Similes in Morte d'Arthur

In “Morte d'Arthur” poem, Tennyson uses various symbols to represent the condition of his contemporary society. 

King Arthur is a legendary figure in England. In the poem, Tennyson showed King Arthurs as a Christian soul, a man of pure spirit. King Arthur is the image of lofty morality and his life is attuned to the loftiest standards of a modern-day gentleman. 

Image Source

This poem starts when the wounded King Arthur in battle is carried to a broken chancel by Sir Bedivere, the last surviving Knight of his court. This image actually shows the decay of religion. Through the legend of Arthur, the poet actually depicted the condition of his contemporary society. In this poem, the poet says,

“A broken chancel with a broken cross

That stood on a dark strait of barren land.” 

The image of a broken chancel in a barren land actually describes King Arthur’s contemporary England. It depicts the decay of Christianity among the people of England during the Victorian age.

Sir Bedivere is the last surviving knight of King Arthur’s court. He has been with King Arthur from the beginning. He is inspired by the great ideals, which King Arthur represented. The death of Arthur shows the beginning of a dark age. Bedivere is afraid of what would happen to the land. People will lose their faith in religion. This decay is actually the condition of Tennyson’s contemporary society. Bedivere represents the old ideals. Arthur then consoles Bedivere saying that he should adjust to the new order.

King Arthur says, “I perish by this people which I made.” This line refers to King Arthur’s nephew Mordred who fought with him and fatally wounded Arthur. It is believed that Mordred is actually the illegitimate son of King Arthur. The poem “Morte d'Arthur” starts with Arthur being carried by Sir Bedivere, the last surviving knight of his court to a broken chancel. There Arthur tells him that though Merlin, the great magician told him that he would not die, he is not worried about death anymore. Through these lines, the poet actually described the immortal Christian faith and Mordred symbolizes Satan.

Merlin is the great magician of King Arthur’s court. He prophesied that Arthur would not die. In “Morte d'Arthur” poem, it is shown that Arthur is taken to the land of Avilion to tend to his wounds. However, Arthur accepts his fate. Merlin symbolizes “Scientists”. During the Victorian era, scientists had great achievements, which affected the religious beliefs of the people of the Victorian era.

Excalibur is the famous sword of King Arthur. This sword represents the spirit of Christianity. With this sword, Arthur established law and order and religion in a land of chaos and united the people. In “Morte d'Arthur”, King Arthur ordered his knight Sir Bedivere to throw away the sword into the lake from where he took it. The knight obeyed King Arthur’s order. The sword was gone, but Sir Bedivere was there. He represents the ideas of Christianity. King Arthur tells him that change is the law of nature. So, he should adjust to the new order.

Arthur, along with his three wives, sets out for the island of Avilion on a barge. This barge actually symbolizes the grave. It shows that all the things in this world are transitory. The old order dies and the new order starts. This is the law. People should not be afraid of it. If a good thing stays for too long, it becomes evil. Hence, death is not bad. It is natural.

King Arthur, along with his three queens, goes to the Island of Avilion. There they would tend to his wounds. Of these three queens, the tallest and the fairest one took care of him. She took King Arthur’s head on her lap, removed her helmet and rubbed his hands. She was crying and calling his name loudly. Her tears were falling on his brows that were covered with dark blood. Her name was Morgan le Fay and she was the sister of Arthur.

The three queens of King Arthur symbolize three values of Christianity-Faith, charity and hope. A good Christian should be charitable, have faith in God and religion, and should be hopeful. Since King Arthur was a pure Christian man, he possessed these qualities.

King Arthur and his queens leave on a barge. Sir Bedivere stood by the bank and watched the barge till it vanished on the horizon. By that time, it became dawn. This very image actually symbolizes the beginning of a new order. 

Crime, punishment and redemption in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is the masterpiece poem of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It is one of the greatest poems written in the Romantic Age in English literature, and this poem was included in the famous book titled Lyrical Ballads, which was published in 1798. Lyrical Ballads is considered to be a book that brought a new beginning to English poetry and most of the poems were contributed by Coleridge’s close friend William Wordsworth. However, poems like “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” showed that Coleridge was a great poet just like Wordsworth. Perhaps the main theme of this poem is crime, punishment and redemption. These three things make us think about human life, and they also make us feel about the journey of the mariner. 

Image Source

If we look at the crime of the mariner, it looks to be very simple to us. He killed a bird and the bird was harmless. In fact, the bird was not only harmless but also it was very friendly to the sailors. All the sailors were very happy to see the bird because, for many days, they had to pass a very isolated part of the ocean where they could not see anything but water.

So, the albatross was innocent and it brought happiness to the sailors. In real life, we kill many animals and birds, but most of the time, it is for eating. The sailor killed the bird without any reason and this was his crime. He brought the anger of God to other sailors also. There may be some questions that why the other sailors suffered because of the crime of the mariner.

In answer to this question, it has to be said that when the mariner killed the bird, he was alive, but other sailors died from thirst. The other sailors got free from their punishment, but the mariner suffered more because he was in a ghost ship where everyone was dead, but they became alive and this way, the ancient mariner suffered the most.

The punishment of the mariner was very severe. First of all, as I said earlier that he had to live alone in a ghost ship. There was water all around him in the sea, but he could not drink. So, he started suffering from thirst, and we know from our real experience that this kind of suffering is not enjoyable at all. In fact, thirst or having no water to drink is the most difficult condition that we have to face in life. We can go on a few days without eating, but spending even one day without drinking water is perhaps one of the worst kinds of punishments we can think of.

The ancient mariner suffered a lot and he was given a chance to redeem himself. He gradually realized his crime and he repentant and God gave him another chance. He saw some water snakes and he praised them from his heart. This shows that his heart has changed because earlier he killed an innocent bird for nothing. Now, he was happy, and he enjoyed the blessings of God by looking at the water snakes. His change in mentality moved God and God forgave him. At first, he was very cruel and merciless but then he realized the value of love, kindness and mercy.

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is a great poem with a lot of moral lessons. Perhaps the most important moral lesson is that we should show kindness and love towards nature. We should try to follow a good way and we should try to be a good person. 

All the words in three books start with “Ka” letter

His original name is S M Nazmul Kabir Iqbal, but he writes literature under the pseudonym Esmonak. He has spent more than two decades of his life pursuing literature. In his literary pursuit, he published three exceptional books containing a total of 27,000 words. Surprisingly, all the words in these books started with the letter “Ka” (ক). This type of literature is known as tautogram. For example,

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.” 

Image Source

Keshto Kobi (কেষ্ট কবি), Keshto Kobir Conference (কেষ্ট কবির কনফারেন্স) and Keshto Kobir Koshtogulo (কেষ্ট কবির কষ্টগুলো)- extremely terrible picture of the difficult reality of life has been portrait in these three books.

Readers believe that these three books are unique for they only contain words starting with one specific letter. His books were showcased at the Ekushey Book Fair of 2010, 2013 and 2016, and they caught the attention of the readers. However, in his literary pursuit of 27 years, the writer lost more than he gained. Bursting into tears he said, “I have lost everything in life. All I have left is literature. Writing is the only avenue through which I express my pain.”

The home of this creative writer is at Noagaon village in Sarail Upazila of Brahmanbaria district. This talented writer was born on September 30, 1967. He started his education at a village elementary school, which ended with obtaining a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dhaka.

Visiting his house, we find him living in a small room. Since he has no family or job, his brothers support him. Talking about his unique creation, he said to the reporter, “I used to read and write since childhood; especially I used to read the writings of famous writers. One day my father kissed me on the forehead and said, “Son, you will be a famous man one day.” I remained unemployed for few days after completing my studies. I searched for jobs, got a job and then lost it. I would not be able to fulfill my dreams if I get into a regular job. My father's blessings would be meaningless. In the course of my life, I noticed that literature, art and culture have no boundaries. It is spread all over the world. A lot can be thought or done about this. It works in people's minds and hearts. With that perspective, I started my journey to create something new. I have spent 20 years in this pursuit. I even spent eight months in different libraries just to find one word.”

Asked why he chose the letter “Ka”, he said, “I have been searching for a suitable letter for a long time. The only reason for choosing “Ka” is because one can create many words with this letter in the Bengali language. You cannot write a poem or story if you do not have enough words in your collection. You need words to express your thoughts. I used proper words to provoke the sense of poetry in the minds of readers.

I spent four-five years researching and collecting words and writing the story. My goal was to create something that will serve as an example for Bengali literature and world literature. If it is possible to create a literary work with words starting with one specific letter. I spent twelve years collecting words and was able to add about two and a half lakh words from various stories, novels, journals, dictionaries that begin with "Ka". After I had enough words in my stock to create a story, I wrote this three-part story containing 27,000 words, said Esmonak.

He said, “A man can expect a lot of things in life. I too had such expectations, but my sufferings far outweigh my achievements. I had to struggle a lot to take my works to the readers. Many criticized me but that could not stop me. I presented my creation to the people, and now, they realize that I did something. This is my achievement.”

In my stories, the character named Keshto Kobi is basically a reflection of the oppressed common people. I have portrayed the happiness, sorrow, laughter and tears of that oppressed person in the story.

Now, my only want is that this creation of mine may reach the 400 million Bengali-speaking people in the world. I tried to give my literary work a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, but I failed for not having any right idea about it. Now, I want the creation behind which I have lost my life, youth, job and even my family to get a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Poet Joydul Hossain, President of Brahmanbaria Sahitya Academy, told the reporter, "Esmonak’s work is a rare creation in Bengali literature, even in world literature. I hope that research will reveal the excellence of his work.”

Hayat-ud-Doula Khan, Deputy Commissioner of Brahmanbaria, said to the reporter, “Esmonak has started the first letter of every word of his three storybooks with ‘Ka’. It is a unique literary creation. It is rare in the history of the world. There is no such example in Bengali literature. To stand beside such a writer, the district administration provided him financial assistance alongside honoring him.” 

The themes of sin, punishment and redemption in The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne is a very famous literary figure in American literature. He is well known as an American novelist and short-story writer. This American writer was one of the members of Brook Farm, a transcendentalist community. His fiction works had great importance behind the Romantic Movement in America. If we go through his fictional works, we can easily notice one thing that inherent evil and sin of humanity are very common themes. Not only that but also his works teach moral lessons and deep physical complexity. 

Image Source

If readers go through his famous literary work The Scarlet Letter then the sin of humanity, inherent evil and deep physical complexity can be found. Sin, punishment and redemption are major themes of this novel. The Puritan settlement in New England also gets importance in this novel. In Puritan society, what is religion that is practiced as law.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter is the best example of sin, punishment and redemption. Even sin, Punishment and redemption are considered to be the most important themes of this novel. These themes have a great influence on the novel from the beginning to the end. These themes are important to the overall effect of the novel. For this reason, The Scarlet Letter can be mentioned as a story of sin, punishment and redemption.

Throughout the novel, we will find many sins committed by various characters. Sins committed by different characters can be divided into two types- instinctive sin and intentional sin. These sins are different from each other not only by their names but also by their types. Human beings are not free from these types of sins. They either commit sins unconsciously or willingly.

Instinctive sin actually indicates that type of sin that comes naturally. According to Puritan religion, human beings are by born sinners because through Adam the inherent inclination to sin entered the human race.

Intentional sin refers to that type of sin that is committed with a purpose. So, it can be said that intentional sin is committed according to a plan. This type of sin is much worse than instinctive sin.

Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale have committed instinctive sins. Hester Prynne, the protagonist of the story, has committed adultery along with Arthur Dimmesdale. As a result of her sin, she has given birth to a child named Pearl. Because of her child, she was unable to hide her unlawful activity.

Adultery is considered to be one of the worst crimes that go both against individuals and society. It is a violation of a moral code formulated and honored by society. Involvement in adultery is thought to be an immoral activity in all civilized communities of the world. There is no doubt that by indulging in it, both Hester and Dimmesdale have violated the sanctity of the Seventh Commandment. Nathanial Hawthorne says,

“Thou Shalt not commit Adultery.”

Every wife should be truthful to her husband. They should do their duties and remain faithful as a perfect religious wife. They should not do anything in the absence of their husbands that will make them sinners. If they go against society and religion, their life will be full of miserable.

Hester Prynne had to suffer a lot for her sin. She was punished both by God and society. Her life remained unhappy till the end of the novel. For her adultery, she did not find any pleasure in her life. By doing this, she even offended the relationship between husband and wife. Her immortal activity has put a stigma in Puritan society.

As a punishment for her crime, she had to spend a few hours on the scaffold to face public humiliation. It was not enough for her in Puritan society. She had no choice but to wear the letter “A” on the bosom of her chest for the rest of her life. The letter “A” indicates the type of sin that she has committed. Compared to her sin, the punishment was not that much as it used to be. She should deserve the death penalty. However, she was given that type of punishment to make her realize the crime or sin.

It should be mentioned here that whatever she has received as a punishment of her sin was distinguished in that the results of her actions were for the most part external. Nathanial Hawthorne says,

“In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it. Every gesture, every word, and even the silence of those with whom she came in contact, implied, and often expressed, that she was banished.”

Public embarrassment and isolation emotionally damaged Hester Prynne. As a result of her admission of guilt, she received less punishment. She was physically punished.

Throughout the novel, she was mentioned as a sinner. Her sin was adultery. The result of her sin was her child named Pearl. By doing such kind of sin, she wronged her husband beyond reconciliation. Because of her sin, she had to go through some suffering that can be mentioned as punishment- both physical and mental punishment. However, what comes after the punishment was redemption. She got rescued from her sin after going through a lot of suffering. Her scarlet letter “A”, which is the symbol of adultery, is later interpreted as ‘Ability’ because she had become a generous helper for the poor and oppressed and a wise counselor for their problems. The new meaning of the scarlet letter indicates that she was not treated as a sinner by other people. In the later part of the novel, she was seen giving due respect and honor. While meeting with Dimmesdale in the forest, she removed her scarlet letter and threw it away and planned to flee with her lover from Boston. It shows her feeling of redemption. Hester did not feel repentant until the death of Dimmesdale.

Arthur Dimmesdale was one of the most important characters who committed the same sin that Hester Prynne did. He was the partner of Hester Prynne for committing adultery. Readers received a great shock after finding him as an adulterer. It is obviously a great shock as he was not an ordinary person. He was the Minister of the Puritan church. He gave sermons to the people about religious things. So, this type of crime was not expected from him. Another important thing was that he did not confess publicly about his crime. He was afraid of confessing his crime because of his position in society.

His punishment was totally opposite to Hester’s punishment. He was not publicly abused and physically punished like Hester Prynne. He remained completely silent about his sin. Because of this, Dimmesdale felt extremely guilty. Because of his strong feeling of guilt, he suffered both mentally and physically. To show his physical condition a quotation is given below;

“While thus suffering under bodily disease, and gnawed and tourtured by some black trouble of the soul, and given over to the machinations of his deadliest enemy, the Reverend Mr. Dimmsdale had achieved a brilliant popularity in his sacred office. He won it, indeed, in great part by his sorrows.”

He felt a strong need to repent and cleanse his soul but could not do it. Readers can see his troubled mind when he stands alone on the scaffold at midnight. He was feeling very much pain as he gave a sermon where he talked so scornfully of his own behavior. He did not find happiness until confessing his sin and repent before the public. He was punished by Roger Chillingworth, the husband of Hester Prynne. Roger Chillingworth reminded him of his sin and its aftermath.

Arthur Dimmesdale got inner happiness by repentance. His way of redemption was very much worse than Hester's. At the end of the novel, he redeemed himself by confessing his sin in front of the people who gathered in the marketplace. As he kept his sin secret for a long time, he had to pay it by giving his life. He died on the scaffold just after giving his last sermon on Election Day.

Roger Chillingworth was the worst sinner of this novel. His sin is mentioned as an intentional sin. He did the sin intentionally. He did not like the idea of seeing his wife being punished for the sin that she did not commit alone. He also wanted to see the other partner be punished as Hester did. At first, he told her wife not to reveal his true identity. He then by addressing himself as a physician wanted to help the minister and improved his ill health. We all know that he was looking for revenge. He had a great desire to impose his revenge on the one who stole his wife’s heart. He is mentioned as a leech. Roger Chillingworth said to himself;

“He hath done a wild thing ere now, this pious Mr. Dimmesdale, in the hot passion of his heart!”

It is yet to know what his punishment for his sin was. Readers cannot find him getting punished or going through suffering.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is one of his finest works, which is the best example of sin, punishment and redemption. It shows how the characters have committed sins and what the consequences of their sins were. It gives a moral message to the readers. After reading this novel, readers may dare to commit adultery and follow the religious path.

Difference between John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley

Both John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley are second-generation poets of the Romantic age of English literature. After Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, both Keats and Shelly had a great contribution to English literature. They were influenced by different ideals and had similarities and differences in their ideologies. Keats’ works mainly focused on individualism and beauty while Shelley focused on society and revolution. Yet, both of them are highly talented poets and are major figures in English literature. 

Keats believed that poetry should present beauty and truth to the readers. Poetry should not act as a philosopher and teach people.  In fact, Keats did not see much difference between truth and beauty. “Beauty is truth and truth is beauty.” This was his motto. He was not interested to teach people through his poems. Here lies the difference between Keats and Wordsworth. Wordsworth strongly believed that the sole purpose of a poet is to guide people.

Shelley’s thoughts were different because he was an atheist. His poetic works centered on liberalism and freedom. At that time, people of European society did not have much freedom. A revolution was necessary to achieve that freedom. Shelley wanted to bring that freedom. His “Ode to the West Wind” reveals this ideology of freedom. Shelley believed that poetry is an instrument to convey a revolutionary message. In this regard, Shelley’s ideals were close to that of Wordsworth.

Nature also played a big role among Romantic poets. To Keats, nature was the symbol of truth and beauty. In his “Ode to Autumn,” the poet showed beauty and truth together. The poem describes the beauty of nature during the Autumn season and says that Autumn has its own song which can be found in the hum of the “small gnats” among the "the river sallows," the bleat of the “full-grown lambs,” song of the crickets, and whistle of robin and swallows from the garden.

Shelley presented nature in his works in a different manner. He saw the strength and forces of nature and considered nature as a major means to cause revolution and source of inspiration. He wanted human beings to be influenced by nature and cause a revolution to bring change in society.

Both Keats and Shelley had been highly influenced by the classical literature of Greece and Rome. Hence, we see classical elements in Keats’ poetry. His “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is a good example of this. Here he raised the issue of perfection again and again. However, his works did not focus much on Roman and Greek philosophy and social systems.

Another major feature of Keats’ work is that his poems are very sensual. While describing nature, he used five senses. Very few poets in English literature could represent nature in such a beautiful manner.

On the other hand, Shelley mainly focused on comparison and allusion of classical literature. Shelley was also not very interested in the ideology of Roman and Greek civilization and philosophy of the classical literature. He was also not interested in the underlying message of classical literature. He only took those elements that would help him to convey his message of revolution. 

The use of classical elements, by Keats and Shelley, in their works, was very much different than those of Wordsworth and Coleridge, the pioneers of the Romantic age. Both Wordsworth and Coleridge wanted to create a new kind of poem. They wanted to break the convention and introduce something new.

On the contrary, Shelley and Keats did not want to throw away everything. Both Keats and Shelley are great poets of English literature. Still today, their poem is read by many people all over the world.