September 5, 2004

TRAGEDY of destiny is what you may refer to my misfortune of not having anyone in the family who is a Masters in English Literature. That’s because I am the odd one who has decided to become one. The tragedy becomes a shade darker when I discover that none in our family and close family-friends are interested in doing so either! I wonder what Shakespeare would have said to that?

Though many around me are interested in reading literature, but there is a clear distinction between reading and studying literature. And what’s more, my teachers aren’t that helpful at all. If we asked for some guidance, the reply, after a short yet meaningful and somewhat cold stare, “It’s not a piece of cake that you could swallow without any trouble; you need lot of reading and hard work to do. It is more perilous than you might have thought it to be.”

With such encouraging signs, I had started to doubt at my ability to do M.A. in English. Surely, I would find a way to break free from their enchanted castle of horror and fear with my determination! Eureka! I yelled, as I discovered the key to all the horror. Of course, it in was the Internet.

Barring a few minor details, I found everything I wanted on a variety of web sites. From site meant to help students have a better understanding of English literature, I even discovered those that have notes and guides. Ha, where’s the cake now, eh? (sorry, but I just felt like saying that).

Anyway, my first stop and one, that has also become my favourite, is the site, aptly called GradeSaver www.gradsaver.com. The detailed and brief analysis provided here is truly classy. I found everything here that was required by me for my first semester, (I desperately hope that none of my teachers are reading this!) What appealed to me more about this site are the brief summaries and character analysis that are available here.

From the list of authors and titles you can easily find the genre of your need and liking. Fiction, poetry, literature and society and drama, you’ll find it all here. But what troubled me about the site is that I could not find notes on history.

But all my apprehensions vanished into thin air as I discovered a web site that has in-depth history of English literature. And though there are notes available on fiction etc. as well, you will not find a better site for history than Bartleby www.bartleyby.com.

Unlike many history books that I had to read for references, the language used here is simple and easy to follow. The history too is brief and to the point. It deals with history of British literature as well as American. So, hopefully I will not have to worry about my second semester at all.

When I was through with the history of literature I started to try my luck in drama (not by performing) and the one I found out served my purpose quite well — www.clicknotes.com. The most striking feature of the web site is that it deals with nothing but Shakespeare. Here you can navigate through some of the classic tragedies — Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Twelfth Night and the eternal love story, Romeo and Juliet.

If you are studying Shakespeare’s plays and that too not just for fun, but for exams, there is no way you can make it without consulting Shakespearean Tragedy, a book by A.C. Bradley. This book gives you a better understanding of not just the play but its setting and background as well. You must be wondering why am I mentioning a book whilst searching for web sites? Well, that’s because you can read it online on this site. Though it’s not in a downloadable version. You can copy and paste, page for page, the whole book. And you would do just that if you experience the desperation I did in searching for it. But my most favourite outing on this site is the section where there are certain study questions given, that are important from the examination point of view, answered by none other than A.C. Bradley himself. So, why worry when you A.C Bradley to help you out?

The other web site that I explored and found quite helpful is www.pinkmonkey.com. Besides notes, there are lots of useful stuff, like ‘how to prepare for examination?’, ‘What are study skills?’, ‘How to divide your time between the subjects you like and those which you dislike?’ etc. However, the one most adorable thing about this site is that not only is it printable, it is also downloadable.

There is a long list of authors as well as of book titles. So just browse through or type the name of the book in the search field and I am quite sure you’ll find what you are looking for here. I even found notes here that I could not find anywhere else, like those on Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyon.

Though, after going through ClickNotes, I am sure you won’t feel the need to look for anything else on Shakespeare, but just in case, if you want a second opinion, then Pink Monkey has a separate section on Shakespeare’s play. Scene summaries are speciality here, as are they tricky, it’s always better to double check what you have understood.

There is one more web site that not only provides you with notes, but provides links to other such sites. By the way, there is a suggestion here, remember to type “free notes on ....” or you’ll end up at an address that first asks for a paid subscription and then tell you any thing about the notes. The site in discussion here is AntiStudy www.antistudy.com. This site is great enough to be bookmarked.

There is a lot of material on the web site that helps you a lot; but a word of advice here. All these sites, and others that you might find, won’t be of much help if you just memorize what we have read and know nothing about. It will only be a waste of both time and money.

So, only opt for literature if you have a strong liking for it as it is something we need to understand. And if it is understanding that you are having trouble with then, benefit from the web sites mentioned above.

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