5. BIOGRAPHY Kamala Suraiya, better known as Kamala Das, is a well-known female Indian writer writing in English as well as Malayalam, her native language. She is considered one of the outstanding Indian poets writing in English, although her popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography. Much of her writing in Malayalam came under the pen name Madhavikkutty. She was born on March 31, 1934 in Malabar in Kerala, India. She is the daughter of V.M. Nair, a former managing editor of the widely-circulated Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi, and Nalappatt Balamani Amma, a renowned Malayali poetess. In 1984, she was short-listed for the Nobel Prize for Literature along with Marguerite Yourcenar, Doris Lessing, and Nadine Gordimer. Kamala Das spent her childhood between Calcutta, where her father was employed as a senior officer in the Walford Transport Company that sold Bentleys and Rolls Royce, and the Nalappatt ancestral home at Ponnayoorkulam in south Malabar region. Her husband often played a fatherly role for both Das and her sons. Because of the great age difference between Kamala and her husband, he often encouraged her to associate with people of her own age.
30. Shakespeare's head, Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities. Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map Awarding the world its world.
31. And yet, for these Children, these windows, not this world, are world, Where all their future's painted with a fog,
32. A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky, Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.
33. Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, and the map a bad example With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal-- For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes From fog to endless night?
34. On their slag heap, these children Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
35. All of their time and space are foggy slum. So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
36. Unless, governor, teacher, inspector, visitor, This map becomes their window and these windows That shut upon their lives like catacombs, Slums
39. Break O break open 'till they break the town And show the children green fields and make their world Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues Run naked into books, the white and green leaves open History is theirs whose language is the sun.
45. During his lifetime, Neruda occupied many diplomatic posts and served a stint as senator for the Chilean Communist Party. When Conservative Chilean President González Videla outlawed communism in Chile, a warrant was issued for Neruda's arrest. Friends hid him for months in a basement of a home in the Chilean port of Valparaíso. Neruda then escaped into exile through a mountain pass near Maihue Lake into Argentina. Years later, Neruda was a close collaborator to Socialist President Salvador Allende. Hospitalized with cancer at the time of the Chilean coup d'état led by Augusto Pinochet which took the life of his close friend Allende, Neruda died of heart failure twelve days later. Already a l egend in life, Neruda's death became charged with an intense symbolism that reverberated around the world. Pinochet had denied permission to transform Neruda's funeral into a public event, but thousands of grieving Chileans disobeyed the curfew, flooding the streets in tribute. Neruda's funeral became the first public protest against the Chilean military dictatorship. Neruda's pen name was derived from Czech writer and poet Jan Neruda; it later became his legal name.
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48. The Greek form of the name is from the native Akkadian Bāb-ilim, which means "Gate of the god". This correctly summarizes the religious purpose of the great temple towers (the ziggurats) of ancient Sumer (which many believe to be Biblical Shinar in modern southern Iraq). These huge, squared-off stepped temples were intended as gateways for the gods to come to earth, literal stairways to heaven. "Reaching heaven" is a common description in temple tower inscriptions. This is the type of structure referred to in the Biblical narrative, though artists and biblical scholars envisioned the tower in many different ways. Pieter Brueghel's influential portrayal is based on the Colosseum in Rome, while later conical depictions of the tower (as depicted in Doré's illustration) resemble much later Muslim towers observed by 19th century explorers in the area, notably the Minaret of Samarra. M. C. Escher depicts a more stylized geometrical structure in his woodcut representing the story. Height of the tower The height of the tower is largely a matter of speculation, but since the tower symbolically can be considered a precursor to humankind's desire to build tall structures throughout history, its height is a significant aspect of it. The tower commissioned by Nebuchadnezzar in about 560 BC in the form of an eight-level ziggurat is believed by historians to have been about 100 meters (328 feet) in height. The narrative in the book of Genesis does not mention how tall the Biblical tower was, and it has traditionally not been much of a subject of debate. There are, however, relevant extra-canonical sources. The Book of Jubilees mentions the tower's height as being 5433 cubits and 2 palms (8,150 feet, 2,484 meters high), or nearly 2.5 kilometers, several times taller than the tallest modern structures. The Third Apocalypse of Baruch mentions that the 'tower of strife' reached a height of 463 cubits (694 feet and 6 inches, 212 meters high), taller than any other structure built in the ancient world including the Pyramid of Cheops in Giza, Egypt, and taller than any structure built in human history until the construction of the Eiffel Tower in 1889.
57. John Keats was born in 1795 at 85 Moorgate in London, where his father, Thomas Keats, was a hostler. The pub is now called "Keats The Grove", only a few yards from Moorgate station. Keats was baptised at St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate and lived happily for the first seven years of his life. The beginnings of his troubles occurred in 1804, when his father died from a fractured skull after falling from his horse. His mother, Frances Jennings Keats, remarried soon afterwards, but quickly left the new husband and moved herself and her four children (a son had died in infancy) to live with Keats' grandmother, Alice Jennings. There, Keats attended a school that first instilled in him a love of literature. In 1810, however, his mother died of tuberculosis, leaving him and his siblings in the custody of their grandmother. Keats' grandmother appointed two guardians to take care of her new "charges", and these guardians removed Keats from his old school to become a surgeon's apprentice. This continued until 1814, when, after a fight with his master, he left his apprenticeship and became a student at King's College London. During that year, he devoted more and more of his time to the study of literature. Keats travelled to the Isle of Wight in the spring of 1819, where he spent a week. Later that year he stayed in Winchester. It was in Winchester that Keats wrote Isabella, St. Agnes' Eve and Lamia. Parts of Hyperion and the five-act poetic tragedy Otho The Great were also written in Winchester. BIOGRAPHY
58. Following the death of his grandmother, he soon found his brother, Tom Keats, entrusted to his care. Tom was suffering, as his mother had, from tuberculosis. Finishing his epic poem "Endymion", Keats left to work in Scotland and Ireland with his friend Charles Brown. However, he too began to show signs of tuberculosis infection on that trip, and returned prematurely. When he did, he found that Tom's condition had deteriorated, and that Endymion had, as had Poems before it, been the target of much abuse from the critics. On 1 December 1818, Tom Keats died from his disease, and John Keats moved again, to live in Brown's house in Hampstead. There he lived next door to Fanny Brawne, where she had been staying with her mother. He then quickly fell in love with Fanny. However, it was overall an unhappy affair for the poet; Keats' ardour for her seemed to bring him more vexation than comfort. The later (posthumous) publication of their correspondence was to scandalise Victorian society. In the diary of Fanny Brawne was found only one sentence regarding the separation: "Mr. Keats has left Hampstead." Fanny's letters to Keats were, as the poet had requested, destroyed upon his death.
59. A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its lovliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing A flowery band to bind us to the earth, Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth Of noble natures, of the gloomy days, Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkn'd ways Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all, Some shape of beauty moves away the pall From our dark spirits.
60. Endymion in Greek Mythology Endymion was a legendary character in Greek mythology. The details of his compelling legend have inspired art, poetry, and literature over the centuries. And the reason we enjoy Endymion's tale is obvious - it is an unconventional love story. For in myth, Endymion was a remarkably handsome mortal man who caught the eye of a goddess. There a several subtle variations about the life of Endymion. Some sources suggest that he was a king of Elis, while other ancient authorities claim that he was a Carian. However, these different versions of Endymion's ancestry are much less important than the part of the myth that matters most, which is, of course, his relationship with the goddess Selene . According to the myth, Selene, the eternally beautiful goddess of the Moon, gazed upon Endymion and fell madly in love with him. It is said that in time Selene bore the handsome mortal fifty daughters. Scholars have suggested that the number of daughters is symbolic, with each daughter possibly representing an individual month of an Olympiad. Certainly, the story of a mortal and an immortal engaging in a legendary affair is interesting enough, but there is even more to this intriguing tale. It is important to remember that, as a mortal, Endymion was subject to the fate that we all share - aging and eventual death. However, the Greek gods and goddesses did not age and die. Instead, the gods of Greece remained young and beautiful for all time. The relationship between Endymion and Selene, therefore, faced some serious problems. Selene came up with a solution to this dilemma. According to one version of the myth, the goddess of the Moon cast a spell on her lover, making him sleep forever. In this state of eternal slumber, Endymion kept both his
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62. Such the sun, the moon, Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon For simple sheep;
63. and such are daffodils With the green world they live in;
64. clear rills That for themselves a cooling covert make 'Gainst the hot season;
65. the mid-forest brake, Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms: And such too is the grandeur of the dooms We have imagined for the mighty dead; An endless fountain of immortal drink, Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink.
69. Biography Although he is commonly associated with New England , Frost was born in San Francisco to Isabelle Moodie, of Scottish ancestry, and William Prescott Frost, Jr. , a descendant of a Devonshire Frost who had sailed to New Hampshire in 1634 [1] . His father was a former teacher turned newspaperman, a hard drinker, a gambler, a harsh disciplinarian; he had a passion for politics, and dabbled in them, for as long as his health allowed. Frost lived in California until he was eleven years old. After the death of his father in 1885, he moved with his mother and sister to eastern Massachusetts , near his paternal grandparents. His mother joined the Swedenborgian church and had him baptized in it, but he left it as an adult. He grew up as a city boy and published his first poem in Lawrence, Massachusetts . He attended Dartmouth College in 1892, for just over a semester, and while there joined the fraternity Theta Delta Chi . He went back home to teach and work at various jobs including factory work and newspaper delivery. In 1894 he sold his first poem, "My Butterfly", to The New York Independent for fifteen dollars. Proud of this accomplishment, he asked Elinor Miriam White to marry him. She refused, wanting to finish school before they married. They had graduated co-valedictorians from their high-school and had remained in contact with one another. Frost was sure that there was another man and went on an excursion to the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia . He came back later that year and asked Elinor again; she accepted, and they were married in December 1895 .
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71. In front at the edge of the road where the traffic sped, A roadside stand that too pathetically pled,
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75. The little old house was out with a little new shed In front at the edge of the road where the traffic sped, A roadside stand that too pathetically pled, It would not be fair to say for a dole of bread, But for some of the money, the cash, whose flow supports The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint. The polished traffic passed with a mind ahead, Or if ever aside a moment, then out of sorts At having the landscape marred with the artless paint Of signs that with N turned wrong and S turned wrong Offered for sale wild berries in wooden quarts, Or crook-necked golden squash with silver warts, Or beauty rest in a beautiful mountain scene, You have the money, but if you want to be mean, Why keep your money (this crossly) and go along. The hurt to the scenery wouldn’t be my complaint So much as the trusting sorrow of what is unsaid: Here far from the city we make our roadside stand And ask for some city money t feel in hand To try if it will not make our being expand, A ROAD SIDE STAND
76. And give us the life of the moving-pictuers’ promise That the party in power is said to be keeping from us. It is in the news that all these pitiful kin Are to be bought out and mercifully gathered in To live in villages, next to the theatre and the store, Where they won’t have to think for themselves anymore, While greedy good-doers, benefit beasts of prey, Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits That are calculated to soothe them out of their wits, And by teaching them hoe to sleep they sleep all the day Destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way.
77. Sometimes I feel myself I can hardly bear The thought of so much childish longing in vain, The sadness that lurks near the open window there, That waits all day in almost open prayer For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car, Of all the thousand selfish cars that pass, Just one to inquire what a farmer’s prices are. And one did stop, but only to plow up grass In using the yard to back and turn around; And another to ask the way to where it was bound; And another to ask could they sell it a gallon of gas They couldn’t (this crossly); they had none, didn’t it see?
78. No, in country money, the country scale of gain, The requisite lift of spirit has never been found, Or so the voice of the country seems to complain, I cant help owning the great relief it would be To put these people at one stroke out their pain. And then next day as I come back into the sane, I wonder how I should like you to come me And offer to put me gently out of my pain.
81. In 1951, the year she graduated from Radcliffe College, Adrienne Rich received the Yale Series of Younger Poets prize, which led to the publication of her first book, A Change of World. The contest judge for that year, poet W. H. Auden, wrote an introduction to this volume, stating that the poems "are neatly and modestly dressed, speak directly but do not mumble, respect their elders but are not cowed by them, and do not tell fibs." The following year, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship and traveled to Europe, then married [Harvard University] economist Alfred H. Conrad in 1953. Two years later, she published her second volume, The Diamond Cutters, yet it wasn't until her third volume, Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law, which appeared in 1963, that she gained national prominence, in part because of the accomplishment of her lyric voice, mostly in free verse, and in part because of her treatment of feminist-related themes. Biography
82. In 1966, she moved with her family, which now included three sons, to New York City, and became increasingly involved in the sociopolitical activism of the day. Her husband took a teaching position at City College of New York. In 1968, Adrienne also began teaching for the college as part of the SEEK program, a program instituted to assist remedial students entering college. While beginning this career in teaching basic writing, she also maintained the position of lecturer and adjunct professor at both Swarthmore College and Columbia University School of the Arts. Rich stayed on to teach in the basic writing program at CUNY as directed by Mina Shaughnessy through the early 1970s. Much of her interest in teaching basic writing, as with her poetry at the time, was in the colliding political and social worlds at CUNY with open enrollment program. Her books from this period, Necessities of Life (1966), Leaflets (1969), and Will to Change (1971), reflect an evolving, expanding sense of poetic form and social engagement. In 1969, she became estranged from her husband, who committed suicide the following year. Rich became active in the women's liberation movement from this point forward. In 1974, her collection Diving Into the Wreck received the National Book Award for Poetry; Rich, however, refused the award individually, instead joining with two other female poets to accept it on behalf of all silenced women.
83. Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen, Bright topaz denizens of a world of green. They do not fear the men beneath the tree; They pace in sleek chivalric certainty. Aunt Jennifer's fingers fluttering through her wool Find even the ivory needle hard to pull. The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand. When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by. The tigers in the panel that she made Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.
84. Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen, Bright topaz denizens of a world of green. They do not fear the men beneath the tree; They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.
85. Aunt Jennifer's fingers fluttering through her wool Find even the ivory needle hard to pull .
86. The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.
87. When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by. The tigers in the panel that she made Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.
88. Feminism comprises a number of social, cultural and political movements , theories and moral philosophies concerned with gender inequalities and discrimination against women . Feminism is also described as an ideology focusing on equality of the sexes. [1] Some have argued that gendered and sexed identities, such as "man" and "woman", are social constructs. Feminists often differ in opinion over the sources of inequality, how to attain equality, and the extent to which gender and gender-based identities should be questioned and critiqued. Modern feminist political activists commonly campaign for a woman's right to bodily integrity and autonomy on matters such as reproductive rights , including the right to abortion , access to contraception and quality prenatal care; for protection from domestic violence ; against sexual harassment and rape ; for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay; and against other forms of discrimination. [2] Since the 1980s standpoint feminists have argued that the feminist movement should address global issues (such as rape, incest , and prostitution ) and culturally specific issues (such as female genital mutilation in some parts of Africa and the Middle East and " glass ceiling " practices that impede women's advancement in developed economies) in order to understand how gender inequality interacts with racism , homophobia , lesbophobia , colonialism , and classism in a "matrix of domination FEMINISM
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