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16 century Poetry (Renaissance)

1500-1660

Renaissance as a movement originated in Italy and Southern Europe moved then to Britain
during the 15th, 16th and early 17th century. The sixteenth century witnessed many inventions
and developments in all aspects of life. It is marked by the search for new lands which led to
discovering America by Christopher Columbus in 1492.

One of the most prominent achievement throughout this century was the invention of printing.
It helped a lot in spreading Knowledge and in saving time, money and efforts compared with
the handwritten books.

Scientists corrected the belief that earth is the center of the universe; ensuring that the earth
and other planets move round the sun.

The corruption in the churches led to the reformation which called for restoring Christianity to
its early purity as a simple religion based on the Bible. Many divisions were resulted because of
the reformation: the Roman Catholic Church and the New Protestant Church.

Characteristics of Renaissance Poetry

1- The Renaissance poets paid more attention to their native language and withdrew from using
classical Latin.

2- They also focused upon ironic and satirical situations found in life.

3- The poetry of the 16th century was mainly lyrical.

4- Poetry in Elizabethan time was based on courtly love which included conceits.
Characteristics of courtly love are: unattainability of the lady, sleeplessness, cruelty of the
beloved, rejection of love, fine passion of the lover versus icy emotions of the beloved, praise of
the beloved’s beauty and eternalizing her in poetry.

5- Poems in the lyric mode were brief, and usually concerned with love, with celebration of
nature and the good life. The noblest lyric genres were thought to be hymns (praises of God or
the gods) and odes (celebrating worthy men and women, and notable occasions).

6- The most important lyric genre in the sixteenth century was the sonnet. The Petrarchan
sonnet sequence is a series of fourteen-line sonnets exploring the contrary states of feeling
lover experiences as he desires and idolizes an unattainable lady.
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Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)

Sonnet 30 (Fire And Ice)

My love is like to ice, and I to fire:

how comes it then that this her cold so great
is not dissolv'd through my so hot desire,
but harder grows, the more I her entreat?

Or how comes it that my exceeding heat

is not delayed by her heart frozen cold,
but that I burn much more in boiling sweat,

and feel my flames augmented manifold?

What more miraculous thing may be told

that fire, which all thing melts, should harden ice:

and ice which is congealed with senseless cold,

should kindle fire by wonderful device?

Such is the pow'r of love in gentle mind

that it can alter all the course of kind

Analysis

The theme of this sonnet is the power of love, which can cause alteration of feelings, emotion,
and natural course of life. This sonnet therefore has a very popular subject matter- the lover
trying hard to immortalise the relationship. The poem is a Shakespearean (English) sonnet
grouped into three quatrains and a couplet.

Spencer splits his poem into four different sections, each section being a question\" The lady in
this sonnet is compared to ice whose feelings of coldness keeps her disinterested towards the
burning love of the speaker. She is a heartless, insensitive woman who is not ready to melt
down on the speaker\'s efforts and love. The speaker is thus shocked to notice such a type of
behaviour and wonders that his exceeding

passions of love are responsible for the increasing indifference in the lady. The speaker,
surprisingly is hopeful that one day his burning passions of love will melt her down and she will
understand his love and true feelings. The tone of this sonnet is very hopeful and devoted, for
the author continuously talks as though he is in awe about the situation he and the woman are
in.
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The speaker never says a negative thing about her for not returning his love, but only mentions
that her coldness makes his love grow stronger. He is devoted to her and only her, for he is
hopeful that one day she will come around. People say ‘love is blind’. Sometimes, when a
person is madly in love, they may not realize that the other person does not share the same
feelings.

Once the lover does realize this, however, he will most likely view it as a challenge to take it
upon himself to gain the love of that specific person. This challenge will ultimately make the
lover more passionate and prevent him from stopping until he reaches his goal.

Imagery

Or how comes it that my exceeding heat

is not delayed by her heart frozen cold

-Imagery is a literary device that is used to paint a picture in your head while you are reading
something. In this case, you can see a heart, covered with ice crystals, being attacked by the
flames of a fire.

Simile

My love is like to ice, and I to fire

A smile is a comparison of two things, usually unrelated, using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. In this
example, Edmund is comparing the situation of his rejected love to the simple elements of ice
and fire.

Alliteration

How comes it then that this her cold so

- Alliteration is when multiple words in the same sentence have the same beginning letter. In
this case, ‘then that this’ is the example of alliteration.

Exaggeration

But that I burn in much more in boiling sweat

-An exaggeration is an overstatement. It blows a situation, or thing, out of proportion to make it

seem more dramatic than it really is. In this case, “boiling sweat” is the exaggeration, for sweat
cannot be hot enough to be boiling.

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Romantic Poetry

Romanticism was a literary and intellectual movement in Europe that started in the late
decades of 18thcentury. It was with the publication of Lyrical Ballads in 1798 by William
Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge, which gave birth to Romanticism in the history of English
literature. Romanticism focuses mainly on emotional life, provoked or directed by the exercise
of imaginative vision. It came into being as a reaction against the neoclassicism of the preceding
age.

Characteristics of romantic poetry

1- A Reaction against Neoclassical Poetry.

It is in contrast to neoclassical poetry. Neoclassical poetry is poetry of intellect and reason while
romantic poetry is the product of emotions.

2- Imagination is the hallmark of romantic poetry. Romantic poets laid extraordinary stress on
imagination, but neoclassical poets avoided imagination and didn’t give any preference to it in
their poetry.

3- Love for nature: Nature had a pivotal position in their poetry.

Nature for them is a wellspring of inspiration, satisfaction and happiness. Wordsworth is

considered the great lover of nature. He recognized nature as a living thing, teacher, god and
everything. He was the true adorer of nature.

4- Escapism is another striking characteristic of romantic poetry. As most of the romantic poets
were in the grip of miseries, they tried to take asylum in the bower of their poetry. It was their
most loved pastime to escape from reality and take asylum in the realm of their imagination.

5- Melancholy is a major source of inspiration for the romantic poets. Due to extreme
melancholy, all the romantic poets have a tendency to compose subjective poetry. They write
poetry, which is the voice of their heart.

6- Subjectivity: Romantic poetry is poetry of the miseries, despairs and personal stories of the
poets. It is poetry of emotions and imagination of the poets.

Neoclassical Poetry Vs. Romantic Poetry

Neoclassical Poetry Romantic Poetry

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1- Neoclassical poetry is poetry of intellect and reason. 1- Romantic poetry is the product of emotions

2- Neoclassical poets believed in the influence of reason. 2- The romantics were against the influence of
their poetry.
3- Neoclassical poets avoided imagination.
3- Romantic poets laid extraordinary stress on
4- Neoclassical poets avoided to describe their personal
emotions in their poetry. They wanted to present a true 4- Romantic poetry is poetry of the miseries, d
picture of the societ personal stories of the poets.

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

A Red, Red Rose

O my Luve's like a red, red rose

That's newly sprung in June; 
O my Luve's like the melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry:

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee well, my only Luve

And fare thee well, a while! 
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile. 

Analysis of (Red. Red Rose)  

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Robert Burns in this poem clearly expresses his love for his lady through using figures of speech
and comparing the beauty of his lady to a red rose and a melody. He also exaggerates his love
to show its deepness and his truthfulness. A true and deep love can be seen in the first stanza
and it continues in the same way till the end.

In the first stanza, the author uses (simile: like) to compare between his lady and a red rose in
beauty; both of them are beautiful and attractive. Red Rose is also a symbol for true love. He
also compares his love to a melody. In the first line, the word (love) refers to the lady and the
third line it refers to his feelings.

His lady is beautiful and his love is nice; both of them bring comfort. The speaker uses words
such as (newly and sweetly) to describe his beloved and the status of his love. The same mood
is transferred to the second stanza and now he uses nicknames to call his lady (bonnie lass)
which is derived from a French word (bon) meaning (pretty).

The speaker utters the statement as if the lady was standing in front of him (thou are); “you” is
used when your directly talk to someone face to face. The scene provides the floor for the
speaker to express his inner feelings. In the first stanza, he describes the lady and in the second
stanza he pours out what is in his heart.

The poet is subjective when he talks about his personal feelings. The expression of his love is
not simple; he rather exaggerates. The manifestation of his love is hyperbolic because the
statement (till the seas gone dry) is not logical and impossible, but he utters this to show that
his love will never end. To show that he does not exaggerate and for him it is a fact, he repeats
the same line at the start of the third stanza.

In the third stanza, the speaker again exaggerates about the power and endurance of his love.
The sun cannot melt the rocks and thus his love will last forever and never ends. Again he
depends on repetition to explain that his love will never end; he repeats the third line of the
second stanza in the same place in the third stanza which is followed by another metaphor
(sands o’ life).

The author talks about (hourglass) which is used to measure time to say that his love will
continue till the end of life (shall run), and he uses (shall) for emphasis.

The final stanza answers the question which is raised about using the interjection (O) twice in
the first stanza. Why did the speaker use it? Or why does he feel sad? The device is used to
express a sad emotion. Again he directly addresses his lady, but this time he bids her goodbye.
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The word farewell clarifies that the speaker feels sad because he has to leave his beloved for a
while. He is obliged to go, but his departure does not affect his love even if he goes very far and
for a long time. He assures the lady that he will come back.

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Victorian Poetry

Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837 to 1901).
The Victorian poetry is divided into two main groups of poetry: The High Victorian Poetry and
The Pre-Raphaelites (a movement established in 1849). Characteristics of Victorian Poetry
include:

1- Most of Victorian Poets used imagery and the senses to convey the struggles between
Religion and Science and ideas about Nature and Romance.

2-The reclaiming of the past was a major part of Victorian literature. Victorian Poetry, builds a
link between the Romantic Movement and the Modernist Movement of the 20th Century.

3- Elizabeth Barret Browning's poetry was important for the feminist literature because before
her poetry there were not too much poetry about feminism. 

4- Victorian poetry does not have a topic in the poems about love and worship of Nature as the
Romantics had in their poetry. The Victorian poets refer to Nature in the descriptions of places
and the love and worship of God. Nature was understood as part of God, created by Him,
maybe as a personification of God himself in the Earth.

5- Poetry was turned into a forum for discussing the socio-cultural conflicts. Victorian poets
reacted against excessive emotionalism of the Romantics and turned poetry into a rational,
intellectual criticism of contemporary society.

6- Another salient feature of Victorian poetry is religion. The Victorian age witnessed new
discoveries and inventions of science that transformed the common man’s conceptions of the
meaning of world and life. Darwin’s theory of evolution brought Biblical myths under inspection
and the consequent conflict between rationalism and faith become a defining characteristic of
Victorian life.

Christina Rossetti 1830-1894

A Daughter of Eve

A fool I was to sleep at noon

And wake when night is chilly
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Beneath the comfortless cold moon:

A fool to pluck my rose too soon,
A fool to snap my lily.
My garden-plot I have not kept;
Faded and all-forsaken,
I weep as I have never wept:

Oh it was summer when I slept,

It’s winter now I waken;
Talk what you please of future spring,
And sun-warm’d sweet to-morrow:-
Stripp’d bare of hope and everything,
No more to laugh, no more to sing,
I sit alone with sorrow.

 Analysis of the Poem

In the poem, the writer talks about the life of a woman who shows regret in the first stanza by
referring to herself as a “fool”. The main concern of the reader is to find out why she describes
herself as a fool. The speaker does not directly say what she did in the past, but she uses time
as a metaphor.

Noon is important in human life which means the period when human being is very active and
strong. At this crucial time, she is sleeping which means that she is ignorant and unaware about
her actions. When she wakes up, it is night which means that she has lost her energy and she
regrets for wasting her time.

Noon is usually when the day is the warmest, brightest, and happiest, while the chilly night is
very negative, especially when she describes the comfortless cold moon.

Again in the second stanza, the speaker uses metaphor, but this time she uses the seasons.
Summer, like noon, is regarded as the mid of the age during which human being is strong and
has great powers and enthusiasm to structure his/her life and plan the future. But usually
writers of literary texts refer to winter as old age and time of death.

The speaker expresses repentance because she realizes that she made a gross mistake but she
does not have enough time to correct her mistake; it’s too late. This thought brings mental
anguish (depression).

The author’s message

1- Social conventions and Loneliness

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The theme is related to what the lady did. Her action causes depression and isolation; so it
means that what she did is not acceptable in the society. She feels very sad (I weep as I have
never wept), but it is useless because the society and even her family disrespect her and they
do not accept her.

The writer warns the young ladies to be careful about the social and religious principles and
avoid doing something that may bring shame to them or to their families. Although it is not
clearly mentioned what the lady did, but critics general agree that she was involved in
prostitution and the poem is about a fallen woman; one of the ladies whom Rossetti talked to
and helped when she volunteered at the St. Mary Magdalene “house of charity” in Highgate,
1859 – 1870.

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Modern Poetry

The term modernism is widely used to identify new and distinctive features in the subjects,
forms, concepts, and styles of literature and the other arts in the early decades of the 20 th
century, but especially after World War I (1914-18).

Characteristics of Modern Poetry

1- Free verse: It is sometimes referred to as "open form" verse. Its rhythmic pattern is not
organized into a regular metrical form, and most free verse has irregular line lengths.

2- Discontinuous narrative: also known as a non-linear narrative, it is a narrative that jumps

around in time instead of revealing events in the story.

3- Intertextuality: It is the interconnection between similar or related works of literature.

Intertextual figures include: allusion, quotation, plagiarism, pastiche and parody.

4- Fragmentation: Fragmentation in modernist literature is thematic, as well as formal. Plot,

characters, themes, images, and narrative form itself are broken.

5- Rejection of history and the substitution of a mythical past.

6- Stream of consciousness: a literary style in which a character's thoughts, feelings, and

reactions are depicted in a text.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

If—

If you can keep your head when all about you   

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Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;   
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;   
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,   
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
 
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Analysis of (IF)

* Critics believe that Kipling wrote the poem as an advice for his son to be successful in life. He
enlists some virtues that if man follows them they will succeed, and he also mentions some
vices (bad behaviours) if man stays away from them they will succeed too.

The poem consists of four eight-line stanzas. All the parts are strongly connected with each
other. The poem can be regarded as a set of virtues which are helpful for the development of a
good human being. The poem is didactic and in each stanza he gives

some lessons to his son (or all the readers). He does not only teach people to do some virtues,
but he also warns them against conducting some acts which are harmful.
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* In the first stanza, there are three conditional sentences begin with (If). In the first sentence,
he tells readers that they should be strong enough to take responsibility for what they are
doing. They should have courage when they want to make a choice and they should not do
something which harm others lest he should be blamed.

The second (if) concentrates on self-confidence. As a human being, it is normal for anyone to be
left alone while doing something. If you believe in yourself and your abilities to carry out a duty
or job, you will succeed even if you do it alone. Even some people may stand against you or
even rise opposite ideas, but you should be able to deal with them and never let them
disappoint you.

The third (if) teaches people about the significance of waiting in human life. The poet knows
that waiting is boring, but it actually prevents people from making gross mistakes. Sometimes
people lose important things if they cannot wait, but if you have patience, you may achieve
your aims and your dreams may come true. He also warns people against telling lies. Lies do not
last long; therefore, you should avoid it even if the people around you are not faithful with you
and lie about you.

* He ends the stanza with another warning. Kipling believes that when you do all these good
things, you should still be very careful not to be hoity-toity. The virtues should not make you
self-righteous, which means that you should not be proud of yourself and boast about what you
are doing. You will lose the advantages of the blessings if you cannot remain plain and humble.

* There are four conditional sentences in the second stanza. The four statements focus on one
crucial point which is advising people to take the right way while pursuing your aims in life. In
the first sentence, the speaker focuses on the significance of dream which means a goal that
people try to achieve in the future. Having such an aim is important, but what is more
important than this is how to deal with that dream. If it remains simply as a dream, it is good,
but if it becomes your master and controls your life it is dangerous; if it does not come true you
may face disappointment or psychological problems; or it may push you to perform some bad
deeds since it is your boss.

The second if is related to freedom of thought. People are free to think about how to design
their life and how to make self-progress, but people should be careful about keeping the
thoughts under control. If they cannot master their dreams and thoughts undesired
consequences may occur. He asserts the warning in the third conditional sentence (triumph and
disaster).

This sentence is considered as a warning for the previously described conditions. When you
have an aim in life and when you think correctly about organizing your life, you may succeed
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and gain your goals, but you should not allow the thoughts control your entire life and secondly
when you achieve your aims or if you fail you should remain as you are.

The speaker believes that if you fail accomplishing your target, it does not mean that you can
do nothing else or you are unable to succeed. If defeat affects you in this negative way, it is
really a disaster. You should get benefit from your failure and learn from it so that you will not
face it again. On the other hand, if you are successful in

carrying out your objectives, it does not mean that you can do everything or you are better than
the people around you. Modesty is very important for human beings. The stanza ends with a
conditional statement which in fact consists of two conditional sentences. The two sentences
are related to each other.

Both of them concentrate on two situations that everybody may face during his or her life time.
Life is difficult and the way which leads to success is not paved. Maybe the task is difficult by
nature or maybe other people create obstacles in front of you. Some people may butter you up
or some others may daunt you, but in both cases the aim is the same, to detach you on the
right track. But people should be ready for such suppositions and should be able to rise after
each fall. It is said that falling is not a shame but the inability to rise again is. People should have
power to recreate his aims and his personality.

In the third stanza, the writer uses (if) twice. In the first conditional statement, five sentences
are joined together (make, risk, lose, start, never breathe) by using (and) four times. In these
four lines, the writer tells his readers that life continues; therefore, you must take risks if you
want to progress or achieve bigger goals in life. People should not always expect success and
they should not give up hopes if his plans do not go according to his wishes.

In the second statement, the speaker focuses on the importance of Will to do something. If
human beings have will, desire and intention to gain a goal, nothing can stop him or her. Failure
is also probable, but if one can control his mind and power; in another word if he or she decides
to continue and rebuild his hopes more strongly, he will succeed. If human beings do not give
up their hopes and desires, the mental and physical power will not leave them alone. Human
beings should be stoic and resilient which means that they should endure pain and recover
from bad conditions quickly.

In the final stanza, the tone of the poem becomes more serious which contains the final
instructions and advice of the poet to the readers. In this part, he manipulates four conditional
sentences which show that he wants his readers to become a human being who can fit well
with all the sectors of society. In the first sentence, he advices readers to be social which means
that they should mix with people from various ranks and communicate with them, but they
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should remain modest and keep their individuality. If they can do this, they will be respected
and loved by people and the opposite is true.

The second sentence refers to the posts or ranks that people may reach during their life time.
Some people have power and they are in high positions that nobody can hurt them. They
believe that they do not need anyone. Here, he adds another sentence (third if) to give more
information. In this sentence, he focuses on wealth. He thinks that some people lose their
individuality and forget their origin when they become rich. Having money is good, but if it
detaches you from the humanitarian emotions and feelings, it is very bad. Money may not save
human beings in every situation, but virtues can do. In the last part of the poem (fourth if), the
writer emphasizes the significance of time. People should be careful not to waste their time in
vain because life is short and human being needs every minute of it to become a good man.
When you lose a minute, it means you have lost something; therefore, readers should listen to
his advices if they want to be successful in life.

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Regret

by Kate Chopin
MAMZELLE AURLIE possessed a good strong figure, ruddy cheeks, hair that was changing
from brown to gray, and a determined eye. She wore a man's hat about the farm, and an old blue
army overcoat when it was cold, and sometimes top-boots.

Mamzelle Aurlie had never thought of marrying. She had never been in love. At the age of
twenty she had received a proposal, which she had promptly declined, and at the age of fifty she
had not yet lived to regret it.

So she was quite alone in the world, except for her dog Ponto, and the negroes who lived in her
cabins and worked her crops, and the fowls, a few cows, a couple of mules, her gun (with which
she shot chicken-hawks), and her religion.

One morning Mamzelle Aurlie stood upon her gallery, contemplating, with arms akimbo, a small
band of very small children who, to all intents and purposes, might have fallen from the clouds,
so unexpected and bewildering was their coming, and so unwelcome. They were the children of
her nearest neighbor, Odile, who was not such a near neighbor, after all.
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The young woman had appeared but five minutes before, accompanied by these four children. In
her arms she carried little Lodie; she dragged Ti Nomme by an unwilling hand; while Marcline
and Marclette followed with irresolute steps.

Her face was red and disfigured from tears and excitement. She had been summoned to a
neighboring parish by the dangerous illness of her mother; her husband was away in Texas -- it
seemed to her a million miles away; and Valsin was waiting with the mule-cart to drive her to the
station.

"It's no question, Mamzelle Aurlie; you jus' got to keep those youngsters fo' me tell I come back.
Dieu sait, I wouldn' botha you with 'em if it was any otha way to do! Make 'em mine you,
Mamzelle Aurlie; don' spare 'em. Me, there, I'm half crazy between the chil'ren, an' Lon not
home, an' maybe not even to fine po' maman alive encore!" -- a harrowing possibility which
drove Odile to take a final hasty and convulsive leave of her disconsolate family.

She left them crowded into the narrow strip of shade on the porch of the long, low house; the
white sunlight was beating in on the white old boards; some chickens were scratching in the
grass at the foot of the steps, and one had boldly mounted, and was stepping heavily, solemnly,
and aimlessly across the gallery. There was a pleasant odor of pinks in the air, and the sound of
negroes' laughter was coming across the flowering cotton-field.

Mamzelle Aurlie stood contemplating the children. She looked with a critical eye upon Marcline,
who had been left staggering beneath the weight of the chubby Lodie. She surveyed with the
same calculating air Marclette mingling her silent tears with the audible grief and rebellion of Ti
Nomme. During those few contemplative moments she was collecting herself, determining upon
a line of action which should be identical with a line of duty. She began by feeding them.

If Mamzelle Aurlie's responsibilities might have begun and ended there, they could easily have
been dismissed; for her larder was amply provided against an emergency of this nature. But little
children are not little pigs: they require and demand attentions which were wholly unexpected by
Mamzelle Aurlie, and which she was ill prepared to give.

She was, indeed, very inapt in her management of Odile's children during the first few days.
How could she know that Marclette always wept when spoken to in a loud and commanding tone
of voice? It was a peculiarity of Marclette's. She became acquainted with Ti Nomme's passion
for flowers only when he had plucked all the choicest gardenias and pinks for the apparent
purpose of critically studying their botanical construction.

"'T ain't enough to tell 'im, Mamzelle Aurlie," Marcline instructed her; "you got to tie 'im in a
chair. It's w'at maman all time do w'en he's bad: she tie 'im in a chair." The chair in which
Mamzelle Aurlie tied Ti Nomme was roomy and comfortable, and he seized the opportunity to
take a nap in it, the afternoon being warm.
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At night, when she ordered them one and all to bed as she would have shooed the chickens into
the hen-house, they stayed uncomprehending before her. What about the little white nightgowns
that had to be taken from the pillow-slip in which they were brought over, and shaken by some
strong hand till they snapped like ox-whips? What about the tub of water which had to be
brought and set in the middle of the floor, in which the little tired, dusty, sun-browned feet had
every one to be washed sweet and clean? And it made Marcline and Marclette laugh merrily --
the idea that Mamzelle Aurlie should for a moment have believed that Ti Nomme could fall
asleep without being told the story of Croque-mitaine or Loup-garou, or both; or that lodie could
fall asleep at all without being rocked and sung to.

"I tell you, Aunt Ruby," Mamzelle Aurlie informed her cook in confidence; "me, I'd rather
manage a dozen plantation' than fo' chil'ren. It's terrassent! Bont! don't talk to me about chil'ren!"

"T ain' ispected sich as you would know airy thing 'bout 'em, Mamzelle Aurlie. I see dat plainly
yistiddy w'en I spy dat li'le chile playin' wid yo' baskit o' keys. You don' know dat makes chillun
grow up hard-headed, to play wid keys? Des like it make 'em teeth hard to look in a lookin'-
glass. Them's the things you got to know in the raisin' an' manigement o' chillun."

Mamzelle Aurlie certainly did not pretend or aspire to such subtle and far-reaching knowledge
on the subject as Aunt Ruby possessed, who had "raised five an' buried six" in her day. She was
glad enough to learn a few little mother-tricks to serve the moment's need.

Ti Nomme's sticky fingers compelled her to unearth white aprons that she had not worn for
years, and she had to accustom herself to his moist kisses -- the expressions of an affectionate
and exuberant nature. She got down her sewing-basket, which she seldom used, from the top
shelf of the armoire, and placed it within the ready and easy reach which torn slips and buttonless
waists demanded. It took her some days to become accustomed to the laughing, the crying, the
chattering that echoed through the house and around it all day long. And it was not the first or the
second night that she could sleep comfortably with little Lodie's hot, plump body pressed close
against her, and the little one's warm breath beating her cheek like the fanning of a bird's wing.

But at the end of two weeks Mamzelle Aurlie had grown quite used to these things, and she no
longer complained.

It was also at the end of two weeks that Mamzelle Aurlie, one evening, looking away toward the
crib where the cattle were being fed, saw Valsin's blue cart turning the bend of the road. Odile sat
beside the mulatto, upright and alert. As they drew near, the young woman's beaming face
indicated that her home-coming was a happy one.

But this coming, unannounced and unexpected, threw Mamzelle Aurlie into a flutter that was
almost agitation. The children had to be gathered. Where was Ti Nomme? Yonder in the shed,
putting an edge on his knife at the grindstone. And Marcline and Marclette? Cutting and
fashioning doll-rags in the corner of the gallery. As for Lodie, she was safe enough in Mamzelle
 16

Aurlie's arms; and she had screamed with delight at sight of the familiar blue cart which was
bringing her mother back to her.

THE excitement was all over, and they were gone. How still it was when they were gone!
Mamzelle Aurlie stood upon the gallery, looking and listening. She could no longer see the cart;
the red sunset and the blue-gray twilight had together flung a purple mist across the fields and
road that hid it from her view. She could no longer hear the wheezing and creaking of its wheels.
But she could still faintly hear the shrill, glad voices of the children.

She turned into the house. There was much work awaiting her, for the children had left a sad
disorder behind them; but she did not at once set about the task of righting it. Mamzelle Aurlie
seated herself beside the table. She gave one slow glance through the room, into which the
evening shadows were creeping and deepening around her solitary figure. She let her head fall
down upon her bended arm, and began to cry. Oh, but she cried! Not softly, as women often do.
She cried like a man, with sobs that seemed to tear her very soul. She did not notice Ponto
licking her hand.

Short story, a fictional prose tale of no specified length, but too short to be published as a
volume on its own. A short story will normally concentrate on a single event with only one or
two characters, more economically than a novel's sustained exploration of social background. It
flourished in the magazines of the 19th and early 20th centuries, especially in the USA, which
has a particularly strong tradition.

Common Techniques in Short Stories

1- Style, or the language chosen to tell a story, include metaphors, simile, personification,
imagery, hyperbole and alliteration.

2- Techniques relevant to plot, which are the sequence of events that make up a narrative,
include backstory, flashback, flash-forward, and foreshadowing.

- Backstory: a history or background created for a fictional character or situation in a literary

work, film, or dramatic series.

 -Flashback: In literature, a flashback (analepsis) is an occurrence in which a character

remembers an earlier event that happened before the current point of the story. There are two
types of flashbacks—those that narrate events that happened before the story started (external)
and
 17

those that take the reader back to an event that already happened but that the character is
considering again (internal).

-Flash-Forward: or “prolepsis,” is a literary device in which the plot goes ahead of time;

meaning a scene that interrupts and takes the narrative forward in time from the current time in
the story. Generally, a flash-forward represents expected or imagined events in the future.

-Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come
later in the story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story, or a chapter, and
helps the reader develop expectations about the coming events in a story.

While reading the short story (Regret by Kate Chopin), you have to pay attention to the
following points:

1- Plot
2- characterization
3- solitude and regret

Plot:

The story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator. It all started with a woman
named Mamzelle Aurelie who had a very good and strong figure. She was never being in love
and really did never came up with the idea of marriage. In her age of twenty, someone proposed
to her but she said no and never regret about her decision.

There was her neighbor named Odile who had four children (Elodie, Ti Nomme, Marceline and
Marcelette). Odile asked Mamzelle to take care of her kids until she came back. Mamzelle did
think deeply about the children. Keeping such kids was very unusual to her since she never had
at least one. She thought that the children were just like little pigs but she was wrong. Days
passed, she never stopped complaining. Mamzelle became really tired and all. After many times,
she then became used to it until she was already comfortable with the children.

One Evening, Odile came back and took the children home. Mamzelle suddenly felt something
that struck her heart. She gave a glance to her room where she used to be with the naughty
children. Then there she cried, hardly.

2- Characterization

Here we focus on the main character (Mamzelle Aurelie) only.

 18

The tittle of the short story regret by Kate Chopin presents a fifty- year old Mamzelle Aurelie
who is an unmarried woman. She has never had a man and lives alone on her farm with some
animals and Negroes working for her. One day, her nearest neighbor, Odile brought her four
children to her house and left them in Mamzelle Aurelie’s care because of a dangerous illness of
her mother. This is why Mamzelle Aurelie, who has never ever had children before, has to keep
them. For the next two weeks, Mamzelle Aurelie had to learn to care for the children and be
accustomed to their presence and noises. At the end of two weeks, Odile came back and released
Mamzelle Aurelie from her responsibility, but Mamzelle Aurelie felt the loneliness in the
absence of the four children, and she cried “like a man, not even noticing her dog licking her
hand".

3- Themes of solitude and regret

In Kate Chopin “Regret” the theme that the author wants to tell the reader is regret which is the
title of this story. In this story we can see that Mamzelle Aurélie was quite alone in the world
without her family. At the beginning, she never regrets with her choice of not marrying. She was
happy with her life that she had. But her feeling changes when one day her neighbor gives her
children to Mamzelle Aurélie to take care of them. From there, Mamzelle Aurélie began to truly
live. When with the children, she can feel all the joy of life. But after two weeks, the children
had left with her mother. Mamzelle Aurélie cried heartily. It shows her feeling of regret because
she only can know about love and joy instinct of motherhood when it is too late. She was very
much affected by the children’s departure though she may not necessarily wish to admit it. It is
also interesting that she is unaware of Ponto licking her hand as this might further suggest that
Mamzelle Aurélie has realised that her life, rather than having meaning and working on the farm,
has no meaning that will satisfy her. Unlike Odile and her children.

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Elizabethan Drama

Historical background

The Elizabethan Era started in 1558 when Queen Elizabeth took the throne and ended in 1603
with her death. The Elizabethan era mostly coheres with another term, Jacobean era, which
started in 1603 when Queen Elizabeth died and James I took power in England and ended in
1625. James I was the king of Scotland, James VI, and inherited the throne of England as James
I.

The name, Jacobean, originates from Latin, Jacobus, which stands for James in English
Language. It was an era of peace, economic prosperity, stability, liberty and of great
 19

explorations, an age of contemplation and action. It was an era of unprecedented

development of art, literature and drama.

-Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama

These two terms come with each other because the style of writing developed during the reign
of Queen Elizabeth continued even after the death of James I, roughly until 1642, and most of
the high tragedies were written after 1603.

Drama is introduced to England from Europe by the Romans, and theaters were constructed
across the country for this purpose. By the medieval period, 5th century to 15th century, the
mummers' plays (guisers) had developed, which was a form of early street theatre.

The mystery (miracle) plays, vernacular drama with its roots in Liturgical drama (a type of play
acted within or near the church and relating stories from the Bible and of the saints).

During the English Renaissance,1500-1660, the late 16th and early17th century, great poetry
and drama were produced in London. William Shakespeare wrote plays during this period.

There were various categories of play, such as tragedy, comedy, and history. Shakespeare
produced all three types. His 38 plays include tragedies; Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and
Macbeth. Comedies; As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. History plays; Henry IV, Antonio and
Cleopatra. Other important playwrights of this period include Christopher Marlowe, Ben
Jonson, Thomas Kyd.

Elizabethan and Jacobean times were important for the English drama because many great
plays were produced that are still studied all over the world. Classical drama, especially Latin,
influenced English drama during this period. Greek drama also had great effects on English
writings in the 16th century when translators translated the Greek plays into Latin.

During this period, the playwrights produced texts in their own language dealing with subject
matters that drew the attention of the audience. Consequently, the use of Latin became less
popular. Of course, the progress of drama was not so simple; it reflected sociopolitical
background, religious and philosophical thoughts.

Characteristics of Elizabethan Drama

1- The use of blank verse. Major parts of comedies and tragedies are written in blank verse. 

2- Tragedies in the Elizabethan period were deeply influenced by the Seneca revenge
tradition. Thomas Kyd introduces it in English drama through his The Spanish Tragedy.
 20

3- Madness in characters, real or feigned,  soliloquy, and play within the play also became
popular in this period.

4- Supernatural elements is an important factor of the Elizabethan drama. The theatre houses
were built in such a way that they could present ghosts and supernatural horror. 

5- The comedies of this age are marked by romantic settings, engaging plots, lively characters
and entertaining dialogues.

6- Elizabethan dramatists ignored the Three Unities. As mentioned in Aristotle's Poetics, a play
should have three principles: to have a single action occurring in a single place and within the
course of a day.

Common Themes

1- Good vs. Evil. One of the dominant themes and characteristics of Elizabethan drama is the
conflict between good and evil. The subject is very common in tragedy and the triumph of evil
over the good makes the play tragic.

2- Hamartia

Hamartia is a Greek word for “sin” or “error”; it is also called Tragic Flaw. In tragedies, the
heroes or heroines fall due to some flaw in their characters. Macbeth and Doctor Faustus are
good examples.

3- Tragic Waste means that a hero dies along with the death of his opponent. The death of a
hero is not an ordinary death. It is the loss of intellectual, honest, genius and noble
personality.

4- Conflict: Conflict is another vital element. There are two types of conflicts: External conflict
and Internal conflict. External Conflict is related to the struggle between the protagonist and
the antagonist (some outside force). Internal conflict is the confusion in the mind of a tragic
hero.

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3-Naturalism VS Realism
Naturalism is a movement in European drama and theatre that developed in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries. Realism was a 19th-century theatrical movement, seeking to portray real
 21

life on the stage. Stanislavski was a committed follower of realism throughout his working
life. One of the more confusing aspects of theatre history and performance styles for teachers and
students is the differences between realism and naturalism.
In terms of style, the words realism and naturalism are frustratingly used interchangeably to
mean the same, yet they are not. It can be quite difficult to work out the difference between
naturalism and realism. But there are features which can help you understand the terminology.
Realism
1- characters are believable, everyday types
2- costumes are authentic
3- stage settings (locations) are often indoors and believable
4- the ‘box set’ is normally used for realistic dramas on stage, consisting of three walls and an
invisible ‘fourth wall’ facing the audience
5- settings for realistic plays are often ordinary),
6- dialogue is of everyday speech (vernacular)
7- the drama is typically psychologically driven, the primary focus is placed on the interior lives
of characters, their motives, the reactions of others etc.
8- realistic plays often see the protagonist (main character) rise up against the odds to assert
him/herself against an injustice of some kind (eg. Nora in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House)
9- Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler) is considered the father
of modern realism in the theatre.
Naturalism
1- In terms of style, naturalism is an extreme form of realism
2- naturalism was short-lived
3- costumes, sets and props are historically accurate as with realism,
4- settings for naturalistic dramas are ordinary
5- naturalistic dramas normally follow rules set out by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, known as
‘the three unities’ (of time, place and action)
6- playwrights were influenced by naturalist manifestos written by French novelist and
playwright Emile Zola
7- naturalism explores the concept of scientific determinism (produced from Charles Darwin’s
theory of evolution) – characters in the play are shaped by their circumstances and controlled by
external forces such as hereditary or their social and economic environment.
 22

8- characters in naturalistic plays are considered victims of their own circumstance; they are seen
as helpless.
9- characters are often working class/lower class (as opposed to the mostly middle class
characters of realistic dramas)
10- naturalistic plays regularly explore sordid subject matter previously considered taboo on the
stage in any serious manner (eg suicide, poverty, prostitution)
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