৪০ দিনে ৪৭তম বিসিএস প্রস্তুতি - Archived

এই অনবদ্য কবিতাটি William Wordsworth এর লেখা।
“The Ruined Cottage,” composed in superb blank verse in 1797.
- This bleak narrative records the slow, pitiful decline of a woman whose husband had gone off to the army and never returned.

Major Literary works:
• “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”
• “Lyrical Ballads”
• “Michael”
• “Ode: Intimations of Immortality”
• “Peter Bell”
• “The Excursion”
• “The Prelude”
• “The Recluse”
• “The Ruined Cottage”
• “The Solitary Reaper”
• “The World Is Too Much with Us”

(Source: Britannica.com)

P.B Shelley died at the Mediterranean Sea. He is one of the revolutionary poets in English Literature.
John Keats died of tuberculosis at a very young age. (26 years old)
Other Notable works:
• “A Defence of Poetry”
• “A Philosophical View of Reform”
• “Adonais”
• “Alastor; or The Spirit of Solitude”
• “Epipsychidion”
• “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”
• “Letter to Maria Gisborne”
• “Mont Blanc”
• “Ode to the West Wind”
• “Oedipus Tyrannus; or, Swellfoot the Tyrant”
• “Ozymandias”
• “Peter Bell the Third”
• “Prometheus Unbound”
• “Queen Mab”
• “Rosalind and Helen”
• “The Cenci”
• “The Cloud”
• “The Masque of Anarchy”
• “The Necessity of Atheism”
• “The Revolt of Islam”
• “The Witch of Atlas”
• “To a Sky-Lark”

(Source: Britannica.com)

- “Ulysses” হোমারের কাব্য Iliad থেকে অনুপ্রানিত ।
- This poem was written by Alfred Tennyson.
- যুদ্ধবিজয়ী বীর “Ulysses এর ঘরে মন টেকেনা।
- প্রিয়তমা স্ত্রী আজ পৌঢ়া, সেও তাকে ফেরাতে পারেনা।
- আবার বেরিয়ে পরেন সমুদ্র হথে অজানার উদ্দেশ্যে।
- James Joyce হুবহু একই নামে (Ulysses) উপন্যাস লিখেছেন।

Source: Britannica

Jane Eyre উপন্যাসের দুটি প্রধান চরিত্র। Rochester and Jane Eyre. এটা মূলত একটা মেয়ের সংগ্রামের গল্প। প্রধান চরিত্র Jane ১০ বছর বয়সী এবং তারা চাচার পরিবারে থাকে। তারা বাবা মা Typhus রোগে আক্রান্ত হয়ে মারা যায়। 
Jane Eyre উপন্যাসের রচয়িতা Charlotte Brontë. তার বোনের নাম Emily Bronte. 

Notable works of Charlotte Bronte: 
- Jane Eyre
- Poems by Currer
- Ellis and Acton Bell
- Shirley: A Tale
- The Professor
- Villette

Source: Britannica.com

The storyline is set in the 19th century, at a slum in Northern England.
Silas Marner, in full Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, novel by George Eliot, published in 1861. The story’s title character is a friendless weaver who cares only for his cache of gold. He is ultimately redeemed through his love for Eppie, an abandoned golden-haired baby girl, whom he discovers shortly after he is robbed and rears as his own child.
Other characters:
Dunstan, Godfrey, Nancy, Molly etc.
Source: Britannica.com

Vanity Fair & The Virginians (1859) is written by William Makepeace Thackeray.
He is an Indian born British Novelist. (born July 18, 1811, Calcutta, India—died Dec. 24, 1863, London, Eng.)
His other great works are:
- The History of Henry Esmond, Esq
- The Virginians
- Pendennis
- The Newcomes
- The Rose and the Ring
- Barry Lyndon

Source: britannica.com

Herman Melville is an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He is best known for his novels of the sea, including his masterpiece, Moby Dick (1851).
Source: Britannica.com

Leaves of Grass, collection of poetry by American author Walt Whitman, first presented as a group of 12 poems published anonymously in 1855. (Britanca.com)

Fabian Society, socialist society founded in 1884 in London, having as its goal the establishment of a democratic socialist state in Great Britain. জর্জ বার্নার্ড শ ও এই গ্রুপের সদস্য ছিলেন এটা প্রতিষ্ঠার অন্যতম উদ্দেশ্য ছিল বিশৃংখলা এবং অরাজকতা প্রতিরোধ করা।

(Source: An ABC of English Literature by Dr. M Mofizar Rahman )

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) He was a renowned English Philosopher and political economist.
- He was the leading expositor of utilitarianism.

Utilitarianism: It is an ethical principle according to which an action is right if it tends to maximize happiness, not only that of the agent but also of everyone affected. Thus, utilitarians focus on the consequences of an act rather than on its intrinsic nature or the motives of the agent.

In other words, it's a theory that the aim of action should be the largest possible balance of pleasure over pain or the greatest happiness of the greatest number.’ (Merriam-webster.com)

Notable Works:
- Autobiography
- Considerations on Representative Government
- Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy
- Examination of Sir William Hamilton’s Philosophy
- On Liberty
- Principles of Political Economy
- The Subjection of Women
- Utilitarianism
- A System of Logic

Source: Britannica.com

প্রশ্নে উল্লেখিত চারটা উপন্যাসই Charles Dickens রচিত। Sydney Carton চরিত্রটি ফরাসী বিপ্লবের পটভূমিতে রচিত কালজয়ী উপন্যাস A Tale of Two Cities এর অন্যতম চরিত্র।
A Tale of Two Cities: প্রধান চরিত্রসমূহ:
- Doctor Alexandre Manette,
- Lucie Manette,
- Charles Darnay,
- Sydney Carton,
- Mr. Jarvis Lorry,Jerry Cruncher,
- Ernest Defarge,
- Mr. Lorry

ফ্রান্স এবং ইংল্যান্ডের কাহিনী, ফরাসী বিপ্লবের সাথে সংশ্লিষ্ট। কাহিনীর সূত্রপাতে দেখা যায় Lucie Manette একজন তরুনী যে বিস্ময়ে ফেটে পড়ে তার বাবা Doctor Alexandre Manette এর জীবিত থাকার কথা শুনে। অত্যাচারি জমিদারের ষড়যন্ত্রে পড়ে নির্দোষ Doctor Manette জেল খাটতে বাধ্য হন। জেলে থাকা অবস্থায়ই তিনি মুচির কাজ শিখেন। তার মেয়ে Lucie বড় হবার পর বাবার কথা জানতে পেরে বাবাকে প্যারিস থেকে লন্ডনে নিয়ে আসেন। পথিমধ্যে তাদের সাথে পরিচয় হয় Charles Darnay এর সাথে।
এছাড়া পরবর্তীতে Sydney Carton প্রেমে পড়ে Lucie Manette এর । এই প্রেমের জন্য সে প্রান উৎসর্গ করতেও পিছপা হয় না।

উৎস: ব্রিটানিকা ও A Tale of Two Cities উপন্যাস।

George Gissing, in full George Robert Gissing, (born November 22, 1857, Wakefield, Yorkshire, England—died December 28, 1903, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France), English novelist, noted for the unflinching realism of his novels about the lower middle class.

Notable Works:
- “Charles Dickens: A Critical Study”
- “New Grub Street”
- “The Odd Women”
- “Workers in the Dawn”.

His work is serious—though not without a good deal of comic observation—interesting, scrupulously honest, and rather flat. It has a good deal of documentary interest for its detailed and accurate accounts of lower-middle-class London life.
- On the social position and psychology of women he is particularly acute: The Odd Women (1893) is a powerful study of female frustration.

Source: Britannica

It is a Short story by Edgar Allan Poe.
Edgar Allan Poe(1809-1849) Powerful American Poet. He also wrote some notable short stories. He is famous for the cultivation of mystery in his literary works. He paved the way for modern detective stories.
His tale “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841) initiated the modern detective story, and the atmosphere in his tales of horror is unrivaled in American fiction. His “The Raven” (1845) numbers among the best-known poems in the national literature
Best Works:
To helen.
The fall of the house of usher.
Eureka
The valley of unrest
The premature burial.
The tell-tale heart.
The pit and the pendulum.
The raven

Source:: Britannica.com

Mathew Arnold (1822-88): He was a poet and a critic. Mostly known for his strong moral voice. He was a professor of poetry at Oxford University.
Best works:
- Dover Beach: (Poem)
- The Scholar Gypsy
- Essays in Criticism
- Culture and anarchy
- Rugby Chapel. (Elegy, written in memoriam of his father)
- Sohrab and Rustum (Inspired by and retold from the epic Shahnama, written By Ferdousi)

Source: Britannica.com

It was written by Charlotte Bronte. It was her first novel.
Charlotte Bronte (1816-55) She is one of greatest women novelists. She is the eldest Bronte sister. Her biography is written by Mrs. Gaskell. It is known as: The life of Charlotte Bronte. Her pen name was Currer Bell.

Best works:
- Jane Eyre: (1847) It is a romantic novel.
Summary & Characters: Rochester and Jane Eyre. It is a story of the struggle of a woman. When the novel begins, the title character is a 10-year-old orphan who lives with her uncle’s family; her parents had died of typhus. Other than the nursemaid, the family ostracizes Jane.

- Shirley (1849)
- Villette (1853)
- The professor (first novel of her)

Source: Britannica.com 

Wuthering Heights is the ONLY novel written by Emily Bronte. This is a Gothic Novel.
Gothic Novel: অনেক সময়ই ভৌতিক উপাদান পাওয়া যায় এই উপন্যাসগুলোতে। পাশাপাশি দ্বন্দ্ব, সংঘাত কিংবা উন্মত্ততাও থাকে কাহিনীকে ঘিরে। A form of prose narrative which has a medieval setting, wild and horrific incidents and mysterious occurrences, sometimes comes with terrible outcomes.
The Luncheon is written by William Somerset Maugham, Author of the Novel, Heart of Darkness is by Joseph Conrad, and Animal Farm is written by George Orwell.
(Source: An ABC of English Literature by Professor Dr. M Mofizar Rahman)

Becky Thatcher is a fictional character from Mark Twain's legendary children’s novel 'The adventures of Tom sawyer'. Mark Twain's series of books featuring the fictional characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn include:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894)
Tom Sawyer, Detective (1896)
Mark Twain (1835-1910): His actual name was: Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Mark Twain was an American humorist, novelist, and travel writer. Twain is widely considered one of the greatest American writers of all time. He is also famous for his amazing travel narratives.

Other Notable Works of Mark Twain:
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
- A Tramp Abroad
- Following the Equator
- Letters from the Earth
- Old Times on the Mississippi
- Pudd’nhead Wilson
- Roughing It
- The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches
- The Gilded Age
- The Innocents Abroad
- The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
- The Prince and the Pauper

(Source: Britanica.com)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a collection of 12 Sherlock Holmes tales, previously published in The Strand Magazine, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and published in 1892.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: All of the stories within The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes are told in a first-person narrative from the point of view of Dr. Watson, as is the case for all but four of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry for Doyle suggests that the short stories contained in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes tend to point out social injustices

(Source: Britannica.com )

It is a famous quote by Samuel Butler.
Samuel Butler : ( 1835-1902) English novelist, essayist, and critic. He explained Iliad and Odyssey in prose.
The Way of All Flesh (1903), his autobiographical novel, is generally considered his masterpiece.
Best Works:
- Erewhon (Satire)
- The fair heaven
- The way of all flesh

(Source: Britannica.com)

Tales from Shakespeare is an English children's book written by the siblings Charles and Mary Lamb in 1807, intended ''for the use of young persons'' while retaining as much Shakespearean language as possible.
Charles Lamb (1775-1834):  He was basically an essayist.
His best works:
- Tales from Shakespeare,
- The Adventures of Ulysses,
- The essays of Elia (1823),
- The last Essays of Elia (1833)
Source: Britannica.com

"The spirit of the age" was an essay written by William Hazlitt.
He was a great critic.
His best works:
- The dramatic literature of the age of Elizabeth (1820) and
- The spirit of the Age (1825)
He was best known for his humanistic essays.
(Source: An ABC of English Literature By Professor Dr. M Mofizar Rahman)

Oscar Wilde (1856-1900) He was a poet, novelist and dramatist. This Irish born poet became London’s most popular playwright in the early 1890s. His full name was Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde.
Oscar Wilde’s literary reputation rests largely on his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) and on his masterful comedies of manners Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892)
Best Works:
- Lady Windermere’s Fan
- A woman of no importance
- An Ideal husband
- The importance of being earnest.
- The Picture of Dorian Gray
- De Profundis
- Intentions
- Poems
- Ravenna
- Salome
- The Ballad of Reading Gaol
- The Happy Prince and Other Tales

Hours of Idleness is a volume of poetry written by Lord Byron.
Lord Byron (1788-1824) Lord Byron was a British Romantic poet and satirist whose poetry and personality captured the imagination of Europe. He was tagged with many controversial issues, illegal sex affairs is one of them . He is remembered most for his great creation, Don Juan (1824) Epic Satire.
Lord Byron took part in war with Turks on behalf of Greeks. He is called the rebel poet. He died in Greece.

Best Works: (Poem)
- The Vision of Judgment (1822)
- Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (Autobiographical poem) This is his most popular and signatory literary works of him.
- Hours of Idleness (Volume of Poetry)
- Lara
- She walks in beauty
- Beppo
- English Bards and Scotch Reviewers
- Giaour
- Manfred
- Sardanapalus
- The Bride of Abydos
- The Prisoner of Chillon
- The Two Foscari
- The Corsair
- Robert Southee

Don Juan (1824) Epic Satire: In English literature, Don Juan (1819–1824), by Lord Byron, is a satirical, epic poem that portrays Don Juan not as a womaniser, but as a man easily seduced by women.

(Source: Britannica.com)

This was quoted by Mathew Arnold.
Mathew Arnold (1822-88): He was a poet and a critic. Mostly known for his strong moral voice. He was a professor of poetry at Oxford University.
Best works:
Dover Beach: (Poem)
The Scholar Gypsy
Essays in Criticism
Culture and anarchy
Rugby Chapel. (Elegy, written in memoriam of his father)
Sohrab and Rustum (Inspired by and retold from the epic Shahnama, written By Ferdousi)
(Source: Britannica.com)

Friedrich Engels was the co-author of this book along with Karl Marx.
Karl Marx (1818-1883): Karl Heinrich Marx was born in the Rhine province of Prussia, or in present Germany. He was a revolutionary, sociologist, historian, and economist. He worked primarily in the realm of political philosophy and was a famous advocate for communism.
He is one of the most influential writers of communist movements books.
Best Works;
- Das Kapital
- The communist Manifesto. (Co-author with Friedrich Engels.)
These two books created the foundation of communist movement.

Source: Britannica.com