Marking Guide For LiteratureMarking Guide For Literature Mock -SS3 Exams
SECTION A
AFRICAN AND NON-AFRICAN PROSE
1. How are women treated in the novel?
In “Second Class Citizen,” Emecheta Buchi uses gender and sexuality to highlight the challenges faced by women in society. The book serves as a powerful tool to argue that gender and sexuality are social constructs. However, at the time when the book is set, such discrimination against women was seen as normal. Adah, the protagonist, desires a Western education but is denied the opportunity due to her gender. Throughout the book, Buchi portrays the discrimination and victimization experienced by African women at the hands of both men and older women in their culture.
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Finally, when Adah marries Francis, the oppression that Adah has to endure is one that no woman she has to go through. When Adah wanted to go to work, Francis’ father’s response to Francis was, “You are a fool of a man you are…Where will she take the money to? …The money is for you, can’t you see? Let her go and work for a million Americans and bring their money here, into this house. It is your luck. You made a good choice in marriage, son” (p–g 25). With the consent of her husband by the some persuasion of his father, Adah went to work, but her sum was now responsible for paying for the rent of the family, schooling for Francis’ seven younger sisters, feeding her and his family while providing the payment for his schooling while he was in London becoming “educated.”
2. Consider Adah’s growth in confidence and determination in pursuit of her dreams
The novel explores the theme of gender discrimination and its negative effects on women. In the novel, a young woman, Adah, struggles against various forms of discrimination in her male- dominated society. Adah is an ordinary Igbo girl growing up in Nigeria. her father dies when she is still young; her dream of pursuing education nearly shattered. She finds support from her paternal uncle to continue. She’s denied education simply because she is a girl. She “enrols” herself in school. She accepts to marry Francis at a very early age and becomes a mother in her teens, she works to support her husband and children and aspires to travel abroad in the hope of better life, and also she consents to Francis leaving alone to study abroad. She experiences very hostile weather, drastically different from the bright and sunny weather back home. Francis is lazy and abusive towards her, she finds a job and works to support her husband’s schooling and her children, she experiences racial discrimination; this is revealed in her search for lodgings and she receives intolerance from other Nigerians of different ethnic backgrounds. She is not put down when Francis burns her manuscript. She decides to be a writer. Already saddled with 4 children, she decides to practice birth control, she learns very early in life that with determination she can survive on her own, she never gives up on her dreams.
3. Examine the friendship between Mama Orojo and Ibuk in “Unexpected Joy at Dawn
Mama Orojo is one of the main characters in Alex Agyei-Agyiri’s Unexpected Joy at Dawn. She is a successful and industrious woman. Apart from her success in the business world, she is a titled member of the Amen Kristi Church. She is a friend of Ibuk. Ibuk is a member of the Amen Kristi Church and a friend of Mama Orojo. She is a married woman and her laughter is very infectious.
Both Mama Orojo and Ibuk are very good friends. There is a level of trust found in good friendship between these two. There are several instances of how far their friendship goes in Unexpected Joy at Dawn. Early in the text when the sight of an immigration officer makes Mama Orojo nostalgic, she tells Ibuk about the memories it evokes. Mama Orojo must have trusted Ibuk to have confided in her such memories from her past. The very fact that both women are paired for an evangelical mission seems to bring them even closer to each other. Again, when Mama Orojo has to fight the church body on who she takes for a husband, Ibuk is there for her. Ibuk sides with her even when the other titled members are staunchly against her choice of a partner. Ibuk supports and respects her decision even when it means the exclusion of Ibuk from the church’s local committee.Both Ibuk and Mama Orojo are initially brought together by the institution of religion. They become very good friends and learn to trust and stand for each other.
They are both on an all-out evangelical mission when Ibuk loses her life in a religious crisis orchestrated by the Sahm Brotherhood. Ibuk’s death signifies the destructive consequences of religious intolerance in Unexpected Joy at Dawn.
While they are together, they influence each other. Ibuk, for example, infects Mama Orojo with her laughter. She also lends a listening hear to all Mama Orojo has to say. Mama Orojo also shares with Ibuk a fraction of her worldview. In effect, Ibuk does not share the tribal sentiments of the other elders of the local committee of the Amen Kristi Church partly because of Mama Orojo.
4. Discuss Ni’s encounter with I -Put-it -to-me in the novel
The theme of survival under circumstance is a major one in the novel. The curfew, imposed by the soldiers at the helm of affairs restricts nocturnal movement yet one needs to get home at the close of day but when the curfew catches up with both Nii and I-Put-it-to-me, they both use their heads. Nii is the protagonist: his wife, Massa, has been bedridden for some time now; he takes care of the sick woman without help. I-Put-it-to-me, also known as Tally O, is a craft man; a member of a team of illegal miners. The Daga group; one other member is Joe, the man who marries Ni’s sister, Mama Orojo; he swiles Mama; he dies in the mines. it is curfew time and soldiers and the vigilante are abroad, Nii has been visiting Linda, the secretary in his office who, wants an affair with him, Nii leaves Linda and slips through the security of curfew, pretending to be a lunatic, to get home and Nii notices a man sitting on the stump of a tree in front of his door; he passes by and enters the house. The man is I-Put-it-to-me; he is biding his time to beat the curfew. A soldier, “an army lance corporal’, enter Nii’s room with I-Put-it-to-me, who is being held for breaking curfew. Both Nii and I-Put-it-to-me avoid arrest for breaking curfew by ingenuity, their meeting is ironical; it is this same I-Put-it-to-me who sells a fake gold ring to Ni’s sister on her flight to Ghana.
5. Examine the narrator’s experiences at the eviction.
The theme of self-identity is a major one in the novel. The narrator is not accorded recognition and so he can declare ‘l am what i am’ while eating yam. The unnamed narrator is the protagonist in the novel. He is treated as a non-being by the system and so ‘an invisible man’ and retreats into an.\ underground cellar. He encounters eviction while still in search of his identity within the society. It is the narrator’s first northern winter. He is restless and takes a walk in the cold weather. He chances upon an old couple being something’. The old woman keeps repeating: Leave us alone’ and just look at what they are doing to us’. The crowd is surprised by the narrator’s ignorance. While the crowd soothes, the narrator urges the people to behave like ‘a law-abiding people and slow-to-anger people’ and not resort to violence. The speech rouses the crowd. A much-inspired white girl shows the narrator an escape route as the police arrive. A fellow, Brother Jack, who thinks the speech ‘a masterpiece of persuasion’, catches up with the narrator and offers him coffee and cheesecake.
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6. How does Ras represent the whiteman’s perceptions and treatment of blacks in the novel?
In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952) Ras the Exhorter (turned Ras the Destroyer) represents the nationalistic view of the African American. He is a foil to the narrator in that where the narrator seeks an integrated universe, Ras’s major concern is nation-building for the Black American. As a result of his experiences the narrator has come to suspect any organization or group that is exclusive. He believes that the Blacks who do not become a part of the mainstream are “outside of history,” and he therefore rejects Ras’s nationalist rhetoric as nonsense. Ras has been linked to Marcus Garvey. Certainly both the fictional character and the historical figure share a compelling view of Black nationalism, and they both demanded social justice for Blacks. Also, like Garvey, Ras has strong ties with Africa. Ras, patrolling the stree ts of a riot-torn Harlem in his ancestral attire, astride a great black horse, is “dressed in the costume of an Abyssinian Chieftan.” Ras is also the short term for Rastafarian, originally a Jamaican religious group whose members trace their roots back to Ethiopia and to Haile Selassie. When Ras urges Blacks to unite, he, like Garvey, is not limiting his national movement to Harlem; he is pleading for nationalism throughout the Black diaspora. While Ellison (through the narrator) might reject Black nationalism as disruptive, Ras stands as a symbol of the malignant force that comes as a result of America’s blindness (a blindness represented in the organization of the brotherhood and in the philanthropy of Mr. Norton) to the needs of oppressed minorities. While Ras is a powerful character in the novel, Ellison, through his use of the comic, undercuts Ras’s dignity and makes him appear clownish at times. Even in the scene where he appears majestic, Ellison uses the comic to downplay his regality. Despite Ras’s proud bearing on this occasion, Ellison says he had “a hauty, vulgar dignity.” Instead of being robed in the skin of a lion or a leopard that is customary for African royalty, Ras is clad in a cape “made from the skin of some wild animal” that makes Ras himself look wild. And while Ras’s appearance is “real, alive, [and] alarming,” the narrator insists that it was “more out of a dream than out of Harlem.” Ellison’s depiction of Ras prefigures the negative images of the West Indian male that later appears in works by writers such as Toni Morrison and Chester Himes. One must add, however, that elements of the surreal and the comic pervade the novel, and Ras suffers no more from Ellison’s pen than do other characters.
7. Examine the significance of Lock- wood’s second visit to Wuthering Heights.
Lockwood visited Wuthering Heights again when he became dissatisfied with the household activities done at Grange. This time the weather is cold and the ground is frozen. He yells at the servant, Joseph, to open the door. He meets a young girl in the kitchen and he assumes the lady to be Mrs Heathcliff. He tries to engage her in a conversation, but she is consistently inhospitable and this embarrasses Lockwood. The lady refuses to make him tea unless Heathcliff orders her to do so. The young man presents too, behaves rudely as he seems to suspect Lockwood making advances at the girl.
When Heathcliff enters and demands tea “savagely” and Lockwood is rudely corrected for mistaking the young girl for Heathcliff’s wife. The girl in question is Heathcliff’s daughter-in-law whose husband is dead. The young man is Hareton Earnshaw. Lockwood requests a guide so he can return home safely, but he’s refused. He is left stranded and ignored by all and when he tries to take a lantern, Joseph accuses him of stealing it, and he sets dogs on him. Hareton and Heathcliff laugh at his humiliation. Then the cook Zillah takes him in and allows him to pass a night
It was on a later visit by Lockwood to withering highly that provides foreshadowing for the end of the novel. Lockwood takes a trip to Wuthering Heights and delivers a note from Ellen to Cathy. Hareton takes the note at first but noticing Cathy’s tears, she returns it to her. She in turn treats him coolly and makes fun of his attempt at reading. Embarrassed, Hareton flings his book into the fire.
This is something Heathcliff did not foresee and seemed to disturb him. In addition to his memories of his lost love, Heathcliff must also deal with Hareton’s resemblance to his aunt Catherine. These memories worry Heathcliff greatly.
8. Examine the relationship between Lockwood and Heathcliff in the novel
The theme of love and revenge is played out in the relationship between Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The relationship between Lockwood and Heathcliff unlocks the mysteries of love founded on deep-seated vengefulness. Heathcliff: A very dark-skinned gypsy from Liverpool, Lockwood’s landlord, looks on when his dogs attack Mr. Lockwood, the owner of both Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights.
SECTION B
AFRICAN AND NON-AFRICAN DRAMA
9. How do men behave towards women in the play?
The play criticizes the gender roles assigned to women in the traditional society. In Senehun and Mendeland at large, women are not treated as equals of men. Women are considered fragile, vulnerable and incapable of managing crises. From the beginning of the play, Chief Gbanya tries to relegate Madam Yoko’s duties to dancing and satisfying him in bed, and not to interfere in state affairs. To Chief Gbanya such responsibility is meant for men alone. Chief Gbanya shares the same sentiment with his Chief Warrior Ndapi who beats and pounds on his wife – Jilo, at any slightest opportunity. He beats Jilo for not always serving him his food at the right time, being lazy and not looking after their daughter. Initially, Gbanya has promised Yoko she would be his successor. However, with troubles around, he feels reluctant to handover the throne to her because he believes women cannot handle a land at war. This is the same stance of Lamboi. The excuse he gives for wanting to kill Gbanya is because he does not want the latter to appoint Yoko as his successor. However, the women protest in different ways. Jilo protests by having an affair with Lansana who takes her as a human being by showers her love, admires her good looks, qualities and praises her alluring waist which is in contrast to Ndapi who rarely appreciates her food, beauty and skills in bed. Obviously, if not for Yoko’s doggedness and insistence, a woman would not have become the chief of Mendeland; talk more of expanding the chiefdom. In Mendeland, women usually are not allowed into the Poro cult. Yoko is the only exception. In the village, there is a certain prejudice held against women. They are considered inferior and except for Yoko who forges ahead, women are not assigned ruling positions.
10. Discuss Gbanya as a remarkable character
Chief Gbanya is a great leader and warrior who chooses his wars carefully. He does not keep his promise to choose Yoko as his successor. He foresees his death and hopes he doesn’t die a humiliating death. Hence, he decides not to ambush the Governor and his envoy instead he receives the Governor with a fun fare which leads to his humiliation in the presence of his chiefs. Chief Gbanya was poisoned and he died knowing that his most trusted person betrayed him and handed leadership of Senehun to Yoko.
11. How is the contest between tradition and modernity presented in the play?
One of the primary conflicts of the play pits traditional Yoruba customs against a western conception of progress and modernity, as represented by the conflict between Baroka and Lakunle for Sidi’s hand in marriage. Lakunle represents the modern Nigerian man. He wears western clothing, has been educated in a presumably British school, and wants to turn his village into a modern paradise like the city of Lagos. Lakunle doesn’t just admire and idolize western society; he actively and loudly despises the traditional customs of his village and the people who support them. This is best illustrated by Lakunle’s refusal to pay Sidi’s bride price. For much of the play, other characters describe Baroka as being directly opposed to modernity and extremely concerned with preserving his village’s traditional way of life. Lakunle, in particular, finds Baroka’s lifestyle abhorrent. He describes how Baroka paid off a surveyor to not route train tracks through the outskirts of Ilujinle, thereby robbing the village of a link to the modern world that would modernize the village. However, when Baroka himself speaks, it becomes apparent that he doesn’t actually hate modernity or progress. While he obviously delights in the joys and customs of village life, when it comes to modernity he simply hates having it forced upon him. He sees more value in bringing modern customs to the village on his own terms. For example, he argues that creating a postal system for the village will begin to bring it into the modern world without entirely upending the village’s way of life. The competition between Baroka and Lakunle for Sidi’s hand in marriage brings the conflict between tradition and modernity to life. Baroka wishes to add Sidi to his harem of wives, while Lakunle dreams of having one wife who, in theory at least, is his equal. Both men promise Sidi a different version of power and fulfillment. When Baroka dies, Sidi will become the head wife of the new Bale, a position that would make her one of the most powerful women in the village. Lakunle, on the other hand, offers Sidi the possibility of an equal partnership in which she’s not required to serve her husband as is traditional. The presence of Lakunle represents the British Colonial Government forcing their culture on Nigeria’s traditional belief system which downgrades the personality of Africa as primitive and barbaric. Lakunle, in his show of modern romance kisses Sidi and she describes that as unclean and he never denies that yet calls Sidi’s dressing and mannerism as barbaric.
12. Discuss the significance of the use of play-within-a-play technique.
This is stressed again by the recollection of the Stranger’s entry into Ilujinle. The characters in The Lion and the Jewel (notably the Girls, Lakunle, Sidi, and much later Baroka) enact a play within the play; assigning them roles. Play-within-a play is one of the devices commonly employed by playwrights in which the characters of a play perform brief dramatic sketches in the course of the play. In this play, it is used as a form of flashback in “The dance of the lost traveler” to enact the experience of the Lagos visitor. Through the play, the audience gains an insight into the ordeal of the Lagos visitor during his first visit that has problems with his car and has to abandon it to continue his exploration on foot. The second play is dramatized to illustrate how Baroka bribes the surveyor to divert the railway track from llujinle. The third play is called “The dance of virility employed to mock Baroka which involves a combination of music, mime, and movement meant to entertain the characters themselves”.
13. Consider Jimmy’s views about the Victorian society of his time.
Jimmy Porter is illustrative of an entire culture wistful for past glory. He romanticizes the past even while mocking those who could not understand the change in times. In a time of crucial transition from Britain’s Victorian past into the modern twentieth century, Jimmy’s rage is an expression of pent-up emotion in an inert and dull world. That anger became a symbol of the rebellion against the political and social malaise of British culture.
Class disparity, troubled childhood and social imbalance all contribute to Jimmy’s anger. Jimmy Porter is from the lower class but hates the higher class because of his not being able to be like them or enjoy their privileges. Coincidentally, he married a girl from the upper class (Alison that is) and it is only logical that he would unleash his hatred, anger and frustration on Alison who in this context is an effigy of the higher class he hates. Besides, he has been through a lot. He lost his father when he was five. The latter died in his arms. Despite having a university degree, he still could not find his way into the upper class. Instead, he finds himself working in a small candy stall. These, to a large extent, make for his anger in the play.
14. Comment on Alison’s reaction to Jimmy’s attacks on her family
Alison Porter, Jimmy’s wife. A woman of upper-middle-class background, she is perceptive enough to understand that her husband resents everything in her that reminds him of the social differences between them. After three years of marriage, she is miserable. The only way that she can survive Jimmy’s constant verbal attacks on her and on her family is to conceal her feelings and remain silent. Although she says that Jimmy is the only man she has ever loved, Alison so yearns for peace that, with the encouragement of her friend Helena, she finally leaves him without telling him that she is pregnant. After losing the baby, she returns to Jimmy, begs his forgiveness for betraying him, and promises that because she has experienced suffering, she can now be the kind of wife he wants and needs.Alison is aware of the fact that Jimmy is trying to make her angry. She knows that if she give any reaction to his attacks he will be triumphant. Alison’s submissive and silent manner against Jimmy’s assaults is also a way of expressing aggression because of the fact that she reach passive aggressively.
15. How does Troy’s upbringing influence his relationship with his children?
The theme of “fathers and sons” is one of the pillars of the play “Fences”, connecting the stories of three generations of the Maxson family. Troy’s difficult relationship with his own father shapes him as a parent and his relationship with Lyon and Cory. Maxson man’s paths to manhood include the act of defiance against their fathers, fleeing their home and finally internalizing them. Troy’s struggle as a father and son is a representation of the importance of the father-son relationship and how that shapes the character of the sons.
Troy and his father’s relationship is influenced by the times, because Troy’s father grew up in the 1800s after slavery was abolished, and for him to be raised in that environment ultimatley influenced how he painted his children and how he showed affection to them. Troy’s perception of what is right and what is wrong for Cory, based on Troy’s refusal to perceive a historical change in the acceptance of Black people, tragically causes Cory to experience a disappointing fate similar to Troy’s. Troy passes his personal history on to his family in other ways throughout the play with sayings that represent his philosophies of life like, “You gotta take the crookeds with the straights.” His children also inherit Troy’s past by learning songs he sings like, “Hear It Ring! Hear It Ring!” a song Troy’s own father taught him. Cory tells Rose in Act Two, scene five, “Papa was like a shadow that followed you everywhere.” Troy’s songs and sayings link his family to the difficult life in the south that his generation was free to run away from, though penniless and without roots in the north. Troy’s purposefully and inadvertently passes on his life experience to his children.
16. Consider Raynell’s contribution to the plot
The theme of racial discrimination and its negative impact on the lives of African Americans in the 1950’s plays is dominant in this aspect. Troy Maxson complicates an already uneasy family life with his extra-marital affair with Alberta. Plot as a sequence of events dictated by the actions of the characters in a play. In the play, Troy Maxson’s home is the Centre of most of the actions and events, except those recalled by flashbacks. Raynell is Troy’s extra-marital daughter whose mother, Alberta, dies in childbirth at the hospital, Raynell is brought home by Troy ‘wrapped in blankets’. Events in the Maxson’s family seem to be very much under control – no significant upheavals. Raynell’s entry into the family introduces the most significant crisis the family has to deal with Maxson is disowned by Rose as her husband; ‘from right now this child got a mother but you a womanless man. Rose is left with Raynell after Troy’s sudden death. Rose prepares Raynell to get into her rather tight shoes to attend church for troy’s burial.
SECTION B
AFRICAN AND NON-AFRICAN POETRY
17. How effective is the use of contrast in Song of the Women Of my Land?
The Leader and the Led” by Professor Niyi O sundare is an allegorical poem that avers the kind of leadership in Africa and what leadership ought to be. The poem establishes the cat and mice relationship that exists between African leaders and their followers. The poet’s African origin and the siting of the tropics as the meeting place of the animals unmistakably point Africa as the point of reference in the poem. The poet no doubt addresses the eyesore of leadership deficiency Africa as a continent is plagued with. Osundare first addresses the issues of bad leadership, leadership ineptitude, and gross misconducts which have become the rallying cries for many short-changed African followers. The poet, as he does, examines the kind of relationship that exists between African leaders and their followers. He then typifies the type of leadership peculiar to African countries since their purported independence from European colonialists. The poet uses the attributes, bodily features and predatory ability of some of the contending animals as proofs of the leadership inadequacies Africa is beset with. In “the lion” and “the hyena”, Osundare shows African leaders as exploiters and oppressors. With their powers, they exploit Africa and its citizenry of resources and oppress the people they are supposed to lead. This makes them ideal replacements of their equally exploiting colonial masters. In the the typical ways of “the lion” and “the hyena”, these leaders endanger the lives of those whom they have sworn to protect. In “the lion”, the poet uses “the ferocious pounce of his paws” on antelopes as an analogy of the deliberate and calculated oppression of the citizenry by the machinery of the state. The poet also portrays the elitism of African leaders typified by the fairness of the giraffe’s eyes from the ground. African leaders are only close to the people before assuming power or when they are seeking for votes into elective posts. Once they assume power, they distance themselves from the masses. In “the zebra”, the poet references the dubiousness and deceptiveness of African leaders. Using “the duplicity of his stripes” as a focal point, the poet posits that African leaders cannot be trusted to do anything right or taken for what they say or on the face value because behind their sugar-coated lies are several ulterior motives. Like “the pack” of animals, the people are justifiably suspicious of their leaders’ “duplicity”. No doubt, Niyi Osundare’s “The Leader and the Led” has done justice in its depiction of the type of leadership in Africa. The poem figuratively describes African leaders as “ferocious”, “lethal” in appetite, duplicitous, greedy, “riotous” and “trampling”. The poem, however, offers insights on what ideal leadership is. It says ideal leadership embodies transparency, compassion, humility, legitimacy, the will to govern, the readiness to listen to the followers, and a balance between ideas on the opposite sides of the fringe.
18. Examine The Leader and the Led as a criticism of leadership in Africa.
The Leader and the Led” by Professor Niyi Osundare is an allegorical poem that avers the kind of leadership in Africa and what leadership ought to be. The poem establishes the cat and mice relationship that exists between African leaders and their followers.
The poet’s African origin and the siting of the tropics as the meeting place of the animals unmistakably point Africa as the point of reference in the poem. The poet no doubt addresses the eyesore of leadership deficiency Africa as a continent is plagued with. Osundare first addresses the issues of bad leadership, leadership ineptitude, and poor governance which have become the rallying cries for many short-changed African followers. The poet, as he does, examines the kind of relationship that exists between African leaders and their followers. He then typifies the type of leadership peculiar to African countries since their purported independence from European colonialists. The poet uses the attributes, bodily features and predatory ability of some of the contending animals as proofs of the leadership inadequacies Africa is beset with. In “the lion” and “the hyena”, Osundare shows African leaders as exploiters and oppressors. With their powers, they exploit Africa and its citizenry of resources and oppress the people they are supposed to lead. This makes them ideal replacements of their equally exploiting colonial masters. In the typical ways of “the lion” and “the hyena”, these leaders endanger the lives of those whom they have sworn to protect. In “the lion”, the poet uses “the ferocious pounce of his paws” on antelopes as an analogy of the deliberate and calculated oppression of the citizenry by the machinery of the state. The poet also portrays the elitism of African leaders typified by the fairness of the giraffe’s eyes from the ground. African leaders are only close to the people before assuming power or when they are seeking for votes into elective posts. Once they assume power, they distance themselves from the masses. In “the zebra”, the poet references the dubiousness and deceptiveness of African leaders. Using “the duplicity of his stripes” as a focal point, the poet posits that African leaders cannot be trusted to do anything right or taken for what they say or on the face value because behind their sugar-coated lies are several ulterior motives. Like “the pack” of animals, the people are justifiably suspicious of their leaders’ “duplicity”.No doubt, Niyi Osundare’s “The Leader and the Led” has done justice in its depiction of the type of leadership in Africa. The poem figuratively describes African leaders as “ferocious”, “lethal” in appetite, duplicitous, greedy, “riotous” and “trampling”. The poem, however, offers insights on what ideal leadership is. It says ideal leadership embodies transparency, compassion, humility, legitimacy, the will to govern, the readiness to listen to the followers, and a balance between ideas on the opposite sides of the fringe.
19. Consider the mood of the persona in The Good Morrow
The subject matter of the poem circles around the nature and completeness of the lovers’ world. Donne takes the everyday idea that lovers are engulfed in a world of their own; thus, they are oblivious to reality as it appears as though the outside world is not real. The intensity of their love is sufficient to create its own reality. The poem depicts love as a feeling that surpasses other feelings and one that thrives against odds. In typical Donne’s fashion, the poem takes the reader right into the bedroom which is the crucible of passion and thought. In this poem, Donne employs a dramatic and ecstatic tone. He begins on a note of restraining excitement in the expression of the feeling of love shared between himself and his lover. He marginalizes their feelings and places them above all and against odds. He compares their love to two hemispheres of the world and theirs is perfect. This, thus, evokes a romantic mood through the poem.
20. Discuss the theme of regret in The Journey of the Magi.
Journey of the Magi”, is one of the four Ariel Poems written by Eliot during 1927 and 1930. It is in the form of a monologue in which a magus, one of the Three Wise Men who came from the East to Bethlehem to see the infant Jesus, narrates their journey long after the event, and analyses its impact on their imagination. It was written by Eliot soon after his conversion to Catholicism. The agony of parting with one faith and embracing another is therefore the theme of the poem. In order to express this feeling, Eliot, according to his poetic practice, chooses the biblical alibi of the journey of the three Wise Men from the East to Bethlehem to see the Incarnation. Eliot believes that “poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality’ so to escape from his emotion of agony and his personality, he dissolves himself in the emotion and personality of the Magi placed in a similar situation.
The poem is in the form of a monologue. One of the Magi, long after their journey, narra tes the event in the end he analyses with uneasiness the impact of the journey on their imagination. He accepts the birth of the new faith. But he does not understand its significance. He is also unwilling to relinquish his pagan way of life which Christ has come to destroy. His “hard and bitter agony is as painful as that of the poet who is enchained to the past and unable to submit to a transition.
The Magi began journey during the worst time of the year. It was the very dead of winter. The journey was long and the ways were deep and hard. The camels on which they travelled were galled, sore-footed and refractory. They often lay down in the melting snow. The Wise Men felt sorry for leaving their summer palaces and the silken girls bringing sherbet. The camel men cursed complained and ran far away for want of liquor and women. They had no night fires or shelter. The cities were hostile and the towns unfriendly. The villages were dirty and changed his spices. At last they decided to travel by night sleeping only in snatches. All along, their voice of reason was reminding them that their action was foolish. The last part of the poem is more blatantly the Magus reminiscing about the story (“all this was a long time ago, I remember”), and in his recollection, he seems to be doubtful about whether or not the birth was a good or bad, replacing as it would his own religion and culture. In fact, at the end of the poem, he seems to regard it as a bad thing indeed, with the Magus wishing for his own death alongside the death of his peoples’ conventional beliefs; hence, regret.
(WASSCE: 2021, 2022- Approved Texts) OBJECTIVES: 10 Years plan (from 2012)
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