Poor soul the centre of my sinful earth, Thou art slave to fate Bear His mild, yoke they serve Him best: His state is Kingly So shall thou feed on Death
So shall thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,
And Death once dead, there’s no more dying then.
Expl. These lines have been taken from Shakespeare’s sonnet Poor Soul Here the poet speaks about the eternal soul becoming a victory over death The soul is imprisoned in the body.
There is no sense in spending so much on the ‘mansion’ that is the body when the stay is so short. Soon the soul would leave the body and the body will be eaten up by worms and insects.
Why, do they, take much care of the body? Death kills and destroys But the soul is something permanent and everlasting Death can harm the soul, It becomes ineffective once the body is fed from the soul.
There is then no death the human soul is not subject to death and decay Death is utterly powerless. It is nothing to do with life and beyond. The eternal life of bliss of the soul makes death infective and powerless.
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Poor soul the center of my sinful earth
Poor soul the centre of my sinful earth,
Fool’d by that real power’s that thee array.
Why dost thou pine within and suffer death
Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?
Expl. These are the opening lines of the sonnet entitled Poor Soul’composed by the great poet and dramatist, William Shakespeare.
The theme of the sonnet is the mortal body which body is like a sinful cart. The soul is its center. The sense organs are Like rebel powers. The poet wonders why the immortal soul should be so much for the perishable body and admit, why is-suffers within.
In comparison, the soul is definitely a rare value. Hence, the body should be neglected and the soul is taken care of, and not vice-versa.
Bear His mild, yoke they serve Him best: His state is Kingly
Bear His mild, yoke they serve Him best: His state
is Kingly! thousands at His bidding speed
And post o’er land are ocean without rest:
They also serve those who only stand and wait.
Expl. These lines have been taken from Milton’s poem, “On His Blindness” He was filled with a sense of despair at having realized that he could not make the best use of his poetic talents.
He has been filled with hopes in his early life. He had planned successfully a poetic career. For himself But before his dreams had been realized become blind.
A question arose in his mind, whether God exacts a day’s labor from the blind people But soon it rang in him that God did need neither man’s work nor his gifts. They serve God best who bear. His burnt faithfully. God is a great father. His estate is kingly.
Thousands of men are ready to obey his command and they keep ceaselessly working over land and sea but those who were physically incapable of moving on sea and land serve their master Rio loss faithfully incapable of moving on sea and land serve their master no loss faithfully than those who ceaselessly for carrying out God’s orders.
These lines suggested an optimistic tone. The poet with despair end in hope. Once more he questioned himself about his loyalty to love God and God’s kindness to him. It fills him with a sense of satisfaction to know God’s kindness to him.
It fills him with a sense of satisfaction in knowing that God does not exact man’s labor. Those who stood by God and waited for his orders also served him as well as those who rendered active services to Him.
The last scene of all That ends this strange eventful history
The last scene of all That ends this strange eventful history
Is second childishness and mere oblivion.
Sans teath, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything
Expl. These lines have been taken from Shakespeare’s “All The Worlds A Stage“. It is an extract from Act 2, Scene VII of “As You Like It”. Duke Senior likens the world to the universal theatre and Jacques in the lines, that follow calls the world a stage.
He divides the drama of life into seven parts, that is the Seven stages in the life of man. From childhood to old age a man has to grapple with varied problems. Each stage has its own characteristic features.
In these lines, Shakespeare who had a profound insight into human nature describes the last scene of the drama of life. The old man becomes physically weak and infirm. His memory fails. There is no hope of growth.
It is a step toward the end. With all his sense organs outliving their utility, the old man becomes an object of pity. He is as helpless as child. Hence this stage. Of man’s life has been aptly called second childishness.
Without teaching, eyes or a sense of taste becomes a mere shadow of his former self. With bitter cynicism, Jacques depicts the pathetic plight of a man in his old age.
Thou art slave to fate
Thou art slave to fate, chance,
King and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war and sickness dwell, And better than they stroke.
Or, Why swell’s thou then?
One short sleep passed, we wake eternally
And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shall die.
Expl. These lines have been taken from the poem. “Death be not proud composed by John Donne, the leading poem of the Metaphysical school of poetry “Hence he looks at Death with scorn. He is not all scared by it.
It is not as mighty a force as it is made out to be. It seeks the help of fate, chance kings, and desperate men. It is they who spell death and disaster. It is also a slave to poison, war, and sickness. It can, in fact, do nothing of its own.
It is at best a short sleep after which we wake into eternal life. Man lives in his soul and the soul is eternal. The moment the soul is realized from the prison of the body, death can do more harm. It shall die. What a strikingly original and refreshingly new approach!
