Rereading the short stories of Somerset Maugham

” I think this is the only novel I have written in which I started from a story rather than from a character. It is difficult to explain the relation between character and plot. You cannot very well think of a character in the void; the moment you think of him, you think of him in some situation, doing something; so that the character and at least his principle action seem to be the result of a simultaneous act of the imagination. But in this case the characters were chosen to fit the story I gradually evolved; they were constructed from persons I had long known in different circumstances”

— Somerset Maugham in his introduction to the novel “The Painted Veil”

Having been at his vast collection of short stories for a while now, I can vouch for the veracity of the first sentence of these prefatory remarks of Maugham… One of the few supreme masters in fleshing out characters…… and with such profusion, such diversity and above all with such idiosyncrasies !!

A great pleasure to sit in a quiet corner and immerse oneself into his fiction… and drive all the cares of the world away for a while !!

William Cullen Bryant – “The Ages”

My first exposure to the poetry of the popular American poet, William Cullen Bryant was through his two very popular poems viz. “Thanatopsis” and “To a Waterfowl” – the former – advocating the equanimous way one needs to look at death and the latter a humble lesson of keeping faith in God ( in my case “Nature”) told through the story of a waterfowl. But nothing prepared me for the joyful learning that was in store while I read his long poem “The Ages”

To understand the poem “The Ages” one need to be aware of the theme of “Manifest Destiny” that has been in operation for the last 200 + years and propelled the rise of America. To put it simply, Manifest Destiny is a phrase coined in 1845 and is the idea that the United States is destined—by God, its advocates believed—to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent. The philosophy drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion and was used to justify the forced removal of Native Americans and other groups from their homes. The rapid expansion of the United States intensified the issue of slavery as new states were added to the Union, leading to the outbreak of the Civil War…Manifest Destiny was also the ideological underpinning to the purchase of the region of Louisiana, Florida, Independence of Texas and enunciation of Monroe Doctrine that warded of European intervention in affairs of America.

(Source: https://www.history.com/…/westward-expansi…/manifest-destiny read)

Bryant’s poem is an ode to the spirit of America as that free spirited and fetterless land like none existed before. Written in 35 segments, the poem traces human progress through Greek, Roman, European civilizations – their successes and shortcomings and the establishment of America as the new destination for the future. It was a great experience reading the poem and here is the last (35th) segment:

But thou, my country, thou shalt never fall,
Save with thy children—thy maternal care,
Thy lavish love, thy blessings showered on all—
These are thy fetters—seas and stormy air
Are the wide barrier of thy borders, where,
Among thy gallant sons that guard thee well,
Thou laugh’st at enemies: who shall then declare
The date of thy deep-founded strength, or tell
How happy, in thy lap, the sons of men shall dwell.

( fall – all, care – air – where – declare, well – tell – dwell)

I found two of his poetry collections on Gutenberg.org and find that there are some really good poems like The Yellow Violet, Inscription For The Entrance To The Wood, Green River, A Walk At Sunset and The Burial Place ( More to be added as I read his poetic works)

Looks like I have just scratched the surface of the works of this good poet and feel happy that there is lot more left to pursue….