Devika Panikar
δάσκαλος (dáskalos) means the teacher in Greek. Devika Panikar has been teaching English Language and Literature since 2006. She is an Assistant Professor with the Directorate of Collegiate Education under the Government of Kerala and now works at the Government College Kasaragod. This website is a collection of lecture notes she prepared by referring to various sources for her students’ perusal.
Speech Sounds
A language can be used in two ways for communication. It can be spoken or written. In most fields of study, language is thought of principally in terms of the written word, for it is in this form that...
The Art of Losing
Tishani Doshi is an Indian English poet born to a Gujarati father and an English mother. This intermixing of two different worlds can be seen in her works. The Art of Losing is a poem that tells us ab...
Describing People
Character descriptions are often the first way one starts to gather together their understanding of people. The most basic character descriptions usually centre around physical details. Physical attri...
The Tragicomedy
Tragicomedy is a genre that blends elements of comedy and tragedy. Most often seen in dramatic literature, it can have a happy ending or a tragedy with enough comic relief to improve the mood of the e...
The Comedy
Comedy is a literary genre and form of entertainment that aims to amuse and entertain the audience, often through humour, wit, and satire. It encompasses many styles and forms, from light-hearted an...
Exploration into Individuality
Well-known in her native Poland, Maria Wislawa Anna Szymborska received international recognition when she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996. In awarding the prize, the Academy praised her ...
Confusing Contronyms
Many people -native speakers and learners alike -decry English as being illogical. But some other words are just as frustrating: Contronyms. It is a word that is its opposite -like 'fast', which can r...
From Transience to Permanence
Rabindranath Tagore’s Chitra is a drama on the theme of true love. This lyrical play is a work of supreme art that has immense use of symbols and poetical language. Tagore is known for his aesthetic a...
The Present Tense
In the English language, verb tenses indicate whether an event is from the past, present, or future. There are 12 verb tenses in the English language:Present Simple
Present Cont...
A Dog has Died
A Dog has Died by Pablo Neruda is a heart-wrenching eulogy for the poet’s much-loved, deceased dog that also explores the dog’s personality and interactions with the speaker. It was written in Spanish...