Aranya Kanda Sarga 49 In Telugu – అరణ్యకాండ ఏకోనపంచాశః సర్గః

Aranya Kanda Sarga 49 In Telugu

మొట్ట మొదటిగా అందరికి నమస్కారము. వాల్మీకి రామాయణం అరణ్యకాండలో, 49వ సర్గలో, రాముడు సీతను వెతుకుతూ జటాయువుతో మాట్లాడిన తరువాత సబరి ఆశ్రమానికి చేరుకుంటాడు. సబరి రాముడికి ఆతిథ్యాన్ని అందించి, విధేయతతో స్వాగతం పలుకుతుంది. సబరి తన గురువుల ఆదేశాలను అనుసరించి రాముని సేవ చేసే భాగ్యం పొందినందుకు సంతోషిస్తుంది.

సీతాపహరణమ్

సీతాయా వచనం శ్రుత్వా దశగ్రీవః ప్రతాపవాన్ |
హస్తే హస్తం సమాహత్య చకార సుమహద్వపుః ||

1

స మైథిలీం పునర్వాక్యం బభాషే చ తతో భృశమ్ |
నోన్మత్తయా శ్రుతౌ మన్యే మమ వీర్యపరాక్రమౌ ||

2

ఉద్వహేయం భుజాభ్యాం తు మేదినీమంబరే స్థితః |
ఆపిబేయం సముద్రం చ హన్యాం మృత్యుం రణే స్థితః ||

3

అర్కం రుంధ్యాం శరైస్తీక్ష్ణైర్నిర్భింద్యాం హి మహీతలమ్ |
కామరూపిణమున్మత్తే పశ్య మాం కామదం పతిమ్ ||

4

ఏవముక్తవతస్తస్య సూర్యకల్పే శిఖిప్రభే |
క్రుద్ధస్య హరిపర్యంతే రక్తే నేత్రే బభూవతుః ||

5

సద్యః సౌమ్యం పరిత్యజ్య భిక్షురూపం స రావణః |
స్వం రూపం కాలరూపాభం భేజే వైశ్రవణానుజః ||

6

సంరక్తనయనః శ్రీమాంస్తప్తకాంచనకుండలః |
క్రోధేన మహతావిష్టో నీలజీమూతసన్నిభః ||

7

దశాస్యః కార్ముకీ బాణీ బభూవ క్షణదాచరః |
స పరివ్రాజకచ్ఛద్మ మహాకాయో విహాయ తత్ ||

8

ప్రతిపద్య స్వకం రూపం రావణో రాక్షసాధిపః |
సంరక్తనయనః క్రోధాజ్జీమూతనిచయప్రభః ||

9

రక్తాంబరధరస్తస్థౌ స్త్రీరత్నం ప్రేక్ష్య మైథిలీమ్ |
స తామసితకేశాంతాం భాస్కరస్య ప్రభామివ ||

10

వసనాభరణోపేతాం మైథిలీం రావణోఽబ్రవీత్ |
త్రిషు లోకేషు విఖ్యాతం యది భర్తారమిచ్ఛసి ||

11

మామాశ్రయ వరారోహే తవాహం సదృశః పతిః |
మాం భజస్వ చిరాయ త్వమహం శ్లాఘ్యః ప్రియస్తవ ||

12

నైవ చాహం క్వచిద్భద్రే కరిష్యే తవ విప్రియమ్ |
త్యజ్యతాం మానుషో భావో మయి భావః ప్రణీయతామ్ ||

13

రాజ్యాచ్చ్యుతమసిద్ధార్థం రామం పరిమితాయుషమ్ |
కైర్గుణైరనురక్తాసి మూఢే పండితమానిని ||

14

యః స్త్రియా వచనాద్రాజ్యం విహాయ ససుహృజ్జనమ్ |
అస్మిన్ వ్యాలానుచరితే వనే వసతి దుర్మతిః ||

15

ఇత్యుక్త్వా మైథిలీం వాక్యం ప్రియార్హాం ప్రియవాదినీమ్ |
అభిగమ్య సుదుష్టాత్మా రాక్షసః కామమోహితః ||

16

జగ్రాహ రావణః సీతాం బుధః ఖే రోహిణీమివ |
వామేన సీతాం పద్మాక్షీం మూర్ధజేషు కరేణ సః ||

17

ఊర్వోస్తు దక్షిణేనైవ పరిజగ్రాహ పాణినా |
తం దృష్ట్వా మృత్యుసంకాశం తీక్ష్ణదంష్ట్రం మహాభుజమ్ ||

18

ప్రాద్రవన్ గిరిసంకాశం భయార్తా వనదేవతాః |
స చ మాయామయో దివ్యః ఖరయుక్తః ఖరస్వనః ||

19

ప్రత్యదృశ్యత హేమాంగో రావణస్య మహారథః |
తతస్తాం పరుషైర్వాక్యైర్భర్త్సయన్ స మహాస్వనః ||

20

అంకేనాదాయ వైదేహీం రథమారోపయత్తదా |
సా గృహీతా విచుక్రోశ రావణేన యశస్వినీ ||

21

రామేతి సీతా దుఃఖార్తా రామం దూరగతం వనే |
తామకామాం స కామార్తః పన్నగేంద్రవధూమివ ||

22

వివేష్టమానామాదాయ ఉత్పపాతాథ రావణః |
తతః సా రాక్షసేంద్రేణ హ్రియమాణా విహాయసా ||

23

భృశం చుక్రోశ మత్తేవ భ్రాంతచిత్తా యథాఽఽతురా |
హా లక్ష్మణ మహాబాహో గురుచిత్తప్రసాదక ||

24

హ్రియమాణాం న జానీషే రక్షసా మామమర్షిణా |
జీవితం సుఖమర్థాంశ్చ ధర్మహేతోః పరిత్యజన్ ||

25

హ్రియమాణామధర్మేణ మాం రాఘవ న పశ్యసి |
నను నామావినీతానాం వినేతాసి పరంతప ||

26

కథమేవంవిధం పాపం న త్వం శాస్సి హి రావణమ్ |
నను సద్యోఽవినీతస్య దృశ్యతే కర్మణః ఫలమ్ ||

27

కాలోఽప్యంగీ భవత్యత్ర సస్యానామివ పక్తయే |
స కర్మ కృతవానేతత్ కాలోపహతచేతనః ||

28

జీవితాంతకరం ఘోరం రామాద్వ్యసనమాప్నుహి |
హంతేదానీం సకామాస్తు కైకేయీ సహ బాంధవైః ||

29

హ్రియే యద్ధర్మకామస్య ధర్మపత్నీ యశస్వినః |
ఆమంత్రయే జనస్థానే కర్ణికారాన్ సుపుష్పితాన్ ||

30

క్షిప్రం రామాయ శంసధ్వం సీతాం హరతి రావణః |
మాల్యవంతం శిఖరిణం వందే ప్రస్రవణం గిరమ్ ||

31

క్షిప్రం రామాయ శంస త్వం సీతాం హరతి రావణః |
హంసకారండవాకీర్ణాం వందే గోదావరీం నదీమ్ ||

32

క్షిప్రం రామాయ శంస త్వం సీతాం హరతి రావణః |
దైవతాని చ యాన్యస్మిన్ వనే వివిధపాదపే ||

33

నమస్కరోమ్యహం తేభ్యో భర్తుః శంసత మాం హృతామ్ |
యాని కాని చిదప్యత్ర సత్త్వాని నివసంత్యుత ||

34

సర్వాణి శరణం యామి మృగపక్షిగణానపి |
హ్రియమాణాం ప్రియాం భర్తుః ప్రాణేభ్యోఽపి గరీయసీమ్ ||

35

వివశాఽపహృతా సీతా రావణేనేతి శంసత |
విదిత్వా మాం మహాబాహురముత్రాపి మహాబలః ||

36

ఆనేష్యతి పరాక్రమ్య వైవస్వతహృతామపి |
సా తదా కరుణా వాచో విలపంతీ సుదుఃఖితా ||

37

వనస్పతిగతం గృధ్రం దదర్శాయతలోచనా |
సా తముద్వీక్ష్య సుశ్రోణీ రావణస్య వశం గతా ||

38

సమాక్రందద్భయపరా దుఃఖోపహతయా గిరా |
జటాయో పశ్య మామార్య హ్రియమాణామనాథవత్ ||

39

అనేన రాక్షసేంద్రేణ కరుణం పాపకర్మణా |
నైష వారయితుం శక్యస్తవ క్రూరో నిశాచరః ||

40

సత్త్వవాన్ జితకాశీ చ సాయుధశ్చైవ దుర్మతిః |
రామాయ తు యథాతత్త్వం జటాయో హరణం మమ |
లక్ష్మణాయ చ తత్సర్వమాఖ్యాతవ్యమశేషతః ||

41

ఇత్యార్షే శ్రీమద్రామాయణే వాల్మీకీయే ఆదికావ్యే అరణ్యకాండే ఏకోనపంచాశః సర్గః ||

Aranya Kanda Sarga 49 Meaning In Telugu

సీత మాట్లాడే మాటలు వింటుంటే రావణుకి కోపం నసాళానికి అంటింది. అసహనంతో, కోపంతో గంతులేసాడు. రెండు చేతులు గట్టిగా చరిచాడు. పెద్దగా గాండ్రించాడు.

“ఓ సీతా! నీకేమైనా పిచ్చా! నా మాటలు అర్థం కావడం లేదా! నా గురించి, నా ఐశ్వర్యము గురించి, నా పరాక్రమము గురించి, నా వైభవము గురించి ఎంత చెప్పినా నీ చెవికి ఎక్కడం లేదు. నా గురించి నీకు బాగా తెలియదు. నేను ఆకాశంలో నిలబడి ఈ భూమిని బంతిలా పైకి ఎత్తి ఆడుకుంటాను. సముద్రాలన్నీ కలిపి తాగేస్తాను. నా ఎదుట నిలిస్తే మృత్యువును కూడా చంపేస్తాను. సూర్యగమనాన్ని అడ్డుకుంటాను. భూమిని బద్దలు కొడతాను. నా ఇష్టం వచ్చి రూపం ధరించగలను. ఇప్పుడు నేను ఉన్నది సన్యాసి రూపంలో. నా అసలు రూపం చూడు.” అంటూ రావణుడు తన సన్యాసి రూపం వదిలి పెట్టి తన అసలు రూపం సీత ముందు ప్రదర్శించాడు.

పదితలలతో, ఎర్రటి కళ్లతో, ఒంటినిండా బంగారు ఆభరణములతో, నల్లని మేని ఛాయతో, ధనుర్బాణములను ధరించిన రావణుడు సీత ముందు నిలిచాడు.

“ఓ సీతా! చూచావా నా నిజస్వరూపము. ముల్లోకములను శాసించే భర్త కావాలనుకుంటే నన్ను వరించు. నీ లాంటి అతిలోక సౌందర్యవతికి నేను తగిన భర్తను. నేను నీ మాట ఎన్నడూ జవదాటను. నీకు దాసుడిగా ఉంటాను. ఆ వనచరుడైనా రాముని మీదినుండి నీ మనసు మరల్చుకో. నా మీద మనసు లగ్నం చెయ్యి. నీకు శుభం జరుగుతుంది.

నేను ఇంకా నువ్వు చాలా తెలివిగలదానవు మంచి నిర్ణయం తీసుకుంటావు అనుకున్నాను. కాని నీవు ఇంత తెలివి తక్కువదానికి అని అనుకోలేదు. ఒక ఆడుదాని మాటలు విని అడవులకు వచ్చిన బుద్ధిహీనుడిని, రాజ్యభ్రష్టుడిని, అల్పాయుష్కుడిని, మానవమాత్రుడిని నువ్వు ఏం చూసి వరించావో నాకు అర్థం కావడం లేదు. రా! నాతో రా!” అంటూ రావణుడు ముందుకు దూకాడు.

సీతను గట్టిగా పట్టుకున్నాడు. ఒక చేతితో సీత జుట్టు పట్టుకున్నాడు. మెడ కింద చెయ్యి వేసాడు. మరొక చెయ్యి నడుము కింద వేసాడు. సీతను ఎత్తుకొని పోయాడు. రావణుని రథము అతని ముందు సాక్షాత్కరించింది. సీతను రథంలో కూర్చోపెట్టాడు. పెద్ద పెద్ద గా అరుస్తూ సీతను భయపెడుతున్నాడు. తాను కూడా రథం ఎక్కి సీతను తన ఒడిలో కూర్చోపెట్టుకున్నాడు.

సీతకు ఏం జరుగుతుందో తెలీడం లేదు. “రామా రామా” అంటూ అరుస్తూ ఉంది. పాములా మెలికలు తిరిగిపోతూ ఉంది. రావణుడి కబంధ హస్తాలనుంచి తప్పించుకోవాలని ప్రయత్నిస్తూ ఉంది. కాని రావణుడు తన పట్టు వీడలేదు. తన రథంతో సహా ఆకాశంలోకి ఎగిరాడు. సీత “రామా రామా” అంటూ అరుస్తూనే ఉంది. రావణుడు ఆమెను గట్టి పట్టుకున్నాడు. రథం ఆకాశమార్గాన వేగంగా పోతూ ఉంది.

“రామా! నన్ను ఈ దుర్మార్గుడు అపహరించుకొని పోతున్నట్టు నీకు ఎలా తెలుస్తుంది. ఇంక నీవు నన్ను చూడలేవు కదా! నేను ఎక్కడ ఉన్నదీ నీకు ఎలా తెలుస్తుంది! రామా! నీవు దుష్టులను శిక్షిస్తావు కదా! దుర్మార్గుడైనా ఈ రాక్షసుని శిక్షించి నన్ను రక్షించవా! ఈ రాక్షసుని చెరనుండి నన్ను విడిపించవా! ఒరేయి రావణా! తప్పు చేస్తున్నావు. పాపం చేస్తున్నావు, ఈ పాపానికి ఫలితం అనుభవిస్తావు. రాముడి చేతిలో చస్తావు! అయ్యో! రామా! నా బాధ ఎవరికి చెప్పుకోను. ఆహా! ఆ కైక కోరిక ఈ నాటికి తీరినట్టుంది. నాకు ఇన్ని కష్టాలు వచ్చాయి.

ఓ వనదేవతలారా! ఓ వృక్షములారా! ఓ పర్వత పంక్తులారా! ఈ దుర్మార్గుడు రావణుడు నన్ను అపహరించుకొని పోతున్న సంగతి నా రామునికి చెప్పండి. గలా గలా పారే ఓ గోదావరీ నదీ మాతా! నన్ను ఈ రాక్షసుడు అపహరించుకుపోతున్న సంగతి నా రామునికి తెలియజేయి! ఓ వన్య మృగములారా! ఓ పక్షులారా! నిస్సహాయ స్థితిలో ఉన్న నన్ను ఈ దుర్మార్గుడు తీసుకుపోతున్న సంగతి నా రామునికి చెప్పండి.

నాకు తెలుసు. నేను యమలోకంలో ఉన్నా నా రాముడు నన్ను తన బలపరాక్రమాలతో మరలా వెనక్కు తీసుకురాగలడు. మీరు నా రామునికి నా గురించి తెలియజెయ్యండి చాలు.” అని పరి పరి విధాలా ప్రకృతితో మొరబెట్టుకుంటూ ఉంది సీత,

ఇంతలో సీతకు ఒక వటవృక్షము మీద కూర్చుని ఉన్న జటాయువు కనిపించాడు. “ఓ జటాయువూ! ఇటు చూడు. నేను! సీతను! ఈ రాక్షసుడు నన్ను అపహరించుకొని తీసుకొని పోతున్నాడు. ఈ విషయం రామునికి చెప్పు. వీడు రాక్షసుడు. క్రూరుడు. చేతిలో ఆయుధం ఉంది. వీడిని నువ్వు ఏమీ చేయలేవు. నన్ను కాపాడలేవు. కనీసం నా గురించి రామునికి తెలియజెయ్యి. నన్ను ఈ దుర్మార్గుడు అపహరించుకు పోతున్న సంగతి రామునికి లక్ష్మణునికి తెలియజెయ్యి.” అని బిగ్గరగా అరుస్తూ ఉంది సీత.

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అరణ్యకాండము. నలుబది తొమ్మిదవ సర్గ సంపూర్ణము
ఓం తత్సత్ ఓం తత్సత్ ఓం తత్సత్.

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Rhapsody: A Collection of ISC Poems Workbook Answers for Class 11 & 12

Rhapsody A Collection of ISC Poems Workbook Answers for Class 11 & 12

It’s our great pleasure in our part to present ISC The best guide to Rhapsody makes an honest and thoroughly attempt to bring the context with easy paraphrasing Scene wise abridgement, Mcqs, Reasoning, Short type and long type of question and answers. The Rhapsody Workbook Solutions analyses and tackles differently and untraditional by following the latest syllabus and norms of I.S.C. It is specially designed to cater to the needs of the students who are preparing for I.S.C 2024 onwards examinations. The answers are relevant, concise, and self-explanatory. Students will not have to seek any external help to comprehend them. It is hoped that it will definitely give a good clearance to the doubts cropped in the minds of the students. It has been written to meet the requirements of the students in the desired way.

Rhapsody Workbook Solutions for ISC Class 11 & 12

Rhapsody: A Collection of ISC Poems Questions and Answers for Class 11 & 12

This Rhapsody: A Collection of ISC Poems Questions and Answers for Class 11 & 12 are meant for the students, appearing for the I.S.C. Examination to be held in and after the year 2007. The questions have been written under immense research and studies in accordance with the standard of the school level. Each and every poem has been thoroughly explained, and it is followed by annotations, summary, long Questions and their answers, short question and their answers, and text-based multiple-choice questions. we shall feel amply rewarded if these answers can make the task of the learners easier and more interesting.

This Rhapsody: A Collection of ISC Poems Workbook Answers for Class 11 & 12 has been written in a simple language and lucid style to enrich with useful knowledge of Shakespearean style. The questions will be student-friendly and they would be able to grasp the context in an enthusiastic manner. A large number of MCQs, reasoning, short and long type of questions have been provided. Assignments from each Act will help the students to nurture their minds and make their approach to their answers in a fruitful way. The foremost thing is about the pattern of Council questions which will be helpful for the Preparation of ISC students. The questions cover the entire drama in a reasonable way. Students will find it easy to get authentic answers to any single question.

Bonku Babu’s Friend Summary, Theme by Satyajit Ray

Bonku Babu’s Friend Summary by Satyajit Ray

Bonku Babu’s Friend Summary, Theme by Satyajit Ray

Bonku Babu’s Friend Summary

‘Bonku Babu’s Friend’ is a short story written by Satyajit Ray. This story portrays Bonku Babu, a soft-spoken and timid person who teaches Geography and Bengali at Kankurgachi Village Primary School. Each year, whenever a new batch of students replaced the old one, the tradition of teasing Bonku Babu continued years after years. Some drew his cartoon on the blackboard; some put glue on his chair and others do some other mischievous activities to taunt him. Bonku Babu did not get upset.

Only sometimes, he cleared his throat and said, “Shame on you, boys!” Bonku Babu kept on tolerating these because he could not afford to do otherwise and also he loved the good students who were attentive in class and also respected him. Fie used to spend his weekdays with his students who loved him, but in weekends, whenever he used to go to Sripati Babu’s house, he felt like, he must not go there again because even his fellow-mates, Nidhu Babu, Chandi Babu and others used to poke fun at him.

Bonku Babu used to get sad and angry sometimes, but he never expressed himself to others. One day, the topic of conversation was space – as in, they were talking of spaceships and space-travel. After sunset, a moving point of light was seen in the northern sky. A similar kind of light was seen three months back, which had led to many assumptions.

But at the end, it had turned out to be a Russian satellite, called Khotka or might be Phoska. This satellite was supposed to be going round the earth at a height of 400 miles, providing a lot of valuable information to scientists. That evening, Bonku Babu was the first who spotted the light and told Nidhu Babu about it. But Nidhu Babu took full credit about it among their fellow-mates and Bonku Babu remained silent. But he kept on thinking about it. Everyone gave their different opinions but Bonku Babu was lost in his own thoughts.

When the meeting was over and Bonku Babu was on his way to home, he saw the light, coming from the bamboo grove. Suddenly, his ears began ringing. He felt as if someone was humming loudly — a long, steady noise and it was not stopping. Bonku Babu was scared, but curiously drove him further forward. As he went past a cluster of bamboo stems, he saw an object. It was like a giant glass bowl turned upside-down, covering the pond wholly. A gentle pink light was shining out from its strong, translucent shade, that turned the whole area bright.

Soon, he met with Ang, an alien who came out of the ship and greeted Bonku Babu. Though he was amazed, yet kept on talking with him. From him, he gathered knowledge and also got a chance to express himself to him. Ang helped him boost his self-confidence.

When Ang left, Bonku Babu found himself to be a completely different person who now did not fear to express himself to others. Bonku Babu became a happy and bright personality who now knew what he was and what he could do to stop ill-beahiour and bad-mouthing.

Bonku Babu’s Friend About the Author Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray was an Indian filmmaker, one of the greatest directors of the twentieth century. Born in the city of Calcutta (now Kolkata) on May 2, 1921-April 23, 1992, to a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and letters, Ray studied at Presidency College and at the Visva- Bharati University, at the poet Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan.

His grandfather was a writer and illustrator, and his father, Sukumar Ray, was a poet. Writer and illustrator of Bengali. Ray grew up in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and was looked after by his mother. He entered a government school, where he was taught chiefly in Bengali, and then studied at Presidency College, Calcutta’s leading college, where he studied in English. He graduated in 1940, he was fluent in both English and Bengali languages.

Ray Returned to Calcutta from Santinikatan, in 1943 got a job in a British-owned advertising agency, became its art director within a few years, and also worked for a publishing house as a commercial illustrator, becoming a leading Indian typographer and book-cover designer. In 1949 Ray was encouraged in his cinematic ambitions by the French director Jean Renoir, who was then in Bengal. The success of The Bicycle Thief (1948), convinced Ray that he should attempt a film Pather Panchali.

Pather Panchali was completed in 1955 and turned out to be both a commercial and a tremendous critical success, first in Bengal and then in the West following a major award at the 1956 Cannes International Film Festival. This assured Ray the financial backing he needed to make the other two films of the trilogy: Aparajito (1956; The Unvanquished) and Apur Sansar (1959; The World of Apu).

He consciously avoided repeating himself. As a result, his films contain an unusually wide gamut of mood, milieu, period, and genre, with comedies, tragedies, romances, musicals, and detective stories treating all classes of Bengali society from the mid-19th to the late 20th century.

Some of Ray’s finest films are Charulata (1964), Teen Kanya (1961), Ghare Baire (1984) were based on the novels or other works by Rabindranath Tagore. The rest of Ray’s major works include Ahsani Sanket (1973), Aranyer Din Ratri (1970), Mahanagar (1963) and a trilogy of films made in the 1970s, Pratidwandi, Seemabaddha (1971), and Jana Aranya (1975).

After a gap, Ray made Pikoo (1980) and then fell ill with heart disease. He revived the children’s magazine Sandesh (which his grandfather had started in 1913) and edited it until his death in 1992. Ray was the author of numerous short stories and novellas, and in fact writing, rather than filmmaking, became his main source of income. His stories were translated and published in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere.

The story ‘Bonku Babu’s Friend’ centres around Bonku Babu, a cool-head teacher who lived a simple life. Though he had been teaching for 22 years in a school yet he received the teasing of the students of new batches. But Bonku Babu did not leave his job because it was his necessity and also he felt really good when some good students used to respect him and study attentively in class. He spent his days while spending his time in class, with students who were fond of him.

Though he used to spend his weekends at Sripati Babu’s place, yet every time whenever he came back, he felt of not going there ever again because not even the children but also the adults used to make fun of him. Bonku Babu was basically lonely until he met Ang. an alien who was landed on earth from a spaceship. His conversation with Ang became interesting and thought-provoking.

They had a long chat and through this, Ang became the most friend person in Bonku Babu’s life. Ang’s influence, though short, made Bonku Babu self-confident. He made him think positively. Fie turned into a new leaf who knew that he was also important and valuable.

Bonku Babu’s Friend Theme

A. Bonku Babu, a Simple, knowledgeable yet timid person: Bonku Babu was a teacher of Geography and Bengali at a village primary school. He was a knowledgeable person but his simplicity, politeness and soft-hearted nature often made him a victim of ill-behaviour. Not only the students but also the adults did not spare a chance to tease him.

B. A Sudden Meeting: One day, while returning from Sripati Babu’s place, Bonku Babu saw a strange object. Soon he came to know that it was a spaceship from which a strange creature came down. He introduced himself as Ang. Ang knew 14000 languages and so he talked with Bonku Babu fluently. They had a long conversation which became a turning point in Bonku Babu’s life.

C. The Reawakening: When Ang left, Bonku Babu understood that he also was valuable no matter what people say about him. When he again went to Sripati Babu’s place to attend the gathering, he was a changed person with a new attitude, self-confidence and free mind. Ang unknowingly became his inspiration and a true friend.

Bonku Babu’s Friend Title of the Story

The story ‘Bonku Babu’s Friend’ is a short story written by Satyajit Ray. The story deals with Bonku Babu and his loneliness. He is a school teacher. He is calm and composed, knowledgeable and sincere to his work. Yet, he gets victimised by the people around him.

He gets teased, not only by his students, but also by his fellow-mates. He feels sad yet he does not have the courage to voice protest or give them suitable replies. Things go on like this until he meets Ang. Ang is an alien who comes to the earth in a spaceship.

Ang is very much knowleageable, smart and amicable. In the bamboo grove, they had a long and interesting conversation. In this conversation, Bonku Babu gets a chance to open up his mind. He understands that he too can speak up his mind.

Though Ang was on earth for a very short period of time, he becomes Bonku Babu’s one and only true friend, a friend who made him believe in himself and taught him to take a stand. The story ends on a good note. Thus, the title of the story ‘Bonku Babu’s Friend’ is apt.

Bonku Babu’s Friend Setting of the Story

A setting of a story generally means the time and the place in which a Story is told. Almost every story has a setting. The story, ‘Bonku Babu’s Friend’ too has a strong setting. The author Satyajit Ray knitted the story in a well-constructed plot and setting. The story talks about Bonku Babu, his loneliness and his one true friend Ang.

The story goes on in its usual flow until it takes a turn when Bonku Babu gets a chance to meet Ang, an alien. In a bamboo grove, at night, he sees a spaceship from which Ang comes out, meets him and they have a friendly conversation. In this place, he finally gets to know about himself. He gets a chance to know about true friendship and self-importance. Though Ang could not be able to stay with him forever, yet he taught him some life lessons, unknowingly. Therefore, after going through the story it can be said, that the setting of this story made if thought-provoking and the characters strong.

Bonku Babu’s Friend Main Points to Remember

  • Bonku Babu was a calm-head and simple person who used to teach Geography and Bengali at a Primary school.
  • His students used to tease him but he never behaved strictly with them.
  • In spite of ill-behaviours, he maintained him calm because he could not afford to do otherwise and he also loved the good students who were attentive in his class and also respected him.
  • He did not even wanted to visit Sripati Majumdar’s place because even adults used to tease him and made poked fun on him.
  •  One day, the topic of conversation was space in which Bonku Babu and others gave their different viewpoints.
  • That particular evening, Bonku Babu saw a strange light and he told about it to NidhuBabu. But Nidhu Babu took the full credit of it among their group.
  • Bonku Babu remained silent but he kept on thinking.
  • Suddenly, he met with Ang, an alien who came to the earth in a spaceship and the long conversation with him changed Bonku Babu from inside.
  • Bonku Babu who was soft-spoken, timid and afraid was now turned into a new leaf.
  • Though Ang left, he left his impression on Bonku Babu and made himself his true friend.

Bonku Babu’s Friend Annotations and Vocabulary

Temper — composure
Tease — to make fun of
Spook — ghost
Enthralled — to hold spellbound
Prank — a mischievous act
Endurance — the ability to withstand hardship or adversity
Obscure — dark or dim
Humbug — nonsense
Feigned — not genuine or real
Amazement — a feeling of astonishment
Radiant — bright
Provocation — incitement
Impenetrable — incapable of being penetrated
Foliage — flora
Amiable — friendly
Occurrence — something that occurs
Striding out — to stand astride
Guffaw — a loud burst of laughter
splattering — to scatter or fall in.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Short Stories Workbook Answers

Atithi (Guest) Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Rabindranath Tagore

Atithi (Guest) Summary by Rabindranath Tagore

Atithi (Guest) Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Rabindranath Tagore

Atithi (Guest) Summary

Tarapada, a Brahmin boy of about 14 or 15, was a wanderer by nature. To the despair of his family and villagers, he escaped from his home at regular intervals. He was a curious solivagant. He tried to learn or absorb almost everything he saw or heard. The blissful nature and people attracted him. He had no terminal destination. At times, he joined a theatre group and then a troupe of traveling minstrels, and then again, he found another.

One day, desiring to go to Nandigram, he wanted a lift from the owner of a boat. The owner of the boat was the zamindars of Kanthalia, a village in rural Bengal, who was travelling by boat to his village along with Annapurna, his wife, and Charushashi, his daughter. Looking at the fair complexioned, cherubic appearance of the boy, they readily accepted him in the boat.

Tarapada never knew when Nandigram came and passed by. He was busy with his interaction with the zamindars family, the boatmen and the amazing landscape. After ten days of journey by boat, they landed at Kanthalia, where Tarapada stayed at the house of Motilal babu as a “Guest”. His innocence and spontaneity cast a spell on everybody save and except Charushashi, the only daughter of Motilal babu. Tarapada was an eyesore for her.

She was envious and pugnacious about Tarapada. Actually, an interspersed feeling of love and hatred hovered around her. For her, Tarapada was a prized possession for whom she quarreled with Sonamoni her widow-friend, who called Tarapada “Dada” or rather, her brother.

Tarapada lived there for two full years and by then he tarned-seventeen, thus stepping into his adolescence. Charushashi too, turned eleven, duly transformed from a kid to a girl. Cupid was ready with his arrow and the girl was without the knowledge that her father had arranged her marriage secretly with Tarapada.

The day before the wedding night, the monsoon clouds thundered. The first rain of the season filled the nature. And at that hour, a lonely Tarapada found an Opera Band sailing across the village by boats. Their faint harmonies stroked the village. Tarapada, the wanderer, disappeared again snapping all the bonds of love, comfort and belongings at Kanthalia.

Tagore’s “The Guest” (ATITHI) is one of those unforgettable gems from the mines of short stories the world over. In it, Tarapada, a boy of fourteen or fifteen an epitome of innocence with large eyes and pleasant looks, a habitual escapist from home for the bounties of nature and a wanderer, was always curious about a thing here and another there. He could not be held captive to the homely comforts and human bonding.

He travelled with a Gymnastic group, then a theatre group and then again with a group of travelling minstrels and still his wander thirst never let him go back to the comfort and security of home. May be he ran away from this place to that because he thought it was a means to escape from his known world a mundane commonality, that did not serve him the way he had wanted. His attitude compels the reader to remember Gerald Gould, the great poet.

“Beyond the East the sunrise, beyond
The West the sea,
And East and West the wander-thirst
that will not let me be;
it works in me like madness, dear, to bid
me say good-bye;
For the seas call, and the stars call, and
Oh! the call of the sky!”
And again,
“And come I may, but go I must, and, if
men ask you why,
You may blame the stars and the sun
and the white road and the sky.”

So was our Tarapada who couldn’t be blamed! Motilal babu and his wife’s parental love, Charushashi’s subdued love, love of his family, villagers nothing could bind him to a home for ever at Kanthalia a village in rural Bengal Hence, he again floated on with some concert party to Kurulkata from Kanthalia, where an annual fair was due. The theme is unique!

Atithi (Guest) About the Author Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi. Debendranath Tagore was a great exponent of Brahmo Samaj, a new socio-religious Order in 19th century Bengal, whose contribution to Bengal Renaissance is remarkable.

Rabindranath was educated at home; and although he was sent to England at the age of seventeen for formal schooling, he did not finish his studies there. In his mature years, in addition to his multifaceted literary activities, he managed the family estates, which brought him close to commoners and increased his interest in educational and social reforms.

He founded the Shantiniketan as a model, school for ASHRAMIC EDUCATION in an open-air environment. From time to time he participated in the Indian National Movement which was reflected in his miscellaneous poems and songs. It was he who wrote the Indian National Anthem.

Mahatma Gandhi was one of his closest friends. Tagore was honoured by the British Government with a Knighthood in 1915, but as a mark of protest against Jalianwalabag massacre of Indians by General O’ Diar, he gave up the title.

Tagore had friends across the world and they admired him for his literary and philosophical excellence. He wrote throughout his life and the volume of his literary works is enormous. Among his best known poems we have Manashi (1890), Sonar Tori (1894), Gitanjali (1914) etc.

His present story, THE GUEST (ATITHI) is taken from Galpoguccha, a collection of short stories. He was awarded the Nobel Prize (1913) for “Gitanjali” (1912, published in London). He also wrote a number of plays, short stories, novels, essays and almost walked into every literary genre.

Atithi (Guest) Critical Appreciation

Tagore is a master story-teller. His short story, “The Guest” (Atithi) is one of those world class short stories where everything has been portrayed with the finesse of an artistic perfection. The locales, characters, landscapes, journeys, emotions – all are so flawlessly blended that it is absolutely difficult to find something odd or unmatched.

Consider Tarapada, a boy of fourteen or fifteen with large eyes, fair complexion and a cherubic innocence that immediately attracts everybody and everybody feels like loving him. But his sojourns to transitory destinations one after another, and then snapping all bonds of love and domesticity all on a sudden, stealthily; shock us.

But then, he was a solivagant! Tagore’s imaginative faculty made his characters virtually so realistic that the readers would be compelled to suspend their disbelief that the characters belonged to a short story only and were not from real life. Primarily, the story revolves round human bonding and the pangs of separation when such bonding is snapped suddenly.

Attachment to family, friends, neighbours, relatives, and nativity are extremely important factors for human society. One cannot elicit sympathy or love from others when estranged voluntarily, perpetually or at regular intervals, from this bonding. One must realize the pangs of separation and pain when one escapes surreptitiously from his loved ones; even those who loved such solivagant just for two years.

Still, one may dislike Tarapada for his habitual escapades, but not despise him! The setting is unique to suit the purpose. However, Tagore’s imaginative faculty was not unleashed. It was always disciplined with a brevity of expression – the essence of a short story. One may call this short story ‘a lyric in prose’!

Atithi (Guest) Characters

Tarapada:

Tarapada, the central character in Tagore’s short story, “The Guest” (Atithi), was from a family of five brothers and three sisters. His father was dead, but mother was still alive. All of them loved him dearly and so did the villagers. He had no valid reasons to run away from home at regular intervals. But still, it had become his habitual obedience to escape from his loved ones and the comfort of home.

His cherubic innocence, large eyes, fair complexion and easy going habit charmed the zamindar family of Kanthalia in whose boat Tarapada boarded to go to Nandigram. During the journey, he helped the boatmen in their cooking, did his bit with the oarsmen, sang songs for the Zamindar family, swam into the river and thus interwove himself with everything around.

He had no terminal destination to go. He was supposed to go to Nandigram, but very soon his mind was lost in the beautiful landscapes on either side of the river, and he never noticed when Nandigram came and passed by. However, his sojourn at Kanthalia didn’t make much of a difference, simply because there too his stay was transitory.

He had an inborn urge to break away from all human bonding, but that was not known to Motilal babu and his wife in whose home Tarapada stayed afterwards as their ‘Guest’! That was why he had joined a theatre group, and then left it for a travelling group of minstrels and then, again a gynamnast group, and now to Kanthai18 from where he would flee to Kurulkata. His transitory destinations seemed to have no end.

He was a quick learner of things and an absorber of human minds. As he had no attachment or involvement, he had no feeling of guilt or remorse for either the people or the places he had been leaving after his brief stay. His cherubic innocence thus had a heartless or rather a cruel side which he failed to realize. He moved like boundless wind without caring for anything. He always roamed because perhaps he thought,

“beyond the East the sunrise, beyond the West the sea,
and East and West the Wander – thirst that will not let me be;
It works in me like madness, dear, to bid me say good bye;
for the seas call, and the stars call, and oh! the call of the sky”

Gerald Gould:

The poet expressed Tarapada’s character with brevity and condensation without perhaps reading Tagore’s “TheGuest’! Tarapada was a solivagant. Food for his hunger was secondary. His sojourns at transitory destinations needed no company but some means of transportation to reach to newer places just as to refresh his large eyes with newer people, places and marvels. It is difficult for the reader to grossly define Tarapada as a selfish boy.

He had his tender feelings for the people around till his sojourn at a place as a “Guest” was over. And then, with his departure, he forgot everything. Still the reader shall love Tarapada. We may conclude saying,
“It is good to have an end, to journey forward,
But it is the journey that matters in the end”!

Earnest Hemingway:

An author seems to be a potter who creates his characters by every turn of his creative wheel. So is Tarapada, created by Tagore!

Charushashi:

Charushashi was the only daughter of Motilal babu, the zamindar of Kanthalia, and Annapurna, his wife. Naturally therefore, she grew up with her parents’ singularity of attention, care and love. Her happy, tranquil state of mind was disturbed and imbalanced with Tarapada’s intervention. His cherubic innocence and easy way of interweaving himself with people and situation won the hearts of the zamindar’s family and they endeared Tarapada much like their own son.

The more Tarapada was endeared by Charushashi’s parents, the more she became raucous, impulsive, rude and pugnacious. But she furtively watched and enjoyed Tarapada’s swimming in the river. His physical movements attracted her. She was only a nine year old girl and was hardly endowed with the sensuality of a young woman who might rejoice at the sight of the bare body of a young boy while swimming. But she liked the sight. For Tarapada, she was a riddle. She developed an imposed antipathy for Tarapada.

But Tarapada never knew that she had Tarapada in a secret vault of her heart as a prized possession about whom she wanted to tell Sonamoni, her childhood friend. But the moment she learned that Sonamoni already knew about Tarapada and he was no surprise for her, she flared up in an envious rage, quarreled with Sonamoni, got into Tarapada’ room, broke his flute into pieces on stamping upon it.

Like Tarapada, Charushashi also wanted to learn English. And what she actually did was to make a mess of Tarapada’s reading materials. Tarapada bore all her mischief patiently and when things became almost unbearable, he beat her a little. Sometimes she spilled ink upon his exercise book, tore off pages from the text books or stole his pen. At times, Tarapa didn’t react to these pranks and then Charu begged for apology, when Tarapada burst into laughter amongst Charushashi’s anger and embarrassment.

Two years passed and she turned eleven whereas Tarapada turned seventeen. A proposal for marriage came for Charushashi, but she refused to appear before the bridegroom party on the scheduled date of their visit, because by then, she had started loving Tarapada. Cupid had shot his arrow.

Without Tarapada, Charushashi’s character cannot be unfolded. If Tarapada was a parallel, Charu was the contrast. What Charu wanted, was an exclusive right over Tarapada. For her, Tarapada was as precious a gem as to be hidden from the world. She would only exhibit him at her free will whenever she felt like doing so. She was the only daughter of her parents and therefore, had painted her world of imaginary vision of getting all that she could lay her hands on. But still, she didn’t get Tarapada, the perpetual wanderer.

Atithi (Guest) Title of the Story

In Tagore’s short story, “The Guest” (Atithi), Tarapada, a Brahmin boy of fourteen or fifteen, wanted a boat-ride in a Kanthalia bound boat owned by the zamindar of Kanthalia, a village in rural Bengal. His fair complexion, cherubic innocence, and large eyes were so appealing that the zamindar family welcomed him to the boat. But it was Charushashi, the only daughter of the zamindars who did not befriend Tarapada and remained ever envious.

Tarapada’s transitory destination was a sojourn at Nandigram, but he never knew when Nandigram was left far behind as he was amazed with the landscape on either side of the river and got busy in interacting with the zamindar family and the boatmen. Finally, after ten days of journey by boat, the zamindars family landed at Kanthalia and so did Tarapada.

Of course,it hardly made any difference for Tarapada. He was a transitory guest everywhere. On reaching Kanthalia,Tarapada quickly got down from the boat, made a quick survey of the village and its inhabitants and familiarized with them with his natural ease in no time.

He sang songs, played the flute and still, everybody but Charushashj was pleased. When Tarapada stepped on the boat of Motilal babu, the zamindar of Kanthalia, he was fourteen or fifteen and Charushashj, nine. Since then, Tarapada passed there two years as the family’s “Guest” and almost became a member of the family. His relation with Charushashi didn’t change much save and except that Charushashi considered him as a priceless gem and an exclusive property for her to display him to people when and whom she felt like.

Abounded by parental love of the zamindar and his wife, sisterly love of Sonamonj, a close friend of Carushashi, Tarapada grew to be seventeen and touched his adolescence. Charushash also grew to be eleven. The zamindar family decided to marry their daughter to Tarapada. Accordingly, his family was invited to Kanthalia for the marriage ceremony.

Just before the date of marriage, a concert party from Calcutta was travelling to Kurulkata, a village far away by boat. It was a monsoon night. The village was enveloped in darkness. And Tarapada, following the ‘protocol’ of a “Guest”, left Kanthalia for Kurulkata in the accompaniment of those musicians for another transitory destination.
That too, must be as a “GUEST’!
The title thus is perfect.

Atithi (Guest) Setting

Setting “in The Guest” (Atithi) is as important as Tarapada, the central character in the short story. Bengal being a riverine state, movement for a solivagant was best possible by boats or barges across the rivers and rivulets to histransitory destinations. Therefore, rivers and boats formed an integral part of the setting.

Since Tarapada’s wander thirst- as evident from the short story, was that of a curious boy roaming around the rural setting, locales and events, and always learning and absorbing whatever attracted him villagers, fairs, musicians, actors, gymnasts and other rural events, those played important roles in the Setting.

Since running away from the domesticity of Kanthalia as a guest of Motilal babu and his family after two years of close involvement, especially when everybody was awake, was not possible for Tarapada, Tagore created a monsoon night when everybody at Kanthalia was asleep, a cloud made the village darker, helping Tarapada escape again stealthily with a fleet of boats carrying commodities and some concert party for a village fair at Kurulkata, a far away village.

Atithi (Guest) Annotations and Vocabulary

Obstinate — Stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion
Spared him the rod — Didn’t beat him with a stick
Reproached — Expressed disapproval of
Inborn urge — Born with earnestness
Vendor — A person or company offering for sale
Accompaniment — A musical part that supports or partners an instrument
Landscape — All the visible features of an area of land
Rowing — Propelling a boat by oars
Spontaneously — Impulsive result without premeditation
Keenness — The quality of being eager or enthusiastic
Indifferent — Having no particular interest or sympathy
Uncluttered — Not having impeded by many objects
Envy — Jealousy
Resentment — Bitter indignation at having been treated unfairly
Claimant — A person making a claim
Whimsical — Playfully quaint or fanciful
Tantrums — Uncontrolled outburst of anger or frustration
Fancy — Elaborate in structure or decoration
Antipathy — A deep-seated feeling of aversion
Racket — A loud, unpleasant noise
Intrigued — Aroused the curiosity
Surreptitiously — Secretively
Fervour — Intense and passionate feeling
Interaction — Reciprocal action
Sulked — Be silent, morose, and lid-tempered out of annoyance
Hovered — Remain in one place in the air
Swollen — Inflated, as a result of accumulation of fluid
Cymbals — A musical instrument consisting of a slightly concave, round brass plate which is struck against each other with a stick

Prism A Collection of ISC Short Stories Workbook Answers

With the Photographer Summary, Theme by Stephen Leacock

With the Photographer Summary by Stephen Leacock

With the Photographer Summary, Theme by Stephen Leacock

With the Photographer Summary

Stephen Leacock is a modem English prose writer. He has written: many prose pieces. All his prose pieces are known for their subtle humour. They talk about real life situation. ‘With The Photographer’ is a short prose that describes the Leacock’s experience with a photographer. Leacock, as is the regular case, gets a bitter experience.

One fine day, the author went to a studio to take a photograph of him. “I want my photograph taken”, said the author to the photographer. Here ‘my photograph’ plays a major role throughout the story. After looking at him, the photographer who is a drooping man in gray suit asked him to sit and wait without enthusiasm. After an hour, he asked him to come in.

The author went in and sat down under a beam of sunlight filtered through a sheet of factory cotton. He rolled his camera but was not satisfied with something which made the author look very grave and shook. “The face is quite wrong”, he said. Even though it is humiliating, the author accepted his statement.

He found fault with every part of the author’s face and suggested that it would have been better if it was three-quarters full. He kept on complaining about his head, ears and his facial features and twisted it. Soon after, he told him to open his wide mouth a little and close it immediately. When the photographer continued finding faults with his face and physical appearance, author asked him to stop his complaints.

“This face is my face. It is not yours, it is mine. I’ve lived with it for forty years and…”After speaking harshly, author started to rise from the seat; in the meantime the photographer pulled the string in the camera and took the photograph without the conscious knowledge of author. He had caught the author in a moment of animation (in today’s sense candid). The author asked to show his picture but he neglected and asked him to come back on Saturday to collect the developed proof.

Author came back to the photo studio on Saturday to receive his copy of the photograph. When the photographer unfolded the proof, the author was shocked and asked “Is it me?” The photograph is quite unlike of him as all his facial features were altered. The photographer had effected many changes and retouched them. He also removed the eyebrows and drawn new ones and adjusted his mouth a little.

He happily stated that, he used a process named ‘the delphide’ for removing them. He had even removed the hair that was on his face. This enraged the author to blast over the photographer. He said he had come there for a photograph exactly like him, the real him but the photographer has changed his whole appearance to show his professional photographer tag. He asked him to keep that photograph with him because, for him it is s worthless bauble. In the end, the author left that studio with tears.

With the Photographer About the Author Stephen Leacock

Stephen Butler Leacock (December 1869 – March 1944) was born in England and moved to Canada when he was six years old. He attended Upper Canada College and later received a B.A. degree from the University of Toronto; he entered the University of Chicago and was awarded a Ph.D. in 1903. He became a Canadian teacher, political scientist, writer, and humorist.

His fame now rests securely on work begun with the beguiling fantasies of Literary Lapses and Nonsense Novels. Leacock’s humour is typically based on a comic perception of social foibles and the incongruity between appearance and reality in human conduct, and his work is characterized by the invention of lively comic situations. Most renowned are his Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, which gently mocks life in the fictional town of Mariposa. He also wrote The Boy I Left Behind Me (1946), an uncompleted autobiography.

With the Photographer Theme

The story ‘With the Photographer’ deals with a man’s humiliation and depression when he went to a photographer’s studio to have a photograph of him. In the beginning, we can see the author who is the protagonist of the story was in an excited state of mind as he was very much willing to have his own photograph. But when we went to the photographer, he saw his disinterested face.

The photographer made him wait for about an hour and then when he was finally called the author to take his photograph, he started complaining about his facial features. He kept on doing so, until it got annoying. The author felt insulted and told the photographer to stop complaining. When finally the photograph was taken, the author asked him to show his photograph but the photographer was disinterested in this too and told him to come later to take the final copy. When the author came to take the.

final copy, he saw his facial features had been edited and there was no similarity with his real face. The author was shocked and asked the photographer about this. But the photographer told him that he edited that photo because he felt that it was needed and hence appropriate. This saddened him and made him feel insulted him even more. The story ended with the author, leaving the studio with tears in his eyes.

With the Photographer Title of the Story

The story ‘With the Photographer’ is all about the author’s meeting with a photographer to have him photographed. But in that process, the author gets humiliated for his facial features which the photographer found inappropriate to be photographed. At first, he made him wait for about an hour and then when he called him to take his picture, he started his commentaries about his facial features to which the author became angry and got insulted.

After a brief annoying conversation, the author’s photograph was finally captured but when the time for delivering came, the author was shocked to find out the picture, totally different from his real face. The photographer had edited it to make him satisfied with his piece of work.

This saddened the author and he left the studio with tears in his eyes. The story ended on a sad note. So, in this story, a meeting of the author with the photographer is depicted here that left a deep impression in his life. Thus the title is apt.

With the Photographer About the Story

The story ‘With the Photographer’ talks about the author, Stepher Leacock’s bitter experience with a photographer. He once visited a photographer’s studio to have his photograph taken but in that process he got humiliated by the photographer.

This story shows us how a man, who just wanted to get his photograph, had to bear insult just because of his face. The story has the theme of insecurity, anger issues, confidence, acceptance and appearance.

Main Points to Remember

  • The story shows how a person who went to a photographer’s studio to have a photograph of him, got humiliated.
  • In the story, the author went to a photographer’s studio but the photographer made him wait for a long time with a disinterested look on his face.
  • When finally he was ready to take the author’s photograph, he started to get dissatisfied with the face of the author.
  • He kept on complaining about the shape of his face and other facial features which insulted and angered the author very much.
  • Finally the photograph was captured but when the author came to take the developed proof of the photograph, he saw his facial features had been changed and there was no similarity with his real face.
  • This made the author very sad and he left the studio with tears in his eyes.

With the Photographer Setting of the Story

The story ‘With the Photographer’ is set at the studio of the photographer where the author came to have him photographed. But in doing so, the author gets humiliated for his facial features which the photographer found inappropriate to be photographed.

The story’s beginning, middle and end, totally revolved around the studio of the photographer where the author had to wait for about an hour to have his picture clicked. Not only that, but also he had to hear the annoying commentaries of the photographer about his facial features.

The author got angry and felt insulted. Somehow, when finally his picture was clicked, the photographer refused to show him his picture and delivered him a completely edited photo of him which had no similarity with his real face.

When asked, the photographer told him that it was needed for a perfect photograph. Shocked, heartbroken author, left the studio with tears in his eyes and the story ended there. Thus it can be said that the setting of the story had a perfect reflection of the plot of the story.

With the Photographer Annotations and Vocabulary

Enthusiasm — strong excitement about something
Dim — not bright or clear
Unwarrantable — not justifiable, inexcusable
Pursuit — occupation, the act of pursuing
Beam — a line of light coming from a source
Frosted — having a dull surface that looks as if it is covered with frost
Crawl — to move with the body close to the ground
Pane — a sheet of glass in a window or door
Grave — serious
Çease — to stop happening, end
Twist — to bend or turn
Contract — to draw together so as to become diminished in size
Swing — to move with a smooth, curving motion
Animation — liveliness
Bitingly — unpleasantly and critically
Momentary — lasting a very short time
Superficies — a surface of a body
Withering — very harsh, severe or damaging
Emboss — to put a raised design or piece of writing on paper
Bauble — an inexpensive piece of jewellery which has a little artistic value.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Short Stories Workbook Answers

A Living God Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Lafcadio Hearn

A Living God Summary by Lafcadio Hearn

A Living God Summary, Theme, Critical Appreciation by Lafcadio Hearn

A Living God Summary

Lafcadio Hearn Koizumi Yagumo wrote “A Living God” in September, 1896, three months after Japan’s Sanriku tsunami. The story was included in Gleanings in Buddha-Fields, published in September 1897 by Houghton Mifflin Company of Boston & New York. Hamaguchi Gohei lived in a Japanese coastal village and was called the “Muraosa” or the Chief of the village.

The livelihood of the villagers depended on cultivation of crops, or rather, peasantry. Hamaguchi was the richest man in the village although there was no marked difference among the farmers in terms of riches. They all lived in perfect peace and happiness. But Hamaguchi was specially respected by the villagers for his prudence and wisdom.

There being a rich harvest, the villagers were going to celebrate it by a dance. The entire village was decorated and they were in a festive mood. Old Hamaguchi was leisurely looking at those from his balcony and suddenly felt a different kind of earthquake. A sixth sense made him look at the sea which was fast receding from the coastal line.

Curious men and children ran towards the beach to discover the hitherto unseen sea-bed and the sand ribs. The sea was still receding. Seemingly, Hamaguchi received an electric shock and asked his grandson to give him a Pine-Torch immediately. His grandson complied and Hamaguchi ran to his stacks of rice and set those on fire.

In no time, it became a towering inferno and drew every villager’s attention. Sensing some imminent danger, the huge bell of the Hill Temple started its gong on seeing the blaze. People came running from every comer of the village suspecting some danger. Some people wanted to douse the fire, but Hamaguchi stopped them.

No sooner did the villagers assemble at the blazing terrace of Hamaguchi, than the sea, like a raging monster and a towering cliff, pounced back on the village. It withdrew and then came back raving over everything in the village again and again. Hamaguchi only said that that was the reason why he had set fire to the rice-stacks.

Finding no time to send alarms to the villagers to escape from the tsunami, he set fire to his rice-stacks as a signal for all. Hamaguchi lost his worldly possessions in order to save the villagers. His sacrifice elevated him from the level of an ordinary man to a divine identity. People started calling him God after this apocalypse.

A Living God About the Author Lafcadio Hearn

Koizumi Yakumo (1850-1904), born Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, was an Irish – Greek- Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture and literature of Japan to the West. His writings offered unprecedented insight into Japanese culture, especially his collection of Legends and Ghost Stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. Before moving to Japan and becoming a Japanese citizen, he worked as a journalist in the US, primarily in Cincinnati and New Orleans. His writings about New Orleans, based on his decade-long stay there, are also well known.

A Living God Theme

The theme of “A Living God” by Lafcadio Hearn is simple but moving. The story revolves round an ordinary peasant of a coastal village, who is subsequently elevated to the lofty height of a divine identity by dint of wisdom, prudence and sacrifice. Hamaguchi, the village -chief and an old man as well, felt the approach of a deadly tsunami when the sea receded from the beach.

He had no time either to send signals or messages to the merry-making villagers. His wisdom prompted him to set fire to his stacks of rice. Soon the fire became an inferno and the fire and the accompanying smoke attracted the attention of the Buddhist Temple at the hill-top who started ringing their huge bell and the Attention of the villagers was drawn. People rushed to him and then saw in awe how a monstrous tsunami ravaged the village. But their lives were spared.

Hamaguchi did not know what his family would eat the next day, but his sacrifice elevated him from the state of an ordinary peasant to a divine identity. He is transformed from manliness to Godliness. His apotheosis is complete.

A Living God Critical Appreciation

Lafcadio Hearn’s “A Living God” is a simple but moving story set in a Japanese coastal village. The description of the verdant village and its location is flawlessly narrated with special reference to Hamaguchi Gohei, the central character and village chief. Whereas the principal occupation of the villagers has been described to be crop cultivation, it is not quite clear as to why they did not take up fishing as an additional part of their livelihood since the village stood by the sea.

However, the story rolls on smoothly. The diction is well applied. Hamaguchi’s extra sensory perception about the impending tsunami, and his prudence, coupled with sacrifice of burning his rice-stacks so as to alert the villagers, makes him an outstanding personality among the peasantry. The portrayal of ferocity of the tsunami and the description of the landscape during and after the tsunami deserves applause for accuracy. Hamaguchi’s elevation to Godliness from manliness is well portrayed.

A Living God Characters

Hamaguchi Gohei:

Hamaguchi Gohei was the “Muraosa” or the headman of a coastal village. Like other villagers, his principal occupation was cultivation. He was liked as well as respected by the village peasantry. People also called him “Ojiisan”, or rather, grandfather of the village.

Being the richest among the village peasantry, he was sometimes officially referred to as the “ Choja”.He advised the small farmers about their interest, arbitrated when they disputed, advanced them money at need, and helped them sell their rice on the best possible terms. Gohei, the central character and village chief.

Whereas the principal occupation of the villagers has been described to be crop cultivation, it is not quite clear as to why they did not take up fishing as an additional part of their livelihood since the village stood by the sea.

However, the story rolls on smoothly. The diction is well applied. Hamaguchi’s extra sensory perception about the impending tsunami, and his prudence, coupled with sacrifice of burning his rice-stacks so as to alert the villagers, makes him an outstanding personality among the peasantry. The portrayal of ferocity of the tsunami and the description of the landscape during and after the tsunami deserves applause for accuracy. Hamaguchi’s elevation to Godliness from manliness is well portrayed.

A Living God Title of the Story

Lafcadio Hearn’s “A Living God” tell us the story of Hamaguchi Gohei, a simple natured village-chief in a Japanese coastal village, and his elevation to Godliness from the state of manliness. The principal occupation of the villagers was cultivation of crops and Hamaguchi was no exception save and except that he was a little more well- off than other villagers. Life was very peaceful in the village.

But things do not always roll on as smoothly as expected. When a monstrous tsunami hit the village, the villagers were busy celebrating a rich harvest. Old Hamaguchi, with his experience and extra sensory perception, realized the foreboding ; but finding no time and means to alert the merry-making villagers , set all his stacks of rice in fire.

The fire and the accompanying smoke attracted the attention of the Buddhist Temple on the hill¬top who started ringing their huge bell, and then, the villagers, now aware of an impending danger, rushed to Hamaguchi. Some of them tried to douse the fire of the rice- stack, but Hamaguchi stopped them as it was still sending the signal of a danger.

Old Hamaguchi didn’t know what his family would eat the next day. The tsunami raved the village and the crops. But Hamaguchi could save the lives of the villagers by dint of his prudence, wisdom and sacrifice. This action elevated him to a state of divinity from manliness.

People started worshipping him and thought that he would thus save them. In future distress. Their faith was so deep rooted that they built even a temple with one of his images inside. His apotheosis was complete. The title thus, is justified.

A Living God Setting

Setting in “A Living God” is important in the sense that the proximity of the village where the story is founded upon is close to the sea which finally played the Nemesis to destroy the villagers. The village is situated on a plateau, surrounded on three sides by wooded summits.

“From its outer verge, the land slopped down in a huge green concavity, as if scooped out to the edge of the water; and the whole of the slop, some three quarters of a mile long, was so terraced as to look, when viewed from the open sea, like an enormous flight of green steps, divided in the centre by a narrow white zigzag – a streak of mountain road.”

From the description, it is evidently clear that the Japanese coastal village seems to have risen almost from the sea. In such close proximity to the sea, it is easier for the sea to play the Nemesis in the lives of the villagers in cases of any sea related disaster, especially a tsunami, adding thus, is perfect.

A Living God Annotations and Vocabulary

Submarine volcanic action — volcanic explosion / reaction in under the sea
Tsunami — A series of large waves of extremely long wave length, and period, usually generated by a violent, impulsive undersea disturbance, or activity near the coast or in the ocean.
Era of Meiji — the Meiji era is an era in Japanese history which extended from 1868 until 1912
Muraosa — a village Chief in Japan
Choja — Richest member if a Japanese village community
Arbitrate — reach an authoritative judgment or settlement
Plateau — An area of fairly level high ground
Hemmed — Turn under and sew the edge of (usually a piece of cloth; but here it is conjoined)
Verge — An edge orborder
Concavity – Hollowed or rounded inward like inside of a bowl
Scooped — to pick up and move (something) with a scoop, a spoon etc
Shinto Temple — Buddhist Temple
Straggling — move along slowly so as to remain at some distance behind the person or people in front
Ujigami — It is a guardian god or spirit of a particular place in the Shinto religion of Japan
Seismic — Relating to earthquake or other vibrations of the earth and its crust
Offing — The most distant part of the sea in view
Ebb — Gradually decrease
Apparition — A ghost or ghost like person
Ribbed — Having a pattern of raised bands
Tinder – Substance that burns easily
Acolyte – A person assisting a priest in a religious service
Sallow — Unhealthy, yellow or pale brown colour
Speckled — Covered or marked with a large number of small spots or patches of colour
Succor — Assistance or support in times of hardship and distress
Mura — A Japanese word, meaning unevenness, irregularity, lack of uniformity etc.
Smote — Strike with a firm blow
Menace — A person or a thing that is likely to cause harm; a threat or danger
Wrack — To utterly ruin
Shingle — A mass of small rounded pebbles, especially on seashore
Stupefaction — The state of being stupefied

Prism A Collection of ISC Short Stories Workbook Answers

Haunted Houses Poem Summary, Theme, Critical Analysis by H.W. Longfellow

Haunted Houses Summary by H.W. Longfellow

Haunted Houses Poem Summary, Theme, Critical Analysis by H.W. Longfellow

Haunted Houses Summary

The poem “Haunted Houses” written by H.W. Longfellow is a poem in which the poet begins with a very straightforward but rather very surprising statement.” All houses wherein men have lived and died/Are haunted houses.” Here we see how Longfellow had asserted that all the houses that men live and die are haunted houses. This line is comforting rather than threatening, a recognition of that those we have loved can still walk among us, so long as they live in our memories.

Here we also see how Longfellow describes the spirits or ghosts to be harmless that carry on their regular errands and as they move on the floor, they move silently because their feet make no sound. So the phantoms are the souls that actually linger in our memories.

The poet says that we meet them at the door-way, on the stair, along the passages but we can’t touch them but we can feel that something is moving to and fro. They are unnoticeable like air. Then the poet says that there are more guests than hosts in the house. Here the guests are referred to the inoffensive ghosts and the hosts are the living beings alive.

The hall of the house is being filled with ghosts who are inoffensive, harmless and quiet just like the pictures on the wall. Just as the pictures on the wall are harmless so also are the ghosts. The narrator of the poem says that he can see the forms of the spirits but the stranger at the fireside cannot see them.

Here the speaker is either a ghost for which he is able to see the spirits or else these spirits are in his mind haunting him. He can also hear their sound. The stranger can perceive what is in front of his eyes. But the speaker himself sees more number of ghosts, silently sitting there which the living people are unable to see.

The speaker says that they the have no ownerships of the houses and the lands now, which makes us believe that the speaker is a ghost. He says that “We have no title deeds.” They used to possess these houses and lands once but now they are in the graves.

They are all forgotten now by their descendants because they have to move on in their lives. But the ghosts have a deep connection with these things so they hold these things and occupy these places because once they possessed these houses and lands.

These spirits that make up another world surrounds the world of sense that is the world in which we live. It is surrounding the world of the living like the atmosphere.There are mists and vapours in the atmosphere also and they move gently through these like a vital breath of air beyond this world. The living beings can feel this.

Through this the poet wants to tell us that all our daily activities on the material plane occur within or beside, a medium of departed souls. So in the middle of the poem, we see that the original owners of the houses are still there but they have died.

The place where they live overlaps with ours, the spirit world that is on top of ours. The poet says that our lives are having the force of balance by opposite attractions or desires which is a law. Those who have the instinct to struggle can enjoy life and those who have noble instincts, they aspire.

All the worries, which we have in our lives, the troubles, the problems are like a ‘perpetual jar’ or a never ending jar. The poet compares a jar with our minds and bodies that are never satisfied and have got never-ending desires and wishes. All these come from the influence of an unseen star or an undiscovered planet.

The poet also says that as the moon comes out through the gates of dark clouds, the moonbeams that fall across the ocean waves look like a bridge of light that descends from the world of spirits to the earth that is the world of the living. During the night our thoughts, memories, aspirations that crowd us travel across and go into the kingdom of mystery through the moving or ‘trembling planks’ of this bridge of light.

Here the ethereal image of moonlight floating across the ocean waves is compared to glorious “bridge of light”. This bridge of light descends from the world of spirits to the earth. Our thoughts, memories and aspirations can travel across the “trembling planks” of this bridge to connect with the spirits of the loved ones who have gone before.

They also travel in order to rise above the “dark abyss” or dark cave of the materialistic world in which we live. At the end of the poem, the poet says that the ghosts come from a different world, and they can come and go as they please. But the spirit world is a mystery to us.

Haunted Houses About the Author H.W. Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on 27th February 1807 in Portland (United States). He was an American poet and educator. Longfellow attended private schools and the Portland Academy. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825. He wrote and edited textbooks, translated poetry and prose, and wrote essays on French, Spanish and Italian literature.

He was offered a professorship at Harvard, with another opportunity to go abroad and he accepted it and set forth for Germany in 1835. Longfellow presided over Harvard’s modern- language program for 18 years and then left teaching in 1854.

Poems such as “Paul Revere’s Ride”, Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie and a “A Psalm of Life” were his mainstays of primary and secondary curricula. At the age of thirty- two he published his first collection of poem, Voices of the Night, followed by Ballads and other Poems. Among his poems the best known poem is The Song of Hiawatha.

His work is mostly categorized as lyric poetry. He died on March 24, 1882. He achieved a level of national and international prominence previously unequalled in the literary history of the United States and is one of the few American writers honoured in the Poet’s Corner of Westminister Abbey-in fact, he is believed to be best the as his bust was installed there in 1884.

Haunted Houses Theme

The poem “Haunted Houses” by H.W. Longfellow is about ghosts and he says that ghosts are real and they do exist. But he eliminates the fears of ghosts by blurring the line between memory and supernatural. These ghosts are domesticated ghosts busy with errands, moving purposefully around the house as they did in life.

Haunted Houses Critical Analysis

In the poem “Haunted Houses” the poet H.W. Longfellow wants to say that all houses are haunted houses and in saying so he is aware of the nostalgia, history and memories that live in every home. Longfellow’s assertion that all houses are haunted is comforting and consoling rather than threatening. lt is just a recognition that the people who have died and whom once we ve loved can still remain among us, so long as they live in our memories.

We see that the poet begins the poem with a very straight forward but surprising statement. In his poem the speaker eliminates the typical ghostly requirements of suffering, unfinished business, or vitriolic purpose.

He says that every soul that has departed this earth, dawdles in his / her former dwelling (house). The images of the ghosts that Longfellow has painted in his poem are very different in nature from the usual ghostly nature. They are depicted as neither unhappy nor fearsome and neither moan nor clank.

So these are domesticated ghosts, busy with their chores, moving purposely around the house as they did when they were alive. The speaker describes them “harmless and inoffensive” and welcomes them to join him at table. They share our safe places and even join us in our daily activities. They are at the doorway, on the stair, along the passages and also by the fireside. They are always wafting, gliding and floating and thus connected to us for all time.

The poem assures us that rather than being hostile, ghosts are simply the remnants or vestiges of departed family members, our friends and our loved ones, exalted by memory and emotion-whom we are glad to have still with us in whatever form they are in. In the next stanza, we learn that only the speaker can see and hear these phantoms what ‘has been’-which makes us question whether they exist only in his memory or he speaks himself to be a ghost for which he is able to see the spirits which the living beings are unable to see or hear.

Then we find how the speaker admits his belief in the supernatural in this line “The spirit world around this world of sense / Floats like an atmosphere.” This mood of mystery and spirituality is confirmed in the final two stanzas.

The line “We have no title deeds to house or lands” also suggests that the speaker is a ghost. The owners, the occupants of the houses and lands are dead so they do not possess these properties any more.” From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands” is a metaphor which the poet uses here to mean that the dead still have a strong connection with their possessions.

The spirit world that encircles the real world is extremely silent. The spirits pass through the mists and vapours, like a vital breath of air beyond the world. It means that all our day to day activities occur within or beside a medium of departed souls. Our lives have the force of balance by opposite attractions and desires which is the nature of law.

It is human nature to get attracted towards numerous desires. People who have an instinct to struggle,enjoy the life and those who have noble instincts rise high in their lives. The poet describes the unending anxiety, wants, desires and aspirations are like a perpetual jar. The unending jar is a symbol of our wants, desires, anxieties, aspirations which come from the influence of an unseen star or undiscovered planet.

The poet says that the ethereal image of moonlight floating across the ocean waves is compared to a glorious “bridge of light” that descends from the world of spirits to the earth. And our thoughts, memories and aspirations can travel across the “trembling planks” of the bridge to connect with the spirits of the loved ones who have departed before.

These memories and aspirations rise above the dark cave of the materialistic world. Longfellow captures the way that moonlight “sways and bends” on the water to create an “unsteady floor” of this bridge that only spirits can cross. It is impossible for any bodily living being to cross this bridge.

So after going through the poem we can say that as we move through life, gaining in wisdom and experience, we are haunted by the ghosts of our former selves both for better and for worse. We are connected with the spirits of the different eras of our existence by bridges of light, drawing occasionally on our youth and innocence but drawing too often on the past pain and grief. “All houses wherein men have lived and died are haunted houses.” With the body as our home,the different memories and thoughts of past and present are the spirits of the haunted houses.

The poem has got the title of “Haunted Houses.” The poet introduces the presence of ghosts and spirits from the very beginning of the poem. In the haunted houses, we can find ghosts and spirits but actually the spirits that are described by the poet in this poem are domesticated ghosts. They are not poltergeists and hence they are harmless.

The first line of the first stanza says that all houses are haunted where men lived and departed. The spirits and ghosts in the haunted houses just go about and don’t bother or disturb anyone. They come into the houses through the open doors and move silently on the floors without making any noise. They are “harmless phantoms” and they are busy with their activities moving here and there around the houses, as they did when they were alive.

The poet dispels the typical ghostly prerequisite of suffering, unfinished business or malicious intent. From this sense we can say that the poem bearing the title “Haunted Houses” is preferable. Though the ghosts do not possess any ghostly behavious, yet due to the presence of these ghosts and spirits in the houses one can call the houses haunted.

As we move along the poem, we see that how the poet can see and hear these phantoms -what “has been” makes us question whether they exist only in his memory. Yet now, having lulled us into a feeling of rational safety, the poet at last guides us into the belief of mysticism and other worldliness that is the world of spirits. The poet describes their movements in the houses through the words glide and waft. They are present every where at the door-way, on the stair, along the passages which can only be felt.

Due to their “impalpable impressions” on the air, the speaker senses that something move to and fro. They also crowd along, in the hall, but they are inoffensive and silent as the pictures on the wall. While the others are unable to see themor hear them, the forms are visible to the poet and he can hear them. They encircle the world of the living like the atmosphere.

They waft through these earthly mists and vapours like an important or vital breath which is more ethereal or unearthly. Till here in the poem, we can see how the poet Longfellow tries to say that in our materialistic world, the spirits wander about doing their own activities without pestering others. From this sense we can say that the title” Haunted Houses”goes well.

All these while the ghosts and the spirits were confined to the different places of the houses. We also find how the poet describes them to be the earlier owners and occupants of the houses, who have died and are in graves now. But still they have a strong connection with their houses. So after their death, when everyone has forgotten them, we find them stretching “their dusty hands” from the graves to hold in “mortmain still their old estates.”

Again at the end of the poem, we find how Longfellow describes the connection between the world of spirit and the world of the living. He says that the moonlight makes a floating “bridge of light” across the waves of the sea. Our fancies-aspirations, thoughts and desires crowd across the planks of this bridge which find their way and go into the world of mystery and night that is the world of the spirits. It is this bridge that connects the two worlds-the world of the living and the world of the spirits.

The ghosts and the spirits are just remnants of the departed family members and beloveds whom we are glad to have still with us in whatever form they are in. They haunt our memories. We can also compare ourselves with houses where we are always haunted by our dear and near ones who have passed away. Their memories are always haunting us even after their death. So if we take the title, from this view or this point, we can say that “Haunted Houses” is quite a suitable title.

Haunted Houses Title of the Story

The poem has got the title of “Haunted Houses.” The poet introduces the presence of ghosts and spirits from the very beginning of the poem. In the haunted houses, we cark find ghosts and spirits but actually the spirits that are described by the poet in this poem are domesticated ghosts. They are not poltergeists and hence they are harmless.

The first line of the first stanza says that all houses are haunted where men lived and departed. The spirits and ghosts in the haunted houses just go about and don’t bother or disturb anyone. They come into the houses through the open doors and move silently on the floors without making any noise.

They are “harmless phantoms” and they are busy with their activities moving here and there around the houses, as they did when they were alive. The poet dispels the typical ghostly prerequisite of suffering, unfinished business or malicious intent. From this sense we can say that the poem bearing the title “Haunted Houses” is preferable.

Though the ghosts do not possess any ghostly behavious, yet due to the presence of these ghosts and spirits in the houses one can call the houses haunted. As we move along the poem, we see that how the poet can see and hear these phantoms what “has been” makes us question whether they exist only in his memory. Yet now, having lulled us into a feeling of rational safety, the poet at last guides us into the belief of mysticism and other worldliness that is the world of spirits.

The poet describes their movements in the houses through the words glide and waft. They are present everywhere at the door-way, on the stair, along the passages which can only be felt. Due to their “impalpable impressions” on the air, the speaker senses that something move to and fro. They also crowd along, in the hall, but they are inoffensive and silent as the pictures on the wall. While the others are unable to see them or hear them, the forms are visible to the poet and he can hear them.

They encircle the world of the living like the atmosphere. They waft through these earthly mists and vapours like an important or vital breath which is more ethereal or unearthly. Till here in the poem, we can see how the poet Longfellow tries to say that in our materialistic world, the spirits wander about doing their own activities without pestering others. From this sense we can say that the title” Haunted Houses” goes well.

All these while the ghosts and the spirits were confined to the different places of the houses. We also find how the poet describes them to be the earlier owners and occupants of the houses, who have died and are in graves now. But still they have a strong connection with their houses. So after their death, when everyone has forgotten them, we find them stretching “their dusty hands” from the graves to hold in “mortmain still their old estates.”

Again at the end of the poem, we find how Longfellow describes the connection between the world of spirit and the world of the living. He says that the moonlight makes a floating “bridge of light” across the waves of the sea. Our fancies-aspirations, thoughts and desires crowd across the planks of this bridge which find their way and go into the world of mystery and night that is the world of the spirits. It is this bridge that connects the two worlds-the world of the living and the world of the spirits.

The ghosts and the spirits are just remnants of the departed family members and beloveds whom we are glad to have still with us in whatever form they are in. They haunt our memories. We can also compare ourselves with houses where we are always haunted by our dear and near ones who have passed away. Their memories are always haunting us even after their death. So if we take the title, from this view or this point, we can say that “Haunted Houses” is quite a suitable title.

Haunted Houses About The Poem

The poem “Haunted Houses” by H.W. Longfellow is a very captivating poem which deals with the connection between the spiritual world of ghosts and the present world of the living creatures. This is a poem of spirits and ghosts. Maybe through this poem the poet tried to convey that the ghosts who linger in the haunted houses symbolize the lives of those who had lived and their spirits remained for some reason or the other, maybe as reminders of our past.

The poem speaks about the “the bridge of light” that descends in order to connect to our living world. The spirits of H.W Longfellow’s poems are the souls who linger in our memories and therefore, in our houses who are neither mischievous poltergeists nor angry spirits intending to harm the people-living in the present world.

Haunted Houses Main Point Of The Poem

The poem “Haunted Houses” of H.W. Longfellow is a consoling and sentimental meditation on the transcience of the material and the permanence of the spiritual. In other words every livings beings who exist in the materialistic world are just temporary. When they die, their spirits go to another world. The spirits don’t die anymore, They are permanent.

The way the poet talks about the presence of the spirits in the houses, also shows that the poet wants to convey us that our loved ones always remain with us, in our thoughts and memories. Their presence doesn’t decline even long after they are gone from this physical plane.

Haunted Houses Linewise Summary

1. All houses wherein men have lived and died
Are haunted houses. Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.

H.W. Longfellow the poet, of the poem “Haunted Houses” describes the presence of the phantoms in the houses. They are the souls and spirits who were living beings once but after their death, they have become spirits now. So the poet says that all the houses wherein men have lived and died are haunted houses. They are not poltergeists.

They are described as harmless ghosts who came through the open doors with soundless feet upon the floors and are busy with their regular errands. Longfellow’s ghosts are very different from the ghoulies and ghosties of popular imagination. They are neither unhappy nor harmful and they neither groan nor clank.

2. We meet them at the door way on the stair,
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
Asense of something moving to and fro.

The ghosts or the spirits are found on the stair, at the door-ways, in the table and everywhere in the houses. They wander along the passages of the house with impalpable impressions on the air. They are unnoticeable but their presence can be felt. A sense of something moving to and fro can be felt. So these ghosts can be said to be domesticated ghosts who are found in the houses.

3. There are more guests at table than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.

The speaker says that there are more guests than the hosts. The illuminated hall is filled up with quiet and inoffensive ghosts and they are silent as pictures on the wall. Here the speaker refers the guests invited to the ghosts or the spirits which are more in number than the living beings alive in the house (that are the hosts.) They are so silent that they are compared to the pictures on the wall whose presence is not detected because they make no sound.

4. The stranger at my fireside cannot see
The forms I see, nor hear die sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.

In these lines the speaker says how the stranger sitting at the fireside is unable to see or hear the ghosts but the forms which the speaker himself can see or hear. Here ‘forms’ means the ghosts or the spirits. The stranger only perceives what is in front of him. The ghosts are clearly visible only to the speaker. From this we can derive that either the speaker is a ghost himself or his memory is haunted by the thoughts of these spirits, who are actually the spirits of his family members and loved ones.

5. We have no title-deeds to house or lands;
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.

Here the speaker says that they have no title deeds to houses or lands. The actual or original owners or occupants of these houses were alive but are now dead and are in graves whom no one in the earth has remembered as everyone is engaged in work. These actual owners or occupants still have a connection with their possessions. So inspite of being ghosts or spirits now, they stretch out their hands to hold in “mortmain” of their old estates with which they are still connected to.

6. The sprit-world around this world of sense
Floats like an atmophere, and everywhere
Wafts through these earthly mists and vapoursdem
A vital breath of more ethereal air.

In this stanza the speaker speaks of the world of the supernatural or the spirit world which surrounds our world of material or the world of living. They are everywhere in the world of living and encircle us like the pall of atmosphere. The earth’s atmosphere is made up of mists and vapours. The spirits waft through the dense mists and vapours like a vital breath. Since they are unearthly and belong to ethereal air they waft through the dense mists and vapours in the atmosphere.

7. Our little lives are kept in equipoise
By opposite attractions and desires;
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys
And the more noble instinct that aspires.

In this stanza, the poet says that our lives are always kept in a balance of force by opposite attractions and desires. This is the law or nature of the humans to get attracted towards various desires. The people who have the instincts to struggle, enjoy lives and those people with noble instincts can aspire high or in other words people who have an instinct to struggle, a willingness to live life as it comes, they enjoy the struggle as well as the life. People with noble instincts rise high in their lives.

8. These perturbations, perpetual jar
Of earthly wants and aspirations high,
Come from the influence of an unseen star,
An undiscovered planet in our sky.

The poet has described the anxieties, worries, aspirations, desires which are all unending-to a perpetual jar. The wants and high aspirations of the people of the earth are perpetual. They don’t end so they are like a perpetual or unending jar. These earthly wants and high aspirations come from the influence of maybe a star which is yet unseen or a planet which has not been discovered yet.

9. And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud
Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,
Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd
Into the realm of mystery and night, —

The speaker connects the two worlds-the world of the spirits and the world of the living through a “bridge of light”. He has given a very beautiful description of how the bridge is made. He says that as the moon comes out from some dark gate of clouds, it throws its beams or light over the water of the sea, thus making a floating bridge of light.

All our fancies-thoughts, desires, aspirations etc crowd along the “bridge of light.” These fancies travel across the “trembling planks” of the bridge into the kingdom of mystery and night. The planks are described as trembling because this bridge is made by the moonlight on the water. So through this bridge our fancies travel into the world of spirits.

10. So from the world spirits there descends
A bridge of light, connecting it with this,
O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,
Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.

The poet here says that the bridge of light descends from the world of spirit to the world of living or earth. This bridge connects the two worlds. The unsteady floor of this bridge sways and bends because the moonlight falling on the waves of the water, ripples and shakes. Our thoughts, memories and aspirations are connected with the spirits of the loved ones who are dead long before. All these rise above the dark cave of this materialistic world, and go into the world of spirits.

Haunted Houses Linewise Explanation

1. All houses wherein men have lived and died Are haunted houses.
Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.

All the houses where men have lived and died are haunted houses. Every soul that departed the earth remains in his / her former house. The ghosts or the spirits are all described as harmless and they come through the open doors and glide silently upon the floors while they do their regular chores.

2. We meet them at the door way on the stair,
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
Asense of something moving to and fro.

We meet the ghosts at the doorway, on the stair and along the passages. So they move along the passages so silently that they leave an impalpable impression on the air. They cannot be noticed or touched or heard. They can only be felt that is one can feel something moving to and fro in the air.

3. There are more guests at table than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.

The poet in this stanza says that there are more guests invited than the hosts. The guests here are ghosts or spirits and the hosts are the living beings. The illuminated hall is filled up with inoffensive harmless ghosts who are as silent as the pictures on the wall.

4. The stranger at my fireside cannot see
The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.

In this stanza the poet makes us believe that the speaker himself is a ghost. So he says that the stranger sitting at the fireside is unable to see the ghost (forms) and hear the sounds which the speaker could see or hear. All that hash been visible and clear to the speaker couldn’t be seen or heard by the stranger who could only perceive them or may be the spirits exist in the poet’s memory.

5. We have no title-deeds to house or lands;
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.

Here the poet says that they have no title deeds to their houses or lands. The actual owners and the occupants are dead and are forgotten. But they have something that connects them to their possessions or property. So though they are dead, they stretch their hands from the graves to hold in mortmain or the permenent ownership of their old estates or properties.

6. The sprit-world around this world of sense
Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere
Wafts through these earthly mists and vapours dense
A vital breath of more ethereal air.

The poet says that the world of spirit surrounds the world of the living and is extremely silent. The spirits gently pass through the mists and vapours in the air like a vital breath of air beyond the world of the living.

7. Our little lives are kept in equipoise
By opposite attractions and desires;
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys
And the more noble instinct that aspires.

In these lines, the poet says that our lives have the force of balance by opposite attractions and desires. It is the human nature to get attracted towards numerous desires. People who have an instinct to struggle, they can enjoy life. People with noble instints rise high in their lives.

8. These perturbations, perpetual jar
Of earthly wants and aspirations high,
Come from the influence of an unseen star,
An undiscovered planet in our sky.

The poet says that our perturbations that is our anxiety, our mental uneasiness are like a “perpetual jar.” The perpetual jar is the unending jar of anxiety, wants, desires and aspirations. These come from the influence of an unseen star or a planet which is yet not discovered.

9. And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud
Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,
Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd
Into the realm of mystery and night,—

The poet says that the moon seems to come out through the dark gate of cloud. The moon light that floats across the ocean waves become “a bridge of light.” Our thoughts, memories, aspirations can travel across the “trembling planks” of this bridge into the world of mystery and night.

10. So from the world spirits there descends
A bridge of light, connecting it with this,
O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,
Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.

The poet says that this bridge of light descends from the “world of spirits” and connects the world of living. It is the connection, with the spirits of the loved ones who have gone before and it is also for us to rise above the dark cave of the materialistic world in which we live.

Haunted Houses Annotations and Vocabulary

Phantoms — ghosts ;spirits
Errands — regular chores;tasks
Impalpable — incorporeal ;intangible
Illuminated — lit with bright lights
Thronged — filled or be present in; crowded
Inpiffensive — harmless;not objectionable
Title deeds — real estate documents of ownership of properties.
Occupants — residents; inhabitants
Mortmain — permanent ownership
Equipoise — balance; equality
Instinct — an innate typically fixed pattern of behaviour in animals in response to certain stimuli.
Perturbations — mental uneasiness; anxieties
Perpetual — unending; everlasting
Undiscovered — that has not been discovered yet
Trembling — shaking or moving
Wafts — passes gently through the air Fancies desires
Realm — empire;kingdom
Abyss — a gap or a hole
Ethereal — unearthly.

Treasure Chest A Collection of ICSE Poems Workbook Answers

Aranya Kanda Sarga 48 In Telugu – అరణ్యకాండ అష్టచత్వారింశః సర్గః

Aranya Kanda Sarga 48 In Telugu

మొట్ట మొదటిగా అందరికి నమస్కారము. అరణ్యకాండ అష్టచత్వారింశః సర్గః (48వ సర్గ): వాల్మీకి రామాయణం యొక్క అరణ్యకాండలో, 48వ సర్గలో, సీతను రాక్షస రాజు రావణుడు అపహరిస్తాడు. రాముడు సీతను వెతుకుతూ ఉండగా, గృధ్రరాజు జటాయువు రాముని ఎదుర్కొంటాడు. జటాయువు రావణుడి దుర్నీతిని వివరించి, సీతను రక్షించేందుకు తన ప్రయత్నాన్ని వివరించును. అలాగే, రావణునితో యుద్ధించిన విషయాన్ని చెబుతాడు.

రావణవికత్థనమ్

ఏవం బ్రువంత్యాం సీతాయాం సంరబ్ధః పరుషం వచః |
లలాటే భ్రుకుటీం కృత్వా రావణః ప్రత్యువాచ హ ||

1

భ్రాతా వైశ్రవణస్యాహం సాపత్న్యో వరవర్ణిని |
రావణో నామ భద్రం తే దశగ్రీవః ప్రతాపవాన్ ||

2

యస్య దేవాః స గంధర్వాః పిశాచపతగోరగాః |
విద్రవంతి భయాద్భీతా మృత్యోరివ సదా ప్రజాః ||

3

యేన వైశ్రవణో రాజా ద్వైమాత్రః కారణాంతరే |
ద్వంద్వమాసాదితః క్రోధాద్రణే విక్రమ్య నిర్జితః ||

4

యద్భయార్తః పరిత్యజ్య స్వమధిష్ఠానమృద్ధిమత్ |
కైలాసం పర్వతశ్రేష్ఠమధ్యాస్తే నరవాహనః ||

5

యస్య తత్పుష్పకం నామ విమానం కామగం శుభమ్ |
వీర్యాదేవార్జితం భద్రే యేన యామి విహాయసమ్ ||

6

మమ సంజాతరోషస్య ముఖం దృష్ట్వైవ మైథిలి |
విద్రవంతి పరిత్రస్తాః సురాః శక్రపురోగమాః ||

7

యత్ర తిష్ఠామ్యహం తత్ర మారుతో వాతి శంకితః |
తీవ్రాంశుః శిశిరాంశుశ్చ భయాత్సంపద్యతే రవిః ||

8

నిష్కంపపత్రాస్తరవో నద్యశ్చ స్తిమితోదకాః |
భవంతి యత్ర యత్రాహం తిష్ఠామి విచరామి చ ||

9

మమ పారే సముద్రస్య లంకా నామ పురీ శుభా |
సంపూర్ణా రాక్షసైర్ఘోరైర్యథేంద్రస్యామరావతీ ||

10

ప్రాకారేణ పరిక్షిప్తా పాండురేణ విరాజతా |
హేమకక్ష్యా పురీ రమ్యా వైడూర్యమయతోరణా ||

11

హస్త్యశ్వరథసంబాధా తూర్యనాదవినాదితా |
సర్వకాలఫలైర్వృక్షైః సంకులోద్యానశోభితా ||

12

తత్ర త్వం వసతీ సీతే రాజపుత్రి మయా సహ |
న స్మరిష్యసి నారీణాం మానుషీణాం మనస్వినీ ||

13

భుంజానా మానుషాన్ భోగాన్ దివ్యాంశ్చ వరవర్ణిని |
న స్మరిష్యసి రామస్య మానుషస్య గతాయుషః ||

14

స్థాపయిత్వా ప్రియం పుత్రం రాజ్యే దశరథేన యః |
మందవీర్యః సుతో జ్యేష్ఠస్తతః ప్రస్థాపితో హ్యయమ్ ||

15

తేన కిం భ్రష్టరాజ్యేన రామేణ గతచేతసా |
కరిష్యసి విశాలాక్షి తాపసేన తపస్వినా ||

16

సర్వరాక్షసభర్తారం కామాత్స్వయమిహాగతమ్ |
న మన్మథశరావిష్టం ప్రత్యాఖ్యాతుం త్వమర్హసి ||

17

ప్రత్యాఖ్యాయ హి మాం భీరు పరితాపం గమిష్యసి |
చరణేనాభిహత్యేవ పురూరవసముర్వశీ ||

18

అంగుల్యా న సమో రామో మమ యుద్ధే స మానుషః |
తవ భాగ్యేన సంప్రాప్తం భజస్వ వరవర్ణిని ||

19

ఏవముక్తా తు వైదేహీ క్రుద్ధా సంరక్తలోచనా |
అబ్రవీత్పరుషం వాక్యం రహితే రాక్షసాధిపమ్ ||

20

కథం వైశ్రవణం దేవం సర్వభూతనమస్కృతమ్ |
భ్రాతరం వ్యపదిశ్య త్వమశుభం కర్తుమిచ్ఛసి ||

21

అవశ్యం వినశిష్యంతి సర్వే రావణ రాక్షసాః |
యేషాం త్వం కర్కశో రాజా దుర్బుద్ధిరజితేంద్రియః ||

22

అపహృత్య శచీం భార్యాం శక్యమింద్రస్య జీవితుమ్ |
న చ రామస్య భార్యాం మామపనీయాస్తి జీవితమ్ ||

23

జీవేచ్చిరం వజ్రధరస్య హస్తా-
-చ్ఛచీం ప్రధృష్యాప్రతిరూపరూపామ్ |
న మాదృశీం రాక్షస దూషయిత్వా
పీతామృతస్యాపి తవాస్తి మోక్షః ||

24

ఇత్యార్షే శ్రీమద్రామాయణే వాల్మీకీయే ఆదికావ్యే అరణ్యకాండే అష్టచత్వారింశః సర్గః ||

Aranya Kanda Sarga 48 Meaning In Telugu PDF

“ఓ సీతా! నా గురించి నీకు పూర్తిగా తెలియదు. నేను దశకంఠుడను. నేను కుబేరునికి తమ్ముడిని. నా పేరు రావణుడు. మృత్యువుకు భయపడి మానవులు ఎలా పారిపోతారో అలాగా నన్ను చూచి దేవతలు, గంధర్వులు, దానవులు భయంతో పారిపోతారు. నేను నా సోదరుడు కుబేరునితో యుద్ధమే చేసి జయించాను. నాకు భయపడి కుబేరుడు సకల భోగములతో తులతూగుతున్న తన నగరమును విడిచి కైలాసంలో తలదాచు కొన్నాడు. నేను కుబేరుని జయించి అతని పుష్పక విమానమును అపహరించాను. దాని మీద నేను ఆకాశంలో విహరిస్తుంటాను.

నాకు కోపం వచ్చింది అని తెలిసిన మరుక్షణం దేవతలు దేవేంద్రునితో సహా పారిపోతారు. నేను ఉన్నచోట వాయువు నెమ్మదిగా వీస్తాడు. సూర్యుడు తన కిరణముల తీవ్రతను తగ్గించుకుంటాడు. నేను ఉన్నచోట చెట్టుకూడా తమ ఆకులను కదల్చలేవు. నదులు ప్రవహించ లేవు. నేను ఈ ప్రకృతినంతా శాసిస్తాను.

సముద్రము మధ్యలో ఉన్న నా లంకానగరము సకల భోగములలో దేవేంద్రుని అమరావతిని తలదన్నుతుంది. లంకా నగరం బంగారు ప్రాకారాలు, బంగారు మేడలు మణితోరణాలతో నిండి ఉంటుంది. నా లంకా నగరము ప్రశస్తమైన ఏనుగులు, గుర్రములతో నిండి ఉంటుంది. ఎల్లప్పుడూ మంగళ వాద్యములు మ్రోగుతూ ఉంటాయి. నువ్వు నాతో కలిసి లంకా నగరంలో అడుగుపెడితే నీ రాముని, నీ వాళ్లను అందరినీ మరిచి పోతావు. భోగాలలో మునిగితేలుతావు. ఆ రాచ భోగాలలో మునిగిన నీకు సామాన్యమానవుడైన రాముడు ఎన్నటికీ గుర్తుకురాడు.

నీకు తెలుసో లేదో. అసలు దశరథుడు రాముడికి రాజ్యం ఇవ్వకుండా అడవులకు ఎందుకు పంపాడంటావు. రాముడంటే అతని తండ్రి దశరథునికి ఇష్టం లేదు. అందుకే తన ప్రియపుత్రుడు భరతునికి రాజ్యం ఇచ్చాడు. నీ భర్త రాముడు రాజ్యభ్రష్టుడు. తెలివితక్కువవాడు. పైగా తాపస వృత్తిలో ఉన్నాడు. అటువంటి మొగుడి పక్కన ఉన్నంత కాలమూ నీవు ఈ జన్మలో అయోధ్యకు రాణివి కాలేవు. నువ్వు ఊ అంటే లంకా రాజ్యానికి రాణివి అవుతావు.

ఇంక నేనంటావా ఈ లోకంలో ఉన్న రాక్షసులందరికీ రాజును. పైగా నువ్వు అంటే కామంతో పడిచస్తున్నాను. నేనే నిన్నుకోరి లంకనుండి నీ వద్దకు వచ్చాను. కాబట్టి నన్ను కాదనకు. నన్ను కాదంటే ఇంతటి అదృష్టాన్ని కాలదన్నుకున్నానే అని జీవితమంతా పశ్చాత్తాపంతో కుమిలిపోతావు. యుద్ధంలో రాముడు నా కాలి గోరు కూడా కదపలేడు. నీ అదృష్టం కొద్దీ నీవు నా కంటపడ్డావు. నాతోరా! నిన్ను సుఖాలలో ముంచెత్తుతాను. “అని సీతను ప్రలోభపెట్టాడు రావణుడు.

రావణుని మాటలు విన్న సీత కోపంతో ఊగిపోతున్న నాగ కన్య మాదిరి బుసలు కొట్టింది.

“ఓరి రాక్షసా! దుర్బుద్ధివి. ఇంద్రియ లోలుడివి. రావణా! నీవు నీ వాళ్లతో సహా సర్వనాశనం అయిపోతావు. నీ లంకా రాజ్యము సముద్రంలో కలిసిపోతుంది. ఇంద్రుని వద్దనుండి శచీదేవిని బలాత్కారంగా తీసుకొని పోయి జీవిస్తావేమోగానీ, రాముని వద్దనుండి నన్ను అపహరించి క్షణకాలము కూడా నీవు జీవించలేవు. నువ్వు అమృతము తాగినా నీకు రాముని చేతిలో చావు తప్పదు.” అని పరుషంగా పలికింది సీత.

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