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WRITTEN BY MS DEVI KAVITHA A/P KRISHNA

CONTENT
NO. PARTICULAR
1. CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SUMMER SHOWER BY EMILY DICKINSON. 1

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1.1 Personal Interpretation 1.2 Analysis of the theme(s) 1.3 Literary Devices 2. CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE PYGMALION

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2.1 SUMMARY 2.2 RIVEW

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REFERENCES

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1. Critical Analysis of Summer Shower by Emily Dickinson.

1.1 Personal Interpretation Emily Dickinson lived during the fading years of Romanticism and the beginning of the Realism era. However, she was more of a modernist writer. The Summer Shower is a poem which has the influence of both eras in a modernist writing technique. Everyone looked at rain as a trouble maker/a joy stopper but Emily viewed in favour of the rain. The poem starts with rain drops then it develops. The sound of the rain is shown in a joyful manner with the word laughter in the line and made gable laugh. The Emily points out the importance of rain and how it helps fill up the brook and sea (us too) with the line a few went out to help the brook that went to help the sea. Then she raises its value by calling it a precious gemstone, the pearl not just any pearl but as the finest pearls that can become a necklace were they pearls, What a necklace could be!. Then she lists the matters that benefit from the rain, the dusty road which gets cleaned and the happy singing birds. The poem guides you in to an imaginary world of party where the sun throws its hat to show joy and the hanging drops of rain look like glittering ornaments. The breezes brought dejected lutes and bathed them in glee which show the wind brought sad souls (due to rainy day) a delighted news (rain is about to end). Finally, sun comes up and the rain (festival) ends. The East puts up a flag and signed the fte away.

1.2 Analysis of the theme(s) There are two themes going on in the poem. Firstly is joy, there are two reasons of joy here. Delight as it has started raining. Therefore the brooks and seas will be filled up, the road will be cleaned even the birds were happy. Later on the poem is ended with the joy that the rain is going to end, which caters those souls that were saddened by the arrival of the rain in the first place. The poem also shows the interrelationship between the rain and the rest of the world. The rain is seen as a helpful thing. In the poem it helps the apple tree by watering it (drop on the apple tree). Helps cool the house by dropping on the roof. Then it rolls and flows to the eaves and gives us a soothing music like laughter. A few drops helps fill he brook and then the seas (our water source). Then, it continues to clean the dusty road and bathe the birds which end up singing. Drops of rain on the fruits in the orchard make it look fresh and edible. Finally, it is discharged off its duty by the sunlight and the help party ends. 1.3 Literary Devices Emily uses various literary devices in the poem the obvious one being imagery there she make us creates a mental image for us to see through words. Example Myself conjectured, were they pearls here we will have the image of rain drops looking like divine pearls. Then in the third stanza she says The dust replaced in the hoisted road, the birds jacoser sung; The sunshine threw his hat away, the orchard spangles hung the image one 2

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could see here is a road just getting wet, the sound of birds chirping, the sun shining brightly and makes the orchard sparkle as if tiny shiny ornament were hanged everywhere. In addition to that Emily uses personification where she gives the rain a human character to enhance the image we ought to see our mind. For instance, half a dozen kissed the eaves image of rain getting heavier. The sunshine threw his hat away image of joy just like a graduate throws his/her hat after the graduation ceremony. bathe then in glee; immersing the sadness in happiness. The East put out a single flag just like human put out a flag to show the start or the end of something, sometimes both. Here the personification add to the image of the sun (single inanimate thing) coming out and signing the end of the rain. Those were the obvious ones; I believe Emily Dickinson also used some connotation there seems to be a message hidden between the lines of the poem. a drop fell A half a dozen this indicates the rain is getting heavier. and made gables laugh this shows the musical sound of the rain drops. a few went to help the brook, That went to help the sea; here the actual mean will be the rain help fill up the brook and the sea. The orchard spangles hung indicates the water droplets on the leaves and fruits that were shining with the help of the sunshine. In conclusion, the whole poem; when looked at word by word and with reference to the structuralism and semiotic literary theory, where the writers background, culture and each text unit and syntax is taken into consideration. We will be able to see and understand that the poem is about how important rain is and how all the natures elements help each other. Although rain is the main focus the other elements like the sun, dust, brook, sea, bird and so forth is instilled. They seem to rely on each other. Emily was going through a time where she was reluctant to join the others with the Christ believe and Church. She believed in nature by itself. The poem points it out clearly.

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TASK 2 CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE PYGMALION 2.1 Summary Pygmalion; it starts with in the convent garden where the Eynsford Hills were waiting for a cab. The son Freddy was sent out the second time to hail a cab when he runs in a flower girl. She drops the flower and most of them are ruined. Freddys mother was surprised to see that the low status girl knows her sons name. then she finds out she calls all men Freddy or Charlie, then the flower girl spot another man, Colonel Pickering and persuades him to buy flowers he does not buy them buy he gives her money. At that moment a bystander warns her not to take the money as there was another man taking notes of the incident. The flower girl gets defensive and starts blabbing things. The man (Higgins) who was taking notes finally explains why he was taking notes and that leads to their introductory. It turns out that both men wanted to meet each other after all. The next day Liza the flower intrudes them in Higgins house. She wants to take English lessons with Higgins that moment Colonel Pickering bets that Higgins cannot make Liza into a lady to attend an ambassadors ball. Higgins takes the bet and hands her to the maid Mrs. Pearce to be cleaned up. Mrs Pearce voices out her concern over the welfare of Liza. Higgins finally agrees to pay her to stay as an assistant where she has to be a good girl and follow what is being taught. Colonel Pickering agrees to finance her while she is here. Then Elizas father comes and demands for money and yes he gets his money and leaves. A few months later Mr. Higgins goes to see his mother, he explains that he needs her help to see if Eliza passes off as a lady. Like some kind of test before the actual exam. Eliza arrives; she looks elegant and Freddy falls for her immediately. However Eliza makes a mistake of swearing her aunt. Higgins quickly steps in and sends her off. The situation cools down when Clara says it is the new trend. Later that day Mrs. Higgins shows her anger to Mr. Pickering and Mr. Higgins, she asks them what happens of her after their bet is done. They gave her an unsatisfying answer and walk away. Then came the day of the ball, Eliza was able to passed off as a lady. All three of them were in the drawing room; Colonel Pickering and Higgins were discussing proudly how they fooled everyone with Eliza. In the mean time Eliza was totally ignored until Pickering left to bed and Higgins was looking for his slippers. He asks Eliza for it and she threw them at him. However he says she is being ungrateful. Eliza expresses her concern over what is to happen to her now that their bet is over. Higgins asks her to sleep on it and turns to go to bed. The next day Higgins burst in to his mothers house baffled that Eliza has disappeared. He informs the police then finds out that she is in his mother house. Soon after that Mr. Dolittle, Elizas father comes in all dressed up. He walks in and blames Higgins for the changes he has gone through. Higgins has spoken of him to an American gentleman who hired him to be his moral speaker. Now Dolittle is a middle class man but he hates it. Dolittle

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explains that he is there to invite Eliza for his wedding, another middle class morality he has to fulfil. Mrs. Higgins was invited to the wedding too, as she went to prepare Higgins strained Eliza and tried to get her come back to his house. His comments were he treats all women the same no matter she is a duchess a flower girl. However Eliza demands to be respected and appreciated, therefore she refuses to go back to his house. She also compares Colonel Pickering and Higgins. She adds that she wants to become a phonetics teacher herself. Only then Higgins mentions he misses her and admires her newly found independence. He says that is how a woman should be rather then always depending on others. Seeing this new development Higgins offers her to come back this time as an equal to them both. Eliza leaves without giving an answer but Higgins confidently asks her to buy some things for his house. Although the stage play ends here, in the epilogue Shaw continues the story where Eliza marries Freddy and receives an expensive gift from Colonel Pickering which was her very own flower shop. Clara is affected by this marriage that she finally decides to learn more about H. G. Well and to work in his furniture shop with hopes she will meet him. Freddy and Eliza take book keeping classed to run the shop. They were successful and the lived a fairly comfortable life.

2.2 Review
Pygmalion means a Greek myth where an artist sculpts a statue of a woman based on the goddess of love Aphrodite and fell in love with it. He was so obsessed with it that he just sat and stare at it. Finally Aphrodite felt pity for him and gave life to the said statue. The play also has the same resemblances where Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering transform a flower girl from the gutter into a lady to be passed off as a duchess. Here the man plays the role of god, creator and father where as the woman play the role of a child that is corrected and controlled by man. A woman is seen like and objects to be experiment with, something to bet on. At the beginning of the play the man is given a prestigious role and the woman is given a lower role, a clear sign of inequality. However it cannot be denied that in Act 1 itself Freddy is undermined as a useless guy. Only at the end of the story we can see the reason of this action. Freddy is the only guy Eliza marries. Why should this be? Besides that In Act 1 Higgins says A woman who utters depressing and disgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere no right to live. Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech: that your native language is the language of Shakespeare and Milton and the Bible, and dont sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon. This speech clear show how a woman is position in a class from the way she utters her words. The same law does not seem to apply to Professor Higgins even though he uses a rude language trough the whole play. Professor Higgins not only changes a flower girl into a lady but he also frees her soul from being trapped as a woman who will serve man as they wish but the ridiculous part is when he mentions that she is now fit to marry a upper class man. HIGGINS [sitting down beside her] Rubbish! you shall marry an ambassador. You shall marry the Governor-General of India or the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, or somebody who 5

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wants a deputy-queen. I'm not going to have my masterpiece thrown away on Freddy. What was the point of making Eliza and independent woman then? In Act 2 Eliza come to Higgins house seeking a proper English lesson. Higgins instructs his maid to take off all her clothes and burn them. Though many would have suspected it was sexual intention but it was even worse than that he did not even see her as a human she was just like another object in the house. In the play from this moment onwards Eliza is bullied in many ways except any kind of physical abuse. Higgins uses rude language on her without thinking how would she feel. This can be seen in the same act when Eliza tries to speak of the price and Higgins shuts her off by saying hold your tongue then when she started to cry he says somebody is going to touch you, with a broomstick, if you don't stop snivelling. Eliza is not even given a chance to talk, when she argues back he does something to shut her off. He either treats her like an object or like a child. Even after the transformation Eliza is still oppressed by the men. In Act 5, after Eliza disappears, The Professor and Colonel make a report on the girl. Mrs Higgins asks them What right have you to go to the police and give the girl's name as if she were a thief, or a lost umbrella, or something? They answered that they just wanted her back just like wanting an object back he made it sound as if they owned her. Higgins does not want to love or make friends with and woman he feels that they make him selfish and autocratic. Higgins: Well, I haven't. I find that the moment I let a woman make friends with me, she becomes jealous, exacting, suspicious, and a damned nuisance. I find that the moment I let myself make friends with a woman, I become selfish and tyrannical. Women upset everything. When you let them into your life, you find that the woman is driving at one thing and you drive at another. ( Act 2) Further down the play Eliza realises that she has to demand what she deserves and she does so she forces Higgins to see her as an equal and show respect to her. Eliza threatens Higgins by saying that she will be joining his enemy in the teaching world. This move earns her the position of equality as Higgins realise that she has broken free from the cage he used to control her. She can think and act for herself now. Eliza has broken free from the man who controlled her and joined a man who treats her equally and loves her. In the future, will love tie Eliza back down? Actually it depends on and individual everything can be changed is we just learn to look in from outside the box and treat each other with respect. It is good to step out every once or twice.

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REFERENCES

Sparknotes Editors, (2002) http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/

Dr. Soon.ANH and 2 others, (2004) Introduction to Drama and Poetry, Kuala Lumpur, Open University Malaysia.

Shaw.B.G, Pygmalion (1916). http://www.bartleby.com/138/1.html Pygmalion Greek Myth

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/pygmalion.html