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With whom I converse day by day;
With them I take delight in weal
And seek relief in woe;
And while I understand and feel
How much to them I owe,
My cheeks have often been bedew'd
With tears of thoughtful gratitude.
- Robert Southey
(a) What is the central idea of the poem?
(b) Who are the "mighty minds"?
(c) Who are the poet's friends and how are they never-failing?
(d) Explain:
My Cheeks have often been bedew'd
With tears of thoughtful gratitude."
3. We scatter seeds with careless hand
And dream we ne'er shall see them more :
But for a thousand years
Their fruit appears
In weeds that mar the land,
Or healthful store.
The deeds we do - the words we say
Into still air they seem to float;
We count them ever past -
But they shall last,
In the dread judgement, they
And we shall meet !
(a) What is the central idea of the poem?
(b) Explain the imagery of the first stanza.
(c) Show how wrong we are about the consequences of our words and our deeds.
(d) Explain :
"In the dread judgement, they
And we shall meet."
4. Oh, sweet content, that turns the labourer's sweat
To tears of joy, and shines the roughest face;
How often have I sought you high and low
And found you still in some quiet place;
Here in my room, when full of happy dreams
With no life heard beyond that merry sound
Of moths that on my lighted ceiling kiss
Their shadows as they dance and dance around;
Or in a garden, on a summer's night
When I have seen the dark and solemn air
Blink with the blind bat's wings, and heaven's bright face
Twitch with the stars that shine in thousands there.
(a) Where does the poet seek sweet content? Where does he find it?
(b) What striking word-pictures are contained in the poem?
(c) Name and explain the figures of speech in the last two lines.
(d) Give a suitable title to the poem.
5. Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told.
That deep – brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;
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Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till 1 heard Chapman speak out loud and hold;
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific - and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise-Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
- John Keats
(a) What idea is expressed in the first four lines of the sonnet?
(b) Explain the significance of the phrase "deep-browed Homer".
(c) What striking pictures are presented in the last six lines of the poem?
(d) Quote the line which you think produces the greatest musical effect.
(e) Explain : "pure severte"; "eagle eyes";"wild surmise".
6. Strew on her roses, roses,
And never a spray of yew !
In quiev she reposes;
Ah, would that I did too;
Her mirth the world required;
She bathed it in smiles of glee
But her heart was tired, tired,
And now they let her be.
Her life was turning, turning,
In mazes of heat and sound.
But for peace her soul was yearning,
And now peace laps her round,
Her cabin'd, ample spirit,
It fluttered and fail'd for breath.
To-night it doth inherit
The vasty hall of death.
- Matthew Arnold
(a) Does the poet show any grief at the person's death?
What exactly are his feelings on the occasion?
(b) Quote examples of repetition from the poem.
(c) What do you gather about the life of the dead person from the poem?
(d) Explain :
(i) "Her cabin'd, simple spirit.
It flutter'd and fail'd for breath."
(ii) "To-night it doth inherit
The vasty hall of death."
7. Books ! 'tis a dull and endless strife :
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music ! on my life
There's more of wisdom in it.
And hark ! how blithe the throstle sings,
He too is no mean preacher :
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher...
Enough of Science and of Art;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart That watches and receives.
(a) Name and explain the figure of speech in the sixth line.
(b) What feelings does the poet seek to awaken in you by the following exclamations?
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"Books !""hark!"
(c) What kind of teaching does Nature give?
(d) Explain ."the light of things"; "a heart that watches and receives".
- S.S.C. Examination
8. They tell us of an Indian tree
Which, howsoe'er the sun and the sky
May tempt its boughs to wander free
And shoot and blossom wide and high
Far better loves to bend its arms
Downwards again to that dear earth,
From which the life that fills and warms
Its grateful being first had birth.
Tis thus, though wooed by flattering friends
And fed with fame (if fame it be),
This heart, my own dear mother, bends
With love's true instinct back to thee.
(a) Name the figures of speech in the second and the third lines.
(b) Why is the tree considered "grateful"?
(c) In what respect is the poet like the tree?
(d) Explain : "Wooed by flattering friends"; "Shoot and blossom wide and high."
- S.S.C. Examination
CHAPTER 44
PARAPHRASING
The word "parapharse" (from the Greek, meaning literally "equivalent sentence") is
defined as "'restatement of the sense of a passage in other words." It is "the reproduction
in one's own natural idiom or style of the full sense of a passage written in another idiom
or style."
I. USES OF PARAPHRASING
Someone has said, with a sneer, that paraphrase "usually takes the form of converting
good English into bad." But this need not be so; and if in any case it is so, then the
paraphrase in question is a bad paraphrase. It should be the aim of the pupil to improve
his English by the practice of paraphrasing, and of the teacher to see that the English in
which his pupil's paraphrases are written in good English.
Paraphrasing has two important uses :-
(a) As an Exercise in Composition, (i) It is, first, a good test of a pupil's ability to
understand what he reads; and is, therefore, an excellent method of training the mind to
concentrate on what one reads and so to read intelligently. For it is impossible to
paraphrase any passage without a firm grasp of its meaning.
(ii) It is, secondly, a fine training in the art of expressing, what one wants to say, simply,
clearly and directly. Incidentally, it gives valuable practice in grammatical and idiomatic
composition.
A man who has once acquired the art of intelligent reading and of lucid expression, has
received no mean measure of education.
(b) A second use of paraphrase is that it forms a valuable method
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of explanation. Indeed, it is often the best way of explaining an involved or ornate
passage of prose or of an obscure piece of poetry. So annotators of poems often make use
of it. For example, take the note in Palgrave's "Golden Treasury" (Oxford University
Press) on this verse from Browning's "Rabbi Ben Ezra" :-
Enough now, if the Right
And Good and Infinite
Be named here, as thou callest thy hand thine own.
With knowledge absolute,
Subject to no dispute.
From fools that crowded youth, nor let these feel alone.
Note :- "It is enough if in age we can get as absolute a knowledge of Right and Wrong,
Good and Evil, the Changing and the Eternal, as we have of our own hands."
II. CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD PARAPHRASE
1. Translation :- Paraphrasing is really a species of translation; for though a paraphrase is
not a translation from one tongue into another (as from Urdu or Tamil into English), it is
a translation of one man's words into the words of another in the same language. And as a
translation must be accurate and explanatory to be of any value, so a paraphrase must
faithfully reproduce and interpret the thought of the original passage.
A passage written in a very terse or compressed style has to be expanded in translation.
For instance, this saying from Bacon's
"Essays.":-
Prosperity doth best discover vice, but Adversity doth best discover virtue.
Paraphrase:- When a man is prosperous, there is more chance of his bad qualities coming
to light; but when he is unfortunate or in trouble, his good qualities are more likely to
show themselves.
A verbose passage needs compression in translation. Here is a humorous illustration
given by Ruskin in a lecture at Oxford. He said that, whereas in his youth he might have
informed a man that his house was on fire in the following way-"Sir, the abode in which
you probably passed the delightful days of your youth is in danger of inflammation,"
then, being older and wiser, he would say simply, "Sir, your house is on fire."
In the following passage by Sydney Smith, the long words and humorously ornate sytle
need translating into simple language :-
Whoever had the good fortune to see Dr. Parr's wig, must have observed that, while it
trespasses a little on the orthodox magnitude of perukes in the anterior parts, it scorns
even episcopal limits behind, and swells out into a boundless convexity of frizz.
Paraphrase :- All who have seen Dr. Parr's wig must have been struck with its enormous
size. Even in front it is larger than the usual style of wig; but behind it is fuller even than
the wigs worn by bishops, and swells out into a gigantic round of curls.
2. Fullness :- Paraphrasing differs from somerrising or precis-
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writing, inasmuch as a paraphrase must reproduce, not only the substance or general
meaning, but also the details, of a passage. Nothing in the original may be left
unrepresented in the paraphrase. It is, therefore, a full reproduction. The difference
between a summary and a paraphrase may be illustrated by giving both of the following
verse :-
The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things :
There is no armour against fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings;
Sceptre and Crown
Must tumble down.
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade. .
A work from S. CHAND & COMPANY LTD.
Summary :- High birth and rank arc nothing; for in death, which claims all, peasants are
equal with kings.
Paraphrase :- Nobility of birth and exalted rank, of which men so proudly boast, are mere
illusions and quickly pass away. They cannot protect their proud possessors from the
common fale of all mankind - death. Even kings, like the meanest of their subjects, must
die; and in the grave the poor peasant is equal with the haughty monarch.
While nothing in the original is to be unrepresented in the paraphrase, nothing is to be
added to it. To insert ideas or illustrations of your own is not allowed. The paraphrase
must be "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
There is no rule for the length of a paraphrase as compared with the length of the original
passage; but, as in paraphrasing we have frequently to expand concise sentences to make
their meaning clear, a paraphrase is usually as long as, and is often longer than, the
original. In the above example, for instance, the verse has 45 words, the summary 17 but
the paraphrase has 56.
3. Wholeness :- In paraphrasing, the passage to be paraphrased must be treated as a
whole. The practice of taking the original line by line, or sentence by sentence, and
simply turning these into different words is not paraphrasing at all. Until the pasage is
grasped as a whole, no attempt should be made to paraphrase it. What we have to try to
do is to get behind the words to the idea in the author's mind which begot them. This is
not an easy task, and calls for imagination and concentration of thought; but unless we
can do it, we shall never produce a good paraphrase.
Suppose, for example, you are asked to paraphrase this sonnet:
Much have I traveled in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
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Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had 1 been told
That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold;
- Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific-and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise-
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
- J. Keats
The mechanical line by line method of paraphrasing is of no use here. Before any
satisfactory paraphrase can be produced the central meaning of the whole must be
grasped. What is it? Well, it may be expressed thus :
Keats had read widely in English literature, especially poetry, but he knew nothing of the
poetic literature of ancient Greece until he read Chapman's translation of Homer's Illiad.
This was a revelation to him; and as he read, he felt all the wonder and joy felt by an
astronomer when he discovers a new star, or an explorer when he discovers an unknown
ocean.
4. A Complete Piece of Prose :- Lastly, a good paraphrase is so well constructed and
written that it will read as an independent and complete composition in idiomatic English.
It should in itself be perfectly clear and intelligible, without any reference to the original
passage. A paraphrase should be a piece of good prose that anyone would understand and
read with pleasure, even if he had never seen the original upon which it is based.
(Note :- Explanatory notes, either attached to, or inserted in the body of, the paraphrase,
must never be resorted to. All the explanation required must be in the paraphrase itself.
The insertion of explanatory notes is a confession of failure in paraphrasing).
To be successful in paraphrasing, it is necesary to keep these four points always in mind;
for, if they are forgotten, the mere changing of the words and constructions of a passage
will never make a real paraphrase. If your paraphrase is not a faithful translation of the
original passage into your own words; if it does not reproduce all the details, omitting
nothing if it does not reproduce the passage as a whole; and if it is not a self-contained
composition, intelligible without reference to the original - then, your paraphrase is a
failure.
III. THE PARAPHRASE OF POETRY
These are some special points in the paraphrasing of poetry that may be explained
separately.
One thing must be made clear to start with and that is that, as poetry in one language can
never be translated into another without loosing much, if not all, of its charm, so poetry
can never be translated.
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into prose. It is impossible to give in prose the same impression as is conveyed by a
poem. The reason for 'his is that the matter and the form, the spirit and the letter, the soul
ad the body, of a poem are so inextricably intermingled that you cannot change the form
without losing the spirit - that is, the poetry itself. The rhythm and the verbal music in
which lies much of the magic of poetry, must be lost. Even the finest prose paraphrase of
a poem is not, and can never be, a poem. All that a paraphrase can convey is the meaning
of a poem. Nevertheless, the paraphrasing of poetry is a useful exercise in composition,
and may often be a valuable help in interpreting the meaning of poems.
The peculiar difficulty of paraphrasing poetry lies in the difference between the language
of verse and prose.
(a) Difference in words - Poets often use archaic or unusual words that are no longer in
use in colloquial speech, and which are not generally found in prose writing. Examples :-
brand, for sword; carol, for song; a cot, for a cottage; argosy, for merchantship; ere, for
before; o'er, for over; of yore, for in the past; I ween, for I think; oft-times, for often; I
trow, for I am of opinion; aught, for anything; anent, for about; chide, for scold; save, for
except; forefathers, for ancestors; perchance, belike and haply, for perhaps; albeit, for
although; damsel, for girl; dame, for lady; sire, for father; quoth, for said; withal, in
addition; to boot, as well; well-nigh, almost - and many more. Modern poets generally
avoid such words, but they are frequent in older poetry. In paraphrasing, modern
equivalents should always be substi tuted for such words.
(b) Difference in the order of words - Inversion, i.e., any change in the normal
grammatical order of words in a sentence - subject, verb, object - is much more common
in poetry than in prose. For example :-
"Mine be a cot beside a hill;"
instead of, - May a Cot beside a hill be mine.
"A barking sound the shepherd hears;"
instead of, - The shepherd hears a barking sound.
"Not, Celia, that I jester am
Or better than the rest;" instead of,
- Not that I am jester, etc.
[Note-This getting rid of inversion is the chief thing we have to do in giving the prose
order of a verse. In "prose order" exercises we retain all the words of the original, simply
rearranging them in the usual grammatical sequence. Words may be added here and there
to complete the grammatical construction where necessary. These should be put in
brackets. Of course this is not paraphrasing. For example, take this verse :-
"On Linden, when the sun was low,
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And dark as winter was the flow Of Iser, rolling rapidly."
There is an inversion in *lach sentence. Change these, and the prose order will be :-
The untrodden snow lay all bloodless on Linden when the sun was low, and the flow of
(the) rapidly rolling Iser was (as) dark as winter.]
(c) Flowery and ornamental language. Such language, frequent in verse, should be
simplified in prose. For example :-
"Now the golden morn aloft
Waves her dew-bespangled wing,
With vermile cheek and whisper soft
She woos the tardy Spring."
(d) Rhythm and Rhyme, so characteristic of verse, have no place in prose, and must be
avoided in paraphrasing.
IV. SPECIAL HINTS
(a) Direct and Indirect Speech - A paraphrase may be written in either; but (unless
indirect speech is definitely required), it is better to use direct speech, for indirect speech,
(especially for Indian students writing in English) is full of traps for the unwary.
(b) Metaphors - The best way to deal with metaphors, is to resolve them into similes. For
example-
"Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of Heaven, Blossomed the lovely stars, the
forget-me-nots of the angels."
This might be paraphrased thus-
The stars came out one by one silently in the vast sky, like forget-me-nots flowering in
the fields.
In some cases the metaphor may be dropped altogether, and the literal meaning given
instead. For instance, the first line of Keats' sonnet (see above, p. 461), "Much have I
travelled in the realms of gold" may be rendered, - I have read widely in classical
literature.
(c) Abstract used for concrete - When the abstract is used for the concrete, the concrete
should be restored. For example, "Let not ambition mock their useful toil," should
become, - Ambitious men should not despise the useful labour of poor peasants.
(d) Rhetorical questions - These should be changed into direct affirmations or negations.
For example, "Are we not better armed than our foes?" should become,-We are better
armed than our enemies; and, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?" may be
paraphrased, - I am not so contemptible a creature as to commit such a crime.
(e) Exclamations :- These should be turned into simple statements. For example, "O for a
lodge in some vast wilderness !" can be paraphrased,-I wish I had a secluded refuge
remote from human society.
(f) Apostrophe :- In paraphrasing poems addressed in the second person, it is better to use
the plural you than the singular thou, partly because thou is not used in ordinary prose,
and partly because the construction of verbs in the second person plural is simpler. But is
adonted. must be kept to consistently throughout. It is a
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very bad form to begin with thou and later drop into you. Such passages may be rendered
in the third person also; for instance, the first line of Matthew Arnold's sonnet
Shakespeare, "Others abide our question--Thou ait free !" may be rendered,-We can
freely criticise other authors, but Shakespeare is beyond our criticism.
V. METHOD OF PROCEDURE
1. Because no one can paraphrase a passage which he does not undestand, first read the
passage slowly and carefully until you feel you have firmly grasped its general meaning.
If one reading does not make this clear, read it again and yet again, and study it until you
thoroughly understand it. This first step is all important. (It is a good thing to write down
at this stage a brief summary, concisely expressing the gist or main theme of the
passage.)
2. Next, read the passage again with a view to its details. Note all uncommon or difficult
words, and all idioms and unusual grammatical constructions, metaphors and figures of
speech, remembering that you are to express, not only the substance, but also the details,
of the passage in your own way.
3. Now, keeping clearly in mind the main purport of the passage, prepare to reproduce the
passage in your own words, in simple and direct English, not leaving anything in the
original unrepresented in your paraphrase.
4. Treat the passage as a whole. Do not work word by word, or line by line; but from the
beginning keep the end in view.
5. You may rearrange the order of sentences, and even of the whole passage, if this can
make the meaning clear.
6. Break up a long sentence into several short ones, or combine several short sentences
into one long, if by so doing you can make the whole more easily understood.
7. Do not change words simply for the sake of change. No word can ever precisely take
the place of another; and when a word in the original is perfectly simple in meaning and
the best word in that place, it is a mistake to alter it. But all words and phrases that are at
all archaic, obscure, technical, or uncommon should be changed into suitable synonyms.
(N.B.-Never substitute a difficult or unusual word for a simple and familiar word; e.g., do
not put "ratiocination" for "argument.")
8. Explanatory notes are altogether out of place in a paraphrase, and their presence is a
confession of failure in paraphrasing. All explanations of difficulties must be intrinsic
parts of the paraphrase itself. If any sentence in the paraphrase requires a note to explain
it, you must rewrite the sentence until it explains itself.
9. A common fault in using indirect speech is the constant repetition of the "saying verb"-
e.g., 'The poet says that' - 'The poet further says' - 'The poet again remarks that', and so
on. The 'verb of
saying', if used at all, should come once, at the beginning and not again,
A work from S. CHAND & COMPANY LTD.
Page 466
10. Write out a rough draft of your paraphrase first. (You may have to write several drafts
before you get the paraphrase to your satisfaction.) Revise this carefully, comparing it
with the original to see that you have omitted nothing, over- (or under-) emphasised
nothing, nor imitated the original too closely. Correct any mistakes in spelling,
punctuation, grammar or idiom. Read it aloud (for the ear sometimes can detect a blemish
which the eye overlooks) to hear if it reads well as a piece of good English.
11. If, after taking pains, you feel the paraphrase is as good as you can make it, finally
write out the fair copy neatly and legibly.
SPECIMENS
-1-
Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land?
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd.
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd.
From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self.
Living, shall forfeit fair renown.
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.
- Scott
PARAPHRASE
It is difficult to believe, that any man can be so spiritually dead as to have no love for his
native country after travelling in foreign lands. But if such an unpatriotic person does
exist, take careful note of his career; and you will find that he will never inspire poets to
celebrate him in deathless song. He may be a man of high rank, of noble family and of
riches beyond the dreams of avarice; but these great advantages will not save him from
oblivion. In spite of them all, he will win no fame during his lifetime; and when he dies
he will die in a double sense. His body will return to the dust whence it came, and his
name will be forgotten. None will weep for him, none will honour him, and no poet will
keep his name alive in immortal poetry.
-2-
Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate.
All but the page prescribed, their present state :
From brutes what men, from men what spirits know;
Or who could suffer being here below?
The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day,
Had he thy reason, would he skip and play?
Pleas'd to the last, he crops the flow'ry food,
And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood.
Oh, blindness to the future ! kindly giv'n.
That each may fill the circle mark'd by Heav'n,
Who sees with equal eyes, as God of all.
A hm-n npi-kh or a snarrow fall.
- Pope
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PARAPHRASE
It would be impossible for us to continue living in this world if each of us knew exactly
what fate had in store for him. So God in His mercy conceals the future from all His
creatures, and reveals only the present. He hides from the animals what men know, and
He hides from men what the angels know. For example if a lamb had reason like a man, it
could not gambol happily, knowing it was destined to be killed for human food. But,
being quite ignorant of its fate, it is happy to the last minute of its short life contentedly
grazing in the flowery meadow, and even in its innocence licks the hand of the butcher
who is about to slaughter it. What a blessing it is that we are ignorant of the future ! God,
to Whom the death of a sparrow is of equal importance with the death of a hero, has in
His mercy thus limited our knowledge, so that we might fulfil our duty in the sphere to
which He has appointed us.
-3-
Perseverance is the very hinge of all virtues. On looking over the world, the cause of
nine-tenths of the lamentable failures which occur in men's undertakings, and darken and
degrade so much of their history, lies not in the want of talents, or the will to use them,
but in the vacillating and desultory mode of using them, in flying from object to object, in
staring away at each little disgust, and thus applying the force which might conquer any
one difficulty to a series of difficulties, so large that no human force can conquer them.
The smallest brook on earth, by continuing to run, has hollowed out for itself a
considerable valley to flow in. Commend me therefore to the virtue of perseverance.
Without it all the rest are little better than fairy gold, which glitters in your purse, but
when taken to market proves to be slate or cinders.
- Carlyle
PARAPHRASE
All the virtues depend on (he one virtue of perseverance. It is lack of perseverance, not
lack of ability, that is the cause of most of the sad failures that stain the history of
mankind. It is because men do not persevere in overcoming one difficulty at a time, that
they fail. Instead of sticking to one aim in life until it is realized, they hesitate, get
discouraged at every small rebuff, change from one aim to another, and so create for
themselves such a series of difficulties as can never be overcome by human power.
Hence they fail to accomplish anything. Even a small stream will carve out for itself a
deep and wide channel simply by constantly flowing. Without perseverance, all the other
virtues are like the deceitful fairy gold of the fairy-tales, which turns to worthless stones
when you try to use it as money in the shops.
Exercise 164
Paraphrase the following :-
1. Some murmur, when their sky is clear
And wholly bright to view,
