The Bangle Sellers Summary by Sarojini Naidu

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The Bangle Sellers Poem Summary by Sarojini Naidu

The Bangle Sellers Summary by Sarojini Naidu About the Poet

Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949), commonly known as Nightingale of India, was a poet and politician. She was the first Indian woman to become the President of Indian National Congress, and also the governor of an Indian state. In 1905, her first coliection of poems, named The Golden Threshold was published. Her poems were admired by many prominent Indian politicians.

Subsequently, other widely acclaimed collections including The Bird of Time, The Broken Wing and The Sceptred Flute were published during her life-time. The Feather of the Dawn, her collection of poems, was edited and published posthumously in 1961.

The Bangle Sellers Summary About the Poem

The poem Bangle Sellers was first published in 1912 by Sarojini Naidu in her collection of poems called The Bird of Time’. Naidu’s poetry is best known for her use of imagery and contemporary Indian themes. Among her other poems, this poem stands out as a social message that not only discusses the lives of Indian women but also the lives of bangle sellers.

Although the poem focuses extensively on the stages in the life of women, yet it portrays the lives of the bangle sellers as well. Not once is the poverty or the hardship of their vocation is mentioned in the poem and the “shining loads” denotes the heaviness of the bangles.

The bangle seller employs a joyful voice which makes us forget that their livelihoods depend on the sale of these bangles. The women in their lives are all portrayed as happy., probably because the happiness of the bangle seller relies upon the happiness of these women.

The Bangle Sellers Summary of the Poem

The poem is about a group of bangle sellers who are on their way to the temple fair to sell their bangles. One of them is the narrator of this poem. The bangle sellers take their bangles to the temple fair to sell them. The bangles are termed as “lustrous tokens of radiant lives” which symbolize love and happiness in people’s lives particularly the daughters and wives who become happy to possess them.

The poet says that some of the bangles are made for the unmarried women that are silver and blue in colour. The bangles made for the brides glow like corn fields radiating in the morning and like her marriage flame, ricli like her heart’s desires. The bangles are tinkling, tender and clear with ‘luminous’ colours like the bride’s laughter and tears. Some bangles are made for the elderly women who have journeyed a great deal in their life.

These bangles are purple in colour flecked with gold and grey colours suitable for the middle-aged women who have served their household well, cradled their sons and have worshipped the Gods with their husbands beside them.

The Bangle Sellers Summary Critical Analysis

The poem is divided into four stanzas, each comprising six lines. Each stanza consists of three couplets and has the rhyming pattern- abahab.Bangle sellers take their load of bangles to the temple fair to sell them. The bangles are termed as “lustrous tokens of radiant lives” which mean that they are symbols of love in people’s lives. The bangles are made for happy daughters arid happy wives.

The poet says that some of the bangles are made for the unmarried women and they are of silver and blue in colour. The other bangles made for the bride glows like the fields of corn during morning and some glow like the bride’s marriage flame rich in colour like her heart’s desires. The bangles are tinkling with ‘luminous’ colours like the bride’s laughter or tears. Some bangles are made for the elderly women who have journeyed through half of their life.

These bangles are of purple and grey colours with gold fleckers. These women have served their household well, cradled their sons and have worshipped the household gods with their husbands beside them.

Shining loads, delicate, bright, rainbow-tinted circles of light and lustrous tokens of radiant lives are a few other ways of referring to bangles. People usually buy bangles on temple fairs and such are occasions of happiness. Both the rich and poor buy these bangles and gift them to their wives and daughters. Some of these bangles are perfectly suiting for young girls. They are silver and blue in colour as “the mountain mist”.

Some are flushed red like buds dreaming of their blooming on the tranquil banks of woodland streams. Some have the light like clear glow of the glorious leaves that are just recently born. The bangles mentioned above possess purity and tranquillity in common.

The poem brilliantly and soulfully explores the imagery associated with bangles and the implications for women’s roles in a traditionalist Indian social setting. The speaker makes strong connections between the bangles and their role in providing “happy daughters and happy wives.” The subsequent stanzas describe lush and natural imagery, the beauty of the bangles and their precious values.

Some of these descriptions invoke the passion of “marriage’s fire” and, in the last stanza: help to bring to light the socially accepted role of women in this setting. The purple and grey bangles, flecked with gold colour symbolize a woman who “serves her household in fruitful pride, and worships the gods at her husband’s side.” The grey colour indicates the maturity that comes with age. It is not very clear in the poem if the bangle seller is a man or a woman, and perhaps, some level of meaning might change if one plays with the gender of the speaker.

The Bangle Sellers Summary Word-Meanings

  1. rainbow tinted – rainbow coloured
  2. lustrous – shining
  3. tokens – symbols; meet suitable
  4. tranquil brow – calm and quiet bank of a river, lake, pond, etc.;
  5. limpid – clear
  6. hue – colour
  7. luminous – glowing
  8. cherished – care tenderly
  9. blest – blessed; gold flecked
  10. grey – sprinkling of gold colour over grey colour
  11. cradled- brought up.

 

The Cold Within Summary by James Patrick Kinney

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The Cold Within Poem Summary by James Patrick Kinney

The Cold Within Summary by James Patrick Kinney About the Poet

James Kinney (1923-1974) was born in a very poor Irish family in Cincinnati and had a very tough childhood. He went to the 10th grade of high school, when he dropped out to take care of his mother. Because of that, he spent his whole life self-educating and in the process, started reading and writing poetry.

After a brief stint with the Civilian Conservation Corps, he joined the army and was stationed in the Philippines as a radio man. On his return to USA, he started writing more extensively. Apart from The Cold Within, which is his best-known piece, he wrote a number of poems that were published in different magazines.

Some of these include OJA Rejected Poem, Of Life’s Sad Moments, I Can’t Change You, This Dream Bemusing, Tomorrow’s Another Day, Never Alone and What is Success. During his lifetime, none of his collections was brought out. Now, all his poems are available on the blog ‘ALL THINGS IF’ run by his wife and son.

The Cold Within Summary About the Poem

“The Cold Within” was written in the 1960s by the American poet James Patrick Kinney. In almost five decades since its publication, the poem has achieved great popularity, appearing in countless church bulletins, websites and teaching seminars, as well as magazines and newspapers.

The poem was first submitted to the Saturday Evening Post, but it was rejected as “too controversial for the time”. Kinney sent it later to Liguorian, a Catholic magazine, which was the first commercial publication to print it. At the outset, the poem was read at an ecumenical council meeting, after which the ministers, priests and rabbis in attendance requested copies of it. They read the poem to their congregations and, before long, The Cold Within became well known throughout the United States.

The Cold Within Summary of the Poem

Simple yet powerful this poem is about the consequences of ‘letting your prejudices control your decisions’. It opens with six people trapped by chance in the biting cold weather and each had a stick of wood. The fire which is keeping them warm is about to die anytime but none is ready to put his/her log to use. The people have different reasons for this. Beginning with the lady who didn’t wanted to save a black man in the group.

The Cold Within Poem Summary
The Cold Within Poem Summary

The next man saw a person not being of his religion. The third one being poor dressed in rags, envied the rich. The rich man did not want to give anything to the undeserving poor. The black man thought it to be a chance to take revenge on the white people and the last man was full of selfishness who would help only if there is something beneficial in return.

In the end, it appears as the sticks they all held tightly in their hands, stood as the symbol of revenge and hatred. They lacked the aura of humanity. The selfish souls invited the death and they died by the coldness of their hearts.

The Cold Within Summary Critical Analysis

The poem “The Cold Within” by James Patrick Kinney consists of 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyming pattern is abcb for all the stanzas. Each stanza presents a person who has a different prejudice against someone else around the fire. They all make the same decision and all pay the same price for that decision as seen in the end.

Here, the poet employs diction, figurative language, and rhyme to project his point that certain prejudices control people’s lives and actions. Due to these prejudices, we often tend to lose sensitivity towards others regarding them as inferior, hostile or different.

The line that Kinney starts his poem with is “six humans trapped by happenstance”. His diction in this line is very important to the overall theme of the poem. By saying “six humans”, it is almost as if he is talking about all humans. If he would have said “people” then we might have different associations with the words. Another curious use of diction is by saying “trapped in happenstance”.

Happenstance means an event that might have been arranged although it is accidental. This use of diction is important because by saying that it is accidental, it almost seems arranged, and gives the reader a sense that they are supposed to be there. The fact that he says they are trapped suggests that they do not want to be in the situation, but also they cannot escape.

Figurative language plays a vital role in developing the poem’s theme. “Their dying fire in need of logs” literally means the fire that is keeping them warm, but also stands as a metaphor for their sinful souls. They are committing sins such as racism, envy, arrogance, revenge, and greed.Opening up and not being greedy would have warmed their souls and saved them.

Unfortunately, they are so much blinded by their prejudices against one another that their survival becomes impossible. The rhyme of the poems sets up an easy read. This allows for your eyes to simply guide and take in Kinney’s message: the frigidness of people is what ends up killing them. The rhythm is important to the theme of the story because it makes reading the poem faster. This is important because this indirectly shows how fast arrogance, greed, and sin can. “kill” you.

James Patrick Kinney effectively portrays his point about hatred killing. His persuasion in this poem is really helpful in understanding the entirety behind his point. This poem really makes us think about ourselves and the heights to which we would go to either hurt someone else, or save ourselves. The poet uses symbolism to help the reader understand the consequences of holding back their “logs.” The logs represent their prejudices. And because they can’t give them up to keep the fire going, they all die.

The Cold Within Summary Word Meanings

  1. happenstance – a chance occurrence; coincidence
  2. possessed – kept
  3. logs – pieces of wood
  4. tattered – torn
  5. idle – inactive
  6. shiftless – good-for-nothing; lazy;
  7. bespoke – showed signs of something
  8. spite – retaliate with malice
  9. forlorn- sad; dejected
  10. nought – nothing

The Wonderful Words Summary in English by Mary O Neill

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The Wonderful Words Summary in English by Mary O Neill

Poet NameMary O Neill
Born7 November 1941 (age 78 years), Toronto, Canada
EducationUniversity of Toronto – St. George Campus
PartyProgressive Conservative Association of Alberta
The Wonderful Words Summary by Mary O Neill
The Wonderful Words Summary by Mary O Neill

The Wonderful Words Summary in English

All people think as well as speak. It is God’s special gift to man. Every person speaks at least one language to express his thoughts.

The poet advises us to master a language, at least, our mother tongue. We must not let a great or good thought die because we don’t know how to say it.

English is a wonderful and rich language. One can express one’s thoughts in this language effectively. What we need is to look for proper words to put forth our ideas clearly. It is wrong to think that there are no lovely thoughts left to be expressed.

Words are a wonderful medium to communicate. If you have some new and beautiful thing to say, eveiyone is willing to hear it.

Every thought is like a prisoner in our mind. We can set that idea free with the help of words. It is just possible that the thought may be marvellous.

The Wonderful Words Summary in Hindi

सभी मनुष्य सोचते और बोलते हैं। यह परमात्मा की मानव को विशेष देन है। हर व्यक्ति कम से कम एक भाषा तो अपने विचार व्यक्त करने हेतु बोलता ही है।

कवि हमें सलाह देता है कि हम कम से कम अपनी मातृभाषा में निपुणता हासिल कर लें। हमें अपने किसी महान या सुन्दर विचार को केवल इस कारण मरने नहीं देना चाहिये कि हम उसे प्रगट करने की शैली नहीं जानते।

अंग्रेजी एक अद्भुत तथा समृद्ध भाषा है। व्यक्ति इस भाषा में अपने विचारों को प्रभावोत्पादक तरीके से व्यक्त कर सकता है। हमें ज़रूरत इस बात की होती है कि हम उसके लिये उपयुक्त शब्द खोज लें ताकि हमारी बात स्पष्ट हो जाये। यह सोचना गलत है कि अब कोई भी सुमधुर विचार कहने के लिये बचे ही नहीं।

शब्द, संचार के अद्भुत साधन हैं। यदि आपको कोई नयी और सुन्दर बात कहनी है तो उसके लिये श्रोताओं की कमी नहीं है।

हर विचार हमारे मस्तिष्क में एक कैदी की भाँति होता है। शब्दों के सहारे हम उस विचार को मुक्ति दे सकते हैं। नितान्त संभव है कि वह विचार बहुत उच्च कोटि का हो।

The Heart of a Tree Summary by Henry Cuyler Bunner

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The Heart of a Tree Poem Summary by Henry Cuyler Bunner

The Heart of a Tree by Henry Cuyler Bunner About the Poet

Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855-1896) was an American poet, novelist, and editor. He wrote verses and fictions that depict the scenes and people of New York City where he spent a greater part of his life. He began his short but prolific career as a staff reporter with the Arcadian. Subsequently, he joined Puck as assistant editor and became its editor until his untimely death.

He played a pioneering role in developing Puck from a new, struggling comic weekly into a powerful social and political organ. As a poet, his best-known anthology was titled Airs from A ready and Elsewhere {1884), which contained one of his popular early poems. The Way to Arcady, Rowen and Poems were his two other collections that were published when he was alive.

The latter, edited by his friend Brander Matthews, displays the pleasantly comical side of his imaginative brilliance and deftness of his fine yet largely underrated poetic craft. He also wrote clever vers de societe and parodies. Bunner’s fiction, particularly Made in France; French Tales Retold with a United States Twist, reflects the influence of the French master Guy de Maupassant and other French writers. As a playwright he is known chiefly for Tower of Babel. His short story Zenobia’s Infidelity was made into a feature film called Zenobia starring Harry Langdon and Oliver Hardy by the Hal Roach Studio in 1939.

The Heart of a Tree Summary About the Poem

“The Heart of the Tree” is a poem by Henry Cuyler Bunner, brought out ‘ in 1893. It was published in the Century Magazine, a reputed magazine of the 19th century. Immediately after its publication, the poem started receiving rave reviews for its refreshing approach to nature, earthy ecological sensitivity and brilliant depiction of humanist spirit.

As many people observe, the poem is not so much about trees or forests as about the art or skill of plantation, involving the amazing work of human hands that make life better, richer and healthier for us without asking for much in lieu. The poem clearly celebrates it for the pioneering contribution it makes to our lives on all counts.

As readers, what strikes us no less is its great relevance today, when we are experiencing disasters in all parts of the world due precisely to the callous and insensitive attitude of some of us towards natural resources.

The Heart of a Tree Summary of the Poem

The poem ‘The Heart of the Tree’ is poem about the beauty of planting a tree or the satisfaction derived from this practice. In this poem, the poet beautifully describes the actual essence of what a person plants when he plants a tree. The poet aptly says that when somebody plants a tree, he plants not only what we call a tree, but something that serves as a friend of sun, sky, and breeze.

The Heart of a Tree Poem Summary
The Heart of a Tree Poem Summary

Here, the poet wants to say that the sky’s brightness, sun’s warmth and the touch of breeze make them a friend of a plant. He further observes that the stems are like beauty shafts which keep growing. The dense branches of the plant act as a true shelter or home to different types of birds, with their colourful presence as messengers of Nature’s beauty, diversity and bounteousness.

They tweet, chirp and croon in their fascinating voices thus making the surroundings pleasant. In a way, as the poet feels, the person who plants a tree also plants a future. This is because the tree will bring rain and coolness to the environment, and will thus become an identity of the habitat.

This will play a major role in producing food for future generation. Furthermore, the person who plants trees also acts as a good citizen of his country because, by planting a tree, he brings joy and blessings to the neighbourhood. As a result of all he does, the land becomes fertile, and thus a boon to the humankind.

The Heart of a Tree Summary Critical Analysis

The poem ‘The Heart of the Tree’ comprises three stanzas of 9 lines each. The rhyming pattern for the three stanzas is slightly uneven, and it can be indicated as ababbccaa. The poem begins with a refrain ‘What does he plant who plants a tree?’ that is repeated at the beginning of each stanza highlighting the thought that how beneficial it is to plant a tree.

In the first stanza the poet explains that one who plants a tree plants a friend of sun and sky, flag of free breezes and home to countless birds whose song we hear in the twilight that denotes heaven’s harmony. In the second stanza the poet emphasizes that he plants shade and rain, seeds and buds of tomorrow which would raise the glory of earth in plains and strengthen the forests to benefit generations ahead, in the third stanza he concludes one who plants a tree germinates the far-cast thought that would bring blessings resulting in growth of the nation.

The poem discusses the usefulness of a tree elaborating on how a tree that is planted benefits not only the«nature, a nation, but also contributes to the growth of humankind. One who plants a tree aspires for his nation’s growth. Trees stand straight and steady, giving an impression as if they are touching the sun and the sky. They sway with the breeze and beautify the surrounding.

They are home to chirruping birds which sing sweetly and display heaven’s harmony on this earth. Trees give us shade and bring rain. They pave a way for many more seeds to grow and buds to bloom in future. Trees contribute to forest wealth of our nation arid they ensure plenty harvest in the days to come. The one who plants a tree has a noble thought of a common good that would be a boon for man in general and the nation in particular. He has a dream of the growth of all his land when he plants a tree.

The Heart of a Tree Summary Word Meanings

  1. breezes – soft cold winds
  2. shaft – gleam; streak
  3. towering high – growing as tall as a tower
  4. anigh – close; near
  5. mother – croon of bird – the soft song that mother bird sings to her young ones;
  6. tender – soft; mellow
  7. fade – wither
  8. flush – wash out
  9. heritage – legacy
  10. unborn eyes – reference to future generations yet to born
  11. sap – juice; liquid
  12. far – cast – foresee
  13. civic – public
  14. hollow – empty space; void
  15. stirs – stimulates

 

Where Do All the Teachers Go? Summary in English by Peter Dixon

Where Do All the Teachers Go? Summary in English by Peter Dixon

Where Do All the Teachers Go? Summary in English

For a little child, his/her teacher is special, not an ordinary person. So he wonders where the teachers go after the school hours.

He wants to know if they live in houses and also wash their clothes. He wonders if they feel relaxed at home, wear pyjamas and watch TV. He is also eager to know if the teachers have their parents at home, and if they too were naughty at school, spelt the words wrongly, ate chocolates in the class, and were told to stand in the comer as punishment.

The child compares his own habits with those of the teachers in their childhood. They too must have lost their prayer book, wore dirty jeans and scribbled on the desk tops.

The child plans to follow his teacher to find out what he/she does at home. He will then record that in a poem. The teacher will read that poem to other children as a fun.

Where Do All the Teachers Go? Summary in Hindi

एक छोटे बच्चे के लिये उसका शिक्षक कोई साधारण व्यक्ति नहीं, विशेष व्यक्ति होता है। उसे हैरानी होती है कि स्कूल की छुट्टी होने के पश्चात शिक्षक जाते कहाँ हैं।

वह जानना चाहता है कि शिक्षक भी क्या घरों में रहते हैं तथा अपने वस्त्र स्वयं धोते हैं। वह सोच नहीं पाता कि क्या शिक्षक घर पर सहज हो जाते हैं, पैजामा पहन कर टी.वी. देखते हैं। वह यह जानना चाहता है कि क्या उनके भी माता-पिता घर पर होते हैं, क्या वे भी अपने विद्यार्थी जीवन में शैतानी करते थे, शब्द गलत लिखते थे, चाकलेट कक्षा में चबाते थे; तथा उन्हें दण्ड स्वरूप कक्षा के एक कोने में खड़ा कर दिया जाता था।

बच्चा अपनी आदतों की तुलना शिक्षक के बचपन की आदतों से करता है। हो सकता है शिक्षक भी अपनी प्रार्थना पुस्तिका खो देते हों, गंदी जीन्स पहनते हों तथा डेस्क के ऊपर कछ लकीरें खींचते हों।

बच्चा योजना बनाता है कि वह शिक्षक के पीछे उसके घर तक जाकर उनकी गतिविधियों की जानकारी लेगा। फिर वह जानकारी को कविताबद्ध कर देगा। शिक्षक उस पुस्तक को मजा लेने के लिये दूसरे बच्चों को पढ़कर सुनायेगा।