Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by R. Frost

Dettagli: Categoria: Letteratura 3^ anno; Visite: 921

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

BY ROBERT FROST

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

---------------------------------

Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” from The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright 1923, © 1969 by Henry Holt and Company, Inc., renewed 1951, by Robert Frost. Reprinted with the permission of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Source: Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays (Library of America, 1995)

The Wife of Baths' Tale (summary)

Dettagli: Categoria: Letteratura 3^ anno; Visite: 1805

Summary of the Wife of Bath’s Tale

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/c/the-canterbury-tales/summary-and-analysis/the-wife-of-baths-prologue-and-tale

The Wife of Bath’s tale reiterates her belief (well-expressed in the Prologue) that a happy match is one in which the wife has control.

A lusty young knight in King Arthur's court rapes a beautiful young maiden. The people are repulsed by the knight's behavior and demand justice. Although the law demands that the knight be beheaded, the queen and ladies of the court beg to be allowed to determine the knight's fate. The queen then gives the knight a year to discover what women most desire.

The year passes quickly. As the knight rides dejectedly back to the court knowing that he will lose his life, he suddenly sees 24 young maidens dancing and singing. As he approaches them, the maidens disappear, and the only living creature is a foul old woman, who approaches him and asks what he seeks. The knight explains his quest, and the old woman promises him the right answer if he will do what she demands for saving his life. The knight agrees. When the queen bids the knight to speak, he responds correctly that women most desire sovereignty over their husbands.

Having supplied him with the right answer, the old crone demands that she be his wife and his love. The knight, in agony, agrees. On their wedding night, the knight pays no attention to the foul woman next to him. When she questions him, he confesses that her age, ugliness, and low breeding are repulsive to him. The old hag reminds him that true gentility is not a matter of appearances but of virtue. She tells him that her looks can be viewed as an asset. If she were beautiful, many men would be after her; in her present state, however, he can be assured that he has a virtuous wife. She offers him a choice: an old ugly hag such as she, but still a loyal, true, and virtuous wife, or a beautiful woman with whom he must take his chances. The knight says the choice is hers. And because she has "won the mastery," she tells him, "'Kiss me . . . and you shall find me both . . . fair and faithful as a wife." Indeed, she had become a lovely young woman, and they lived happily ever after.

Attachments:
The Wife of Baths' Tale	[A summary]	141 kB

Everyman

Dettagli: Categoria: Letteratura 3^ anno; Visite: 1248

Everyman

The play begins with God looking down from his heavens on Everyman. He sends Death with a message for Everyman asking him to prepare an account of how his life on earth has been spent.

Everyman, understandably, does not wish to leave life on earth. He says that he is not ready and first offers Death money to spare him. When he refuses, Everyman looks for someone to accompany him.

Good Deeds and Knowledge, who advise him also to take Discretion, Strength and Beauty and, as

counsellors, his Five Senses, all accompany him to the grave. Everyman receives the Last Sacrament and sets out on his journey with these companions. But when he actually reaches the grave, Beauty leaves him, followed by Strength and the others. Only Knowledge and Good Deeds remain by his side. Good Deeds accompanies him to the heavenly realm to plead his cause before his Maker, and Knowledge, remaining behind, hears the joyful songs of the angels.

Everyman is an allegorical religious drama, perhaps of Dutch origin, which derives from oral tradition and dates from around the end of the 15th century. In Everyman the characters represent universal ideas and qualities. Everyman (a symbol of humanity in general) is called by Death to appear before God and asks for the support of his ‘friends’. All have allegorical names and are personifications of various virtues and aspects of human life, including Fellowship, Beauty, Goods and Good Deeds. Yet although Everyman is supposed to represent humanity in general, his situation is that of a particular class of people. He is a city dweller whose life seems to revolve around worldly pursuits such as making money and having a good time. As a morality tale, the play revolves around the Biblical notion that ‘all is vanity’, that we cannot take any of life’s comforts with us when we die. Within the Christian framework of the play, only our Good Deeds can save us from perdition.

In the following extract we see Everyman trying to convince his Worldly Goods (material possessions and money) to accompany him on his last journey. (see pdf file)