The Fly is a poem written by the English poet William Blake. It was published as part of his collection Songs of Experience in 1794. William Blake  compares his life and death to that of a fly which he happens to kill unintentionally  and finally advises the man to enjoy every day like the fly because no one knows when God will take away our life. The poem has been divided into 5 small stanzas having four lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABCB DEFE. We don’t have any control over our life or death, so thinking about the future and fearing it is something that makes us sad and joyless. Hence we should accept our life, submit to our fate and live as much as we can. In the first stanza, the poet who is sitting outside in summer is thinking about a  little fly , whom his  thoughtless hand  killed. The poet is thus not happy with what he has done. However, his consciousness wakes up after killing the fly. As a Romantic Poet, he is connected to nature....

  Popular Mechanics , a very short story by Raymond Carver . It was included in Carver's 1981 collection called " What We Talk About When We Talk About Love " and later appeared under the title " Little Things " in his 1988 collection , " Where I'm Calling From. ” The story describes an argument between a man and a woman that rapidly escalates into a physical struggle over their baby. The man, woman, and baby don't even have names, which emphasizes their role as universal archetypes (prototypes). They could be anyone; they are everyone. The word "mechanics" shows that this is a story about the process of disagreeing more than it is about the outcome of those disagreements. Nowhere is this more evident than in the final line of the story: " In this manner, the issue was decided. ” Summary : It’s slushy outside and getting dark. Inside, a man is in the bedroom, hurriedly packing his suitcase. A woman says she's glad he's leavi...

Farewell by Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936), is a romantic lyric expressing a longing for the scenes to feast on even after death. The poem in a way expresses the individual's interest to continue living in the physical world: earth. The speaker of the poem is asking someone, perhaps one of his family members, to leave the balcony open if he dies, because from his balcony he wants to see the little boy eating oranges and hear the reaper (a person or machine that harvests a crop) harvesting the wheat and singing. The speaker's wish shows that this world is a very enjoyable place. Life here is real and we must enjoy it.   The boy eating oranges in the garden and the reaper harvesting wheat refers to common human psychology. A boy is more focused on today. His eating oranges might refer to his adolescence and his interest to fulfil his hunger only.  In the same way, the reaper harvesting wheat signifies the money-minded nature of grown-ups. Both of them do not seem to be cons...

  Jamaica Kincaid (1949) Interlocutor: partner Onslaught: trouble Clothesline: a rope or wire where clothes are hung to dry Fritters: deep-fried meat, vegetable or fruit Hem: the edge of a piece of cloth or clothing which has been turned under and sewn  Dasheen: taro plant ( पिंडालु ) Squat: Sit on one's heels Pepper pot: meat-based stew rich with braised beef and infused with cinnamon, clove and peppers Doukona:  सेवई  Girl  by  Kincaid  features a non-stop monologue of a mother to her daughter, with her daughter only responding a couple of times. The story comprises one single sentence in 650 words and takes the form of of a dialogue between a mother and her daughter. In the story we see the author talking about the things that a young girl should do and learn so that she can be accepted by society. She starts by saying in the beginning that washing cloth is only a task for women, starting on Monday “ Wash the white clothes on Monday ”. Then goes on ...

Characters Mr Brantain Nathalie (Nattie) Mr Harvy Nathalie’s brother The story was written on September 19, 1894, and first published in Vogue on January 17, 1895. The physical setting is Nathalie’s home, an unspecified location where Nathalie and Brantain meet again, and the location of Nathalie and Brantain’s wedding. The social setting looks at the condition of women during the 19th century and explores Nathalie’s character in light of the feminist movement. The story is told by a third-person narrator, who presents the perspectives of all three characters in turn. The Kiss is a short story written by Kate Chopin . It is about a woman called Nathalie (Nattie) scheming to marry a wealthy man, Brantain. However, she is having an affair with Mr Harvy. Kate Chopin uses different themes such as Money over love, exploitation and acceptance. These themes are represented to show that one can’t always have two things at once. Kate Chopin uses a variety of techniques: imagery,...

Here I Love You Here I Love You (1924) is an evocation of a romantic mood. The poem is split into six stanzas of uneven lengths. The stanzas range from three-six lines, with no rhyme scheme. The speaker in this poem loves his departed beloved. He passionately recalls the sweet moments he spent in her company. The pathos of separation is centralised by the poet’s skilful handling of “here” and “there” by using two sets of contrasting pictures. This romantic poem is held together by a series of brilliant and startling (surprising) images of love and death.   The speaker is sad because of his separation from his girlfriend/beloved. His beloved is not with him. She is far away. The speaker uses ‘here’ to suggest this mortal world and ‘there’ to suggest out of this world. She is beyond his reach. She is beyond mortal’s reach. He feels alone in this mortal (physical) world. But his love for her is still the same as in the past. He passionately recalls the sweet moments he spent in her c...

Characters : MME X ., an actress, married BOB  (Husband) MLLE Y ., an actress, unmarried (Amelia) A WAITRESS SETTING: The corner of a ladies' cafe, two little iron tables, a red velvet sofa, and several chairs. The Stronger , a one-act play by August Strindberg explores the power dynamics between two women, X and Y . It is universally considered a classical short play and a monodrama of great psychological insight (depth). The play represents a triangular situation in which two actresses—one married, Mrs X, and one unmarried, Miss Y—meet accidentally at a café while Christmas shopping and begin considering their past competition in love for Mrs X’s husband. The play is unique in that the subject of the discussion, the husband, never appears, and for the fact that only one of the women, Mrs X, speaks, while the other, Miss Y, merely reacts.  The play is simple. Two characters of the play are two women simply called Mrs X and Miss Y. Here we can see the role and position ...

Characters : Doctor Mathilda (Daughter) Father (Mr Olson) Mother (Mrs Olson) The story The Use of Force written by William Carlos Williams is presented as a struggle of will between the two main characters : an adult doctor, who finds himself increasingly unable to maintain his professional attitude, and a sick girl who fights throughout her examination. The simplistic saying “Violence is never the answer”, is disproved by the action of this story.  The story shows a conflict between the doctor and a determined child patient who has been suffering from fever ( diphtheria , a fatal illness if left untreated) for three days. The narrator of this story is a doctor who is called to check on a new patient Mathilda by her mother Mrs Olson. Mrs Olson, the patient's mother, takes him into the kitchen where the fully-dressed child is sitting on her father's lap (the sick child is being kept in the kitchen by the stove, to keep her warm). The doctor looks things over and finds tha...

Summary : Virginia Adeline Woolf (1882-1941) was an English novelist and essayist, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. She was one of the leaders in the literary movement of modernism.  The speech of  Professions for Women  was given in 1931 to the Women’s Service League by Virginia Woolf. It was also included in  Death of a Moth  and  Other Essays  in 1942. Throughout the speech, Virginia Woolf brings forward a problem that is still relevant today:  gender inequality .   Woolf’s main point in this essay was to bring awareness to the phantoms (illusions) and obstacles women face in their jobs. Woolf argues that women must overcome special obstacles to become successful in their careers. She describes two hazards she thinks all women who aspire to professional life must overcome: their tendency to sacrifice their own interests to those of others and their reluctance (hesitancy) to challenge c...

In the essay The Rights of Animals , the essayist Brigid Brophy urges human beings to treat animals with due respect. She suggests people not exploit animals for any reason. She wittily argues that the responsibility of human beings is to behave decently toward animals. She asserts that our relationship with animals is one of unremitting (continual) exploitation and argues that we are under a moral obligation to respect their rights and spare them pain and terror.   The essayist observed that "the exploitation of the other animal species by the human-animal species is the most unscrupulous, the cruellest, the most nearly universal and the longest-lasting exploitation of one class by another class in the history of the world. And the pattern of mental blind spots that allows us to do it is a pattern very easily adaptable to any other of the (fashionable) tyrannies ... “   Brophy notes that while many political activists include animal rights in their political agenda, others fe...

Characters : James Herriot (A veterinary doctor/narrator) Mr Casling (a 60 years old man/owner of Casling Farm/has 2 sons) Alan and Harold (30 years old sons of Casling) Calf (whose leg is broken and Herriot came for its treatment) In this passage from The Lord God Made Them All, James Herriot, the Yorkshire, England, veterinarian and writer, describes a day when he would have been wise to remain silent. In The Lord God Made Them All , James Herriot includes a series of narratives that recount his veterinary practice from just after World War II until the early 1960s.   Herriot remembers talking with farmers who are not at all well-read. He once made a comment about a cow with a broken leg, since he had read in the newspaper that George Bernard Shaw had broken his leg as well. The farmer ended up believing that Shaw was a friend of Herriot’s, and the veterinarian believes that there was probably an amusing comment at the farmer’s dinner table that evening.  

Theodore Roethke’s  Root Cellar  is a motivational poem that spreads the message to live and thrive even through the worst, deadly scenarios in life. One should not lose hope and grow along the way, clearing all the obstacles that may come. To describe this concept, Roethke describes a root cellar/greenhouse where all the plants are on the brink (verge) of dying. Foul odours filled the place, making it impossible for one to breathe. In fact, none can imagine living in that place. However, the plants still fight for the light, struggling for existence.  Roethke begins his poem “Root Cellar” on a very disgusting note. It is set in an old dank (damp) cellar or greenhouse that belonged to the poet’s father. In the beginning, the poet exclaims, “ Nothing would sleep in that cellar ,” stating that the place is too awful for human sharing. The cellar is “ dank as a ditch ,” meaning it is too gloomy for the eyes. Roethke uses such words to evoke the senses of dirt, filth, and abs...

Warts are non-cancerous skin growths that develop on different parts of the body and come in various forms. They are caused by viruses. Warts are contagious (spreadable) and very common: Most people will have one at some point in their lives. Although they can affect people of any age, warts are most common among children and teenagers. Warts are wonderful structures. They can appear overnight on any part of the skin, like mushrooms on a damp lawn, full-grown and splendid in the complexity of their architecture. Viewed in stained sections under a microscope, they are the most specialised of cellular arrangements, constructed as though for a purpose. They sit there like turreted (small towers extending above a building) mounds (rises/mounts/hills) of dense, impenetrable (unsolvable) horn, impregnable (secure), designed for defence against the world outside. In a certain sense, warts are both useful and essential, but not for us. As it turns out, the exuberant (excited) cells of a wa...

Summary: C. Wright Mills was a social-conflict theorist who argued that a simple few individuals within the political, military and corporate realms actually held the majority of power within the United States and that these few individuals made decisions that resounded throughout all American lives. The major focus of Mills's work was the subjects of social inequality, the power of elites and their control of society, the shrinking middle class, the relationship between individuals and society, and the importance of historical perspective as a key part of sociological thinking. Through this essay, the essayist defines craftsmanship and provides six- features associated with craftsmanship: According to the writer, craftsman works for pleasure. He gives whole attention to the quality of the product. To create, he forms the image of the product first in the mind. Then, he produces the product spontaneously. For him, creating art is primary, whereas money or reputation or salvation i...