La Belle Dame Sans Merci - A Ballad by John Keats

O WHAT can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.
II. O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms!	5
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.
III. I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,	10
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
IV. I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,	15
And her eyes were wild.
V. I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look’d at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.	20
VI. I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.
VII. She found me roots of relish sweet,	25
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
“I love thee true.”
VIII. She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sigh’d fill sore,	30
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.
IX. And there she lulled me asleep,
And there I dream’d—Ah! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dream’d	35
On the cold hill’s side.
X. I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—“La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!”	40
XI. I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.
XII. And this is why I sojourn here,	45
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.

Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa T.S.

Friends,
our dear sister
is departing for foreign
in two three days,
and
we are meeting today
to wish her bon voyage.

You are all knowing, friends,
What sweetness is in Miss Pushpa.
I don't mean only external sweetness
but internal sweetness.

Miss Pushpa is smiling and smiling
even for no reason but simply because
she is feeling.

Miss Pushpa is coming
from very high family.
Her father was renowned advocate
in Bulsar or Surat,
I am not remembering now which place.

Surat? Ah, yes,
once only I stayed in Surat
with family members
of my uncle's very old friend-
his wife was cooking nicely…
that was long time ago.

Coming back to Miss Pushpa
she is most popular lady
with men also and ladies also.

Whenever I asked her to do anything,

she was saying, 'Just now only
I will do it.' That is showing
good spirit. I am always
appreciating the good spirit.

Pushpa Miss is never saying no.
Whatever I or anybody is asking
she is always saying yes,
and today she is going
to improve her prospect
and we are wishing her bon voyage.

Now I ask other speakers to speak
and afterwards Miss Pushpa
will do summing up.



To participate in a Discussion on the poem, Click on Comments below

ViRus - A ShortFilm by Shaji Jose and Crew ; Dept of English GCM

Lit Chat - Digital Version

Volume 1 

Volume 2

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, son,

They used to laugh with their hearts

And laugh with their eyes:

But now they only laugh with their teeth,
While their ice-block-cold eyes

Search behind my shadow.

There was a time indeed

They used to shake hands with their hearts:

But that’s gone, son.

Now they shake hands without hearts

While their left hands search

My empty pockets.

‘Feel at home’! ‘Come again’:

They say, and when I come

Again and feel

At home, once, twice,

There will be no thrice –

For then I fond doors shut on me.

So I have learned many things, son.

I have learned to wear many faces

Like dresses – homeface,

Officeface, streetface, hostface,

Cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles

Like a fixed portrait smile.

And I have learned too

To laugh with only my teeth

And shake hands without my heart.

I have also learned to say, ‘goodbye’,

When I mean ‘Good-riddance’:

To say ‘Glad to meet you’,

Without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been

Nice talking to you’, after being bored.

But believe me, son.

I want to be what I used to be

When I was like you. I want

To unlearn all these muting things.

Most of all, I want to relearn

How to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror

Shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare

Fangs!

So show me, son,

How to laugh; show me how

I used to laugh and smile

Once upon a time when I was like you.

Gabriel Okara         

 To start a discussion, click on comments and then post your questions; or reply to the questions posted by others

 

UGC Seminar scheduled and Call for Papers Announced

UGC Seminar scheduled and Call for Papers Announced

UGC Sponsored National Seminar on “Dissonant Voices: Cultural Studies and

New Literatures” organized by the Department of English is scheduled on 30 & 31 January 2014.

OBJECTIVES

The seminar aims at introducing the plurality of discourses that invests cultural studies an anti-disciplinary status and the disjuncture in the theoretical formulations on its application in the analysis of new literatures for the benefit of students, researchers and teachers of humanities. It shall showcase the diversity of perspectives on cultural studies and analyze the problematic in addressing new literatures as a distinctive category.   It shall offer a platform for meaningful discussions and deliberations on cultural studies, new literatures and discourses of power.

THRUST AREAS

·         Cultural studies and theoretical foundations

·         New Literatures and the literary canon

·         Patterns and politics of representation in discourses of power  

·         Application of Cultural Theory on New Literatures

·         National literatures and cultural discourses

·         New literatures in translation

·         Other related areas

·          

IMPORTANT DATES

·         Last date for submission of abstracts (soft copy)       : 07 January 2014

·         Last date for submission of full paper (soft copy)      : 18 January 2014.

Authentic and unpublished papers will be published as a book with ISBN.

FORMAT FOR PAPERS

·         Title: Bold; Times New Roman, Paper size: A4, Font: 12, Double spaced.

·         Abstract: 200 words

·         Paper: 2000-2500 words

·         References should be as per the 7^th edition of MLA Handbook.

·         All texts cited should be listed in the Works Cited section at the end of the paper with proper bibliographic details. Also add ‘print’ for printed sources and website URL for e-citations.

Please E-mail your abstracts and papers to gcmengdpt@gmail.com or drdenny@gcmdy.org

FOR FURTHER DETAILS AND COMMUNICATION:

Seminar convener:    Dr. Denny Joseph

Asst. Professor and Head

Mobile: 09656346799.

Joint conveners:          Mr. Shibu K J, Asst. Professor. Ph: 9746826188

                                    Mr. Thomas V. L, Asst. Professor. Ph: 9447955360

My Last Duchess: Robert Browning

That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Fr Pandolf's hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will't please you sit and look at her? I said
``Fr Pandolf'' by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not
Her husband's presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps
Fr Pandolf chanced to say ``Her mantle laps
``Over my lady's wrist too much,'' or ``Paint
``Must never hope to reproduce the faint
``Half-flush that dies along her throat:'' such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart---how shall I say?---too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. 
Sir, 'twas all one! My favour at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace---all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
Or blush, at least. She thanked men,---good! but thanked
Somehow---I know not how---as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech---(which I have not)---to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, ``Just this
``Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
``Or there exceed the mark''---and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,
---E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will't please you rise? We'll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master's known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretence
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we'll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!