English Notes

The Gardener - Summary Introduction P Lankesh is an Indian writer who has written in Kannada language. His story “The Gardener” is a narrative of human competition that turns into rivalry as a result of greed. The writer has adopted the frame narrative style: the writer sets the tone while the character, Tammanna narrates the main story. It's a story within a story. Theme / Summary The author conceived this story in a flash when he met an old man accidently at a coconut farm. The old man takes up work on a coconut farm near Chennarayapatna after walking several hundreds of miles. He was a labourer, overseer and philosopher, all rolled into one. This well-versed farmhand was very useful whose work made the income from the garden improve dramatically. While he worked hard, the owner became lethargic and changed his lifestyle. He became crowded with colourful events in the company of new friends. When the landlady was in a fix, the gardener narrated a story to make her understand the...

When You Are Old - Summary Introduction William Butler Yeats is an Irish poet and one of the greatest poets in the English Language in the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923. He is one among the great love poets of the world. Summary/ Theme ''When You Are Old'' is a love poem addressed to the poet’s beloved who was the most beautiful young lady of his time. She is believed to be the inspiration behind this poem. The tone of the poem is one of melancholy. W.B. Yeats imagines her future years and his true love in future. He repents over her divergent attitude who fails to understand his spiritual love. The poet begins the first stanza addressing her to imagine herself to be in her old age. The lady then will be very old approaching her peaceful years. When she opens the book of poems penned by the poet to read slowly, she will be taken back in time to recollect her past when she had innocent looks in her eyes and sadness hidden in her...

A Sunny Morning Summary Introduction “A Sunny Morning” is a one act play by Serafin and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero, brothers and celebrated Spanish playwrights of the early twentieth Century. The story is centred on two old lovers now in their 70s meeting at a park and trying to recall their romantic past. The man is Don Gonzalo and the lady is Dona Laura. Meeting of Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura - Background - Setting The Autumn season in the background presents the baldness of life coinciding with the entry of two key characters in the play Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura who have also lost their prime youth and attraction. They meet at the park as strangers. Don Gonzalo annoys Dona Laura as he scares away the birds she was feeding. Laura picks up verbal combat attacking him with a barrage of words. He retorts though, gives up soon and offers her a pinch of snuff and reconciles with her. Flashback - The past When Don Gonzalo reads from Campoamor’s ‘Twenty years pass. He returns’, both are t...

Everything I Need to Know - Vandana Shiva Introduction Vandana Shiva is an internationally renowned activist for biodiversity and against corporate globalization. In the essay “Everything I Need To Know” she tells the readers about her early lessons of environmentalism. She also tells us how she learnt all the major ideals of a good life from the forests such as diversity, freedom and co-existence. Summary Vandana Shiva’s ecological journey started in the forests of the Himalaya. Her involvement in the contemporary ecology movement began with “Chipko”. Chipko Movement It was a nonviolent response to the large-scale deforestation in the Himalaya region. In the 1970s peasant women in the Garhwal, Himalaya had come out in defence of the forests. Vandana Shiva noticed a steady loss of forests in this region. She decided to become a volunteer for the movement. Biodiversity - Navdanya Farm / Navdanya Movement The Chipko Movement taught Vandana Shiva about biodiversity. She realized the impor...

On Children Introduction Kahlil Gibran is a Lebanese-American poet who brings out the high philosophy of life in his simple and beautiful poetic essays. His “On Children” is a critique of the usual expectations of parents about their children. Through this poem he offers to guide parents on the essence of parenting with love much against the usual ways. Summary / Theme In this poem, a young mother approaches the Prophet to know about his wisdom on children. He captures the attention in his shocking declaration, “Your children are not your children”. He beautifully brings up the concept of Life’s creations and its aspirations. Contrary to the accepted notion of parents making claims about their children, the prophet says that they are just biological means in creation and the children do not belong to them. Children live with their parents but they do not belong to them. Parents may give their love to their children and they should never force their ideas on their children. Children ha...

Too Dear Summary A short Introduction Too Dear! is a story written by Count Leo Tolstoy, a famous Russian writer, master of realistic fiction and is widely considered one of the world’s greatest novelists. Summary The king of Monaco ruled a tiny kingdom with a small population of about seven thousand. In that kingdom he was a real kinglet. He had a palace, courtiers, ministers, a bishop, generals and an army too. However, he had very limited sources of income to run his kingdom: a tax on tobacco, wine and spirits and a poll-tax. These sources were insufficient. So, he found a new source of special income; a gaming house where people played roulette. Whether they would win or lose, the Prince gained by it. He knew that gambling was a dirty business. But, he had to resort to it for the sustenance of his kingdom. Once a man commits a murder. The king had never had to deal with the murder. The judges tried the case and awarded the death sentence to the criminal. However, the King run...

Romeo and Juliet - A summary William Shakespeare is an English playwright and poet, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English Language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is well-known to the world through his timeless characters that are universal in their appeal. The themes that he deals with also touch human lives across the globe. The extracts from William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet “express the implicit feelings of Romeo and Juliet for each other. These verses are known for their rich imagery laced with powerful emotions. Romeo's soliloquy Romeo, though uninvited, makes his presence at the Grand Supper hosted by Old Lord Capulet, just to meet Rosline. He finds Juliet so attractive on the dance floor that he is overwhelmed with strong emotions. He exclaims that her beauty teaches the torches to burn bright. He makes two lovely comparisons: Juliet’s beauty is compared to that of a jewel that shines bright in an Ethiope’s ear which is divine and very ...