BA3001-III English-III (Semester-III) – Comprehensive Revision Notes

Scheme & Logistics

• Paper Code: BA3001-III – English–III (Compulsory)
• Max. Marks: 80 | Time: 3 Hrs
• Question Pattern
– Q1: Explanation/Reference (2/3) – $10$
– Q2: Short Answers (5/8 | ≈50 wds) – $15$
– Q3: Essays (2×150-200 wds) – $15$
– Q4: Short Notes on Poetic Forms/Devices (4/6) – $10$
– Q5: Grammar – Clauses (20/30 Do-as-directed) – $20$
– Q6: Translation (Eng→Hindi) – $5$
– Q7: Dialogue (1/3 topics ≈150 wds) – $5$
• Prescribed Book: Centre Stage (Orient Blackswan) + DDE Notes: Literature & Language-III

Unit-wise Content Map

The Envoy (Duta-Vākya) – Dr Manjeet Rathee
The Swan Song – Dr Manjeet Rathee
The Monkey’s Paw – Dr Loveleen
Before Breakfast – Dr Loveleen
Poetic Forms & Devices – Dr Randeep Rana

Unit I – The Envoy (Bhasa)

• Author: Mahākavi Bhāsa (3rd C A.D.); rediscovered 1912; innovator of Sanskrit drama (no benediction openings, stage directions, accessible language).
• Play in brief
– Backdrop: Mahābhārata, eve of Kurukṣetra war.
– Action: Kṛṣṇa arrives in Hastināpur as Pandava envoy; Duryodhana plans to insult & arrest him; Kṛṣṇa reveals divine power, calls Sudarśana; Dhṛtarāṣṭra seeks pardon.
• Key Characters: Duryodhana, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Chamberlain, Karṇa, Sudarśana (chakra).
• Themes/Issues
– Diplomacy vs arrogance; peace vs war.
– Dharma, hubris, cosmic justice.
– Use of vīra & adbhuta rasas; Arabhāti style.
• Structural Notes: One-act vyāyoga/vīthī; rapid entrances; picture-scroll device; physical disappearance for divine epiphany.
• Important Imagery: Draupadī’s humiliation painting; Kṛṣṇa’s universal form.
• Exam Pointers: meanings of title, Sudarśana’s role, check-your-progress Qs.

Unit II – The Swan Song (Anton Chekhov)

• Author Glimpse: Russian master of modern short story & mood-driven drama (1860-1904).
• Setting: Empty provincial theatre after benefit performance.
• Plot: 68-yr-old actor Vasili Svietlovidov wakes drunk, forgotten; only prompter Nikita Ivanitch present. He relives glory, laments loneliness, performs Shakespearean & Pushkin monologues; ends in bittersweet affirmation that art outlives the artist.
• Characters
– Svietlovidov: ageing, once-famed comedian; aristocratic past; self-pity yet flashes of genius.
– Nikita: humble, loyal prompter – compassion personified.
• Motifs: darkness/light, stage as life, "swan-song" (final utterance).
• Themes: Art vs mortality; vanity of fame; social status of actors in pre-revolutionary Russia.
• Dramatic Devices: On-stage monologue, play-within-play quotations, pathetic fallacy (howling wind).
• Questions: meaning of title; role of prompter; irony in actor’s public adoration/private neglect.

Unit III – The Monkey’s Paw (W. W. Jacobs)

• Author: English storyteller (1863-1943), known for sea-tales & horror classic.
• Genre: Supernatural suspense; fatalistic fairy-tale inversion of "three wishes".
• Plot Arc

Sergeant-Major Morris brings mummified paw to Mr & Mrs White + son Herbert in rural England; warns of spell (3 wishes × 3 men).
Wish-1: £200 → paw twists; next day Herbert killed at factory; compensation £200.
Wish-2 (mother’s demand): Herbert alive again → eerie knocking at night.
Wish-3 (father): for knocking presence to disappear → silence, deserted road.
• Characters: White family, Sgt. Morris, Maw & Meggins’ messenger.
• Major Themes: Fate vs free will; greed; unintended consequences; colonial exoticism.
• Literary Devices
– Foreshadowing: chess moves, storm, smashed piano chord.
– Irony: money gained through loss.
– Symbolism: paw = tempting power/Orientalist mystery.
– Gothic setting: wind, darkness, isolated villa.
• Ethical Angle: hubris in meddling with destiny.

Unit IV – Before Breakfast (Eugene O’Neill)

• Author: Nobel-laureate, father of American psychological realism (1888-1953).
• Form: One-act monologue (Mrs Rowland); off-stage presence of husband Alfred.
• Setting: Cramped Greenwich Village bedsit, early morning.
• Storyline: Wife nags unemployed, alcoholic, adulterous husband; discovers lover’s letter; vents class resentment; sudden crash—husband’s implied suicide—she flees screaming.
• Themes
– Marital disintegration; economic despair; illusion vs reality of artistic life.
– American Dream debunked; gendered sacrifice; urban poverty.
• Dramatic Techniques: Realist detail (dirty dishes, pawn tickets); one-sided dialogue heightens tension; unseen character = audience imagination.
• Key Lines: "You never even look for a job. All you do is moon around…"

Unit V – Core Poetic Devices

Irony

• Verbal: say opposite of meaning – "Great job!" to a blunder.
• Situational: fire station burns down.
• Dramatic: audience knows Juliet is alive, Romeo doesn’t.

Imagery

• Appeals to senses: visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, gustatory.
• Keats’ "hedge-crickets sing…" = auditory autumn.

Paradox

• Self-contradictory yet true: "The child is father of the man."
• Orwell: "All animals are equal, but some more equal."

Symbolism

• Object ⇒ deeper idea: stage = world (Shakespeare); red light = stop.

Satire

• Humorous ridicule to reform; Pope’s Rape of the Lock mocks vanity; editorial cartoons.

Personification

• Non-human given human traits: "The wind whispered."

Allusion

• Brief reference to known text/event: "He met his Waterloo." (Napoleon).

Hyperbole

• Exaggeration for emphasis: "I’ve told you a million times!"

Synecdoche

• Part for whole or vice-versa: "All hands on deck" (=sailors).

Metonymy

• Close association substitution: "The White House announced…" (=President/administration).

Grammar Capsule – Clauses

• Noun Clause: acts as noun – "What you did** surprises me."
• Adverbial Clause: modifies verb/adj – "I’ll call when I arrive."
• Conditional Clause: expresses condition – "If it rains, we’ll stay in."
– Types:
▪ Zero: $\text{If/When + present, present}$ (facts).
▪ First: $\text{If + present, will + base}$ (real future).
▪ Second: $\text{If + past, would + base}$ (unreal present).
▪ Third: $\text{If + past perfect, would have + past participle}$ (unreal past).

Study & Exam Tips

• Annotate key speeches (Envoy & Swan Song) for figures of speech.
• Practise 20 clause transformations daily for Q5.
• Prepare 3-line summaries for each poetic device for Q4.
• Time-manage essays: 10 min plan, 25 min write, 5 min revise.
• Translate 80-word passages from news sites Eng→Hindi to build speed for Q6.