Owner: Literary Jewels URL:http://www.literarybonanza.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:14:31 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: This blog is dedicated to the jewels of literature, including novels, poetry, writers and their writings. It is about American literature, English literature, African literature, Indian English literature etc. I have made an attempt to interpret literatur Site statistics:Click here
The winning streak! 2008-05-06 07:55:00 It takes a lot to be a winner. And it’s not easy! Sometimes you win and still you are a loser, while at other times you might have lost that important match of your life but still you land up with so many accolades and appreciation in your pocket that you are the real winner in the long run. That’s because the fame associated with winning is short lived. We have the feeling of “Is that all there is?”(Bill Watterson once wrote these words in his comic strip ‘Calvin and Hobbes’) after the glory of winning has faded away.We often complain and grumble, when we have put in all the efforts and they don’t bear fruits in the end. There might have been other reasons for not winning the competition but what feedback you get is the greatest reward for you at that time. Even a few words
Follow your dreams! 2008-05-07 12:15:00 We all dream – dream to be something else than what we are. Are we not satisfied? When will we be satisfied with what we have? Probably that moment would coincide with the time when we stop growing. We dream not only with sleeping eyes but with open eyes, with all our heart. Paulo Coelho in his international bestseller ‘The Alchemist’ has given the subtitle: ‘A magical fable about following your dream’. The ‘Author’s Note’ in the beginning of the book is simply marvelous. He stresses on the need to be aware of the personal calling. He quotes Oscar Wilde’s statement: “Each man kills the thing he loves”.Today we are so engrossed with the materialistic bindings that we fail to lend an ear to the personal calling. We are made deaf by the ear shattering noise of the modern
Literary Jewels of George Eliot 2008-05-08 11:44:00 Mary Ann (Marian) Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880), better known by her pen name GeorgeEliot
, was an English novelist. She was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era.Here I would like to quote some of George Eliot’s best quotations:“Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. “ “Ignorance gives one a large range of probabilities.” “It’s never too late to be who you might have been.” “Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand. “ “There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.” “The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.” Her epitaph reads:"Of those immortal dead who live again,In minds made better by their p Read more:Literary
, Jewels
The very special Mother! 2008-05-11 10:09:00 (courtesy SOCPA)Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,But only one mother the wide world over.~George CooperOn the occasion of Mother’s Day I would like to share with you a very innocent poem written by Christina Rossetti when she was just 11 years old. This was her first poem.MY MOTHERTo-day’s your natal day,Sweet flowers I bring;Mother, accept, I pray,My offering.And may you happy live,And long us bless;Receiving as you giveGreat happiness.I would like to dedicate this post to my mother to whom I owe everything I have - the be all and end all of my little world.This heart, my own dear mother, bends,With love's true instinct, back to thee!~Thomas Moore
Examinations 2008-05-17 03:12:00 With my examinations approaching very near, I was reminded of the statement I once read in a magazine, ‘Oh! God, do not put me into examination.’ But we have to face the facts – let alone the academic examinations; we have to take a test every day, each moment of life. The examinations are a part and parcel of our lives, and we cannot run away from. So let’s face it. Talking of the academi
Freedom at Last!!! 2008-06-07 03:21:00 The freedom after examinations is such that I could almost say, later on like Wordsworth 'bliss it is in this dawn to be alive'. You feel as if your breathing has come back to normal, your head is a lot lighter; the Damocles’ sword dangling over your head has just vanished. That’s because the tougher task is over, the one that remains is the declaration of results. But that is not something to Read more:Freedom
John Milton's 'On His Twenty-Third Birthday' 2008-06-09 00:11:00 How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,Stol'n on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!My hasting days fly on with full career,But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truthThat I to manhood am arriv'd so near;And inward ripeness doth much less appear,That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th.Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,It shall be sti Read more:Milton
, Birthday
George Carlin's View on Aging 2008-06-08 06:52:00 I am presenting here an e-mail I received with the views expressed on aging by GeorgeCarlin
, a Grammy-Award winning American actor, comedian and an author. It has been said that these are those expressed by Carlin but anyway, I hope you enjoy reading these well-worded lines. Every statement is worth reading:Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? Read more:Aging
, George Carlin
Wordsworth - Coleridge Collaboration 2008-06-10 04:34:00 Wordsworth and Coleridge were the founders of the Romantic School of Poetry. They collaborated to compose poetry in accordance with their definition of poetry and with ideas to enrich it, by adding strangeness to beauty. They were disgusted with the artificial poetic composition of the poets of the Neo-Classical School of poetry. They added emotion and imagination to the poetry, while the poetry o Read more:Collaboration
Preface to the 'Lyrical Ballads' - Wordsworh 2008-06-14 02:58:00 In the ‘Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
’, William Wordsworth has revolted against the poetic principles of the eighteenth century saying that the life of a poor man can serve as a fit material for the poetry. The diction should be drawn from everyday speech and he wants to through a colouring of imagination over the simple material chosen for treatment in poetry. His poems like ‘Michael’,
'London' by William Blake 2008-06-15 11:53:00 LONDONI wandered through each chartered street,Near where the chartered Thames does flow,A mark in every face I meet,Marks of weakness, marks of woe.In every cry of every man,In every infant's cry of fear,In every voice, in every ban,The mind-forged manacles I hear:How the chimney-sweeper's cryEvery blackening church appals,And the hapless soldier's sighRuns in blood down palace-walls.But most, th Read more:William
, William Blake
'Ode to the West Wind' by Percy Bysshe Shelley 2008-06-19 07:58:00 'Ode to the West Wind', published in 1820, is one of the most powerful odes in english literature. It is remarkable and inspiring in its excellent structure and imagery that is full of passion. IO wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves deadAre driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,Pestilence-str
'God's Footprints' by Ken Brown 2008-06-26 07:59:00 It has been very long since I first read this poem 'God's Footprints
' by Ken Brown
. But I have never been able to forget it ever since. So I wanted to share it with my readers.
'God's Footprints'
By Ken Brown
One night in deepest sleep, I dreamed,Upon the beach I walked.
The Lord was by my side each step
As quietly we talked.
Then on the sky my life appeared;
Each chapter was serene.
Two set
Happiness 2008-06-20 21:30:00 image src:
"It is so simple to be happy, but so difficult to be simple."
When I heard this line I couldn't help marvel at the depth of the meaning of this line. Often in our life we tend to ignore the simple and momentary happiness, the moments that give us immense joy. Probably we assume that happiness is something that might last a few months or years at a stretch. But the trut
Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist' 2008-07-14 11:23:00 Want to own a copy? The AlchemistPauloCoelho
, born in Brazil is particularly renowned for his ‘The Alchemist’. He gave the subtitle to his book – ‘A magical fable about following your dream’. And indeed he tells us a fable of a boy named Santiago – a story his courage to follow his dream, the twists and turns he has to face in the course of his pursuit.While reading the book I felt t
Booker of Bookers - 'Midnight's Children' 2008-07-13 11:25:00 Salman Rushdie’s ‘Midnight’s Children
’, the 27 year old was rejuvenated recently, although it never grew old enough to be forgotten. It was first awarded the Booker
Prize in 1981, the year in which it was written. Before being awarded the Booker of Bookers
in 2008, it was selected for the same award on the 25th anniversary of Booker Prize in the year 1993. This time it was on the occasio
Shakespeare's Grave 2008-07-12 06:21:00 The grave of William Shakespeare
has the following words inscribed on it:"Blessed be the man that spares these stonesAnd cursed be he who moves my bones." These words might have served as a warning in past times. Even now when Ian Stainburn, of Stainburn Taylor architects and historic buildings consultants, who is to give the bard’s grave of the Bard is taking care that the work is done without Read more:Grave
George Eliot's 'The Mill on the Floss' 2008-07-11 08:21:00 George Eliot
was born on 22 November, 1819. She was born Mary Ann Evans. It was in 1857 that she adopted her nom de plume George Eliot. George was the Christian name of her husband (George Henry Lewes). She declared that she chose the name because “George was Mr. Lewes's Christian name, and Eliot was a good mouth-filling, easily pronounced word". Her novel ‘The Mill on the Floss’ was not abl Read more:George
'Othello' - the Source and the Additions 2008-07-10 10:54:00 While reading ‘Othello’, it must be kept in mind that we are dealing with a play that was specifically written for the theatre. This covers the inconsistencies of the plot and time scheme present in the play as the theatre audience does not have the time to give them a serious thought. The source of the play lies in the collection of tales written by Italian writer, Giambattisa Cinzio Giraldi. Read more:Source
Synaesthesia 2008-07-09 00:13:00 The word ‘synaesthesia’ has been derived from a Greek word meaning ‘perceiving together’. It means concurrent appeal to more than one senses. J.A. Cuddon defines it as the “response through several senses to the stimulation of one”. It is also sometimes called ‘sense transfer’ or ‘sense analogy’ – as M.H. Abrams too has termed it as description of one sense through another; f
'Act of Living Together' 2008-07-07 08:53:00 Martin Luther King wrote:“We have learnt to fly in the air like birds and to swim in the sea like fishBut we have not learned the simple act of living together.”How truly had he expressed a universal truth! Man is said to be a social animal. But we have, on the whole, not formed true societies. A society doesn’t simply mean a group staying together; rather it should be taken to mean the pers Read more:Living
Bill Gates's quotes 2008-07-03 06:32:00 Bill Gates
, the founder of Microsoft and the more recently established Bill-Mesinda Foundation (in 2000), had stepped down as the CEO of Microsoft in January 2000. Recently he retired from Microsoft to spend more time for his foundation. Gates's last day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He remains a non-executive chairman of Microsoft. The reason why I write about him on my blog, even though mine i Read more:Bill Gates
Shelley's 'A Defence of Poetry' 2008-07-02 07:53:00 Posthumous Portrait of Shelley Writing Prometheus UnboundArtist: Joseph Severnimg src: www.wam.umd.edu/~djb/shelley/gallery/homepic.jpg‘A Defence of Poetry
’ is the only finished prose work Shelley left. Shelley wrote this essay as a response to Thomas Love Peacock’s essay ‘Four Ages of Poetry’. He says, Poetry in the general sense may be defined to be “the expression of imagination:
Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' - an Overview 2008-07-30 00:58:00 ‘The Tempest
’ is a part of the last group of plays written by Shakespeare
. The other plays included in this group are ‘Winter’s Tale’, ‘Cymbeline’ and Pericles. ‘The Tempest’ has also been called ‘Shakespeare’s last will’, as it expresses his opinion about the way we should live and opinion different from that en his tragedies and comedies. The play belongs to the category Read more:Overview
Wordsworth's 'The Stolen Boat' from 'Prelude' 2008-07-25 11:05:00 'The Stolen Boat' (text)( photo source: )One summer evening (led by her) I foundA little boat tied to a willow treeWithin a rocky cave, its usual home.Straight I unloosed her chain, and stepping inPushed from the shore. It was an act of stealthAnd troubled pleasure, nor without the voiceOf mountain-echoes did my boat move on;Leaving behind her still, on either side,Small circles glittering idly in Read more:Prelude
Charlotte Bronte's Message of Peace 2008-07-23 11:17:00 Charlotte Bronte’s quote:“Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs”,taken from her famous novel ‘Jane Eyre’ gives us a message of being at peace with ourselves and with others. Animosity (meaning ‘bitter hostility’) is such a negative emotion that it should never become the cause of our actions, that is, the guiding factor of our deeds. The Read more:Charlotte
, Message
, Peace
The University Wits 2008-07-20 11:43:00 The term University
Wits is applied to a group of scholars, who wrote in the closing years of sixteenth century. They arrived in London from Oxford and Cambridge University and significantly influenced the development of Elizabethan literature. The group included – John Lyly, George Peele, Robert Greene, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Lodge, Thomas Nashe and Thomas Kyd (he was also a part although
Plotdog weekly contest July 18 2008-07-20 07:47:00 PlotDog Press has weekly writing contest in which my post “The Elizabethan Sonnet" was also entered but it didn't make it to the top.However, below is the list of the winners. They're all very commendable sites.Woof Winners: Writers Offering Our Finest for 18 July WOOF Contest - Top 5 Picks:About Writing and Author Interviews / About PoetryKimota - “How to Become a Writer - the Harsh Reality
Poetry as Criticism of Life - Matthew Arnold 2008-07-17 09:51:00 In his essay, ‘The Study of Poetry
’ MatthewArnold
has presented poetry as a criticism of life. In the beginning of his essay he states: “In poetry as criticism of life, under conditions fixed for such criticism by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty, the spirit of our race will find, as time goes by and as other helps fail, its consolation and stay.” Thus, according to him poetry i Read more:Criticism
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