LITERARY DEVICES
LANGUAGE SPARKER
Language sparker is the literary device which helps in making the artistic use of language. The language that has no artisan of words or words manual is called a dead language. The style of a writer often depends on the choice of particular literary devices.
Certain artistic effects in a literary work are produced by devices. Without literary devices we can not express our thoughts in an emotional way.
An emotional appeal is also an artistic quality.It is true that some people much incline to think that artistic quality is an inborn quality.But we have seen a number of exceptional cases.To name a few are Demostheneds, Burke, Macaulay , Dickens, Virginia Woolf, R.K. Narayan and Ruskin Bond.
There is another misconception among many of us that simple and lucidity is a token of literary works. To speak frankly, we get wedded with a simple lady and avoid modern artificial bedrooms, but when we attend a party under glossy high ceilings, surely, ornamentation and simplicity go hand in hand.
Literary devices are used to produce striking effects, or it is called a figure of speech. In figure of speech, the words or expression used is the making of meaning. we do not tend to use them in our regular talks,or hardly we do. The word 'figure' takes its shape from Latin words 'figura' which means form of a thing.
Example;
He was a pillar of that family.
The word 'pillar' is used here as a figure.
Figures may be classified into following groups:
1)Based on Similarity:
a)Simile b) Metaphor c) Allegory
d) Analogy
2)Based on Association:
a) Metonymy b) Hypallage
c) Synecdoche d) Allusion
3)Based on difference:
a) Antithesis b) Climax c) Oxymoron
d) Anti-climax c) Epigram d) Paradox
4)Based on Imaginative work
a) Personification b) Apostrophe
c) Hyperbole d) Vision e) Fallacy
5) Based on indirectness:
a) Innuendo b) Euphemism
c) Irony d) Meiosis
e) Sarcasm f) Litotes
6) Based on Sound:
a) Onomatopoeia b) Alliteration
c) Pun d) Assonance
7) Based on Construction:
a) Interrogation b) Asyndeton
c) Exclamation d) Chiasmus
e) Zeugma
8)Others
a) Parable b) Fable c) Anticipation
d) Overlooking and ignoring
e) the opposite.
FIGURE BASED ON SIMILARITY:
SIMILE:
The word simile has come into the literary field from Latin 'similis', which means likeness. Here, likeness doesn't say about a common men comparison. In comparison, we tend to bring two similar things and compare them. But the simile is not exactly like this. As a figure of speech, a simile brings out a comprehensive comparison between two things that are far different from each other. Though they are different, yet they have some similarities. In simile , this comparison is stated with clearness and they are introduced by like,as,so,etc.
Examples;
"Distilled books are like common distilled waters"( Bacon:Of Studies)
Note: 'Distilled books' are compared with 'distilled waters'
"My body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires." ( James Joyace:Araby)
Note: The 'body' is compared with 'harp' and 'words and gestures' are to the 'fingers running'
"I wandered lonely as a cloud" (Wordsworth)
Note: The poet himself is compared to the condition of a cloud.
"They wish to be father to that thought."(Shakespeare)
Note: The 'wish' is heavily compared to the 'father'
KINDS OF SIMILE:
Common simile
Epic simile
COMMON SIMILE:
Common simile is simple simile of regular uses. Common similes may have complex producing ideas.
examples;
As pitch as black.
As selfish as rats.
I loved her; till now, every night her perfume is coming like sweet thoughts in a dream.
EPIC SIMILE:
Usually, epic similes are seen long and continued. Sometimes, it is so long and continuous that it looks like a short descriptive poem or an explanatory historical record. It is so detailed that sometimes it is seen as losing its details.
Examples
"His ponderous shield,
Ethereal temper, massy,large and round,
Behind him cast. The broad circumference
Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb
Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
At evening from the top of Fesole,
Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,
River, or mountains,in her spotty globe."
( Milton: Paradise Lost)
Note: This is an example of an epic simile. Here poet Milton has compared Satan's shield. Also, he has produced a crowd of imagination. Satan's shield is compared with metal that is found in heaven and it is huge and round. It lies on his back hanging like the moon. BY the optic glass the Tuscan artist , perhaps,means his shape is observed by Galileo through his telescope in the evening from the top of the hill,Fesole. It seems like an effort is made to view new lands, rivers, or mountains, in its spotted periphery.
"Here walked the Fiend at large in spacious field.
As when a vulture on Imaus bred,
Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,
Dislodging from a region scarce of prey"
( Milton: Paradise Lost)
Note: To say, poet Milton is a proficient expert of producing epic simile. His similes are longer, complex, descriptive and explanatory. Satan's escape from hell is chaotic. The simile provides information with a story that is about vultures from central Asia but evil is thought to come from the north.
2. METAPHOR:
The Greek word ' meta' which means 'change' and 'phero' means 'carry', and therefore the 'metaphor' means carrying a changed meaning. It is called an implied simile. This figure of speech is used to mean one thing, but comparison is implied with another. It means that comparison is not clearly stated, but suggested.
Examples:
"The camel is a ship of the desert."
Note: Here the comparison is made between 'camel' and 'ship', in an implied way. The ship carries men and goods across the sea, so the camel carries men and goods across a desert.
"Farewell, Love,and all thy laws for ever.
Thy baited hooks shall tangle me no more"
Note: Here metaphor occurs between a fish caught in a fish-hook, and a lover by love. This extends that a fish can not escape once it is caught in a fish-hook so also a lover who is once trapped by love cannot escape from its grip.
"Where the clear stream of reason has not lost
its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit."
Note: The quoted lines are extended into a brilliant example of metaphor. The 'reason' is compared to' a clear stream' and 'dead habit' to "the desert sands". It implies that just as a clear stream loses its way in desert sands, so also reason may be lost in custom and unchanging habits.
Some metaphors happen regularly:
A flash of wit.
A lame excuse.
Gloom of despair.
The light of knowledge.
The fire of passion.
A stony heart.
The ray of hope.
A flight of fancy
A downright falsehood.
A rosy complexion.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SIMILE AND METAPHOR:
In both simile and metaphor a comparison is made between two different types, Simile brings the comparison explicitly while metaphor does it understood. Actually a metaphor is a compressed simile: a simile is seen compressed into metaphor, and also a metaphor is seen expanded into a simile.
Example:
Kalidasa is the Shakespeare of Bengal.( Metaphor)
Kalidasa is a famous dramatist of Bengali as Shakespeare in English(Simile)
PARTS OF SPEECH OF METAPHOR:
Noun:
She may have a shade(noun) of doubt .
Her marriage drives a dragger( noun) in my heart.
Verb:
"I will drink (verb) life to the Lees" (Tennyson)
He cultivated(verb) a fresh acquaintance.
Adjective:
She doesn't have a thorny (adjective) heart.
I have just found a golden (adjective) opportunity.
KINDS OF METAPHOR:
Strained metaphor
Mixed metaphor.
Dead metaphor.
Personal metaphor.
Constant metaphor.
Strained metaphor:
This kind metaphor is drawn from an unknown source, and so irrelevant that it cannot be understood easily.
Example:
" Here Lay Duncan
His silver skin laced with his golden blood" [Shakespeare: Macbeth]
Note: Here the 'silver skin' means white skin. As a white piece of cloth is laced with gold, so also Duncan's skin is laced with his blood.
2. Mixed metaphor:
Mixed metaphor suggests that two diverse kinds of metaphors are used in the same sentence with the same subject.
Example:
" Oh, and the next two hours tripped by, on rosy wings." [ The Gift of Magi by O. Henry]
Note: The same subject is extended by two different metaphors. These are 'tripped by' that calls the attention of an image of a person who walks with quickness and 'rosy wings' suggests a butterfly with rose- coloured wings. Here it has a mix of hours applied.
3. Dead Metaphor:
It is said that common things are often avoided by all. Same is the case with dead metaphors. The words this kind metaphor has are not examined by us if they are suitably used, or not. Actually they are not dead; they are half-dead and can be brought back into life.
Let's us examine a dead metaphor;
"Are you a man or a mouse?" Groucho Marx asked.
A reply then was made " Throw me a piece of cheese and you'll find out.
Such is the case often seen that grace of metaphor is spoiled by use of ambiguous confusion of both literal and metaphorical sense. But artworks demand licensing to escape the rules.
"All the voyage of life
Is bound in shallow and miseries"
Here the word 'shallow' has been used metaphorically and the word ' miseries' literally. It is understood that if tide is used as an advantage, the ship is filled with happiness, otherwise, if tide is neglected, the ship carries miseries. The word ' shallow' means shallow water which extends the meaning of difficulties.
4. Personal metaphor:
A personal metaphor is that metaphor in which life essence is given into some inanimate object.
For example;
" I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flower"
Note: The word 'thirsting' is used here as a metaphorical extension. Life feels thirsty, but flowers do not because of being inanimate objects. The essence of life has transformed into a flower.
Some more examples;
'A sullen sea'
'The thirsty ground'
'The threatening cloud'
But, when the essence of life is given to the abstract idea, it should not be chosen as a personal metaphor such examples are 'leaden - eyed despair', ' frowning wrath', 'gloomy despondency' etc.
5.Constant metaphor:
It is a common metaphor. It is used regularly by us. It is so common that we are hardly aware that we use it.
Examples;
'to play fool's
'be crowned with success'
'to plunge into the business'
'to harbour malice' etc.
ALLEGORY:
The word' allegory' is derived from the Greek word, 'allegoria'. It is one of the famous literary devices that gives us a description of a thing. But this description is not so available as we find it easily. It is a disguise type description in which one thing is taken after into another thing. It may be called a judgment type. If a stick is dipped half of it into the clean water, it seems bent. Excellently, an allegory is a figure by which a narrative or a story is told. It conveys a meaning which is different from its surface meaning. As an extended metaphor, an allegory sustains comparison between two unequal intensified subjects, carried through a number of details. It provides us with the explanation of the idea or a moral lesson. But all allegory has the characteristic of indirectness of communication. To say, an allegory is an absolute developed simile.
Types of an allegory:
Historical or Political allegory.
Moral or Religious allegory.
Historical or Political allegory:
Historical or Political allegory includes the characters and action in the focus of events. For example, Dydren's 'Absalom and Achitophel' . It is a satirical allegory in which allegorically describes Dryden champions, the monarchy, and the punishment with wrath and scorn.
In the second book of Milton' s Paradise Lost, poet Milton describes brilliantly and allegorically the birth and nature of sin.
Moral and Religious allegory:
This kind allegory contains the characters that represent virtues and vices. Its plot serves to communicate some moral ideas or religious doctrine. For example, "Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress". A short passage that shows how Bunyan has developed the allegory is given below:
"Now as Christian was walking solitary by himself he espied one a far of come crossing over the field to meet him; and their hap was to meet just as they were crossing the way of each other. The Gentleman's name was Mr Worldly Wiseman; he dwelt in the Town of Carnal policy, a very great town, and also hard by from whence Christian came"
Another example; 'Gitanjali : 50' a poem written by Rabindranath Tagore. It is a brilliant example of an allegory in which it tells us the way to come in close contact with God.
" The Faerie Queene" is another famous moral - cum- historical allegory. In which Spencer, a great Elizabethan poet, signifies Faerie Queene Clory in the abstract and Queen Elizabeth under the Gloriana.
ANALOGY:
It may be called half simile and half metaphor. It suggests partial likeness of Similarity between two different things. The Greek 'ana' means according and 'logos' means ratio. Its main function is to explain something by comparing it with something else that resembles in some proportion or ratio. It is logic based.
Examples;
"The heart is to a man what a water- pump is to a village."
Another beautiful example;
" I do not believe that Rafael taught Michael Angelo or that Michael Angelo taught Rafael, any more than I believe that Rose teaches Lily
how to grow, or the Apple tree teaches the Pear tree how to bear fruit". --- William Blake
N.B. An analogy functions to make something clear, but sometimes it makes something less clear, rather more entangled.
FIGURE BASED ON ASSOCIATION
METONYMY:
‘Meta’, the Greek word, means ‘change’ and ‘anoma’ means ‘name’.Thus, etymologically ‘metonymy means ‘ change of name’. Metonymy is the figure of speech which substitutes the name of something for another which is associated with it. To Nesfield, “ It is a substitution of the thing named for the thing meant.”
For example ;
The ‘crown’ is the name of the thing and the ‘ king’ is the thing meant.
There is the variety of metonymy which are given under the following heads:
a)Author for his work:
He reads Milton.
Note- Here ‘Milton’ is the substitution for Milton’s works.
I know very little about Spencer.
Note: Here ‘Spencer’ means works of Spencer.
b) The symbol for the thing symbolized:
He succeeded to the crown.
Note: Here the word ‘ crown’ means the monarchy.
Grey hairs should be respected.
Note: ‘Grey hairs’ means old men.
“ wherefore feed and clothe and save
From the cradle to the grave
Those ungrateful drones who would
Drain your sweet - Nay, drink your blood.’’[Shelley]
Note: Here ‘cradle means infancy and ‘grave’ means death.
“ Then to the well- trod stage anon,
If Johnson’s learned stock be on.”[Milton: ‘L’ Allego]
Note: ‘Learned stock’ means comedy. Here actors wear socks.
c) Instrument or organ for the agent:
A smooth tongue wins favour.
Note; Here ‘tongue’ is meant for the instrument that produces the effect.
“ Give every man thine ear , but few thy voice
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgement.’’
Note: ‘ear’ is the substitution for paying heed instead of saying, but ‘voice’ means saying. Here it suggests that pay heed to every man’s saying , but not let yourself say.
d) The container for the thing contained:
He drank the fatal cup.
Note: The ‘cup’ contains poison.
The whole village went to see the Krishna festival.
Note: ‘village means inhabitants of the village.
“ From courts to camps, to cottages it strays.[ Scott]
Note: The words - ‘courts’,’camps’ and ‘cottages’ mean courtiers, soldiers and cottages dwellers.
e)Act for the object of the act:
“The principles of liberty were the scoff of every grinning coutier.”
Note: Here is an object of ridicule for ‘scoff’.
“ Brother Nigel? the straight-backed,
chinless wonder from Sandhust?”
Note: ‘wonder’ here means object of wonder.
f) The effect of the cause or the cause for its effect:
“ May a favourable speed ruffle the mirrored mast of the ship”[ Tennyson]
Note: Here the ‘speed’ is the effect and wind is the cause
“ There furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke.”[ Gray]
Note: Here ‘furrow’ is the plough , the effect of the cause.
“ And vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself” [ Ulysses]
Note: ‘three suns’ means three years, the cause for the effect.
g) The name of feeling and passion for its object:
“ Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more,
For Lycidas, your sorrow is not dead.
Note: ‘ sorrow’ means the object of sorrow.
h) The place for its production:
“And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.”[ The Rape of the Lock, CantoI by Pope]
Note: ‘Arabia’ means perfumes of Arabia.
“ O for a beaker full of the warm South .”
Note: Here ‘South’ means wine produced in the Southern countries, especially in Italy.
SYNECDOCHE:
Synecdoche is a Greek word. Literally it means intimately connected.To say, it is the figure of speech that says about the relation between two things and that the understanding of one thing by means of another. According to Bain, “ a figure in which a part of a thing is put for the whole, or the genus for the species, of the name of the material for the thing made”. There are eight types of synecdoche, as;
A species for the Genus:
Example;
Give us this day our daily bread. ( food)
silver and gold I have none. ( riches)
We need more hands for this factory.( workmen)
The genus for the Species:
“ Drink, pretty creature , drink….” ( lamb)
“Vessels large may venture more.” ( Ships)
The abstract for the Concrete:
“Let not Ambition mock their useful toil” ( ambitious people)
“ Weariness
Can snore upon the flint when restive
Finds the down pillow hard” —-- Shakespeare
N.B. Here ‘Weariness' means a weary man. Oppositely, ‘restive’ means a lazy man.
Concrete for abstract:
The laity has both characters of a tiger and an ape
N. B. 'Tiger’ means ferocity and ‘ape’ habit of imitating others.
“ And the village maidens lose the rose. ( ruddiness)
There is a large amount of fox in his character.( cunning)
A part for the whole:
She had to feed many little mouths. ( children)
After seventy winters , one day he forgot to take a breath.
( years)
“ A thousand summers are over and dead,
What hast thou found in the spring to follow” ( years)
All the best brains fail to solve the problem. ( intellectuals)
The whole for a part:
We have long seen the songs and scent of the smiling year before lock down.( spring)
“ Wake the purple year ( spring)
An individual for the class:( ANTONOMASIA)
I am not a Newton. ( the great scientist)
“ Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest..” ( a great poet)
“ Some Cromwell guiltless of his country’s blood.( a great leader)
Material for the thing made:
Clad in silk and gold she looked splendid.( dress and gold ornaments)
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN METONYMY AND SYNECDOCHE:
Both Metonymy and Synecdoche say about one thing associated with another but we mean another. The sharp difference is that in Metonymy what we say is external and separable and in Synecdoche what we say is internal and inseparable, as;
“The village all declared how much he knew.”--- Goldsmith
Note: Here ‘ village’ stands for the people of the village. Vividly, ‘ village’ is to say is the container and people are the things contained into it. So people of a village are external and separable. They may go and live somewhere, but the village is static. So the above is Metonymy.
They live in extreme poverty.
The ‘Poverty’ means poor people. Poverty gone poor are no more poor.Thus it is inseparably interrelated. So is it called Synecdoche.
HYPALLAGE (TRANSFERRED EPITHET)
This figure of speech is associated with a qualifying adjective. The adjective which belongs to one word is transferred to another with the linked sentence.
For example;
He engaged in dishonest calling.
Note: The adjective ‘dishonest’ is actually carried by ‘he’, but in the above sentence it is shouldered on the word ‘calling’.
Another example;
“As he plucked his cursed steel away, the blood of caesar followed it”
Note:
Here still is not ‘cursed’. The person who stabs it is cursed.
More examples of this kind;
An unlucky hour, a happy thought, a walking stick, a mortal wound, a virtuous indignation, a sorrowful night, an unkind remark.
N.B. It is noteworthy that like Metaphor, Hypallage is a figure of substitution, the difference between them is that Metaphor is an implied comparison between two things and Hypallage is a suggestive comparison between two things, not having any actual comparison.
ALLUSION:
Briefly or explicitly, this figure of speech is indirectly referred to a person or thing or event of the past or to another literary work or passage.
eg,
“ Now we clap
Our hands and cry ‘ Eureka’ , it is clear”
Note: The word ‘Eureka’ means ‘something has been got’. It is an exclamation and that probably was uttered by the Greek scientist, Archimedes when he discovered ‘ the principle of Gravity’
“There is a tide in the affairs of women.
Which, taken at the flood, leads– God knows where.
( Byron : Don Juan)
The ironic allusion is actually found in the mouth of Brutus in the Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar:
“ There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, Taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.”
FIGURE BASED ON ‘CONTRAST’ OR ‘DIFFERENCE’
ANTITHESIS:
Antithesis is a Greek word. It is composed with two words : ‘anti’ and ‘tithenai’. The former means ‘against’ and the later means ‘to place’. Therefore, It means ‘the placing of contrasted words against each other.
In this figure of speech, a contrasted word or idea is set against another word in a balanced form for the sake of emphasis.
According to Nesfield, “ in an explicit statement of an implied contrast’
See,
He is the master and not the slave of his speech.
Note: Here the word ‘master’ states that he has a full control over his speech, and ‘slave’ stands that he does not speak unnecessary.
See more examples,
Man proposes but God disposes.
Type of wise, who soar but never roam.
And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true
We live in deeds, not in years.
The one remains, the many change and pass.
CLIMAX:
The word ‘climax’ belongs to the Greek word ‘ Klimax’, and it means a ‘ladder’. Therefore, this figure of speech calls the attention of a series of words, ideas, images or sentiments in such a way that the sense rises by successive steps from the less important to the most important.[ i.e. the forceful one comes last of all ]
Examples
We dream alone, we suffer alone, we die alone.
Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.
We grieved, we sighed, and we wept.
He saw, he wished and the prize aspired.
Money is money ; death is death ; the living are the living, the living are the future.
ANTI-CLIMAX OR BATHOS:
Anti- climax is the opposite of climax. It is similar to Bathos, meaning ‘depth’. In this figure of speech , the words, phrases or ideas are arranged in a descending order of importance, and therefore the last thoughts which are less important come last - from lofty to the commonplace ideas.
Examples
The soldier fights for glory and a dollar a day
I have dared to love you wildly,
passionately, devotedly , hopelessly.
OXYMORON:
It is a figure of speech in which two opposite or contradictory words or terms or ideas are set together to enhance the expression effectively; as,
a living death,
pleasing pain,
carefully careless, etc.
He lives the life of active idleness.
You are the wisest learned fool and also a bookful blockhead.
Forgiveness is the noblest revenge.
EPIGRAM:
In Greek, it originally means an inscription, but gradually it becomes the brevity of expression. It is apparently contradictory , causes shock and rouses our attention and has some deeper underlying potentialities.
See,
In the midst of life we are in death.
Note: Though we are alive, we have no joy in life.
This is the true beginning of our ends.
We fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, sleep to wake.
A man of pleasure is a man of pain.
6. PARADOX:
A paradox is a statement.Whenever it is made, it seems contradictory, unbelievable and absurd, but it has a valid meaning. A paradox implies an apparent contradiction.
Example,
“Lovers’ quarrels are the renewal of love”
“ The paths of glory lead but to the grave”
“Good books can tell us the mind of one man,
bad books can tell us the mind of many men.”
FIGURE BASED ON IMAGINATION
1.Personification:
It is a figure of speech in which an inanimate object or an abstract idea is represented as a person.
E.g.
“ Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful…” [ John Donne - Death Be Not Proud]
Note : Death is personified here.
“Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.” [William Wordsworth - The Tables Turned.]
Note. Nature is personified here.
“Time rolls his ceaseless course” [ Scott- The Lady of the Lake]
N.B. Personification is akin to Personal Metaphor. Some human feelings like sorrow , joy, anger etc are attributed to some inanimate objects of nature. At the same time it brings a comparison between man and nature.
eg,
The gloomy sea, the angry waves etc.
2. Apostrophe:
This is a special kind of Personification. In it, an address is made to a personified object, generally in an exclamatory tone.
In this figure of speech, the inanimate objects or abstract ideas are having the capacity of listening. This is actually used for an interruption of speech.
Examples:
“O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering voice ?” [Wordsworth]
Note : The poet addresses the bird ‘cuckoo’ that seems to listen to the poet and to reply to him.
“Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour.” [ Wordsworth]
“ Dear god ! the very houses seem asleep.” [ Wordsworth]
O Liberty ! what crimes have been committed in thy name.[Coleridge]
3. Pathetic Fallacy :
It is a kind of personification (imaginative) in which nature ( in few cases inanimate objects) is sharing his feelings like human beings and showing interest in human affairs. It is echoing either sympathy or antipathy. According to Ruskin Bond, it is a fallacy that is caused by an excited or overclouded mind.
Examples
“ Earth felt the wound ; and Nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe.” [ Milton - Paradise Lost ]
Note: Both Earth and Nature have the deepest sympathy for human beings and also have human sorrow.
“The oaks forget their whispering
The pines their reverie.”
Note : Oaks and Pines get into the sight of human misery.
4. Hyperbole :
It is a figure of speech in which intense exaggeration, or deliberate overstatement or understatement is conveyed for producing a Bomb Blast atmosphere, being serious or comedian canons of criticism.
“Drinks to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine :
Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
And I’ll not look for wine” [ Ben Jonson]
Note: Exaggeration is made to a lady.
“ Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance”
Note : ‘Ten thousand at a glance’ is emotionally possible.The statement is exaggerated.
5. Vision ( Prosopopoeia) :
In this figure of speech, the author gives the description of the scene or narrates the event of the past or the anticipated future in such a manner that it seems to be taking place before his eyes.
Example:
“ I see her veil draw soft across the day,
I feel her slowly chiling breath invade
The cheek grown thin, the brown hair sprent with grey;
I feel her finger light
Laid pausefully upon life’s headlong train”
[ Matthew Arnold]
“ I seem to behold this great city, the ornament of the earth and the capital of all nations, suddenly involved in one conflagration. I see before me the slaughtered heaps of citizens lying unburied in the midst of the ruined country.”
[ Cicero]
Be continued next.....
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