Literatus

Lines 1-4:  The cardboard shows me how it was  When the two girl cousins went paddling,  Each one holding one of my mother’s hands,  And she the big girl - some twelve years or so.  I n these lines, the poet describes looking through a photo album, the pages of which seem to be made of cardboard. The cardboard here refers to the thick stiff photo paper used in the pre-digital photography era to store memories. She is looking at one picture in particular. It is a picture of three girls, the tallest and eldest one in the middle and two younger and shorter ones on each side of her. The girl standing in the middle is the poet’s mother, and the poet speculates that her mother must have been around twelve years old when the picture was taken. The other two girls are two of her mother’s cousins. Each of the cousins is holding on to one of the elder girl’s hands for support. The picture was taken on a day when the three girls had gone paddling at the beach.  Lines ...

Khushwant Singh is one of the prominent Indian writers and columnists. He has written on various themes and issues. In this lesson, he gives a detailed account of his grandmother who had a long association with him. He had intimate relations with her since his chilhood.Their friendship was broken when they had to move to the city. The English school, science and music did not appeal to her. The narrator went abroad for higher studies. His arrival after five years from abroad was an occasion for celebration. The old lady tired herself and fell ill. Her death was mourned not only by the narrator’s family but also by the sparrows she fed regularly in the afternoon. The old, stout, short and a little bent grandmother is clad in white clothes and keeps on telling beads of her rosary. During their long stay in village, the grandmother used to wake up the narrator in the morning and accompanied him to school. She took care of all small things and continued her regular prayers and reading of s...

Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early 20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime and is the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He became one of America's rare "public literary figures, almost an artistic institution." He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960 for his poetic works. On July 22, 1961, Frost was named poet laureate of Vermont. Summary: The little old house was out with a little new shed In front at the edge of the road where the traffic sped, A roadside stand that too pathetically pled, It would not be fair to say for a dole of bread, But for some of...