Category Poetry-Notes

The Deserted Village: Sum and Substance and Questions and Answers

In the famous poem, The Deserted Village, which was published in 1770, Oliver Goldsmith revisits Auburn- a village of which he had fond memories. It marks the depopulation brought about through the emigration of its peasant community and the influx of monopolising capitalists. Goldsmith mourns over the unfortunate and morbid state of society in which “wealth accumulates and men decay.”

On The Castle of Chillon Summary and Questions and Answers

In this poem Byron personifies Liberty. Liberty will live forever and people will die or give up their lives fighting for liberty. Liberty cannot be chained; liberty resides in the hearts and minds of freedom fighters. Liberty shines brightly even in the dungeons, the dungeons where prisoners fighting for liberty were kept. No tyrannical chains can bind the hearts of prisoners; their heart can only be chained by liberty.

The Season of the Plains By Shahid Ali

The Season of the Plains" brings alive the pangs of separation experienced by people who are living away from their homeland. Absence of a particular season in exile acts as a trigger for longing and nostalgia. Shahid Ali lived most of his adult life outside his homeland, Kashmir and passed away in the USA. This brings an intensely personal feeling into the poem.