Elective English - IV DENG203 ELECTIVE ENGLISH—IV Copyright © 2014, Shraddha Singh All rights reserved Produced & Printed by EXCEL BOOKS PRIVATE LIMITED A-45, Naraina, Phase-I, New Delhi-110028 for Lovely Professional University Phagwara SYLLABUS Elective English—IV Objectives: To introduce the student to different genres of literature. To improve students' comprehension ability. To improve analytical power of the student. Sr. No. Description 1 The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, Seven Ages Of Man by William Shakespeare 2 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge, 3 Animal Farm by George Orwell 4 Are the Rich Happy? by Stephen Leacock 5 An Astrologer’s Day by R. K Narayan. 6 Before a Midnight breaks in storm by Rudyard Kipling 7 Daffodils by William Wordsworth, Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats. 8 Once there was a King by Rabindranath Tagore 9 The Conjurers Revenge by Stephen Leacock. 10 The Big Brother by Munshi Premchand CONTENTS Unit 1: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost 1 Unit 2: The Seven Ages of Man by William Shakespeare 15 Unit 3: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge 30 Unit 4: Animal Farm by George Orwell 61 Unit 5: Are the Rich Happy? by Stephen Leacock 76 Unit 6: Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats 91 Unit 7: An Astrologer’s Day by R.K. Narayan 116 Unit 8: Before a Midnight Breaks in Storm by Rudyard Kipling 133 Unit 9: Daffodils by William Wordsworth 155 Unit 10: Once There was a King by Rabindranath Tagore 171 Unit 11: The Conjurers Revenge by Stephen Leacock 195 Unit 12: The Big Brother by Munshi Premchand 210 Unit 1: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Unit 1: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Notes CONTENTS Objectives Introduction 1.1 About Robert Frost 1.1.1 Early Years 1.1.2 Adult Years 1.2 Robert Frost’s Major Works 1.3 Poem – The Road Not Taken 1.3.1 Explanation 1.3.2 Critical Analysis 1.4 Summary 1.5 Keywords 1.6 Review Questions 1.7 Further Readings Objectives After studying this unit, you will be able to: Know about Robert Frost Describe the Robert Frost’s major works Explain the theme of poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ Analyse ‘The Road Not Taken’ Introduction Robert Frost was a very famous and often-quoted American poet born in San Francisco on March 26, 1874. Frost’s interest in reading and writing poetry grew during his high school days in Massachusetts. Robert Lee Frost is greatly regarded for his command on American colloquial speech and for his lifelike depictions of rural life. Robert’s first professional poem, “My Butterfly,” was published in the New York newspaper ‘The Independent’ on November 8, 1894. “The Road Not Taken” is Robert’s poem published in 1915 in the collection Mountain Interval. Printed in italics, it is the first poem in the volume. Robert Frost’s poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ is about a decisional crisis. In this unit we will study about Robert Frost and the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’. LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 1 Elective English—IV Notes 1.1 About Robert Frost Figure 1.1: Robert Frost Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Jb_modern_frost_2_e.jpg Born in San Francisco on March 26, 1874, Robert Frost was a highly regarded American poet. He relocated to New England at a tender age of eleven. His interest in reading and writing poetry grew when he was in high school in Lawrence in Massachusetts. In 1892, Robert got admission in Dartmouth College. He later took admission in Harvard, but he never earned a formal degree. After leaving school, Robert floated through a series of occupations. He worked as a teacher, cobbler, and an editor of the Lawrence Sentinel. Robert, in 1895, married Elinor Miriam White. His wife, who died in 1938, was a major inspiration behind his poetry till she took her last breath. After their New Hampshire farm failed, the couple relocated to England in 1912. It was abroad that Robert met contemporary British poets such as Rupert Brooke, Edward Thomas and Robert Graves and got influenced by them. During his stay in England, Robert became friends with poet Ezra Pound, who helped in promoting and publishing his work. About Robert, President John F. Kennedy said, “He has bequeathed his nation a body of imperishable verse from which Americans will forever gain joy and understanding.” Robert Frost resided and taught in Massachusetts and Vermont for several years, before he died in Boston on 29th January, 1963. Robert Lee Frost is greatly regarded for his command on American colloquial speech and for his lifelike depictions of rural life. His work often employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to study complicated philosophical and social themes. A very famous and often-quoted poet, Robert Frost was honoured repeatedly during his lifetime and he received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. 1.1.1 Early Years Robert Frost was born to Isabelle Moodie and journalist William Prescott Frost, Jr. His father descended from Nicholas Frost of Tiverton, Devon, England, who had sailed to New Hampshire in 1634 on the Wolfrana and his mother was of Scottish descent. Frost’s father started his career as a teacher. He later worked as an editor of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin which later merged into the San Francisco Examiner. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for city tax collector. After Frost’s father’s death in May 5, 1885, in due course time his family moved to Lawrence in Massachusetts with support from Robert’s grandfather, William 2 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY Unit 1: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Frost, Sr., who was a supervisor at a New England mill. In 1892, Frost graduated from Lawrence Notes High School. Frost’s mother joined the Swedenborgian Church and had Frost baptized in it, but he later left it as an adult. In spite of his later association with rural life, Robert grew up in the city. His first poem was published in his high school’s magazine. Frost also went to Dartmouth College to be accepted into the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. Frost went back to his hometown to teach and to do several jobs like delivering factory labour and newspapers. He did not enjoy any of these jobs and felt that he wanted to be a poet. 1.1.2 Adult Years Robert sold his first poem, “My Butterfly: An Elegy” in 1894. This poem was published for fifteen dollars in the November 8, 1894 edition of the New York Independent. Proud of this achievement, he proposed Elinor Miriam White, for marriage but she showed reluctance because she wanted to finish college before they both got married. Frost after returning from his excursion to the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia, asked Elinor again for marriage. She agreed as she had graduated by then. They then married at Harvard University, where Robert did liberal arts studies for two years. He performed well at Harvard, but left from there to support his family. Robert’s grandfather shortly before his death purchased a farm in Derry, New Hampshire for Robert and his wife. Robert worked in that farm for a span of nine years. During this period, he would wake up and write early in the morning. He produced several poems that later became famous. Frost did not succeed in his farming career and returned to field of education. He taught as an English teacher at Pinkerton Academy from 1906 to 1911, then at the New Hampshire Normal School which is now called Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Robert sailed with his family to Great Britain in 1912, residing first in Glasgow before finally settling in Beaconsfield outside London. A Boy’s Will, which was Robert’s first book of poetry, was published next year. In England he made several significant connections with T.E. Hulme, Edward Thomas (a member of the Dymock Poets group) and Ezra Pound. Pound would be the first American to write a favourable review of Robert’s work. Surrounded by his friends, Robert penned some of his best work during his stay in England. As World War I began, Robert went back to America in 1915. He purchased a farm in Franconia, New Hampshire, where he indulged in teaching, writing and lecturing. This family farmhouse served as the family’s summer home till 1938. It is preserved today as ‘The Frost Place’, a poetry conference site and museum at Franconia. During the years 1916–20, 1923–24, and 1927–1938, Robert taught English at Amherst College, Massachusetts, particularly inspiring his students to explain the sounds of human voice in their writings. From 1921 to 1963, Robert spent nearly every summer and fall teaching at the Bread Loaf School of English of Middlebury College, at the mountain campus at Ripton, Vermont. He is recognised as a major influence upon the development of the school. Its writing programs; the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference gained immense popularity during Frost’s term there. The college now owns and keeps his former Ripton farmstead near the Bread Loaf campus as a national historic site. Robert accepted a fellowship teaching post at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1921, where he lived till 1927. Frost was given a lifetime appointment at the University as a Fellow in Letters. The Robert Frost Ann Arbor home is now located at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn in Michigan. Robert returned to Amherst in 1927.