NEW LITERATURES IN ENGLISH – I MA ENGLISH Unit:1 POETRY Wilfred Campbell : The Winter Lakes (Canada) David Rubadiri : A Negro Labourer in Liverpool (Africa) Sri Aurobindo : The Pilgrim of the Night (India) Shaw Neilson : The Bard and the Lizard (Australia) Derek Walcott : Ruins of a Great House (The West Indies) Allen Curnow : Time (New Zealand). Unit:2 -PROSE Tagore : Sadhana Chapter I – III V.S Naipaul : Area of Darkness Unit:3 -DRAMA Soyinka : The Road Unit:4 -FICTION Chinua Achebe : Things Fall Apart Tony Morrison : The Bluest Eye Unit:5-CRITICISM 1.Margaret Atwood : Ice Women v. Earth Mothers : the Stone Angel and The Absent Venus 2.Stuart Hall : Cultural Identity and Diaspora Unit:6 Contemporary Issues 2 hours Expert lectures, online seminars – webinars Winter Lakes Wilfred Campbell, in full William Wilfred Campbell, (born June 1, 1861, Berlin, Ontario, Canada—died January 1, 1918, near Ottawa, Ontario), Canadian poet, best remembered for Lake Lyrics and Other Poems (1889), a volume of poetry that celebrates the scenery of the Lake Huron–Georgian Bay country near his home. He is considered a member of the Confederation group. Campbell was educated at the University of Toronto, ordained (1885), and, after his retirement from the ministry (1891), was employed until his death by the civil service in Ottawa. His works are informed by a missionary zeal for the culture of what he called the “British race,” and he took pride in his Scots and English antecedents. His other books of verse are The Dread Voyage (1893), Beyond the Hills of Dream (1889), The Collected Poems of Wilfred Campbell (1905), and Sagas of Vaster Britain (1914). Campbell’s output includes verse plays, descriptive studies of Canadian life, and two historical novels. He edited an edition of The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse (1913). The Poetical Works of Wilfred Campbell (1923) was edited and includes a memoir by W.J. Sykes. Poem Out in a world of death far to the northward lying, Under the sun and the moon, under the dusk and the day; Under the glimmer of stars and the purple of sunsets dying, Wan and waste and white, stretch the great lakes away. Never a bud of spring, never a laugh of summer, Never a dream of love, never a song of bird; But only the silence and white, the shores that grow chiller and dumber, Wherever the ice winds sob, and the griefs of winter are heard. Crags that are black and wet out of the grey lake looming, Under the sunset's flush and the pallid, faint glimmer of dawn; Shadowy, ghost-like shores, where midnight surfs are booming Thunders of wintry woe over the spaces wan. Lands that loom like spectres, whited regions of winter, Wastes of desolate woods, deserts of water and shore; A world of winter and death, within these regions who enter, Lost to summer and life, go to return no more. Moons that glimmer above, waters that lie white under, Miles and miles of lake far out under the night; Foaming crests of waves, surfs that shoreward thunder, Shadowy shapes that flee, haunting the spaces white. Lonely hidden bays, moon-lit, ice-rimmed, winding, Fringed by forests and crags, haunted by shadowy shores; Hushed from the outward strife, where the mighty surf is grinding Death and hate on the rocks, as sandward and landward it roars. Summary This is a highly philosophical poem written by William wilfred Campbell a Canadian poet. In the first stanza the poet is describing a world of death in the form of a winter lake. The lake is lying far to the northward under the sun, the moon, the dusk and the day under the glimmer of stars, purple sunsets dying, wan, waste and white all stretch away the Great Lakes. In the second stanza is describing a dull and useless life without love, happiness and peace. That place is lacking bud of spring, laugh of Summer, dream of love song of bird but only silence and white. The shores of lakes are chill and dumb. In the sob of the ice winds the winter griefs are heard. In the third stanza sorrowfulness of life is described. rock are black and life is described. The lake itself is Grey in colour. The rough rock are black and wet and looming. Looking very pale under the sunsets flush and pallid. They are very shadowy and ghost like but the Midnight surfs are booming thunders of winter sadness in feeble way. In the fourth stanza the lakes look like ghosts and covered with winter snow. The woods nearby are desolated. No habitation near the shore. so it is a world of winter and death. If anybody enters from there happy summer life there return no more. In the fifth stanza the poet is describing the waters that lie white under and stretch miles and miles of lake. Foaming crest of waves, surfs shadowy shapes all this look like ghost over the spaces.In the last stanza the poet is clearly describing the death and hate on the rock, hidden bays, moon lit. ice rimmed, winding, fringed by forest and crags, shadowy shores all haunt place. The external struggle of man compared to death and hate roaring a sand and land. The poem is highly pessimistic all the words used in negative form only death and hate played a major role in the poem. A NEGRO LABOURER IN LIVERPOOL -DAVID RUBADIRI James David Rubadiri is a Malawian diplomat, academic and poet. At independence in 1964, Rubadiri was appointed Malawi's first ambassador to the United States and the United Nations. On Tuesday August 18th, 1964, he presented his credentials to President Johnson at the White House and expressed the hope that his newly independent country would get more aid from the United States. Ambassador Rubadiri said that Malawi needed help to build its democratic institutions and noted that Malawi was already receiving US economic and technical help. David Rubadiri left the government in 1965 when he broke with President Hastings Banda. Education Rubadiri attended King's College, Budo in Uganda from 1941-1950 then Makerere University from 1952-1956, where he graduated from with a bachelor's degree in English literature and History. He went on to the University of Bristol from 1956-1960, where he received a master of arts degree in English literature. Publications His only novel, No Bride Price was published. The novel criticized the Banda regime and was, along with Legson Kayira's The Looming Shadow, some of the first published work by Malawians. Poem I passed him slouching in dark backhouse pavement head bowed taut haggard and worn a dark shadow amidst dark shadows I stared our eyes met but on his dark negro face no sunny smile no hope or a longing for hope promised only the quick cowed dart of eyes piercing through impassive crowds searching longingly for a face that might flicker understanding this is him the negro labourer in Liverpool that from his motherland with new hope sought for an identity grappled to clutch the fire of manhood in the land of the free. Summary David Rubadiri's "A Negro Labourer at Liverpool" exemplifies the pathetic situation of the average Negro. The poet asserts how his individuality is suppressed in a white-dominated society. He has turned out to be another "dark shadow amidst dark shadows". The words are very meaningful here. Firstly, it points to the poet's state of identity crisis. How he is marginalized, and his individuality is relegated to the background Further, his community is looked down upon, verging on the burning issue of Apartheid. Again, it is a 'shadow' without any authenticity or reality of being of its own. The whites have redefined his 'white' not to adorn a 'sunny smile'. Present in a span of tortures, his future is bleak: a dark night of hopelessness. The indefinite article 'a' in the title further adds light to the state of identity crisis of the negro laborer at Liverpool. He is just one among others. An indefinite article and two common nouns (negro,laborer) sum up his identity in a nutshell. He does not possess any ray of hope regarding help from the outsiders. The only thing he seeks for is a warm smile, or a nod of understanding translating into the acknowledgement of his suffering. The negros's back has been bent by oppression, colonialism and collective submission to a force that has been deemed indestructible. There is no silver lining to his predicament. He works resigned to his fate with lack of feeling and spiritual numbness. Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, guru, poet, and nationalist.[2] He joined the Indian movement for independence from British rule, for a while was one of its influential leaders and then became a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution. Aurobindo studied for the Indian Civil Service at King's College, Cambridge, England. After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the Maharaja of the Princely state of Baroda and became increasingly involved in nationalist politics in the Indian National Congress and the nascent revolutionary movement in Bengal with the Anushilan Samiti. He was arrested in the aftermath of a number of bomb outrages linked to his organization in a public trial where he faced charges of treason for Alipore Conspiracy. However Aurobindo could only be convicted and imprisoned for writing articles against British rule in India. He was released when no evidence could be provided, following the murder of a prosecution witness, Narendranath Goswami, during the trial.