English Literature Made Easy for Students

  The Swan Song by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: Analysis About the Author Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is a world-famous short story writer He has also written full-length plays. Some of them are The Sea Gull, Orchard, Uncle Vany, and the Three Fighters. The main source of his inspiration is his sympathy for the people around him and his closeness to the ‘bad and dreary’ life of Russia. About the Play The play ‘The Swan Song’ exhibits (displays) the author’s keen observation and sensitivity to life. It shows how people feel and think after completing a long cycle of life and their career. There are two characters in this play: the first is a sixty-eight years old ‘Vasil Svietlovidoff’ and the second one is Nikita Ivanich, who is also an old man, a prompter. This play is about the last performance of Vasil Svietlovidoff, who has a long experience of forty-five years of theatre. The title of the play is based on an old belief among the people. It is said that the mute swan (It is ...

  The Child by Prem Chand (Translated into English by Ruth Vanita) About the Author This story was written by Prem Chand, one of the prominent writers of the early twentieth century, who wrote both in Hindi and Urdu. It was beautifully translated by Ruth Vanita in English. About the Story The narrator of this story is an employer, who has a brahmin servant in his house. His name is Gangu. He marries a widow woman, named Gomti. Marrying a widow was not liked in society in those days. But he defied that social evil. Thus the whole story has certain elements that make it very interesting and memorable for the readers. Explanation and Analysis of the Story: In the first paragraph of this story, the narrator describes some peculiar characteristics of his servant named Gangu. The narrator says that his servant ‘Gangu’ considers himself a Brahmin although he is illiterate. The narrator has never seen him performing any religious ritual or going for a sacred bath in the river...

                                    A.    Elements of Theatre 1.The Text/Script/Scenario/Plan: The text or the script: The text or the script is the basic need of theatre. Without text or script, no performance on stage can take place. The dramatist or the playwright writes text. Various characters speak the text according to the roles given to them. 2. Performance/Process:  Performance takes place when the script is given to the characters of the play. The director guides the characters and helps them to take the best performance out of them. The characters are also helped directly or indirectly by several other crew members like junior actors, designers, technicians, dancers, musicians, make-up men, etc. to produce the best performance on the stage. 3. The Audience:  The aud...

  A Melodrama: In a melodrama, a lot of exaggerated emotions and excitement are used to create a lot of melodrama. Dialogues are highly charged with an extravaganza of emotions and sentiments. The dramatist relies on dialogues that are often bombastic or excessively charged with sentiments. To intensify emotions, music is also used in melodramas. In a way, the dramatist plays with the emotions of the audience. Usually, there is a happy ending in a melodrama. Examples: Beverly Hills, The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979), Imitation of Life (1959), The Lady from Musashino (1951), Brief encounter (1945) , etc. are several examples of melodramas.

  Problem Play: Actually, this type of drama was invented in France in the 19 th century by Alexander Dumas, who dealt with sensational and controversial issues in his plays so as to make them more interesting to the audience. The status of the problem play was further raised by a Norwegian dramatist, who introduced some specific problems of societies in his plays. Such types of drama were realistic in nature and tried to expose the social problems prevailing in the society of those times. The master of the modern problem plays or the drama of ideas is Bernard Shaw. Elements of a Problem Play: (i) A problem play deals with ordinary human problems. (ii) These problems are presented with high technical skills. (iii) Action is moved through dialogues (iv) Examples : Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’(1879), Bernard Shaw’s ‘Mrs. Warren’s Profession’ (1902) and  Candida 

  Comedy: A comedy deals with light subject matter that is meant for creating fun and entertainment for the audience. It always has a happy ending. It developed in several forms with the passage of time. Its four major types are: (i) Comedy of Humour (ii) Comedy of Manners (iii) Romantic Comedy (iv) sentimental Comedy (v) Tragi-comedy The dramatist often relies on language by means of puns, light satire, humour and wit, etc. to create laughter. The subject matter deals with the life of common people and their actions and reactions to certain situations in their lives and thus humour is created. Examples: Twelfth Night, a Midsummer Night’s Dream

  1. Drama: It is a literary written form that tells the story of human conflict through dialogues and action that is to be performed by actors. It is a specific mode of fiction, which is to be performed, not narrated. Its origin is not new. In the Middle ages, it was present in its limited form. There are four main types of drama: comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy, and melodrama. The action in a drama moves towards its climax and falls down slowly in a logical way to a reasonable conclusion. Examples: William Shakespeare wrote dramas successfully. Some of them are Hamlet (Tragedy), Macbeth (Tragedy), The Winter’s Tale (Tragi-comedy), The Merchant of Venice (Tragicomedy), and Much Ado About Nothing (Comedy), etc. John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi (A Revenge Tragedy)

    Lesson 2 (Class IX): A Dog Named Duke by William D Ellis Brief Summary of the Lesson Charles Hooper, nicknamed Chuck was a zonal manager in a company of chemicals.  He is the owner of Duke, a Doberman dog. One day, Chuck met with an accident. He was taken to a hospital where he stayed for about two months. His left side was paralysed. After that, he was sent home and put in a wheelchair. His dog, Duke remained sitting beside him the whole time. Duke was very sensible and came to know about the difficulty of his master. It was difficult for Charles Hooper to resume his work in the company in that condition. So he became depressed. His wife was much worried about him. She had to go to her office. During the whole day, he was alone with his dog Duke. After some days, Chuck started moving with the help of his dog. They continued this practice for more time. At last, the day came when Chuck improved considerably with the dog’s help. He started going to his company and ...