggestion rather than statement. His plots are usually simple, and the endings of both his stories and his plays tend toward openness rather than finality. Chekhov’s works create the effect of profound experience taking place beneath the surface in the ordinary lives of unexceptional people.

 

About Love is a story told by different narrator showing, with sadness and subtle humour, the effects of fear, loneliness, and lost opportunity on the lives of the characters. It is the story of love, its nature and various cases by the story writer and playwright, Anton P. Chekhov. The story presents three different love stories with different style and theme.

The first love story is between Nikanor (Servant of Alyohin) and Pelageya (Maid servant of Alyohin). Nikanor, according to Alyohin, is a fool (mug) and is in love with Pelageya, the pretty cool girl. When he is drunk, he beats her and swears at her. Sometimes she hides herself upstairs in such a case. Notwithstanding, she is ready to live with him just so. But, Nikanor is so orthodox and devout to his religion that his conviction doesn’t allow him to live just so without marriage. The first kind of love story shows the Violent Love because the love gives violence in its return.

The second love story is shown between Alyohin and the university girl. Alyohin is in love with a girl when he is at university. Whenever he goes to meet her, she asks him for a month expense, money for beef and so on. She loves his money not him. Such kind of love is called Material (Mercenary Love). Love in this situation, according to Burkin, is hindrance, irritation and source of dissatisfaction.

Finally, the third love story between Alyohin and Anna is the central part of this story. And it goes as follows… Despite graduating from the university, Alyohin returns to his village, Sofyino, for his duty to pay off the loan his father has taken mortgaging his land and decides to start farming albeit with the dislike in the work. He has to work so hard day and night like a peasant which removes the chance to live as he has lived in the town. He couldn’t reconcile urban living with the rural living. He misses the black coat there.

Later being selected as an honorary justice for the peace, he has to go now and then to the town to take part in the assize and the circuit court. He seems to be much happier in town than in the village. In course of the trial of an arson case, he is acquainted with Luganovich. After two days of the case, Luganovich invites him to have dinner at his house. There he meets with Anna Alexeyevna, Luganovich’s wife. Though she is a young woman of almost 22 with a baby of six month, he likes her so much that he finds very hard to determine what is the extraordinary and exceptional in her he likes most. But at the time of dinner, he sees her very closely which makes him clear that she was very beautiful, kind, intelligent, fascinating and loving. He has never seen a woman like her. It looks as if he has known her since his childhood and has been very near to her. They make him eat as much as possible. From their behaviour, he finds the family very peaceful, happy and harmonious.  After dinner, they play a duet for him, then it gets dark and he drives home. That is the beginning of spring. He spends the whole summer missing the same fair hair willowy feeling her shadow moving around him.

In the late autumn, in a charity show is organized in town, no sooner has he entered the Governor’s box then he sees Anna sitting beside the Governor’s wife. They talk a great deal. Anna also expresses there that she misses him during summer and hoping to meet him in the show. He has the next day’s lunch at the Luganoviches. Thereafter, he goes to their summer villa along with them. After that every time he goes to town he never fails to visit them. Both of them grow used to each other. Then, he starts going there without informing them. Every time he sees her he finds the same impression of something new and extraordinary. He talks to Anna for hours. Later both the husband and the wife are distressed about him thinking that instead of devoting himself to a scholarly work, why he should live in the country and rush around like a squirrel in a cage. They also beg him not to hesitate to ask for money since he is penniless even working hard. They also start giving the gifts to each other. They go to theatre walking. They sit side by side with their shoulders touching. The town people have started making rumours about them; however, they don’t care anything. Anna begins to be affected by his love as she remains stressed and goes to her mother or her sister for some days.

Alyohin is never happy in the village, in the fields, in bed and keeps on thinking about her. He realizes that he is in love with her. He muses over the fact of the beautiful, intelligent, young woman marrying an old, dull and uninteresting person like Luganovich. Why has she met Luganovich first not him? Why such a terrible mistake need have happened in their life? He thinks of the problems which don’t let them meet. He doesn’t want to ruin the family in which he is so trusted. He is poor and probably couldn’t afford for her livelihood or couldn’t give her material satisfaction. He isn’t in a respectable profession or scholarly work. On the other hand, Anna too has the problem. Because of his love, her children, husband, her mother and the whole family would be ruined. Besides, he would have to be distrusted by the most trustworthy family members. So they have determined not to reveal their love to each other.

Eventually, the parting came. Luganovich gets his transfer in the western provinces. Anna has to leave for Crimea for a month to seek medical treatment and later she would join her husband in the western provinces. Everybody comes to see her off at the station. After they leave, Alyohin hurries to her compartment to give her basket before one minute the third bell rings for the train to move. As soon as he enters, their eyes meet causing their spiritual strength to desert them. They embrace each other kissing here and there and confess their love to each other. He repents that he couldn’t live with her blaming each and every thing. So he suggests that one should thing beyond the earthly happiness, vice and virtue when being in love or they shouldn’t reason at all. Kissing her for the last time, he presses her hand and parts forever. He goes to other compartment and sits their crying till he gets off at the next station and returns to Sofyino.

Narrative Framework: Three friends Alyohin, Burkin and Ivan are having breakfast in Alyohin’s house. In the meantime, Nikanor, his servant came to ask what the guests would like to have for dinner in the evening. When Alyohin looked at him, he reminded of his love affair with Pelageya and started to tell the story. After his story over, Alyohin told about his own experience. Then the conversation turned to love as there was rain outside, the sky full of dark clouds and the trees drenched with raindrops. In such a time people could nowhere but listen and tell stories to each other. So Alyohin began his own love affair with Anna. When it was over, the sky became clear outside and it was bright. Ivan and Burkin became very sad hearing his love affair and said that Alyohin was really like a squirrel in a cage. This setting of the story clearly matches with the mood of the character.

Platonic Love: Platonic love in its modern popular sense is an affectionate relationship into which the sexual element does not enter, especially in cases where one might easily assume otherwise. A simple example of platonic relationships is a deep, non-sexual friendship between two heterosexual people of the opposite sexes. The English term dates back as far as Sir William Davenant’s Platonic Lovers (1636). It is derived from the concept in Plato’s Symposium, of the love of the idea of good which lies at the root of all virtue and truth. Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection or profound oneness. … Sexual abstinence or chastity is the practice of voluntarily refraining from sexual intercourse and (usually) other sexual act. It signifies a love focused on the beauty of a person’s character and intelligence rather than on their physical charms. It refers to the special bond of affection between two persons of opposite sex.  (14th century – 15th century – 16th century – other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. … However, having acknowledged that the man’s erotic desire for the youth magnetizes and energizes the relationship, they countered that it is wiser for this eros to not be sexually expressed, but instead be redirected into the intellectual and emotional spheres. Eroticism is an aesthetic focused on sexual desire, especially the feelings of anticipation of sexual activity. … So, it refers to the meeting of two souls not two bodies. That’s why it’s called spiritual love. In this story, the love relationship of Anna and Alyohin very vividly signifies platonic love relationship.

Summing up, love in Chekhov’s view is a mystery which can’t be understood however people write and discuss about it as one pleases. In love, personal happiness doesn’t matter. It’s often embellished with roses, nightingales and poeticized. Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection and attachment. The word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure (“I loved that meal”) to intense interpersonal attraction (“I love my boyfriend”). This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states. Love is an extremely powerful emotion; it can be irresistible and people are often bound to pursue their love interests. As an abstract concept, love usually refers to a deep, ineffable feeling of tenderly caring for another person. Even this limited conception of love, however, encompasses a wealth of different feelings, from the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love to the nonsexual emotional closeness of familial and platonic love to the profound oneness or devotion of religious love. Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and causing different central psychological importance.

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