The Puritan Experiment in government did not survive for too long after Cromwell’s death in 1658 and in May 1660 Charles II was reinstated to the throne of England. Satirical poetry flourished during this phrase and the main exponent of this form was John Dryden (1631-1700). His great political satires include Absalom and Achitophel, The Medal, and Mac Flecknoe, a literary satire was born of politics. Somewhat lacking in structure and overweight with prolonged “scolding”, these pieces are all magnificent in their vigorous dignity, their boisterous vituperation, and their incisive satirical portraiture.

After the excitement of the Popish Pot (1678) there had been repeated attempt to force a bill through Parliament excluding Catholics (and thus their legitimate heir, Duke of York) from the throne of England. The villain in these attempts was the Whig leader, Earl of Shaftesbury, who in the summer of 1681 was under arrest charged with high treason. At the suggestion of the King , Absalom and Achitophel was written and its publication timed to fall just a week before Shaftesbury’s fruitless arraignment. This poem makes use of Biblical story to indicate how Achitophel (Shaftesbury) is tempting to rebellion Absalom (The Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of Charles II and the Whig candidate to succeed his father).

Four months after this piece Dryden published The Medal (March,1682), another satire on Shaftesbury, whose followers upon his release from the charge of treason had cast a commemorative medal in honour of his triumph. The poem, less brilliant than its predecessor, gains force from being centered on a single person. It was answered two months after its appearance by a gossipy retort, The Medal of John Bayes, probably from the pen of Thomas Shadwell. In turn, a few months later, Dryden’s opinions concerning Shadwell were published twice; first in Mac Flecknoe, apparently written in 1678, and secondly, in passages inserted by Dryden in Nahum Tate’s Second Part of Absalom and Achitophel. In his treatment of Shadwell, Dryden drops at times his heroics and becomes roundly but still incisively abusive. Mac Flecknoe, one of Dryden’s most influential poems, first appeared anonymously, but was acknowledged by Dryden in 1693. About 1678, upon the decease of a secular priest, Richard Flecknoe, known as a bad versifier, it had occurred to Dryden to nominate Shadwell successor to the throne of Nonsense. Flecknoe, who chooses Shadwell to succeed him as the perfect nadir of genius. Satire on dullness of authors here reaches that high of plateau of caustic and relentless phrasing, the other boundary of which might be Pope’s Dunciad.

One of the most eminent of the lesser poets of the time was Samuel Butler. His major work Hudibras was a satirical attack on Puritans. The purpose of the poem is satirical and the action is simply a loose thread upon which arguments, reflections, and caustic portraits are strung. In the poem Butler attacks not only Puritanism but also notions of chivalry and heroism. Hudibras is episodic at times, but its satirical spirit comes through nevertheless. his favourite classical satire was Juvenal; but he owed fully as much in theme and method to such moderns as Rabelais, Cervantes and Scarron.

Butler’s intellectual quality, if not his full genius, is also seen in his other works which largely lack the grotesqueness of Hudibras. The Elephant in the Moon, a facetious satire on Sir Paul Neale, and the Satire on the Royal Society both show his unsympathetic attitude towards learning.

Butler, it is true had no worthy avowed disciple. Tom D’Urfey, Ned Ward, Tom Brown, John Oldham that Restoration verse satire enjoyed some more success. He was the foremost and most furious of those who fought on the side of Titus Oates and the Whigs. His A Satyr Against Vertue (1679) and Satyrs upon the Jesuits (1681) are notable examples of his talent. Oldham greatly valued personal freedom and in his satire Addressed to a Friend that is about to Leave the University and Come Abroad in the World, he affirms his love for freedom through the inserted fable of the wolf who loved freedom but would not endure the indignity of collar and chain put upon the civilized and well-fed Towzer. It is furious sweep of Oldham’s satiric rage that is most impressive, but this fable, and other passages that might seem autobiographical, have charm that is more amiable.

In the field of satirists one need also to look at the last of the cavalier breed like Rochester, Sedley, Dorset, and apart from this group at Charles Cotton. Of these the most prominent was the Earl of Rochester who died quite young as a result of his mad debaucheries, which took a toll on his health. His Satyr Against Mankind (1675) and the lines Upon Nothing are excellent satirical poems. His most important piece of literary satire in his Allusion to Horace’s 10th Satyr of the First Book. It is simply an episode in the running battle his lordship was carrying on with many poets, from Dryden to the negligible Sir Carr Scrope. His A Letter from Artemisa in the Town to Cloe in the Country is an excellent poem depicting the practices of the contemporary society.

Sir Charles Sedley, was an author of some satirical poems, but he was more known for his songs. Charles Sackville wrote relatively few satirical poems but his several other poems are tinged with satire. His lines on The British Princes of Edward Howard were profusely abusive and his stanzas On the Countess of Dorchester are strong but unpleasant in their epigrammatic sting.

The last of these cavalier lyrists to achieve a reputation as such was Charles Cotton. In his won lifetime his moderate fame was based on his burlesques, especially Scarronides. Apart from these some of the satirical songs of the period generally attacking the Puritans might also be taken with the ambit of satirical poetry of the period.

Beelzebub in Paradise Lost Book I, is the first mate of Satan. He is Satan’s “bold compeer” and next to him “in power, and next in crime.” There are few legends in The Bible associated with Beelzebub, but, Milton seems to portray him in Paradise Lost rather as an allegorization invented by St. Jerome, in which Beelzebub is the “lord of the flies”, flies being a symbol of pertinacity. Beelzebub never ceases the human race in every way. He, however lacks Satan’s “indomitable courage” in Book I. He would have surrendered unconditionally to God had not Satan cheered up his failing spirits by his fiery eloquence. Beelzebub’s first speech, following immediately that of Satan, is in marked contrast to his leader. He does not talk about a never-ending war against God but rues the “dire event” that had lost him, and the other fallen angels, “Heaven”. He fears that the future might hold even greater punishment and humiliation for them as, having lost the war, they are now slaves to God by the “right of war”. It is now in God’s hand to humiliate them as he wishes; he might torture them as and when he pleases or he might use them “to do his errands in the gloomy deep.” He accepts Satan’s argument that being immortal, they can hope for their strength to return but laments that it can be of little use against “almighty” God. He rather fears that being eternal they would only be forced to “undergo eternal punishment”.

This is an especially critical moment in the play as Satan’s plan of continuing “eternal war” can only be feasible if he can rouse his army and if he cannot rouse Beelzebub, his closest comrade, there is little hope of doing so. He, therefore, is quick to point out to Beelzebub, “Fall’n Cherub, to be weak is miserable”. Like an able general he points out God’s “minister of vengeance and pursuit” no longer torment them and hence they should not let “slip th’ occasion”. He asks Beelzebub to follow him to the “yon deary plain, forlorn and wild”. This desolate plain is where they would reassemble and plan their future course of action. It is a burning testimony to Satan’s leadership qualities that the next time we meet Beelzebub, he is a far cry from the diffident fallen angel earlier seen. It is he who suggests that Satan should call upon his fallen angels and is utterly confident that they would respond to his “voice, their liveliest pledge/ Of hope in fears and dangers…” He is now full of vigour and confident that the fallen angels, after one call from Satan, “will soon resume/ New courage and revive…” His judicious nature is evident in his astute understanding of the situation. The fallen angels in Book I indeed react exactly in the manner he had predicted. It is quite clear that his advice would be of great use to Satan in his battle against God.

Another major fallen angel who Milton singles out for mention in Book I is Mammon. He is greed personified as even during his stay in heaven he could never moved his eyes from the “gold” pavements of Heaven. This made him the “least erected spirit that fell”. The word “Mammon”, meaning riches, or the greed for the riches that takes man away from God appears in Matthew 6.24: “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon” at the same time. He is considered by angelologists to be the prince of the lowest order of angels. He is entrusted by Satan in Book I to collect the necessary metal for building “Pandemonium”, Satan’s palace in Hell. He performs his duty with perfection and within hours rips open the bowel of mother earth to collect enough gold for building the palace. Milton indicates that it is the spirit of Mammon that prompts men to dug Mother Earth and excavate gold, a metal responsible for much human misery. It is he who fuels our desire for worldly riches that inevitably takes us away from the divine path.

Mulciber is one of the major fallen angels in Satan’s horde. There are many legends surrounding his fall, but Milton believes he fell along with Satan and his crew. The Italians erroneously believe that Jupiter hurled him out of heaven and fell into the Isle of Lemnos, but Milton considers him to be a part of the “horrid crew” that God punished along with Satan. He is reputed to have built many palaces in Heaven and he proves his expertise once again by giving shape to the grand palace called Pandemonium. His name literally means “one who refines ore by melting it and pouring it into mould” is also associated with Vulcan, a Roman fire God, or God of Smiths.

Among the large catalogue of angels that Milton considers as the major warriors in Satan’s camp, Moloch stands supreme. The name literally means “king” and he is worshipped in the form of a huge brass idol with the head of a calf and outstretched hands. There is a large hollow in his idol’s stomach where burns a continuous fire into which misguided worshippers threw live children to satisfy his eternal hunger. The priests play loud music during such ceremonies to drown the cry of the dying children. He is by far the most horrid of Satan’s companions and the very valley where he is worshipped Gehenna, came to stand for a synonym for Hell. He was successful in convincing the aged Solomon to build a temple for him on the “opprobrious hill”. The Egyptian name for the planet Mars, often associated with war and bloodshed is Moloch and Milton might have known of this when he conceived Moloch as warlike.

The list of horrid angels who supported and fell with Satan highlights the evil that they wish to perpetuate. Their sole delight, like their leader is to “do ill”. Beelzebub and the rest give an epic grandeur to Milton’s work by providing a truly frightening picture of Satan’s army.

In the serious plays produced shortly after the Restoration there is an artificial declamatory elevation which, joined with bustling action and elaborate spectacle, for some years dazzled audiences. Later this “heroic” type of play yielded to dramas of pathos and sentimentality. Sir William Davenant was a major influence behind the emergence of heroic play, even though Dryden himself liked writing such plays. Dryden, in fact, is not only the chief playwright in this type but also the principal contemporary commentator on it. In his essay Of Heroic Plays, prefixed to The Conquest of Granada(1672), he analyzes and defends the type; in the prefaces to All for Love(1678) and The Spanish Friar(1681) he recants. Davenant he regarded as the father of the type, though he recognized it as a development both of the Elizabethan tradition and of “Corneille and some French poets”. He also recognized the influence of Ariosto and the heroic poem, observing that “an heroic play ought to be an imitation, in little, of an heroic poem; and, consequently, that Love and Valour ought to be subject of it.”

Roger Boyle, Earl of Orrery, who among the first writers of heroic tragedy exercised considerable influence, took up this habit, reintroduced from France and favoured by Charles II. He used English materials in two historical plays. Henry V(1664) and The Black Prince(1667), but cast them in the form of French tragedy and used the popular device of antithetical emotions to tear the souls of his persons between the conflicting duties due to a mistress and to a mistress and to a friend or between love and filial duty. In The General (1664) the hero is torn between love and honour, while the emotional conflicts of Mustapha(1665) are extremely complex. Orrey’s language was marked by a strong but artificial style.

Dryden’s The Indian Queen, written in collaboration with Sir Robert Howard, hit the English stage January 1664, and for more than a decade thereafter Dryden remained as the master-author of heroic plays. In The Indian Queen love and valour, the prescribed motives are the conflicting forces. The great success of this play induced Dryden to produce a sequel next year entitled The Indian Emperor. After a gap of four years Dryden returned to heroic plays with Tyrannick Love or, The Royal Martyr in 1699. The plot introduces us to the tyrant Maximin as a protagonist. There is no villainess; and St. Catherine of Alexandria (as “captive queen”) introduces an element of Christian apologetics, later more significant in Dryden’s nondramatic poetry.

Thrilling as the final rants of Maximin were, they less varied and effective than the poetical rhetoric of Dryden’s most elaborate heroic play, The Conquest of Granada, a play in two parts (1670,1671) filling ten highly complicated acts. The moral instruction seems to be that a nation divided against itself, as were the Moors in Granada, is easy prey armies led by an affective general such as Almanzor, who is Dryden’s loudest realization of a full-blown hero. The character of Almanzor and the poetry in which it is expressed are most remarkable. It is true that Almanzor is frequently absurd, yet his actions always have a basis in reason and are at the same time thoroughly romantic. In 1675 Dryden produced the last of his rimed heroic plays Aureng-Zebe. The stock elements of earlier heroic comedies are to be found in this also.

Even in his later tragedies, Dryden could not completely escape from the mould of heroic plays. His All for Love(1677) and Troilus and Cressida(1679) both have characters whose humanity is artificialized in heroic terms. Dryden’s last plays, Cleomenes(1692) and Love Triumphant(1694) did not achieve much success.

Elkanah Settle was another playwright to achieve moderate success with heroic plays. His The Empress of Morocco(1673), was quite popular and was often compared with Dryden’s plays. The play is hardly more absurd than some of Dryden’s, but its plotting, which concerns the successful intrigues of a wicked empress and her lover against her son, is less well knit lay in its highly spectacular scenic effects.

The chief tragic writers of the period were Lee, Otway, and Southerne. John Banks, with seven or eight tragedies, and Crowne, with eleven, are definitely inferior to these three. All these men are influenced by the heroic play, by Elizabethan tragedy (especially by the “tragedy of blood”), and by the French tradition formulated from Aristotle and Seneca in the early part of the seventeenth century. However, all of the marked a gradual movement away from heroics towards sentimental pathos.

The Puritan experiment in government did not long survive and after Cromwell’s death in 1658, and in May 1660 Charles II was restored to the throne of English. The reaction against Puritan manners and morals was inevitable. It gained force from the fact that many of the returned Cavaliers had spent their exile in France and become expert in French wit and French gallantry, and also because Charles II himself encouraged an atmosphere of hedonistic liveliness at Court. Charles set the tone for the Court Wits, who in turn set the tone for the comic plays of the period. Restoration comedy, therefore, represented the stylization of a deliberately cultivated upper-class ethos.

The first accomplished Restoration comedy of Manners was Sir George Etherege. His first play, The Comical Revenge, or Love in Tub, was performed in 1664. The comic plot of the play provided enough opportunity to the author to showcase his remarkable capacity in handling the wit-combats and shows of sophistication that the age loved. His next play, She Would if She Could(1668), explores the usual Restoration battle between male and female prudence with admirable skill. The tone, though sarcastic, is never brutal and the conclusion establishes a satisfactory balance between wit and virtue. The Man of Mode, or, Sir Fopling Flutter(1676) was his last and most brilliant comedy. The play is more purely amoral and the treatment of Dorimant, the hero, of his various women would be brutal if related to any other world than one in which the relation between the sexes was purely a matter of finding the between lust and self-interest.

William Wycherley produced hid four comedies between 1671 and 1676, of which the last two, The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer, were by far the most interesting. Unlike Etherege, his plays clearly display that he never could completely accept the Restoration standards. The Plain Dealer conveys a general outrage about human nature and society as a whole. The contrast between public pretension and private reality is treated in Wycherley with much humour and wit. The real interest of the plot lies in the exposure of Olivia, who turns out to be a selfish and cruel human being under her prudish exterior. The Country Wife is a more coherent and polished play. The play’s name derives from the effort of Mr. Pinchwife to keep his country wife away from the gallants of the town. The jealous husband is of course ridiculed and gulled, but this does not make the behaviour of his wife in any degree acceptable. She starts of being a simpleton and ends up becoming a nasty animal.

John Dryden produced some comedy of manners during the period, but his real reputation was established in other forms of literature. Dryden’s The Wild Gallant, The Rival Ladies, Secret Love, and Sir Martin Mar-all have features of Restoration Comedy of Manners but not the poise or beauty of the best of Etherege or Congreve. His best contribution to the genre is Marriage a la Mode (1672), where the main plot humourously explores the Restoration explores the Restoration attitude to sex, marriage and honour.

The real master of the form, according to Dryden himself, was Congreve. Not all Congreve’s comedies are, however, in the true Restoration mode. Both The Old Bachelor (1693) and Love for Love (1695) combined farce, satire and Johnsonian humour along with the Restoration spirit in its delineation. The scene in Love for Love, where Mr. Tattle teaches Prue, the country girl, the importance of saying one thing and doing another illustrates the contrast between public relation and private behaviour that forms the core of many Restoration wit-combats.

The Way of the World (1700) was Congreve’s last and finest comedy. The plot contains many of the stock devices of Restoration comedy- the witty pair of lovers, the amorous widow, the would-be-wit, intrigues and adulteries- the tone is quite different from that of Etherege or Wycherley. It is half amused, half sad; the comic atmosphere is pervaded with the realization of the ironies and ambiguities of life. The complexity of human relationships, generally glossed over in Restoration comedy, is here presented in insightful detail.

The comedies of Sir John Vanbrugh and George Farquhar reflect a movement away from the general spirit of Restoration comedy. Restoration comedy proper is thus, thought to begin with Etherege and reach its high- point with Congreve. Jeremy Collier’s Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (1698) showed the changing demands of the society and although it did not immediately kill comedy of Manners, it definitely reflected a changing public attitude. Colley Cibber was already developing a more sentimental bourgeois comedy in 1690s and the heyday of the ideal social world of the Court Wits of the reign of Charles II was all but over.

In the development of the lyric poetry during the Elizabethan Age, the sonnet form emerged and developed to its maturity. The etymological history of the word “sonnet” draws us back to the Italian word “sonneto”, which means “a little sound”. Sonnet, a subspecies of the lyric genre, is originally a small poem that is sung to music. it expresses through rhythmic melody a single emotion or idea and differs from other lyric forms by its delicate manner and strict treatment. The great sonneteers of the Elizabethan era were Sir Thomas Wyatt, Earl of Surrey, Edmund Spenser, Philip Sydney, Michael Drayton, Samuel Daniel and William Shakespeare.

Sir Thomas Wyatt is the innovator of sonnet writer in English Literature. His thirty one sonnets are noteworthy. They appeared in “Tottel’s Miscellany” published in 1577. Ten of these sonnets were the translation from Petrarch. Apart from couplet ending, which Wyatt introduced, it was a Petrarchan model. Though following Petrarch’s models closely, he remains pioneer in the realm of English Literature. Sir Thomas Wyatt was successfully followed by his contemporary and follower Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. His poems appears along with Wyatt in “Tottel’s Miscellany”. they are chiefly lyrical and including a few sonnet, the first of their kind composed in English or Shakespearian mode.

The next remarkable name among the English Sonneteer is Sir Philip Sydney. He was successful in more than one era of literature. In the development of English sonnet his finest achievement was his “Astrophel and Stella” which contains series of 108 sonnets about his own frustrated love for Lady Penelope Rich, daughter of the Earl of Essex. Like Wyatt his sonnets owe much to Petrarch and Ronsard in tone and style places Sydney as the greatest Elizabethan sonneteer except Shakespeare.

Drayton, another sonneteer of the Elizabethan age may claim some attention. He reached his highest level of poetic feeling and expression in “Idea” a sonnet sequence. It is not know if hid “Idea” represents one woman or several or more.

Samuel Daniel is a sonneteer of great repute. his poems including sonnet series called Delia(1592) written in conventional manner. His style and versification are pure and correct; some of his best sonnet have occasionally real jewels of expression and carry on the great tradition of Sydney, Spenser and Shakespeare.

Edmund Spenser a great name in Elizabethan poetry, also attempted sonnets. His sonnet sequence ‘Amoretti’ a collection of 88 Petrarchan sonnets celebrating the progress of his love. These were addressed to Elizabeth Boyle who became his life. The sonnets are unique in their purity of passion. His sonnets are exquisitely musical and lofty in feeling and thoughts. Majority of the sonnets are inspired by platonic idealism there quatrains are linked by an artistic arrangement of rhyme are following by a couplet. The result is a harmonious whole.

Shakespeare is great name in English sonnet and theatre. One hundred and fifty four sonnets of him stand out as the specimen of his art. The sonnets are insuperable for their loftiness. Picture sequence, profundity, and melody one hundred and twenty six only address to a young man of rather uncertain identity. Twenty six of his sonnets are addressed to an unknown dark lady and the remaining two are addressed to cupid, the God of love. Shakespearean sonnets are somewhat different from Elizabethan era. His sonnets are not merely about love but masculine friendship also. They are not realistic and does not have the sentimental adoration of the lady love. The lady in his sonnets is dark, not beautiful; frail and cruel, not consonant and kind. The fourteen lines of Shakespearean sonnet are divided into four parts three quatrains and a concluding couplet. The quatrains say the subject and the couplet sums it up. His imagery and thought are quite extraordinary for the era he belonged to.

“To Autumn” is the final work in a group of poems known as Keats’ “1819 odes”. He composed “To Autumn” after a walk near Winchester one autumnal evening. This ode describes, in its three stanzas, three different aspects of the season: its fruitfulness, its labour and its ultimate decline. Through the stanzas there is a progression from early autumn to mid autumn and then to the heralding of winter. parallel to this, the poem depicts the day turning from morning to afternoon and into dusk. These progressions are joined with a shift from the tactile sense to that of sight and then of sound, creating a three part symmetry which is missing in Keats’ other odes.

Autumn is represented metaphorically as one who conspires, who ripens fruit, who harvests, who makes music. The first stanza represents Autumn as involved with the promotion of natural processes, growth and ultimate maturation, two forces in opposition in nature, but together creating the impression that the season will not end. In this stanza the fruits are still ripening and the buds still opening in the warm weather suggested by the imagery of growth and gentle motion: swelling, blending and plumping.

In the second stanza Autumn is personified as a harvester, to be seen by the viewer in various guises performing labouring tasks essential to the provision of food. Autumn is not depicted as actually harvesting but as seated, resting or watching. The personification of autumn can be seen also as an exhausted labourer and near the end of the stanza, as a gleaner. The progression through the day is revealed in actions that are all suggestive of the drowsiness of afternoon: the harvested grain is being winnowed; the harvester is asleep or returning home, the last drops issue from the cider press.

The last stanza contrasts Autumn’s sounds with those of Spring. The sounds that are presented are not only those of autumn but essentially the gentle sounds of the evening. Gnats wail and lambs bleat in the dusk. As night approaches within the final moments of the song, death is slowly approaching alongside of the end of the year. the full grown lambs, like the grapes, gourds and the hazel nuts will be harvested for the winter. the twittering swallows gather for departure, leaving the fields bare. The whistling red-breast and the chirping cricket are the common sounds of winter. The references to Spring, the growing lambs and the migrating swallows remind the reader that the seasons area cycle widening to the scope of this stanza from a single season to life in general.

According to Helen Vendler, ” To Autumn” may be seen as a allegory of artistic creation. As the farmer processes the fruits of the soil into what sustains the human body, so the artist processes the experience of life into a symbolic structure that may sustain the human spirit. This process involves an element of self sacrifice by the artist, analogous to the living grains being sacrificed for human consumption. In “To Autumn”, as a result of this process, the “rhythms” of the harvesting “artist-goddess” “permeate the whole world until all visual, tactile, and kinetic presence is transubstantiated into Apollonian music for the ear” the sounds of the poem itself. What makes “To Autumn” beautiful is that it brings an engagement with that connection out of the realm of mythology and fantasy and into the everyday world. Keats has learned that an acceptance of mortality is not destructive to an appreciation of beauty and has gleaned wisdom by accepting the passage of time.

The Anglo-Saxon invaders, who came to Britain in the latter part of the 5th century A.D and eventually established their kingdoms there, were the founders of what we can properly call English culture and English Literature, Beowulf holds a special position in Anglo-Saxon literature- indeed, in older Germanic literature as a whole- because it is the only complete extant epic of its kind in an ancient Germanic language.

Beowulf falls into two main parts. The first deals with the visit of Beowulf to the court of King Hrothgar of Denmark to kill a monster named Grendel. He fights with and mortally wounds Grendel in Herot, and when Grendel’s mother comes to take revenge for the death of her son he follows her to the underground water home and slays her too. The second part takes place fifty years later, when Beowulf has long been the king of Geats. A dragon, guarding a hoard of treasure has been disturbed and Beowulf to save his country from the wrath of the dragon decides to fight the dragon. He succeeds in slaying the dragon but ends up being mortally injured. The poem ends with an account of Beowulf’s funeral: hid body is burned on an elaborate pyre amid the lamentations of his warriors.

Beowulf is a heroic poem, celebrating the exploits of a great warrior whose character and actions are held up as a model of aristocratic value. It reflects the ideals of that state of society we call the Heroic Age and its resemblance to the Odyssey in this respect has often been noted. The grave courtesy with which men of rank are received and dismissed the generosity of rulers and the loyalty of retainers, the thirst for fame through the achievement of deeds of courage and endurance, the solemn boasting of warriors before and after performance the interest in genealogies and pride in a noble heredity are all traditional realities of heroic poetry that are found prominently in Beowulf.

Two fragments makes up the remainder of older Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry. The first is a fragment of fifty line popularly known as The Fight at Finnsburh, and describes the attack on Hnaef’s hall by the followers of Finn, king of the North Frisians. The second fragment is the Waldhere, which tells of the exploits of Walter of Aquitaine.

Toward the end of the Anglo-Saxon period the old heroic note re-emerges finely in two poems dealing with contemporary history. The Battle of Brunanburh celebrates the victory of Athelstan of Wessex and Eadmund, his brother, against the combined forces of Olaf, the Norseman, Constantine, King of Scots, and the Britons of Strathclyde. the Battle of Maldon deals in the older epic manner with one of the many clashes between English and Danes that resulted from the latter’s attacks on England. It is the story of a disastrous English defeat. The poem contains nine speeches, mostly of exhortation and encouragement to the English forces, delivered by seven different speakers. the poem singles out for praise individual English warriors, talks about the passionate loyalty of retainers to their chief and eulogizes the brave struggle of the English warriors against insurmountable odds. The Old English heroic poetry provides a glimpse of virtues that were considered important. It shows that though the Christian elements had started to penetrate the literary ethos, qualities like heroism and courage were still held at a very high esteem. The movement of the focus of heroic poetry towards the spirit of nationalism, proclaiming the greatness of England as a nation marks the development of national identity among the English people.

Sonnet No. 130 is an unconventional sonnet which belongs to Shakespeare’s Dark Lady series, and no doubt, it is extraordinary and differs largely in conception, thought and approach from other conventional or traditional Elizabethan sonnets which were mostly written on the theme of human love.

Sonnet 130 is quite original and exceptional. The poet have expressed his irresistible attachment to his mistress who does not possess any physical charm like other ladyloves. Here the poet refers to some elements of feminine beauty a fair complexion, lustrous eyes, deep red lips, snow white breasts, rosy cheeks, a pleasant voice, a sweet breathe and a goddess like movement; these are taken normally as essential to feminine beauty and charm. But the poet’s mistress is lacking in all these requirements. She has nothing to attract that would attract or seduce other male lovers, yet the poet loves her much more than others knowing too well whatever flaw she possess.

This kind of theme is very rare in Elizabethan love poetry and stands out differently from the common theme of love. There is no idealistic yearning for one who is all beauty and grace. The sonnet is thus a satire on the Petrarchan praise of the charms of the beloved. It was a practice of the Elizabethan poets to compare the hairs of the beloved to the wires, usually golden wires which implies a contrast with black wires. It refers to extravagant hair style adopted by fashionable ladies of that time: “What guile is this…/ She doth attire under a net of gold…” (Spenser’s Amoretti:37)

The black complexion of the poet’s beloved has greater sensory pleasure. The word “reek” has an unpleasant suggestion; it suggests nasty smell . it is not a natural word as some commentators believe. This may be taken as a parody of romantic description: “From her sweet breathe their sweet smells do smell” (Constable’s Diana). The poet admits that he has never seen a goddess go as painted by the other Elizabethan love poets. His beloved is an ordinary woman who walks on the earth. His mistress is a down to earth woman, not the sort of idealized fiction imagined by other love poets. So the poet writes: ” I think my love as rare/ As any she belied with false compare”.

In Shakespeare there is an exploration of new possibilities; love has been liberated from its nominal ” Two loves I have of comfort and despair” gives the key to the whole sequence. First his “guiding star of virtuous love” is not Laura, nor a Beatrice but a young man, his friend. Secondly, he loves a lady who is not traditionally beautiful. Shakespeare suggests the contrast between appearance and reality. The poet argues that the lady’s black appearance cannot be counted beautiful but of course blackness has age old associations with evil but like most women her appearance owes nothing to art and therefore gives her a beauty of integrity and purity of character.

The Sonnet 130 marks a genuine excellence of literary art. The analogies drawn by the poet are precise, but quite clear and the subtle touch of wit marks them particularly impressive. Some expressions, such as “breasts are dun”, “roses damask’d”, “red and white” and so on are somewhat uncommon, but the sonnet presents a realistic tone and no idealistic presentation of his mistress. There is a mixture of satire and seriousness in the enumeration of the items of beauty. The final couplet gives a complimentary twist to the negative impact of the quatrains.

John Milton’s Satan, by common consent is one of the greatest artistic creation in any language. He is the most heroic and magnificent character ever portrayed. There has been a great controversy on the ambiguity of his character, yet it is an absolute truth that his character engages the reader’s attention and excites his admiration also. He is the main character of Milton’s epic. From the beginning of the epic poetry till the very end Satan’s character degenerates. This degeneration gives real epic quality to Paradise Lost and also to Satan himself.

Satan’s speeches reveal pure Miltonic lyricism. his opening speech to Beelzebub is a magnificent set piece. it reveals the character of Satan-a defiant rebel and a great leader. He encourages and sympathizes with bold words and sentiments. Satan first takes pity on the change in his friend. then he refers to their friendship of the hazardous enterprise in heaven and their present misery. He is ashamed to admit the might of God but, he will not allow it to change his mind. He has nothing but contempt for God who insulted his merits. It is a sense of injured merit that makes him rage war against the tyrant of heaven. As for the battle, it has been an equal match and the issue uncertain. It is not their want for acknowledgement of their merit but God’s new secret weapon that made God victorious in the war. There is an irony through Satan’s speech which continually reduces his stature even when apparently it seems to be building it up. Satan’s historical ‘high disdain’ and ‘sense of injured merit’ have overtones of the hedicrous. It seems weak and childish.

A single victory does not permanently ensure God’s victory. For the present, they may have lost the battle, but that does not mean they have lost everything, ” What though field be lost? … And what is the else not to be overcome”. He, who failed to conquer these things cannot be called to be a victor at all. Defeat is complete only when the spirit and the will too are subjugated. The bow down before God is worse than defeat. So, he is determined to rage eternal war by force or guile.

Satan’s question “What though the field be lost?” is an exposure of himself and his inability to act in any other way other than what he enumerates. Though the speech is one of high rhetorics there is barrenness no suggestion no action at all except to brood on revenge and hate. Revenge will be eternally “studied” and have sustained yet it is so grandly expressed that we are thrilled by the implied suggestion to wage ceaseless battle against hopeless odds, this appears as admirable.

In Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth the dramatist uses darkness imagery for the three purposes in order to create atmosphere, to aroused emotions of the audience and to contribute to the major theme of the play. the darkness imagery in Macbeth contributes to its ominous atmosphere.

In the beginning of the play the three witches are talking and the first witch says “When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lighting or in rain?” This is the perfect example of darkness imagery because the crushing thunder, lightning and rain reminds us of the evil and ominous things. Later on the sergeant is talking with King Duncan and Malcolm when he states “Ship wrecking storms and direful thunders break” it also contributes to the ominous atmosphere of the play. Finally, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are talking in the scene just before the murder of Banquo and Macbeth quotes, “Light thickens, and the crow makes wing to the rooky wood Good things of the day begin to droop and drowse, while night’s black agents to their preys do rouse” It implies that the day is turning into night, all the good things are going to sleep and the evil creatures are coming out. Since, the imageries creates an ominous atmosphere it would then load to the second dramatic purpose to arouse the emotions of the audience. It enables people to create a mental picture of what they are regarding.

While having a conversation with Duncan Macbeth says aside “Stars hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires” When words like dark and desires are put in the context it creates many horrible mental pictures about murders and fights which arouses people’s emotions. As well as arousing the emotions of the audience darkness imagery works well in characterizing. Through the use of darkness imagery the dramatist was able to characterize Macbeth as perceived in the next quote where Macduff and Malcolm are talking and Macduff says, “Not in the legions of horrid hell can come a devil more damn’d in evils, to top Macbeth”. It is understood that Macduff views Macbeth as a man even further corrupt that any devil and would consequently characterize him as evil

Lastly, Malcolm is speaking with Macduff and says how he will reveal his real evil self and states, “When they shall be open’d black Macbeth will seem as pure as snow.” The characterizing of Macbeth as a dark person but contrary to previous beliefs. Malcolm is actually more evil.

Consequently, viewing the previous it is undoubtly true that darkness does play a major role in developing the play and its dramatic purposes. Darkness imagery does help in conveying to the audience the atmosphere, it does provoke the audiences response to the play and it did help illustrate the characters in Macbeth.

Shakespeare in Macbeth has drawn Banquo as someone who is noble and is a man who obeyed orders and possessed unwavering loyalty towards those he acknowledges. Although he is ambitious in nature but like Macbeth he does not bring those corrupt thoughts to light. Banquo, like Macbeth is a brave general even the hero himself admits Banquo’s bravery and courage on the battlefield “… tis much he dares, And to that dauntless temper of his mind He hath wisdom that doth guide his valour To act in safety”.

At the very beginning of the play we find Macbeth and Banquo returning from a battle and are received by very ambitious prophecies from the three weird sisters. Unlike Macbeth Banquo takes his predictions half- heartedly and even cautions Macbeth from blindly trusting the three witches. Banquo being the wise individual reacts differently to the prophecies, Macbeth considers murdering the noble king of Scotland, Duncan while the latter calmly ignores such urges.

Banquo in the play represents virtue and honour. King Duncan gives greater appreciation to Macbeth’s performance in the battle than Banquo yet he is not at all envious. He praises Macbeth which evokes admiration in King Duncan ” True worthy Banquo: he is full so valiant, And in his commendation I am fed, It is a banquet to me.” On his arrival at Macbeth’s castle Banquo praises the wholesome atmosphere of the castle, which shows him to be a thorough gentleman without any suspicion of evil. Banquo is unsuspecting in nature. Even when the murderers had surrounded him, he doesn’t suspect the danger hovering on him.

Banquo has been accused of being careless and not prudent enough to take timely action. This character trait in him led him to his untimely death. Banquo suspects Macbeth, but he is not prudent enough to take steps to protect himself. Banquo inspite of being a trusted general, ignored Macbeth’s heinous crime against his king, Duncan.

Banquo has an obvious dramatic purpose to fulfil in his relation to the character of Macbeth and the main theme of the play. But he is carefully kept in a subordinate position. His dramatic purpose is to form a foil, and at the same time, a parallel illustration to Macbeth’s temptation.

Robert Browning (1812-89)

            Browning’s first notable poem is the extremely subjective Pauline published in 1833 is highly Shelleyan.  Paracelsus was published in 1835 was the story of the hero’s unquenchable thirst for knowledge which is beyond the grasp of one single man. This poem brings forth Browning’s predominant idea that a life without love is a failure. The poetic style is diffuse, but the verse contains passages of great beauty with one or two charming lyrics. His next work was the play Strafford (1837) he achieves real pathos towards the close. Sordello (1840) was an attempt to decide the relationship between art and life and was Browning’s most obscure work. The poem has a detailed historical allusion and occasional passages of descriptive beauty is too compressed.

            About eight volumes of his work from 1841 onward are collected in Bells and Pomegrates, published in 1846. Apart from poems, the collection included plays like Pippa Passes, King Victor and King Charles, The Returns of the Druses, A Bolt on the Scutcheon, Colomb’s Birthday. Pippa Passes contains some dramatic situations and charming songs but it is Dramatic Lyrics, Dramatic Romances, Men and Women and Dramatis Personae that we begin to see the real Browning. In these volumes we see that Browning has started experimenting with the genre of poetry in which his genius found expression- the dramatic monologue.

            Browning was deeply interested in the human psyche, particularly in its unusual forms. My Last Duchess is about the abnormally possessive Duke who liquidates his wife because he bestowed smiles on everyone. In Porphyria’s Lover, the lover kills Porphyria in order to eternize the moment when she is completely his. Browning’s themes divide themselves broadly into three groups- philosophical or religious, love and lighter themes as it can be seen in The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Browning’s style of work has been subject of endless discussion because of the fascinating problems it presents. When it comes to descriptive power Browning differs from that of Tennyson’s, who slowly creates a lovely image by careful massing of details while Browning cares less for beauty of description for its own sake. He gained slow recognition but like Wordsworth and wrote too freely and often very carelessly and perversely. Fame of Browning rests on four volumes, published between 1842 and 1864.

            Browning’s works were not concerned with Victorian life. He did not try to know Victorian England he was more drawn towards Renaissance Italy. He is a master of a surprising variety of metrical forms and excels in the manipulation of rhythmic effects. He has an assured place among the great English poets by virtue of his distinctive dramatic monologues and his charming love poems.  

Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-92) 

Tennyson was the most representative Victorian and was also the most popular poet of his age. He won the Chancellor’s prize at Cambridge in 1829 for a poem on Timbuctoo. In 1930 his Poems, Chiefly Lyrical was published. The publication of his two volumes of poetry under the title Poems in 1942 proved Tennyson’s worth. The collection consisted of poems like Locksley Hall, Break Break Break, Ulysses, and also a renewed version of The Lady of Shalott. In 1850 Tennyson’s In Memoriam raised his stature as a poet and won him a unique place in the world of Victorian poetry. Some of his memorable works include Maud and Other Poems, Idylls of the king, Enoch Arden, Ballads and Other Poems, The Lotos Eater, The Palace of Art, and Tithonus. 

The most striking feature of Tennyson’s poetry is his ability to create word pictures. His true merit lies in his genius as a craftsman. Metre, rhythm, and sound effects are all turned into the mood. He uses rhetorical devices such as assonance, onomatopoeia, and alliteration to intensify the sensuousness. In the Choric Song he uses long drawn-out vowel sounds like ‘soon’, ‘afternoon’, ‘swoon’, and ‘moon’.

Tennyson was drawn to legendary themes and nature, but from 1942 he seemed drawn towards social and political themes. In The Princess, he dealt with the higher education of women. Ulysses, the hero of his dramatic monologue Ulysses with his passion for exploring is often said to represent the Victorian thirst for knowledge and for going beyond boundaries known to man. Tennyson’s Locksley Hall is full of the free spirit of young England and its faith in science, commerce, and the progress of mankind.

Tennyson does not belong to the galaxy of the great, but when it comes to lyricism, artistry, and workmanship he is simply irreplaceable. Tennyson lacked originality and depth. He was content capturing feelings and aspirations of his time. His last poems contain harsher notes as if he had become disillusioned and discontent with the pleasant artifices that had graced his prime due to age.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill is one of the most famous individuals of the 20^th Century who successfully led Britain to victory during World War II. He was born on November 30th in the year 1874 and became a Member of Parliament in the year 1900. He was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. He is a hero and is given credit for being one of the driving forces who inspired the United Kingdom to keep fighting against the Nazis.

Hitler went on to become the master of Europe in 1940 and had broken the Munich pact by invading Poland and further went on to defeat France. He was smart enough to realize the power and strength of Britain and proposed peace. Churchill knew that the intentions of Hitler were not good and he certainly was right not to judge Hitler and went on to continue the argument while others were willing to trust the latter. He provided strength to the country which was required to stand up to the most intense aerial bombing. His ability as a political orator came in handy and his speeches inspired the British people to keep fighting in spite of knowing that victory is far away. Taking right decisions such as destroying the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir, Despite the threat of the German invasion, sending tanks to Egypt. He used every opportunity very wisely.

Churchill guided British military efforts abroad and his leadership on the home front was truly remarkable. His techniques presented him with powerful civilian support. German forces were busy invading Europe and Britain watched in horror as their ally France fell to Germany and so did the others leaving only Britain to challenge the latter 

At the time of the eight-month air attack, the British government devised techniques such as posters, videos to reassure civilians. The government monitored the opinions of the civilians though the crime rate rose, along with outcries of political dissenters, the firm resolution of the civilians shook Hilter’s hope of invading the country and the country breathed a sigh of relief through the war was far from being over. The Germans had underestimated a nation that was determined not to give up and stand strong under the stress of war.

After a rise to prominence in national politics before World War I, Churchill acquired a reputation for his judgment in the war and in the decade that followed. He was a lonely figure until his response to Adolf Hitler’s challenge brought him to the leadership of a national coalition in 1940. He then shaped Allied Strategy in World War II with Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he alerted the west about the threat of the Soviet Union after the breakdown of the alliance.

“Ode on Indolence” was probably the second ode composed by Keats in the spring of 1819 after “Ode on Melancholy” and a few months prior “To Autumn”. When it comes to grouping of the odes together as a sequence “Indolence” is often placed first in the group, which absolutely makes sense, considering the fact that “Indolence” usually provides glimmerings of themes explored in the other five poems and also seems to portray the speaker’s initial struggle with the problems and ideas of the other odes. “Indolence” is an extraordinarily simple tale of a young man who spends a drowsy summer morning lazing around until he is nudged by a vision of Love, Ambition and Poetry. He feels brewing desire to follow the vision but in the end decides against it when the temptations of his indolent morning outweighs the temptations of love, ambition and poetry.

The principal theme of Keats’ “Ode to Indolence” holds the pleasant numbness of the speaker’s indolence state which is preferable over more exciting and engaging states of love, ambition and poetry. Anguish of morality- the pain and frustration caused by the changes and endings unavoidable in the life of a human being is one of the great themes of Keats’ poetry. In his Ode on Indolence, the speaker’s indolence in many ways seems an attempt to blur the forgetful lines that exists in this world, so that the “short fever-fit” of life can no longer seem agonizing . Love and ambition are rejected by the speaker simply because they require him to experience his own life too and hold the unavoidable promise of ending (of love, the speaker also wonders what and where it is, he notes the pale cheek and “fatigued eye,” and observes it “springs” directly from human morality). He is not interested to find out “how change the moon” and to be “sheltered from annoy” which is why poetry offers the most seductive as well as hateful, challenge to indolence. Poetry is not mortal, but it is detests to indolence and would requires the speaker to feel his life too acutely- hence, it possesses “not a joy” for him as sweet as the nothingness of indolence.

Inspite of the poem ending on a note of rejection, the endurance of the figures and the speaker’s impassioned response to them indicates that the he will eventually have to raise his head from the grass and directly confront love, ambition and poetry. A confrontation which embodies the other five odes, in which the speaker struggles with problems of creativity, morality, imagination and art. Many ideas and images in Ode of Indolence anticipates more developed ides and images in the later odes. Keats in other odes confronts some sort of divine figure, usually a goddess, in the Ode on Indolence, he confronts three. The lushly described summer landscape with its “stirring shades/ and baffled beams,” anticipated the imaginary landscape the speaker creates in “Ode to Psyche”, the experience of numbness anticipates the aesthetic numbness of “Ode to a Nightingale” and the anguished numbness of “Ode to Melancholy” the birdsong of the ‘throstle’s lay’ anticipates the nightingale and the swallows of “To Autumn.”

In this way, the “Ode on Indolence” makes somewhat a preface to all the other odes. It does not present a dramatic exploration of love, ambition and poetry, rather ignites a possibility of such a confrontation in a way that throws light on the behavior of the speaker in other odes. Its lush seductive tone and the speaker’s oscillation between temptation and rejection in the face of the figures’ persistent processional highlights a deeper and more acute poetic exploration to come. As for now the speaker is absolutely content with the numbness of his indolence.