Each and All

 “Each and All” echoes the idea—which Emerson voices in many places—that things by themselves are unaffecting and even ugly but that when placed in context, usually their natural context, they become beautiful. Even putrefaction, Emerson writes, is beautiful when seen as the source of new life.
Central to the poem is the speaker’s interaction with the parts of nature. At the poem’s end, in spite of himself, the speaker interacts with the natural world—he sees the parts of nature around him, inhales the violet’s odor, and sees and hears “the rolling river, the morning bird.” Consequently, he once again becomes aware of beauty and recognizes that he is a part of “the perfect whole.” Emerson seems to be saying here that reason alone is not a sufficient guide for understanding the world of nature and humankind’s relationship to that world. The poem is also about human interaction with other humans. At least in part it deals with the idea that the interactions are so extensive that people affect other people of whose lives they are not even aware.
Central to the poem is Emerson’s idea that truth often cannot be attained through logical means or even through experience and reflection on experience. In fact, for Emerson, experience is decidedly not the best teacher. Instead, as Emerson writes in work after work, insight or intuition is often a better guide to truth than experience is. Thus, logical processes based on experience lead the narrator of “Each and All” astray. A moment of intuition communicates to him the truth: that beauty and truth are inseparable parts of the unity of nature.

Prayer before birth by McNeice

Prayer before birth is a poem written by the Irish poet Louis McNeice (1907 - 1963) at the height of the Second World War. In the poem, Louis MacNeice expresses his fear at what the world's tyranny can do to the innocence of a child and blames the human race "for the sins that in me the world shall commit". The poem also contains many religious themes and overtones through the use of double-imagery; the child could be seen as a metaphor for Christ, making reference to certain themes and events said to have occurred during his ministry on earth.
There is great use of alliteration and assonance: "strong drugs dope me, with wise lies lure me" to create rhythm in the poem. Also repetition of "I am not yet born" is used to emphasise innocence. MacNeice also talks of being a "cog in a machine" - this shows that he feels that society will mould the child to become part of everything else around him, he will be worthless, insignificant and merely a part of an entire collaboration.

 

When We Two Parted

 

This poem is kind of like an upset guy's internal monologue when he finds out his old flame is dating somebody else: "OMG, I remember when we broke up. It was cold, your cheek was cold, and that kiss you gave me was so un affectionate. You made a vow to me, and you didn't even bother to keep it. Sigh. I should have known I would feel like this now, just based on how our goodbye was. I can't even hear your name without getting upset. You'll never know how deeply I mourn your loss. If I meet you again, I will simply be quiet and cry."

The speaker begins with a statement. When he and some mysterious person "parted" (i.e., said goodbye), they did it silently, while crying. Sad, right?

They were also "half-broken-hearted," and, it turns out, separated for some years. Separated? Where did we get that from? 

Ah, the word "sever" here means something like separated. It's kind of weird because usually you sever something (like, um, your pinky finger in a woodshop accident). Think of it like this: people would look at your funny if you were like "I'm severing" ("Severing what?" somebody might ask).

(Grammar note: verbs like "sever" that require an object are called transitive verbs. This is already in the TMI zone, but if you want even more TMI—TTMI—head here.)

It sounds like this is going to be one of those "it was so sad that we had to say goodbye" poems, except for the fact that the speaker and his mystery friend are only "half broken-hearted." Now that seems worth keeping in mind. It's possible that the phrase "half broken-hearted" means in fact that either one, or both of them, just didn't care all that much.

This could really change things up a bit. Perhaps it's just the woman who is "half broken-hearted" and the speaker is actually angry about it. 

Also, keep in mind that we don't know what happened when they parted. These first four lines just give us the "when" part of a longer sentence. 

That means we gotta keep reading to get the rest of this longish sentence. 

Before we do that, though, did you notice the rhyme going on in lines 1 and 3, then 2 and 4? You might have also heard a similar beat going on there as well. Check out "Form and Meter" for more on how this poem's put together. Hurry back, though, because we gotta see what's up with our teary-eyed speaker…

To His Coy Mistress"

"To His Coy Mistress" is divided into three stanzas or poetic paragraphs. It’s spoken by a nameless man, who doesn’t reveal any physical or biographical details about himself, to a nameless woman, who is also biography-less.
During the first stanza, the speaker tells the mistress that if they had more time and space, her "coyness" (see our discussion on the word "coy" in "What’s Up With the Title?") wouldn’t be a "crime." He extends this discussion by describing how much he would compliment her and admire her, if only there was time. He would focus on "each part" of her body until he got to the heart (and "heart," here, is both a metaphor for sex, and a metaphor for love).
In the second stanza he says, "BUT," we don’t have the time, we are about to die! He tells her that life is short, but death is forever. In a shocking moment, he warns her that, when she’s in the coffin, worms will try to take her "virginity" if she doesn’t have sex with him before they die. If she refuses to have sex with him, there will be repercussions for him, too. All his sexual desire will burn up, "ashes" for all time.
In the third stanza he says, "NOW," I’ve told you what will happen when you die, so let’s have sex while we’re still young. Hey, look at those "birds of prey" mating. That’s how we should do it – but, before that, let’s have us a little wine and time (cheese is for sissies). Then, he wants to play a game

– the turn ourselves into a "ball" game. (Hmmm.) He suggests, furthermore, that they release all their pent up frustrations into the sex act, and, in this way, be free.
In the final couplet, he calms down a little. He says that having sex can’t make the "sun" stop moving. In Marvell’s time, the movement of the sun around the earth (we now know the earth rotates around the sun) was thought to create time. Anyway, he says, we can’t make time stop, but we can change places with it. Whenever we have sex, we pursue time, instead of time pursuing us. This fellow has some confusing ideas about sex and time. Come to think of it, we probably do, too. "To His Coy Mistress" offers us a chance to explore some of those confusing thoughts.

DAYBREAK by H W Longfellow

DAYBREAK by H W Longfellow

  At daybreak a wind rises from the sea. It receives the message of the morning and starts to blow. It takes up a duty to spread the news. The heavy mists obstruct the wind. But the wind is determined to blow. It is in haste and wants to make all awake. So it requests the mists not to obstruct it. It first sees the ships anchored. But they should be set free from their anchors as the sun rises and darkness is over. The wind reminds the mariners to undertake a new journey. It blows over the distant lands and calls all to arise and awake. It calls the forest to unfold its leaves, twigs and branches fully and freely. It tells the wood birds to get up and start singing. Their song will announce the beginning of the day. It prompts the domestic cocks to herald the day.       

      The light of the sun is the source of life to the plants of the fields. They are looked after and nourished by it. They should be grateful to the sun. So the wind tells them to bow down their heads and express their gratitude. The wind passes through the church tower and results the bell to ring in the pleasant hour. Finally, the wind arrives at the graveyard of the church. It sighs sadly for the dead and softly tells them to sleep on because it is not yet the Judgement Day.

"Daffodils" wordsworth

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (also commonly known as "Daffodils" is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth. It is Wordsworth's most famous work.
The poem was inspired by an event on 15 April 1802, in which Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy came across a "long belt" of daffodils. Written some time between 1804 and 1807 (in 1804 by Wordsworth's own account), it was first published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes, and a revised version was published in 1815.
In a poll conducted in 1995 by the BBC Radio 4 Bookworm programmer to determine the nation's favourite poems, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud came fifth. Often anthologized, the poem is commonly seen as a classic of English romantic poetry, although Poems in Two Volumes, in which it first appeared, was poorly reviewed by Wordsworth's contemporaries.
The inspiration for the poem came from a walk Wordsworth took with his sister Dorothy around Glencoyne Bay, Ullswater, in the Lake District. He would draw on this to compose "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" in 1804, inspired by Dorothy's journal entry describing the walk:
When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side, we fancied that the lake had floated the seed ashore & that the little colony had so sprung up – But as we went along there were more & yet more & at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness & the rest tossed and reeled and danced & seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the Lake, they looked so gay ever dancing ever changing. This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here & there a little knot & a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity & unity & life of that one busy highway – We rested again & again. The Bays were stormy & we heard the waves at different distances & in the middle of the water like the Sea.

— Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere Journal Thursday, 15 April 1802

At the time he wrote the poem, Wordsworth was living with his wife, Mary Hutchinson, and sister Dorothy at Town End, in Grasmere in England's Lake District. Mary contributed what Wordsworth later said were the two best lines in the poem, recalling the "tranquil restoration" of Tintern Abbey,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude

The entire household thus contributed to the poem.Nevertheless, Wordsworth's biographer Mary Moorman, notes that Dorothy was excluded from the poem, even though she had seen the daffodils together with Wordsworth. The poem itself was placed in a section of Poems in Two Volumes entitled Moods of my Mind in which he grouped together his most deeply felt lyrics. Others included To a Butterfly, a childhood recollection of chasing butterflies with Dorothy, and The Sparrow's Nest, in which he says of Dorothy "She gave me eyes, she gave me ears".
The earlier Lyrical Ballads, a collection of poems by both himself and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, had been first published in 1798 and had started the romantic movement in England. It had brought Wordsworth and the other Lake poets into the poetic limelight. Wordsworth had published nothing new since the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads, and a new publication was eagerly awaited.Wordsworth had, however, gained some financial security by the 1805 publication of the fourth edition of Lyrical Ballads; it was the first from which he enjoyed the profits of copyright ownership. He decided to turn away from the long poem he was working on (The Recluse) and devote more attention to publishing Poems in Two Volumes, in which "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" first appeared.

Fame and Friendship by H.A. Dobson.

Fame and Friendship is written by H.A. Dobson. Here poet wants to convey that fame is not as good as friendship. Fame is immortal and friendship is mortal. If we compare first stanza with second stanza we know that poet shown the reality of life.

First stanza,

“Fame is a food that dead men eat,
I have no stomach for such meat.”

Above lines speaks about that there is no value of fame in our life because fame is like a food that dead men eat. Why poet compare fame with dead men? Because one day fame will die with the person.    

Second stanza,

“But Friendship is a nobler thing,
Of Friendship it is good to sing.” 

Friendship is connects one person to the other. So many ideas, thoughts, feelings, emotions share by friendship and it is the bridge that connects our relations. At the end men will die but their sweet memories always lives. It is the experience of recall and past and through it friendship always lives. Friendship is a nobler thing because it proves healthy relationship and it includes care for others.  One day friend will die but memories of her/him always lives with us. 

"La Belle Dame sans Merci" by , Keats

 

"La Belle Dame sans Merci" is a popular form given an artistic sheen by the Romantic poets. Keats uses a stanza of three iambic tetrameter lines with the fourth dimetric line which makes the stanza seem a self-contained unit, giving the ballad a deliberate and slow movement, and is pleasing to the ear. Keats uses a number of the stylistic characteristics of the ballad, such as simplicity of language, repetition, and absence of details; like some of the old ballads, it deals with the supernatural. Keats's economical manner of telling a story in "La Belle Dame sans Merci" is the direct opposite of his lavish manner in "The Eve of St. Agnes". Part of the fascination exerted by the poem comes from Keats' use of understatement.It is a love story.
Keats sets his simple story of love and death in a bleak wintry landscape that is appropriate to it: "The sedge has wither'd from the lake / And no birds sing!" The repetition of these two lines, with minor variations, as the concluding lines of the poem emphasizes the fate of the unfortunate knight and neatly encloses the poem in a frame by bringing it back to its beginning. Keats relates the condition of the trees and surroundings with condition of the knight who is also broken.
In keeping with the ballad tradition, Keats does not identify his questioner, or the knight, or the destructively beautiful lady. What Keats does not include in his poem contributes as much to it in arousing the reader's imagination as what he puts into it. La belle dame sans merci, the beautiful lady without pity, is a femme fatale, a Circe-like figure who attracts lovers only to destroy them by her supernatural powers. She destroys because it is her nature to destroy. Keats could have found patterns for his "faery's child" in folk mythology, classical literature, Renaissance poetry, or the medieval ballad. With a few skillful touches, he creates a woman who is at once beautiful, erotically attractive, fascinating, and deadly.
Some readers see the poem as Keats' personal rebellion against the pains of love. In his letters and in some of his poems, he reveals that he did experience the pains, as well as the pleasures, of love and that he resented the pains, particularly the loss of freedom that came with falling in love. However, the ballad is a very objective form, and it may be best to read "La Belle Dame sans Merci" as pure story and no more.
From Wikipedia

Rabindranath Tagore’s “The Child”

 “The Child” was originally written in English in a single night, and later translated into Bengali as Sishutirtha. The poem is significant as it is Tagore’s only poem written in English. Tanusree Shankar’s interpretation depicts it as “a flowing, rhythmic, spiritual journey of Man through the ages, from the bondage of ignorance, ultimately to the freedom of enlightenment and self realization. At the same time, it may also be considered a celebration of the mother – the feminine principle in the universe. “
The poem portrays man’s journey from the futility of existence and darkness of ignorance to the sprouting of new life as represented by the child. The first flush of dawn reflects on the dew-dripping leaves of the forest. ‘Flush’ connotes a strong emotion and a question, the response of which the sky seeks. The light of sky gets reflected in the objects of the earth. Parallel to this phenomenon is the man who reads the skies, forecasts the climate or predicts the future. “Friends, we have come!” Parallel to this is the saying that they have arrived.
In response to the earlier question, the ripe corn endeavours to respond reaching to the skies. The companions also have a searching gaze as though they are in a quest. On both sides of the road, one finds the corn. The time is ripe and so is the harvest. The ripe golden corn is the glad golden answer of the earth to the morning light. The corn is ripe and golden, and doubly because sunlight shines on the corn. On both sides of the road, the corn is ripe. In between the current of daily life moves on. ‘Current’ signifies kinetic as opposed to static. The word ‘current’ also signifies the latent energy beneath the Life that moves on between the village near the hill and the one near the bank. Here, the high and the low, and the terrestrial and aquatic are abridged. The motion also gives a zig-zag graph that is again representative of current. The word ‘daily’ makes the affair a quotidian one, and hence mechanical. The potter’s wheel goes round and round, and also symbolizes the routine revolution of the earth. The cow-herd takes his cattle to the pasture, and the woman with the pitcher on her head walks to the well.
However, one fails to fathom where the King’s castle is: this quest alludes to the kingdom of God. One fails to dig the mine of Gold, or locate the secret book of magic in this expedition of life. One cannot comprehend where the sage is, who knows love’s utter wisdom .The reader of the sky holds the conviction that the stars cannot be wrong. Their signal points to that spot. Their signal points to the ultimate destination or aim.

 

“Paper Boats” by Rabindranath Tagore

 

Rabindranath Tagore is an outstanding poet of modern India. He was the first to popularise modem India in the world literary scene. Pri­marily he was a Bengali poet. But he was equally a master at writing in English. He translated many of his works into English. His poetry shows his deep humanism. His is a universal message of peace, love and joy. He transcends the barriers of space and time. So his poetry has a universal appeal.
'Paper Boats' is a nice poem of Tagore, taken from his collection, "The Crescent Moon." This poem is on a childhood experience. Like Wordsworth and Walter de la Mare, Tagore also found in children a mys­tic quality. The poem narrates the child's, experience of floating paper boats down the stream. The child imagines that some other child tries to compete with his boats by sending clouds down the air in the sky.The poem shows the child's peculiar psychology.The child loves the worlds of playfulness and fun. Day by day he floats paper boats down the running stream. He sends them with the intention that they would reach some distant lands. Out of curiosity he writes his name and address on those boats. He fondly hopes that some­where someone will find them and know him:-“I hope that someone in some strange land will find Them and know who I am."The child has always a deep sense of love. He wishes to present the unknown friend with valuable gifts. So he loads his boats with flowers from his garden. He hopes that the boats will carry the flowers safely to the distant land in the night-
"and hope that these blooms of the dawn
will be carried safely to land in the night."
When the child looks up, he sees the white clouds sailing in the sky-
"See the little clouds setting their white bulging sails."
He imagines that he has a friend in the sky. He thinking that the other child sends white clouds down the air to compete with his boats-
‘I know not what playmate of mine in the sky sends
Them down the air to race with my boats!"
At night he sees dreams in his sleep. He dreams about his paper boats. In the dream he is happy to know that angles are sailing in his boats.
Thus the poem shows Tagore's keen insight into the child's mind.

My Pretty Rose Tree by William Blake

My Pretty Rose Tree

A flower was offered to me,
Such a flower as May never bore;
But I said, ‘I’ve a pretty rose tree,’
And I passed the sweet flower o’er.

Then I went to my pretty rose tree,
To tend her by day and by night;
But my rose turned away with jealousy,
And her thorns were my only delight.

– William Blake

 The unnamed flower blooms in May, the month that represents Spring and, therefore, new life and fertility. It can also be seen as an image of virginity (as in the archaic phrase that a girl is ‘deflowered' by her first sexual encounter). The namelessness of the flower may also suggest its lack of self-consciousness and, therefore, its capacity for self-forgetful love, in contrast to the rose-tree. To be named is to have an identity, with the possibility of turning this into a possession which one is unwilling to share or give.

The rose is a literary symbol of love, especially sexual love. It is also linked with mortality, a sign of the transience of human love and beauty. It therefore links sex and death. This is appropriate since it seems to represent jealous,

possessive love which cannot be life-giving, standing in contrast to the flower.

The effects of the fall

Human relationships are affected by fallen divided selfhood which sees itself at the centre of its world as something to be protected and defended. Its pleasures must be jealously defended and denied to others. One chief pleasure is exerting control over others, which can often masquerade as showing protective love. Jealousy and possessiveness characterize this distortion of love.

She walks in beauty Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies. 

   The poem is about an unnamed woman. She's really quite striking, and the speaker compares her to lots of beautiful, but dark, things, like "night" and "starry skies." The second stanza continues to use the contrast between light and dark, day and night, to describe her beauty. We also learn that her face is really "pure" and "sweet." The third stanza wraps it all up – she's not just beautiful, she's "good" and "innocent," to boot.

An unnamed woman "walks in beauty." This is an odd way of saying that she's beautiful, isn't it? "Walk[ing] in beauty" makes her beauty seem more dynamic – as though it's partly her movement and the spring in her step that make her beautiful. She's not just a pretty face in a portrait; it's the whole living, breathing, "walk[ing]" woman that's beautiful.

Her beauty is compared to "night." This seems strange – night is dark, right? Aren't beautiful women usually compared to "a summer's day"? (That would be Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, in case you were wondering).

But the featured woman isn't just compared to any "night," she's compared to a night in a place where there are no clouds and lots of stars. We suppose that means she has a very clear and lovely complexion? Or perhaps being "cloudless" has more to do with her personality – her conscience might be as clear as a "cloudless" sky.

You see "starry skies" at night, but the brightness of the stars relieves the darkness of the night. This is the first hint of a contrast between light and dark in the poem.

There's some pretty sweet alliteration in these lines. You might want to head over to the "Symbols" section for more on that before moving forward.

This poem has inspired various composers over time, including Roger Quilter, Gerald Finzi, Isaac Nathan Connor J. Koppin and Chanticleer Men's Chorus Conductor/Composer Eric Barnum. It was one of several to be set to Jewish tunes from the synagogue by Isaac Nathan, which were published as Hebrew Melodies in 1815.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

 
Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad, about a voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State, in the heart of Africa, by the story's narrator Marlow. Marlow tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored on the River Thames, London, England. This setting provides the frame for Marlow's story of his obsession with the ivory trader Kurtz, which enables Conrad to create a parallel between London and Africa as places of darkness
Central to Conrad's work is the idea that there is little difference between so-called civilised people and those described as savages; Heart of Darkness raises questions about imperialism and racism.
Originally published as a three-part serial story in Blackwood's Magazine, Heart of Darkness has been variously published and translated into many languages. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of Darkness as the sixty-seventh of the hundred best novels in English of the twentieth century.

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

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.
Gulliver’s adventure in Lilliput begins when he wakes after his shipwreck to find himself bound by innumerable tiny threads and addressed by tiny captors who are in awe of him but fiercely protective of their kingdom. They are not afraid to use violence against Gulliver, though their arrows are little more than pinpricks. But overall, they are hospitable, risking famine in their land by feeding Gulliver, who consumes more food than a thousand Lilliputians combined could. Gulliver is taken into the capital city by a vast wagon the Lilliputians have specially built. He is presented to the emperor, who is entertained by Gulliver, just as Gulliver is flattered by the attention of royalty. Eventually Gulliver becomes a national resource, used by the army in its war against the people of Blefuscu, whom the Lilliputians hate for doctrinal differences concerning the proper way to crack eggs. But things change when Gulliver is convicted of treason for putting out a fire in the royal palace with his urine and is condemned to be shot in the eyes and starved to death. Gulliver escapes to Blefuscu, where he is able to repair a boat he finds and set sail for England.
After staying in England with his wife and family for two months, Gulliver undertakes his next sea voyage, which takes him to a land of giants called Brobdingnag. Here, a field worker discovers him. The farmer initially treats him as little more than an animal, keeping him for amusement. The farmer eventually sells Gulliver to the queen, who makes him a courtly diversion and is entertained by his musical talents. Social life is easy for Gulliver after his discovery by the court, but not particularly enjoyable. Gulliver is often repulsed by the physicality of the Brobdingnagians, whose ordinary flaws are many times magnified by their huge size. Thus, when a couple of courtly ladies let him play on their naked bodies, he is not attracted to them but rather disgusted by their enormous skin pores and the sound of their torrential urination. He is generally startled by the ignorance of the people here—even the king knows nothing about politics. More unsettling findings in Brobdingnag come in the form of various animals of the realm that endanger his life. Even Brobdingnagian insects leave slimy trails on his food that make eating difficult. On a trip to the frontier, accompanying the royal couple, Gulliver leaves Brobdingnag when his cage is plucked up by an eagle and dropped into the sea.
Next, Gulliver sets sail again and, after an attack by pirates, ends up in Laputa, where a floating island inhabited by theoreticians and academics oppresses the land below, called Balnibarbi. The scientific research undertaken in Laputa and in Balnibarbi seems totally inane and impractical, and its residents too appear wholly out of touch with reality. Taking a short side trip to Glubbdubdrib, Gulliver is able to witness the conjuring up of figures from history, such as Julius Caesar and other military leaders, whom he finds much less impressive than in books. After visiting the Luggnaggians and the Struldbrugs, the latter of which are senile immortals who prove that age does not bring wisdom, he is able to sail to Japan and from there back to England.
Finally, on his fourth journey, Gulliver sets out as captain of a ship, but after the mutiny of his crew and a long confinement in his cabin, he arrives in an unknown land. This land is populated by Houyhnhnms, rational-thinking horses who rule, and by Yahoos, brutish humanlike creatures who serve the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver sets about learning their language, and when he can speak he narrates his voyages to them and explains the constitution of England. He is treated with great courtesy and kindness by the horses and is enlightened by his many conversations with them and by his exposure to their noble culture. He wants to stay with the Houyhnhnms, but his bared body reveals to the horses that he is very much like a Yahoo, and he is banished. Gulliver is grief-stricken but agrees to leave. He fashions a canoe and makes his way to a nearby island, where he is picked up by a Portuguese ship captain who treats him well, though Gulliver cannot help now seeing the captain—and all humans—as shamefully Yahoolike. Gulliver then concludes his narrative with a claim that the lands he has visited belong by rights to England, as her colonies, even though he questions the whole idea of colonialism.

Othelo by william shakespear

The play opens in the powerful city state of Venice, famous as a center of trade and banking and for its military might. It is in the early hours of the morning, and two men — Roderigo, a young gentleman and former suitor of Senator Brabantio's daughter Desdemona, and Iago, an ensign who claims to have been passed over for promotion by Othello — are outside Senator Brabantio's house to tell him the news of his daughter's elopement with Othello, the Moor.
After sharing the news of the secret marriage in words calculated to alarm him, the treacherous and vindictive Iago quickly departs, leaving Roderigo to confirm the story. Feigning friendship and concern, Iago then meets with Othello and tells him of Brabantio's reaction. Brabantio, Othello, and Desdemona appear before the Duke of Venice. Although Brabantio accuses Othello of seducing his daughter by witchcraft, Othello explains that he won Desdemona by telling her his adventures, and Desdemona, called to testify, convinces the senators that she has freely gone with Othello and married    
In Cyprus, Iago plots against Othello, planting the seed of doubt about Desdemona's fidelity and implicating Cassio as her lover. Using Roderigo, Iago arranges a fight that ultimately results in Cassio's demotion. Believing that his chances of reinstatement are better if he has Desdemona plead his case to her husband, Cassio, with Iago's help, arranges for a private meeting with Desdemona, who promises to speak on his behalf to Othello until his reconciliation with Othello is achieved.
As Cassio leaves, Iago and Othello appear. Othello notices Cassio's speedy departure, and Iago quickly seizes the opportunity to point out that Cassio seems to be trying to avoid the Moor. Desdemona immediately and enthusiastically begins to beg Othello to pardon Cassio, as she promised, and will not stop her pleading until Othello, preoccupied with other thoughts, agrees. The moment Desdemona and Emilia leave, however, Iago begins to plant seeds of doubt and suspicion in Othello's mind.
Othello, beset by uncertainty and anxiety, later demands of Iago some proof that.
Desdemona, true to her word to Cassio, continues to plead on his behalf, unknowingly confirming to Othello her unfaithfulness. He accuses her of falseness, and Desdemona, not knowing what she has done to offend, can only assure him that she loves him.
Meanwhile, the gullible Roderigo has abandoned all hope of Desdemona, but Iago urges him to kill Cassio and rekindle his hopes. Late that night, they attack Cassio in the street, but it is Cassio who wounds Roderigo. Iago rushes out and stabs Cassio in the leg. Othello, hearing Cassio's cries for help, believes that half of the revenge is completed and hastens to fulfil his undertaking.
Desdemona is in bed when Othello enters. He tells her to pray a last prayer as he has no wish to kill her soul. Realizing that he plans to murder her, Desdemona protests her innocence of any wrongdoing. Knowing that he doesn't believe her, she begs him to let her live just a little longer, but he smothers her with a pillow.
Emilia, Desdemona's servant and Iago's wife, upon discovering the ruse, raises the alarm and declares Iago a liar before Montano and Gratiano. She explains how Desdemona's handkerchief came into Cassio's possession, and when she refuses to be quiet, Iago stabs her. Cassio, wounded, confirms Emilia's story. A soldier to the last, Othello stands on his honor. Knowing that this is the end, he asks to be remembered as "one that loved not wisely but too well." Then he stabs himself and falls on the bed beside his wife, where he dies.

Nightingale and Rose" by Oscar Wilde

An allegorical fable of love, sacrifice and selfishness. As with all of Wilde's short stories it embodies strong moral values and is told with effervescence akin to that of the 1001 nights.

It is the tale of a love struck student who must provide his lover with a red rose in order to win her heart. A nightingale overhearing his lament from a solitary oak tree is filled with sorrow and admiration all at once, and decides to help the poor young man.
She journeys through the night seeking the perfect red rose and finally comes across a rambling rose bush but alas, the bush has no roses to offer her. However, there is a way to MAKE a red rose, but with grave consequences.

Early it is a great feeling to read the short story of Oscar Wilde. Because if we look into the personal life

Really it is a great feeling to read the short story of Oscar Wilde. Because if we look into the personal life of the writer then it is full of suffering. he was heavily talking opium. at the same time he has spent his last year of life in prison, so no one can expect great thing from him. but it is not so. 

What we have learn from the theory of DEPERSONALIZATION , that work of art and poet- writer  are two different entity. we shouldn't be judgmental that if writer's personal life is disturbed, then his writing also not will be good.

there are many examples in literature, for example, Eugene O'Neill that his personal life was also full of pain and suffering. but then even he is famous as American Shakespeare. His works are tremendously popular among the people. My point is that WORK IS IMPORTANT, not the personal life. 

Nightingale and Rose is very short, simple and touching story. within few pages what writer tell that can't be told in even long books. on the one side we have beautiful, sweet Nightingale who sacrifice life for love, and when we come to know that boy has thrown Red Rose , we feel sorry for Nightingale.

for detail reading click on this given below link:

http://genius.com/Oscar-wilde-the-nightingale-and-the-rose-annotated

  

A Marriage Proposal by Anton Chekhov

 A Marriage Proposal (sometimes translated as simply The Proposal, Russian: Предложение) is a one-act farce by Anton Chekhov, written in 1888-1889 and first performed in 1890. It is a fast-paced play of dialogue-based action and situational humour 
Ivan Vassiliyitch Lomov, a long-time neighbor of Stepan Stepanovitch Chubukov, has come to propose marriage to Chubukov's 25-year-old daughter, Natalia. After he has asked and received joyful permission to marry Natalia, she is invited into the room, and he tries to convey to her the proposal. Lomov is a hypochondriac, and, while trying to make clear his reasons for being there, he gets into an argument with Natalia about The Oxen Meadows, a disputed piece of land between their respective properties, which results in him having "palpitations" and numbness in his leg. After her father notices they are arguing, he joins in, and then sends Ivan out of the house. While Stepan rants about Lomov, he expresses his shock that "this fool dares to make you (Natalia) a proposal of marriage!" She immediately starts into hysterics, begging for her father to bring him back. He does, and Natalia and Ivan get into a second big argument, this time about the superiority of their respective hunting dogs, Guess and Squeezer. Ivan collapses from his exhaustion over arguing, and father and daughter fear he's dead. However, after a few minutes he regains consciousness, and Chubukov all but forces him and his daughter to accept the proposal with a kiss. Immediately following the kiss, the couple gets into another argument.

Kim. by rudyard kipling

Kim is set in an imperialistic world; a world strikingly masculine, dominated by travel, trade and adventure, a world in which there is no question of the division between white and non-white.
Two men - a boy who grows into early manhood and an old ascetic priest, the lama - are at the center of the novel. A quest faces them both. Born in India, Kim is nevertheless white, a sahib. While he wants to play the Great Game of Imperialism, he is also spiritually bound to the lama. His aim, as he moves chameleon-like through the two cultures, is to reconcile these opposing strands, while the lama searches for redemption from the Wheel of Life. A celebration of their friendship in a beautiful but often hostile environment, 'Kim' captures the opulence of India's exotic landscape, overlaid by the uneasy presence of the British Raj.
 

Kim is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning English author Rudyard Kipling. It was first published serially in McClure's Magazine from December 1900 to October 1901 as well as in Cassell's Magazine from January to November 1901, and first published in book form by Macmillan & Co. Ltd in October 1901. The story unfolds against the backdrop of The Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. The novel made the term "Great Game" popular and introduced the theme of great power rivalry and intrigue.

It is set after the Second Afghan War which ended in 1881, but before the Third, probably in the period 1893 to 1898. The novel is notable for its detailed portrait of the people, culture, and varied religions of India. "The book presents a vivid picture of India, its teeming populations, religions, and superstitions, and the life of the bazaars and the road."
In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Kim No. 78 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.^] In 2003 the book was listed on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's "best-loved novel."
Kim (Kimball O'Hara) is the orphaned son of an Irish soldier and a poor Irish mother who have both died in poverty. Living a vagabond existence in India under British rule in the late 19th century, Kim earns his living by begging and running small errands on the streets of Lahore. He occasionally works for Mahbub Ali, a Pashtun horse trader who is one of the native operatives of the British secret service. Kim is so im    mersed in the local culture, few realise he is a white child, though he carries a packet of documents from his father entrusted to him by an Indian woman who cared for him.
Kim befriends an aged Tibetan Lama who is on a quest to free himself from the Wheel of Things by finding the legendary River of the Arrow. Kim becomes his chela, or disciple, and accompanies him on his journey. On the way, Kim incidentally learns about parts of the Great Game and is recruited by Mahbub Ali to carry a message to the head of British intelligence in Umballa. Kim's trip with the lama along the Grand Trunk Road is the first great adventure in the novel.
By chance, Kim's father's regimental chaplain identifies Kim by his Masonic certificate, which he wears around his neck, and Kim is forcibly separated from the lama. The lama insists that Kim should comply with the chaplain's plan because he believes it is in Kim's best interests, and the boy is sent to a top English school in Luck now. The lama funds Kim's education.
Throughout his years at school, Kim remains in contact with the holy man he has come to love. Kim also retains contact with his secret service connections and is trained in espionage (to be a surveyor) while on vacation from school by Lurgan Sahib, at his jewellery shop in Simla. As part of his training, Kim looks at a tray full of mixed objects and notes which have been added or taken away, a pastime still called Kim's Game, also called the Jewel Game.
After three years of schooling, Kim is given a government appointment so that he can begin his role in the Great Game. Before this appointment begins however, he is granted time to take a much-deserved break. Kim rejoins the lama and at the behest of Kim's superior, Hurree Chunder Mookherjee, they make a trip to the Himalayas. Here the espionage and spiritual threads of the story collide, with the lama unwittingly falling into conflict with Russian intelligence agents.
Kim obtains maps, papers and other important items from the Russians working to undermine British control of the region. Mookherjee befriends the Russians under cover, acting as a guide and ensures that they do not recover the lost items. Kim, aided by some porters and villagers, helps to rescue the lama.
The lama realises that he has gone astray. His search for the "River of the Arrow" should be taking place in the plains, not in the mountains, and he orders the porters to take them back. Here Kim and the lama are nursed back to health after their arduous journey. Kim delivers the Russian documents to Hurree, and a concerned Mahbub Ali comes to check on Kim.
Kim (Kimball O'Hara) is the orphaned son of an Irish soldier and a poor Irish mother who have both died in poverty. Living a vagabond existence in India under British rule in the late 19th century, Kim earns his living by begging and running small errands on the streets of Lahore. He occasionally works for Mahbub Ali, a Pashtun horse trader who is one of the native operatives of the British secret service. Kim is so immersed in the local culture, few realise he is a white child, though he carries a packet of documents from his father entrusted to him by an Indian woman who cared for him.
Kim befriends an aged Tibetan Lama who is on a quest to free himself from the Wheel of Things by finding the legendary River of the Arrow. Kim becomes his chela, or disciple, and accompanies him on his journey. On the way, Kim incidentally learns about parts of the Great Game and is recruited by Mahbub Ali to carry a message to the head of British intelligence in Umballa. Kim's trip with the lama along the Grand Trunk Road is the first great adventure in the novel.
By chance, Kim's father's regimental chaplain identifies Kim by his Masonic certificate, which he wears around his neck, and Kim is forcibly separated from the lama. The lama insists that Kim should comply with the chaplain's plan because he believes it is in Kim's best interests, and the boy is sent to a top English school in Luck now. The lama funds Kim's education.
Throughout his years at school, Kim remains in contact with the holy man he has come to love. Kim also retains contact with his secret service connections and is trained in espionage (to be a surveyor) while on vacation from school by Lurgan Sahib, at his jewellery shop in Simla. As part of his training, Kim looks at a tray full of mixed objects and notes which have been added or taken away, a pastime still called Kim's Game, also called the Jewel Game.
After three years of schooling, Kim is given a government appointment so that he can begin his role in the Great Game. Before this appointment begins however, he is granted time to take a much-deserved break. Kim rejoins the lama and at the behest of Kim's superior, Hurree Chunder Mookherjee, they make a trip to the Himalayas. Here the espionage and spiritual threads of the story collide, with the lama unwittingly falling into conflict with Russian intelligence agents.
Kim obtains maps, papers and other important items from the Russians working to undermine British control of the region. Mookherjee befriends the Russians under cover, acting as a guide and ensures that they do not recover the lost items. Kim, aided by some porters and villagers, helps to rescue the lama.
The lama realises that he has gone astray. His search for the "River of the Arrow" should be taking place in the plains, not in the mountains, and he orders the porters to take them back. Here Kim and the lama are nursed back to health after their arduous journey. Kim delivers the Russian documents to Hurree, and a concerned Mahbub Ali comes to check on Kim.