Major-2 [ Proficiency in English literature ]
Name of college :- Maharani shree Nandkunverba mahila arts and commerce college
Name :- trupti rathod
Year :- F.Y.B.A
Sem :- 1st sem
Subject :- English
Paper Name :- Major-2 [ Proficiency in English literature ]
Date :-
Professer Name :- Shivani Ma'am
Home Assignment :-
Unit 1: understanding literature through verse
poem 1:
My mistress'eyes are nothing like the sun
Introduction :-
William Shakespeare (April 1564 - 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of the 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship.
Summary:
Sonnet 130 :-
This sonnet compares the speaker's lover to a number of other beauties-and never in the lover's favor. Her eyes are "nothing like the sun," her lips are less red than coral; compared to white snow, her breasts are dun-colored, and her hairs are like black wires on her head. In the second quatrain, the speaker says he has seen roses separated by color ("damasked" into red and white, but he sees no such roses in his mistress's cheeks; and he says the breath that "reeks" from his mistress is less delightful than perfume. In the third quatrain, he admits that, though he loves her voice, music "hath a far more pleasing sound," and that,though he has never seen a goddess, his mistress-unlike goddesses-walks on the ground. In the couplet, however, the speaker declares that, "by heav'n," he thinks his love as rare and valuable "As any she belied with false compare"-that is, any love in which false comparisons were invoked to describe the loved one's beauty.
Analysis :-
This sonnet, one of Shakespeare's most famous, plays an elaborate joke on the conventions of love poetry common to Shakespeare's day, and it is so well- conceived that the joke remains funny today. Most sonnet sequences in Elizabethan England were modeled after that of Petrarch. Petrarch's famous sonnet sequence was written as a series of love poems to an idealized and idolized mistress named Laura. In the sonnets, Petrarch praises her beauty, her worth, and her perfection using an extraordinary variety of metaphors based largely on natural beauties. In Shakespeare's day. these metaphors had already become cliche (as, indeed, they still are today), but they were still the accepted technique for writing love poetry. The result was that poems tended to make highly idealizing comparisons between nature and the poets' lover that were, if taken literally, completely ridiculous. My mistress' eyes are like the sun; her lips are red as coral; her cheeks are like roses, her breasts are white as snow, her voice is like music, she is a goddess.
Class assignment :-
THEMES OF SONNET 130 :-
ESCAPE FROM IDEALISM :-
The major focus of the poem is to free poetry from the ideal form of description. All of the sonneteers of that time used elaborated analogies to describe how ideal and beautiful their beloveds are. Almost all of these descriptions used to be exaggerated and were no way near reality. In this poem, the speaker mocks this attitude. He does so by describing the features of his own mistress. He employs some of the most common comparisons that were used by the sonneteers and points out the fact that it is not humanly possible to reach that level.
FEMININITY :-
The poem addresses the problem of stereotyping the beauty of females by setting unreachable standards for it. It shows how males have set such out of the world expectations for the beauty of their female partners. We have created a fixed definition of beauty for all of the humans of the world when they are very diverse. Every person is different from another, and such stereotyping of beauty can never work. Rather, it will make the females inferior for not achieving the ideal standards of beauty.
Poem 2 :- The canonization
Introduction:
"The Canonization" is the poem of the English metaphysical poet "John Donne". It was first published in 1633 in Donne's posthumous collection 'songs and sonnets'. Here the word "Canonization" means the act or process of changing an ordinary religious person into a saint in Catholic Christian religion. The title suggests that the poet and his beloved will become 'saints of love' in the future: and they will be regarded as saints of true love in the whole world in the future. In the poem, the poet demands the complainer to stop hindering their lives and leave them alone so that they can continue loving each other without any hindrance.
Summary Of The Canonization
In stanza one, the lover is in a peevish mood. He addresses this verse to a complainer Apparently, he wants to say that one should keep himself busy by doing appropriate work rather than keeping a check on him and his lover. The lover tells the complainer that he can make fun of him as he is suffering from diseases and has grey hair but he won't gain anything by that. He says that he can criticize his ill health but not his tendency to love. He questions the complainer why doesn't he work and improve his lifestyle or make some money instead of disturbing or interfering with their lives.
The second stanza contains the elaborate metaphysical aspects of the poem. "Alas, alas, who's injured by my Love? What merchant's ships have my sight drowned?"
The lovers are not making any war or spreading diseases in society. They respect others' property. The poet wants to say that his love injures nobody. It's harmless. The lover is tactful, full of emotion and witty. He says, her sights are not responsible for the flood or floating off the ground. Spring won't go away due to his coldness. Nature has its natural course and the lovers are not harming it. The heat in his vanish has not increased the number of people who die of plague. His love is harmless.
Essay
What is literature ?
Literature is the artistic expression of human thoughts, feelings, and experiences through written or spoken words. It is more than just stories or poems; it reflects life, culture, and society. Literature uses creativity and imagination to communicate ideas in a way that touches both the heart and mind.
From ancient epics like the Ramayana to modern novels and poetry, literature has always been a mirror of human life. It explores universal themes such as love, duty, freedom, and justice, making it timeless and relevant across generations.
Literature also shapes our understanding of the world. It helps us see life from different perspectives, improves our imagination, and strengthens values like empathy and wisdom.
In short, literature is not only a form of art but also a powerful tool of learning and inspiration. It is the voice of humanity that connects the past, present, and future.
