Literary Foundation

The free verse poem "Musee des Beaux Arts" (Museum of Fine Arts) was composed by British-American poet Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973) in December 1938 when he was in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. It was published in 1939 under the title " Palais des Beaux-Arts " (Palace of Fine Arts).  The title of this poem is derived from ' Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique '; it's a French name for the  Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium. The museum is famous for its collection of early Netherlandish paintings. The poem has two parts. The first part describes the scene of suffering while others are busy in their daily course and the massacre of children. The second part refers to a painting of Icarus that allows the reader to visualize the indifference of humans.  The central theme of this poem is  human indifference .  To deal with it he incorporated three paintings that he saw in a gallery named, Old Master Museum in  Brussels, Belgium .  Explanation :...

 Gora and Important Quotes:- The novel, Gora,  was written by Rabindranath Tagore , an eminent Indian author and the first Asian Nobel Prize winner. Through the journey of Gora, from being a dogmatist to being liberal, and other characters, Tagore presented a complex and entangled story of two religious sects, i.e. Hindu religion and the Brahmo Samaj. He tried to showcase how in both religions, several people blindly follow their faith, criticise, spread hate, condemn, and abuse each other, but do not use their conscience and intellect for the sake of their faiths. However, characters like Anandmoyi and Paresh Babu are presented as an emblem of love and intellect despite their different faiths. Besides these, Tagore also tried to present the idea of a nation through the character of Anandamoyi. She has rejected all kinds of prejudiced notions of religion and truly follows his heart and intellect. She hates no one and is very sympathetic toward the downtrodden. Characters:- Ana...

Source- Wikipedia The play  Man and Superman was written by a British writer named George Bernard Shaw. It was written in 1903 and published in 1905. The play deals with the ideas of Shaw. The Life Force is one ft the significant ideas in the play that deals with how humans can evolve themselves to superhuman. Furthermore, he also gives scathing remarks on religion, politics and marriage. It has four acts. Characters of the play:- Roebuck Ramsden Mr Octavious Robinson Violet , sister of Mr Octavious Robinson Jack/John Tanner Hector  Mr Malone , an American, and Hector's father Ann Whitefield Miss Rhoda , sister of Ann Mendoza , a brigand Mr Enry Starker , chauffeur to Tanner's car Important Quotes:- " You know that I am not a prejudiced and bigoted man... I have always stood for equality and free conscience while they were truckling to the churches and to the aristocracy. "     (act- 01, by Roubuck Ramsden) " She'll commit every crime a respectable woman c...

Source- Wikipedia The play " Look Back in Anger "  was written by British writer  John Osborne  and first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 8th May 1956. It is centred on  Jimmy Porter , who belongs to the lower middle class and continuously rants about suffering and frustration. He has a wife,  Alison . Jimmy is an educated person,  but because of the hierarchical structure of class in society, he does not get his desired job and life. Consequently, he feels frustrated. The play is divided into three acts. Act 1 has no scenes. Act 2 has two scenes. Act 3 has two scenes. Characters- Jimmy Porter ; is a young man of 25 years and the protagonist,   belongs to the lower middle class.. Alison Porter  is the wife of Jimmy. She belongs to the upper class. Clif Lewis  is a friend of Jimmy Porter. Helena Charles  is a Friend of Alison Porter. Colonel Redfren , father of Alison. The play also has minor characters like- Madeline, mi...

Source- Wikipedia History of the Period:- It is the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Her reign is one of the most important periods which have a great impact on the Renaissance. However, when she was crowned as queen, the whole country was divided into two groups, i.e. catholic(northern side) and protestant(southern counties). They always fought for their religious cause and against religious persecution. They even tortured each other in court to gain royal favour. But the queen treats them equally, and they become united under one umbrella. For the first time, their mind turns toward literature and other activities. Her reign was just like a dawn for England. Her love for England awakened tremendous patriotism among the English people. English national life progressed by huge leaps, and literature reached the very highest point of its development. Here, Milton says- "a noble and puissant nation, rousing herself, like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible loc...

Source- Wikipedia Major Quotes and Characters in "The Old Man and the Sea" The Old Man and the Sea  is a novella by American writer Ernest Hemingway. It is centred on an old man named Santiago , who fails continuously for eighty-four days to catch a fish. Ultimately, he succeeds in catching an eighteen-foot-long fish, a  Marlin . However, in the battle with a hunting shark, he loses the flesh of the fish, and what remains is the skeleton.  The story also focuses on the friendship of Santiago and Manolin. Manolin is a boy who used to fish with the old man's boat, but because of his failure, his parents asked him to move to another boat. Though Monolin goes to another boat, his friendship with the old man remains the old one. It is Manoline who believes in him despite his continuous failure. Characters- It has eight characters. Santiago , an old man. Marlin  is the biggest fish. Manolin , a lad and Santiago's close friend. Martin , the owner of the Terrace, gives food ...

" On the Sublime " is a precious legacy of the Greco-Roman period. It is a critical document of great worth and significance. This work belongs to Longinus. However, the authenticity of the date and author is a matter of debate.           It has a well-marked structure. Longinus has addressed this document to a friend and a pupil- Terentianus. Its central discussion is those vices of style included in the contemporary oratory i.e. " a false Sublime ". While addressing his friend Terentian, Longinuis has said that  this essay aims to correct the faults of Caecilius's essay " Essay on Sublime "  and make some preliminary observations.           Longinus has propounded that " Sublimity is a certain loftiness and excellence in language ". It is the sublimity that the greatest poets and prose writers of any age have gained reverence and immmortility in the realm of criticism. Sublimity not only persuades us but also carrie...

Modern Education and Classic "Modern Education and Classic" is an essay by T S Eliot. In this essay, Eliot presents his views regarding the modern education system. The essay commences with a tone of dissatisfaction over the contemporary education system. He blames the unsettled and disarrangement of society as a real cause of the worsening of education in society. The vague and diverse opinions of people lead to more chaos and meaninglessness in the relation of education to the social system. Eliot says the "theory of education" must be derived from our philosophy of life . We must know what we want in education and what we want in general. This disintegration of education in society, which Eliot calls 'Crisis of Education'. While defining the reason for this crisis Eliot says, " The progress of education of several countries has been one aspect a drift, from another aspect a push; for it has tented to be dominated by the idea of getting on ". Fur...

Quotes from "Preface to Shakespeare", written by Samuel Johnson Preface to Shakespeare is a critical essay by the neo-classical writer Samuel Johnson. In this essay, he has judged the merits and demerits of William Shakespeare's plays. Here are some of the defects of his plays- Defect/Demarite in Shakespeare-  " His first defect is that to which may be imputed most of the evil in books or in men. He sacrifices virtue to convenience and is so much more careful to please than to instruct, that he seems to write without any moral purpose. " [362-365] 👉 The first defect that can be attributed to Shakespeare is that there is evil in his works. His prime purpose was to entertain his audiences, not to instruct them which is why he sacrificed virtues and wrote without moral purpose. " He makes no just distribution of good or evil, nor always be careful to show in the virtuous a disapprobation of the wicked; he carries his persons indifferently through right and wr...

Quotes from "Preface to Shakespeare", written by Samuel Johnson Preface to Shakespeare is a critical essay by the neo-classical writer Samuel Johnson. In this essay, he has judged the merits and demerits of William Shakespeare's plays. Here are some of the merits of his plays- Merits/Qualities of Shakespeare- " Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representation of general nature . " [80-81] 👉Here, Johnson says that the popularity and demand of any play lies in its true representation of human nature. " Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful mirror of manners and of life. " [88-90] 👉In Johnson's view Shakespeare is the greatest among all writers, particularly above all modern writers, because he presents the true nature of human beings. He faithfully presents genuine emotions- hate, love, anger, jealousy, of common people through his c...

Simon "If you change the ownership of institutions, then you can change the ownership of facts, you can alter the structure of belief, what is agreed upon" "If you say one thing is another thing and you say it enough times, then it must be so, and if you keep saying it over and over, people accept it as true" "Sooner or later, of course, reality reveals itself, he says, you can borrow for a time against reality but reality is always waiting, patiently, silently, to exact a price and level the scales" Eilish Stack "All boys grow up and pull away from home to unmake the world in the guise of making it" "All of your life you have been asleep, all of us sleeping and now the great walking begins" "The child that is born from the body remains always a part of the body"

The term   Culture Industry   was coined by two German thinkers Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno in their book   Dialectic of Enlightenment , in 1944. As per PK Nayer, the ' Culture Industry ' is mainly used to describe mass culture forms. It transforms an individual from a thinking and discerning individual into an unthinking individual. The   Culture Industry   does not want the consumer to think but merely consume. In the Marxist's view 'Culture' is not an abstract thing that is created by an individual genius. Rather, it is a product of any society's economic and social conditions. Adorno and Horkheimer have mentioned that the  Culture Industry  claims standards are based on consumers' choice, which is an illusion. Rather, the culture Industry decides what should be catered to an individual. In this cut-throat competition, the interested party uses various technological terms to manipulate people and help the culture industry increase its hold on ...