The Renaissance         

                                                                  

   Introduction

                   The period between tenth and fifteenth centuries is known as Medieval Age or Middle Age. It was also called as Dark Age, because people were ready to follow the teaching, the superstition and the customs of the past without asking questions.

 Constantinople, the capital of Eastern Roman Empire was captured by Turks in 1453. Fearing ill treatment, Greek scholars fled from Constantinople and settled in Italy, Germany, France and other European countries. They started teaching of Latin and Greek classics to people where they settled. This was the origin of Renaissance.

    Renaissance literally means "rebirth". During this period they developed the spirit of inquiry, spirit of freedom of thought and action. The word renaissance suggests different things to different people. Hence Walter Pater rightly called renaissance as “a complex and many sided movement”.

Renaissance in literature

    Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, the three great Italian writers created a passion for learning Latin . Machiavelli was another great Italian writer. In France, the effect of renaissance was seen in the works of Ronsard, Rabelais and Montaigne. In Spain, the Renaissance spirit  manifested itself in Cervantes’s "Don Quixote". In England, the renaissance was heralded by Geoffery Chaucer and Selling who had conducts with Italy. A good start was given by three Oxford friends, Thomas Linacre, William Grocyn and Hugh Latimer. They studied in Italy and lectured on Greeks at Oxford university. John Colet founded St.Paul’s Grammar school, the first grammar school in England completely devoted to the study of classical literature.

              The period of the  renaissance was also an age of translation. Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, Demosthenes and Plutarch were all translated into English. Sir Thomas more was the greatest of  the Oxford scholars. His most famous book "Utopia" was originally written in Latin in 1516 and translated into English in 1551.Erasmus, a Dutchman who settled in England was the last European write, who write in Latin. Other memorable names of Renaissance period are Spenser, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Bacon and Christopher Marlowe.

Renaissance and science:

     John Gutenberg of Germany invented printing press in 1454. After this the first Latin Bible was printed in Italy in 1455. William Caxton of England established the first printing press in 1476.Another invention of a great importance was the "Mariners compass". After the compass came into use, the exploration of distant seas became possible. Columbus discovered America in 1492. Vasco da Gama reached Calicut on the Western Coast of India through Cape of Good Hope in 1498. Copernicus disproved the Ptolemaic theory that the earth was the center of the universe. Kepler proved that the earth and the other planets rotated round the Sun in elliptical and not in circular paths. Galileo invented a telescope in 1609.

Renaissance and arts:

             Micheal Angelo, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci were all rounders, painter, poets and sculptors. Michael Angelo's famous works are the statues of David and Moses. Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Fresco of “the Last Supper" on the walls of the Maria Dell Grazie in Milan. Rapheal's Madonna picture is famous to this day. Architecture like other branches of learning underwent a classical revival which spread over the whole of Europe. St.Peter’s Basilica in Rome is the greatest example of the new style.

Conclusion:

           Thus the Renaissance brought about many remarkable changes in all walks of life.  

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE - WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

ALL THE WORLD’S A  STAGE  -  WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

     William Shakespeare’s “All The World’s a Stage” is a poem extracted from his play “As You Like It”. In this poem Shakespeare has skillfully divided and described human life into seven stages from infancy to old age. He compares the world with a big stage in which all the human beings play their allotted roles according to their time limit.

The Infant Stage

     In the first stage, as an infant he cries and vomits in the nurse’s arms.

The School Boy

     In the second stage, he begins his schooling. He is unwilling to leave the protected environment of his home, so he goes to school like a snail.

The Lover

     In the third stage, as a young man, he composes his love poems. In this stage, he expresses his love in a fatuous manner. He makes himself ridiculous in trying to express his feelings.

The Soldier

     In the fourth stage, he is hot – blooded with a high degree of self-respect. To get fame he endangers his life. At this stage, he does not know that fame and honor is nothing more than a bubble and short lived.

The Justice

    In the fifth stage, he assumes himself that he has acquired wisdom through his experiences. He has round belly with good capon lined.

The Pantaloon

     In the sixth stage, he is a shell of his former self both physically and mentally. He tries to shrink himself into a shell of his worries and is indifferent to his physical appearance and apparel, just as he was in his youth.

The Old Age

     In the last stage, he is highly dependent on others for care. He is unable to interact with the world. He has no relations. His voice is not clear due to loss of teeth. He loses his firmness and assertiveness. He experiences second innocence and mere oblivion. This stage is also known as second infancy.

     This poem shows Shakespeare’s deep knowledge and transience of human life

THE VERGER -SOMERSET MAUGHAM

THE VERGER    -SOMERSET MAUGHAM

     The Verger is a short story, written by Somerset Maugham. The story explains that education contributes to certain purposes but in money-making, it is commonsense that plays a vital role.

     Albert Edward, had been the verger of St.Peter’s church for sixteen years. He was a man of distinguished features, who did his job in a dignified way with great dedication. He rendered his service to the best satisfaction of the fashionable parishioners. After the new vicar was appointed, the verger came in trouble with him. The verger was uneducated so the new vicar called the verger and gave him three months time to learn to read and write. But the verger was not ready to learn anything new. He was satisfied with what he had. The new vicar compelled him to resign his job. So the verger resigned his job left the church.

     While he was walking on the street slowly, he was thinking about his future. To fulfill his basic needs he was badly in need of a job. Because of frustration he wanted to smoke a cigarette. He looked for a shop in the long street. There were no shops nearby. There would be many like him who would like to smoke cigarettes. So he planned to open a shop in the street. He consulted this idea with his wife. First, his wife did not accept his idea, later she accepted it. Soon he opened a shop and turned into a shopkeeper. He worked sincerely to develop his business. In a short span of time, he opened another shop in the next street. In a decade, he owned a chain of shops in London. He became very rich.

     Edward deposited his money in the bank. One day the bank manager called Edward and informed him that he had thirty thousand pounds in his account. He also advised him to invest the amount in shares. To get Edward’s concurrence, the manager asked him to sign in an agreement. But Edward told him that he could neither read nor write. The manager was surprised and wondered. The manager asked Edward that what would he had been if he was educated. Edward replied that he would be a verger at St.Peter’s church.

EARLY INFLUENCES - A.P.J.ABDUL KALAM

EARLY INFLUENCES  - A.P.J.ABDUL KALAM

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Introduction

‘Early Influences’ is an extract from Dr. A. B. J. Abdul Kalam’s autobiography “Wings of Fire”. It narrates his boyhood days and the influence of different man on him during the period.

Jallaluddin and Kalam

     Ahmed Jallaluddin, a relative of Kalam helped his father to build a boat. Later he married Kalam’s sister Zohara. Despite the age difference, Jallaluddin and Kalam became good friends. Every evening they went for long walk. They usually talked about spiritual matters. They would circle the shiva temple with the same reverence as a pilgrim from a distant place.

     Jallaluddin seemed to be able to communicate directly with God, as like partner working together. He had the sense of respect for an unknown and unseen force. He was the only person on the island who could write letters in English. He talked to Kalam about – scientific discoveries, contemporary writing and literature, even about medical science and its greatness. He helped Kalam to look beyond the limited horizons of his life. Jallaluddin was the major influe nce on Kalam’s life at that stage.

STR Manickam and Kalam

    STR Manickam was a militant nationalist. He was against to the Gandhian way of non-violence. He had a huge personal library. Kalam visited STR’s home to borrow books. STR always encouraged Kalam to read more books.

Samsuddhin and Kalam

      Samsuddhin, Kalam’s cousin was one of the persons who helped to shape Kalam’s boyhood. Samsuddhin was the only distributor for newspapers in Rameswaram. The morning train to Pamban brought in the Tamil newspapers. Dinamani was the most popular newspaper in those days. Kalam was not able to read the printed matters but he was able to understand the content with simply looking at the pictures in the papers before Samsuddhin delivered them. Because of the World War the train halt at Rameswaram station was suspended. The newspaper bundles were tossed out of the moving train. Samsuddhin chose Kalam to help him move the bundles.

Kalam’s first earnings

     Kalam was eight years old when World War II started in 1939. The war influenced Kalam indirectly. It provided Kalam with his first earnings. For some reason, there was a sudden demand for tamarind seeds during the war. Kakam would collect the seeds and sell them to a provision store near his house. A day’s collection would fetch him the princely amount of one anna.

Conclusion

     From this part of his autobiography, we could understand Kalam’s boyhood days and how he was encouraged in his studies and religious matters by his relatives and friends. Kalam acknowledges them in his autobiography with sincere gratitude.    

THE PRAISE OF CHIMNEY SWEEPERS – CHARLES LAMB

THE PRAISE OF CHIMNEY SWEEPERS – CHARLES LAMB

     The essay ‘The Praise of Chimney Sweepers’ reveals Lamb’s sympathy for the low and downtrodden. His love towards the chimney sweepers is praiseworthy.

     Lamb says that the voice of Chimney Sweepers remind him of the chirping of the sparrow. The boys in the dark cloths resemble clergyman. These boys preach patience to mankind by their hard work. Lamb used to be shocked at the sudden disappearance of the sweeper within the complicated chimneys. He felt immensely relieved, when the sweep came up on the roof with his brush weaving like a Conjuror’s flag.

     Lamb asks the readers to be generous and give the Sweepers a penny or two. He asks his readers to offer Sassafras tea to the small boys. The tea is made from boiling the wood of sassafras, which emits a repellent smell. If we give them a cup of tea, they will do the work with great enthusiasm and save the chimneys from catching fire.

  While walking along a street, Lamb fell down. By seeing this a chimney sweeper laughed at him. For this Lamb did not get angry because the boy‘s joy was completely free from any malice and was the outcome of innocent mirth. Lamb says that he would have stood there without pain, if the boy is laughed till midnight. He appreciated the sweeper’s white teeth shining in contrast to his black skin and clothes.

     Lamb expresses his belief that some of the sweepers must be from noble families. They must have been kidnapped in their infancy and might be forced to do this work. To support it, Lamb tells a story of a chimney sweeper who had slept on Duke Howard’s state bed. Their civil, courteous behaviour shows their descent from aristocratic families.

    Lamb praises his friend Jem White for his sympathy towards the chimney sweepers. His friend Jim had the practice of giving annual dinner on St.Bartholomew’s Day in Smithfield to the Chimney Sweepers. He used to invite sweepers in and around the city and he would serve them with all dignity. He would conduct the  feast with great care.

    To sum up, this essay show Lamb’s attitude, love and sympathy for the suffering children.