Summary of Song of MySelf / An Epitaph / I have a Dream / A Pinch Of Snuff
Song of Myself Summary
In this poem the poet celebrates himself and identifies himself with others. While singing of himself, he suggests that all human beings are similar. He sees himself in others. He says that there is universal brotherhood among all human beings. He points out that every atom that belongs to him belongs to every human being. All human beings are made of the same soil. They are the children of the same God. Every atom of blood is the same in all human beings.
The poet loves nature intensely. He finds beauty even in a blade of grass. He believes that nature is full of life and energy. He wants to live in harmony with nature. He says that nature is the best teacher of man. He derives strength and guidance from nature.
The poet is thirty-seven years old. He hopes that he will be active and healthy throughout his life.
The poet dislikes creeds and schools of thought which divide people. He believes that his ideas are not different from the ideas of others.
An Epitaph Summary
The poet feels intense sorrow for a dead lady who is lying in her grave. He thinks that she was the most beautiful lady in the West Country. She had the habit of moving here and there. The poet was attracted towards her extraordinary beauty. He loved her intensely but she was faithless. Her faithlessness shocked him. After her death, he accuses her of betraying him. He consoles himself by reflecting on the transitory nature of beauty and human life. Beauty is not eternal. It disappears with age. So, one should not be proud of. one’s beauty.
The poet’s beloved was faithless to him but he remembers her even after her death. The poet says sadly that she will not be remembered by anyone after he dies.
यह भी पढ़े
आओ प्रकृति की ओर चले हिंदी लेख
I Have a Dream Summary
Dr King says that about one hundred years before 1963, Abraham Lincoln, a great American, signed the Emancipation Proclamation which gave hope to millions of Negro slaves. He is pained to find that the Negro has to face poverty and discrimination in the American society even in the 1960s. He demands racial justice and equality of opportunity. He warns that the Negro will not give up the agitation until he is granted his citizenship rights. He reminds his followers that their protests must be peaceful and non-violent. They must meet physical force with soul force. They should not distrust all white people because many white people realize that their destiny is tied up with the destiny of the blacks. They must take the pledge that they will not be satisfied until they get social justice and equal rights. They have to gain lodging in the motels and the hotels. They have to break the shackles of discrimination.
Dr King is aware of the sufferings and sacrifices of the American Negro. The Negro has to face persecution and police brutality but Dr King encourages him to hope that somehow his quest for freedom will be fruitful.
Dr King has a dream that one day the American whites and blacks will live in peace and brotherhood. He hopes that one day the Negroes of the state of Mississippi will enjoy freedom and racial justice. He has a dream that one day his four children will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. He has a dream that one day the black children and the white children of the state of Alabama will walk together as brothers. He hopes that one day the white and the black people of America will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together.
America can be a great nation only when it gets rid of racial discrimination against the Negro in all the states. Dr King hopes that one day the white men and the black men of America will be able to join hands and work together for the progress of their nation,
A Pinch of Snuff
The narrator of this story was an Under-Secretary on probation in Delhi Secretariat. His mother informed him that her brother, Nanukaka, was coming to Delhi because he wanted to see a minister.
The news disturbed him. He thought that it was very difficult to see a minister. He went to the station to receive Nanukaka. When the train came in, Nanukaka handed him a basket and told him to wait for him outside the station. Nanukaka joined him after some time. He asked him when he had arranged his meeting with the minister. The writer told him frankly that it was almost impossible to arrange an interview with a minister.
In the afternoon, the writer drove Nanukaka to the North Block. He waited in the car park and Nanukaka went in to see the minister. After two hours, Nanukaka came back. He told the writer angrily that it was shameful for him because he had not succeeded in meeting the minister. When the writer was returning home, his friend, Ratiram waved his hand at him. Nanukaka asked him who Ratiram was. The writer replied that Ratiram was the son of Lala Sohanlal, the Party Boss in Delhi. He added that there had been talk of Ratiram being deputed as Trade Commissioner to Hajrat Barkat Ali, the Ambassador, but that had been cancelled.
As soon as Nanukaka got this information, he decided to see Lala Sohanlal. He told the writer to put on his Jodhpur coat and tied a huge orange turban round his head. He asked the writer to drive him to Lala Sohanlal’s house. When he reached there, he told Lala Sohanlal’s Secretary that he had come to Delhi for the Zamindars? Convention. He added that he wanted to see Lalaji in connection with the arrangements made by the Zamindars for the agricultural vote. When the Secretary went away, Nanukaka told the writer loudly about his intimate friendship with Hajrat Barkat Ali. As soon as Lalaji heard this, he came into the room and warmly welcomed Nanukaka.
He requested him to recommend his son to the Ambassador for a foreign assignment. Nanukaka promised to help him. Then he mentioned the name of the Welfare Minister. Lalaji told him that the Welfare Minister was no longer his friend because the latter had refused to consider the proposal for his son’s marriage to his daughter. He added that the minister was trying to arrange his daughter’s marriage to the prince of Ninnore.
Nanukaka used this information for arranging a meeting with the Welfare Minister. He managed to get an unusual car from Sikka Auto Dealers. He dressed himself as a hereditary pundit and asked the writer to act as his chauffeur. He went to the minister’s residence and signed the visitors’ book as the Hereditary Astrologer to the Maharaja of Ninnore. The minister was so impressed by him that he rushed to the Under-Secretary’s residence to see him. Nanukaka went out with folded hands to see the minister. He succeeded in meeting him by telling lies.
The writer wondered how the Welfare Minister would react when he discovered the truth. He was sure that Nanukaka would deal with the situation easily. He wished that he should be out of range of the anger of the minister.