Chapter's summary : Text and Summary of Prose and Poem

Speech: "All the World's a Stage"  All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse' arms; And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lin'd, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well s...

Do you Remember learning your mother tongue? How did that experience suffer from your efforts to learn second language?           Mother tongue is the in-born language, which a baby has already familiarized even in the gestation of mother before it was born. The first language is the language which a child acquires either through schooling or socialization, such as family.           We cannot learn very quick second language it may takes some time and probably it depends upon human knowledge some can learn early and few slowly. "Learning a second language, after the critical period for language learning has ended, is more difficult because as use age the more our native language comes to dominate linguistic map space and the second language finds it’s hard to compete." Main things are motivation, attitude, age, intelligence, aptitude, cognitive style, and personality are considered as factors that greatly influence someone ...

Do you think Learning English can gradually affect one's use of Mother Tongue?            Mostly Yes, learning English can affect one's use of mother tongue language. Because as much as we learned the second language, which is English. It decreases the interest of one's mother tongue language. Nowadays, the young generation wants to learn any things in English more often rather than their mother tongue language. This situation has started earlier in our lives, from school onwards, all the teachers wants that student must learn English. Do conversation in English only, no other languages are allowed to talk with teacher, either its normal conversation between teacher and student or only for asking about doubts. that does not mean that we shouldn't learn English earlier age, but not giving much more importance to the mother tongue language can affect the language in future prospects.       The role of mother tongue language in secon...

About the Poet           Gabriel Okara (1921 -) is a Nigerian poet. His widely anthologized poems reflect on the tribulations of nation-building and the traumas that befall the self. The Fisherman's Invocation (1978) is his most ambitious work, the collection shared a Common Wealth Poetry Prize. About the Poem           As we grown we tend to lose our innocence, our simple ways of behavior. Artificiality or affectation and hypocrisy creep into our behavior. The poet Gabriel Okara, therefore, asks his son to show him how to laugh and smile, which once upon a time he used to when he was a child like his son. Once Upon A Time Once upon a time, son, they used to laugh with their hearts and laugh with their eyes; but now they only laugh with their teeth, while their ice-block-cold eyes search behind my shadow. There was a time indeed they used to shake hands with their hearts; but that's gone, son. Now they shake hands wit...

Summary | How Do I Love Thee? How Do I Love Thee is a sonnet that presents the idea of love as powerful and encompassing all. It expresses the poetic persona's passionate feelings for her husband Robert Browning. The poem has a flexible rhyme and a positive language. The poem opens with a rhetorical question. The interrogative mark at the end of the end of the first line makes the poem seem light hearted and playful. For full poem, "How Do I Love Thee?", Please click the below link 'Poem' >> Poem   She tries to count the ways in which she can express her passionate love for her husband. She brings out the quiet intensity of love by saying her love is deeper and broader and higher than where her soul can reach. She then compares love to weighty important concepts like 'Being and ideal grace'. Then she brings out the quiet intensity of love through a domestic picture she paints by sun and candle light. Love is positive and a powerful force that express...

About the poet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. She started writing poetry at the age of six. Her early poems, compiled and published by her mother form one of the largest extant of juvenilia by any England writer. She married the leading Victorian poet Robert Browning. She was very popular both in England and America during her lifetime. About the poem: How Do I Love Thee? was published in 1850 as sonnet 43 in the collection entitled Sonnets from Portuguese. It is a sonnet. It expresses the poetic persona's passionate feelings for her husband Robert Browning. For the Summary of "How Do I Love Thee?", Please click the below link 'Summary' >> Summary How Do I Love Thee? How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet...

About the poet:      Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets and its regarded by some as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not see fame during his lifetime, but recognition for his poetry grew steadily after his death. Shelley is perhaps best known for classic poems as Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, Music, When Soft Voices Die, The Cloud, The Masque of Anarchy etc. About the poem: Ozymandias , the sonnet, explores the undeniable truth of history that time ravages everything. For the Summary of 'Ozymandias', Please click the below link 'Summary' >> Summary Ozymandias I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well th...

Summary | P. T. Usha : Against All Hurdles 'P. T. Usha : Against All Hurdles' is an article written by Vinod Nair. It was published in the TImes of India. The article tells us in brief about the ups and downs of P. T. Usha and her daunting spirit. P. T. Usha not only won in athletics but also faced the problem of life boldly. She was an extraordinary child in the field of athletics. She never gave up. Born in an ordinary family and 2nd of the six children, P. T. Usha kept falling ill. For Whole Text of "P.T. Usha: Against All Hurdles", please click the below link >> Text She overcame her first competitor in school in class IV. She was told to make a career in athletics by her uncle. After she became a champion of the district, she got admission in G. V. Raja Sports School, Kerala. She topped in the admission test in 1976. After winning many trophies, she was spotted by her coach O. M. Nambiar. She participated in a number of international athletic meets. Apart f...

O blithe New-comer! I have heard, I hear thee and rejoice. O Cuckoo ! shall I call thee Bird, Or but a wandering Voice? While I am lying on the grass Thy twofold shout I hear; From hill to hill it seems to pass, At once far off, and near. Though babbling only to the Vale Of sunshine and of flowers, Thou bringest unto me a tale Of visionary hours. For the Summary of, "To the Cuckoo", Please click the below link 'Summary' >> Summary Thrice welcome darling of the Spring ! Even yet thou art to me No bird, but an invisible thing, A voice, a mystery; The same whom in my my schools-boys days I listened to; that Cry Which made me look a thousand ways In bush, and tree, and sky. To seek thee did I often rove Through woods and on the green; And thou wert still a hope, a love; Still longed for, never seen. And I can listen to thee yet; Can lie upon the plain And listen, till I do beget That golden time again. O blessed Bird ! the earth we pace Again appears to be An unsubs...

Wordsworth's poems have a nostalgic effect. His attachment will nature is clear in the poem. Through he does not know what a cuckoo really us, he's enthralled by its double fold uncomposed singing beats which he calls the wandering voice. He considers nature as his friend, philosopher and guide. The poet was wandering in the valley. He heard the sweet voice of a Cuckoo. He felt delighted. It was spring season. The valley was full of beautiful flowers. Clear sunshine made the atmosphere in the valley serene and enjoyable. The poet in his extreme gladness addresses the Cuckoo as 'blithe new-comer'. The Cuckoo appears first when spring comes to the earth. It sings happily. The poet was lying on the grassy field when he heard the song of the Cuckoo. The song seemed to him a composition of two shouts such as koo-hoo. Further he heard the song being echoed by hills around him. Although the Cuckoo was singing in the valley, it brought to his mind the memory of his boyhood days...

The poem 'Still I Rise' conveys to the readers the need for standing tall against all odds and fighting till the very end. It is an emotional poem addressed to the white oppressors of black people. The poet wants the white people to realize that the black will no longer bend down to the atrocities of the whites. Without reacting to the harshness, she requests the blacks to stand up and walk with their head held high. It invokes a feeling of confidence in the blacks to not surrender to the oppression of the blacks. The poem is both political and highly personal. The poet is responding to decades and even centuries of oppression and mistreatment. The readers can feel the sympathy with her spirited rejection of further oppression. The poet considers herself as the dream and hope of the slaves who will be freed from the bondage of the whites. For Whole Poem of "Still I Rise", Please click the link 'Poem'  >> POEM The first two lines are about writing. She us...

Still I Rise | Maya Angelou You may write me down in history With your bitter twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise. For Summary of "Still I Rise", Please click the link 'Summary' >> Summary Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you? Don’t you take it awful hard ‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines Diggin’ in my own backyard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your  hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise. Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise Up from a past that’s  rooted in pain I rise I’m a black ocean, leaping an...

This chapter ‘What is Intelligence’ tells us about a doctor who was placed in the army and he took an intelligence test along with his other fellow mates. He scored much higher than the average score which was 100 and thus thought himself to be more intelligent than his colleagues in the army. He had always been topping the intelligence test and thought himself to be wiser than all as he was able to answer more than the average man. Then he wonders if his car mechanic is able to repair his car within minutes and talks about terms about terms which the narrator is unable to understand. This forces him to think whether he has a less aptitude level. Then he thinks that if the aptitude test is prepared by anyone else who is not an academician but a farmer or carpenter, then he won’t be able to do well in it posing as an idiot. One day he visits his car mechanic again when the mechanic has a humorous conversation in which he asks how a blind man would ask for scissors to which the narrator ...

Summary | My Lost Dollar ‘ The Lost Dollar’ is a simple short story written by Stephen P. H. Butler Leacock, a Canadian teacher, political scientist and a writer. It is an entertaining story full of humour as well as hidden irony. It talks about how people forget money they owe and behave so casually as if they never owed it.      The author’s friend Todd had once to catch a taxi as he was about to leave for Bermuda. Since Todd did not have a dollar change, he borrowed it from Leacock, the author.      After reaching Hamilton in Bermuda, Todd wrote a casual letter to the author. Moreover, after coming back to the author's hometown he also met him again at the railway but neither in the letter nor in the second meet did Todd mention about the dollar he owed. Todd just took it very casually and had completely forgotten that he needed to pay the dollar back. Later, he also talks about various things except the payment of his one dollar loan.    ...