A Look Back On Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)

Edmund Spenser is one of the notable poet in Elizabethan Age. He was born in East Smithfield in London to a cloth-maker, John Spenser. Spenserian stanza is a famous verse form which was introduced by this man in his major work The Faerie Queen, this verse form consist of 8 iambic pentameter that followed by a 9th line of 6 iambic feet and the scheme of rhyme is ababbcbcc.

His Works:

1. The Shepheards Calender
2. The Ruins of Time

(Edmund Spenser)

3. The tears of the Muses
4. Mother Habberd's Tale
5. The Ruins of the Muses
6. Amoretti
7. Epithalamion
8. Prothalamion
9. A View of the Present state of Ireland
10. The Faerie Queen


Elizabeth Boyle, an important English family's young woman, Spenser courtship with this woman leads to a married life. His work , a marriage song 'Epithalamion' is a dedicated work to his bride. Amoretti and Epithalamion describes the love during his courtship. But unfortunately he left his final work The Faerie Queen as incomplete, he has planned to write twenty four books under this topic but he completed only six books among that. 

Famous Quotes of Spenser:

“For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.”

“I hate the day, because it lendeth light
To see all things, but not my love to see.”

“Woe never wants, where every cause is caught, and rash Occasion makes unquiet life.”

"And all for love, and nothing for reward."

"It is the mind that maketh good of ill, that maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor."

"What more felicity can fall to creature, Than to enjoy delight with liberty."

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Usage of 'for' and 'since' - Simplified

On the whole, a person's communication skill is being evaluated by some modest usage of the language. At times we often used to confuse these two words 'for' and 'since' in our daily usage. Actually it is uncomplicated to understand the very difference. Here is a short write up to clarify the basic things regarding to 'for' and 'since' with examples.

Both 'for' and 'since' refer to a time/period or may be a place/event. We have to be clear with that first so let me explain this with an example.

(i) Rena lived in Delhi for ten years.
(ii) Rena lived in Delhi since she was 5 years old.

In the above example, the first sentence is declared with 'for' shows the period of time the girl spent in that place. The second sentence stated from which period/age she lived in Delhi. Likewise I state few examples to make the thing clear.


1. (i) Tom has been in India for 4 days.
    (ii) Tom has been in India since Sunday.

2. (i) We have been waiting  for 3 hours.
    (ii) We have been waiting since 11'o clock.

3. (i) My mom have worked here since 2007.
    (ii) My mom have worked here for 5 years.

4. (i) I have had this pen for 2 months.

    (ii) I have had this pen since March.

For (period)	Since (point)
Five days Two years Six months An hour Three weeks A long time	Sunday 1981 November 3’o clock 19 August 5 years old

Best Selling Books of 2016

                  

List of Nobel Prize Winners (English Literature)

Nobel prize is one among the prestigious award in the world, every year Swedish Academy choose a best work in literature, this is common award for all literature not particularly for English alone. As a literature student it is crucial to know the Nobel prize winners in English literature. I hope for all the UGC NET aspirants and for all the teachers this post will be very useful and informative.


1. Rudyard Kipling - 1907
2. William Butler Yeats - 1923
3. George Bernard Shaw - 1925
4. Sinclair Lewis - 1930
5. John Galsworthy - 1932
6. Eugene O'Neill - 1936
7. Pearl S. Buck - 1938
8. T.S. Eliot - 1948
9. William Faulkner - 1949
10. Bertrand Russell - 1950
11. Sir Winston Churchill  - 1953
12. Ernest Hemingway - 1954
13. John Steinbeck - 1962
14. Samuel Beckett - 1969
15. Patrick White - 1973
16. Saul Bellow -  1976
17. William Golding - 1983
18. Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka -1986
19.  Joseph Brodsky - 1987
20. Nadine Gordimer - 1991
21. Derek Walcott - 1992
22 Toni Morrison - 1993
23. Seamus Heaney - 1995
24. Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul - 2001
25. John Maxwell Coetzee - 2003
26. Harold Pinter - 2005
27. Doris Lessing - 2007
28. Alice Munro - 2013

Useful books related to Literature:

Must Read Autobiographies of Great Writers

 

Autobiographies are not just books, they are the living room for the people who wrote it. The special thing about reading autobiographies are its originality, the human sufferings and pleasure get into a single stream. The voice of the writers tells you the deep thoughts that could not exposed by them in reality. It is not a man's imagination, true stories has its own power to survive. There are many amazing books under this genre here I just listed out the typical ones


The Diary of a Young Girl

Rs. 120

A touchy story of facts and fate, written in Dutch language and translated into English after the death of the writer Anne Frank. This story is about the struggles and problems she faced when she and her family was hiding during Nazi occupation of Netherlands. It is a most famous book in the early years of twentieth century. 

Read more about... The Diary of a Young Girl

Wings of Fire

Rs. 134

Every youngster of India should be aware of this book, because this is a story about our former great president of India Mr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. A must read inspirational story of a legend, he says about his failures and success. This book speaks to all its readers in a unique way even after the absence of the writer. It gives you a strength you need to achieve great things. 

Read more about... Wings of Fire: An Autobiography


The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Rs. 125

This is a pioneer for all other autobiographies in world literature. Benjamin Franklin is a great scientist, inventor and writer. He wrote this story throughout of his life. He himself called this book as Memoirs, he wrote it in different periods and countries such as England, France and America. Since it is an absolute history of the world of his times. 


Read more about... The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

My Experiments with Truth

Rs. 160

At least once in a life, you have to read this book. This book is written by Mohandas Karmchand Gandhi, the so called national Father of India. This book is a collection of his memories and incidents he faced with much courage. Each obstacles can be solved or overcome by the truth and non violence, read with a clear mind you will get solutions for every problem in your life. 

Read more about... An Autobiography Or My Experiments With Truth

The Story of My Life

Rs. 120

In purpose I listed out this book at the bottom of this page, because this is a book made many people to cry, think and feel themselves grateful. The Story of My Life is written by Helen Keller, who was a deaf and blind. How is it possible to make a deaf and blind child an educated one, is it possible to teach them. Find the answers for these questions in this book. She wrote it exceptionally well. 

Read more about... The Story of My Life

William Golding's Lord of the Flies

In the early 20th century, when the world wars are roaring at its peak voice. Golding wished to state the facts and impacts of the wars even in children. As a result of that he wrote "Lord of the Flies". This work got noble prize for its theme and motto. The core theme of this work is analyzing the evil in human that awakes when it is uncivilized and unsupervised. This work has been derived from an early work of Mr. Ballantyne's 'The Coral Island' which was written in 19th century.

Outline:

Author: William Golding

Century: 20th century

Theme: Evil is inherit in man

Source: Ballantyne's The Coral Island

Characters: Jack, Ralph, Piggy, Roger, Simon, Sam & Eric, Littl' Uns

Short Summary

A group of English school boys become abandoned on an island after their plane crash. There is no adults exist to supervise them, so they themselves chose a leader a boy named Ralph, an intelligent kind hearten young boy. Jack is the reflection of evil in human kind, he couldn't bear that he has to obey a leader of his own age,he wants to dominate Ralph & stole the leadership from him. 

In the beginning the boys worked together and enjoyed the freedom & adventure in the island, later in the quest of domination things started to get worst. Jack formed his own group and started threatening the opposite team, they painted their hair and face like barbarians to spread fear among their group. At the end Jack shows his highest arrogance of killing the friends and Ralph was secured by a naval officer who has just arrived in the island. 

The novel has been classified into 12 chapters, the heading of the chapters are listed for clear understanding.

1. The Sound of the Shell
2. Fire on the Mountain
3. Huts on the Beach
4. Painted Faces & Long Hair
5. Beast from Water
6. Beast from Air
7. Shadows and Tall Trees
8. Gift for the Darkness
9. A View of Death
10. The Shell and the Glasses
11. Castle Rock
12. Cry of the Hunters

Typical Careers For English Literature Graduates

The very obvious answer for the question about career to any literature graduate is teaching but our degree has lot of opportunities other than teaching. Teaching is the most amazing job, if you are passionate to become an academician then there is no need for any second thought, go for it. In case if you want to know about other careers for your degree, here goes some suggestions.

Media & Journalism

This is one among the favorite career for literature students, there are tons of opportunities available for the right candidates. Newspapers, Journals and television networks offers mighty jobs for willing candidates. To boost up your skill to become a journalist, you have to develop your soft skills and language skills in all reading, writing, speaking and listening abilities.

 Digital Publishing

If you have the capability to produce a well organized and non redundant informative contents then this digital publishing will be very apt for you. E-books and E-journal publishers are in great demand for digital publishing stream especially content writers.

Sales & Marketing

Socialized people always have their own place in the public life, most of the literature students are very adaptive and socialized in nature, so they can easily approach the customers with their unique communication and verbal skills. 

Technical Writer

The difficulty in the IT market is to find a skilled one in both language and technical skills. If you are having quite good knowledge in technical terms and you get write efficient materials then this will be a high paying job.

Public Relation Officers

This career requires an excellent skills like understanding of clients, monitoring the flow and friendly communication with the co-members. Managing ability and research on the current strategies of a company are the major roles of this job.

The base for all these jobs is to have sound skills in writing and speaking, if you are a beginner or in the middle of your degree completion, start developing these two in additional with your personality development. 

For your reference:

The Great Poet John Milton

It is hard to say that any great modern literature is written without the influence of Milton. John Milton was born in London in 1608, a poet, man of letters and a polemicist. The political landscape of England and English civil war had a great impact on Milton's life and writing. He is also a civil servant for the common wealth of England.

His Works:

• L' Allegro
• ll penseroso
•  Comus
• Lycidas
• On the Late Massacre in Piedmont
• Paradise Lost
• Paradise Regained
• Samson Agonistes

Paradise Lost is one of the greatest work among his writing, it was published in ten books. It is a great epic based on the facts of bible and it describes how the seed of human life and its curse has been planted. Man's disobedience and justifying the ways of God to men is the major theme of this epic. 

Quotes & Sayings by Milton

• Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.
• A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.
• Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.
• Who overcomes by force, hath overcome but half his foe.
• Abashed the Devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in her own shape how lovely; saw And pined his loss.
• Death is the golden key that opens the palace of eternity.
• Awake, arise or be for ever fall’n.
• For never can true reconcilement grow, Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep.
• For solitude sometimes is best society, And short retirement urges sweet return.
• Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell.

Parts of Speech with Examples in Brief

Parts of speech plays an important role in the basic of English grammar. For any verbal test that you are going to attend, this is the first section you have to be strong. This will help you to enhance your both writing and speaking skills. You have to be clear in identifying which word belongs to which division. Words are classified into various kinds called Parts of Speech, there are 8 divisions in it and they are, noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection.

1. Noun: A word used to denote a person, place or a thing. There are two general types of noun called common noun and proper noun. Common noun is a name given to all common people or place or thing. Proper noun is a particular name given to the person, place or thing.

For example, 

Person: John, Shella, Rahul etc. Shella is a proper noun; girl is a common noun
Place: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, state, city
Thing: Ball, book; all objects that we can see, touch and smell and also the things we can think/ feel but can't touch eg: quality(kindness), action(hatred) and state(poverty). 

2. Pronoun: The words which are used instead of noun is called as pronoun. If you use 'she' instead of a girl's name then that 'she' is a pronoun. Examples: i, he, she, it, anyone, them, who, few etc.

3. Adjective: Words which adds some information to the noun; Examples: small house( 'House' is a noun and 'small' is adjective), ten chairs, clever boy, large city. 

4. Verb: A word which used to express a state or an action; Examples: read, write, fight, feel, enjoy, burst etc.

5. Adverb: The words which add something to the meaning of a adjective, verb or for another adverb. Examples: very beautiful( 'very' is an adverb 'beautiful' is an adjective), run quickly( 'run' is a verb and 'quickly' is an adverb).

6. Preposition: A word act as a link between a noun or pronoun with other parts of the sentence. Example: in, on, at, under, among, between, around etc.

7. Conjunction: A word which joins two words or sentences are called conjunction. Examples: and, but, so, or, yet, for etc.

8. Interjection: The words which are used to express a sudden feeling, an expression. Examples, hurrah!, Alas!, oh!, wow! etc. 



Further References:


       

Ideas To Improve Your NET Preparation - English Literature

Nothing is impossible to a willing heart, this might be quiet dramatic but this is the very truth behind many great success. This article has been written after getting tips from an expert who cracked both NET & SET. Our stream literature is very typical to understand, it is a vast subject. Many beginners don't know where to start and where to end, this write up is especially for them.

10 Important Tips To Prepare for National Eligibility Test

1. Sections to concentrate the most:  Literary criticism, critical theory, history of English literature, social history of England, noble prize winners and nominees of literature. 

2. Be clear with the syllabus: Find out the updated syllabus from the UGC's official website, be clear with what you prepare.

3. Plan your days: Have a vivid schedule for your preparation, start it before 3 months at least before the exam date. 

4. Collect the old question papers: Download the old papers from the official website, short out the answer by yourself; don't simply refer the answers. Study each questions deeply and find out your own answers.

5. Give importance to each sections: Split the periods of English literature and study. Make your own timeline of the books and authors hence it aids you in last minute preparation. 

6. Take sample tests: After enough preparation, take few mock tests by yourself. It helps to know your strength and weakness.

7. Reference books: Don't follow a single publication books, have varieties of reliable books in the market. Read the book reviews in the online and prefer the valid materials.

8. Notes taking: Prepare your own material, take notes whatever you read everyday in regular basis. Keep the material clear to you.

9. Stay cool: Don't put pressure on your head, you are familiar with this subject for at least 5 years, it's your stream enjoy it and study.

10. Don't give up: Last but most important one is, don't stop trying when you fail once or twice, nothing comes easy. And if it is easy everyone would be achieving it. So keep trying. All the best!  

Books to refer:

Crucial Ways To Enrich Your Personality ~ Books

Let's start this with the question, What is personality development? because we have to be clear in the motto of sparing our time in reading this. Let me state the answer in points for better understanding. 

• Enhancing your thoughts and behavior 
• Creating individualism and uniqueness
• Managing things in proper way
• Smart works
• Developing communication, body language and social skills

These are the core parts of the personality development, it is absolutely not about our physical appearance.To develop these things I suggest few simple ways which are not complicated to do.

1. Wear a dress which is more comfortable for you or which dress you feel it's nice for you. This gives you a courage to face the world. Note: Don't wish to have 30 dresses to wear per month, choose few number of dresses with fine quality & fitness.

2. Listen to others, might be a stranger, a radio or public speech, it will enhance your general knowledge and helps to think various issues in the world.

3. Plan your days, take a notebook & write down your to-do list for the week, evaluate yourself daily and improve your weakness.

4. Read lots of book, which gives you some confidence to cope up with your career and daily life.

5. Love what you do, may how small your job is or how less income you get, just love your profession and give your best to it.

Build your personality with the things which you expect from others. Try to be polite and patience in hard times but know when and where to be polite. In addition I mentioned few useful books to follow:

Popular Movies Based on Books

As a famous quote says "Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, but taste completely different". It is very true, when you read a book after watching a movie. But I suggest you to read the book first and go for the movie, because once your mind has been registered with an image it is very hard to put your imagination into it.

I would like to tell you about few movies which are made from books, since you can taste the real quality of the fiction,

1. A Walk To Remember

This is the most wonderful book I have read in the recent times, it is very famous movie across the world by many people's favorite writer  Nicholas Sparks. An amazing romantic touchy novel which fills your eyes and heart.

2. The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon)

Dan Brown's magical work, this is a book which has many haters and lovers from all part of the globe. It contains many secrets and suspense, once you start reading this book and I am sure this book will occupy your mind space for lifelong. 

3. The Host

This is a tale of hope and despair by the well known author Stephenie Meyer. It gives you a vivid imagination to your day dreams and night thoughts. An alien world of host is crucially structured by the movie maker of this book.

4. The Time Traveler's Wife 

Lovely old fashioned love story for the modern world, the best selling fantasy novel in the current times. I heard many appreciation for this book from my friends. This book fills you with emotions even if you are not romance novel reader, try this book.

5. Life of Pi: A Novel

The winner of Booker Prize, this is the 21st centuries Jungle book, not mentioning for the similarities of the stories but the popularity. I hope you must have watched this movie but you might not know the uniqueness of this book. If you loved this movie, the book will show you the real meaning of it. 

Links might help you:

     

Short Summary of A Passage To India By E. M. Forster

A Passage To India

     

Edward Morgan Forster is a 19th century British writer was born in London. He had visited India thrice and got impressed by the versatility and difficulties in Indian-British collaboration. As a result of this he wrote few books about the Indian society and culture, A Passage To India is one of the best among Forster's works. 

Outline:

Theme : Complexities in Indian-British Friendship
Century : 19th Century
Sections : The Mosque, The Caves, The Temple
Characters: Dr. Aziz, Mr. Fielding, Mrs. Moore, Ms. Adela Quested

The Mosque

The story begins in the town Chandrapore which is frequently visited by Europeans. Dr. Aziz is an Assistant Civil Surgeon in government hospital in the city, who is a widower and unwilling to marry anyone again. As he had met many different people he has a good opinion on Englishmen. In a party he meets Mrs. Moore and Ms. Adela Quested came from England for meeting a person Ronny, who likely to marry Ms. Quested. He meets Mr. Fielding who is a principal of government college and they became fine friends and they planned a trip to Malabar Cave.

The Caves

Mr. Fielding unable to join the trip along with Aziz, Moore and Quested. The three of them went to the Malabar Caves, the cave is a bit embarrassing to new comers. The both young people Aziz and Quested climbs the cave, there she asks many questions to him which irritates Aziz and he takes another path to climb. Before he came down of the cave, Quested left the cave. While Aziz reached the city the police arrested him for sexual harassment towards Quested.  But as an innocent Aziz tried to explain himself to the police but they refused to consider his words, even Fielding suspects his friend. But Mrs. Moore who trusts Aziz and his loyalty and supports him to get released. 

The Temple

This is the last part of the story where Aziz felt insulted left Chandrapore and goes to Mau, a hindu state. After two years Fielding came to the state for official work, coincidentally meets Aziz and they again became nice friends. But Forster states at the end of the story that friendship between an Indian and Englishman in India is impossible until british rules the country.

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