BEAT, BEAT DRUM – WALT WHITMAN
This poem "Beat! Beat! Drums!" is written by Whitman in free verse.
These words repeated at the beginning of every stanza, gives it some order.
The rhythmic pulse of this line underlines the poem's content.
Whitman wrote this poem at the beginning of the Civil War.
Whitman uses the drums and bugles as symbols of the war. In this poem,
the speaker commands the instruments to play very loudly. He wanted
that they disrupt everyone's lives. He wants to stress on sound and its
disturbance just like war which changes a society. This was the truth
about civil War. As all the American soldiers faced the battles on
American soil.
In this poem, Whitman does not let his reader escape the constant
drumbeat and trumpeting bugles. The people also felt that there was no
escape from the Civil War. Throughout the poem, the speaker lists the
places he wants the music to reach -the church, the school, the city full of
traffic, the houses, the courtroom. He wants it to affect brokers, singers,
lawyers, farmers, etc. The war affects everyone and everything.
Whitman invokes the environment of war without mentioning the
soldiers’ anywhere. The words become increasingly intense towards the
end of the poem. The sounds of war are getting louder as they grow closer
and more dangerous.
The end of the poem is rather grim as the speaker commands the
music to be so loud that it even wakes the dead. The mention of the dead
invokes images of war cemeteries. It also reminds of the final result of the
battles. Just as Whitman uses the sounds of war, he also makes the reading
experience visual.
, The Dark Room - R.K.NARAYAN
The Dark Room (1938) presents a picture of domestic disharmony. Ramani,
the office secretary of Engladia Insurance Company in Malgudi is very cynical in
his ways. He governs his house according to his own will. As he is always irritable,
the atmosphere in his house is generally gloomy .His wife, Savitri, his children and
servants are always in a state of terror.
Savitri is a true symbol of traditional Indian womanhood. Savitri, whose place
is in the dark room (kitchen), is a timid, silent suffering and sacrificing Indian wife.
She is very beautiful and deeply devoted to her husband. Ramani, however, does not
respond to her sentiments even with ordinary warmth. Through married for fifteen
years; his wife has received only rebukes and abuses. Even his children get more
rebukes from him than expressions of his fatherly love.
A beautiful lady, Shanta Bai, who has deserted her husband joined Engladia
Insurance Company. Ramani succumbs to her beauty and stylish ways. Ramani
spends nights in Shanta Bai’s company. Savitri feels disturbed but she decided to
suffer in silence than asking questions. When Gangu, the talkative teacher tells her
about Ramani’s infidelity, she sulks only in self-pity. She thinks that she has become
old and ugly. She prepares herself to win him back by refreshing her charm.
Finding no way to correct her husband, Savitri revolts against him and leaves
her husband’s house. She decides to commit suicide. Savitri goes to the river and
falls into it. At that time she is saved by Mari, a blacksmith and burglar.
Mari’s wife Ponni on knowing her condition asks her to come to their village.
There Savitri starts an independent life of her own by working in a temple. But the
thought of her children and homesickness makes her restless. She realizes the futility
of her attempt to escape from her bonds. Finally she returns to her husband’s hateful
home to sulk again in the dark room. Thus The Dark Room presents the condition
of women in the changing circumstances of modern India.
This poem "Beat! Beat! Drums!" is written by Whitman in free verse.
These words repeated at the beginning of every stanza, gives it some order.
The rhythmic pulse of this line underlines the poem's content.
Whitman wrote this poem at the beginning of the Civil War.
Whitman uses the drums and bugles as symbols of the war. In this poem,
the speaker commands the instruments to play very loudly. He wanted
that they disrupt everyone's lives. He wants to stress on sound and its
disturbance just like war which changes a society. This was the truth
about civil War. As all the American soldiers faced the battles on
American soil.
In this poem, Whitman does not let his reader escape the constant
drumbeat and trumpeting bugles. The people also felt that there was no
escape from the Civil War. Throughout the poem, the speaker lists the
places he wants the music to reach -the church, the school, the city full of
traffic, the houses, the courtroom. He wants it to affect brokers, singers,
lawyers, farmers, etc. The war affects everyone and everything.
Whitman invokes the environment of war without mentioning the
soldiers’ anywhere. The words become increasingly intense towards the
end of the poem. The sounds of war are getting louder as they grow closer
and more dangerous.
The end of the poem is rather grim as the speaker commands the
music to be so loud that it even wakes the dead. The mention of the dead
invokes images of war cemeteries. It also reminds of the final result of the
battles. Just as Whitman uses the sounds of war, he also makes the reading
experience visual.
, The Dark Room - R.K.NARAYAN
The Dark Room (1938) presents a picture of domestic disharmony. Ramani,
the office secretary of Engladia Insurance Company in Malgudi is very cynical in
his ways. He governs his house according to his own will. As he is always irritable,
the atmosphere in his house is generally gloomy .His wife, Savitri, his children and
servants are always in a state of terror.
Savitri is a true symbol of traditional Indian womanhood. Savitri, whose place
is in the dark room (kitchen), is a timid, silent suffering and sacrificing Indian wife.
She is very beautiful and deeply devoted to her husband. Ramani, however, does not
respond to her sentiments even with ordinary warmth. Through married for fifteen
years; his wife has received only rebukes and abuses. Even his children get more
rebukes from him than expressions of his fatherly love.
A beautiful lady, Shanta Bai, who has deserted her husband joined Engladia
Insurance Company. Ramani succumbs to her beauty and stylish ways. Ramani
spends nights in Shanta Bai’s company. Savitri feels disturbed but she decided to
suffer in silence than asking questions. When Gangu, the talkative teacher tells her
about Ramani’s infidelity, she sulks only in self-pity. She thinks that she has become
old and ugly. She prepares herself to win him back by refreshing her charm.
Finding no way to correct her husband, Savitri revolts against him and leaves
her husband’s house. She decides to commit suicide. Savitri goes to the river and
falls into it. At that time she is saved by Mari, a blacksmith and burglar.
Mari’s wife Ponni on knowing her condition asks her to come to their village.
There Savitri starts an independent life of her own by working in a temple. But the
thought of her children and homesickness makes her restless. She realizes the futility
of her attempt to escape from her bonds. Finally she returns to her husband’s hateful
home to sulk again in the dark room. Thus The Dark Room presents the condition
of women in the changing circumstances of modern India.
