SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA
1. The Greek Philosopher Plato in his
work Republic presented the Allegory of the Cave or
Plato's Cave to compare how education changes us for the good and
effect of the lack of the same on human nature. It is narrated by Socrates and
the dialogue is between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor, who is
Socrates- the narrator.
2. An Essay on Man, written by Alexander
Pope in 1733-34 was dedicated to Lord Bolingbroke. The poem was
written in heroic couplets of Iambic Pentameter. It was an effort to
'vindicate' rather than 'justify' unlike Milton in the opening of Paradise
Lost. (PAPER 2, Q14, 2004)
3. Containing four epistles, An Essay on
Man is a philosophical work and has been praised by writers in Europe
like Voltaire, Rousseau, and others.
4. The Vanity of Human Wishes by
Samuel Johnson is based on the tenth satire of Juvenal. Its full title is The
Vanity of Human Wishes: The Tenth Satire of Juvenal Imitated. It was published
in 1749. (PAPER 2, Q15, 2004)
5. A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) was
written by Samuel Johnson. It is considered one of the most influential
dictionaries in the history of the English Language.
6. Oxford English Dictionary was
completed 173 years after Johnson's Dictionary. Until then,
Johnson's Dictionary was seen as the standard.
7. Written in closed Heroic couplets, The
Vanity of Human Wishes consists of 368 lines.
8. Published in 1738, London by
Samuel Johnson is a poem of 263 lines. It copies Juvenal's third satire. London
is considered to be Johnson's first major work.
9. Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets(1779-81),
a biography and periodical essays- The Rambler, The Idler, and The Adventurer
were written by Dr Samuel Johnson.
10. Alexander Pope's poem Messiah (1712)
was translated into Latin by Samuel Johnson in 1728.
11. Richard Savage was a poet based in London. He was
a friend of Samuel Johnson. He passed away in 1743. Life of Savage was
the first biography published by Johnson in 1744.
12. Published in 1759, The History of
Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia or The Prince of Abissinia: A Tale or The Choice
of Life falls under the genre of theodicy, apologue, and fable. There
has been a long debate among the critics as to classify it as a novel.
13. Theodicy comes from Greek words
'theos', which means ' god ' and ' dike' means 'justice'. It is a vindication
of God and explains why a perfect, almighty God let evil happen.
14. Apologue is a short allegorical
story or fable. An apologue is different from a fable because the moral is more
important than the narrative details. Some well-known examples are Aesop's
Fables, George Orwell's Animal Farm, Brer Rabbit stories by Joel
Chandler Harris and others.
15. Parable is different from fable
with respect to the characters. The parable has humans whereas the fable has
animals, plants, elements of nature and inanimate objects as characters.
16. The similarity between apologue and parable is
that both are instruments of moral lessons and rhetorical argument.
17. As a literary device, allegory is
a narrative (a narrative is a story or a tale that has series of events) in
which a character, event or place conveys a larger message. Difficult and
complex meanings are often conveyed through symbols, imagery, events,
personification or actions which come together to form a meaning which the
author wishes to convey.
18. The final version of The Prelude appeared
in the year 1850. It was shortly published in 14 books after his death. (PAPER
2, Q 16, 2004)
19. The Prelude or, Growth of a Poet's Mind:
An Autobiographical Poem is written in blank verse. Originally, it was
planned to be an introduction to The Recluse.
20. Wordsworth started writing The Prelude in
the year 1798. He never gave the title to his poem. In the letters to his
sister Dorothy, he called it 'Poem to Coleridge'. The present title has been
given by his widow Mary.
21. The Prelude, in short, depicts the
growth of the poet's mind and the oneness between the world of nature and
man.
22. " To Suffer woes which Hope thinks is
infinite " was written by Shelley. The lines have been taken from
the poem Prometheus Unbound. (PAPER 2, Q17, 2004)
23. Prometheus Unbound is a four-act
lyrical closet drama based on the Greek mythological figure Prometheus, who
defied Gods to give fire to humanity.
24. The play first published in 1820 was written in
Romantic tradition. It was not supposed to be performed on stage, but was
rather left to the imagination of the readers.
25. Prometheus Unbound takes
inspiration from classical Prometheia, which is a trilogy written
by Greek tragedy author Aeschylus.