Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Very Happy New Year 2014

A very happy new year to everyone in the world. Let us make new resolutions and stand to it.

Life and Way

"Breathe, that all do;
Live, that all can;
Let the world go through
The daily tunnel of life,
I have a different journey..."



I have a different task to do. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Women Reservation in India: An Essay

The best representative of the great Indian glory that India ever had, Swami Vivekananda, writes about women in his writings in such a way:
“The uplift of the women, the awakening of the masses must come first, and then only can any real good come about for the country, for India.”
India is said to be a developing country. We Indians are chasing our dreams. The sound of tak, tak, the footsteps of the masses moving under the sun is not enough to let us find out how many are the women walking in that rush. We must be learnt that now women can also wear the shoes men use to wear and they can also do the works men usually do.
Now, the subject of debates and meetings, almost in every level of the society is something around the women- women security, women education, women empowerment, and the most talked- women reservation. We have passed years and years thinking and speaking about the women affairs. The results, however, are not so much satisfactory that we can feel proud of. Except some of the women who have given us the moments of honour and prestige, we have not seen women attaining greatness in any field of life. Why the situation is like this? Where do we need to work more? What we can hope from our government and the so-called ‘democracy’?
THE PRESENT CONDITION:
We cannot neglect that there are many relaxations for women in our country. They get reservations in the education sector and in the working sector. Yes, this is what the factors show and we can also see in India. This is a great step towards the fair sex to uplift their condition. The seat reservations in education sector for women secure their indulgence in higher education that is very important for the real development of our country. The renowned universities of India dedicate some of their colleges only for women and run special educating cells for women students.
In the working sectors, special quota is dedicated to the women workers. However, this reservation varies from state to state in our country. For example, Andhra Pradesh is providing total 33.33% of the available seats to the women in education and Government jobs. If we talk of our state Bihar, Nitish Kumar has announced 35% of the total recruitment to be reserved for the women in the Police department. Private sectors also announce their reservation for women. They have their own policies and laws.
Except these relaxations to the women in education and working sectors, we have to turn towards the reservations provided to women in the electoral field. Now, here is a long chronology to be listed. Since India was officially a democracy in 1950 with our own constitution, there have been discussions and debates in the houses of parliaments for the issue of women representing people in elections and getting seats in the assembly. Years were passing with our great leaders sitting in the parliament and keeping on the debates until in 1974 a report was submitted to the ministry of Education and Social Welfare raising this issue. However, it was an oblivious issue later. Finally, in 1993, constitutional amendments were made to reserve one-third seats for women in Panchayats and Municipalities elections.
Later on, the demand for reservation of seats in the upper house of parliament for women was getting louder. Women institutions and organizations were asking for more political opportunities. On September 12, 1996 a bill was introduced in parliament by Deve Gowda Government. Even then the members of Samajwadi Party and some members of the ruling party tore the copies of the bill and expressed their political standards. However, after the pull & push, the bill of ‘women’s reservation’ was passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010. Unfortunately, after being passed by the Rajya Sabha, this bill could not yet be voted in the Lok Sabha.
If this bill is passed in future, India will join a league of around 40 countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh who have quota for women in Parliaments. We can see that country like Pakistan also have the women reservation, because they know that how important it is. It is the time that our country should also stop more debates about this issue let the women represent the country now. Only a woman knows how much the price hikes affect the household. None but a woman can tell how much the importance of women education is. With the secure arrival of women in the Parliament, we will be in a position to hope for the certain development in the women’s condition of our country.
WOMEN RESERVATION: DONE AND NEEDS TO BE DONE
THE Constitution of our country, the greatest democracy of the world, the largest, deals with the word ‘women’ only 18 times. However, it is just a fact that I have found out and must be neglected as we should have faith upon our great leaders and politicians who were there to make this great constitution. Moreover, we must know that whenever the word ‘women’ has been used, it has been done by and large with a view that women are weaker than men, unequal to men, inferior to men. Every time there is term like ‘special aid to women’, ‘reservations to women’, ‘dignity of women’. Now a question arises that who needs the special aid. Who wants reservation? Whom dignity is needed to be saved by others? The reply will come in a simple term, one who is weaker.
Our constitution has made certain distinctions based on sex, religion, and castes that does not allow the people to be the same and women to simply be women. Women are divided in certain sub categories- OBC women, SC women, ST women, and several others. Leaving this bias, we have in our constitution some acts which provide reservation to women of the certain categories. I want to raise a question. Does a Brahmin orphan girl not have the right to get scholarship in the college where even a boy from well to do OBC family enjoys it? Ask questions like these to your heart and it will be pierced with sorrows and worries. The government argues some casts as ‘forward’ and certain as ‘backward’. The backward women have been given certain privileges and the forward women are supposed to have it since their birth! There are many other dilemmas to be solved, and these will be solved only when we consider a woman like a woman only. We will have to raise ourselves from the level or castes, religions, and prejudices in order to have a real development in the condition of women in our country. Every woman of the country has the equal rights. They are in no means less than a man. The government should not announce reservations only to indirectly point out that women of certain class are weaker or backward. They must provide them resources, means, opportunities and rest women can themselves do. Swami Vivekananda writes in his work:
“Who are you to solve women’s problems? Are you the lord God that you should rule over every widow and every women? Hands off! They will solve their own problems.”
If our administration can provide good education to a girl from the so-called backward class, she will never wait for any reservation and grab any possible opportunity that she sights. We need more actions; we do not need more announcements to draw more lines of discrimination between the same.
Moreover, it is our duty to be a responsible person; and a responsible person always respects the constitution of the country. I would like to read an article, article no. 51 (A) with clause (e):
“It shall be the duty of every citizen of India—
 (e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;”
Thus, we must learn to respect every woman. The growing incidents of harassing behaviours with women workers in the workplace are very shameful for a country like India. Is this why a man always wants a woman to be his personal secretory? Is this why the BPOs always tend towards hiring women in their firms? The scenario is very bad and we men must raise our spirit. How long we shall take to understand that without watering the root no fruits or flowers can come on the tree?
Ask a question to your heart. What is the basic need of a girl? You will be thinking for some moments. Scholars will say it is education; perverts will say it is self-defence; rich will say it is the employment; others will say it is health and this list will be protracted… but, I will draw your attention to a fact that the basic need of a girl is the mercy to be born, the sympathy of her parents to bring her in this wonderful world. Then only she can enjoy the benefits, the security or the reservations made for her.

Becky Sharp: Character Sketch: Vanity Fair: William Thackeray

This is a formal start for the sketch, you will get a base then you have to put your own ideas in play.


One of the most animated characters, sharpest woman character, and perhaps the most cunning of all female protagonists that have been created so far by the pen of any author, Becky Sharp, the character of Vanity Fair, reflects all these qualities from her personality and actions. She is short but not at all short in her wit. She smiles with the most gracious movements of her lips but strikes the sentiments of the victim so ungraciously! Becky Sharp justifies her name and she is sharp from all the angles one can observe.

Becky, the ill-bred girl with some inherit gifts like French in natural accent and humour to amuse all around her, is very ambitious since her childhood. Ambition- something like integrated in the character of Becky, we may say that it is the gift of the society to her. When in the Pinkerton’s school, everyone is harsh towards Becky except Amelia only. (Amelia has the reason; Thackeray has made her stupid.) The harsh behaviour of the school, Pinkerton’s now and then rebuke on Becky makes Becky ill and sick with the typical Victorian arrogance to grow up and up in the society. Moreover, the Pinkerton’s style, the Pinkerton’s hatred, and everything about modern and socially aware Pinkerton enter into the life of Becky and later we see that Becky is the perfect resemblance of Pinkerton.    ..............


Friday, November 22, 2013

The Lion in Love

The Lion in Love

Aesop’s Fable (47)

Love slays the mightiest heart; it does.

The barbarous jaws, eager paws,
And eyes with tremendous fire,
A lion ties no calendar or laws,
He kills in East and wounds in Shire!

Once ages ago, a lion fell in love
And demanded woodcutter’s daughter.
Ah! but the love was not any above
Of mere infatuation for the slaughter.

‘I want your girl as my wife’
Said the blind lion to the poor man,
For whom it was on his life
To deny the proposal of mighty insane!

Lust like glutton dies.’

The witty woodcutter found a way.
With humble guise in voice, he said:
‘O lion, my daughter fears the play
‘Of your sharp teeth and claws, so made
‘A pleading- you let me take out
‘The agents of fear- the teeth and claws
‘And she will end her fearful bout
‘To swear with you the marriage vows.’

The wanton, the lewd, without any delay,
Was ready for his Pride and Life
To be very easily taken away,
For nothing but a ‘mere’ wife!

Losing thus the pearl, the clam went
Without guessing the certain loss
That fate for him would invent.

Days passed, the lion came
Back with his demand with pride,
Alas! He returned with guilt and shame
Instead of smiles, gain and ‘mere’ bride!


Sunday, 10 November 2013

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Happy Birthday P

Happy Birthday P


I wish the day to last never,
And lose in the immortal cyclone
Of heavens’ and earth’s chaotic motion.
My eyes, when I open,
You shall be sighted forever…

Keats taught me the eternal adoration
Of the passing, the decaying day,
But I, your lover, fused with passion,
I am made of some different clay!
I have made; I have fixed; I have marked

This nocturnal as your immortal birthday.


A very very happy birthday to P, someone around whom my span spins...

Happy Birthday P

The Demo Essay (The Education System of India)

Education is said to be the basic and essential need of the human beings. In the words of Vivekananda, “Education is the manifestation of perfection that is already within us.” Moreover, it is true and proved that without the education no country can touch the shores of development. Today, in our country India, we are facing a conflict of ideas; and this is the result of the education policy of our country that is baseless to an extent! No student is secure about his future whether he is studying in MBA, BA, and B. Tech or any other programs.

Except these facts, if we consider the basic structure of our education policy, we will find several bitter realities those chide the bombastic boasting of the Indian Government and Indian constitution. We know that the education for the children of six to fourteen is free of cost. However, this promise made in our constitution seems just a joke when we see the poor boys and girls begging in trains, sweeping in the homes of aristocratic families, selling tobaccos and other smoking materials etc. The other much anticipated program of the Indian Government was mid-day-meal policy; it failed in many ways; and the recent massacre were just the most grotesque failure of it! Therefore, instead of boosting the children to go to school, it has done the rather contrary work. No parents will send their children to the school to eat poisonous food, drink poisonous water, and die!


We have other conspicuous loopholes in our education system. Particularly, the most highlighted is the lack of qualified teachers in schools, colleges, and universities. We see daily in the newspapers the humorous news of school inspections and teachers failing to solve the sums of class three or failing to write their names on the blackboard! Who is responsible for this pathetic condition of the education system of the country who was once the ‘guru’ of the world? Indeed, we will look lefts and rights instead of searching for the real culprit; because we know that to an extent, the country people are also responsible for this situation, which is the real headache for us. 


And now, you need to carry on this essay in this way. You have to present the arguments in paragraphs P. All the best, I want to see you doing best. 

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Mighty and the Weak, A poem by Alok Mishra

Mighty and the Weak

Difficile est proprie communia dicere.

In solace of night, two tormented fought
Over the issue of right to exist,
It is though accepted, anticipated and sought,
Weaker for the stronger is always a feast!
Poor candle with her tender light,
In the dense dark, served a sight.
Mighty wind with his bloody eager sword
Was ready to slay the sweet poor chord.
‘Pardon me, my frail existence, show mercy
‘O broad chested, O devouring wind
‘Omit me of your morsel, set free
‘I beg you… my life, not you grind!’
Pleaded thus, she stood calm, and did wait
For the reply of her piranha, her fate,
And he, the swollen might, in anger tried
To make her afraid, he thus replied:
‘I’m mighty; I love mighty; you be mighty
‘Or I slay you, you feeble poor creature!
‘To do you justice, to endure propriety
‘Are for the mighty like me just a torture!
‘To maintain peace, you weaker must die
‘And with peace and hope in grave lie!’
The gentle flame, the thin spirit, the brave soul
Boldly stood but in calm pose she listened his whole.
‘For the perils like you, might is right.
‘In His abode, where justice happens always,
‘Still the echoes say that right is might,
‘There devils are imprisoned and put in cage.’
The candle, true and upright, but weak,
Said these in her tender voice, so meek.
Arrogant and wild, the mighty wind lost sense,
For the thirsty of blood, nothing is offense!
With a blow, he collected some dry leaves
And pushed the innocent flame over them.
Pathetic! How one of her life he bereaves
With no regret, no mercy, and no shame!
The melting candle, dying of enormous pain,
Thought she how her stronger sisters grew insane!
‘How your beautiful earth will survive?
‘Shall you see with silence, or thrive?
‘If your world is for the might and power,
‘Why do you make creepers sans bower?’
With these words, she melted; she did die!
But she left questions to God, to be done.
The God who sits and watches all from high
The world that with same Moon and Sun,
To escape from these questions always does try…

Alok Mishra
28-07-2013

Sunday, July 7, 2013

A Comparison Between Mathew Arnold and Tennyson

Paradoxically, if we say that Victorian age in the history of England suffered an enjoyment, it will be true to speak thus! The whole country, under the reign of their queen, Queen Victoria (1837-1901), underwent an all-round progress. Mechanically, the country touched the new heights of prosperity. Industrialization on a great scale marked the rise of new business era for England. Moreover, we must remember that this was the age in which England made the grip of dominance stronger in the colonized countries.

However, this growing prosperity and the decaying faith in the existence of supreme divinity did not lure the hearts of the great literary figures of Victorian age. The poets, writing in Victorian age, were in dire need of escaping to the countryside areas in search of peace and solace! John Clare stands as an example of this group of poets, who was a farmer and painted the rural life in his poetry. Another perfect and foremost example of this trend is Mathew Arnold who always remains with his ‘scholar’ in the countryside areas of Oxford and enjoys the company of nature and rustic people. Arnold despises the city life and advises the ‘scholar’ of his imagination and indirectly the fellow citizens to escape:

“But fly our paths, our feverish contacts fly!
 For strong the infection of our mental strife,
 Which, though it gives no bliss, yet spoils rest.”

Another contemporary of Mathew Arnold is Alfred Lord Tennyson. He also writes of the disappearing faith in the existence of God and the increasing interference of enlarging hands of Science and Mechanism in the society. In his protracted elegy, In Memoriam, he expresses the agony of his heart and in a way, the entire Victorian society:

“Our little systems have their day:
  They have their day and cease to be:
  They are but broken lights of thee,
  And thou, O Lord, art more than they.”

We can have the conspicuous glimpse of the conflict prevailed the Victorian age, in the hearts of Victorian people; and we can see the realization that the heart of this great poet, Tennyson, feels. Thus, we can say that the Victorian period saw the prosperity of mechanics and industries, which the governing body and the citizens liked, but the poets of higher spirit and noble soul, felt the coming danger of moral and religious decadence and tried to present their foresight to the society.

Victorian age bears two greatest poets of the English Literature of all time, the first is Alfred Lord Tennyson, and the other is Mathew Arnold. They both are genius on their place. No one can hold the dignity of another. They both enjoy the gift of heavens; they both have the poetic fire; the “Muse” has been very tender to her both sons! Therefore, to make an analogy amid these two great figures of the English Literature is a very difficult task. Still, we can try to exercise our wit to present the qualities and special merits of both of them as a poet. This effort will lead us to make certain perceptions that discriminate the two great poets, their style, their views to art and poetry, and more.

The View towards Art and Poetry:

The first and foremost point that discriminates the great literary figures is undoubtedly the view towards art and poetry; moreover, the two, Arnold and Tennyson are not the exceptions. They are certainly different in their perception about art and poetry, though, they are the representatives of the same age. Both the poets were aware of the falling standards of art in the age of Victorian Flourishing. Amid the topsy-turvy of faith and belief, both the poets had to choose their way different and set a standard of themselves. We have certainly to rank Arnold above to Tennyson in this regard. Arnold was very early to know what the standard of poetry should be; he decided the way of his poetic growth and always moved constantly on that like the Etna. For Arnold, “poetry is the criticism of life under the conditions fixed for such a criticism by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty.” Arnold, in his poetic creation, The Buried Life, compiled in Empedocles on Etna and other Poems, announces the weakness and crisis of the Victorian age:

“Alas, is even love too weak
To unlock the heart, and let it speak?
Are even lovers powerless to reveal
To one another what indeed they feel?”

This quote reveals the motive of Arnold and his poetry- only to reveal the truth and unbiased judgment, to announce the society of his time as it is, and to tell the ways of a content and alive life!

Moreover, we have to admit that Arnold knew the ‘poetic truth’ and the ‘poetic beauty’. However, when we have to make a judgment of Tennyson in the regard of his realization of art and poetry, we have a quote made by the great critic, IforEvans that is worth to quote:

 “….. Though Tennyson was charged with sometimes having one eye on the audience and, after he was made laureate, with having both eyes on the Queen.”

This remark says so much about the perception of Tennyson towards poetry. He had in view the audience, and then the Queen. However, it is the masterpiece of Tennyson, In Memoriam, and some other writings indeed, where Tennyson, to an extent, surpasses all the poets of his age or any age in the matter of realization the true meaning of poetry! The very opening line of the longest elegy written hitherto in English, In Memoriam, strikes our conscience with a grand force:

“Strong son of God, immortal Love,”

In this line, we have the mature and learned Tennyson, who enjoys a washed soul and solace after the protracted suffering of the loss of his friend, Arthur Henry Hallam. Tennyson announces in the same elegy:

“I hold it true, whate’er befall;
 I feel it, when I sorrow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.”

However, if we are compelled and bond to compare the two great poets in this regard, that is, in the realization of the poetry and its motive, we certainly have to rank Arnold above Tennyson; Arnold was quick in realizing, Tennyson was late! Arnold, almost in each of his poems, speaks with the authority of his own propagated theory; Tennyson at the same time fails to follow the rhythm of In Memoriam in all of his poems! Thus, the first and foremost of the distinguishing points, announces Arnold as superior to Tennyson.

Style of Composing Poetry:

In the matter of style, it is indeed tough to fix that who is superior- Arnold or Tennyson. They both enjoy their own way of expressing their great ideas. However, Tennyson has been praised for his beautiful lyricism and Arnold has been charged of “Coldly efficient narrative.” Arnold emphasizes on the grand style of composition, while Tennyson bends towards the charming ways of expressing his ideas in the poems. For instance, if we consider the lines of Tennyson, in the fragment of his poem, The Eagle:

“He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
 Close to the sun in lonely lands,
 Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.”

Here we have the sight animated in front of our eyes; we can see; we can imagine; we can trust the poet of his imagination too. The lyricism is apparently visible. Moreover, the beauty of the lines is unchallenged! Now, let us concentrate on the lines of Mathew Arnold, in his poem, Dover Beach:

“Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.”

After the beautiful expression of the ‘calm sea’, ‘fair moon’, and other sceneries, the poet expresses his great ideas in a fashion suiting to it; in other words, he adds the ‘poetic truth’ and ‘poetic beauty’ to his ‘criticism of life.’ We all know the erudition of the great figure, Mathew Arnold, and in the words of IforEvans, he imparted something ‘permanent and major contribution’ to the English literature with his great prose writings. However, the same critic, IforEvans charges him of being not so great in the matter of being a poet. By and large, we see it in the case of his expression, Arnold is able to perceive great ideas; he is able to impart knowledge and wisdom to his verse; yet, he is not able to make his expression as beautiful as Tennyson!

The Influences on the both Poet: Their General Tendency to Follow

Any poet is not a poet at once; a poet is born and he is lulled amid some certain fancies and tendencies. Every poet has liking for poets of the past, or the contemporary, or a person or people of another areas of art. No poet can pave his was alone in the field of literary production without being affected by some other literary figure. Tennyson and Arnold are not the exceptions. These two great poets also reflect certain impressions of the older poets. Except some occasions, generally, both of the poets were unaffected by the growing mechanism of the Victorian age. We have the example of Locksley Hall where the poet Tennyson finds himself amid the mirage of Victorian bright diadem!

Arnold was in favour of the Ancient Classic masters and always tried to reinforce his verses with a universal message like them. Even in the great essay written by him, The Study of Poetry, Arnold tends to blow the triumph of the Ancient Masters and warns his readers to use them as the ‘touchstone’ jewels to brighten their readings. Tennyson, just contrary to Arnold, finds himself amid the Romantic remains. Except of some fixed numbers of examples, he leaves nothing of permanence for his readers to remember! His poems are the ‘day’s enjoyment’ except the elegy or long length that remains to suggest us the value of universal and eternal realm! However, we must not forget that the lasting phase of the career of Tennyson showed him as the magnificent poet who tries to follow the ancient style of writing:

“Where never creeps a cloud, or moves a wind,
 Nor ever falls the least white star of snow,”

Tennyson in these two lines stands in the rank of Homer! The beauty of the lines, the grandeur of the rhythm, everything we have to remark thus…

Now, to conclude the argument of the comparison between these two poets, I must leave it upon the readers to choose whether one is surpassing other or the two, just move along on the road to greatness.
The concluding verse of Arnold, the most worthy to quote of the poet who is very hopeless of the crisis of Victorian prosperity:

“But ah, though peace indeed is here,
 And ease from shame, and rest from fear;
 Though nothing can dismarble now
 The smoothness of that limpid brow;
 Yet is a calm like this, in truth,
 The crowning end of life and youth?”

And the concluding verse of the poet Tennyson:

“And it sings a song of undying love:
 And yet, tho’ its voice be so clear and full,
 You never would hear it; your ears are so dull,”


Both the poets stand dazzling on the ground of English Literature! To compare them, and to come to a solid ground of judgment, is too tough a task for any scholar! Still, it was my attempt to bring out their merits and qualities together. 


Written by Alok Mishra
Author and Poet
Student of MA in English Literature at Nalanda College, Biharsharif, Bihar

Friday, June 28, 2013

Greek Effect on the Poetry of John Keats or Keats Hellenism or The Hellenistic Approach of Keats or The Greek Note in Keats

Paper on the Greek Effect on the Poetry of John Keats


The German knowledge voracious exclaims after the covetable first glimpse of the eternal beauty of Helen:

“Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,
  And burnt the topless towers of Ilium…”

In this utterance, though a paradoxical truth, we have conspicuous evidence of a passion for beauty. Again, when we pay attention to one closing paradoxical and many a time anthologised:

“‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ that is all
   Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

Here we find the same passion for beauty, beauty that is truth. John Keats, whose span of literary career was too short to be another Shakespeare, owed much of his poetry to the ancient Greeks. That is why Shelley was compelled to remark, “John Keats is a Greek.” John Keats suffered a passion for beauty that ended only with his death. Though, we must remember that this passion was not infatuation; Keats knew the truth; Keats knew the beauty! It is a sure truth that Keats followed the ancient Greeks and the mythology created by them. My paper is dedicated to the ‘ever-unfortunate-and-sad’ poet John Keats and his Hellenism.
John Keats was acquainted to the wondrous world of ancient Greek through the translations and the dictionaries only; it means clearly that, then what knowledge he gained about the Greek world was scanty. John Keats, however, read, liked, and owed much of his Hellenism to Chapman. His sonnet, “On First Looking into the Chapman’s Homer” is an example of that.
Though clumsy were the sources, yet Keats’ imagination was phenomenal and he pierced deep into the world of ancient Greeks. A Pagan, for whom the only truth was beauty, be that beauty in ugliest creature like the serpent, or in the wonderful ‘Grecian Urn’, he started seeing every possible personification in the nature. It was the effect of his Greek reading that Keats saw the image of ‘Selene’ each time Keats saw the moon. He saw the nymphs dancing and ‘Dryads’ when he saw forest or a tree. Often we find Keats listening to Orpheus in his verses, giving a divine shape to ‘Autumn’, making a Goddess of human ‘Psyche’ and doing all sort of acts that force us to go in a state of nostalgia and live in the world of ancient Greeks!
Apart from his view of Gods present everywhere in nature, we find another Greek effect on his poetry in the form of his deep interest in Greek mythology. Keats was such fascinated with the myths of Greek that rare are his protracted verses those are orphan of Greek myths! The beauty of ‘Endymion’ and the act of ‘Selene’ we find in his first composed long and loosely handled narrative romance “Endymion.” This long poem is very famous for the opening line that strikes every bosom with the enormous beauty and a solace:

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

“Endymion” throughout moves in the setting of ancient Greek myths and amid the Greek Gods. Other poems of Keats that ploy with the Greek myths are “Lamia”, “Hyperion”, and the “Fall of Hyperion” majorly in the lengthy poems. As the very titles of these pieces evoke, these deal with and lull ancient Greek mythology with painting of Keats’ imagination and his gifted gift of powerful lyricism! Among these, “Lamia” again countersigns the revival of ancient Paganism of Greeks in John Keats. Keats, in “Lamia” tries to favour the beauty even in the ugliest creature like serpent. The beauty, for a poet of beauty in pure sense, does never end, and in this poem, Keats presents the resemblance of grand opening line of “Endymion”:

“And soon his eyes had drunk her beauty up,
 Leaving no drop in the bewildering cup,
 And still the cup was full…”

Here, amid the setting of nymphs, monsters, and ancient Greek, Keats also carries the Greek hoisting flag of beauty with full swing.
Apart from the long narratives, the shorter poems of Keats also display conspicuous Greekness. The best known of them is perhaps “Ode on a Grecian Urn”. This ode sings of an ancient urn that displays the marvellous beauty to the eyes of the poet Keats. However, with beauty, Keats love is bare for the ancient Greek arts and once again, he displays it in the “Ode on a Grecian Urn”. Keats speaks of his love for the beauty for ancient Greek Urn in a manner like this:

“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
  Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on:
  Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
  Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone…”

The lines reflect the apparent passion of Keats for the ancient Greeks, their art, their creation, and everything about Greek! Keats, in short, suggests in his ode that art is superior to experience and men must realize it and not underestimate the value of ancient art.
He paints the war amid Greek Gods in “Hyperion” without any secure knowledge save some scanty readings and his imagination. Keats delights in the world of ancient Greeks and in the ‘vales’ where he finds nymphs, and trees raising their hands and dancing; he finds the sea Goddess in water, God Bacchus in wine, and the life in everything sought! Keats is a true Greek in his poems, in his imagination, in his perception, in his Paganism, and by birth! He found the truth in beauty, and beauty in the ancient ruins of the once glorious Greeks; therefore, he followed the footsteps of the ancient Greek masters and mixed his fancy and lustre of dazzling imagination to produce the poetry that was meant to lead the modern poets and fulfil the wish of young poet to remain in the list of English Poets after his death.


At last, to deduce the argument about the Greek effect on the poetry of John Keats, I have to add that a young learner, who was sad about the decaying virtue- beauty, found no other way than escaping the age and remain in the nostalgia of ancient glory. His poetry, that is fulgent with meaning and a pure Greek adoration of beauty, will ever be a landmark for the newcomers. However, some critics and poets, even one like Byron, claims the passion of Keats in the vulgar phrase: “Poetic masturbation.” It is nothing but only the pain of not realizing the truth! Keats is a pure poet who has indeed a passion for beauty. His art, his poetry is for the sake of poetry and nothing else. He is an English Greek…
                                                  An Apology for Keats and His Greekness

On Keats being a Greek


Let him live in solace, in nostalgia
Where he finds his Truth- beauty,
To adore that truth is his duty,
Whither shalt thou or they judge?
He remains the sole to glean
The myriad beauty so calm and clean,
And present the pure painted reminiscence
To the ignorant eyes of unknown immense!





Paper by Alok Mishra
(Author and Poet)
Pursuing MA in English from Nalanda College Biharsharif

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Gita: A Sonnet on reminding the verses

Gita: A Sonnet on reminding the verses


Behold; know thou the passion unknown
Yet conspicuous to the senses to lure and lull
The wits those are capricious, ephemeral, and dull.

To thy eyes, what the ‘supreme’ has hitherto shown
Must make thou, and thine heart learned and firm;
 Thou canst discriminate the now the right and wrong ‘karma’.

Know thou the right way to contemplate and mull
Over the acts you do; the acts you forego;
Whither canst you go? The ‘energy’ does eternally flow!

Thou art, and the soul, have certainly definite term
To initiate and deduce thy span; then to stop near ‘herm’.




Composed by Alok Mishra

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Felicitation in Nalanda College Biharsharif

Recently, in May, the felicitation ceremony of the newly appointed principal took place in Nalanda College Biharsharif. Dr. D. P. Sings=h, the former Hon. Head of Department of English, took his responsibility as the governing person of the college.

Dr. D. P. Singh in centre, Dr. Swarn Prabhat in left, and the author and poet Alok Mishra in right with the poem folded

Saturday, June 22, 2013

The Orthodox Pain - Writing.Com

The Orthodox Pain - Writing.Com


A Poem by Alok Mishra

Poem 2: The People on Footpath

It's a poem to remind my country people (Indians) that what we are facing today is not a democracy! It's a TOTAL capitalism and the trodden are still trodden and will be the same if you people do not come ahead and save them!  


The People on Footpath 


Now darkness and calm noise do rebel 
Against the fading whispers of pauper plutocrats 
Lying under the sky sans moon to light 
Their half covered bony flesh and ugly face 
That tell the story of our glorious fight 
Once we had to vanish that line, 
The line that maligns the sight 
To see and justify, that equal is grace. 
For all, the same is eternal sunshine. 

Composed by Poet Alok Mishra