#TeamEnglish@CMS_Kottayam: The learner in me, hand in hand with the teacher in you!

  Shakespeare is one of the makers of English Language, a daring experimenter, whose language reflects the freedom and freshness and the energy and exuberance of the Elizabethan age. The most striking factor about Shakespeare's vocabulary is its amplitude. The vocabulary of the scholar poet Milton, is only one third of that of Shakespeare, who knew little Latin and Greek.  Shakespeare's contribution to English vocabulary is remarkable. Many of the common phrases and expressions used by him have become the household terms. Examples are: life's fretful fever, t be or not to be, yeoman service, a sea change, a Romeo . Shakespeare has coined a number of new words with prefixes like em, en, un etc. enkindle, enrapt, unavoided, enmesh etc. many words make their first appearance in Shakespeare eg, dwindle, lonely, auspicious etc. This does not mean that he coined them, might have introduced them, might have introduced them from the spoken or learned languages. All the words and p...

 For a YouTube lecture on the topic,  click here. For a lyrical recital of the poem,  click here. No Matter the Way Be Unknown Poem in Hindi, by Mahadevi Verma English Translation by  Vinay Dharwadker The  Chhayavaad  Generation:  An era of Neo Romanticism in Hindi literature, particularly poetry. Spans a period around 1914 – 38. Features: an upsurge of romantic and humanist content; renewed sense of the self and personal expression; leaning towards themes of love and nature; individualistic reappropriation through mysticism expressed in a subjective voice. The Chhayavaad poets had a twin message: to others, they urged the need to hold on to a goal, whatever be the agony in the path towards it; about themselves, they also had the same message, to hold on to a goal. But for them, the goal was clear – to reach the presence of God.  Mahadevi Verma (1907 – 87) is one of the four pillars of the movement, the others being Jaishankar Prasad, Suryakant Tr...

  Around mid 17th century the English language had emerged more or less in its present form, so far as grammatical structure, spelling and pronunciation are concerned, with only slight modifications later on. After the middle of the century chief developments have been in (1) the enlargement of vocabulary on the one hand, and (2) changes in meanings of words on the other. A number of processes were responsible for this growth of vocabulary. They are: 1. Imitation or Onomatopoeia. A number of words are echoic or imitative in character, the sound echoing the sense. Eg: buzz, hiss, giggle, click, sniff, bang, mumble etc. The name of the bird cuckoo is obviously an imitation of the bird's call and Barbarian is supposed to be from a verbal imitation of the uncouth babbling of that tribe. Quite often certain sounds seem to reflect certain ideas. For eg., the consonants, /p. t. k/ suggest quick action as in pitch, torrent, kick etc. The combination bl suggests inflation as in blow, blast,...

  I'm Explaining a Few Things The Poem: English Translation You are going to ask: and where are the lilacs? and the poppy-petalled metaphysics? and the rain repeatedly spattering its words and drilling them full of apertures and birds?   I'll tell you all the news.   I lived in a suburb, a suburb of Madrid, with bells, and clocks, and trees.   From there you could look out over Castille's dry face: a leather ocean.            My house was called the house of flowers, because in every cranny geraniums burst: it was a good-looking house with its dogs and children.              Remember, Raul? Eh, Rafel?        Federico, do you remember from under the ground my balconies on which the light of June drowned flowers in your mouth?           Brother, my brother! Eve...

 Printing was introduced into England in 1476 by William Caxton (1422-1491) who was a writer and a good translator. The introduction of the printing press had far reaching effects on the development of the language. Caxton, who was in effect his own publisher, editor, as well as printer, naturally exercised some influence on the printing conventions of spelling. He used the East Midland dialect for his early printed works and consequently it attained literary prestige and respectability. It was this dialect which later on evolved into Standard English. In all, Caxton published about one hundred titles including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Malory's Morte d' Arthur. The introduction of printing was one of the important factors which contributed to the emergence of Standard English. The books and other printed material which issued from the press assured more than anything else the rapid acceptance of the East Midland dialect as the 'received standard', an important...

 "The Divine Comedy" This classical work is written by Dante Alighieri. This long narrative poem is Dante's magnum opus and considered to be the most important poem of the middle ages. This work is instrumental in shaping and establishing the literature of Italy. The Divine Comedy is divided into three parts: Inferno (Hell) Purgatory (place of sinners/ repentance) Paradiso (Heaven) Summary of Canto 1 lines 49-102 A she-wolf appeared before the poet as he was climbing the mountain through a thick forest. She was lean and hungry. She was bursting with greed and desire to eat the flesh of the prey. She had killed many and put them to great pain and suffering. When the poet saw the beast he was terrified and could no more climb the mountain.   He stood there like a miser who is happy when he gets and loses all hope when he meets with loss. The beast came nearer moving step by step, and he moved down to the valley where there was no light because of the dense forest.(back to h...

England in the Eighteenth Century Social, Religious, Political and Literary Waves Social                                         Growth of the middle class, and its impact upon literature and thought Thinkers: David Hume, Godwin, Adam Smith; Burke (staunch opposition to the French Revolution) Religious Deism vs. Methodism Deism:   belief that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of God, accompanied with the rejection of revelation and authority as a source of religious knowledge. Deism gained prominence in the 17th and 18th centuries during the Age of Enlightenment Methodism began with a group of men, including John Wesley and his younger brother Charles, as a movement within the Church of England in the 18th century. The movement f...