Karl Marx created the concept of “mode of production” to distinguish between different periods in history according to the varying ways in which the forces and relations of production were organized. Forces of production are the tools, machinery, and energy sources a society can put at its disposal, while the relations of production are the…
The term ‘invective’ refers to speech or writing which is denunciatory, abusive or vituperative. The term is related to the verb inveigh, ‘to bring in’ or ‘introduce’ or ‘denounce’; as in the phrase ‘inveigh against’.
In literature, examples of invective are to be found fairly evenly distributed in verse and prose, and are closely associated with…
Definition of Syllables:
A syllable is a sound or a combination of sounds that can be pronounced at a time, or with a single effort of the voice. It constitutes a word, or a part of a word, that consists of one or more letters with one vowel sound. This means that we hear one vowel…
Sir Edmund William Gosse (1849–1928) was a famous British literary critic, poet, librarian, and man of letters. The son of Philip Henry Gosse (1810–88), an eminent zoologist and member of the Plymouth Brethren, a group of fundamentalist Christians, he was a self-educated man. He started his career as an assistant in a department of the…
Katherine Mansfield’s short story, The Fly, has two characters: the boss and Mr. Woodifield. The boss is the hero of the story, while Mr. Woodifield is his old friend and associate. Their intercourse and dialogue build up the material of the story. There is much similarity between these two characters. Both of them are old men,…
Thomas Nashe (1567-1601) was a famous Elizabethan playwright, poet, and pamphleteer. He was born in Lowestoft. and educated at St John’s College, Cambridge. After graduating in 1586, he became one of the “University Wits”, a group of professional writers who came to London in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and wrote for the stage…
Death-drive (Todestriebe) is the tendency inherent in all organic things to return to an inorganic state. The concept is part of a dualism developed late in Sigmund Freud’s career, consisting of two forces: the life-drive (Lebenstriebe) and the death-drive, also known as Eros and Thanatos after the Greek gods of love and death, respectively, which…
Revue is a theatrical entertainment comprising dance, song, sketches, mime, and improvisation. It is usually satirical and topical. Reference to the form is first found in Planché’s Recollections (1872) when he claims to have been responsible for the first revue on the English stage: a work called Success: or, a Hit if You Like It (1825). But this was…
Noam Chomsky coined and popularized the term “deep structure”. Deep structure and surface structure are the complementary concepts upon which his Transformational Grammar is based.
According to this still-disputed theory, all statements have two structures: a visible surface structure and a deep structure underlying it. The deep structure of a linguistic expression is a theoretical construct…
“I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed…I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.” Explain
I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.
Inaction, no falsifying dream
Between my hooked head and hooked feet:
I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed. (Lines 1-4)
Ted Hughes’s poem Hawk Roosting is about a hawk that is made to speak and express its position and power. The present extract is from…