BAT

DAVID HERBERT

At evening, sitting on this terrace, 

When the sun from the west, beyond Pisa, beyond the mountains of Carrara 

Departs, and the world is taken by surprise ... 

When the tired flower of Florence is in gloom beneath the glowing 

Brown hills surrounding ... 

When under the arches of the Ponte Vecchio 

A green light enters against stream, flush from the west, 

Against the current of obscure Arno ... 

Look up, and you see things flying 

Between the day and the night; 

Swallows with spools of dark thread sewing the shadows together. 

A circle swoop, and a quick parabola under the bridge arches 

Where light pushes through; 

A sudden turning upon itself of a thing in the air. 

A dip to the water. 

And you think: 

'The swallows are flying so late!' 

Swallows? 

Dark air-life looping 

Yet missing the pure loop ... 

A twitch, a twitter, an elastic shudder in flight 

And serrated wings against the sky, 

Like a glove, a black glove thrown up at the light, 

And falling back. 

Never swallows! 

Bats! 

The swallows are gone. 

At a wavering instant the swallows gave way to bats 

By the Ponte Vecchio ... 

Changing guard. 

Bats, and an uneasy creeping in one's scalp 

As the bats swoop overhead! 

Flying madly. 

Pipistrello! 

Black piper on an infinitesimal pipe. 

Little lumps that fly in air and have voices indefinite, wildly vindictive; 

Wings like bits of umbrella. 

Bats! 

Creatures that hang themselves up like an old rag, to sleep; 

And disgustingly upside down. 

Hanging upside down like rows of disgusting old rags 

And grinning in their sleep. 

Bats! 

Not for me! 

    ABOUT THE POET

David Herbert Lawrence was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England in 1885. He was a novelist, 

Short-story writer, Poet and essayist.  His first published works were poems in 1909. His poetry on evocations of the natural world have influence on many poets. Lawrence died in 1930.

SUBJECT MATTER

“Bat” is a Lyric poem. The poem reveals the poet's deep aversion towards bat,  a nocturnal creature ( a bird that sees only in the night but blind during the day). Bat is called ‘Pipistrello' in Italy meaning little piper. Bat is jot the only mammal or bird that flies in the night. Swallows also fly in the night. A swallow is a small long-winged songbird noted for swift graceful flight and the regularity of its migrations. In his careful observation of the bat, the poet-speaker also observes swallows under the bridge arches. Even though the poet knows very well that swallows also fly late in the night, his awful attention does not direct to swallows but to bat as a result of his hatred and disdain towards bat. Although the poet finds bat disgusting and repulsive, bat is highly valued in China. In China, bat is a symbol of joy and good luck. It is a highly valued edible meat in China.

LINE ANALYSIS OF THE POEM

The poem begins by giving the readers a clue on the setting of the poem. The time is evening. The physical setting is Italy. Some ancient cities like Pisa,  Florence,  Mountains of Carrara,  Ponte Vecchio and River Arno all portray the setting as Italy. 

The poet, looking towards the Ponte Vecchio,  an old bridge built in arches over the Arno River in Florence,  experiences tranquil atmosphere. The poet admires the entire beauty of natures which are radiating from mountains of Carrara down to Ponte Vecchio and to the Rover Arno. Suddenly, he sees swallows as he looks up. Those creatures are swallows with spools of dark thread sewing the shadows .

Swallows are small birds with pointed wings and forked tail. The birds hover up and down the bridge. They move in any direction they see light under the bridge. The sight seems pleasing to the poet as they do not hover in the gross darkness unlike bat.

There is a huge contrast between swallows and bats. While swallow is endearing, bat is irritating. In these lines the poet expresses open hatred towards bats. Swallows fly at sunset but bats take deep pleasure in thick darkness. The poet bitterly expresses disdain against bats.

The poet continues with his contempt against bats. The poet says the swallows gave way for the bats by the Ponte Vecchio. The poet uses ‘changing guard’ a military term to describe how this birds change operation. In his further disdainful dispositions for bats, the poet reveals how the bat ‘swoop overhead madly‘. To swoop means to carry out a sudden raid. 

The poet describes bats using more harsh and unpleasant words. Bats are called Pipistrello in Italy. As tiny as bats are, they are expressing unreasonable desire for revenge. All about bat is disgusting to the poet. Bats ooze their disgusting voices from an infinitesimal pipe.

The poet describes hats with so many vilifying imageries. They hang themselves up like an old rag,  to sleep’ and disgustingly upside down. 

While bat us highly disgusting to the poet, it is warmly revered and widely accepted in China. Chinese people consume bat with great relish. Apart from serving as edible meat in China, it is a symbol of good luck and happiness. 

Notwithstanding that bat is highly welcomed in China,  the poet still maintain his resolute stance on detesting bat.

THEMES 

Beauty of Nature: The poet expresses the brimful beauty of nature. These include the sun that comes beyond Pisa, the Mountains of Carrara, the flower of Florence and the landscape of Pints Vecchio. All these geographical beauties constitute sources of joy, gaiety and fulfilment in the poet. The poet becomes highly elated as he sits on the terrace to watch and admire these beauties of nature. 

Realties of Human Consciousness: The way the poet sees bat reflects the realities of human consciousness. The bat evokes a sense of sadness and bitterness in the poet. The mere sight and thought of the bat spoils the poet’s happy mood. The bat represents the pain that humans encounter in the world.   At end, the poet exclaims, ‘Not for me’. This shows his level of     consciousness. A sudden shift in the light of the swallows that are gone and replaced with the pain and fear at the grinning of the bats.

Varieties of Human Choices: Bat is a source of bitterness and concern to the poet. While the poet Finds bat disgusting,  some other people- like the Chinese- hold bat at the highest esteem and consume it with relish. To the poet, bat is ‘wildly vindictive’ ‘Black piper on an infinitesimal pipe’ ‘disgusting old rags’ but on the contrary, bat is a symbol of happiness in China. This shows that shows vary among individuals and cultures. 

POETIC DEVICES FROM THE POEM

1. Language: The poem is written in simple prose-like form. It employs ellipsis to show that the poem is a personal emotional opinion of the poet. Language: Lawrence used violent words or expression to express his hatred for bats. Words like ‘’flying madly,’’ ‘’voices indefinite, ’’wildly vindictive,’’ ‘’old rags,’’ ‘’disgusting,’’ ‘’Black Piper.’’ The use of ‘’black’’ here connotes ‘’devil’’ or ‘’evil.’’ ‘’Disgusting’’ means something bad, unfair, inappropriate that you feel annoyed and angry.

2. Tone: The poet makes use of harsh and disdainful tone that reveals his strong hatred for bat.

4. Enjambment: Each line has its meaning flow into another. 

5. Allusion: It is making reference to something which is already known by a reader or listener. ‘’Ponte Vecchio’’ is a medieval stoned-a segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy. Another way is ‘’Mountain Carrara’’—Carrara marble is a type of white or blue-grey marble of high quality, popular for use in sculpture and building decoration.

6. Simile: This is when two things that share same features but are from different nature are compared. The poet compared the ugly appearance of bats with an umbrella. ‘’Wings like bits of umbrella.’’ Others are ‘’creatures that hang themselves up like an old rag’’, ‘’like a glove, a black glove thrown up at night.’’ The descriptions of bats indicated the poet’s hatred for the creature.

7. Personification: It is when inanimate objects are given human attributes. ‘’When the tired flower of Florence.’’ Line 5. Flowers can never be tired like human beings. Bats behave like an insane person in being ‘’flying madly’’ line 33. Swallows behave like tailors when they are ‘’sewing the shadows together’’ line 11.

8. Alliteration: The repetition of same sounds was employed in this poem. ‘’When the tired flower of Florence (f,f) line 4. ‘’ A twitch a twitter’’ line 21 (t, t) . ‘’little lumps that fly (L, L)

9. Rhetorical Questions: Questions that demand no answers. ‘’Swallows?, ‘’Never Swallows! Bats!’’ ‘’Bats. Not for me!’’ All these were used to emphasize the poet’s hatred for bats.

10. Repetition: It is when an expression or a word is used more than one tome. Words like ‘’upside down’’, ‘’old rags’’ and ‘’disgusting’’ shows the poet’s strong hatred for bats. Other repeated words are ‘’glove’’, ‘’swallows’’ and ‘’Bats’’.

11. Antithesis: It is the use of two contrasting words, phrases or sentences. Bats are the symbol of happiness and good fortune in China but the poet sees bats as disgusting and ill-omen creatures.

12. Metaphor: It is the direct comparison of two things that share same qualities but different nature. The poet compared bats: ‘’And serrated wings against the sky’’ line 22, ‘’Black Piper’’ line 35. ‘’Little lumps that fly in air’’ line 36. These comparisons are based on his hatred towards bats.

13. Imagery: The creation of mental picture in reader’s mind. We could see the image of the way bats fly, sleep upside down, their wings like a wretched umbrella.

 DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

ABOUT THE POET

A poem Dylan Thomas dedicated to his father, David John Thomas,  a militant man who had been strong in his youth, but who weakened with age and by his eighties had become blind. Dylan Thomas finished this poem, a villanelle, in 1951 and sent it off to an editor friend of a magazine, together with a note which read: “The only person I cant show the little enclosed poem to is, of course, my father, who doesn’t know he's dying.

He also remarked to his friend,  American Robert J. Gibson, that the spark for the poem was his father's approaching blindness. Thomas's father was to pass away a year later and the poet himself succumbed to illness and died in 1953. The poem urges older man not to give up and yield to the final “night” of death. It is one of the most famous Villanelles in the English language. The rigid for; two end rhymes,  a pattern of repeating lines and five three-lines stanzas with a four-line stanza at the end suggests the poet's attempts to control his passionate emotions. It was first published in 1951,  two years before the poet's own death at age 39.

SUBJECT MATTER

The poem is a son's plea to a dying father. His purpose is to show his father that all men face the same end, but they fight for life, nonetheless. The poet portrays the state of the old men when they have got old and are approaching death. He joins them to resist death as strongly as they can. In fact,  they should only leave this world kicking and screaming,  furious that they have to die at all. At the end of the poem, the reader is given a hint that the poet-speaker has a personal stake in this issue: his own father dying.

LINE ANALYSIS OF THE POEM 

     Wise men are the first group that Thomas describes. The first line in the stanza, “Though wise men at their end know dark is right,” suggests that they know that death is a natural part of life and they are wise enough to know they should accept it. However, the next line reasons that they fight against it because they feel they have not gained nearly enough repute or notoriety. “Because their words had forked no lighting” This is Thomas’ way of saying that they want to hold on to life to be able to leave their mark, thereby sustaining their memory in history as great scholars or philosophers.

     Thomas moves forward and describes the next group as good men. They reflect on their lives as the end approaches. “Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright,”  This line can be broken down into two parts. First’ good men are few now, as it says “the last wave by,” perhaps this is emphasis on the fact that Thomas believes his father to be a good man and that the world can still use him. Second, the line “crying how bright,” refers to men telling their stories in a limelight. They self-proclaim their works as good, but as Thomas goes on into the next line “their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,” it describes men knowing that their deeds will not be remembered regardless of their seemingly significant achievements. Green bay refers to an eternal sea, which marks their place in history. After reflecting on the past, they decide that they want to live if for nothing more than to leave their names written down in history.

     Wild men, however as the next group is revealed, have learned too late that they are mortal. They spent their lives in action and only realize as time has caught up with them that this is the end. “Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,” exaggerates their experiences and how they have wasted away their days chasing what they could not catch. Even more so “caught and sang the sun,” refers to how these wild men lived. They were daredevils who faced peril with blissful ignorance. They wasted away their lives on adventures and excitements. The next line, “And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,” refers to the realism of their own mortality. They grieve because they have caused much grief living their lives in folly. Even though the end is approaching, they will not give in because they want more time to hold on to the adventure of their youth and perhaps right a few wrongs that they have done.

    Grave men, are the last group of men Thomas describes. “Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight,” in this line his use of grave men has almost a double meaning, referring to men who are saddened as well as being physically near death. They feel the strains of a long life, and they know they are physically decaying. Their eyes are failing along with the rest of their body, however there is still a passion burning within their eyes for an existence, even if it is a frail state. “Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,”  is an expression that represent man’s struggle for survival. He is possibly offering that even in this frail state that his father could be happy living longer.

     Finally, in the last stanza the intent is presented, Thomas is showing that all men no matter their experiences or situations fight for more time. He urges his father to do the same. “Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray,” (17) describes his pain and passion that are causing him to beg his father not to die. Thomas is watching his father fade and is begging for his father no to give in. It appears that his father has either peacefully surrendered himself, or rather that he has resigned himself to his fate.

THEMES IN THE POEM

Anger: The poet advises its listener to rage against dying. By giving us the models of wise men, good men, wild men and grave men,  the poet is of the view that me who are vigorously pursuing something but meet frustrations and disappointments in their lives, would resort to anger in their lives. Although it could be said that these are admirable types of men, and that if they all reach the same conclusion having travelled there on different roads then it must be the correct one, they still do not achieve any comfort or satisfaction from raging; that is, not going gentle. The poem is expressed as advice to choose rage but these men do not find their rage by choice. Anger is therefore considered to be better than sadness in the poem.

Mortality and Transience: The poem laments the certainty or inevitability of death, encouraging the aged to rebel against their fate. The poem suggests that we should leave this world the way we came in – kicking and screaming., holding on to life for all we're worth. The thought of transience causes the speaker a lot of anxiety. It worries him that there are things people might have been able to do in the world if only they had been here longer but unfortunately, life is brief. It bothers him that the sun travels so quickly across the sky, making human beings quickly draw close to their graves. But even though transience is disturbing, it also creates opportunities for reflections.

Identity: The poem is an address to the poet's father. This helps the reader easily understand the poet's undertones. The angry attitude the poet asks the father is not necessarily suggested for all people,  but instead an emotional reaction to the imminent death of a figure. Thomas uses the formalized villanelle style to pass a message, not just about death but about standing by or identifying with a loved one when they face death. The poem reveals a strong emotional affinity and identity.

Morality: Though death is inevitable, the poet tells the listener to do something substantial, something grandiose before death snuffs out life. Throughout the poem, life is associated with passion, zeal and adventure. It is also associated with the pursuit of one’s potential and self-actualisation. Thomas’s urges the “wise men” and the good men” to resist death because they haven’t achieved anything significant to be remembered by. His “wild men” had lived passionately but had been ignorant of their own mortality all this while. 

Old age: Despite the inexorable nature of death, if a man lives his life with unwavering passion and zeal, and doesn’t submit to the frailties of old age, he can escape the regrets and tragedies that accompany death. In order to die with dignity, man must not let the limitations of old age hamper his intensity of life. 

POETIC DEVICES

Alliteration: The following underlined words are the examples of alliteration that feature in the poem.

Do not go gentle into that good night

Rage, rage against the dying of the light

..blinding sight/ Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay

When two or more words which begin with the same sound, are placed adjacent or close to each other in a text, it is called as alliteration.  Alliteration focuses readers’ attention on a particular section of text. Alliterative sounds create rhythm and mood and can have particular connotations.

Metaphor: In the entire poem, “night”, “dying of the light” and “close of day” has been used as metaphors for death. This could be because, while we are energetic and bursting with life at the beginning of the day, as the night closes in on us, we slowly lose the zeal to accomplish and wish to fade in and rest. Similarly, as man moves over from the period of youth to old age, he loses his vigour and ardour for life.

“Forked no lightning” literally refers to splitting a thunderbolt. This has been used as a metaphor for describing extraordinary tasks or accomplishments of men. The impact that the ideas of men has on the rest of the world has been referred to here.

Personification: “Frail deeds might have danced” is a phrase where deeds of men are given the human ability to dance, hence personified. The deeds have been given the attribute of a human being to bring in a more realistic or live image.

Simile: ‘Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay’ is an example of fine simile in the poem, ‘Do Not Go Gentle In to the Good Night’. Similes make descriptions vivid by comparing their subjects with known events or things. Effective similes help readers visualize what is being described. Hence, here blind eyes, which actually cannot see, are given the ability to blaze and shine by comparing them to meteors, which are incandescent bodies of mater from outer space.

Oxymoron: In the 5th stanza, “blinding sight” is an oxymoron. Also, in the final stanza, “Curse, bless me now..” can be termed as an oxymoron. Oxymoron is a figure of speech that juxtaposes images that appear to be contradictory. By combining two words or terms together that are inherently contradictory, the use of an effective oxymoron can create a phrase with lasting resonance and a more immediately evocative sensibility.

Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds to create an internal rhyming within phrases or sentences, Assonance is a rhyme, the identity of which depends on vowel sounds.

First stanza: Age, rave, day

Fifth stanza: Blaze, gay, rage

Repetition: there is a repetition of a certain sentence for the sake of emphasis “Do Not Go Gentle In to That Good Night” and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” have been repeated four times throughout the poem to emphasize on the message of not accepting death submissively and fighting against it with fiery passion.

Parallelism: The poet draws a parallel between four kinds of men; wise men, good men, wild men and grave men. The objective of this is to say that though humans can be of different varied kinds, but at the end of the day, they all can and must fight against death and accomplish something indelible in their life

Imagery: The imagery that occurs throughout the poem is closing of day and the onset of night. The repeated usage of this image works to symbolise death, or the end. The “good night” is death, with a deliberate pun on saying good night and the idea that death is the right or “good” thing at the end of life. Death is characterised as “close of day”. The mention of words forking no lightning produces an image of a bizarre or extraordinary phenomenon occurring because of the deeds of these men. “Frail deeds might have danced in a green bay” projects a picture of life and vitality as green in the sea is symbolic of sea weed, plants and algae, hence, life. The mention of meteors in the 5th stanza produces an image of something that passes very quickly, yet leaves a blazing trail behind and a lasting effect in the atmosphere.

  “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is a villanelle. Villanelles have nineteen lines divided into five three-line stanzas and a sixth stanza with four lines. In English, villanelles tend to be written in the common metrical pattern called iambic pentameter, which means ten syllables per line, with every other syllable stressed, starting with the second syllable. The rhyme scheme is ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA, so there are only two rhymes that end all the lines. In addition, the first line and third line, the refrains, are repeated four times each – the first line appears at the end of stanzas 2 and 4 and as the second-to-last line in stanza 6. The poem’s third line appears again at the end of stanzas 3, 5, and 6.

 BLACK WOMAN
("femme noire")

Leopold Sedar Senghor 

Clothed with your colour which is life,

with your form which is beauty!

In your shadow I have grown up; the

gentleness of your hands was laid over my eyes.

And now, high up on the sun-baked

pass, at the heart of summer, at the heart of noon,

I come upon you, my Promised Land,

And your beauty strikes me to the heart

like the flash of an eagle.

Naked woman, dark woman

Firm-fleshed ripe fruit, sombre raptures

of black wine, mouth making lyrical my mouth

Savannah stretching to clear horizons,

savannah shuddering beneath the East Wind's

eager caresses

Carved tom-tom, taut tom-tom, muttering

under the Conqueror's fingers

Your solemn contralto voice is the

spiritual song of the Beloved.

Naked woman, dark woman

Oil that no breath ruffles, calm oil on the

athlete's flanks, on the flanks of the Princes of Mali

Gazelle limbed in Paradise, pearls are stars on the

night of your skin

Delights of the mind, the glinting of red

gold against your watered skin

Under the shadow of your hair, my care

is lightened by the neighbouring suns of your eyes.

Naked woman, black woman,

I sing your beauty that passes, the form

that I fix in the Eternal,

Before jealous fate turn you to ashes to

feed the roots of life

ABOUT THE POET

Leopold Senghor is the greatest of the Francophone African poets . He was born in Senegal, in 1906, and schooled both in Dakar and in Paris, France. He was the first West African to graduate from the Sorbonne (a part of the University of Paris, founded in 1253 that contains the faculties of science and literature) and teach in a French university. He is acclaimed as the father of Negritude (from Negro), a philosophy that affirms the black identity and touts the black man’s values as something to celebrate and be proud of. His poetry shows it in abundance.

Leopold Senghor was a catholic who planned to become a priest, but later became a statesman. He fought with the French in the Second World War and became a prisoner of war in then Nazi Germany. He became the Deputy for Senegal in the French Constituent Assembly, President of the Council of the Republic and Counselling Minister at the office of the President of the French Community. In 1960, he became the President of the Federal Republic of Mali and later in the same year, the President of an Independent Republic of Senegal. He was president of Senegal  until 1980.

BACKGROUND TO THE POEM

The poem “Black Woman” was written by Leopold Senghor and published in “Chants d’Ombre” in 1945. It was initially written in French as “Femme Noir” and then translated to English. Senghor was a Senegalese poet who was instrumental in starting the emotional, intellectual and political and literary movement called “negritude” along with other writers of African origin- like Aime Cesaire- in Paris. This movement was born as a result of Senghor going to Part. The negritude movement is essentially focused on making the value of the African people manifest. Negritude philosophy believed that despite the diversity and plurality of the African culture, and the African Diasporas, African people all over the world still had shared experiences of racial brutality and oppression. Hence, the negritude writers essentially tried to convey through their works, the pride they felt in being African and the pride they felt in African culture itself.

In the poem “Black Woman”, Senghor reinforces the ideas of negritude. He personifies Africa- the nation- as an African woman. He praises her and compliments her, comparing her to a goddess. Throughout the poem, Senghor equates the African woman to everything beautiful and graceful. For instance, in the last stanza, he compares her skin to the well oiled, beautiful skin of an athlete, or the Princes of Mali. He goes on to say that the African woman is as elegant and graceful as a gazelle. Senghor ends his poem on a philosophical note by saying that he will keep alive the African woman’s beauty eternally in his poetry.

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE POEM 

“Black woman is an ode or eulogy to a black woman,  sister or daughter and mist importantly Africa and the poet’s motherland,  Senegal which could be love and be loved just like a woman,  mother or a lover.  The meaning of this poem revolves around Senghor’s contemplation, description and glorification of the black woman.  In the poem “Black Woman”,  Senghor reinforces the idea of negritude. The poet treats the traditional themes of love, death, solitude,  suffering, the beauty of nature,  the beauty of woman and longing for his homeland. In this poem,  Senghor reaffirms his committed love for Africa,  his homeland,  his mother country by personifying Africa as every woman he loves.  He praises the African culture by finding beauty in the colour of the African skin, which had been the main cause for brutality and discrimination during the British rule in Africa. In this poem, he showers praises on the “black woman” thus implying the greatness of the African culture and the African people. He takes immense pride in being African- and this itself is the main idea behind the negritude. 

LINE ANALYSIS OF THE POEM [STRUCTURE]

In the first stanza, the poet emphasizes the thematic statement that the colour of the natural black woman itself is life and her form is beauty. Senghor has grown up under her shadow and his spirit has been nourished by her. Now that he has grown up and matured, he returns to her as if he were coming upon the promised land. He sees her through a mountain pass at noon in the midst of summer, and her beautiful form goes to his heart directly.

In the second stanza, she is seen as a lover, a woman whose flesh is like that of a ripened fruit. The poet compares her to the infinite savanna that shudders beneath the caresses of the east wind. She is like a tight, well-sculpted drum that resounds under the fingers of a valiant  conqueror; a woman whose resonant  contralto voice becomes the spiritual anthem of the loved one.

In the third stanza, she becomes almost a goddess, with her skin as smooth as the oiled skin of an athlete or a prince. She is like an elegant gazelle adorned with heavenly ornaments.

In the final stanza, Senghor concludes philosophically that he is perpetuating her transient beauty permanently in his poetry. His language thus reveals the black woman as an embodiment of sensuality and as a place for comfort and warmth for men.   He is  aware that nothing is bound to endure forever and so soon, the ‘black woman’ may have to make way and give up all her qualities in order for there to be a new beginning as expressed in, “…Before jealous fate turn you to ashes to

feed the roots of life”

THEMES IN THE POEM

1. The beauty of the African woman

In this poem, Senghor celebrates the essence of womanhood, especially black womanhood. When he writes of Africa in his poetry,  it is frequently in terns of a woman.  The black woman of this poem is more than an individual person; she is also the progenitor of his race and as a result,  a symbol of Africa itself and an embodiment of African heritage. He uses her very colour as part of his praise and seems to abstract her characteristics into an idea of a black woman in order to praise her. The poet portrays black woman as an embodiment of sensuality and as a place to find comfort and warmth. 

2. The beauty of Africa

The poem explores the riches and splendour of African beauty. He passionately likes and cherishes his indigenous African background.  Africa's tropical settings,  the beauty and structural configurations of its land and people greatly fascinated his mental and physical well-being and soul.  He celebrates the beauty of the African topographical settings. The pleasant atmosphere of the African continent is brought vividly before the eyes of the reader 

3. Nostalgia 

This poem was written when Senghor was away from his homeland.  Nostalgia is reflected in the poem as the speaker longs to return to an Africa that was almost unspoiled by  the ways of the western world and that was for him a sort if paradise where all seemed to be in harmony and at peace. In this Africa of his childhood,  the was a sense of life spent in common with family,  his village, clan,  his tribe and even his ancestors.  Leopold Senghor remembers details of his early childhood with great fondness and striking clarity and then wishes to go back to his root. 

POETIC DEVICES

1) Diction: the poet uses choice of words to symbolize the beauty of the black woman. He deliberately uses words like nakedness, black and darkness which are seen as negative attributes to praise the natural beauty of the black woman. The poet is also challenging the African woman to appreciate her natural beauty. And to bleach the dark skin in the name of sophisticated culture of the western world.

mood: the mode of the poem is that of Adoration. The poet adores the awesome beauty of the black woman. He describes everything about the African woman as naturally beautiful. Senghor sees Africa as the black woman he loves to celebrate. He seeks to adore that state of natural beauty before it is taken away by death.

2) Tone: the poet’s tone of the appreciation of natural beauty of the black woman pervades the poem. He praises the African woman not only for her natural smooth dark skin, but also for the way and manner she brings up her children.

3) Ode: the poem is a hymn of praise to the black woman, an African mother, daughter or sister and indeed mother Africa which deserves to be treated like a woman, the poet praise the natural beauty of the African woman, and stresses the need to accord her the rightful place in the society.

4) Metaphor: the figure of speech prominently used in the poem is that of metaphor. The black woman is compared to the promised land, ripe fruit, Savannah, oil and gazelle in lines 4,7,12, and 13.

5) Simile: the literary device is used by the poet in line 5 “your beauty strikes me to the heart like the flash of an eagle, ” the comparism brings to mind the beauty and nobility of an eagle.

6) Repetition: line 1 “naked woman, black woman” and. Line 6 “naked woman, dark woman ” are repeated in lines 11 and 16 respectively to emphasize the natural beauty of the African woman.

7) Symbolism: Senghor uses symbolic words like: the promised land, ripe fruit, Savannah, oil and gazelle to symbolize the natural beauty of the black woman as a person, as well as a symbol of African woman and mother Africa.

8) Apostrophe: it is a literary device that poet employs to address the black woman, the object of praise as though she were physically present with him.

9) Personification: the black woman is figuratively used to personified the African continent and Senghor’s country, Senegal. The poet uses beauty of colour of the African woman skin to personified the rich African culture before western influence and colonization.

10) Imagery: the poet natural imagery to link the Beauty of the black woman to nature, and by the same token to his homeland of Senegal. Natural images like: wind, sun, noon, night, and stars are presented as attributes of the darkness of the African woman’s skin.

11) Alliteration: the poet uses alliteration to buttress the beauty of the black woman in lines 1,2,3,6,7,9 etc.

12) Simile: The following expression portrays a simile: “Your beauty strikes me to the heart like the flash of an eagle

13) Apostrophe: The poet addresses the object of praise ( black woman)  as though she were present.

14) Symbols: several symbolic words are used to evoke emotions,  beauty and perfection.  All the sensual words used in the poem are very symbolic.  They show the fact that the beauty of womanhood is not only situated in her physical attractiveness, but it accommodates other virtuous attributes like loyalty,  faithfulness, obedience to marital and cultural codes. 

15) Form and Structure : The poem is written in four stanzas.  It is written in a free verse,  without regard for metrics pattern or rhyme scheme. Its sentences are long and wordy. While the first stanza presents black woman as  mother,  the last stanza showcases her love and portrays her as the nourisher. 

SUMMARY OF THE COSTLY MISTAKE 
Chinelo Ifezulike

Plot summary

Udoh visits Daniel and they discuss the results of their common Entrance Examination which is yet to be released. Udoh is a bit sceptical but Daniel is optimistic. As Daniel escorts Udoh back, they run into Micheal who tells them that the common Entrance result is out and the Headmaster wants them to come for it on Monday. The result turns out to be very good and they are all happy about it but they are disappointed because they are posted to different secondary schools. Udoh, Uchenna and Daniel are posted to Metropolitan Grammar School, Obosi, Michael is posted to Ogbunike Boys’ High School while Obah is posted to St. Charles Special Science School, Onitsha.

Daniel’s father is happy about the result. He starts and completes the whole registration process in no time. Before Daniel leaves for his school which is boarding, his parents advised him to be good and remember his background. Daniel promises his parents to be good and serious with academics. In school Daniel feels lonely and terrible until he meets Udoh. On their way they are confronted by some senior students. Daniel’s replies anger the senior students but they were quickly appealed to by JSS 2 boys. They later educate Daniel and Udoh on the need to fear and respect the senior students.

Life in secondary school seems quite different from what Daniel and Udoh expected and anticipated. The senior students treat them harshly such that the zeal they had for secondary school while they were in Little Star Nursery and Primary School Obosi, disappeared. When the ill treatment becomes unbearable for the freshers and some junior students, a suggestion is raised among victims to report the whole matter to the school authority. Emmanuel Obadi, a JSS3 student volunteered to champion this course. Several attempts were made and finally, sanity returns to the school through Mr Nwokedi, the House Master for Dele Giwa House. This is after the authority discovers the claims of the junior students to be true.

This is after the authority discovers the claims of the junior students to be true. After this, junior students become safe. 

Sanity fully returns to the school as the principal takes appropriate steps to curtail the excesses of the senior students on the Junior ones. 

All the students become engaged in different club activities in the school. Daniel, Udoh and Uchenna join the social club where students entertain themselves. They pay full attention in class and ask question where necessary. Wilson Okeke finds the three serious academically and join them in studies. Their hard work pays off as Udo comes first, Daniel second while Uchenna and Wilson come fourth and sixth position respectively. 

The good news of Daniel's seriousness spread so fast such that the guidance counselor of the school invites Daniel and his friends to encourage them on the need to continue in their good work. She tells them to continue to he academically serious so they can become great people in the future. Daniel and his friends thank the guidance counselor. Daniel and his friends did not relent in their studies. They perform well in school such they they are chosen to represent the school in an interschool competition and they emerged the winner to the surprise of all. This makes the school to become more popular. Apart from this,  Daniel also takes part in essay competition where he comes out first and receives a gift of #2000. He was really appreciated by the principal for creating a good image of the school. 

Daniel is serious with his studies when Tony cones to distract him. Daniel tries to send him away but unserious Tony refuses to go. Tony tell  Daniel that his cousin, Stephanie is falling in love for him. Daniel considers it a joke and tires to send Tony away but Tony tells him that it is true. Tony hands over a love letter written by Stephanie to Daniel. Daniel reads the letter but angrily asks Tony to leave. 

Later, Daniel explains his encounter with Tony to his friends and they all take turns to advise Daniel on the need to keep away from someone line Tony who is never serious. They gave e an example of Maine Okudo who was intelligent from the start but bad company led him astray and he started performing very poorly until his SSCE result was siezed due to malpractice. He later took to drugs out of frustration and this same drug damaged his brain  and turned him into a madman. 

Meanwhile, Tony does not stop persuading Daniel. He brings different gifts from Stephanie and persuades Daniel to accept them. Eventually, Daniel accepts the gifts and decides to join Tony and his group hoping that he can manage it with education. With Tony and his group, Daniel gives excuses why he cannot study with them. One day, Daniel takes such excuses only to follow Tony to Girls Secondary School just to see Stephanie. Daniel falls in love with Stephanie immediately he sees her. They both express their love for each other. 

As time progress, Daniel continues to give excuses not to study with his friends. Then suddenly, it is time for promotion examination and Daniel realizes that he has not read well enough for it. He panics but Tony assures him of a shortcut to success outside reading. Daniel is pleased to hear this. 

After the examination, Daniel comes out fourth position and not the usual first and this was through cheating in the examination. Daniel's old friends make several attempts to advise him having seen the sudden change in his way of life but Daniel looks down on them and sends them away each time they come close to him. This really surprises his friends how Daniel has changed within such a short period of time. There was a day Daniel follows Tony and his group to a night party and on their way back some armed robbers stops them and beat them up when they are unable to get anything from them. At school, Daniel sustains serious injury when je attempts to jump the fence but this or the robber attack attack down not stop him from going out with Tony and his group. 

As time progresses, Daniel and Stephanie become more and more in love at the detriment of Daniel's academics. When it is time for yet another examination, Tony and his group bribe their ways through. Daniel has to steal his parent money to be able to do the same. However, during the actual examination, Tony is caught cheating and later expelled from school. This makes Daniel to be scared. Victor and Stanley also become scared such they they are unable to continue with the malpractices. They all decided to do a last minute study which they all use to manage to pass the examination. Daniel's performance cones like a shock to many teachers who knew him to be intelligent. They make attempts to find out reasons for his sudden poor performance but Daniel refuses to reveal any information. Daniel refuses to heed to warning and advice coming from his old friends. One day, Daniel follows Tony to a night party if a rich boy who made it South Africa. Soon,  the party becomes violent and dangerous weapons are freely used. Daniel and his friends narrowly escaped the police raiding that follows afterwards. 

As SSCE approaches, the principal addresses the students and warns them against examination malpractices. Later, the principal advises teachers on the same matter and earn them never to make any attempt to assist students in the examination hall as this will have grave consequences. Mr Jideofor and Chimwetalu who always engage in examination malpractices do not take the principal's  warning serious but promise to go ahead and make money by assisting students who are ready to pay for the service. Mr Offia, one of the accomplices joins them to submit #20,000 already given by one of their clients but warns them of the terrible dreams he had in which they were sentence to prison for examination malpractices. The two teachers shun him over such dream. As the three of them continues to discuss, Mr Obaze, Victor's father cones to pay #25,000 for Victor to be assisted in the SSCE. The teachers collect the sum without hesitation and promise to do their parts. 

On Daniels part, he manages to steal #14,000 from his parents and the balance of #6,000 is jointly supplied by Victor and his friends to show their love and support for him. 

As the examination begins, the teachers go to assist the students but Daniel is caught and taken away. The police is secretly invited to help in the monitoring of the examination. The unsuspecting teachers continue to help students in the examination hall until they are eventually spotted and arrested by the police. The teachers beg for mercy but they are handcuffed and taken to the police station. 

A staff meeting is held after the examination and the principal expresses his displeasure  of the event. The SSCE result for that year turns out to be very poor while many are canceled. Daniel’s result and his friends are cancelled. Daniel decides to register for GCE having seen all his old friends gaining admission into higher institutions but the results always turn out very bad. Having made several attempts without success, he decides to start a business. However, his low level of education affects the business and it crumbles in no time. His attempt to get a job do not pay off because of his low level of education so he decided to settle for a bus conductor. 

One day at the park, Daniel accidentally runs into Uchenna, his old friend at school. Uchenna is already a graduate and owns a car. Daniel is surprised and ashamed to see him. Uchenna ask after Daniel's friends and all tje stories about them were negative. He tells Uchenna how Victor does from armed robbery and his other groups all ended badly. Uchenna tells Daniel about Udoh and Wilson who are both doing very well. Daniel regrets his past life and begins to cry. Uchenna hands him his card so that they can see later at his office. 

Daniel visits Uchenna at his office and laments even more when he sees Uchenna's big company. He regret that he didn’t face his studies when he should but okayed with his life forgetting that one cannot eat his cake and have it. Uchenna encourages him to go back to school. Daniel feels terrible at the suggestion but Uchenna tells him the brief story of an eighty year old man who went to the University when some of his mate were already in the grave. 

THEMES

1. Bad Company Corrupts Good Manners: Daniel is presented as a serious minded person. He associates with people that are equally serious and study always. He is spoken well off by fellow students,  teachers and principal. He made the school proud when he represents the school in outside competition ob different occasions. His decision to follow Tony turns out to be the  biggest mistake of how s life because because that is the main reason of his downfall. Daniel is unable to stand his grounds and decides to go Tony's way. This detaches Daniel from his studies and from his good friends and before long, he has started acting up badly and looking for shortcut to success just like Tony and his group usually do. Tony so much influences Daniel that he starts to steal from his parents to pay for answers in examination.

2. Good Parental care versus Irresponsible Parenting: Daniel’s parents are examples of the good parents. When Daniel first gains admission into the Secondary school, they advise him to shin bad friends and gangs unlike Mr Obaze who bribes some corrupt teachers for his child to pass with flying colours at all cost. 

3. Societal Decadence: Mr Jideofor, Mr Offia and Mr Chiwetalu are engaged in examination malpractices. They are teachers that are supposed to mould future leaders but they simply do is to collect money from students during examination. These teachers bring shame to the teaching profession. Mr Nwokedi, Mr Okonkwo, Mrs Joy Like and so on are presented as responsible and principled teachers who will  not condone any undisciplined behaviour. 

4. Wrong Decision Versus Good Decision: Daniel's wrong decision to be negatively influenced by Tony has ruined his life. Uchenna, Udoh and Wilson have determined to maintain good morals and focus on their studies. Their good decisions have yielded positive fruits in life. They are all fulfilled in their various life endeavours. 

5. Importance of Being Patient: Daniel is jot patient enough to wait for the right time before going into a relationship. He allows himself to be deceived into thinking that he is in love with Stephanie when he is too young for a relationship. He forgets that his priority should he his studies and not go into an unfruitful and useless relationship in the name of love. Daniel is not patient like other friends. He is so much in hurry to enjoy life. He is enticed by the type of life style Tony and his group are living and so want to get a feel of it at the detriment of his studies. Uchenna and others are patient to wait and when the time is right, they enjoyed life in their respective occupation. 

CHARACTERIZATION 

Daniel: He is the protagonist in the story. He is from a good family and behaves as such initially. Daniel allows Tony and Stephanie into his life. Daniel follows Tony and Stephanie and forgets the reason he is into Metropolitan Grammar School. He falls in love with Stephanie while he follows Tony to Night parties. He eventually ends up a bus conductor while his old friends from the same primary school excelled. By the time he realizes his mistakes, it was too late. 

Udoh, Uchenna and Wilson: They are all Daniel’s friends at Metropolitan Grammar school. They started off together with Daniel as serious minded students. They tried their best when they notice the change if attitude in Daniel, they tried their best to advise him but he refuses to yield. Udo, Uchenna and Wilson eventually made it in life but Daniel did not. 

Tony: He is the  unserious student who lures Daniel into becoming unserious in life. Tony is lazy academically and will rather spend his time in parties. He depends solely on malpractices to pass his examination. He makes Daniel believe that there is a shortcut to pass examination other than reading hard. He is Stephanie's cousin and he introduces Daniel to Stephanie and makes him start a love relationship with her . Toby is eventually expelled from school  having caught cheating. He later died as an armed robber as reported by Daniel to Uchenna.

Stephanie: She is Tony's cousin from Girls' Secondary School. She falls in live with Daniel and sends him gifts through Tony to show her love for him. She falls in live with Daniel because he is intelligent. Stephanie is from wealthy family and does not stop disturbing Daniel until he eventually falls in her arms. 

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

 EMILY BRONTE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emily Brontë was born on July 30, 1818, in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, Emily Brontë is best remembered for her 1847 novel, Wuthering Heights. She was not the only creative talent in her family—her sisters Charlotte and Anne enjoyed some literary success as well. Her father had published several works during his lifetime, too.

Emily was the fifth child of Reverend Patrick Brontë and his wife, Maria Branwell Brontë. The family moved to Haworth in April 1821. Only a few months later, Brontë’s mother died of cancer; her death came nearly nine months after the birth of her sister, Anne. Her mother’s sister, Elizabeth Branwell, came to live with the family to help care for the children.

At the age of 6, Emily was sent to the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge with Charlotte and her two oldest sisters, Elizabeth and Maria. Both Elizabeth and Maria became seriously ill at school and returned home, where they died of tuberculosis in 1825. Brontë’s father removed both Emily and Charlotte from the school as well.

Emily Brontë died of tuberculosis on December 19, 1848, nearly two months after her brother, Branwell, succumbed to the same disease.

Emily Brontë

BACKGROUND TO THE NOVEL

Romance, Realism and the Gothic

Brontë’s Wuthering Heights manages to combine two great literary traditions: Romanticism and Realism. It has elements of a Gothic novel, with its wild, remote setting, the appearance of Catherine’s ghost and Heathcliff displaying characteristics of a vampire. Heathcliff’s character also reminds the reader of Mary Shelley’s monster in Frankenstein, who kills out of unrequited love – a theme picked up in Heathcliff’s passionate but love for Catherine. However, these extremes of character, actions and atmosphere are set within the mundanity of everyday life, as represented for example in Joseph’s dialect, Nelly’s down-to-earth narrative and the confines of family life in which the story unfolds.

Despite the fact that there are no references that allow the reader to place the novel within a particular historical time period, the novel reflects its time in the healthy dose of social criticism that it includes – whether that’s patriarchal power structures, the injustice of inheritance law or institutionalized religion. In this respect, it foreshadows the changes that were to shake Victorian society towards the end of the nineteenth century, including the emancipation of women, education, economic deprivation and so on, which in Brontë’s time were still in their infancy.

PLOT SUMMARY OF WUTHERING HEIGHTS

Mr Lockwood, an out-of-towner renting an estate called Thrushcross Grange, twice visits his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff, who lives at a nearby manor called Wuthering Heights. During the first visit, Heathcliff is gruff but compelling. During the second, Lockwood meets other mysterious residents of Wuthering Heights, is attacked by dogs when he tries to leave, and endures a ghostly visitation overnight. Lockwood asks the housekeeper at the Grange, Ellen Dean (a.k.a. "Nelly"), to tell him about Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights. She recounts a complicated story of two families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons.

Mr. Earnshaw, a gentleman, owns Wuthering Heights. He has two children, Hindley and Catherine, and adopts a third, Heathcliff. Hindley is jealous of Heathcliff because both his father and his sister are very fond of the youngster. To avoid strife, Mr. Earnshaw sends Hindley away to college, during which time Catherine and Heathcliff become extremely close. Mr. Earnshaw dies, and Hindley, with a new wife, returns to claim Wuthering Heights. Still bitter, Hindley forces Heathcliff to give up his education and treats him like a servant. Hindley's wife dies soon after giving birth to a baby boy, Hareton, however. Hindley descends into alcoholism, though he continues to abuse and mistreat Heathcliff.

the Meanwhile, Heathcliff and Catherine grow interested in the Lintons, a well-to-do family who live at Thrushcross Grange. The Lintons have two children, Edgar and Isabella, who seem very cultured and refined to the somewhat wild inhabitants of Wuthering Heights. After suffering an injury while spying on the Lintons, Catherine Earnshaw spends five weeks with the Lintons, becoming close to Edgar. She finds Edgar's wealth and blonde beauty enticing, yet her feelings for Heathcliff are far more passionate. Even so, Catherine tells Nelly that she can't marry Heathcliff because of how Hindley has degraded him. Heathcliff overhears Catherine, and flees Wuthering Heights that night.

In Heathcliff's absence, a devastated Catherine marries Edgar Linton and moves to Thrushcross Grange. All is well—until Heathcliff returns, now rich and dignified, but just as wild and ferocious. Catherine is thrilled to see Heathcliff again. Edgar doesn't share her excitement. He tries to keep them apart, but Catherine continues to see Heathcliff despite her husband's disapproval. Heathcliff, meanwhile, moves into Wuthering Heights. Hindley, who has become a gambler, welcomes Heathcliff into his home because he lusts after Heathcliff's money.

Soon after, Catherine reveals to Heathcliff that Isabella has a crush on him. Not long after that, she observes the two of them embracing. The developing romance leads to a conflict between Edgar and Heathcliff, after which Edgar demands that Catherine choose between the two of them. Catherine responds by locking herself into her room and refusing to eat for three days. On the third day, she is frenzied and delusional and believes herself near death. That same night, Heathcliff elopes with Isabella.

Edgar nurses Catherine for two months. Her health improves somewhat, though not completely. She also discovers that she is pregnant. At Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff treats Isabella terribly from the moment after their wedding. Edgar, however, refuses to have any contact with Isabella, and fears that Heathcliff wed Isabella solely as a way to try to take Thrushcross Grange from the Lintons. Two months after the wedding, Heathcliff, concerned about Catherine's health, pays a surprise visit to Thrushcross Grange while Edgar is away. In a tearful reunion, Heathcliff and Catherine profess their continuing and eternal love for each other, but Edgar soon returns and Catherine collapses. That night, Catherine gives birth to a girl, Cathy, and dies a few hours later. Catherine is buried in a spot overlooking the moors where she used to play with Heathcliff as a child.

Two days later, Isabella escapes from Wuthering Heights and goes to town outside London, where she gives birth to Heathcliff's son, Linton. Hindley dies six months later, so deeply in debt to Heathcliff that Heathcliff becomes the owner of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff then places Hareton into the same kind of servitude into which Hindley once placed him.

Twelve years pass. Cathy grows into a beautiful young woman, while Hareton grows into a rough youth. Isabella dies, and Edgar brings Linton back to Thrushcross Grange, but Heathcliff insists that Linton come to live with him at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff then carefully and deliberately cultivates a friendship between the weak and spineless Linton and the strong-willed Cathy. Though Edgar at first forbids Cathy from seeing Linton at all, as his own health fails he relents and allows her to meet with Linton at Thrushcross Grange or on the moors. One day, while meeting with Linton on the moors, Heathcliff forces Cathy and Nelly to return with him and Linton to Wuthering Heights. He confines Cathy and Nelly in the house until Cathy marries Linton, which she ultimately does. Cathy escapes from Wuthering Heights long enough to be with her father as he dies, but is soon taken back to Wuthering Heights by Heathcliff. Edgar is buried next to Catherine. Linton dies soon after that, and Heathcliff, because of careful legal maneuverings, now owns both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Cathy reluctantly lives with Heathcliff and Hareton (whom she constantly mocks for his illiteracy) at Wuthering Heights. This brings the story up to the present, when Lockwood has rented Thrushcross Grange.

Lockwood goes back to London, but passes through the region six months later. Much to everyone's surprise, Cathy and Hareton have fallen in love. Cathy has realized Hareton's nobility and kindness beneath his lack of education. Heathcliff, who sees strong a resemblance in both Hareton and Cathy to Catherine, no longer feels the need for revenge. He dies and is buried beside Catherine (on the side opposite where Edgar is buried). Cathy and Hareton, at last free of interfering adults, plan to marry and move to Thrushcross Grange.

EVENT BY EVENT SUMMARY

First Visit to Wuthering Heights

The year is 1801. Mr. Lockwood is the new tenant at Thrushcross Grange, a house in a remote part of North Yorkshire. He decides to visit his landlord, Heathcliff, who lives on the nearby farm, Wuthering Heights. Neither its outward appearance nor the attitude and behavior of its inhabitants are particularly inviting: The house and its outbuildings look dilapidated and neglected. Heathcliff would clearly prefer it if Lockwood left and only begrudgingly invites him in. A servant, Joseph, who is called to take Lockwood’s horse to the stable, looks equally displeased. The animosity comes to a head when Heathcliff’s dog attacks Lockwood. Despite the frosty reception, Lockwood decides to visit again the next day. As he arrives, it begins to snow. A young and rough-looking man, Hareton Earnshaw, wanders across the court and signals Lockwood to follow him. He takes him into the house, where Lockwood meets the beautiful Cathy Heathcliff, whom he takes to be Heathcliff’s wife. She is as disagreeable as the rest of the people at Wuthering Heights. When Heathcliff arrives, he isn’t happy to see Lockwood – even less so when it becomes clear that Lockwood will have to stay the night because a snowstorm has set in. Lockwood is surprised and shocked when he sees the way Heathcliff orders Cathy around and by the defiance and hate she shows. He also soon learns that she isn’t Heathcliff’s wife, but his daughter-in-law. When he stumbles into his next assumption that Earnshaw is Heathcliff’s son, Earnshaw quickly and decisively puts him right. What ensues is a very uncomfortable evening meal. That evening, Zillah, the maid, shows Lockwood to an unused room where he can sleep for the night. It is full of books, and on the windowsill Lockwood finds engravings of three names: Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Linton and Catherine Heathcliff.

Too agitated to sleep, Lockwood starts looking through the books, most of which seem to have belonged to Catherine Earnshaw. The margins are scribbled full of journal entries, which the intrigued Lockwood begins to read. When he finally falls asleep, nightmares plague him. A noise at the window wakes him. He thinks it is a branch of the tree knocking against it, but when he reaches outside to remove the branch, he touches a cold child’s hand, which grabs on to his. The child begs him to let her in, claiming she is Catherine Linton and is lost on the moors. Terrified, he finally manages to pull back his arm and close the window. Lockwood’s scream wakes Heathcliff, who then bursts into the room and rages at him. Lockwood then decides to spend the rest of the night in the main chamber and leaves as soon as possible in the morning. Back at Thrushcross Grange, Lockwood asks his housekeeper Mrs. Ellen Dean – known asNelly – to tell him about Heathcliff and the strange assortment of people surrounding him. Nelly grew up at Wuthering Heights and used to work as a servant there.

Nelly’s Tale

Nelly tells Lockwood her story. The previous owner of Wuthering Heights, Mr. Earnshaw, returns from a business trip to Liverpool with a foundling – a dirty, black-haired boy who speaks only unintelligible gibberish. Mr. Earnshaw’s children, Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw, don’t take to the boy as they blame him for the loss and breakage of the highly anticipated gifts that their father was supposed to bring back for them. Earnshaw names the boy Heathcliff and brings him up as one of his own. The hot-tempered and spoiled Catherine and the brooding, sullen Heathcliff soon become friends, but Hindley hates the new boy and takes every opportunity to harm him.

When Earnshaw finds out, he makes the situation worse by turning against his own son and favoring Heathcliff over Hindley. One day, Earnshaw gives the two boys a horse each as presents. When Heathcliff’s horse goes lame, he asks Hindley to swap with him, threatening that he will tell Earnshaw that Hindley has harmed him. Hindley angrily gives in but knocks Heathcliff over as he runs out of the stable.

As Mr. Earnshaw ages, the relationship with his son becomes increasingly worse. He now sees him as a failure and dares him to say a bad word against Heathcliff. The curate suggests sending Hindley off to college, and so Hindley leaves Wuthering Heights. He returns three years later for his father’s funeral, brings back a wife, Frances, and takes ownership of Wuthering Heights. He is devoted to Frances, and whatever she says and wishes, he does. Nelly and Joseph have to move into the servants’ quarter, and Heathcliff has no choice but to join the servants and work as a farmhand. This move only leads to Heathcliff and Catherine becoming closer, and they spend days exploring the moors and making mischief together.

Meeting the Lintons

On one of their adventures, Heathcliff and Catherine come across Thrushcross Grange, where the Lintons live. Looking in through the lit windows, they see Edgar and Isabella Linton, the family’s children, who are in the house on their own. Their affluent and comfortable world is completely alien to Catherine and Heathcliff. The two spies are caught by the returning parents. They try to flee, but one of the guard dogs bites Catherine. When they realize that she is their neighbor’s daughter, the Lintons take her back into the house to look after her, but they chase away Heathcliff when he tries to “save” Catherine. Catherine stays at the Lintons for five weeks while she recovers, and Mrs. Linton takes it upon herself to turn her into a lady. Catherine responds well to these attempts and returns to Wuthering Heights well-dressed and sophisticated. The contrast to the grubby and frowning Heathcliff is now even more pronounced. He runs out of the room as he feels that she is making fun of him. Catherine is upset and doesn’t understand his outburst, but the gulf between the two friends grows as Catherine starts to spend more time with Isabella and Edgar. 

Mad with Grief

Frances and Hindley have a son, Hareton, but Frances doesn’t survive the birth. The loss of his wife pushes Hindley over the edge. He turns to alcohol and gambling. Nelly is now responsible for looking after the baby. Hindley’s behavior becomes more difficult, and his behavior towards Heathcliff worsens. Heathcliff, on the other hand, seems to find some evil pleasure in taunting Hindley.

For Catherine, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep her two lives separate as she visits regularly with Isabella and in particular Edgar. Heathcliff despises Edgar, and Edgar is scared of Heathcliff. It soon becomes clear that Edgar has feelings for Catherine, and he begins to court her. Nelly tries to dissuade him, knowing as she does Catherine’s unpredictable temper and willful nature, but Edgar is under Catherine’s spell. He asks her to marry him, and she accepts. In the evening, Catherine seeks Nelly’s counsel on whether she has done the right thing. She confesses that she loves Heathcliff, but that her brother’s treatment of him has brought him so low in status that she could not marry him.

Heathcliff overhears the conversation and disappears. Catherine is inconsolable but three years later marries Edgar. She moves to Thrushcross Grange and takes Nelly with her. The five-year-old Hareton stays behind with his father, much to Nelly’s dismay.

Heathcliff Returns

Catherine and Edgar settle into married life. Edgar is smitten with Catherine and panders to her every whim. Catherine seems to become increasingly fond of him. One evening, Nelly returns from the garden and finds Heathcliff outside the house, demanding to speak to Catherine. Catherine is overjoyed to see him again, and she demands Edgar be friends with him. Edgar isn’t pleased to have Heathcliff back in their lives, but to appease Catherine, he doesn’t object to their renewed acquaintance. Heathcliff settles at Wuthering Heights with Hindley, which surprises everyone. It turns out that Hindley invited Heathcliff to stay when he found out that Heathcliff had come into money – he plans to use him to finance his gaming addiction. In reality, he falls deeper and deeper into debt, with Heathcliff as his creditor. Heathcliff starts to exert his influence over Hareton: When Nelly visits Wuthering Heights to see Hindley and Hareton, she finds that Hareton has turned into an ill-bred, insolent and cruel boy.

A Dangerous Infatuation

Initially, Heathcliff is cautious not to overstay his welcome at Thrushcross Grange, and soon everyone has settled into a false sense of security. But then the eighteen-year-old Isabella starts to fall in love with Heathcliff and, in a jealous fit, confesses her feelings for him to Catherine. Catherine, in a cruel twist, forces her to stay as she tells Heathcliff that Isabella loves him and believes that Catherine is preventing Heathcliff from loving her back. Humiliated, Isabella flees from the room. Left alone with Catherine, Heathcliff makes his antipathy for Isabella clear. No more is said on the topic.

The next time Heathcliff comes to Thrushcross Grange, he tries to kiss Isabella in the garden. Catherine asks him if he wants to marry Isabella, but he explains that he would only marry her if it suited his plan to take revenge on all those who treated him badly as a child. This upsets and angers Catherine. Edgar eventually manages to throw Heathcliff out of the house. However, when Edgar tells Catherine that he doesn’t want her to continue her friendship with Heathcliff, she falls into a fit and then refuses to eat or leave her room. Edgar hides in the library, hoping that Catherine will give in and ask for forgiveness. Nelly doesn’t tell him of Catherine’s hunger strike or the hallucinations that plague her, and Catherine dispairs at Edgar’s apparent disinterest. One evening, he appears in her room and is aghast at her appearance. He reproaches Nelly for not telling him what has been going on and sends her to find a doctor. On the way into the village, Nelly finds Isabella’s dog hung with a handkerchief to a bridle hook and barely alive. She rescues it. The doctor tells her that someone saw Isabella and Heathcliff walking in the park the day before, and overheard Heathcliff trying to persuade her to run away with him. Nelly rushes back to the house, but it is too late: Isabella has gone.

No Mercy

Six weeks after Isabella’s disappearance, Edgar receives a note from her, informing him of her marriage to Heathcliff. Edgar doesn’t reply – he is too busy looking after Catherine, who has only just started to recover from a terrible brain fever. Two weeks later, Nelly receives a letter from Isabella, in which she tells her of what has happened and the hellish life she is now enduring at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff only married her to have a chance to get his hands on Thrushcross Grange, and he treats her abysmally.

Hindley’s temper and alcoholism have reached new heights under Heathcliff’s ministrations, Hareton is still uncouth and foul-mouthed, and Joseph is no help at all. Heathcliff practically keeps Isabella a prisoner, but eventually she manages to escape. She appears at Thrushcross Grange, stops briefly to tell Nelly what has happened and to change her clothes, and then disappears again. She doesn’t return, but she sends letters to Edgar telling him that she now lives close to London and has a son.

Catherine’s Death

Catherine slowly recovers from her illness. She is still frail and has also fallen pregnant. Heathcliff forces Nelly to help arrange a meeting between him and Catherine. Their reunion ends in both of them confessing their passionate love for each other. The same night, Catherine falls unconscious, and the baby is born prematurely. Catherine dies in childbirth.

Edgar is devastated but pours all his love into his newborn daughter, whom he names Catherine in memory of her mother. Only six months after Catherine’s death, her brother also dies – he drinks himself to death, and Wuthering Heights goes to his creditor, Heathcliff.

The Next Generation

Young Cathy Linton enjoys a happy childhood with her doting father and Nelly as her nursemaid. She grows into a well-educated and lovely girl, but her world is confined to Thrushcross Grange – Edgar fears that she might meet Heathcliff and that he will think of a plan to use her in his evil scheme of revenge. While Cathy is young, she doesn’t mind this confinement, but once she turns twelve, the world outside of Thrushcross Grange begins to interest her. When her father leaves for three weeks to go and see his dying sister, she takes the first opportunity to escape. Pretending to go for a ride in the park around Thrushcross Grange, she takes off onto the moors. Soon Nelly finds out that Cathy has been secretly visiting Wuthering Heights and spending time with Hareton. While she gets on well enough with him, she is shocked when she finds that this uncouth and uneducated young man is actually her cousin.

The Last Piece of the Puzzle

Isabella’s dying wish is for Edgar to take in her son Linton. Cathy is excited about having a playmate in the house, but somehow, Heathcliff learns of his arrival at Thrushcross Grange, and demands the boy to be handed over to him. Edgar has no legal right to refuse, and Linton is taken to Wuthering Heights the day after his arrival. The blond, good-looking Linton turns out to be a frail and sickly child, and Heathcliff mistreats him terribly, while at the same time instilling in him a false sense of his own importance. Though weak, he turns into a fearful tyrant, and Joseph and Hareton grow to hate him. During a day out on Cathy’s sixteenth birthday, she and Nelly run into Heathcliff and Hareton. Heathcliff invites them in to Wuthering Heights. Cathy agrees despite Nelly’s protestations and is delighted to see her cousin Linton again. Heathcliff reveals his plan to Nelly: He wants Cathy and Linton to marry each other as he intends to get his hands on Thrushcross Grange as well.

Linton is still frail and sickly, and unlikely to live much longer. When Cathy returns home, she tells her father all about the visit. He explains to her why he and Heathcliff don’t get on and makes her promise not to visit again. She promises but is upset as she and Linton had agreed to meet again the next day. What follows is months of secret correspondence and meetings despite several attempts by Nelly and Cathy’s father to put a stop to the budding romance. It is only when her father’s health continues to deteriorate that Cathy stops seeing and writing to Linton. One year after their last meeting, her father reluctantly agrees to let her go and meet her cousin again. Heathcliff uses Linton to lure Nelly and Cathy into the house, and then refuses to let them go until Cathy agrees to marry Linton – which she does the next day. Five days later Nelly is released and returns to Thrushcross Grange, only to find Edgar near death. Cathy manages to come and see her father before he dies, but then Heathcliff forces her to move to Wuthering Heights. Shortly after, Linton dies as well, and Cathy is trapped in the dismal and hate-filled household of Wuthering Heights. This is how Lockwood finds them.

Redemption

Lockwood decides to cancel his lease on Thrushcross Grange and leave the area. He returns a year later and decides to visit Wuthering Heights. To his astonishment, he finds Cathy, Hareton and Nelly all living there together in blissful harmony. Hareton has changed: The ill-mannered and rough boy has grown into a good-looking and well-dressed young man. It turns out that, after a few months of living at Wuthering Heights, Cathy finally managed to convince Hareton that she didn’t mean him any harm but would like to be friends. Their friendship helped them to stand up to Heathcliff, who realized that his plans for revenge had not played out the way he had wanted them to. He starts to deteriorate rapidly and, haunted by Catherine’s ghost, eventually dies close to madness and plagued by his past.

THEMES

Supernatural

From beginning to end, Wuthering Heights is a novel full of ghosts and spirits. Dead characters refuse to leave the living alone, and the living accept that the deceased find ways of coming back to haunt them. In a departure from traditional Gothic tales, these hauntings are sometimes welcome. Heathcliff, for instance, repeatedly seeks out visitations from the ghost of his beloved Catherine. He even digs up her grave in order to be closer to her. Brontë uses otherworldly figures to emphasize the ferocity of Heathcliff’s and Catherine’s love; their connection is so powerful that even death can’t stop it.

Nature vs. Civilization

Putting  nature against civilization, Emily Brontë promotes the Romantic idea that the sublime—the awe-inspiring, almost frightening, beauty of nature—is superior to man-made culture. She makes this point by correlating many of the characters with one side or the other and then squaring them off against each other. For instance, Heathcliff, whose origins are unknown and who roams the moors, is definitely on the nature side, while his rival, the studious Edgar Linton, is in the civilized camp. Other pairings include HaretonEarnshaw vs. Linton Earnshaw; Catherine vs. Isabella; and Hareton vs. Cathy. In all of these cases, Brontë makes one character a bit wild (perhaps by showing them in tune with animals and/or the outdoors and/or their emotions), while portraying the other as somewhat reserved and often prissy or fussy.

But nothing is black and white in Wuthering Heights. Many of the characters exhibit traits from both sides. While Brontë argues that nature is somehow purer, she also lauds civilization, particularly in terms of education. Hareton Earnshaw personifies this combination of nature and civilization: Brontë associates the young orphan with nature (he is a coarse, awkward farm boy) as well as civilization (inspired by his desire for young Cathy, he learns how to read). This mixture of down-to-earth passion and book-centered education make him, arguably, the most sympathetic character in the book.

Love and passion

Wuthering Heights explores a variety of kinds of love. Loves on display in the novel include Heathcliff and Catherine's all-consuming passion for each other, which while noble in its purity is also terribly destructive. In contract, the love between Catherine and Edgar is proper and civilized rather than passionate. Theirs is a love of peace and comfort, a socially acceptable love, but it can't stand in the way of Heathcliff and Catherine's more profound (and more violent) connection.

The love between Cathy and Linton is a grotesque exaggeration of that between Catherine and Edgar. While Catherine always seems just a bit too strong for Edgar, Cathy and Linton's love is founded on Linton's weakness—Linton gets Cathy to love him by playing on her desire to protect and mother him. Finally, there's the love between Cathy and Hareton, which seems to balance the traits of the other loves on display. They have the passion of Catherine and Heathcliff without the destructiveness, and the gentleness shared by Edgar and Catherine without the dullness or inequality in power.

Masculinity and feminism

Written when gender roles were far more rigid and defined than they are now, Wuthering Heights examines stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Emily Brontë constantly contrasts masculinity and femininity, but not all of the comparisons are simple; sometimes boys act like girls and girls act like boys. Edgar Linton and Linton Heathcliff, for instance, are men, but Brontë frequently describes them as having the looks and attributes of women. Likewise, Catherine Earnshaw has many masculine characteristics; even though she is outrageously beautiful, she loves rough, outdoor play and can hold her own in any fight. She is a complex mix of hyper-feminine grace and loveliness and ultra-masculine anger and recklessness. Heathcliff, with his physical and mental toughness, has no such ambiguities—he is exaggeratedly masculine and scorns his wife Isabella for her overblown femininity.

Emily Brontë seems to favor masculinity over femininity, even in her women. In general, she portrays weak, delicate characters with contempt, while she treats strong and rugged characters like Heathcliff, both Catherines, and Hareton, with compassion and admiration, despite their flaws.

Understanding the importance of class in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain is essential to understanding Wuthering Heights. Generally, at the time, people were born into a class and stayed there: if your parents were rich and respected (like Edgar’s), you would be, too; if your parents were servants (like Nelly Dean’s), you probably would be too. Social mobility—the idea that you can change your class status (usually for the better)—was not commonplace.

Class

In Brontë’s novel, however, class distinctions are constantly changing, much to the confusion of the characters. There are two primary examples of this: Heathcliff and Hareton. Because no one knows anything about Heathcliff’s background, they all treat him differently. Mr. Earnshaw adopts him and treats him like a son, but the snobby Lintons refuse to socialize with him. When he disappears for a few years and comes back rich, the characters struggle even more over how to approach him—he now has money and land, but many of them still consider him a farm boy. Likewise, Hareton has a hard time gaining respect. The son of Hindley, Hareton should be the heir to Wuthering Heights. With land and standing, he ought to be a gentleman. However, Heathcliff refuses to educate him, and everyone else mostly ignores him, so his manners (a very important indicator of class status) are rough and gruff. Only when young Cathy helps educate him does he achieve the class standing to which he was born.

Revenge

Nearly all of the action in Wuthering Heights results from one or another character’s desire for revenge. The result are cycles of revenge that seem to endlessly repeat. Hindley takes revenge on Heathcliff for taking his place at Wuthering Heights by denying him an education, and in the process separates Heathcliff and Catherine. Heathcliff then takes revenge upon Hindley by, first, dispossessing Hindley of Wuthering Heights and by denying an education to Hareton, Hindley’s son. Heathcliff also seeks revenge on Edgar for marrying Catherine by marrying Cathy to Linton.

Yet while Heathcliff’s revenge is effective, it seems to bring him little joy. Late in the novel, Cathy sees this, and tells Heathcliff that her revenge on him, no matter how miserable he makes her, is to know that he, Heathcliff, is more miserable. And it is instructive that only when Heathcliff loses his desire for revenge is he able to finally reconnect with Catherine in death, and to allow Cathy and Hareton, who are so similar to Heathcliff and Catherine, to find love and marry.

 CHARACTERIZATION

Heathcliff

He is the little boy found by Mr. Earnshaw in the streets of Liverpool. Heathcliff is favored by Mr. Earnshaw but is extremely hated by Hindly. Heathcliff after Mr. Earnshaw’s death is dehumanized by Hindly preventing him from coming up in society, educating himself or marrying the girl he loves.

Heathcliff is passionate and his love, although wild and strong, often comes across as violent. Losing his soulmate makes his heart and soul harden and so he transforms from a Romantic Byronic Hero, into a harsh yet unique Victorian one. Although Heathcliff can be evil, the readers would often sympathize with his character as it is an outcome of mistreatment, injustice and loss.

Hindly Earnshaw

He is the brother of Cathy, and is marginalized upon Heathcliff’s arrival. He  begins to abuse and mistreat Heathcliff, as he sees he is inferior to him. Hindley is jealous of his father’s affection towards Heathcliff and so he takes revenge on him when his father dies.

Seizing ownership of Wuthering Heights, he marries Frances, whom he loves dearly, only to lose her upon her giving birth. Hindly loses the will to live and his passion for life, as he drinks and gambles himself to death and loses Wuthering Heights to Heathcliff.

Catherine Earnshaw/Linton

She is the object of Heathcliff’s affection and the reason for his revenge. She is a wild child just like Heathcliff, though her sweet face and childish behavior can be misleading. Cathy believes her and Heathcliff are one, yet chooses to marry someone she bears little affection for, in order to fulfill her social ambition of becoming a superior lady of the house.

In essence, Catherine seems to be immature, selfish and often times barbaric and she toys with both Edgar and Heathcliff’s emotions.

Edgar Linton

He is Heathcliff’s opposite and competition and Catherine’s rise to social superiority. Edgar lives in Thrushcross Grange and often comes off as arrogant and cowardly. However, he is a slave to his love for Catherine and continues to love her regardless of her behavior. Edgar is simply blinded by his emotions.

Isabella Linton

She is Edgar’s sister and shares his characteristics of arrogance and immaturity. Isabella is also a contrast to Catherine as life and everyone on Thrushcross Grange, is tame and boring. Isabella is infatuated with Heathcliff’s mystery and darkness, which are that of the Byronic hero.

Her marriage to Heathcliff  leaves her disowned by her brother and abused and beaten as revenge. She reaches maturity when she decides to leave Thrushcross Grange, pregnant with Heathcliff’s child Linton.

Mr. Lockwood

He is the new tenant at Wuthering Heights and often attempts to seem a mysterious and withdrawn melancholy character. Lockwood is the primary narrator but he is unreliable, as he only communicates what he sees, hears and thinks on the surface.

Nelly Dean

She is the daughter of the servant at Wuthering Heights and grows up alongside Heathcliff, Cathy and Hindley. She constantly has to be the mature one of the generation and helps guide, protect and advise them. Nelly falls victim of the behaviors of the people surrounding her, be it when she serves Heathcliff, Catherine or Hindly.

Brontë uses her character to narrate the story of Heathcliff to Lockwood as she has served the Earnshaws, the Lintons and now Heathcliff. Nelly essentially knows enough to tell the story but is not omniscient as she cannot tell what characters are feeling or thinking beyond the surface.

Hareton Earnshaw

He is the son of Hindly and Frances and upon their death, is treated as an underprivileged servant and deprived of any education, sympathy and respect. Hareton pays for his father’s mistakes in treating Heathcliff the way he did. Hareton breaks the cycle of revenge by retaining empathy and emotion underneath his rough exterior. He then falls in love with Cathy and they make plans to wed at the end of the novel.

Cathy Linton

She is the daughter of Cathy Earnshaw and Edgar Linton. She is very much like her mother yet is kinder and more selfless than she was, due to the influence of her dedicated father Edgar. She is caught in Heathcliff’s web of revenge and is forced into marrying his son Linton. She displays her kind nature by being the only one to offer Linton any help or sympathy, and

Linton Heathcliff

He is the son of Heathcliff and Isabella Linton. He is forced to marry Cathy and rather than enjoy his life, he suffers from a chronic illness which matches that of the description of Tuberculosis. Linton constantly complains, leading the people around him to despise him. Linton is shown no empathy in the entire household except for that of Cathy’s and dies leaving Thrushcross Grange to his father

Joseph

A long-winded, fanatically religious, elderly servant at Wuthering Heights. Joseph is strange, stubborn, and unkind, and he speaks with a thick Yorkshire accent.

Frances Earnshaw

Hindley’s simpering, silly wife, who treats Heathcliff cruelly. She dies shortly after giving birth to Hareton.

Mr. Linton

Edgar and Isabella’s father and the proprietor of Thrushcross Grange when Heathcliff and Catherine are children. An established member of the gentry, he raises his son and daughter to be well-mannered young people.

Mrs. Linton

Mr. Linton’s somewhat snobbish wife, who does not like Heathcliff to be allowed near her children, Edgar and Isabella. She teaches Catherine to act like a gentle-woman, thereby instilling her with social ambitions.

Zillah

The housekeeper at Wuthering Heights during the latter stages of the narrative.

Mr. Green

Edgar Linton’s lawyer, who arrives too late to hear Edgar’s final instruction to change his will, which would have prevented Heathcliff from obtaining control over Thrushcross Grange.