১৪০ দিনে ৫১তম বিসিএস প্রস্তুতি

Helen of Troy, Greek Helene, in Greek legend, the most beautiful woman of Greece and the indirect cause of the Trojan War.
- She was daughter of Zeus, either by Leda or by Nemesis, and sister of the Dioscuri.
- As a young girl she was carried off by Theseus, but she was rescued by her brothers.

Source: Britannica.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."

Source: I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (Also called 'Daffodils')
BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936):
Rudyard Kipling Born in British India.
He is the first British who won Nobel prize in 1907.
He is mainly a Short Story writer.
His famous works were written in the Victorian Period (1832 - 1901).
- The Jungle Book (1894),
- Departmental Ditties (1886)
- Plain Tales from The Hills (1888)
- Soldiers Three (1890) etc.

Source: An ABC of English Literature - Dr M Mofizar Rahman.

“In the Seven Woods” is written by W.B Yeats.
It is a lyrical poem.

His other works:
- The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (1889)
- The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics (1892)
- In the Seven Woods (1903)
- Responsibilities and Other Poems (1916)
- The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
- Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921)
- The Tower (1928)

Source: An ABC OF English Literature - Dr. M. Mofizar Rahman and Britannica

The age of Pre Raphaelites consisted in the Victorian Period  (1832 - 1901).
Victorian Period:
This age named after Queen Victoria who regained over England from 1887 to 1901. 
- The twelve years from 1848 to 1860, of this age is called The age of Pre Raphaelites because the artists of this time followed the art forms used before the period of Raphael (1483-1520), the Italian artist. 

Source: An ABC of English Literature, Dr. M Mofizar Rahman.

Persona:
The speaker in a poem or novel. The speaker is necessarily not the writer of the poem or novel.
For example, the persona of Tennyson's "Ulysses" is Ulysses, the Greek hero, not Tennyson; 
the persona of Browning's 'My Last Duchess" is Duke of Ferrara, not Browning.

Source: An ABC of English Literature - Dr M Mofizar Rahman.

• Robinson Crusoe is a famous novel which is written by Daniel Defoe.
• The important character of Robinson Crusoe:
- Friday,
- Xury,
- The Spaniard,
- The Portuguese Captain.

In Robinson Crusoe's speech- 
"I made him know his Name should be Friday, which was the Day I sav’d his Life; I call’d him so for the Memory of the Time; I likewise taught him to say Master, and then let him know, that was to be my Name. "(Robinson Crusoe, ed. by J. Donald Crowley [Oxford University Press, 1998]).

Source: Robinson Crusoe and Encyclopedia of Britannica.

Ode:
An exalted lyric poem that begins with an address to someone instilanguish in the middle part  and end with consolation.
Odes are three types: 
- The Pindaric ode or Regular ode
- The Horatian ode and
- The Irregular ode 

Source: An ABC of English Literature - Dr M Mofizar Rahman.

• John Keats is a famous poet of Romantic Period.
• His famous quotation:
- 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty',
- 'A thing of beauty is a joy forever',
- 'Hearld melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter'.

Source: Encyclopedia of Britannica.

The Romantic Period of English Literature is 1798 to 1832; which means it belongs to the First half of 19th century.
The Victorian Period is 1832-1901; which belongs to 19 century.

source: An ABC of English Literature, Dr. M Mofizar Rahman.

English Literature Periods:
450 - 1066 :- The Old English Period
1066 - 1500 :- The Middle English Period
1500 - 1660 :- The Renaissance Period
1660 - 1785 :- The Neoclassical Period
1798 - 1832 :- Romantic Period
1832 - 1901 :- Victorian Period

The Renaissance Period is divided into 4 main periods.
- Elizabethan Period (1558-1603), 
- Jacobean Period (1603-1625), 
- Caroline Period (1625-1649) and
- Commonwealth Period (1649-1660).

The Neo-classical Period is divided into three shorter periods:
• The Restoration Period (1660-1700),
• The Augustan Period (1700-1745) and
• The Age of Sensibility (1745-1785/1798).

Source: An ABC of English Literature, Dr. M Mofizar Rahman.

The Gift of the Magi:
- short story by O. Henry, published in the New York Sunday World in 1905 and then collected in The Four Million (1906).
Plot:
- The story concerns James (Jim) and Della Dillingham Young, a young couple who, despite their poverty, individually resolve to give each other an elegant gift on Christmas Eve.

Source: Britannica.com

The Faerie Queene, one of the great long poems in the English language, written in the 16th century by Edmund Spenser.
- As originally conceived, the poem was to have been a religious-moral-political allegory in 12 books, each consisting of the adventures of a knight representing a particular moral virtue; Book I, for example, recounts the legend of the Red Cross Knight, or Holiness.
- The knights serve the Faerie Queene, who represents Glory and Queen Elizabeth I.

Source: Britannica.com

Pun or Paronomasia:
A play upon words which are similar in sound but different in meaning. 
- It occurs when single word conveys two meaning. 
- The title of Hemingway's famous novel, Farewell to Arms has a Pun on it. 

Source: An ABC of English Literature - Dr M Mofizar Rahman.

plot 
In  a literary work a plot is the logical arrangement of events designed to excite curiosity or suspense. 
- It is the structure or scheme of a literary work. 

Source: An ABC of English Literature - Dr M Mofizar Rahman.

Karl Marx's famous work ‘Das Kapital’ was published in the year - 1867

Karl Marx is the father of Socialism and modern scientific communism.
His famous books are:
- Das Kapital,
- Communist Manifesto,
- Holy Family,
- The Poverty of Philosophy.

Source: An ABC of English Literature, Dr M Mofizar Rahman and Encyclopedia of Britannica.

Paradise Lost, epic poem in blank verse, one of the late works by John Milton, originally issued in 10 books in 1667 and, with Books 7 and 10 each split into two parts, published in 12 books in the second edition of 1674.
The main characters in the poem are
- God,
- Lucifer (Satan),
- Adam, and
- Eve

Source: Britannica.

The Old English Period / The Anglo-Saxon Period (450-1066):

Main Literary Features of the Age:
- Most of the literary works are anonymous.
- Strong belief in Fate is reflected.
- Romantic love is absent.
- Attitude to women is respectful.
- In the Anglo-Saxon Period evil is symbolized by monsters.

Source: An ABC of English Literature - Dr M Mofizar Rahman

'Sons and Lovers', semiautobiographical novel by D.H. Lawrence, published in 1913.
- His first mature novel, it is a psychological study of the familial and love relationships of a working-class English family.

The novel revolves around Paul Morel, a sensitive young artist whose love for his mother, Gertrude, overshadows his romances with two women: Miriam Leivers, his repressed, religious girlfriend, and Clara Dawes, an experienced, independent married woman. Unable to watch his mother die slowly of cancer, Paul kills her with morphine. Despite losing her and rejecting both Miriam and Clara, Paul harbours hope for the future.

Source: Britannica.

Main Literary Features of The Middle English Period (1066-1500):
- Poetry serves as the main genre.
- Prose in English gets a strong foundation.
- The English language reaches a considerable standard though old spelling continues.
- Drama began in the form of ''Mystery Play,'' ''Morality Play'' and ''Interlude''.
- The writers of the age are influenced by Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio.
- Love, chivalry and religion are the three main literary subjects of this period.

Source: An ABC of English Literature, Dr. M Mofizar Rahman.

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories.
- Later in life, he also wrote Plays and Essays.
His well known works:
- War and Peace,
- Anna Karenina,
- A confession.

Andrew and Nichols are the character from War and Peace.

Source: Britannica.com

A narrative poem that tells a story through dialogue and action is called ballad.
- Ballad is mainly of two types:
1) The Folk and
2) The Literary Ballad.

Source: An ABC of English Literature - Dr M Mofizar Rahman

The Modern Period (1901-1939) is divided into two shorter periods.
One is The Edwardian Period (1901-1910)
and the other is The Georgian Period (1910-1939).
In second decade of 20th century there has been another movement known as Dadaism.
- In the 1920s surrealism replaces Dadaism. 

Source: An ABC of English Literature, Dr. M Mofizar Rahman.