The moral lesson in “Tithonus” and “Oenone”

Tennyson was perhaps the most famous poet of the Victorian age. His poems often contain some moral lessons. The two poems “Oenone” and “Tithonus” both are directly and indirectly related to the death of his close friend Arthur Hallam. So, it is natural to have some moral lessons and some reflections on life and death and suffering of people. Another two poems based on Greek mythology called “Ulysses” and “Lotus Eaters” should also be taken into consideration when talking about poems like “Tithonus” and “Oenone”.

First I like to talk about the moral lesson in “Oenone”. The moral lesson in “Oenone” is somewhat clear and it is a very beautiful but simple poem. Paris was a prince, but he was not a good husband. He was fond of some gods and goddesses, but as a human being, he was terrible.

There is a strong moral lesson that if you get too much carried away with your emotion then you are bound to suffer. Oenone did not think anything but became crazy for Paris. She did not bother to think whether Paris was a good man or a bad man. The same can be said about Paris who got a very kind and devoted wife in Oenone, but yet he became crazy when he got the offer from Aphrodite that he would be able to get married to the most beautiful woman in entire Greece. Tennyson is suggesting here that emotion is not enough in life and we must apply knowledge and our brain. We must use our senses and think about life. When it comes to marriage you must not easily take any decision. Otherwise, you will suffer badly in life just as Oenone suffered.

“Tithonus” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is a dramatic monologue. In the poem, Tithonus tells the reader his story and his suffering from immortality. Aurora, the goddess of dawn, falls in love with Tithonus and brings him to live with her. Tithonus asks Aurora to make him immortal but forgets to ask for eternal youth. As a result, he grows old and weak but does not die. The poem opens up with Tithonus lamenting his immortality. In this poem, we can find two moral messages- accepting death and shun greed.

In the original Greek version, it was not Tithonus but Aurora, who asked Zeus to make Tithonus immortal but forgets to ask for eternal youth. The moral message Tennyson tried to give his readers is, “Death is a normal part of life. Trying to overcome death means break of that cycle which would not bring any good to human beings.”

Life is dear to all of us. We are afraid of death and it is inevitable. However, life without death is immortal life and it is not so attractive. Tithonus is immortal, but he is not enjoying his immortality but lamenting it. He tells Aurora to take back her gift of immortality, but that would not be possible because once the god grants something, he cannot take it back. Tithonus says, 

Why should a man desire in any way

To vary from the kindly race of men,

Or pass beyond the goal of ordinance

In the end, Tithonus refers to ordinary people as “happy men” because have the power to die. 

Another moral lesson of this poem is the effect of greed. Tithonus was greedy for immortality. He finally got it, but it did not do him any good. Tithonus said,

I ask’d thee, “Give me immortality.”

Then didst thou grant mine asking with a smile,

Like wealthy men who care not how they give.

He prayed to Aurora for immortality and Aurora grant him his wish. It was like a charity by a wealthy man, who had too much wealth and did not bother what he gave. Now, he is suffering from immortality. He is old but he cannot die. He thinks that an old man like him cannot live with a goddess who is immortal and young. 

Treatment of the Greek mythology in “Oenone” and “Tithonus”

The romantic poets were not that much interested in writing about Greek mythology as we can hardly find any poem of Wordsworth or Coleridge related to the topic. However, the Victorian poets were just the opposite, and Tennyson, in particular, was deeply interested in Greek mythology. Robert Browning was interested in Renaissance. Tennyson’s two poems “Oenone” and “Tithonus” both deal with Greek mythological characters and there we can find Tennyson giving different treatment about mythology and the mythological characters.

First, I like to talk about Oenone who was a mythological character. He married Paris, the prince of Troy. In fact, she was the first choice of Pairs, who abandoned her for Helen.

We all know the reason behind Paris going after Helen. Aphrodite promised him that if he gave the golden apple to her then she would give the most beautiful woman of Greece to Paris as his wife. Here, in this poem, Tennyson has presented Greek mythology in a new light. In ancient Greece, it was not such a big crime to abandon the first wife and going after another woman. Women did not have that much respect in society. In our age, if this matter happened then Oenone could have gone to court and filed a lawsuit against Paris. However, in ancient Greece Oenone did have no choice but to lament her fate and even she thought of committing suicide. During the Victorian age, the condition of women was gradually improving and Queen Victoria was herself a woman. Still, it was not like today. Women still had limited access to education, job and their wealth. They had no political right or voting right during the time Tennyson wrote. Tennyson was not himself a feminist, but here in the poem, he has shown the suffering of women. This suffering happened because Oenone did not have any right as a woman or as a wife. He was totally dependent on the mercy of Paris. After Paris abandoned her, her life was all but finished even though she was pregnant with a child.

Tennyson has focused more on the misery and suffering of Oenone in the poem than describing the mythological story. This is a very nice thing that he has done because normally mythological poets are often full of miracles of gods and goddesses. Here, the focus is not on Helen or not on Aphrodite but on the bad condition of Oenone.

“Tithonus” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is a dramatic monologue. In the poem, Tithonus tells the reader his story and his suffering from immortality. Aurora, the goddess of dawn, falls in love with Tithonus and brings him to live with her. Tithonus asks Aurora to make him immortal but forgets to ask for eternal youth. As a result, he grows old and weak but does not die. The poem opens up with Tithonus lamenting his immortality.

In the original Greek version, it was not Tithonus but Aurora, who asked Zeus to make Tithonus immortal but forgot to asks for eternal youth. Tennyson changed the story to provide readers a moral message and that message is “Death is a normal part of life. Trying to overcome death means break of that cycle, which would not bring any good to human beings.”

Life is dear to all of us. We are afraid of death and it is inevitable. However, life without death is immortal life and that is not so attractive. Tithonus is immortal, but he is not enjoying his immortality but lamenting it. He tells Aurora to take back her gift of immortality, but that would not be possible because once the god grants something, he cannot take it away. Tithonus says,

Why should a man desire in any way

To vary from the kindly race of men,

Or pass beyond the goal of ordinance 

In the end, Tithonus refers to ordinary people as “happy men” because they have the power to die. 

Through Tithonus, Tennyson is addressing the readers not to be afraid of death. Tennyson wrote this poem shortly after the death of his close friend, Arthur Henry Hallam. His death affected Tennyson very much. He died at a very young age. Tennyson was trying to justify his death.

The poet also tried to warn the readers about greed. Tithonus was greedy for immortality. He finally got it, but it did not do him any good. Tithonus said,

I ask’d thee, “Give me immortality.”

Then didst thou grant mine asking with a smile,

Like wealthy men who care not how they give.

He prayed to Aurora for immortality and Aurora grant him his wish. It was like a charity by a wealthy man, who had too much wealth and did not bother what he gave. Now, he is suffering from immortality. He is old but he cannot die. He thinks that an old man like him cannot live with a goddess who is immortal and young.

Reasons for students’ inability to learn English at the secondary level in Bangladesh: A study based on five schools in Dhaka city

 Chapter-1 Introduction:

1.1 Background of the study:

English is an international language. When two or more people of different languages try to communicate with each other, they choose English as a medium of communication. For this reason, English is called the lingua franca. So, it is clear that English has gained its status as the most important international language. However, there is confusion regarding the status of English in Bangladesh, because there is no mention in our constitution whether English is given the status of a second language or foreign language. Whatever the status is, we cannot deny the increasing importance and use of English in our country. Because of the growing demand for English, we are taught and learned this language as a compulsory subject in our country. Our journey of learning the English language begins at the primary level and its inclusion continues till the tertiary level of education. Regardless of this fact, we find it difficult to acquire the English language towards the desired goal. Our effort to learn English is slowed down by various pebbles of problems. 

Image Source

Except for English, the medium of instruction for other subjects is Bengali in the educational institutions in Bangladesh. In order to pass the Secondary School Certificate (S.S.C) examination, we have to study English as a compulsory subject for ten years. However, from class six to ten is called the secondary level of education. To conduct this research, I have chosen the level of class ten, including both students and teachers, as sample. So, in this study, students belong to class ten have been referred to as secondary level students because they are at the last stage of the Secondary level and they have entire knowledge to go under that level. They are considered adult enough to express themselves through verbally and to assess and express their views about their education. This research aims to identify the possible factors that act as a hindrance in learning English for the students at the secondary level in Bangladesh.

1.2 Literary review:

It is sad but true that we cannot acquire the English language properly despite studying it as a subject for almost 16 years. This problem becomes visible when students do not get a job even after completing graduation because of their lack of English skills. Taking advantage of this situation, some organizations, such as coaching centers, are doing business by offering different package courses with the duration of at least three months to one year. However, these package courses cannot provide any solution to this problem, instead lead the learners to frustration when they find not that much progression in themselves after the end of the course. There are many reasons which not only make secondary level students unable to learn English but also create a barrier in the learning process.

Related to the fact above, the researcher has given his best effort to make an intensive review of similar kinds of literature. A number of researches on a similar type of topic were conducted both at home and abroad. Researchers in developing as well as developed countries have shown several factors regarding tenth-grade students’ failure to learn English in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, very few studies related to this topic have been carried out. Thus, more investigation is required to find out the causes regarding students’ inability to learn English at the secondary level in Bangladesh. However, in most of the studies done in developing countries, school factors got more prioritize than family factors. The reasons are as follows-

The shortage of skilled and trained English language teachers is one of the most important factors that affect students’ ability to learn the English language in secondary schools of our country (Usman, Sa’ad 2012). To fill up the deficiency, in some schools, English language classes are taken by other subject teachers, who cannot even speak and write in English properly. So, these non-trained teachers cannot teach efficiently and therefore provide poor performances from their products. To support the previous statement, Roger (2003) states that some so-called English language teachers do not have academic qualifications to teach the subject and as they are not specialists in the field of study, they are not good teachers.

Compared to non-trained teachers, trained teachers are more effective in English language classrooms at the Secondary level. Knowing grammar rules, word meanings and doing repeated drills cannot ensure that a learner will become able to acquire any language. According to Stephen Krashen (2009), “Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill.” However, the linguist in his theory of second language acquisition points out six hypotheses. One of the hypotheses is ‘affective filter’ that is influenced by emotional variables, such as anxiety, self-confidence, motivation, and stress, which can stop the input from reaching the language acquisition part of the brain.

Another key reason is the dominance of first language or mother-tongue because of which students fail to learn English at the Secondary level. It is believed that because of the influence of mother tongue, students’ English achievement at the Secondary level in Bangladesh gets interrupted. Golam (2012) in his research shows that students find the English language hard to be learned because it is not their mother tongue. In Bangladesh, learners habitually use their native language in their communications and the use of English is limited only within the four walls of the classrooms. So, it can be said that English language practice starts and ends in the classroom. In some schools, English language class is conducted by less proficient teachers who make use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction. This situation illustrates the dominance of the local language, which affects English achievement at the Secondary level.

If we look at the neighboring country India, we can see that there are a total number of 1652 different languages spoken as mother tongues. Of these, only 150 languages have a sizeable speaking population and among them, only 22 languages have been made official languages. In this complex linguistic situation, students first learn their state or local language for internal communication then Hindi as the national language and after that English for cross-state communication. David Crystal (2003) has given the historical context of English in his book, English as a Global Language, where it has been shown that in India, the disagreement between the supporters of English, Hindi and regional languages in the 1960s lead to the creation of ‘three language formula’, in which English was used as the main alternative to the local state language. English is given the status of official language in India whereas, in Bangladesh, there is no mention regarding the status that will be given to English. For this reason, people living in India have a good command of the English language. From the above discussion, it is clear that government policy, which recommends the use of mother tongue both in the education and job sectors, is responsible for students’ inability to learn the English language.

Another reason for which students fail to learn English at the secondary level in Bangladesh is the inappropriate use of teaching methods. Successful teaching and learning depend on the teachers’ right selection of teaching methods. The selection of teaching methods differentiates the trained teachers from the untrained teachers. Having a lack of adequate knowledge and proper use of instructional strategies, the untrained teachers go after the conventional teaching method, such as Grammar-Translation Method (GTM), and also they discourage students to ask questions (Haq, 2006). They do not prepare the lesson plan before the class and do not use additional teaching aids except the traditional chalk, duster, blackboard and textbook. In some cases, they take the help of maps, charts and posters to demonstrate the lessons. Teachers just read out from the textbook and do not provide sufficient explanation of the text (Ahmed 2005). Some teachers give students homework or insist students learn at home. Lack of numerous instructional activities and inadequate use of teaching aids make the classes boring for the students, and it creates an obstacle for students to learn the English language in the classroom.

In our country, textbooks are designed by National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) following a communicative approach, which is also known as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). This method is based on the idea that learning a second language is possible only when learners will be involved in real communication. It gives equal importance to all four skills- Reading, writing, speaking and listening. The bitter truth is that only two skills- reading and writing- are emphasized and practiced in the classroom by the teacher so that students can pass the examination. However, speaking and listening skills are neglected because students do not have to give tests for them (Haroon-Ar Rasheed 2015). Because of the existing problems in our education system, most of the students in Bengali medium schools cannot reach the Secondary English language competencies.

1.3 Statement of Research Question:

Depending on the background given above, the researcher prepares the research questions as follows:

1.   What are the reasons that affect students’ ability to learn English at the Secondary level in Bangladesh?

2.   What is their actual level of English language proficiency?

3.   What initiatives can be taken to enhance the students’ skills and abilities in the English language?

1.4 Objectives of the Research:

The main purpose of this study is to answer the aforementioned research questions and to examine them in order to find out the solutions. Besides, this thesis has also its objectives. Related to the research questions stated above, other objectives of this research are as follows:

1.   To find out the actual reasons for students’ inability to learn English at the Secondary level in Bangladesh.

2.   To study and compare the dissimilarities of the English education achievement between the schools of government and non-government.

3.   To show the ways of developing Secondary level students’ learning of English language in school.

4.   To demonstrate the impact of poor English proficiency both in education and job sectors.

1.5 Significance of the Research:

We cannot ignore the necessity of learning English in an increasingly integrated global economy. In a broad sense, globalization requires the learners of non-English-speaking countries to have a good command of English for different purposes- firstly, to enter into mainstream English speaking countries as an immigrant, secondly, to get a job in international markets and regions, and thirdly, to get a scholarship for higher studies. Mohammed Farashuddin, the former Governor of Bangladesh Bank, said, “Proficiency in English is a must for the nation to abolish poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and indignity.” This research intends to make contributions towards the quality improvement of English education in secondary schools in Bangladesh. This study has tried to recommend a way of how to improve English language learning with the development of the teaching techniques by explaining the reasons that affect students’ ability to learn English.

The results of this research are expected to play a vital role for different purposes. The source of information collecting from this research can be beneficial for teacher-trainers, educational administrators, policymakers, researchers and teachers in Bangladesh to identify the probable issues that may help improve students’ English language skills. Moreover, this study will attempt to reveal a few areas where important steps may be taken to develop the condition of English teaching and learning in Bangladesh, surrounding the Secondary level students in Dhaka city.

1.6 Limitation of the study:

The researcher had to go through some difficulties while conducting this research. The first thing he faced was the lack of cooperation from the educational institutions because they did not want to give him permission to investigate and survey even though he tried his best to make them understand. As a part of this study, the researcher visited five secondary level schools in order to take interviews, hand over questionnaires and observe the classrooms in line with the research topic. To collect data from the field, the researcher had to depend on either a survey questionnaire or a tape recorder. Because of the limited time, he had to collect data hurriedly. In addition, people who filled up the survey question were unable to understand few questions. For this reason, there is a doubt of its 100% authenticity. Moreover, we cannot consider the results of the research as the whole picture of English education at the secondary level in Dhaka city because the study was carried out in some chosen schools.

Regardless of these difficulties, the researcher has given his best effort to maintain the quality of the research by focusing on accuracy and validity, thus every detail is provided. However, data could be increased by approaching more schools, but due to limited time, it was not possible for the researcher.

1.7 Hypothesis:

Students at the secondary level cannot acquire the English language successfully because of their anxiety towards learning the language. They consider English as a foreign language and as a result, they find it hard to learn. As there is not much use of the English language in our country, some people do not see any benefit in learning it. Their only target is to get the pass mark. Thus they become unable to learn it. This kind of attitude causes poor performance in the English language at the Secondary level. The hypotheses of this research are formulated as follows- (1) there is a remarkable improvement of the Secondary level students’ ability to learn English, (2) teaching and learning of English have become easier after solving the problems that did not let students become skilled in that particular language.

1.8 Definitions of Key Terms:

While going through the research, readers will come across some difficult terms. So that readers can understand the terms and can relate them with the study, operational definitions of these terms are provided. These terms with adequate explanations are given below-

Focus Group Discussion (FGD): It is one of the most popular ways of data collection using extensively in qualitative research. It is actually a group discussion in which people of similar backgrounds or experiences exchange knowledge, ideas and opinions about a specific topic. The moderator or researcher guides the group of participants by providing topics or questions from the prepared interview guidelines. The survey is carried out in several groups consisting of 6 to 10 persons selected in accordance with the research aims.

Students’ Inability: The synonyms of the word ‘Inability’ are ‘failure’, ‘incapacity’, ‘lack of ability’, ‘ineligibility’, ‘being unable’ etc. According to the definition of Merriam-Webster, ‘inability’ indicates the condition of not being able to do something. So, from this definition, it can be said that students’ inability actually means their state of being unable to do or learn something. The only duty of a student is to study, but because of the classroom environment or complexity of the lessons, they cannot become able to learn it. So, it can be considered as an obstacle, which does not let the students become able to learn something.

Language Learning Skills: For learning a language, one needs to master four skills, namely: listening, speaking, reading and writing. These four skills can be divided into two categories- receptive and productive. Listening and reading are known as ‘receptive’ skills while speaking and writing are known as ‘productive’ skills. Based on these four skills, languages are taught and assessed. To become an expert in any particular language, the learners will have to develop these four skills.

2. Research Design:

In this chapter, the design and procedures of data collection for this research are described. Though the main objective of this study is to identify the reasons for students’ inability to learn English at the secondary level, its effect in education and job sectors and procedures to develop the students’ English language skills are also the key issue of this study. Moreover, this study shows the main causes of poor performance in the English language among Bengali medium students. The first section of this chapter includes the method applied in this study and the research design; the second section talks about the participants who took part in the study; the third section shows a list of instruments used in the study and justifies their use in the study; the fourth section gives an elaborate description of how all the important information have been gathered and time spent on each segment by following specific procedures of data collection and timeline. Finally, the fifth section details how collected data is analyzed.

2.1 Methodology of the Research:

Taking the nature and purpose of this study into consideration, the researcher has applied the qualitative research method to depict the problems that secondary level students face while learning the English language. Compared to quantitative research, qualitative research is more effective when it comes to doing fieldwork in order to collect data. This kind of research lets the researcher investigate a small sample and later simplify the findings to the whole population. In this study, three research techniques- survey study, interview and observation of L2 classes- have been used by the researcher. Therefore, various ways of data collection involved in the study can be designed as follows-

1) Students’ questionnaire survey, 2) Students’ interview, 3) Teachers’ questionnaire survey, 4) Teachers’ interview, 5) Classroom observation.

By following the aforesaid methods, the researcher can be directly connected with his source of information thus leading him to generate ideas for this study.

To support the findings of the research, the researcher collected data from different sources by taking the help of different methods. To be more specific, the investigator used all three methods- questionnaire survey, interview and observation, to maintain the triangulation as well as to increase the accuracy, authenticity, validity and reliability of the data collected.

2.2 Participants:

This study took place in five secondary schools in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The English teachers and students of the 10th grade English class were the participants of the study. The researcher took interviews of five English teachers who are currently teaching in Bengali medium schools. Keeping in relation with the study, the researcher made the interview questionnaire for teachers, which contains 10 questions. Based on 10 questions related to the topic, the researcher conducted three FGDs (Focus Group Discussion), each containing 10 students. A total of 30 students from the English language class took part in these FGD sessions. Because this study is aimed at finding the causes of Bengali medium students’ failure to learn English, they are the target people for this study. Then, the researcher carefully observed five English classes to take note of the overall classroom activities, especially to find out the reasons behind their failure to learn English, its impact on their academic results and the motivation given by their teachers to solve the problem. In order to collect all data in detail during observations, the examiner took the help of an observation checklist which included nine criteria.

2.3 Instruments:

In this research, two types of data, quantitative data and qualitative data, have been used. Quantitative data are obtained from the results of the test. The instruments that are used to collect these data are- 1) interviews of English language teachers, 2) FGD of the secondary level students and 3) classroom observations. The teacher interview questionnaire and the FGDs have contained 10 questions respectively while in the observation checklist, 9 criteria are maintained. Teacher interviews helped to find out the background of English language teachers as well as the real situation of English classes and students’ weaknesses. FGD is another instrument, which helped the investigator to get information directly from the students. From the FGD sessions, the researcher got answers to the questions- why they fail to learn English, how it affects them and how to overcome it. Through open discussion related to the topic of the study, it was possible to get almost all the information. While observing the classroom, an observation record sheet is maintained to take down important notes. Through the use of this instrument, the researcher came to know the activities of the classroom and students’ responses. It also helped to identify why the students cannot achieve their proficiency level, what obstacles they face in learning English and how teachers’ motivation can develop their language skills in English language class.

2.4 Procedure and Timeline:

All three instruments were used to collect the necessary data of 5 teacher interviews, 3 FGDs with the students of English classes and 5 classroom observations. Teachers from Bengali medium schools in Dhaka city were interviewed. During the interview sessions, English language teachers were free from their works. With the use of a recording device and survey questionnaire, the researcher recorded all answers given by the teachers. Then, three FGD sessions were organized in English classrooms of three of the selected schools. While conducting the FGDs, students were free and both male and female students took part in it. During FGDs, students were asked 10 questions one by one and their responses were recorded in recording devices and important notes were written down. Finally, classrooms were observed and data was collected in the observation checklist under 9 criteria.

The researcher needed 10 days to take interviews of the teachers and 5 days to analyze the data. Because of the limited amount of time, 10-15 minutes were allotted for each teacher interview. However, 3 FGDs were conducted on 3 different days with three groups of students consisted of both male and female students. All of their responses were recorded by audio devices and noted down as well. It took around 15-20 minutes to complete each FGD. Later, a total of 5 classes were observed in five days following the observation checklist, which included 9 criteria. To collect data, the procedures described above were followed by the researcher.

In this study, all the mentioned instruments were used to collect data. All instruments are very useful and important to collect all the possible information. Instead of relying on only one instrument, three instruments were equally utilized to analyze the data and reach the possible solutions.

2.5 Data Analysis:

In this study, the results are analyzed in the qualitative frame of data collection. Firstly, the interviews, FGDs and observations are done in Bengali medium schools with the use of audio recording aids and survey questionnaires. By using these, important notes were taken down. Then, the findings from the interviews, FGDs and classroom observations are gathered. Thirdly, findings collecting from each instrument are examined. Every note takings and audio recording are observed altogether. Most common answers during teacher interviews or FGDs are noted down. Similarly, through classroom observations, the regularly noticed activities regarding 9 criteria are noted down. However, some interesting responses or activities are highly emphasized. Since the qualitative method is used to conduct this study, for this reason, the emphasis is given to the participants’ responses instead of the number of participants. Finally, all the findings from different instruments are gathered together and attempted to reach the conclusion of the study.

William Blake’s relationship with nature

William Blake came just before the romantic poets and many consider him to be the first romantic poet. There is a debate whether he was a romantic or not, but there is no doubt that he used nature a lot in his poetry. In Songs of Innocence and of Experience, we can see the natural setting in many of the poems. He even used natural symbols to convey his message.

In Songs of Innocence poems, nature is mild or subdued. Nature is not evil there but is friendly and somewhat beautiful. It is the creation of God and God helps people with nature. 

Image Source

In Songs of Experience, we find perhaps the opposite concept. There, nature is not so friendly and sometimes it is frightening. Here, it should be stated that Blake was also an engraver and he had a good hand in painting. So, he was good at painting pictures, and thus, he had a good understanding of nature and natural objects. He had the mind to see deeper into nature and had the imagination of both a poet and a painter or artist. This imagination is important because when he tried to write about nature we can find that he could write more than the five senses of humans can comprehend.

The concept of God is important in William Blake’s poetry. He tried to search for God. So, his poems and nature are the expressions of God. So, we can find that God created lamb and at the same time God created tiger. There is beauty and harmony in nature. But there is also cruelty and evil in nature.

To Blake, nature is a part of the world and part of good and evil. Nature is sometimes violent and cruel but at the same time nature is beautiful and nature can bring harmony to the mind of people. By looking at nature, we come closer to God and we can get nearness to God.

We know that the romantic poets also used nature as the central theme. If we look at Songs of Innocence and of Experience, we can perhaps say that nature is the central theme of these poems rather than childhood and social justice is. Blake is more concerned with the suffering of children and also the suffering of people in society. However, Blake does not run away from nature or totally avoids nature. Instead, he finds that there is a lot of need for people to be closed to nature because there is beauty and harmony in nature. From this point of view, some people may think that Blake was almost a romantic poet.

On the other hand, Blake had some anti-romantic elements in his treatment of nature. As I have already said that Blake’s central theme was social justice and the suffering of the children, not nature. He is not in love or he is not a worshiper of nature like Wordsworth is. He just showed that nature is a part of human life but perhaps not the most important part. Sometimes, it is confusing because, on the one hand, Blake does not seem to have given too much emphasis on nature in the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience. But on the other hand, he has frequently used natural symbols over and again.

In conclusion, we can say that Blake was fond of nature, but like Wordsworth or other romantic poets, he was not totally fond of it. He realized the importance of nature in human life, but he stopped well short of other romantic poets in depicting the value of nature in human life. 

Love and Marriage

The significance of the theme of love and marriage cannot be denied because it has inspired many authors to write about it down through the ages. Though love and marriage is a simple topic to deal with, it has become a complicated one with the involvement of culture, religion, society and time. One might think that love and marriage are two different themes, but they are not since they cannot be separated from each other.

Not every marriage based on love becomes successful. Some marriages fail due to the infidelity of one of the partners or not getting accepted by the bride or groom’s family. For this reason, some couples have to get apart. However, divorce was considered to be a social taboo and still, it is not taken positively. In most cases, girls are blamed for divorce though it is not entirely their fault. If we look at America, we can see that until the 1950s taking divorce was a rare incident in this country. Serious issues like divorce were brought to the forefront by celebrities and the media. Conjugal life without love becomes less desirable and is followed by divorce. In western countries, many people are showing a lack of interest in getting married, and couples in love simply begin living together without the sanctity of marriage.

According to many prodigious writers, love is the ultimate goal of the heart and marriage is the result of that love. Based on the subject of love and marriage, many great literary texts, including poetry, drama, prose, etc. were created. Even we can also see many great works of art and music were made on this theme. Love is what most people aspire to as a goal for their life. How they go about achieving that differs greatly in many cultures today.

In third world countries like Bangladesh, finding love and getting married is usually limited to a person’s region because most people never venture far from their birthplace. In some cases, the idea of love has been wiped out by ceremonies and rituals that go against the very nature of love. In other cultures and countries, love is taken out of the picture when it comes to marriage. The parents select suitable mates for their children and marriage takes place without the couples even having met before the ceremony. Suitability is measured by monetary value, education, employment, ability to cook and run a household, as well as affluence.

In developed countries like America, the perspective towards love and marriage has been changed over the time. Two souls falling in love with each other can stay under one roof without getting married. Marriage is often temporary. Love and marriage do not only happen between two opposite genders but also can happen to the same sex. Marriage between two different religions is a common incident nowadays. In the same way, the rate of divorce is increasing.

Authors of today write very differently on the subject than the great authors of yesteryear. While love used to be romanticized and held to a higher standard, authors of today equate love with a flippant notion that it is there to just reach out and grab, use, and throw away. This is perpetuated by social media, which opens a whole different door to the meaning of love and marriage. No longer is marriage the end result of love. No longer is it important to meet in person. Would the great authors be able to write in this day and age? I think they are currently turning over in their graves.

Literary theory of William Wordsworth and T. S. Eliot

William Wordsworth and T. S. Eliot are two popular names in the history of English literature. These two people have a great contribution to English literature. Their contribution helped English literature a lot to be enriched.

It is known to all that William Wordsworth brought a big change in the history of English literature. He along with his close friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, published Lyrical Ballads in 1798, and with it, they started a new age in English literature called Romantic Age. 

The poems that were published in Lyrical Ballads, were different than the poems of the neo-classical age. However, these types of poems were not very popular among the contemporary people of that society. To give the idea of these new kinds of poems, Wordsworth put a preface essay in the second edition (Published in January 1801) of Lyrical Ballads, and then it was greatly expanded in the third edition published in 1802.

Wordsworth’s “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” is known as an unofficial manifesto of the English Romantic Movement. It played a vital role in bringing a major change in the literary arena with its emphasis on imagination, spontaneity, feeling and simplicity. It went against all rigid rules in the literature that left nothing to freedom and nature. Poets who came after him followed it as the elements of Romantic poems.

T. S. Eliot was one of the famous English poets of 20th century England. He got a huge reputation as a playwright, literary and social critic rather than a poet. In his poems, he has criticized contemporary English society. Though he was born more than a hundred years later from Wordsworth, he talked in favor of tradition and past. Because of his thoughts, he was thought to be anti-romantic. His view went against the Romantic view that poetry is a way of self-expression.

In his critic ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’, he criticized most of Wordsworth’s views given in ‘Preface to Lyrical Ballads’. He strongly disagreed with the concept of individuality.

If we look at the poems and critics written by T. S. Eliot, we can see that he was influenced by classicism. We can find classical elements in his writings. Hardly any writer of his time was as much classical as like him. It might happen to him because he read classical poets with great interest at an early age.

We can find a lot of dissimilarities between Wordsworth and Eliot. The biggest difference between them is classicism. We should know that romantic poets were totally against the use of classical elements in their writings. For this reason, we cannot see the use of classical elements in Wordsworth’s poems. Eliot was just the opposite of Wordsworth when it came to the use of classical elements in poems. It was very surprising to see him supporting classical views despite being a 20th-century writer. He was a big fan of Dante who was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker.

Wordsworth disagrees with the classical or neo-classical views that poetry is just an imitation of nature. According to him, poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. However, Eliot did not agree with this view. He said that poetry is not at all a spontaneous expression of powerful feelings. There is a conscious and deliberate effort in making a poem.

We can see that Eliot put much emphasis on the theme of tradition. What is tradition? It is a consciousness of the past. When someone gains consciousness of the past, he becomes traditional. To understand his responsibilities and difficulties as an artist, the poet should understand the past. One can judge the value of his creation by considering it with the past.

He said that being traditional is very important both to his criticism and to his creative work. In fact, he opposed the Romantic theory, which regarded poetry as the expression of the personality of the poet. The Romantic theory did not attach any significance to tradition.