Summary
Summary
1. Is the death meaningful in this poem?
2. Comment on the significance of ‘Ding – Dong’ in this poem.
3. Write the central idea of the poem ‘Full Fathom Five Thy Father
Lies’.
Long – Question
1. Write an essay on Life and Art.
3. Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies
William Shakespeare
Characters
Ariel : speaker or singer
Ferdinand : prince of Naples
Death man : Ferdinand's father
Theme : The death of
someone is very true and natural. So we should not mourn too-much about the
death of our loved ones.
Summary
The poem “Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies” is a song sung by the Spirit Ariel in Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”. The Spirit sings this song to Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, who mistakenly thinks that his father is drowned.
The speaker of this poem is Ariel who is very powerful spirit of wind who flies lightly and invisibly playing music and singing songs. Here he sings the song about the death of Ferdinand’s father. According to him, Ferdinand’s father lies thirty feet below the surface of the sea. Ferdinand is very worried about the death of his father. Giving him sympathy Ariel says that his father has got quite meaningful death. His body is not decayed. Every part of his body has been changed into something beautiful, valuable and strange. His eyes are transformed into pearls and bones are’ changed into coral. The sea nymphs welcome his death by ringing the death bell “Ding-dong” every hour.
In this poem, the spirit Ariel has presented very artful and melodious description about the death of Ferdinand’s father. The prince of Naples is worried thinking that his father is drowned. He is very sad about the meaningless death of his father. However, Ariel gives him sympathy by making the death meaningful through his powerful and magical description. He says that nothing of the dead body has decayed or rotten wastefully. Everything of the dead body is changed into meaningful and precious objects at the bottom of the sea. Ariel finally requests Ferdinand to listen to the death-bell rung by the sea nymphs to welcome his father’s beautiful and meaningful death.
In short:
In the poem the spirit, Ariel talks about meaningful death of Ferdinand's father. He says that his father is in the depth of the sea. But every part of his body is changed into valuable things. No parts of his body is decayed and destroyed, for example his eyes are changed into pearl like-wise other parts are changed into something rich and valuable. The sea nymphs ring his death bell every hour.
Short-Questions
1. Is the death meaningful in this poem?
Yes, in this poem the death is quite meaningful. Because every parts of the death body of his father has been changed into something valuable. The eyes are transformed into pearl; bones are changed into coral etc. Nothing is decayed and damaged. Even the sea nymphs welcome him ringing the death bell hourly.
2. Comment on the significance of ‘Ding – Dong’ in this poem.
The sound ‘Ding – Dong’ imitates the sound of the bell. According to the spirit Ariel, the sound of the bell which is rung slowly for the death of Ferdinand’s father’s parts of body. The sound of the bell ‘Ding – Dong’ has onomatopoeic (it is a word contained sounds similar to noise they describe, animal sounds are often onomatopoeias, meow for cat noise.) effect. The sound represents the repetition of the information of the death. The nasal sound ‘ng’ produces lasting, exciting effects and the harsh sound of‘d’ reminds us of ‘death’. ‘Ding – Dong’ is the sound of the death bell. And it also produces music and melody in the poem.
3. Write the central idea of the poem ‘Full Fathom Five Thy Father
Lies’.
The central idea of the poem is that
the death of someone is very true and natural. So we should not mourn too-much
about the death of our loved ones.
Through this poem, the writer tries to explain the meaning of death to the
prince. One has born once s/he must be dying to maintain the balance of nature.
Thus, this is the value of life and one understands the meaning of human life.
Long – Question
1. Write an essay on Life and Art.
Oxford Advance Learner Dictionary define life as “the ability to breathe, grow, reproduce, etc. which people, animals and plants have before they die and which objects do not have, and art as “the use of the imagination to express ideas or feelings, particularly in painting, drawing or sculpture”. Life and art, both are inseparable. Life is mysterious and art is a way of imitation of life. Life is related to experience of happiness and sadness, success and failure, laughter and tears, certainties and uncertainties etc. whereas art is related to creation. Art brings success to life although human being’s life is mortal. Man desires to achieve goals, has visions, passions, insights and aspirations. We experience emotions and feelings in life. These experiences and ideas come and go, and life goes on. Art brings success and without it life becomes dull and boring, like a dreary desert.
Man has a natural trend to give an passage/way to his passions, emotions and sentiments, writing poems, novels, dramas etc. painting and drawing a picture , and composing music, being actors are all arts or playing games. Art is the main source of joy and it makes our lives joyful and attractive. Art makes life beautiful and meaningful, without it life seems meaningless and unattractive. A fine art attracts our mind. When we enjoy the arts, we recognize harmony in the object and feel harmony within ourselves. All activities related with the production of art give us deep satisfaction. Works of art have value for us. So there is a strong relationship between art and life. Every one should have harmony between life and art, which leads our lives towards satisfaction.
2. How does Shakespeare present the meaningfulness of death in the poem
“Full Fathom Five Thy Father Leis”? Give our own idea about the meaningfulness
of death in our life.
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