LitWords

  Alan Sillitoe (1928- 2010) was an English novelist, poet, short story writer, children's book writer, playwright and social critic. He was born in Nottingham. He was one of the Angry Young Men of the 1950s and a famous working-class novelist. He shattered the sentimental portrayal of working-class life through his major works ‘ Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’, ‘The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner’, ‘Key to the Door’, ‘The Ragman's Daughter’, ‘The Flame of Life’, ‘A Start in Life’ and many others. But his fame rests on two of his major works, ‘ Saturday Night and Sunday Morning ’ (novel) and ‘ The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner’ , (novella) the title story of a collection of short fiction. Sillitoe is at his best in the portrayal of working-class life that struggle for identity and above all the theme of rebellion and isolation that dominate his work. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner has proved to be one of the most successful explorations of the

A FAR CRY FROM AFRICA   Derek Walcott Derek Alton Walcott (1930-2017) was a Caribbean poet and playwright who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. The major theme that Derek Walcott discusses in ‘A Far Cry from Africa’ (1962) is split identity, as evidenced by the ambivalence of the speaker who has connections to both Africa and England. He had both white and black grandparents. The poem explores the history of a specific uprising in Kenya (Mau Mau Uprising) then occupied by British in the 1952-60. Certain members of the local Kikuyu tribe, (Mau Mau Fighters) fought a violent 8-year-long campaign against the settlers, whom they saw as illegal trespassers on their land.                             Stanza 1   A wind is ruffling the tawny pelt   Of Africa. Kikuyu, quick as flies,   Batten upon the bloodstreams of the veldt. A breeze ruffles or lifts Africa’s brown-yellow fur of Africa. (The brownish yellow is the common colour of African landscape). People from th

  I ASK MY MOTHER TO SING Li Young Lee      Li Young Lee (1957 -   ) is a Chinese American poet, born in Jakarta, Indonesia to Chinese parents who are political exiles. He lives in Chicago. Li Young Lee's poetry is greatly influenced by classic Chinese poets - Li Bai and Du Fu. Having learned at an early age about loss and exile, Lee gives a clear voice to the solemn and extraordinary beauty found within humanity. Most of his writings contain the elements of his family history, childhood, and individuality. The recurring themes of his poems are simplicity and silence.      "I asked My Mother to Sing" is taken from the collection Rose (1986). It is a postmodern autobiographical lyrical poem filled with emotion and the power of memory and nostalgia. The poem is written from the perspective of a young man who recalls the ancient traditions of his family. I Ask My Mother to Sing   She begins, and my grandmother joins her.   Mother and daughter sing like young girl

  Charles Tomlinson is an English poet whose best work expresses his perceptions of the world with clarity and sensitivity. Less concerned with people and emotions than with the outside world, Tomlinson’s poetry has much in common with that of the American poets Wallace Stevens and Marianne Moore.  The poem ‘Swimming the Chenango Lake’ was published in the year 1969 in the collection ‘The Way of a World’. It’s a well-known and frequently anthologized poem.   Swimming Chenango Lake Winter will bar the swimmer soon.    He reads the water’s autumnal hestitations A wealth of ways: it is jarred,     It is astir already despite its steadiness, Where the first leaves at the first     Tremor of the morning air have dropped Anticipating him, launching their imprints     Outwards in eccentric, overlapping circles. The poet begins the poem by saying that the imminent winter season shall stop the swimmer soon. The swimmer swims in the lake in autumn season. The poet focuses on the ong

                                                              THE RUBAIYAT   Omar Khayyam   Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) Omar Khayyam was a Persian mathematician, philosopher, poet, and astronomer. He belonged to the schools of Islamic mathematics, Persian poetry, and Persian philosophy. He was b orn in Nishapur, Northeast Persia. He lived during the great Seljuk Empire. He wrote poetry mainly in 4 lined stanzas or quatrains. The Title "Rubaiyat " 'Rubai' is the Farsi word for a poem composed in 4 lines [a quatrain]. So Rubaiyat is the plural of rubai. And Rubaiyat means a compilation of quatrains. Khayyam's poetry was introduced to the English reading world by the English writer and translator, Edward Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald in his 1859 translation [7 centuries later], gave it the title, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.   Rubaiyat and its theme It is arguably the most famous Persian literary work in the world. The brevity of human life forms the major theme;

  LET GO OF YOUR WORRIES Jalal al-Din Rumi About the Poet Jalal al-Din Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic. He is widely known by the title Mawlånå which means "our master". Rumi's popularity spread beyond geographical boundaries and centuries. Rumi's writings have been translated into several languages. Most of his works are in Persian. He has also written in Turkish, Arabic and Greek. Rumi influenced the writers of the past and the present generation. His verses present a mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love to become one with God, they speak of love and its omnipresence in the world.   He believed that humanity ought to seek oneness with God. Through the poem "Let Go of Your Worries", Rumi conveys the idea of being responsible and self-aware. His simple diction makes the message clear. It is said straightforwardly, though the poem has a deeper level of meaning which is about self-