George Herbert Biography

George Herbert was an English poet, orator and Anglican priest with a Welsh origin. He had descended from a wealthy family and thus, was educated well. Herbert was an excellent student of language and music in his college days. Initially, he dreamt of becoming a prominent priest but his scholarship brought him into the notice of King James I/VI. During 1630s, Herbert surrendered his secular aspirations to take holy orders in the Church of England. Thereafter, he spent all his life serving as a rector of the little parish of Fugglestone St Peter with Bemerton St Andrew, near Salisbury. Herbert is also greatly known for his flawless care for his parishioners. He worked on religious poetry which was distinguished by a precision of language, a rhythmical versatility, and brilliant use of imagery. Some of the most popular poems of Herbert are "King of Glory, King of Peace" (Praise), "Let All the World in Every Corner Sing" (Antiphon) and "Teach me, my God and King" (The Elixir).

George Herbert Childhood and Early Life

Herbert was born on 3rd April, 1593 in Montgomery in Wales. He belonged to a wealthy, prominent and intellectual family. Also, his family was greatly devoted to arts. His mother, Magdalen, was a patron and friend of several poets including John Donne. His father, Richard Herbert, Lord of Cherbury passed away when George was just three years old. Herbert had 9 siblings, including Edward who later became Lord Herbert of Cherbury and a crucial poet and philosopher. Edward was also frequently called “the father of English deism”. Herbert enrolled inWestminster School when he was around 12 and became a day student. Sometime later he rose up to the level of scholar and later in 1609, got admission in Trinity College, Cambridge on the basis of scholarship. Herbert gained his bachelor’s degree and later master’s degree from the same college in 1613. After receiving degrees with distinction from Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was elected as a major fellow in his college. Herbert, in 1618, got appointment as a reader in Rhetoric at Cambridge. In 1620, he was chosen for the post of orator at Cambridge University. Herbert worked as an orator till 1628. Herbert, in 1624, became aMember of Parliament and represented Montgomeryshire. Although everything was favoring him to build a career at court with respectful positions and kindness of James I towards him but the deaths of King in 1625 and his two most influential patrons reversed the situation against him. However, it is believed that the servings of Herbert to the parliament may have ended in 1624 as no records are found in 1625 Commons Journal by his name.

Priesthood
In 1630, Herbert acquired his duties in Bemerton, a rural parish in Wiltshire which is about 75 miles southwest of London. In Bemerton, Herbert preached and worked on poems. He also helped in the reconstruction of the church with his own funds. In 1633, he completed a collection of his poems titled,”

The Temple”.
This work presented an impression of the architectural style of churches with the help of meaning of the words and their visible structure. Herbert treated the themes of God and Love as both psychological forces and metaphysical phenomena. He only survived three years after taking holy duties. Also it is said that lying on his deathbed, he handed over the manuscript of “The Temple” to Nicholas Ferrar, who was the founder of a semi-monastic Anglican religious community at Little Gidding, asking him to publish the same if he thinks that it might “turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul” and otherwise burn them.

Works
One of the most looked up works of Herbert is “Easter Wings”, which was a pattern-based poem. In the work, the words are not only supposed to be read but also the structure is to look out for. To accomplish the same, the poem was published on two pages of the book, sideways, in a way that reflected as if two birds were flying upwards. In 1633, the collection of his poems was published in “The Temple”. It contained lots of holy poems and personal ejaculations which were edited by Nicholas Ferrar. The work witnessed eight editions by the year 1690. In 1652, Barnabas Oley also edited Herbert’s Remains or sundry pieces of that Sweet Singer, Mr. George Herbert, including A Priest to the Temple, or the countrey parson, Jacula Prudentum, &c. In 1671, second edition came up as A Priest to the Temple or the Country Parson. All the surviving English writing of Herbert are religious and some of them are also used as hymns too. His religious poetry included “The Altar.” Herbert’s “Jacula Prudentium”, an accumulation of pithy proverbs and was published in 1651. Apart from English, he also wrote poems in Greek and Latin. His work has been attracting many composers to set his poetry into music.

Death
Herbert was going through a bad health and eventually died onMarch 1, 1633 of tuberculosis.

Commemorations
Herbert is commemorated by the Anglican Communion on 27th February every year and by the Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on March 1. He also has a window to pay him homage in Westminster Abbey and a statue in niche 188 on the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral.

Earl Mar's Daughter by Joseph Jacobs

ONE fine summer's day Earl Mar's daughter went into the castle garden, dancing and tripping along. And as she played and sported she would stop from time to time to listen to the music of the birds. After a while as she sat under the shade of a green oak tree she looked up and spied a sprightly dove sitting high up on one of its branches. She looked up and said: "Coo-my-dove, my dear, come down to me and I will give you a golden cage. I'll take you home and pet you well, as well as any bird of them all." Scarcely had she said these words when the dove flew down from the branch and settled on her shoulder, nestling up against her neck while she smoothed its feathers. Then she took it home to her own room.The day was done and the night came on and Earl Mar's daughter was thinking of going to sleep when, turning round, she found at her side a handsome young man. She _was_ startled, for the door had been locked for hours. But she was a brave girl and said: "What are you doing here, young man, to come and startle me so? The door was barred these hours ago; how ever did you come here?""Hush! hush!" the young man whispered. "I was that cooing dove that you coaxed from off the tree.""But who are you then?" she said quite low; "and how came you to be changed into that dear little bird?""

The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur

Theseus, a genuine Greek hero of the Mythology and Minotaur, one of the most devastating and terrifying monsters are the main protagonists of a myth that involves gods and monsters, heroes and kings and two of the main city–states in the Hellenic world: Athens and Crete.

The Minotaur and the Labyrinth of Crete

The Minotaur was the son of Pasiphae, wife of King Minos of Crete.Minotaur,

Queen Pasiphae slept with a bull sent by Zeus, and gave birth to Minotaur, a creature half man - half bull. King Minos was embarrassed, but did not want to kill the Minotaur, so he hid the monster in the kLabyrinth constructed by Daedalus at the Minoan Palace of Knossos.According to the myth, Minos was imprisoning his enemies in the Labyrinth so that the Minotaur could eat them. The labyrinth was such a complicated construction that no one could ever find the way out alive.Son of Minos, Androgeus, went to Athens to participate to the Panathenaic Games, but he was killed during the Marathon by the bull that impregnated his mother Pasiphae. Minos was infuriated, and demanded Aegeus the king of Athens to send seven men and women every year to the Minotaur to advert the plague caused by the death of Androgeus.The third year, Theseus, son of Aegeus decided to be one of the seven young men that would go to Crete, in order to kill the Minotaur and end the human sacrifices to the monster. King Aegeus tried to make him change his mind but Theseus was determined to slay the Minotaur.Theseus promised his father that he would put up white sails coming back from Crete, allowing him to know in advance that he was coming back alive. The boat would return with the black sails if Theseus was killed.

The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh by Joseph Jacobs

IN BAMBOROUGH CASTLE once lived a king who had a fair wife and two children, a son named Childe Wynd and a daughter named Margaret. Childe Wynd went forth to seek his fortune, and soon after he had gone the queen his mother died. The king mourned her long and faithfully, but one day while he was hunting he came across a lady of great beauty, and became so much in love with her that he determined to marry her. So he sent word home that he was going to bring a new queen to Bamborough Castle.Princess Margaret was not very glad to hear of her mother's place being taken, but she did not repine but did her father's bidding. And at the appointed day came down to the castle gate with the keys all ready to hand over to her stepmother. Soon the procession drew near, and the new queen came towards Princess Margaret who bowed low and handed her the keys of the castle. She stood there with blushing cheeks and eye on ground, and said: "O welcome, father dear, to your halls and bowers, and welcome to you my new mother, for all that's here is yours," and again she offered the keys.

 One of the king's knights who had escorted the new queen, cried out in admiration: "Surely this northern Princess is the loveliest of her kind." At that the new queen flushed up and cried out: "At least your courtesy might have excepted me," and then she muttered below her breath: "I'll soon put an end to her beauty."That same night the queen, who was a noted witch, stole down to a lonely dungeon wherein she did her magic and with spells three times three, and with passes nine times nine she cast Princess Margaret under her spell. And this was her spell:I weird ye to be a Laidly Worm,And borrowed shall ye never be,Until Childe Wynd, the King's own sonCome to the Heugh and thrice kiss thee;Until the world comes to an end,Borrowed shall ye never be.So Lady Margaret went to bed a beauteous maiden, and rose up a Laidly Worm. And when her maidens came in to dress her in the morning they found coiled up on the bed a dreadful dragon, which uncoiled itself and came towards them. But they ran away shrieking, and the Laidly Worm crawled and crept, and crept and crawled till it reached the Heugh or rock of the Spindlestone, round which it coiled itself, and lay there basking with its terrible snout in the air.Soon the country round about had reason to know of the Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh. For hunger drove the monster out from its cave and it used to devour everything it could come across. So at last they went to a mighty warlock and asked him what they should do. Then he consulted his works and his familiar, and told them: "The Laidly Worm is really the Princess Margaret and it is hunger that drives her forth to do such deeds.

 Put aside for her seven kine, and each day as the sun goes down, carry every drop of milk they yield to the stone trough at the foot of the Heugh, and the Laidly Worm will trouble the country no longer.

Antigone by Sophocles

Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written in or before 441 BC. Chronologically, it is the third of the three Theban plays but was written first.
The play expands on theTheban legend that predated it and picks up where Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebesends.

Summary:

The Chorus introduces the players. Antigone is the girl who will rise up alone and die young. Haemon, Antigone's dashing fiancé, chats with Ismene, her beautiful sister. Though one would have expected Haemon to go for Ismene, he inexplicably proposed to Antigone on the night of a ball. Creon is king of Thebes, bound to the duties of rule. Next to the sisters' sits the Nurse and Queen Eurydice. Eurydice will knit until the time comes for her to go to her room and die. Finally three Guards play cards, indifferent to the tragedy before them.

The Chorus recounts the events leading to Antigone's tragedy. Oedipus, Antigone and Ismene's father, had two sons, Eteocles and Polynices. Upon Oedipus' death, it was agreed that each would take the throne from one year to the next. After the first year, however, Eteocles, the elder, refused to step down. Polynices and six foreign princes marched on Thebes. All were defeated. The brothers killed each other in a duel, making Creon king. Creon ordered Eteocles buried in honor and left Polynices to rot on the pain of death.It is dawn, and the house is still asleep. Antigone sneaks in and the Nurse appears and asks where she has been. Suddenly Ismene enters, also asking where Antigone has been. Antigone sends the Nurse away for coffee. Ismene declares that they cannot bury Polynices and that she must understand Creon's intentions. Antigone refuses and bids Ismene to go back to bed. Suddenly Haemon enters and Antigone asks Haemon to hold her with all his strength. She tells him that she will never be able to marry him. Stupefied, Haemon departs. Ismene returns, terrified that Antigone will attempt to bury Polynices despite the daylight. Antigone reveals that she has already done so.Later that day, the nervous First Guard enters and informs Creon that someone covered Polynices's body with a little dirt last night. He orders the guards to uncover the body and keep the matter secret. 

Emily Dickinson Biography.

One of the finest poets in the English language, the American poet Emily Dickinson was a keen observer of nature and a wise interpreter of human passion. In the privacy of her study, Dickinson developed her own forms of poetry and pursued her own visions, not paying attention to the fashions of literature of her day. Most of her work was published by her family and friends after her death.

Early life and education

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, the oldest daughter of Edward Dickinson, a successful lawyer, member of Congress, and for many years treasurer of Amherst College, and of Emily Norcross Dickinson, a timid woman. Dickinson was fun-loving as a child, very smart, and enjoyed the company of others. Her brother, Austin, became a lawyer like his father and was also treasurer of Amherst College. The youngest child of the family, Lavinia, became the chief housekeeper and, like her sister Emily, remained at home all her life and never married. The sixth member of this tightly knit group was Susan Gilbert, Emily's ambitious and witty schoolmate who married Austin in 1856 and who moved into the house next door to the Dickinsons. At first she was Emily's very close friend and a valued critic of her poetry, but by 1879 Emily was speaking of her as a "pseudo-sister" (false sister) and had long since stopped exchanging notes and poems.Amherst in the 1840s was a sleepy village dominated by religion and the college. Dickinson was not religious and probably did not like some elements of the town—concerts were rare, and card games, dancing, and theater were unheard of. For relaxation she walked the hills with her dog, visited friends, and read.Dickinson graduated from Amherst Academy in 1847. The following year (the longest time she was ever to spend away from home) she attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, but because of her fragile health she did not return. At the age of seventeen she settled into the Dickinson home and turned herself into a housekeeper and a more than ordinary observer of Amherst life.

The Canterbury Tales Summary. The Cook's Tale

Roger of Ware, the Cook, claps the Reeve on the back “for joye”. Delighted with the way Symkyn the miller had received his comeuppance in the tale, the Cook then promises a tale of his own, despite the fact that he is only a “povre man” (a poor man). The Host answers, granting Roger the next tale. But he adds “looke that it be good”, and comments on Roger’s tendency to draw the gravy out of unsold pies, and resell pies that have already been reheated twice in his shop, full of flies."">The Host’s conclusion incites Roger the Cook to tell a story “in game” (in jest, in fun).. Roger agrees, and, reminding Harry Bailly (the Host) not to be angry, particularly because his tale is about a “hostileer” (pub-owner, like the Host himself), he begins his tale.The Cook’s TaleOnce an apprentice lived in “our city” (perhaps “Ware” in Hertfordshire – the town the Cook is from) and his craft was selling food. 

He was a short man, with a dark complexion and black hair – and he was an excellent dancer: so good, that people called him “Perkin Reveller” (to “revel” is to dance and have a good time).He loved the tavern better than his shop, and, whenever there was a procession in Cheapside, he would run out of the shop to enjoy himself and dance, forgetting about work. He often stole from his master, with whom he lived until he had finished his apprenticeship. However, one day, his master sent for him, and quoting the proverb “It is better to take the rotten apple out of the bag than to have it rot all the other apples”, decided to get rid of him.Now this jolly apprentice had his leave, and could riot all night if he so pleased – and eventually, he found board with a companion of his own sort: who loved dice, and reveling, and pleasure. This companion had a wife who, for the sake of appearances only, kept a shop – and had sex for a living. Thus – abruptly – ends the Cook’s Tale.AnalysisThus ends the first fragment of the Canterbury Tales with a tale that breaks off before it has really gets anywhere - and the real question is whether the tale is deliberately left unfinished by Chaucer, whether he intended to return to it, or whether we have just lost some of the manuscript. There are no definite answers, unfortunately, and critics have argued for all three positions.That said, there are a few interesting things about the tale as we have it. Firstly, Roger of Ware seems to have been a real person who lived at the same time as Chaucer. 

This lends a whole new aspect to the Canterbury Tales, if we consider that Chaucer might have populated his pilgrimage with real people, whom his audience might have recognized. The whole question, raised already in other tales, of reality verses fiction, takes on a deeper level when we consider that Chaucer is not the only pilgrim to have a dual existence - in the real world and within the fictional one. Might this tale be in some way a parody or a joke at the real Roger’s expense? It’s very possible, but impossible to prove.Seth Lerer has persuasively argued that – like many other of Chaucer’s works, including “The House of Fame”, and “The Legend of Good Women” – there is a very real possibility that the Cook’s Tale might have been left deliberately unfinished. It is, Professor Lerer argues, a tale which breaks off just at the point where we understand what sort of tale it is to be – a grim, gritty tale about a prostitute and a drunken, good-for-nothing apprentice. The trajectory from the formal, fictionalized, stylish romance of the Knight’s Tale, down through the fabliaux of the Miller and Reeve hits rock-bottom with a realistic tale about a real Cook and animal copulation in exchange for money. We don’t hear the Cook’s Tale told: but we know all too well what sort of thing is to come next - and so language disintegrates completely at the end of the First Fragment. Formal language was replaced by bodily noises in the Miller’s Tale, language was replaced by action in the Reeve’s Tale, and now language stops altogether. The whole project of the Tales comes to a dead standstill.

Marriage Morning BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

Light, so low upon earth,
You send a flash to the sun.Here is the golden close of love,
All my wooing is done.
Oh, all the woods and the meadows,
Woods, where we hid from the wet,Stiles where we stayed to be kind, Meadows in which we met!Light, so low in the vale
You flash and lighten afar,
For this is the golden morning of love,
And you are his morning star.
Flash, I am coming, I come,
By meadow and stile and wood,
Oh, lighten into my eyes and my heart,
Into my heart and my blood!
Heart, are you great enough For a love that never tires?
O heart, are you great enough for love?
I have heard of thorns and briers.
Over the thorns and briers, Over the meadows and stiles,
Over the world to the end of it
Flash of a million miles.

The Man of Law’s Tale.

In Syria there dwelt a company of wealthy traders who made a journey to Rome. After a certain time there, they heard of the beauty of Constance, the emperor's daughter, renowned equally for her virtue, her goodness and her beauty. When they had seen her themselves, the merchants returned to Syria, and reported to the sultan, who was immediately taken with lust and wonder for Constance.The sultan met with his advisors and told them of his intent, but they could conceive of no way that he could marry Constance, for no Christian emperor would allow his daughter to marry a Muslim. “Rather than I lese / Custance, I wol be cristned” (Rather than I lose / Constance, I will be christened) answered the sultan, and, insisting that his baronage were christened with him, the sultan set about having his court christened.The Roman Emperor heard of the sultan’s desire, and agreed to it, organizing a huge amount of pomp and circumstance for the occasion. 

The day arrived for Constance to depart, and everyone prepared themselves. But Constance, overcome with sorrow, arose from bed and dressed to depart, knowing that there was no other way things could be.It is no wonder, the narrator comments, that she wept, considering that she was being sent to a foreign country, away from her friends, to be married to someone she had never met. Constance then addressed her father, sad to leave him and go to the “Barbre nacioun” (pagan land), hoping that she would fulfill Christ’s behest, continuing I, wrecche woman, no fors though I spille! (I am just a wretched woman, and it doesn’t matter if I die)Wommen are born to thralldom and penance, (women are born to slavery and suffering)And to been under mannes governance. (and to live under men’s governing)Constance was brought to the ship, and desperately trying to put on a brave face, sailed away.Meanwhile, the Sultan’s mother, “welle of vices” (a well of vice), who knew her son’s intention, called her counsellers to her and told them that she would rather die than renounce Mohammed’s law (and Islam). Each man swore to live and die with her, and she instructed them to be baptized as her son had ordered (“Cooold water shal nat greve us but a lite!”)The first part of the tale ends with a damning of the Sultanesse, the “roote of iniquitee”, as the Sultan agrees to do her the honor of having the Christians to feast at her table.
The Christians arrived in Syria with a great and solemn crowd, and, after many celebrations, the time came for all of the Christian folk, along with the Sultan’s entourage, to feast at the Sultanesse’s house. The tale breaks off to mourn “sodeyn wo, that evere art successour / To worldly blisse” (sudden woe, which is always the successor of worldly bliss) before revealing that every one of the Christians and the Sultan were knifed and cut to pieces at the table. There was now in Syria no-one who had converted to Christianity – only Constance survived.The Sultanesse’s men took Constance and put her in a ship without a rudder, bidding her to learn to sail out of Syria and back to Italy. She had a certain amount of treasure on board, and the men had supplied her with food and with clothes - and forth she sailed across the sea. Constance blessed herself and said a prayer to Christ’s cross. At this point the story breaks back to narrative again, and the Man of Law (or Chaucer) raises the question of why Constance was not also killed at the feast – answering it with another question: who saved Daniel in the lion’s den? Christian God is the answer to both.The ship finally crashed on the shores of Northumberland.  

The warden of a nearby castle found Constance and gave her shelter, but she refused to reveal her identity. He and his wife, Dame Hermengyld, were pagans, but Constance soon secretly converted the wife to Christianity. In this heathen land, Christians could only practice their faith in secret. While walking on the beach, Constance, Hermengyld and her husband came upon a blind Christian, who identified her without his eyes. Although Hermengild feared that her husband would reproach her for attempting the conversion, this miracle converted him too to Christianity

Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen

Here was once a woman who wished very much to have a little child, but she could not obtain her wish. At last she went to a fairy, and said, "I should so very much like to have a little child; can you tell me where I can find one?"

"Oh, that can be easily managed," said the fairy. "Here is a barleycorn of a different kind to those which grow in the farmer’s fields, and which the chickens eat; put it into a flower-pot, and see what will happen."

"Thank you," said the woman, and she gave the fairy twelve shillings, which was the price of the barleycorn. Then she went home and planted it, and immediately there grew up a large handsome flower, something like a tulip in appearance, but with its leaves tightly closed as if it were still a bud. "It is a beautiful flower," said the woman, and she kissed the red and golden-colored leaves, and while she did so the flower opened, and she could see that it was a real tulip. Within the flower, upon the green velvet stamens, sat a very delicate and graceful little maiden. She was scarcely half as long as a thumb, and they gave her the name of "Thumbelina," or Tiny, because she was so small. A walnut-shell, elegantly polished, served her for a cradle; her bed was formed of blue violet-leaves, with a rose-leaf for a counterpane. Here she slept at night, but during the day she amused herself on a table, where the woman had placed a plateful of water. Round this plate were wreaths of flowers with their stems in the water, and upon it floated a large tulip-leaf, which served Tiny for a boat. Here the little maiden sat and rowed herself from side to side, with two oars made of white horse-hair. It really was a very pretty sight. Tiny could, also, sing so softly and sweetly that nothing like her singing had ever before been heard. One night, while she lay in her pretty bed, a large, ugly, wet toad crept through a broken pane of glass in the window, and leaped right upon the table where Tiny lay sleeping under her rose-leaf quilt. "What a pretty little wife this would make for my son," said the toad, and she took up the walnut-shell in which little Tiny lay asleep, and jumped through the window with it into the garden.