Doris Lessing (1919–2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist, short story writer, and essayist, widely regarded as one of the most influential female voices of the 20th century. Born in Persia (now Iran) and raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Lessing’s early life in colonial Africa deeply shaped her political and socialContinue Reading
D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his explorations of human sexuality, emotional health, and instinct in an era marked by strict social conventions. Born in Nottinghamshire, England, Lawrence was the son of a coal miner and a schoolteacher, a classContinue Reading
The poem ‘Church Going’ represents the thoughts of the poet as he enters a church. He is an agnostic but accepts the importance of religion in human culture. In the poem, the speaker questions the utility of churches and hence religion in our life and also seems to make anContinue Reading
The poem ‘Church Going’ represents the thoughts of the poet as he enters a church. He is an agnostic but accepts the importance of religion in human culture. In the poem, the speaker questions the utility of churches and hence religion in our life and also seems to make anContinue Reading
An aubade, deriving from the medieval French word for dawn, is a lyric poem with no prescribed form in which the poet typically celebrates the beauty of his mistress as the sun rises and he must leave her bed: John Donne’s “The Sun Rising” is a well-known example. Philip Larkin’sContinue Reading
An “aubade” is a morning love song (it is the opposite of a serenade, which takes place in the evening). Sometimes it is written about when lover’s separate at dawn. Or, as in this poem, a song or poem announcing dawn; the lover in this scenario is death, when theContinue Reading
Philip Larkin (1922–1985) was one of the most significant English poets of the 20th century, renowned for his poignant, ironic, and often melancholic reflections on modern life. Born in Coventry, England, Larkin studied at Oxford University and later became a librarian, a profession he held for over three decades atContinue Reading
All of Lamb’s major trademarks as an essayist are to be found in this work: overall, a relaxed and colloquial voice and a genteel sensibility incorporating elements of humour, whimsy, strong personal recollection and touches of pathos. All these mark him out as one of the great exponents of theContinue Reading
Humour may be described as an extreme sensitiveness to the true proportion of things and pathos that appeals to our feelings of compassion and evokes sympathy. Charles Lamb is a great artist in showing humour and pathos in a single row. He had as keen a perception of the funnyContinue Reading
Charles Lamb (1775–1834) was an eminent English essayist, poet, and critic, best remembered for his charming and deeply personal essays collected in Essays of Elia. Born in London, Lamb spent much of his life working as a clerk at the East India Company. Despite his modest professional life, he leftContinue Reading
