ANALYSIS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Theseus duke of Athens, is preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, with
a four-day festival of pomp and entertainment. He commissions his Master of the Revels,
Philostrate, to find suitable amusements for the occasion. Egeus, an Athenian nobleman, marches
into Theseus’s court with his daughter, Hermia, and two young men, Demetrius and Lysander.
Egeus wishes Hermia to marry Demetrius (who loves Hermia), but Hermia is in love with
Lysander and refuses to comply. Egeus asks for the full penalty of law to fall on Hermia’s head
if she flouts her father’s will. Theseus gives Hermia until his wedding to consider her options,
warning her that disobeying her father’s wishes could result in her being sent to a convent or
even executed. Nonetheless, Hermia and Lysander plan to escape Athens the following night and
marry in the house of Lysander’s aunt, some seven leagues distant from the city. They make their
intentions known to Hermia’s friend Helena, who was once engaged to Demetrius and still loves
him even though he jilted her after meeting Hermia. Hoping to regain his love, Helena tells
Demetrius of the elopement that Hermia and Lysander have planned. At the appointed time,
Demetrius stalks into the woods after his intended bride and her lover; Helena follows behind
him.
In these same woods are two very different groups of characters. The first is a band of fairies,
including Oberon, the fairy king, and Titania, his queen, who has recently returned from India to
bless the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. The second is a band of Athenian craftsmen
rehearsing a play that they hope to perform for the duke and his bride. Oberon and Titania are at
odds over a young Indian prince given to Titania by the prince’s mother; the boy is so beautiful
that Oberon wishes to make him a knight, but Titania refuses. Seeking revenge, Oberon sends his
merry servant, Puck, to acquire a magical flower, the juice of which can be spread over a
sleeping person’s eyelids to make that person fall in love with the first thing he or she sees upon
waking. Puck obtains the flower, and Oberon tells him of his plan to spread its juice on the
sleeping Titania’s eyelids. Having seen Demetrius act cruelly toward Helena, he orders Puck to
spread some of the juice on the eyelids of the young Athenian man. Puck encounters Lysander
and Hermia; thinking that Lysander is the Athenian of whom Oberon spoke, Puck afflicts him
with the love potion. Lysander happens to see Helena upon awaking and falls deeply in love with
her, abandoning Hermia. As the night progresses and Puck attempts to undo his mistake, both
Lysander and Demetrius end up in love with Helena, who believes that they are mocking her.
Hermia becomes so jealous that she tries to challenge Helena to a fight. Demetrius and Lysander
nearly do fight over Helena’s love, but Puck confuses them by mimicking their voices, leading
them apart until they are lost separately in the forest.
When Titania wakes, the first creature she sees is Bottom, the most ridiculous of the Athenian
craftsmen, whose head Puck has mockingly transformed into that of an ass. Titania passes a
ludicrous interlude doting on the ass-headed weaver. Eventually, Oberon obtains the Indian boy,
Puck spreads the love potion on Lysander’s eyelids, and by morning all is well. Theseus and
Hippolyta discover the sleeping lovers in the forest and take them back to Athens to be married
—Demetrius now loves Helena, and Lysander now loves Hermia. After the group wedding, the
lovers watch Bottom and his fellow craftsmen perform their play, a fumbling, hilarious version
of the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. When the play is completed, the lovers go to bed; the fairies
briefly emerge to bless the sleeping couples with a protective charm and then disappear. Only
Puck remains, to ask the audience for its forgiveness and approval and to urge it to remember the
play as though it had all been a dream.

The desire for well-matched love and the struggle to achieve it drives the plot of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream. The play opens on a note of desire, as Theseus, Duke of Athens, waxes poetic
about his anticipated wedding to Hippolyta. The main conflict is introduced when other lovers’
troubles take center stage. The question of who the characters should love versus who they do
love drives the plot from this point on. The audience may immediately understand that Hermia
and Lysander belong together, as do Helena and Demetrius, but the characters’ inability to pair
with the appropriate partner, and the fairies’ interference, complicate the conflict. Mirroring the
drama among the Athenian nobility, the monarchs of the fairy kingdom also find themselves in a
lovers’ tiff. Hoping to teach Titania a lesson, Oberon instructs the fairy Puck to apply a charm
that will make Titania and Demetrius each fall in love with the next person they see. Lysander,
under the spell of the fairies, abandons Hermia for Helena. Demetrius also falls in love with
Helena, and Titania falls in love with Bottom, who now has the head of a donkey. Oberon’s
jealousy mirrors the pettiness of the human characters, suggesting emotions like love, jealousy,
and the desire for revenge are universal.

Instead of solving the human lovers’ problems, fairy mischief make the lovers’ problems worse,
transforming friendships into rivalries. Helena and Hermia, childhood friends, become enemies,
and Demetrius battles with Lysander for Helena’s affections. The play quickly (and temporarily)
devolves from a love story to a story of hatred and ill-will, with all the characters fighting the
people they once loved. The quickness with which characters fall in love with each other, and the
ease with which they dissolve friendships, raises questions about the fickleness of emotional
attachment. The action reaches a crisis point once all the characters have been separated from
their appropriate partners, and the complications are at their limit. At this point in the play, no
one is happy, except Bottom, who enjoys Titania’s affections. But the rest of the characters have
been made miserable by love. Even Helena, who now is being pursued by both Lysander and
Demetrius, thinks they are playing a cruel trick on her. In this way, the play explores the many
ways love can bring about unhappiness as well as joy.

With the tension rising among the Athenian lovers and the night pushing toward dawn, Oberon
orders Puck to reverse Lysander’s enchantment and set things right among the lovers. By the
dawning of a new day, the night and its discord has resolved. Lysander, free of Puck’s
enchantments, falls back in love with Hermia, while Demetrius remains enchanted, and in love
with Helena. Helena’s father agrees to accept Lysander as a match for his daughter. Both the
internal and external obstacles between the lovers have been removed, and the stage is set for
weddings for all couples. The ease with which the events of the night dissolve in the light of day
suggest that nothing that has come before should actually be taken seriously. However, the
events of the play do make us question the depth and sincerity of the lovers’ devotion, especially
since Demetrius only loves Helena as a result of Puck’s enchantment.

Meanwhile, the Mechanicals have been preparing to perform their adaptation of the tragedy of
“Pyramus and Thisbe” for the duke and his bride to be. Shakespeare weaves this plot thread
throughout the entire play, so that the bumbling attempt of these unrefined commoners to
rehearse a high tragedy unfolds against the backdrop of the play’s tangle of erotic confusion.
This melding of tragedy and comedy reinforces the sense that none of the action should be taken
seriously, and that matters of the heart are ultimately of little consequence. By having the
comical Mechanicals stand in for tragic lovers, Shakespeare pokes fun at the tragic genre,
including his own Romeo and Juliet . We also understand that just as the Mechanicals’ play is
ridiculous nonsense, all the action we are watching onstage is little more than a dream-like
fantasy. The play closes with Puck reassuring the audience, “Think you have but slumbered
here / While these visions did appear. / And this weak and idle theme / No more yielding but a
dream”. (V.i.)
Themes
1. Love and marriage
2. Order and disorder
3. Appearance and reality
4. Creative imagination

MAJOR CHARACTERS
PUCK
A type of fairy called a "puck," Puck is Oberon's faithful servant, but is also mischievous
and enjoys nothing more than playing tricks and causing trouble. He has all sorts of
magical abilities, from changing shape, to turning invisible, to assuming different
people's voices, to transforming a man's head into an ass's head. He is not, however,
beyond making a mistake, as his mix-up between Demetrius and Lysander makes clear.

NICK BOTTOM
A weaver whose supreme confidence in his acting skill convinces the other laborers to
give him the lead role of Pyramus in their version of Pyramus and Thisbe. In fact,
Bottom is a seriously incompetent actor who understands neither his lines nor theater in
general. All this makes him a profoundly funny character. Because he has no idea he's
incompetent, he never ceases to make long, overly dramatic speeches filled with
incorrect references and outright absurdities. Even when Puck transforms his head into
an ass's head, Bottom fails to realize it and takes it as unsurprising when Titania falls in
love with him. Yet though Bottom is certainly extremely foolish and self-important, he
means well.

HERMIA
The daughter of Egeus and the beloved of Lysander and Demetrius (at least at the
beginning of the play). She is strong-willed, believes in her right to choose her husband
based on love, and is fiercely loyal. When crossed, Hermia can become a downright
vixen. Hermia is beautiful and has dark hair, though she's small in stature and
somewhat sensitive about it.
HELENA
She loves Demetrius, and at one time he returned her love. But before the play begins,
he fell in love with Hermia and left Helena in despair. Because of Demetrius's
abandonment of her, Helena lacks self-confidence and self-respect, going so far as to
tell Demetrius that she'll love and follow him even if he treats her like his dog. She's also
a bit conniving and desperate, willing to betray her friend Hermia's confidence in order
to try to win back Demetrius's love. Physically, she's tall and blond.

LYSANDER
An Athenian nobleman who loves Hermia. In many ways, he is the model of a constant
lover. He risks death under Athenian law by coming up with the plan to elope into the
woods with Hermia, and only strays from his loyalty to Hermia under the influence of the
love juice. When the effect of the spell is removed, he returns to his true love.

DEMETRIUS
An Athenian nobleman who also loves Hermia. Unlike Lysander, Demetrius is an
inconstant lover. Before the events of the play, he wooed Helena, then rejected her and
pursued Hermia. He can be cruel at times, as when he threatens to abandon Helena in
the forest, and there's no indication he would ever have come to return Helena's love
without the influence of the love potion.

OBERON
The King of the Fairies and Titania's husband. Oberon is willful and demands obedience
from his subjects, including his wife. When he's angry, he's not above using magic and
plots to manipulate and humiliate in order to get his way. Yet at the same time he also
seems to like using magic to fix problems he sees around him, particularly those having
to do with love. He's had numerous extra-marital affairs.

TITANIA
The Queen of the Fairies and Oberon's wife. Titania is strong willed and independent,
willing to fight her husband for control of the changeling boy. She is also powerful. Her
fight with her husband causes nature to act strangely, and her fairies always follow her
commands. She is not, however, immune to the power of the juice from the love-in-
idleness flower. As a lover, she is doting, though jealous. It also seems that, like her
husband, through the years she's had many an extra-marital amorous affair.

THESEUS
The Duke of Athens and the fiancé and later the husband of Hippolyta, Theseus is a
strong and responsible leader who tries to be fair and sensitive. Though it is his duty to
uphold the law, and he does so when both Lysander and Demetrius love Hermia, as
soon as the lovers sort themselves out, he overrules Egeus' demand that Hermia marry
Demetrius and let the lovers decide for themselves whom to marry. He also treats the
laborers decently, despite the fact that their play is atrocious. Though a fearsome
warrior (he captured Hippolyta, an Amazon queen, in battle), he is devoted to making
her happy. Theseus is, however, extremely literal-minded, and gives little credence to
the "fantasies" the lovers recount of their night in the forest.

MINOR CHARACTERS

Hippolyta
The Queen of the Amazons and Theseus's fiancé, she is both a fearsome warrior and a
loving woman. She also has good common sense and is willing to disagree with
Theseus's assessments of events and to calm him down when he can't wait for their
marriage.

Egeus
Hermia's father, Egeus is an overbearing and rigid man who cares more about what he
wants than his daughter's desires. He is so vain and uncaring, he is willing to let his
daughter die if she won't do as he tells her.
Peter Quince
A carpenter and the director and main writer of the laborer's version of Pyramus and
Thisbe. In Pyramus and Thisbe, he plays the Prologue.

Francis Flute
A bellows-mender who plays the part of Thisbe in Pyramus and Thisbe.

Tom Snout
A tinker who plays the part of Wall in Pyramus and Thisbe.

Snug
A joiner who plays the part of Lion in Pyramus and Thisbe.

Robin Starveling
A tailor who plays the part of Moonshine in Pyramus and Thisbe.

Philostrate
The Master of Revels for Theseus, he's in charge of arranging entertainments for the
court.

Peaseblossom
One of Titania's fairies.

Cobweb
One of Titania's fairies.

Moth
One of Titania's fairies.

Mustardseed
One of Titania's fairies.
THE MODERNIST PERIOD

Modernist period in the English literature began with the 20th century
and remained till 1965. The period saw an abrupt break away from the
old ways of interacting with the world. In all the previous periods
experimentation and individualism were highly discouraged but with
the onset of the modern period both these things became virtues.
There were many cultural shocks with the beginning of modernism.
The blow of the modern age were the World War 1 and 2. These wars
began in the year 1914 and last till 1919 and 1939 to 1945
respectively. Aftermath of the world wars was traumatic for everyone.
The horror of the world war 1 was evident on the face of every citizen.
Feeling of uncertainty was spread and no one knew where the world
was heading into.

Key points to remember about modernist period

Advancement of the social science and natural science in the later half
of the 19th century and early decades of the 20th century. Gains in
material wealth with the rapid development and industrialization. The
difference between aristocrats and clergy increased more.

English literature of the modern age started with the initiation of the
20th century. The prominent feature of the literature during the
modern age was that it opposed the general attitude towards life as
shown in Victorian literature.

People started to regard Victorian age as a hypocritical age, having

superficial and mean ideals. Hypocrisy of Victorian period generated a
rebellious attitude in the writers of modern literature. Things that were
considered as beautiful and honourable during Victorian age was
considered as ugly by the writers of modern period. Sense of
questioning was absent in the mind of the people from the Victorian
age.

During Victorian times, people adhere to the voice of the people who
were in power, they accepted the rules made the church. People
started to accept the law without questioning them. But the
generation came after were having critical thinking, they raise
questions against the decisions produced by supreme authorities.
Writers of modern age refuted the ideas and beliefs of previous era.

Modern age helped in replacing the simple belief of the Victorians into
modern man’s desire to probe. Modernist writers attacked the old
superstitious religious beliefs as well as the superstitions of science.
They pioneered the interrogative habits in the mind of modern people.
They openly challenged the voice of those who were ruling the
country, and religion authority by provoking the people to come up
with questions over morality and religion.

Summary and analysis of T.S Eliot’s The Journey of the Magi

This is an allegorical that makes an allusion to the Bible story of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The poem starts with the first five lines enclosed in a quotation mark marking it out as
someone’s voice. Those lines describe the journey mentioned in the title. The Magi or
wise men were members of the priestly caste of the Zoroastrian religion. The use of the
word “magi’ and “we” mean it is a magus – one of the magi that is sharing the story. The
lines are adapted from Christmas sermon delivered by Lancelot Andrews in 1622. The
use of “we” in the quotation indicates how the journey was difficult for them, physically,
emotionally and spiritually before leading us further on detailed description of the
journey.  

According to the choral voice of the magi told from the poet’s persona. The persona
recalls the journey to Bethlehem they undertook to witness the birth of Jesus. It was a
rigorous and hard journey. The three wise men described it as the worst time of the year
to embark on such journey; “Such a long journey, “dead and the weather sharp” and
“dead of winter”. From line 6, the persona switches to an imaginative position. He
describes the hostile nature of the time to them and their animals. “And the animals
galled, sore-footed, refractory.” – Galled refers to sores caused by chaffing because the
animals were uncomfortable. The animals were unresponsive because of the harsh
weather. They grew stubborn and difficult to manage, lying in the snow and refusing to
go on. 

At this point, they nearly regretted embarking on such journey. Most especially for
people of their class who are used with luxurious life. See these expressions – “the
summer palaces on slopes” and “the silken girls bringing sherbet” (Lines 9 & 10). In
place of leisure, was a long rigorous wintertime journey through snow on galled camels
with grumbling and unhappy camel handlers. Some of these camel handler choose to
run away. They go back to their wives and pleasure of life – “wanting their liquor and
women”. 

As a result of the harsh weather, their night fires go out and they lack shelters. The
poetic persona further reveal that the cities and towns with the people were hostile.
Toppled with the high cost of renting places to sleep (hostels or motels) which force
them to change their traveling pattern. See Line 17 “At the end we preferred to travel all
night”. This is done to avoid human contact and the hazards of the weather. In addition
to this, is the absence of where to sleep because the inns charge quite exorbitant prices
for dirty environment.

This analogy parallels the state that Mary and Joseph found themselves before the birth
of Jesus Christ where they were denied a room in an inn; the reason Jesus was born in a
manger.  The magi sleeping in snatches convey the weariness they find themselves. In
line 19, voice whispered words of temptation into their ears just like the accusing voice
in everyone’s mind that reminds one of how one has failed and need to give up. The
voice plants the seed of doubt in the mind calling the journey a folly – line 20 “That this
was all folly”. 

In stanza two, the narration swiftly changes direction in the journey. The persona and
others enter a “temperate valley” which signifies a mild weather and friendly environs.
The poet’s persona uses powerful imagery to show contrast in moving from winter to
summer, night to dawn and from barren landscape to sweet smelling vegetation which
is now more hospitable than where they are coming from. The beautiful “running
stream” and “water-mill” indicates fertility and life as opposed to the barren frozen land
in the first stanza. 
In line 24, the “the three tress” maybe interpreted to mean the crucifixion of Christ with
the two thieves on the crosses on the hill of Golgotha referenced as “…on the low sky.”
The they arrive at a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel. In the Bible, Christ is referred
as the vine. The mention of “vine leaves over the lintel” maybe a biblical allusion to the
Passover story in Exodus 12. It may be that Christ is the Angel that protected the
Israelites during the Passover of the Angel of death in Egypt.  

Also, the next line is an indiscreet allusion to Judas Iscariot thirty pieces of sliver as well
as the soldiers who shared Christ garment upon His crucifixion by dicing to get their
portions. At this tavern they seek for information, but do not get the information they
need. Therefore, they continue with their journey. At evening, they arrive and find the
place they have been looking for. By the travails they pass through, the place seems not
like what they are expecting, yet it satisfies them. The word “Satisfactory” indicates the
journey is worthwhile. It also shows the birth of Christ is the promise they have
anticipated.

The final stanza sees a change in the narrative voice from the plural “We” to the singular
“I”. Here, there is a shift, the poetic persona uses “I” to show his personal thoughts and
experiences to the readers and not of the three magi. This time, he evaluates the journey
which took a long time ago. He begins his evaluation by emphasizing that the
experience was worthwhile. And he would do it again despite the challenges of the
journey. The way the poet’s persona talks, it appears to be addressing someone to take
note of what he is saying; “set down this”. In his thought, he understands they are led to
witness birth and probably death.

The use of capital letters at the beginning of the words “Birth” and “Death” in Line 36
indicates the magus is referring to Christ whose birth brought life to the helpless. Then
his death was to take away the sins of the world. Through this reflection the persona
comes to term that birth and death are actually not different from each other. See –
Lines 37 & 38 “I had seen birth and death/But had though they were different…” 

What the magus saw with the birth of Christ made him change his former belief because
the Birth he saw, was “hard and bitter agony for us, Like Death, our death” – Lone 39.
This strange situation makes him weary of his people and their old tradition and wants
to accept the new salvation. As the poem draws to a close the persona finds himself
drawn between two cultures. The old dispensation of his people who he now see as
“alien” that are bound to experience “death” with small letter “d” and the new found
religion embedded in “Birth” mixed with “Death” capital “D”.  The last line implies the
poets awaits natural death. Now, he has had a divine encounter with salvation (Birth
 found in Death). This means his physical death is meaningless to him because he will be
born again in Christ. 

The Journey of the Magi shows a radical change undergone by an individual in the
course of life’s journey. The magus travails on the journey and his return to his kingdom
indicates his journey is both a physical and spiritual journey just like life. At birth, one
begins the physical journey with spiritual attachment while at death one begins another
journey of the soul. The “Death” used in the third stanza refers to Jesus Christ Crucifix.
While “death” refers to the physical death of the magus. It is possible to speculate that
this poem is Eliot’s account of his real-life quest for faith. That is, his conversion journey
from social life to Christianity. The reflection of Eliot’s spiritual journey is described
figuratively in physical aspects to evoke a more tangible perspective to the reader on
how the journey was like for Eliot to achieve spiritual enlightenment.

THEMES
 Suffering.
 Death & Rebirth.
 Spirituality.
 Hope.

The pillars of Modernism

 David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930)
 James Joyce (1882- 1941)
 Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888- 1965)
 George Bernard Shaw (1856- 1950)
 William Butler Yeats (1865- 1939)
 John Galaworthy (1867- 1933)

ANALYSIS OF MAYA ANGELOU’S CAGED BIRD

Angelou also wrote an autobiography with a similar title, I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings. This title had great significance to Angelou, as it was the title
of her entire life story. In her autobiography, she talked about the struggle of
being a Black author and poet. She often felt that her words were not heard
because of the color of her skin and sought to express her experience and that
of others in her contemporary moment through the lines of this text.

Summary
‘Caged Bird’ by Maya Angelou is an incredibly important poem in which the
poet describes the experience of two different birds, one free and one caged.

The free bird flies around the wind currents, feeling like the sky belongs to
him. On the other hand, the caged bird can barely move in its prison. It’s angry
and frustrating. Its wings are clipped, and its feet are tied together. All it can
do is sing fearfully of what it wants and does not know. It sings for its
freedom, and everyone, even far distant, can hear its song.

All the while, the free bird is focused on the breeze, the sounds the trees
make, and the words in the ground he’s planning on eating. Once more,
the speaker reiterates the fact that the bird feels as though it owns the sky.
The poem concludes with the caged bird singing once more as the
poet repeats the third stanza in its entirety.

Themes
‘Caged Bird’ is filled with powerful themes. These include racial oppression,
freedom/captivity, and happiness/sorrow. These themes are all wrapped
together in ‘Caged Bird’ through Angelou’s depiction of the two birds, one free
and one caged.

The caged bird is an extended metaphor for the Black community in America

and worldwide. Angelou is alluding to the lived experience of millions of men,
women, and children since the beginning of time and the variety of oppressive
tactics, whether physical, mental, or economic, employed by those in power.

Black men, women, and children see “through…bars” while the free bird sores
in the sky. The bird sings from a place of sadness rather than joy to convey a
broader history of sorrow.

Structure and Form

‘Caged Bird’ by Maya Angelou is a six-stanza poem that is separated
into stanzas that range in length. Angelou chose to write the poem in free
verse. This means that there is no single rhyme scheme or metrical pattern
that unites all the lines. But, there are some examples of an iambic meter.

This adds to the overall musicality of the poem. Iambs are also generally

referred to as “rising” feet when the second syllable is stressed. This plays into
the content of the caged bird and the free bird. Additionally, readers should
take note of the instances in which the poet makes use of half-rhyme.

Literary Devices
Angelou makes use of several literary devices in ‘Caged Bird.’ These include
but are not limited to:

 Alliteration: another form of repetition, but one that is solely focused

on the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of multiple
words. For example, “sun” and “sky” at the end of stanza one and
“cage / can” in lines three and four of stanza two.
 Enjambment: another important literary device that’s also quite
common in contemporary poetry. It appears when a poet cuts off a
sentence or phrase with a line break before its natural stopping point.
For example, the transition between lines one and two of the first stanza
and lines three and four of the second stanza.
 Repetition: is seen throughout the poem but most prominently in the
structure of the stanzas and the continual reference to the “free bird”
and “caged bird.” One of the best examples is seen in the sixth stanza, in
which the poet repeats the entire third stanza.
 Symbolism: the use of an image to represent something else. In this
case, the caged bird symbolizes the confined and oppressed African
American community in the United States.
 Irony: occurs when an outcome is different than expected. For example,
it is ironic that the free bird isn’t singing, but the caged bird is.

Caged Bird Metaphor

In Maya Angelou’s ‘Caged Bird,’ the poet uses two bird metaphors. The free
bird symbolizes white Americans or all free people who enjoy equal rights. The
caged bird is a metaphor for/symbolizes oppressed Black Americans who are
kept captive through racist policies.
Detailed Analysis
Stanza One
A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind   
and floats downstream   
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
In the first stanza, Maya Angelou refers to nature. She describes how “a free
bird leaps on the back of the wind.” She describes the bird’s flight against the
orange sky. The free bird has the right “to claim the sky.” The way she
describes the “orange sun rays” gives the reader an appreciation for the
natural beauty of the sky, and her description of how the bird “dips his wing”
helps the reader to appreciate the bird in his natural habitat enjoying his
freedom.

Stanza Two
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
(…)
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
This stanza of ‘Caged Bird’ contrasts sharply with the first. By using the word
“but” to begin this stanza, the speaker prepares the reader for this contrast.
Then she describes the “bird that stalks his narrow cage.” The tone is
immediately and drastically changed from peaceful, satisfied, and joyful to one
that is dark, unnerving, and even frustrating. She describes that this caged first
“can seldom see through his bars of rage.”

While the free bird enjoys the full sky, the caged bird rarely even gets a
glimpse of the sky. She claims “his wings are clipped, and his feet are tied.”
Text from her autobiography reveals that Angelou often felt this way in life.
She felt restricted from enjoying the freedom that should have been her right
as a human being. The speaker then reveals that these are the very
reasons the bird “opens his throat to sing.”

The author felt this way in her own life. She wrote and sang and danced
because it was her way of expressing her longing for freedom.

Stanza Three
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
(…)
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The third stanza reverts back to the free bird, further cementing the difference
between the free bird and the caged bird in the readers’ minds.

She writes that a “free bird thinks of another breeze” that he can enjoy the
“sighing trees” and be free to find his own food. The tone with which she
writes the first and third stanzas so sharply contrasts with the second stanza
that readers can feel the difference. The first and third stanzas give the reader
a sense of ecstasy and thrill, making the second stanza seem all the more droll
and even oppressive.

Stanza Four
The free bird thinks of another breeze
(…)
and he names the sky his own
The fourth stanza of ‘Caged Bird’ continues the parallel between the free bird
and the caged bird. The first line serves to starkly contrast the last line in the
third stanza. It is dark and daunting. The reality of the life of the caged bird is
revealed in this line. 

Mentioning of ‘fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn brings around a

predatorial/prey juxtaposition too. It would be the worms that would be
scared for their life, losing freedom as the birds feed upon such prey.
However, with a bird entrapped by a cage, the worms are the ones that have
the freedom, compared to the caged bird.

Stanza Five
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
(…)
so he opens his throat to sing.
That bird “stands on the grave of dreams.” This reveals the author’s feelings
about her own dreams. She has so many dreams that have died because she
was never given the freedom to achieve all that her white counterparts could.
Discrimination and racism made up her cage, and although she sang, she felt
her voice was not heard in the wide world but only by those nearest her cage.
The second line of this stanza is not only dark but even frightening.

The speaker describes the bird’s cries as “shouts on a nightmare scream.” At

this point, the caged bird is so despondent in his life of captivity that his
screams are like that of someone having a nightmare. The author then repeats
these lines:

His wings are clipped and his feet are tied

So he opens his throat to sing.
Reaffirming the idea that the bird opens his mouth to sing because his desire
for freedom and his desire to express himself cannot be contained.

Stanza Six
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
(…)
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
This last stanza focuses on the caged bird yet again. The author implies that
even though the caged bird may have never experienced true freedom, deep
down, that bird still knows it was created to be free. Although freedom, to the
caged bird, is “fearful” because it is “unknown,” he still sings “a fearful trill”
because he still longed for freedom.

Here, the speaker reveals that his cry for freedom is “heard on the distant hill.”
This parallels to the author and her cry for freedom in the form of equality.
She feels her cries are heard, but only as soft background noise. She still feels
that she is caged and that although she sings, her cries are heard only as a
distant noise.

The last line states, “For the caged bird sings of freedom.” With this, the
speaker implies that although the caged bird may never have experienced
freedom, he still sings of it because he was created for freedom. This is
paralleled to the African American struggle in Maya Angelou’s time.

She feels that Black Americans wrote and sang and danced and cried out for
the freedom they deserved, but they were only heard as a distant voice. Yet,
this would not stop them from crying out for freedom and equality because
they knew they were made for freedom, and they would not relent until they
were given their rights as human beings to enjoy the freedom they were
created to enjoy.

SUMMARY OF D.H LAWRENCES’S “BAT”

David Herbert Lawrence was born on 11 September, 1885 at Eastwood. Nottingham Shire in
England, the fourth child of Arthur Lawrence and Lydia Beardsall. His father was a miner while
his mother was of a higher social class. After teaching for a while in elementary schools, he
attended Nottingham University College in 1906. He died on 2 March 1930 at Vence in the south
of France. Lawrence was a prolific writer of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, essays and
criticism.
POEM’S BACKGROUND
In the anthology of D.H. Lawrence titled Birds, Beasts and Flowers; the poet demonstrates love
and hatred to some animals and plants. Lawrence combines ecstasy of praise and adoration with
rational imagination for almond in the poem. “Almond Blossom”, Lawrence accuses the
mosquito of intentionally harming humans in the poem, The Mosquito. In this poem, “Bat”,
Lawrence states that he does not like bats because of their nature.

THEMES
(A) Hatred; The poet considers the bat as the ugliest of all creatures. The poet’s description of
bat portrays the bird as awfully disgusting, nauseating, and noisome and an omen of ill-fortune.
“Creature that hang themselves up like an old rag, to sleep and disgustingly upside down.” (Line
39).

B. One Man’s Food is another Man’s Poison: Although Lawrence depicts the bat in the apt
images of ugly creature. “Hanging upside down like rows of disgusting old days rags/ And
grinning in their sleep”, the Chinese people consider the bat as a “symbol of happiness” (L.44).
So, what the poet considers as a repugnant bird is a creature that brings gladness, joy,
blissfulness and blessing to the people of China.

C. Nature: Nature is giving a priority in this poem by the ways the poet describes the beautiful
setting. Names of ancient cities and places in Italy like Pisa, Florence, Mountains of Carrara, the
arches of the Ponte Vecchio and River Arno are beautifully described. There is animistic nature
worship in the presentation of swallows that show an acrobatic display in

“A sudden turning upon itself of a thing in the air /A dip to the water” (Lines 14 -15). Also, the
poet gives credence to “the sun from the west”, “evening”, “tired flower”, “Brown hills”, “A
green light”, “Stream”, “the day and the night”, “air”, “the water” as parts and parcels of nature.

CONTENT

It is very common that Lawrence is often conversational in his poems. This style is referred to as
a dramatic monologue because an implied audience is being addressed. The nature of the tem
shows the presence of the passive listener as in line 9 of this prem indicates: “Look up, and you
see things flying” and lines 15 17 “And you think. The swallows are flying so late!”. This poem,
“Bat” is a good example of dramatic monologue poem., It is the evening time as the poet sits on
a terrace which is a flat area created on the side of a hill or a flat area next to a building where
people can sit and relax. The opening stanzas introduces the reader to the poem’s settings in Italy
where names of geographical landmarks are mentioned like Pisa, Florence, Mountains of
Carrara, Ponte Vecchio and River Arno etc. The poet is observing the sunset beyond the hills in
the West as the sunlight disappears gradually and darkness is falling in just as the flowers of
Florence (a city in Greece) are losing their beauty. The hills around are dusty and brown because
of the dryness of the season and hot weather. The vividness of the poem’s setting is illustrated in
the curved pillars supporting Ponte Vecchio (a bridge across River. Arno in Greece), there is a
green streak of light which is the reflection colour of the river from the sun setting.
The poet addresses the implied audience or passive listeners when he says: “Look up, you will
see things flying”. The things fly at evening twilight or the transitional time between sunset and
night fall. The lines made by the forward and backward movement of things (swallows) appear
to act as the thread that can be used to join evening shadows together. The things or swallows in
an acrobatic display move in a circle and through the “reflected light” make a mathematical
curved line (parabola) under the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. The things or swallows fly forward and
backward, and move up and down again to touch the water with their bodies. The things appear
to be migratory birds (swallows) that often attach their nests to buildings. Swallow is a migratory
swift-flying songbird with a forked tail and a long pointed wings feeding on insects in flight. The
poet-speaker asks a rhetorical question: “and you think: The swallows are flying so late!”
Swallows?”

Swallows are nocturnal birds but why are they flying in the evening time? Swallows have saw-
wings and have a distinctive appearance with their imperfect movement in a curve crossing. It
seems that swallows look like a black glove throw up and down with light in the background.
The poet confesses the ‘things’ can never be swallows because they do not normally fly at night;
hence, the “things” are “Bat!” The poet engages the military metaphor when he confirms that the
swallow guard the bridge during the daytime while the bats do the same at night. The poet is
irritated as the bats fly in battalions over his head and towards the sky. These small animals are
flying about in the air swiftly and madly with their unpleasant shrill voices – like small kind of
bat – “Pipistrello!”

Bats have the wings like a piece of a wretched umbrella, hang themselves upside down in rows
to sleep, looking more like an

old rag. In this manner, the bats are odious, loathsome and sickening to look at especially when
they “grinning in their sleep”. The poet concludes the poem in a laconic humour: “In china the
bat is (a) symbol of happiness/Not for me”. In china, people regard a bat as a bird of good
fortune and happiness but the poet demonstrates his powerful hatred for the creature that prowls
the night and makes odious noise and sleeps like old rags.

POETIC DEVICES
(1) Language: In order to show his hatred for the bats, the poet refers to them and their
characteristics in invective language like “Flying madly”, “voice indefinite”, “wildly indictive”
“old rays” “disgusting” “Black Piper”. In fact, the use of “black” here has a negative connotation
of “devil or evil”. The meaning of
“disgusting” is something “so bad. unfair, inappropriate etc. that you feel annoyed and angry.

(2) Allusion: In the opening stanzas, allusions are made to medieval landmarks that serve as the
setting of the poem. The Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch
bridge over the Amo River, in Florence, Italy. Another allusion is “Mountains Carrara” -Carrara
marble is a type of white or blue-grey marble of high quality, popular for use in sculpture and
building decoration. Carrara marble has been used since the time of Ancient Rome. Florence is a
city found in Tuscany, Italy. The poem has a quality and adequate setting.
(3) Simile: The use of simile is apparent in this poem. The ugly appearance of bats is described
in: “Wings like bits of umbrella”, “Creatures that hang themselves up like an
old rag…” “”Like a glove, a black glove thrown up at the night”. The apt descriptions of bats
show the poet’s aversion for the creature.

(4) Personification: Nature like sun, vegetation, the swallows, flowers and bats are all accorded
human attributes to draw the reader to the poet’s belief system. The flowers in Florence are
withered away, hence the poet says “When the tired flower of Florence…” (line 5) Flowers can
never be tired like human beings. Swallows behave like human tailors when they are “sewing”
the shadows together” (line 11). Bats behave like an insane person in being “Flying madly” (line
33).
(5) Alliteration: There are many examples of alliteration that add to the theme of this poem but
prominent ones are: “When the tired flower of Florence…” (f.f) (line 4). “A twitch a twitter….
“(line 21) (t.t) Another
example is “Little lumps that My…”(line 36) (1.1).

(6) Rhetorical Question: The poet engages the rhetorical question to ask the silent audience
about the identity of the creature of his discussion and to change his subject in line 19:
“Swallows?” Later in the poem, Lawrence discovers the true identity of his discussion and shout:
“Never swallows!/Bats”.
(7) Repetition: Although there is a little variation in the repetition, lines 38-40 are given the
queer and awkward descriptions of bats as in: “Creatures that hang themselves up like an old rag,
to sleep;/ And disgustingly upside down/ Hanging upside down like rows of disgusting old rags”.
The repetition of “upside down”, “old rags” and “disgusting” shows the poet’s strong hatred for
bats. Other words repeated in the poem are “glove”, “Swallows” and “Bats”.
(8) Antithesis: Bats are the symbol of happiness and good fortune in China but the poet
considers bats as a disgusting and ill-omen creatures. Hence, the poet develops chiroptophobia
(fear of bats). This attitude confirms the fact that one man’s food is another man’s poison. The
poet has a great love for swallows but bats receive a great condemnation from him.
(9) Metaphor: The seemingly sarcastic and negative charges against the bat make the creature a
repugnant bird as in “And serrated wings against the sky” (line 22), “Black Piper”. (line 35)
“Little lumps that fly in air” (line 36). Another example is “changing guard” which is a military
metaphor, that is, the swallows like military men guard the bridge during the day time while bats
do the same at night. Bats are therefore compared to black piper, little lumps etc.
(10) Visual Imagery: The poet is succeeded in presenting the horrible picture of bats through the
visual imagery. In our inner mind, we see the image of disgust in the way bats fly, sleep upside
down, their wings like a wretched umbrella. The worst description of bats is “And grinning in
their sleep”.

FORM/STRUCTURE
With uneven stanzas of 45 lines, the poem is written in single prose-like form. It is a narrative
prose- poem presented in free verse with occasional rhymes.

TONE
The tone of every literary work of art is whatever being read in light of the writer’s perspective.
The writer state of mind is the tone. The tone of this poem is sarcastic because the poet could not
see anything good in bats. The poet’s impression of bats is that they are horrible nocturnal
creatures which see at night but blind during the day time.
SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF JOHN DONNE’S “THE GOOD MORROW”
“The Good Morrow” is an aubade—a morning love poem—written by the English poet
John Donne, likely in the 1590s. In it, the speaker describes love as a profound
experience that's almost like a religious epiphany. Indeed, the poem claims that erotic
love can produce the same effects that religion can. Through love, the speaker’s soul
awakens; because of love, the speaker abandons the outside world; in love, the
speaker finds immortality. This is a potentially subversive argument, for two reasons.
First, because the poem suggests that all love—even love outside of marriage—might
have this transformative, enlightening effect. Second, because of the idea that romantic
love can mirror the joys and revelations of religious devotion.

‘The Good-Morrow’ by John Donne was published in 1633 in his posthumous

collection Songs and Sonnets. The poem is generally considered to be one of
Donne’s first. It has also been categorized as a sonnet even though it stretches
to twenty-one lines rather than the traditional fourteen. The poem is divided
into three sets of seven lines that conform to a rhyming pattern of ababccc. 

This is a very unique pattern of rhyme that is only made more interesting by

the varying pattern of the meter. The majority of the lines contain ten syllables
but each stanza ends with a line of twelve syllables. This variation was likely
done to maintain a reader’s engagement with both the narrative and the text
itself.

It is also interesting to note how the stanzas are divided within the seven lines.
The first four lines introduce something about the speaker’s love. While the
next three reflect more deeply on the topic and sometimes provide an answer
to a previously posed question.

The Good-Morrow’ by John Donne is a sonnet that describes the state of

perfect love in which a speaker and his lover exist. 

The poem begins with the speaker noting how his life, and his lover’s, did not
truly begin until they met. Up until they came together they were like children
suckling from their mother’s breasts. He knows now that any pleasure he has
previously was fake. His current love is the only real thing he has ever
experienced. 

In the next stanza, he describes how there is no way for their love to fail
because it controls everything he sees. His whole life is driven by it, therefore
he has no reason to want anything outside of their small bedroom. The poem
concludes with the speaker stating that their love is balanced like a healthy
body. Their emotional and physical states are connected so deeply that
nothing can go wrong. 

Stanza Analysis
Stanza One 
I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I 

Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then? 

But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? 

Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den? 

’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be. 

If ever any beauty I did see, 

Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee. 

In the first stanza of ‘The Good-Morrow’, the speaker begins with three
questions. They all inquire into the state of his and his lover’s lives before they
were known to one another. He wonders allowed, addressing his lover, what
“by my troth” (or what in the world) they did before they loved. This question
and those which follow are rhetorical. He does not expect a real answer. 

In the next line, he asks if they were “not weaned till then.” He does not
believe the two were truly adults, separated from their mother’s milk until they
met. Their lives did not begin until they gave up “country pleasures.” They
became more sophisticated and less dependent on childish pleasures. 

In the fourth line, he asks if they were sleeping like the “Seven Sleepers.” This
is a reference to a story regarding seven children buried alive by a Roman
emperor. Rather than dying, they slept through their long entombment to be
found almost 200 years later. It is like the speaker has his lover were in stasis
until they could be unearthed at the proper time and brought together. 

The final three lines of the stanza answer his previous questions. He says, yes,
of course, everything he said is the truth. Anything he experienced before
getting with this current lover was not real. It was only a fancy. 

Stanza Two 
And now good-morrow to our waking souls, 

Which watch not one another out of fear; 

For love, all love of other sights controls, 

And makes one little room an everywhere. 

Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone, 

Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown, 

Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one. 

The second stanza is structured in a similar way in which the first four lines
introduce a reader to another aspect of the relationship. He describes how
now, in their “good-morrow’ they will live in happiness together. There will be
no need to “watch…one anther out of fear.” Their relationship is perfect. 

In the following lines, the speaker is proving that any temptation outside is
worthless. His eyes are controlled by love, therefore everything he sees is
transformed by his adoration. He speaks of a small room that contains
everything on earth. There is no reason for him to leave the bedroom he
shares with his lover.

The next three lines make use of anaphora with the repetition of the starting
word “Let.” The speaker is telling his lover that now that he has this
relationship the rest of the world means nothing. The explorers can go out
and claim anything and everything they want to. He will be happy to “possess
one world” in which they have one another.

Stanza Three 

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, 

And true plain hearts do in the faces rest; 

Where can we find two better hemispheres, 

Without sharp north, without declining west? 

Whatever dies, was not mixed equally; 

If our two loves be one, or, thou and I 

Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

The final stanza of ‘The Good-Morrow’ begins with the speaker looking into his
lover’s eyes. There he can see his own face and he knows her face appears in
his eyes as well. Their heartfelt connection is evident within their faces. 
The next lines continue to refer to their bodies/ Donne makes use of conceit,
one of the techniques for which he is the best know. In this case, he is
comparing their faces to two hemispheres. Unlike the hemispheres of the
actual world, their facial hemispheres are perfect. There are no “two better” in
the universe. There is no “sharp north” or “declining west.” Donne’s speaker
sees himself and his lover as soulmates, they are the other’s missing half. 

The last three lines speak on how a lack of balance can cause death. This is
likely a reference to the medieval science of humors in which one’s health was
determined by an equal mix of blood, bile, etc.  He uses this metaphor to
make clear that their love is balanced physically and emotionally. Their perfect
balance is accomplished due simply to the presence of the other. It is the
combination of their emotions that keeps them together. 

“The Good Morrow” is a celebration of love, which it presents as an intense and

unparalleled pleasure. All the joys that the two lovers experienced before they found

each other pale in comparison to the joy they experience together. Indeed, love is so

powerful that the speaker describes it as an awakening of the soul: it is almost a

religious experience. And like a religious experience, it reshapes the lovers’ attitude to

the world at large. Like monks or nuns who dedicate themselves to religious practice, the

two lovers dedicate themselves to love above adventure and career success. “The Good

Morrow” thus translates romantic—and erotic—love into a religious, even holy,

experience. Love itself, the speaker suggests, is capable of producing the same insights

as religion.

“The Good Morrow” separates the lives of the lovers into two parts: before they found

each other, and after. The speaker describes the first part of their lives with disdain: the

pleasures they enjoyed were “childish.” Indeed, they were not even “weaned”: they were
like babies. Like children, they had a limited understanding of life. They were aware of

only some of its “country” (or lowly) pleasures, going through the motions of life without

knowing there could be something more.

But once they find each other, it feels as though their eyes have been opened. The

speaker realizes that any “beauty” experienced before this love was really nothing more

than a “dream”—a pale imitation—of the joy and pleasure the speaker has now. “Good-

morrow to our waking souls,” the speaker announces at the start of stanza 2, as though

the lovers had been asleep and are just now glimpsing the light of day for the first time.

Since the sun is often associated with Jesus Christ in Christian religious traditions and

light is often associated with enlightenment, the speaker’s description of this experience

is implicitly cast in religious terms. That is, the speaker makes waking up alongside a

lover sound like a religious epiphany or a conversion experience. The consequences of

this epiphany are also implicitly religious. Having tasted the intense pleasures of love,

the lovers give up on adventure and exploration: instead they treat their “one little room”

as “an everywhere.” In this way, they become like monks or nuns: people who separate

themselves from the world to dedicate themselves to their faith.

Further, the lovers' devotion to each other wins them immortality: “none can die,” the

speaker announces in the poem’s final line. Immortality is more commonly taken to be

the reward for dedicated religious faith, not earthly pleasures like romantic love. In

describing this relationship in religious terms, the speaker breaks down the traditional

distinctions between love and religion. Where many religious traditions treat erotic love

as something potentially harmful to religious devotion, the speaker of “The Good

Morrow” suggests that erotic love leads to the same devotion, insight, and immortality

that religion promises.

However, the speaker doesn’t specify the nature of the love in question. If the lovers are

married, for instance, the reader doesn’t hear anything about it. Instead, the speaker

focuses on the perfection of their love, noting the way the two lovers complement each
other. Unlike other poems that argue for the holiness of married love specifically (like

Anne Bradstreet’s “To My Dear and Loving Husband”), “The Good Morrow” holds out

an even more subversive possibility: that all love is capable of producing religious

epiphany, whether or not it takes a form that the Church sanctions, like marriage.

“The Good Morrow” was written during the Age of Discovery, the period of intense

European sea exploration lasting roughly from the 15th to 17th centuries. This context

informs the poem's second and third stanzas, with their focus on "sea-discoverers," "new

worlds," "maps," and "hemispheres." The poem compares the desire to chart new lands

with the pleasures of love itself, and finds the latter to be more powerful and exciting.

Indeed, the speaker finds love so pleasurable that he or she proposes to withdraw from

the world in order to dedicate him or herself entirely to that love. Instead of seeking

adventure, the speaker proposes that the lovers “make one little room an everywhere.”

For the speaker, then, love creates its own world to explore.

Note how, in the poem’s second stanza, the speaker proposes that the lovers renounce

their worldly ambitions. The speaker says that instead of crossing the oceans or

mapping foreign countries, they should stay in bed and gaze into each other's eyes.

Indeed, the speaker argues in stanza 3, they will not find better "hemispheres" out in the

world than each others' eyes. This means that, for the speaker, giving up the outside

world is not a sacrifice. Indeed, the speaker finds a better world in bed with this lover.

Importantly, however, this "lovers' world" is not totally separate from the wider world.

Instead, it recreates it in miniature, essentially resulting in a microcosm that reproduces

the entire world itself within the lovers' relationship. The poem thus argues that true love

can be a way of experiencing the entirety of existence. Essentially, there's no need to,

say, seek adventure on the high seas, because everything is already contained within

the experience of love itself.

The first four lines of “The Good-Morrow” establish the poem’s broad concerns and hint

at its unusual form. The speaker begins by asking a series of questions, directed at his
 or her lover. The speaker wants to know what the two lovers did before they fell in love.

These questions are rhetorical in that the speaker isn’t actually interested in the lover’s

response. In fact, the speaker has already made up his or her mind. Before they met

each other, their pleasures were “childish.” The speaker characterizes these early,

childish pleasures in a variety of ways: they were like babies, still nursing (and therefore

“not weaned”). Or they were only interested in unsophisticated “country pleasures”—

potentially an obscene pun on a word for women's genitalia . Finally, the

speaker alludes to an important tradition in Christianity and Islam: the myth of the seven

sleepers, a group of young people who hid in a cave for 300 years to escape religious

persecution. The speaker and the lover were thus like pious Christians; now that they've

woken up, they are rewarded for their piety with a new life. This allusion sets up the

poem's core argument that erotic love can have effects that are just as profound as the

effects of religious practice.

Because the poem encourages the reader to imagine that the speaker is directly

addressing his or her lover, the poem takes on the qualities of apostrophe in these

lines: speaker talks to the lover, but the lover is unable to respond to the speaker or

contest the speaker's account of their relationship. This establishes a pattern that will

continue throughout of the speaker monopolizing the poem's descriptions of love.

THEMES
Life without love
One of the themes of the poem is life without love. This theme is discussed in the first stanza of the
poem. He says there was no charm in life before he met his beloved. They were treated as children
by people. Life seemed to be dormant as if they had been sleeping for a long time. They were not
attracted by the beautiful things at all.

Life Full of love:

The next and major theme of the poem is Love. After he met with his beloved, their life changed
suddenly. It seemed as if they woke from a deep slumber. Now they should forget about everything
and only love each other. They should not be bothered by the expansion of the universe rather this
little room will be their universe.

Loyalty in love
Another theme of the poem is loyalty on love and the poet says that if they be faithful to each other
and love equally even death will fail to kill them.