Composed Upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth

West Minster Bridge in 1808

1. Annotate the following lines:

1.  “Earth has not any thing to show more fair:

     Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

    A sight so touching in its majesty:”

    Context: These lines are taken from the poem “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge” written by William Wordsworth. The poet says this while he describes the beauty of the City of London from Westminster Bridge.

    Explanation: 

   The poet says that the earth may have plenty of beautiful scenes but it can never present a scene more beautiful than the scene he is watching now. Everyone on the way would stop and watch this beautiful sight like Wordsworth because the beauty of nature has such a commanding power that arrests everyone with no exemptions. If anyone doesn’t stop and watch, that person will definitely be a dull soul. By dull soul, the poet may refer to any person carried away by the worldly routine life of the city.

    Comments: 

    As a romantic poet, Wordsworth proposed to write about rustic life but here strangely he is lost in the description of the city scene. By saying “Earth has not anything to show more fair” he himself has underestimated the most beautiful scenes of countryside. In fact, the present busy London life has stolen away all the charms of this poem, if any. 

 

West Minster Bridge Later

2. “This City now doth, like a garment, wear

    The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

    Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

    Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

    All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.”

    Context: 

    This is an extract from the poem “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge” written by William Wordsworth. The poet says this while he personifies the city of London to be a person dressed in beautiful garment.

    Explanation: 

   The poet personifies that London is a great giant. The beauty of the morning is the beautiful garment dressed by him. The passing ships on the River Thames, the magnificent towers, majestic domes, grand theatres and temples remain silent, bright, shining, smoke-free and  uncovered to the sky. The whole city is silent because it is the early morning and the sunrise keeps all glittering in golden colours. The air is free from smoke because the factories have not yet started to pollute the air with their smoke from chimneys.

    Criticism: 

    Wordsworth has committed a blunder here that he uses contradictory words and attempts to present unnatural natural scenery. First he says that the city is covered with a beautiful garment but in the next line, he says that it is uncovered (bare) and open to the sky. Romantic poets like Wordsworth are against the Industrial Revolution in the 18^th C. So, the phrase “smokeless air” is apparently the voice of his soul.

 

 3. “Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

    The river glideth at his own sweet will:

    Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

    And all that mighty heart is lying still!”

    Context: 

    William Wordsworth has written these concluding lines for his poem “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge”. The poet says this while he reveals the mysterious lesson received from the stunning beautiful sight of London. 

    Explanation: 

   The poet looks at the City of London in the early morning from Westminster Bridge. He says that he has never seen in his life such a beautiful sight. He has never felt a profound silence in his heart as he feels now. Man’s life should be like this River Thames that runs freely towards Ocean not conditioned by any religion, any beliefs and old customs. Nature has a lesson for life but my God, people are asleep. The poet hopes that people will be awakened one day and understand life through nature. They are the children of Almighty but their mighty heart is not awake and still remains still.

    Comment: 

    Silence kindles truth from heart. The moment Wordsworth feels a deep silence in his heart, Nature communicates to him the lesson for his life. No poets have been able to awaken people from ignorance that is what he means by “the very houses seem asleep;” The sonnet thus excels in the concluding lines with the wisdom of Wordsworth.

Essay on the Function of Education (By Jiddu Krishnamurti)

Preface:

            Jiddu Krishnamurti is a great philosopher, speaker and a writer. He was selected and nurtured at the young age by the Theosophical society headed by Annie Besant to become the World Teacher.  But he spirit grew independently and did not want anyone to follow him. in 1929, he dissolved the Order of the East and said, “The moment you follow someone, you cease to follow truth.” His views on education are as revolutionary as his spirit. In this work, he reveals the purpose of education in connection with understanding life, intelligence, learning, attention, inward freedom and creation of new society.

The Purpose of Education:

            J. Krishnamurti raises the question – Are we educated only to pass the exam and get a job, then for getting married and becoming more and more like machines? Should we study just to be proficient in Maths and Physics? He suggests not to study for life but to study life. Education is to understand the whole process of life – to discover for yourself  what is real. Today man is conditioned by religion, beliefs, ideas, tradition, and society. According to him, the function of education is to help man to live freely without fear.

What Affects and Develops Your Intelligence?

In his words, Intelligence means the capacity to think freely without fear, without a formula, to find out for yourself what is true. An intelligent mind is always clear, simple and direct but what affects it is ambition. Both spiritual ambition and worldly ambition produce anxiety and fear. Once a person is frightened, he can never be intelligent. When a person grows, he is afraid of several things – afraid of exam, placement, living, getting a child, losing a job, promotion, death, what the wife or husband would say, etc. Krishnamurti states, “Most of us have fear in one form or another; and where there is fear there is no intelligence.”

What Does Attention Mean?:

            Attention comes to a person only when the person is interested in something, only when he loves to find all about it. Once attention comes, then the whole mind is there and whole being is there. But what happens in classroom? The student stares at the window. The teacher compels him to pay attention to the subject. Throughout his life, a person is interested to do something, but he is compelled to do something else against his will. Religion, education, parents, society, tradition and everybody stand against him. But the function of education is to help the student to find what he loves to do from the beginning to end of his life.

About Learning, Inward Freedom and the New Society:

            According to Krishnamurti, learning is not restricted to class room and teacher. It is a lifelong process, He says, “When you are really learning you are learning throughout your life and there is no one special teacher to learn from.” Because a person learns from everything – a dead leaf can teach him impermanency, a bird in flight can teach him freedom, and so on. The function of education is not to try to fit a student  into the rotten society but to give him complete inward freedom to grow independently and create a new society. Only a person in constant revolt inwardly against tradition, against his own bondage can discover what is true and create such a New Society.

Essay on Spoken English and Broken English (By G.B. Shaw)

Introduction:

          Next to Shakespeare, the well-known dramatist is G.B. Shaw. He is also an art critic, gifted public speaker and the Noble Prize Winner for literature in 1925.  He is best remembered for his ready wit, sense of humour, practical wisdom and lively commonsense in his works. Spoken English and Broken English is a transcript of his radio talk recorded in 1927. In this talk, he analyses the reasons for aspiring to speak correct English and proves the non-existence of correct English. He also explains the benefits of broken English, especially in English speaking countries.

The Reasons for Speaking Correct English:

          G.B. Shaw brings out three reasons why people want to speak correct English: 1. Non-native speakers of English want to be understood by native speakers of English well, particularly when they travel to England or America 2. People try to speak correct English to get a job that is open only to those who speak correct English. Or, 3. They may be native speakers but feel ashamed of speaking local dialect or Cockney dialect, the one used in East end of London. The purpose of Shaw’s radio talk was also to ask him for a specimen of Correct English.

Correct English – a Delusion:

          People generally believe that they can speak grammatically correct English with actual pronunciation if they practice well. But Shaw makes it clear that it is a mere delusion. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has formed a committee to bring out correct English with correct pronunciation and Shaw is also a member of that committee. But Shaw says that no two members of the committee pronounce alike even the two commonest words -yes and no. No two native speakers of English speak alike. He also warns: If a foreigner speaks English perfectly in England, he is likely to be suspected as a beggar or a cheat.

The Alternative One for Correct English:

          Shaw suggests that if a foreigner comes to English, he has to use broken English with no grammar such as “Please! Charing Cross! Which way?”  Then immediately half a dozen native speakers will recognize him as a foreigner and be ready to help him. English has to vary according to different regions of people, their nature, their relations with the speaker, the listener’s capacity, etc. As Shaw says, therefore there is no correct English but  “there is presentable English which we call ‘Good English.’

Conclusion:

          Shaw makes a fun and says that he cannot speak carelessly to audience as he speaks to his wife and he cannot speak carefully to his  wife as he speaks to his audience. He is very authentic, direct, truthful and practical in his expressions. He unfolds the fact that 999 out of every 1000 people in London speak bad English badly. He also warns that no foreigner can ever speak with exact native accent and rise and fall intonation. It is rather not required as well. What is required is not correct English but Good English, presentable English and English that is well spoken.

Essay on “Letter to a Teacher” (written by Nora Rossi and Tom Cole)

Introduction:

          Letter to a Teacher is an extract from a book written in Italian language by eight school boys of Barbiana. It was later translated into English by Nora Rossi and Tom Cole in 1970. The school was actually started with 10 students by a Church father named Lorenzo Milani. The father encouraged the school boys to write a book about their experiences in the school. The result is this book. In this lesson, the boy writer expresses his grievances about the exam system, grading system in education, the teacher’s failure to understand the students, their superiority complex, partiality and de-motivation.

The Impact of Failure of the Students:

          The teachers in the Barbiana school used to fail many poor students every year. The fathers of those children were farmers or factory workers. They may have the dream that their children would come up in life after school study. But the very failure takes the boys to work again in fields and factories. Why should we fail a student who wants to come up in lilfe? While conducting the test, the teachers simply walk up and down between the desks. They look at the students suspiciously as if looking at a thief.

Students Degraded by Grading System:

          At the end of the lesson, the student-writer laughs at grading worthless boys with A in physical education. The translator of the lesson, in his introduction, talks about the grading system in Barbiana school where numbers from 0 to 10 are used to grade the students. A boy should get minimum 6 to pass the exam. Children of rich parents managed to have private tutors to complete their homework and passed but children of farmers had no money and eventually failed. In gymnastics exam, the teacher threw a ball and asked them to play basketball. The boys got confused what to do. But the teacher decided to fail them with contempt and said “My poor children.” The physical education teacher was interested in conventional ritual and did not teach anything but told the principal that the boys should take the exam again in the autumn.

The Teachers’ Ignorance and Irrelevant Teaching:

          The student-writer writes in his letter to the teacher: “You know even less about men than we do.” The boy also gives examples of how the teachers were totally ignorant of living conditions of working men and their children. They used lift and avoided seeing working men in the building. They used cars and avoided seeing the troubles of men in bus. They and their favorite students know Cicero, the great Roman orator but not about the sufferings of working men and their children.

Conclusion:

          The boy also condemns the teacher’s uncultured talk and partiality to workers by using undermining choice of words, tone and jokes. He is so angry with the teacher and says: “This is the sort of culture your poets should have given you.” The boy seems to be a representative of all such students in the world. Thus this lesson brings out the true feelings of the students towards teachers and current education system. Usually teachers would teach a lesson to students but in this lesson the student teaches a lesson to the teachers.