M Ali's English Literature Notes

Robert Browning is an optimist, and as an optimist, he is a moralist and a religious teacher holding a very distinct place among the writers of the Victorian Age. He is “ an uncompromising foe of scientific materialism ” as Hudson states. What we call Browning’s philosophy is not actually a philosophy of strictly technical sense of the term. Rather it consists of some frequent attitudes, opinions and views scattered in his poems especially in his dramatic monologues. Browning seeks optimism in any situation of life, preaches universality of soul and advocates God.                Browning’s  optimism is clear in the very style of writing a poem that he picks up his central character in crisis or in some critical situation , then this crisis reaches the climax and ultimately resolved and he ends his poem with optimism. Such a poem is The Last Ride Together which , as Wikipedia writes, “stands for optimism, treatment of spiritualistic love where materialistic love is not seen,

R. K. Narayan is one of the postcolonial writers of India who are found to project the nation building attitude in their writings. His Waiting for the Mahatma , set in the surroundings of the writer’s created village Malgudi, is woven against the unconventional backdrop of the freedom movement. But in spite of using directly the national experience as the central theme as did Raja Rao, Narayan puts it in the background giving preference to the personal narrative. Krishna Mohan Pandey rightly observes           Rao depicts Gandhi’s impact on community but Nrayan focuses on             individuals.   Again, motivated by the national feelings, he is conscious to present the after independence situation of the country. However, this consciousness make many to note that “R. K. Narayan's novel Waiting for the Mahatma (1955) reflects a certain ambivalence towards the freedom movement.” (Aikant) In Waiting for the Mahatma , the story develops through the development of Sriram’s char