V 1 B . W 0 RD SWOR. H; V.S Naipaul B. Wordsworth :: The story story B Wordsworth Wordsworth is taken from Naipaul’s collection of short stories titled titled Miguel Street. This story narrated in first person through aa story is narrated person through boy-child’s boy—child’s perspective. ‘poet’ perspective. The story highlights the plight of aa ‘poet’ story highlights whom the child encounters. The two very easy-going two share a easy—going a very relationship understand and instinctively understand seems to instinctively relationship and the child seems empathize ‘poet’. Narrated in a empathize with the ‘poet’. a humorous and fun manner, manner, the story solitude, alienation, story revolves around the themes of solitude, admiration, love for nature nature and the role of the artist in the society. This story language, the rich brought to life through through the colloquial language, story is brought Caribbean setting of the complex intricacies of exploration of setting and its exploration human relationship expression. relationship and artistic expression. 0 No Time? Check out this Quick Got No Revision by Litbug . '[camoRDSWORTHK. Characters - B.Wordsworth The child-narrator His mother Setting . Miguel Street / ‘Theme . The role of the artist in society Alienation Friendship Key Points Wordsworth shows up at the narrator's house. lle's smartly dressed, speaks good English and says he wants to watch the bees. He claims to be the greatest poet in the world, that B. stands for black and that William Wordsworth was his brother. He then tries to sell a poem and finally gets chased away by the narrator's mother. A week later, the kid meets him in Miguel Street They go to B's house in Alberto Street and feast on mangoes. The kid stains his shirt, gets thrashed by the mother and goes to 8'5 house. B. Wordsworth tries to comfort him by showing him the wonders of nature and the beauty of the night sky. They go to St Clair Avenue, the Savannah and walk to the race course. ‘On being asked why he kept his gardens untended, B tells the kid a story about how a girl and a boy poet fell in love, got married. how they hoped for a child and how the girl died with the unborn kid She had loved the garden and the husband left it as it was. One day, Mr B. tells him that he's writing the greatest poem in the world and that the line of the month is "The past is deep." They meet often and go to the Botanical Gardens, The Rock Garden and the Chancellor Hill. Mr B. earns his living by singing calypsoes as nobody buys his poems. One day the boy visits him to find him in a sick state. Wordsworth then tells him a "funny story“. instructing One day. B. . . him to never come back again he tells the boy that everything about him, his poetry and the poet-lovers was a lie. The boy goes home crying. The boy walks past Alberto Street after a year B.Wordsworth's house and the mango trees are replaced by concert buildings. It's as if he never t : o : www l . i tbu ‘ o bug B. Wordsworth :: Summary B. Summary lives in Miguel The story an unnamed child narrator who lives story is told by an Street. His house is daily frequented dhoti—clad beggars : aa dhoti-clad frequented by three beggars : Indian at ten, woman smoking pipe at twelve and a blind man a blind man led ten, aa woman by a two. The strangest a boy at two. smartly dressed person strangest caller is a smartly person who comes at about four o’clock one afternoon wishing to watch afternoon wishing watch the narrator’s bees. Thus we are of the story: are introduced to the man man of story: B Wordsworth. The narrator’s mother is quite gives him quite suspicious suspicious of the man man and gives the cold shoulder. She instructs instructs the narrator narrator to watch the man man while he watches the bees bees and the two end up bees together, together, watching the bees up watching squatting hour. The little boy is palm tree for about an an hour. squatting under aa palm intrigued intrigued by the man’s appearance appearance and seeks to know him better. The man’s introduction about himself himself verses hyperbole: verses on hyperbole: I said what does you do, mister? He got up and said, ‘I am a poet.’ I said, ‘A good poet?’ He said, ‘The greatest in the world.’ ‘What’s your name, mister?’ ‘B. Wordsworth.’ He tells the boy that the ‘B‘ in his name stands for Black and that name stands White Wordsworth was his brother. This reference reference to the British Romantic William Wordsworth is significant Romantic poet significant and shall be taken poet William later in the course analysis. course of analysis. Wordsworth Wordsworth then tries to sell a poem cents, only poem to the kid for four cents, to end up up getting mother. He calmly accepts getting chased by his mother. accepts the unappreciative unappreciative response as “the poet’s tragedy” and doesn’t seem to response as all. Perhaps he has been through mind mind it at all. earlier. rejections earlier. through such rejections B. Wordsworth A week later, the narrator Wordsworth at the corner meets B. narrator meets corner of Miguel yet but invites Street. He hasn’t sold any invites the narrator narrator Miguel Street. poems yet any poems to his home in Alberto Street to feast on mangoes mangoes which have become red, ripe and juicy. juicy. The two one— two head for B Wordsworth’s oneroomed hut which looks rather wild, wild, surrounded by a a mango, mango, aa coconut and a plum tree. The narrator hogs down six mangoes mangoes and ends up juice. He gets staining his shirt with the mango mango juice. up staining B. thrashed by by his mother on reaching reaching home and runs runs away away to B. B. comforts him and takes him for a Wordsworth’s house. Mr B. a walk down Saint Clair Avenue, to the Savannah and then to the Race Course. Wordsworth then suggests Course. B Wordsworth gazing suggests lying on the grass grass and gazing at stars are at the night sky. He asks the kid to think how far the stars are night sky. from them and the impact young mind mind is aa powerful impact this has on the young one : I I did as he told me, and I saw what he meant. I felt like nothing, and at the same time I had never felt so big and great in all my life. I forgot all my anger and all my tears and all my blows. Wordsworth then teaches him the names Wordsworth of the constellations constellations of names of which he seems remember the Orion. Shortly, Shortly, they seems to particularly particularly remember they are becomes aa policeman and the interrogation interrupted by aa policeman are interrupted interrogation becomes comic exchange: exchange: The The policeman said, ‘What ‘What are here?’ are you you doing here?’ Wordsworth Wordsworth said, ‘I‘I have have been been asking the same asking myself myselfthe same question for forty years.’ years.’ The two become fast friends. friends. The narrator narrator starts visiting Wordsworth’s home very very often and one day, asks him why is it that he lets lets the bushes bushes abound in his house. The poet then tells him aa little story kid: story which completely overwhelms the kid: He said ‘Listen, I will tell you a story . Once upon a time a boy and a girl met each other and they fell in love. They loved each other so much they got married. They were both poets. He loved words. She loved grass and flowers and trees. They lived happily in a single room, and then one day the girl poet said to the boy poet, ‘We are going to have another poet in the family.’ But this poet was never born, because the girl died, and the young poet died with her, inside her. And the girl’s husband was very sad, and he said he would never touch a thing in the girl’s garden. And so the garden remained, and grew high and wild.’ II looked looked at B. Wordsworth, he told me he Wordsworth, and as lovely story, me this lovely story, he as he seemed older. II understood to grow his story.” seemed to understood his grow older. The two have a visit the Rock Garden, Garden, the together. They Visit a great great time together. Botanical Botanical Gardens, climb the Chancellor’s Hill late in the afternoon afternoon and watch the darkness fall on the Port of Spain. Wordsworth Spain. Wordsworth fills the boy with seems seems to have aa positive attitude towards life and fills wonder wonder and awe. narrator has to say awe. This is what the narrator say about life: Wordsworth’s outlook towards towards life: He did everything as though he were doing it for the first time in his life… The world became a most exciting place Wordsworth Wordsworth then tells the boy an secret: that he is writing an important important secret: the greatest that greatest poem poem in the world by writing one line aa month, and that B. tells the boy that the line of the month is: past is is: “The past is Deep.” Mr B. he hopes of aa whole month into aa single line hopes to distil the experiences experiences of of poetry years he’ll have written a twenty—two years a poem poetry and that in twenty-two poem that will “sing to all humanity”. humanity”. One day while walking along the dockside, dockside, the boys asks the poet whether the pin he has will sink or float in water: He asks the or float B. boy to give it a that B. a try. The pin pin sinks. We later come to know that Wordsworth he’s a Wordsworth supports singing calypsos calypsos and that he’s a supports his living by singing part-poet, part—performer. part—poet, part-performer. When the narrator finds B narrator visits his house the next time, he finds Wordsworth Wordsworth lying on his his bed and he says poem isn’t going says that the poem well. well. He is in a terrible state. The boy is overwhelmed with sadness a terrible when he understands understands B Wordsworth Wordsworth is going to die soon. He tells the kid that he will narrate narrate him aa ‘funny’ story promise story and makes him promise to never come back after he’s heard the story. story. The boy agrees: agrees: He said , ‘ Good. Well, listen. That story that I told you about the boy poet and the girl poet do you remember that that wasn’t true it was something I just made up. All this talk about poetry and the greatest poem in the world that wasn’t true either. Isn’t that the funniest thing you have heard? However, However, his voice breaks and the narrator narrator runs runs home crying After about a year, the boy walks walks down Alberto Street but a year, Wordsworth’s house is nowhere nowhere to be seen. replaced by huge huge seen. It is replaced concrete concrete buildings. coconut and the plum buildings. The mango tree, the coconut plum tree mango tree, have all been cut down and it seems B.Wordsworth had never seems as as if B.Wordsworth existed. existed. B. Wordsworth :: Analysis Analysis Taken Taken from aa collection of of short stories titled titled Miguel Street, Street, V.S Naipaul’s B. Wordsworth us a Wordsworth presents a complex relationship relationship presents before us between young boy and a between aa young a rather remarkable man man which is forged with great ease and simplicity. great ease Revolving Revolving around the themes of identity, friendship, alienation, friendship, identity, alienation, admiration and the role of the artist, Wordsworth is narrated in artist, B Wordsworth the first person by a a little boy boy who comes in contact with aa man man of person by the same name. One day, the man man appears same name. appears in the narrator’s house to ‘watch the bee’s’. He’s smartly beggars smartly dressed, clearly unlike the beggars who come to his house everyday. The narrator narrator is quick quick to detect the coldness coldness with which his mother accosts the man. In contrast to her, judge the man and talks to him in a doesn’t judge narrator doesn’t her, the narrator a friendly manner. Perhaps this ease reaching out and manner. Perhaps ease of reaching communicating narrator—kid to know and communicating with the other enables the narrator-kid understand understand the life of an an interesting, man and perhaps interesting, lonely man become the only one to do so. so. Wordsworth narrator—kid grow Wordsworth helps helps the narrator-kid important grow and teaches him important lessons about life and leisure. leisure. The narrator’s strict mother serves serves B. Wordsworth’s accommodating as lets the boy nature. He lets accommodating nature. as aa foil to B. discover things of placing the himself and even entertains his idea of things by himself pin next. He teaches the kid to pin on water to see what happens next. delight experiences we take for granted everyday experiences granted and presents delight in everyday presents him a a fresh pair pair of eyes eyes with which to observe and soak in the wonders wonders of the natural world. world. Miguel Miguel Street, Street, the collection from which the story story is taken features B. Wordsworth’s is certainly many certainly interestingly odd characters and B. many interestingly one of them. them. The characters in the book often struggle their struggle with their identities and, and, owing owing to the colonial past region, find past of the region, B. Wordsworth’s themselves themselves shaped by the colonial experience. experience. B. story lives of the artist from the society he lives highlights the alienation of story highlights in and tries to come to terms with role s/he it. s / he might play in it. One of the first things his notices about the man things the narrator notices man is his English Trinidadian folks. Though English which quite quite unlike that of his Trinidadian Though he speaks good English, English, there is aa hint of artificiality speaks good artificiality about it : : His English was so good, it didn’t sound natural, and I could see my mother was worried. Black Wordsworth Wordsworth calls himself himself the ‘greatest poet in the world ‘‘ and claims Wordsworth was his brother. Like his Romantic William Wordsworth claims that William Romantic B. Wordsworth counterpart acclaimed ‘Nature Poet“, Wordsworth Poet“, B. an acclaimed counterpart who was an loves to spend time with nature known by anybody nature But he isn’t known anybody as as aa poet. Though his marginalized status may marginalized status poet. Though may be attributed to his color, it is difficult to state whether he actually all. writes poems actually writes poems at all. One cannot help but feel that he’s he’s quite his identity. identity. Parts quite lost about his of his identity claims to be the seem to contradict others. He claims identity seem greatest poet in the world .. Yet we don’t see his poetry. poetry. His poem greatest poet poem remains unfinished unfinished and he seems artistic seems to have fallen in an an artistic paralysis past is deep. He dismisses the the past paralysis after writing the line the story narrated it with much passion. passion. He story he tells the kid after having narrated is poet who earns living by singing Calypso songs. earns his living songs. A lot in him seems imitation and he seems identity. seems to be imitation seems have aa divided identity. The setting very gives it a a very setting and the local colour of the story story gives distinctive distinctive appeal. appeal. The Caribbean setting palm and mango setting with its palm mango trees, Chancellor Hill, the Race Course of Spain, Course and the Port of Spain, trees, the Chancellor combined combined with the sights distinctive visual Miguel Street provide aa distinctive sights of Miguel appeal reader. On the other hand, the colloquial appeal to the reader. colloquial diction helps of the people inhabiting helps us language of inhabiting the story. story. us ‘hear’ the language B. Notice Notice this brief exchange between the narrator’s mother and B. exchange between effect it produces: Wordsworth Wordsworth and the effect I ran up the steps and shouted, ‘Ma, it have a man outside here. He say he want to watch the bees. My mother came out, looked at the man and asked him in an unfriendly way, ‘What do you want?’ The man said, ‘I want to watch your bees. Wordsworth’s story of the artist artist from the highlights the alienation of story highlights society lives in and tries to come to terms with role s/he s / he might society he lives play in it. lives in the margins. it. B.Wordsworth B.Wordsworth lives Nobody buys margins. Nobody buys his poems public life poems and he doesn’t seem to have any agency in the public any agency whatsoever. whatsoever. But he does have aa great influence on the personal personal life great influence of the boy which results results in artistic artistic expression expression in the form of the B. Wordsworth’s is a poetry boy’s that is lived, not boy’s narration. B. poetry that written. He lives lives his life like aa poem. poem. The theme of the relationship wealth is between art art and material wealth relationship between B. Wordsworth found utterances of B. Wordsworth and the hardships found in the utterances hardships he has to face to eke out a a living by selling his poems twenty cents and poems for twenty signing Calypso songs. buy songs. When the narrator’s mother refuses to buy his poem, truth in it : though aa funny funny one, one, has some truth poem, his response, response, though : My mother say she ain’t have four cents.’ Wordsworth said, ‘It is the poet’s tragedy.’ Again, Again, later in the story, story, we find him unable to be able to believe that material well—being well-being would be his share even if if he wrote the greatest greatest poem poem in the world : : But you will be the richest man in the world when you write the greatest poem ?’ He didn’t reply. This silence volumes about the chasm that exists silence on his part exists speaks volumes part speaks between between poetry prosperity. poetry and material prosperity. B. Wordsworth Whether writes good Wordsworth actually Whether B. good poems actually writes poems or whether he is a delusional person himself aa poet an unimportant unimportant poet is an a delusional person fancying himself question. assessment makes the very question. Such assessment very mistake which the B. Wordsworth’s narrator narrator avoids –— of placing placing aa value judgment on B. worth. worth. What is more important important is his personal life, the past past he’s been through boy. When relationship he develops with the boy. through and the relationship his story account, the line story about the girl and the child is taken into account, “The past past is deep” which he takes aa full month to write bears aa completely different meaning when viewed as meaning rather than when as aa disjointed utterance of a disjointed utterance a madman. It is true that that B.Wordsworth comes across across as as aa strange strange person person but it is this very .He cares ‘strangeness’ which endears him .He cares about the very ‘strangeness’ ‘lesser things’ in life and can himself as can see himself as aa part part of the universe. His lazy loiterings all, it is an loiterings may escapism but ifif at all, an as escapism may appear appear as escape narrator feels when discovery. This is perhaps what the narrator escape to discovery. he lies on the grass B.Wordsworth after getting thrashed thrashed by his grass with B.Wordsworth mom, watching the night night sky : mom, watching : I felt like nothing, and at the same time I had never felt so big and great in all my life. I forgot all my anger and all my tears and all my blows. Furthermore, he also comes across across as as aa kind person great person with aa great degree emotional intelligence. degree of emotional intelligence. Before his death, he makes the narrator he’s told him aa funny of narrator promise return after he’s promise to never return funny story: story: of how all he’d said about the poet’s wife was a voice breaks in a lie. His voice the process. not. What seems seems to be the process. It might be aa lie, it might not. case he’s lying now. now. If so, though is that it was aa true story case though so, story and that he’s B. Wordsworth it is actually here. B. Wordsworth profound gesture actually aa profound making here. gesture he’s making is undoubtedly undoubtedly a young narrator finds aa friend in the young narrator a lonely man. man. He finds with whom he can loneliness and transforms the boy’s can share his loneliness outlook towards towards life. However, knows his end is near, However, when he knows near, he attempts young boy boy erase his existence from the mind of the young attempts to erase by saying that that everything everything he’s ever said is aa lie. After having expressed expressed his credo to perhaps perhaps the only person through his story, story, he person through tries to erase mind so as person’s mind erase his memory as to very person’s memory from the very relieve him from the burden of of missing missing someone someone and allow him to explore life in his own terms. In short, he tries to negate himself negate himself for the sake of the other which is perhaps most profound perhaps the most profound gesture gesture a make. This noble gesture self-effacement a human being can can make. gesture of self-effacement carries a note of sacrifice it. sacrifice with it. B. Wordsworth’s The final final paragraphs of B. paragraphs portray picture of poignant picture portray aa poignant fate. A year year after his last visit the narrator walks along Alberto Street narrator walks B. Wordsworth’s hut two—storied building. only to find find B. hut replaced replaced by aa two-storied building. The mango, been cut down. plum and the coconut trees have all been mango, the plum The hard, man-made man—made material replaces nature and signs of nature replaces the living signs the last line is an of B an awfully sad one which sums sums up up the life of Wordsworth: Wordsworth: B. Wordsworth ezdsted. Wordsworth had It had never though B. It was was just as as though never existed. This strange ‘strange’ person story about aa ‘strange’ strange story may appear person may appear humorous at first first sight magnitude: sight but at its core lies aa tragedy tragedy of tremendous magnitude: one with a one’s outlook radically change profound lesson that can a profound change one’s can radically towards very nature towards people, places existence. nature of human existence. places and the very B. Wordsworth B. Wordsworth :: About the author Sir Vidiadhar writer of Indian Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, aa Trinidadian writer Surajprasad Naipaul, descent was born on 17th Trinidad. His His great17th August, 1932 in Trinidad. great— August, 1932 grandfather Trinidad grandfather was an an indentured laborer who had come to Trinidad during very bright student and Raj. Naipaul was a during the British Raj. a very bright student attended the University of of Oxford in 1950 1950 on aa scholarship. He worked for the BBC for sometime his career sometime before he began began his career in writing. V.S Naipaul is a of prolific writer who has had an a prolific an enormous enormous output output of literature to his credit. credit. He has written everything everything from the comic to the tragic politics, religion overlapping themes of politics, tragic and around overlapping identity, first three colonialism, oppression identity, colonialism, individuality. His first oppression and individuality. novels of of great Masseur, Mystic Masseur, importance important important novels include Mystic great importance The The Suffrage Street. However, it was his fourth Sufirage of of Elvira and Miguel Street. novel, A House for for Mr Biswas which propelled propelled him to the league league of in the River, the greats. River, greats. Some of his other works include A Bend in Mimic Mimic Men and The The Enigma of Arrival. Naipaul Naipaul has written aa couple of Arrival. of nonfiction nonfiction works centered around India which include An Area of of Darkness, India: A wounded civilization and India: A Million Mutinies wounded civilization Now. He was also an traveler whose travels across an avid traveler across the globe precipitated Among the the Believers: an precipitated in works like Among Journey, an Islamic Journey, Beyond Belief, Africa. The Masque of Belief, Half Half aa Life and The of Africa. He received the Nobel Prize Prize for literature in 2001. 2001. B. Wordsworth Miguel Street, which B. Wordsworth is taken Street, the collection from which bagged the Somerset 1961 and Somerset Somerset Somerset Maugham Maugham Award in 1961 Maugham selected it as himself selected thus making Naipaul the Maugham himself an entry, making Naipaul as an entry, thus first non-European writer to win the prize. non—European writer Naipaul 17th August 2018 and according Greig, Naipaul died on 17th according to Geordie Greig, August 2018 Naipaul’s friend and the editor of The Mail on Sunday, Sunday, the writer drifted towards his final final rest after being read Crossing Crossing the Bar, aa poem Tennyson. poem by Tennyson.
