Literary Foundation

William Shakespeare's Biography (1564-1616) An English playwright, poet, actor, a well-known figure of the Elizabethan age, and one of the greatest dramatists of English drama Shakespeare was born on 23 April 1564 in Stratford, England. He was baptized on 26th April 1564 at Stratford-on-Avon's church. His father was John Shakespeare, the son of a farmer who came from the nearby village of Snitterfield to Stratford in about 1551. He was prosperous as a trader in corn, meat, leather, and other agricultural products. His mother's name was Mary Arden, the daughter of a wealthy farmer. She descended from an old Warwickshire family of mixed Anglo-Saxon blood. His parents got married in 1559. Shakespeare's parents were illiterate but evidence shows that his father can write. In 1582, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a peasant family of Shottery, who was eight years older than her boy husband. Education of Shakespeare:- He never attended any renowned education...

Annie Ernaux Annie Ernaux (Annie Thérèse Blanche Ernaux) is a French writer and professor of literature and Nobel Laureate who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2022. She was born on 1st September 1940 in Lillebonne, France. Her parents ran a cafe and a grocery in a working-class part of Lillebonne town in Normandy, where she was born and grew up. She was educated at the University of Rouen and then Bordeaux, where she qualified as a school teacher and gained a higher degree in modern literature. She married Philippe Ernaux and has two sons. But the couple divorced in the early 1980s. Her Literary Career:- Her literary career began in 1974 with "Les Armoires vides" (Cleaned Out), an autobiographical novel. In 1984, she won the Renaudot Prize for "La Place" (A Man's Place), which is also an autobiographical work focusing on her relationship with her father and her experiences growing up in a small town in France. In her early stage, she focused on fictional ...

T he term  Touchstone  was first coined by Matthew Arnold in his work  The Study of Poetry . Touchstone means a piece of fine-grained dark jasper formula used for testing alloys of gold by observing the colour of the mark  they made on it.  But in literature, it is used to  is used   to judge the quality of poetry. A Victorian poet and critic,  Matthew Arnold  (1822-1888) was considered the first  modern critic and could be called a critic's critic.    He was a champion in both poetry and literary criticism.  As per Arnold  the purpose of literary criticism was to know the best that is known and thought in the world . With the desire  to know the best, he created a current of true and fresh ideas that influenced the whole school of literary criticism including new critics such as T.S Eliot, F.R. Leavis, and Allen Tate.    He founded the sociological school of criticism and through his  touchstone...

Samuel Johnson was born on 18th September 1709 in  Lichfield, England.  Michael Johnson was his father, who was a bookseller.  He was a biographer, essayist, lexicographer, editor, and poet. He was educated at Grammar School in Lichfield in 1719 and entered Pembroke College, Oxford in 1728.  When his father died in 1713, he was forced to leave the college.  However, poverty did not stop him from securing respect and probity; he was received in the best society of his native place.  He has a strong and virtuous power of thinking. He was advancing slowly but surely into the higher society. Johnson never lost friends and respect, and continues to be admired by each new friend. He married  Elizabeth Porter (a widow) in 1735, older than him. At the time of marriage, he was twenty-six years old and his wife was forty-six years. His first literary attempt was the translation of " Father Lobo's Voyage to Abyssinia ". In 1737, Johnson came to London t...

Samuel Johnson, a renowned figure of the 18th century, was known for his many talents as a critic, essayist, moralist, editor, and biographer. His intellect was highly respected, and he produced numerous notable works, including " The Lives of British Poet ", originally titled " Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets " from 1771 to 1781. This work is considered one of his most acclaimed pieces and consists of biographical and critical evaluations of 52 poets from the 18th century. Johnson divides the work into three parts. In the biography of Abraham Cowley, Johnson mentions his predecessor Dr. Sprat and criticizes his work for being more of a funeral oration than a biography. Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) was a posthumous child raised by his mother and proved to be a true genius of his time. In his diligent reading of " Fairy Queene ", Cowley is described as possessing the particular mental capacity known as true genius. He began his wr...

TEXT OF POEMS I don't know politics but I know the names Of those in power, and can repeat them like Days of weeks or names of months, beginning with Nehru. I am Indian, very brown, born in Malabar, I speak three languages, write in Two, dreams in one. Do not write in English, they said, English is Not your mother tongue. Why not leave me alone critics, friends, visiting cousins, every one of you? Why not let me speak in any language I like? The language I speak becomes mine its distortions its queerness All mine, mine alone. It is half English, half Indian, funny perhaps, but it is honest It is as human as I am human, do not you see it voices my joys, my longings, my hopes and it Is useful to be as cawing as to crow or roaring to the lions. It is human a speech, the speech of mind that is here and not there, A mind that sees and hears and is aware not the deaf-blind speech Of trees in storm or of monsoon clouds or of rain or the Incoherent mutterings of blessing funeral pyre. I wa...

An Introduction (1965) is an autobiographical poem by Kamala Das (1934-2009). She was an iconoclast and one who introduced confessional elements in Indian English poetry. This poem was published in her first volume of poetry,  Summer in Culcatta, in 1965 . Her other works are- The Descendent (1967), The Old Play House, and Another Poems  (1984). She is essentially known for her bold and frank expression. An acute obsession with love and confessional modes is an important feature of her poetry.  As per M.H. Abrams-                    "Confessional poetry designates a type of narrative                        and lyric verse, which deals with the facts and                        intimates the mental and physical experiences of the poet's            ...