India - As I See Her

Pushed aside in the airbus aisle near the toilets, hit on my behind by an unbecoming gentleman from Punjab. I thought, it can only get better than this. Never in my life had I imagined that this trip would take place. What is more, I would have kicked the idea out of my mind as fast as it came. There I was, and not so sure of myself anymore.

The reason I was heading to India was uncommon by anyone’s standards, not one that my family understood or supported – I was going to get married. Furthermore, that too to a man I had never known, except through telephone cables from the „vicinity” of 6700 kilometers; a distance we covered every night for 4 entire months. It seemed an eternity. An eternity it was that I gained from patient waiting and praying.

In India, it is believed that all marriages are arranged by God himself. I would go further: „Everything is arranged by God himself.” So it was my destiny to move to a country that became a lot more than a place to visit. It gave me back my identity.
A travel a million times longer than an 8 hour flight. It was a travel back to eternity.

I have always been a traveller constantly itching to move on to the next place, explore new worlds. Deep inside, like a true Hungarian, I yearned to return home. Eventually, I always have.
I arrived in India with my Bible in my luggage, the book I never left at home. Not by habit or custom, but because I held onto the idea of belonging to a group (I was Baptist at the time), friends and relatives, all of them sharing the same experiences and turning to the same source when life had its turmoils. I was ready to face anything. Except for the above mentioned gentleman and my fellow married passenger who constantly kept begging me to hold his hand, telling me he was into palmistry.

The lights I saw from the window of the plane were enchanting. Delhi was bigger than I imagined or I could possibly understand. Flashy lights, smoke ascending from the city, vibrating heat, all ready for Diwali. Who would not fall for the trick? It was enduring and seductive. On the plane, I promised Delhi that I would love her. And yet again, like a true Hungarian, I did not always keep my word.

It was first the heat, then the smell that turned me into a traitor. The airport was anything but welcoming. It was too large to cover with my tired eyes. I was searching for my fiancé, but there were too many hats and sarees flinging around, hands waving and mouths shouting, women crying and children screaming. My fellow passenger still hot on my heels. I was scared to death but my hands kept pushing the trolley that carried my suitcase - my whole life packed inside. It was heavier than the Himalayas.

There he was, reassuring and supportive, and finally I was safe. He had promised it and that night on our way home from the airport it came true: I saw an elephant. She was floating alongside the road - majestic and peaceful. It may have been the fancy of my imagination, but I am sure she waved back to me. There I was: home in India.

The sweetness and smoothness of that elephant accompanied me in everything I experienced thereafter. Calm and humble have I become since. A woman. A real woman who is treated gently and with respect. An alien yet a family member. I felt I became a creation of God. A real creation that could be formed and shaped, made better and brighter. Diwali was coming. We were waiting for Shree Ram. I wish I had known of him before, I thought. People await him so eagerly, they must know who he is. They must have encountered him before to love him in such an endearing way. „Wait a minute! God comes to town?” I wondered secretly to myself. Never did I want to hurt my fiancé by saying, „It can’t be real! Do you not know God is not material?” With lights of oil lamps glazing in his eyes, my husband and I were standing on the roof waiting. I thought „This is it, we will see Ram first if he comes, because he will, no?”

Shree Ram did come. Slowly but steadily he crawled into my mind and my heart. The devotion of my neighbours, the shopkeepers, children and beggars, and first and foremost that of my husband’s, oscillated me around in the ocean of two faiths. While I was arguing and pointing fingers at the new culture I had become a guest of, people’s silence spoke louder than words. I slowed down. I became colourful. The flowers and sweets, ether and agarbatti, were all alluring. These people had something that I did not. I wanted to possess the wisdom that caused so much happiness, even when someone died. What did they know that I did not, which made them so happy?

The dual nature of life in India has followed me ever since.

“Mera Bharat Mahan”

Technorati Profile

To begin with, I would like to define what we mean by ‘welfare state‘. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is a ‘policy so organised that every member of the community is assured of his due maintenance with the most advantageous conditions possible for all.’1

Modern ‘welfare state’ in Britain was founded in the ages of Liberal Government between 1905-14, especially after Asquith became Prime Minister in 1908. Free school meals (1907), old age pensions, Churchill’s labour exchanges (1909), and Lloyd George’s National Insurance Bill (1911) which gave compulsory insurance to certain workers for benefits in times of sickness and unemployment, paid for by the state, the employer, and the employee. These reforms accepted that capitalism was wasteful, and inefficient. Liberals recognised the need to introduce collectivist policies.2

The ‘welfare state’ was planned to compensate for the inadequacies and inefficiencies of the market, and to guarantee that individuals and families have the minimum necessary income. In 1946, the post-war Labour government carried a National Insurance Act which provided benefits covering sickness, old age, unemployment and industrial injury, and the National Health Service Act which created a completely free and universal health service, financed out of taxes, and voluntary hospitals were nationalised and grouped under Regional boards.3

After World War II, Britain had a huge post-war debt, there were shortages of raw materials and basic food supplies.4
On the contrary, most working-class people - the majority of population - felt that the years since 1945 were the best since the late-Victorian era. Wages rose to 30 percent above their 1938 level, there were higher living standards, guaranteed employment, and more satisfying educational facilities.5 The problem with full employment is that employees may often ask for higher wages, they become inflexible and loose interest in their work because their job is guaranteed for a lifetime.

Social insurance had changed a lot since 1912. Then, about twelve million workers had paid into two funds, one for health treatment and one for unemployment. By 1942, new laws had spread health insurance to 20 million and unemployment insurance to 14 million people. In 1944, Parliament set up a Ministry of National Insurance. In 1945, this passed an act to pay family allowances. National Insurance, national Assistance and the National Health Service started on July 1948. These were all based on the idea that everyone should receive the same services and benefits.6

After 1948, the State felt that it ought to give social service to those who could not manage on their own. The most obvious improvement was that they managed to stop fevers which killed thousands. In 1944, a plan for Greater London showed a green area where constructing and buildings were not allowed. In 1948, the New Towns Act said that new towns should have a Development Corporation to plan separate zones for industry, shopping and open spaces. The Town and Country planning Act claimed that all councils must keep Town maps to show zones for different kinds of building, as well as open spaces. All new buildings needed planning permission to certify that they fitted the overall scheme.7

Also in 1948, Britain, France and the Benelux countries signed the Brussels Treaty which united them for purposes of collaboration in economic, social and cultural matters, and for collective self-defence.8

During the 1940s, under Attlee’s government major industries and institutions, railways, road transport, civil aviation, gas, electricity, even the Bank of England were given to public ownership. Old age pensions were increased, the school-leaving age rose higher. Government allowed doctors to keep their private practice, and ‘pay beds’ within the nationalised hospitals. In secondary education, the public schools flourished side by side with the state grammar schools. Later, in 1948, electricity and gas were nationalised.9

As a result of the ‘welfare state’, since 1936 the number of people over the age of 65 was higher and the primary cause of death was old age, not fevers. The Labour Party’s Colonial Secretary, Arthur Creech-Jones, had wanted to extend the benefits of Labour welfare policies into the remaining colonies, making sure that their peoples had ‘a fair standard of living and freedom from oppression’, but they did not succeed. Between 1945-50, more people had a larger income and fewer people had very large incomes. Members of a Conservative Reform Group insisted in 1948 that the social services were designed to give to all ‘the basic minimum of security, of housing, of opportunity, of employment, and of living standards below which no one should fall’.10

In 1951, the Labour party launched the Festival of Britain to commemorate the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851. It provided ground for architects, sculptors, and designers to express their creativity. During the rule of the Tories ( namely Churchill, Eden, Macmillan, and Douglas) from 1951-1964, they pursued the policy of social peace. The trade unions were generally permitted to develop their freedoms. There were few major strikes, and no domestic violence, even in Northern-Ireland. In the 1950s, political harmony at home inspired artists, too. British drama lived its renaissance, from the avant-garde work of Samuel Beckett to the social realism of John Osborne. There was a state patronage through the Arts Council. British music was also lively, with Benjamin Britten and Walton. School orchestras and amateur music groups flourished. Television served to introduce the nation to itself.11

In 1951, the Labour Government decided to make patients pay part of the costs of dentists’ and opticians’ work because national Health Service costs rose. A few months later, when the Conservatives were back in power, they added a small charge for doctors’ prescriptions.12

Under Eden’s ministry, between 1955-57, there was some improvement in terms of trade. Almost the whole working population was employed, wages rose faster than production, imports rose faster than exports.13 Eden’s policy was to promote ‘a property-owning democracy’ and ‘partnership in industry.’14

During the 1950s, the British so called ‘affluent society’ was taking place. The danger of affluent society is that there is not enough money left for re-investment and for defence. Macmillan’s Cabinet was concerned with how to keep within boundaries the strong inflationary pressures. The slogan was ‘expansions without inflation.’ In 1957, the Government set up the national Economic Development Council to make plans for systematic economic growth, and the National Incomes Commission, to help the ‘incomes policy’.15

By 1960, about half of the workers had some pension from their employers. Workers paid a varied amount for insurance according to their earnings.16 This was a ‘miserable decade’ when Britain had to solve - sometimes in an immoral way - frequent financial problems, the crises of balance of payment, and later, in 1967 the devaluation of pound.17

My assessment is that the ‘welfare state’ was introduced because after World War II Britain had to restore its social and economic position by nationalisation of credit, power and transport, and through various Acts which were passed to provide better circumstances for the whole of society. Together with the good results of the ‘welfare state’ there were negative outcomes to it, as well. These were that there was no domestic investment, not enough money for defence, and full employment put an end to improvement in jobs.

End notes

1. Trevor May, An Economic and Social History of Britain 1760 - 1990 (Longman, 1995), p. 418.
2. Asa Briggs, A Social History of England (Penguin Books, 1991), p. 330.
3. Ibid., p. 334.
4. K. O. Morgan, ‘The Twentieth Century’, in K. O. Morgan (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain (Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 569.
5. Ibid., p. 570.
6. INCOMPLETE DATA…, Twentieth Century Social History ( ), p. 278.
7. Ibid., p. 281.
8. Trevor May, An Economic and Social History of Britain 1760 - 1990 (Longman, 1995), p. 439.
9. K. O. Morgan, ‘The Twentieth Century’, in K. O. Morgan (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain (Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 568.
10. Asa Briggs, A Social History of England (Penguin Books, 1991), p. 321-330.
11. K. O. Morgan, ‘The Twentieth Century’, in K. O. Morgan (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain (Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 570.
12. ……….., Twentieth Century Social History ( ), p. 278.
13. Denis Richards and J. W. Hunt, An illustrated History of Modern Britain ( ), p. 255.
14. David Thomson, England In The Twentieth Century (Pelican, 1977), p. 247.
15. Ibid., p. 261.
16. ……….., Twentieth Century Social History ( ), p. 281.
17. K. O. Morgan, ‘The Twentieth Century’, in K. O. Morgan (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain (Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 578.

Bibliography

Briggs, A. A Social History of England. Penguin Books, 1991.
May, T. An Economic and Social History of Britain. Longman, 1995.
McDowall, D. An Illustrated History of Britain. Longman, 1989.
Morgan, K. O. “The Twentieth Century”, In K. O. Morgan, ed. The Oxford Illustrated
History of Britain. Oxford University Press, 1986.
Richards, D. and Hunt, J. W. An Illustrated History of Modern Britain.
Thomson, D. England in the Twentieth Century. Pelican, 1977

Technorati Profile

It is not my intention to give a detailed account of Oscar Wilde’s life, however, when reading any of his works one should never disregard the fact that he was attracted by members of his own sex. In our time it is rather ‘accepted’ that homosexual people do have their own institutions and may freely and publicly affirm their being ‘different’. This was not the case in late Victorian English society, where such persons were stigmatised and even put into prison. It was mainly this characteristic that made Oscar Wilde so outstanding in his own time. However, as we read in Richard Eastman’s book: “A slow victory over censorship in all forms of literature gave the novelist freedom in areas once forbidden-especially sex and religion.…The business of art was art.…New religious concepts and new views of man’s sexual nature forced a widening tolerance of open discussion, aided by writers and publishers who were ready to test the public.”1

Wilde was one of those who considered his life more important and significant than his own works. In the first period of his career the upper class people made fun of Wilde’s appearance, but as soon as his first drama on stage made a great success, all the doors of the higher circles were open to him. Indeed, the English have always been suspicious of charming and amusing people, and when their suspicion that something was not right with Wilde came to be proved, the whole society celebrated its moral triumph over him. The cult of beauty in his art was not something profound, it was rather a pleasant surface shining. Wilde used the paradox as a means to proclaim the aesthetic view of the world.2

The Picture of Dorian Gray first appeared in 1890. The Daily Chronicle regarded it as a “gloating study of the mental and physical corruption of a fresh, fair and golden youth.” The novel was not favoured because it did not show a single good side of human nature. In Wilde’s time, the term “homosexuality” was not used at all, and doctors even thought that this problem needed to be investigated on physical grounds.3

If someone who is unconscious of Wilde’s desire for the members of his own sex should read TPDG, they would enter into a solid thick sweet atmosphere of Victorian upper class people. The first couple of pictures of the plot are basically described in terms of different flowers, scents, and bright colours.

In all of Wilde’s works, there is always present a particular character, a Dandy, who never fails to mock the moral values of the society, thus expressing the author’s own opinion as well. In TPDG, it is Lord Henry whose figure serves as the omniscient wise always seeing and understanding things under the surface. It is him that opens up the eyes of Dorian Gray to the fact that Dorian is different in a way from the rest of the whole world: “You, Mr Gray, you yourself, with your rose-red youth and your rose-white boyhood, you have had passions that have made you afraid, thoughts that have filled you with terror, day-dreams and sleeping dreams whose mere memory might stain your cheek with shame-” (p. 18) We do not get to know exactly what Lord Henry is referring to and how he is aware of those facts, yet the descriptions that he uses may tell a lot to us. From “rose-white boyhood”, the state of innocence (and ignorance) he has arrived to his “rose-red youth”, the colour red standing for passion. The reaction of Dorian is rather striking: “The few words … had touched some secret chord that had never been touched before, but that he felt was now vibrating and throbbing to curious pulses.…Yes; there had been things in his boyhood that he had not understood. …It seemed to him that he had been walking in fire,” (p. 19) - the picture is very clear. “Fire” represents both passion - which in itself could be just as acceptable since it happens to all the healthy young people - but on the other hand, it has a yellow colour as well. This is an obvious example of gay discourse. Dorian’s reaction is rather natural: “I must go out and sit in the garden.” Dorian buried his face “in the great cool lilac-blossoms, feverishly drinking in their perfume as if it had been wine.”(p. 19) It is made clear throughout the novel that some of the characters, namely Lord Henry, Basil Hallward, the painter, and Dorian Gray too, had a strong desire to stay outside the house, in the garden. The word “nature” here does not mean the outer world, because the outer world on the other side of the house is the world of social conventions and superficial desires.

Basil Hallward appears as an isolated painter extremely fond of his own art in his own little world. First, it seems that he likes posing as a completely lonely person suggesting that hardly anyone is good enough to enter into the realms of his life which in itself is his own art. Hallward is keen on secrecy but this characteristic of him is not too important from the point of view of the plot: “When I like people immensely I never tell their names to anyone. It is like surrendering a part of them. I have grown to love secrecy. …The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it.” (p. 7) When Basil refuses to exhibit the picture of Dorian, we get the feeling that in some ways the painter and the sitter have become united, although, this is not made clear: “I really can’t exhibit it [the picture]. I have put too much of myself into it.” (p. 6) It is noteworthy that even Dorian comments on the picture as something that he feels his own: “I am in love with it, Basil. It is part of myself. I feel that.” (p. 25) Later in the novel Basil expresses his unique adoration for Dorian: “You became to me the visible incarnation of that unseen ideal whose memory haunts us artists like an exquisite dream.… I grew more and more absorbed in you.” (p. 92) On the contrary, after he has painted the picture of Dorian, Basil is telling Lord Henry that “I did not want any external influence in my life,” (p.9) referring to the idea that Dorian Gray managed to sort of crawl into his mind and art. I believe that an artist should always be influenced from the outside and not only paint what is in him. However, the relationship between Dorian and Basil Hallward is not completely clear to me. The painter later says: “It is better not to be different from one’s fellows.” (p. 7) What did he exactly mean by that? Has he already experienced how it feels to be unwanted by society? If so, is it because he is “simply” an artist, or rather a queer artist? Is he simply lamenting on others’ examples? In the end, the reader does not wholly get to know what kind of a person Basil Hallward really was.

In the following I would like to refer to the significance of colours and scents throughout the novel.

The significance of using different colours as instruments to connote hidden ideas was largely publicised by Wilde himself too. “Oscar Wilde walked in front of the first procession [of the aesthetic movement] wearing a sunflower, and in front of the second procession wearing a green carnation.”4 It is widely known, that the yellow colour if appropriately used - by this I mean within the context of gay discourse - connotes homosexuality. Where does this idea derive from? In various kinds of religions the main god who had partaken in creating the world was the god of Sun. It is not by chance, that the Biblical figure, Samson, had long curly blond hair. His strength lay in his hair, like the Sun also held its power in its long rays. When his hair was cut off by his wife, Delilah, Samson practically became unable to defend himself. In James G. Frazer’s book we read that the pagan population in New Guinea regards the Sun as the male principle which fertilises the Earth, that is the female principle.5

Right in the first line of TPDG, a rather striking description of the setting scene is given: “The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.”

My first question is connected to the use of the word “odour” for the perfume of roses. There is no doubt that at least ninety percent of the world’s population would consider the smell of roses outstandingly nice. However, the fact that Wilde in the rest of the sentence uses more and more positive nouns to describe the smell of flowers indicates to me that maybe with such a strong word as “odour” he may have wanted to connote that something would either go wrong in the story or is already queer. Knowing the author’s circumstances one can easily imagine that the word “wrong” in this sense means a characteristic that is not accepted by society. When Dorian gets to know that he is different from others in a way, he says: “I must go out and sit in the garden. The air is stifling here.” (p. 19) Wilde describes the tension that arises in terms of scents and perfumes. The author too tells the reader secretly to look out for the description of fragrances in the story: “…He [Dorian] would now study perfumes.…He saw that there was no mood of the mind that had not its counterpart in the sensuous life…” (p. 107) All throughout the novel the reader learns about the landscape, the internal of the halls at the houses of noblemen, the opera house, the garden, and all the surroundings are described with great eloquence. One may almost feel that they are part of what is going on in the story. I would like to point to the use of colours.

When I first read the book, I felt upset and annoyed that almost every little object and even the leaves on the trees were yellow, even though, the time was summer: “The sunlight slipped over the polished leaves.” (p. 7) This wide use of the yellow suggests to me that in every action there was a tension, a secret passion that was stretching the characters from inside and they were apt to explode at any time. The appearance of Dorian Gray seems to be smooth and too fine to believe that he can possibly be a man: “finely-curved scarlet lips, …frank blue eyes, crisp gold hair,” (p. 16) I believe that Wilde did use the word “gold” here on purpose both to suggest Dorian’s gaiety and his being outstandingly precious, at least to men. “One felt that he [Dorian] had kept himself unspotted from the world. No wonder Basil Hallward worshipped him.” (p. 16) When Dorian gets old, unstoppable changes will take place in his beautiful body: “the scarlet would pass away from his lips and the gold steal from his hair.” (p. 23) Dorian even accuses Basil because he regards him merely like the object of his art: “I am no more to you than a green bronze figure,” and “I am less to you than your ivory Hermes or your silver Faun.” (p. 24) This statement underlines my idea that Dorian served as a link for Basil with the outer world, since Hermes in ancient Greek mythology was the messenger of gods.
Again, it is Lord Henry who directs our attention to the significance of colours in a hidden way: “…sin is the only real colour element left in modern life.”(p. 26) Also: “Lord Henry…pulling off his yellow gloves.” (p. 78)

Dorian was in love with an actress, Sibyl Vane. I wonder if this love was an everyday, normal feeling, or was it queer in a way. At one point Dorian says: “When she came on in her boy’s clothes she was perfectly wonderful.” (p. 62) This suggests that he liked her the most when she did not look like a girl but rather a boy. “Some love might come across his [Dorian’s] life, and purify him, and shield him from those sins that seemed to be already stirring in spirit and in flesh.”(p. 98) Did Dorian use Sibyl only to compensate his otherness? When Henry mocks at the feelings of Dorian, it is Basil who has to protect this poor little instinct animal: “Don’t Harry. You have annoyed Dorian. He is not like other men.” (p. 63) I think that a better proof than this sentence for Dorian being “the” homosexual of the age would be some other statements: “But he [DG] would not sin.… He would resist temptation. He would not see Lord Henry any more - would not…listen to those subtle poisonous theories that in Basil Hallward’s garden had first stirred within him the passion for impossible things.” p. 74);
Basil asks Dorian a striking question: “Why is your friendship so fatal to young men?” (p. 119) Then Basil gives account of a couple of persons whom Dorian has managed to ruin in one way or other. “One has a right to judge a man by the effect he has over his friends. Yours seem to loose all sense of honour, of goodness, of purity. You have filled them with a madness for pleasure.” (p. 120) I consider these to be the peak sentences of the plot where we finally get to know the truth pronounced out loudly.

As a conclusion, I would like to say that having read most of his works, The Picture of Dorian Gray is I believe the masterpiece of Oscar Wilde. Although, the plot is not elaborated on in details, the reader still gets to know a striking story - a tragic story - of a young man who in Victorian times was considered to be the shame of his society. I must admit that the more I read the book, the greater my detest for Dorian grows. However, I consider this to be an enormous effect that only some authors have managed to have on me. I would suggest reading this work to everyone who feels interested in different kinds of criticisms. This work may serve as a base to all studies.

End notes

1 Eastman, R. M. A Guide To The Novel (Chandler Publishing Company, 1965.), p. 118.
2 Szerb Antal. A világirodalom története (The History of World Literature) (Magvetõ Könyvkiadó, 1989.), pp. 728-730.
3 Wilde, O. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wordsworth, 1992.), pp. V-IX.
4 Chesterton, G. K. The Victorian Age In Literature (Williams Norgate), p. 218.
5 Frazer, J. G. Az Aranyág (The Golden Bough) (Osiris-Századvég, 1995.), p. 84.

Bibliography

Chesterton, G. K.. The Victorian Age In Literature. London: Williams Norgate.

Eastman, Richard M. A Guide To The Novel. California: Chandler Publishing Company, 1965.

Frazer, James G.. Az Aranyág. Budapest: Osiris-Századvég Könyvtár, 1995.

Szerb, Antal. A világirodalom története. Budapest: Magvetõ Kiadó, 1989.

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Great Britain: Wordsworth Classics, 1992.

Technorati Profile

I.1. Verbal forms

I.1.1. Personal Endings

By the end of the Middle English period, the -e suffix in the first person
singular present indicative was lost. In the second person singular present
indicative the ending of the verb was either -est or -st:

[Othello to Iago] “What dost thou say?” (III.3.34.)
[Othello to Iago] “What dost thou say, Iago?” (III.3.95.)

In the third person singular indicative the suffix of the verb was either -(e)th
or -s, which is the grammatically correct ending in Modern English:

“That he hath left part of his grief with me” (III.3.54.)
“[Cassio] Hath ta’en your part - to have so much to-do” (III.3.74.)
“Hath she forsook so many noble matches,” (IV.2.129.)
“Nay, heaven doth know.” (IV.2.133.)

In some cases the 3rd pers. sing. ind. ending of the verb is not used or the verb is not conjugated as in the following example:

“For if he be not one that truly loves you,” (III.3.48.)
“And ever will - though he do shake me off” (IV.2.161.)

I.1.2. Preterite forms

By the early Modern English period, the process of weakening in the verbal sysem is completed. In the second person singular preterite the ending was often -st or -est besides the -(e)d ending which derives from Old English weak verbs’ ending in the preterite:

“O heaven, that such companions thou’dst unfold,” (IV.2.145.)

I.1.3. Past participle forms

“That he hath left part of his grief with me” (III.3.54.)
“When I have spoke of you dispraisingly
Hath ta’en your part - to have so much to-do” (III.3.73-74.)
“Hath she forsook so many noble matches,” (IV.2.129.)
“Have not devised this slander. I will be hanged else.” (IV.2.137.)
Unfit (III.3.31.); humbled (III.3.53.); granted (III.3.83.); come (III.3.93.); called (IV.2.131.); wretched (IV.2.132.); hanged (IV.2.134, 137.);
abused (IV.2.143.); naked (IV.2.147.);

I.1.4. Contracted forms

“I do believe ’twas he.” (III.3.40.)
“Who is’t you mean?” (III.3.44.)
“‘Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves,” (III.3.78.)
“O heaven, that such companions thou’dst unfold,” (IV.2.145.)
“But shall’t be shortly?” (III.3.57.)
“Shall’t be tonight at supper?” (III.3.57.)

I.2. Personal pronouns: case forms

I (III.3.30.) ; mine own purposes (III.3.31); your (III.3.45.); my (III.3.41.); you (III.3.46.); his (III.3.47.); he (III.3.48.); him (III.3.51); with me (III.3.54.);
for you (III.3.58.); of you (III.3.73.); thou (III.3.95.); thee (III.3.88.);
she (IV.2.129.); her (IV.2.141.); them (IV.2.149.); me (IV.2.161.);

I.3. Relative pronouns

that (III.3.33.);
“What dost thou say?” (III.3.34,95.);
“Nothing, my lord. Or if, I know not what.” (III.3.35.);
“A man that languishes in your displeasure.” (III.3.43.)
“For if he be not one that truly loves you,” (III.3.48.)
“What, Michael Cassio, That came a-wooing with you,” (III.3.71-72.)
“Some such squire he was That turned your wit the seamy side without,” - In early Modern English that could be used to refer to a person in a relative clause;
“Who is it you mean” (III.3.44.)
“What you would ask me that I should deny,” (III.3.70.)
“Who keeps her company?” (IV.2.141.)

I.4. The plural of nouns

I did not find in my text a form of the plural of nouns that would be different from the present day usage.

I.5. Adverbs without “-ly“

“No, sure, I cannot think it,” (III.3.37.)
“That he would steal away so guilty-like” (III.3.48.)
“Farewell, my Desdemona. I’ll come to thee straight.” (III.3.88.)

II. Syntax

II.1. The use of prepositions

“That errs in ignorance and not in cunning,” (III.3.49.) - err in its old or formal use was used without the preposition in.
“I have no judgement in an honest face.” (III.3.50.) - In Standard English, the preposition in is not used after ‘judgement’.
“On Tuesday noon, or night, on Wednesday morn-” (III.3.62.) In Modern English the preposition on is not used when referring to the parts of the day, i.e. “Tuesday (at) noon,” “Wednesday morning.”

II.2. The use of relative pronouns

For the use of relative pronouns see point I.3.

II.3. Impersonal constructions

I have not found any impersonal construction in my text.

II.4. Reflexive constructions

I have not found any reflexive constructions, either.

II.5. Progressive verb forms

“I have been talking with a suitor here,” (III.3.42.) -a present perfect
progressive tense of the verb.

II.6. The use of “do” as an auxiliary

“Ha! I like not that.” (III.3.33.)
“Or if, I know not what.” (III.3.35.)

In Modern English the auxiliary do is compulsory in negative expressions, questions and contradictions for emphasis. In the above examples the auxiliary “do” is not used.
However, in the text one finds examples like “Or that I do not yet, and ever
did,/ And ever will-though he do shake me off/ To beggarly divorcement-love
him dearly,” (IV.2.160-163.) This indicates that in early Modern English the
use of the auxiliary “do” was optional.

II.7. The “His-genitive”

I could not find and example for the “His-genitive” in my text.

II.8. The Group Genitive

No example for the group genitive was found in my text.

III.9.1. Synthetic comparison

“The sooner, sweet, for you.” (III.3.57.)

III.9.2. Analytical and double comparison
I could not find these kinds of comparisons in my text.

III. Semantics

III.1. Five words that are no longer used

note: all of the following dates were taken from the Oxford English
Dictionary (1989) (N.B. You may find the Oxford Etymological Dictionary useful as well)

• mamm’ring on: here ‘hesitating (III.3.71.)
-first attestation in English: 1581
-disappeared: I could not find the date.
• a-wooing: here ’sue in love’ (III.3.72.) note: this word is not listed in the Oxford English dictionary (1989), so I considered woo in this case.
-first attestation: 13th century
• cozening: here ‘cheating’ (IV.2.136.)
-first attestation:1573
-disappeared: 1880
• cogging: here ‘deceiving’ (IV.2.136.)
-first attestation:1532
-disappeared: 1637

III.2. Word that had a different meaning

• poise: here ‘balanced judgment’ (III.3.83.)

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Young Dylan had an ignorant, though warm hearted mother, and a well-educated father who spoke hardly ever in Welsh to his son. Despite this fact, Thomas felt the rhythm, motives and phrasings, used the “odd matching of words” that he inherited as a Welshman. From his early childhood, Thomas was brought up according to opposing standards, on the one hand that of his father’s, who strongly denied his Welshness in order to be more decent than his fellow countrymen, on the other hand was his mother’s influence of keeping to the norms of the farm. This is how Dylan could have a “totally unformulated love of God” deriving from his mother’s “chapel-going heart and the conscious atheism” of his father. Dylan’s character also involved a certain sense of hypocrisy, yet he was never able to escape from Swansea, his birthplace, in the literal sense of the word1:

“This sea-town was my world; outside a strange Wales, coalpitted, mountained, river run, full so far as I knew, of choirs and football teams and sheep and story-book tall black hats and red flannel petticoats, moved about its business which was none of mine …. And the park itself was a world within the world of the sea-town.” – as he remembers in the ‘Reminiscences of Childhood’.

The opposing sides to Dylan’s character show in the choices he made as an editor. It is apparent at first glimpse at Wales in His Arms that many of the poems are written near or about the sea. The sea is most of the time described like Gaia, the Earth’s mother’s character in Greek mythology, someone sheltering and guiding humanity, responsible, almost divine:

“O the seagulls are crying, the seagulls scream
That the sea is cruel and blue and green
But to-day the waters are white with spray
And hark in the boats what the fishermen say:
‘It’s a rough grey day with the tide coming in
And a haul of herring’s a slippery skin
For the waters are deep and the nets are thin.
It’s a rough grey day with the tide coming in.’”
(Vernon Watkins: Ballad of The Rough Sea)

Besides, in W. H. Davies‘ poem entitled Dreams Of The Sea we read in the following extract of the undeniable driving force that leads one to yearn for the sea again and again despite its deadly character:

“I know not why I yearn for thee again,
To sail once more upon the fickle flood;
I’ll hear thy waves wash under my death-bed,
Thy salt is lodged for ever in my blood.
…
And I have seen thy gentle breeze as soft
As summer’s, when it makes the cornfields run;
And I have seen thy rude and lusty gale
Make ships show half their bellies to the sun.”

Examining the choice of poems Dylan made in his reading lectures or when he was broadcasting on the radio, we can easily point out different patterns - or colours of life I should call them – regarding the subject or theme of the pieces. The most striking of all those being the representation of beauty in nature and its description. Since Thomas lived most of his life beside the sea and by the river Taf in a Boat House at Laugharne, it is natural that the majority of the poems that won his liking hint at the feeling of the salty air and the sandy shores of his youth. In the stanza cited below darkness and death prevail, sea represents an overall bliss for the dead. (If I may allow a personal note, The Child on The Cliffs by Edward Thomas is my favourite of the collection.)

“Sweeter I never heard, mother, no, not in all Wales.
I should like to be lying under that foam,
Dead, but able to hear the sound of the bell,
and certain that you would often come
And rest, listening happily.
I should be happy if that could be.”

As I have mentioned earlier, Thomas’ mother was a believer in God, while his father was a rather materialistic thinker. Nevertheless, reading through the poems, Dylan’s search for God proves evident. He never chose blasphemous lines on religion or God’s essence, rather the figure of a God and Son closely related to the individual, omnipresent and omnipotent. The Night by Henry Vaughan is perhaps the best example for a longing heart in search of the Primary Mover:

“Were all my loud, evil days
Calm and unhaunted as is thy dark tent,
Whose peace but by some angel’s wing or voice
Is seldom rent;
Then I in heaven all the long year
Would keep, and never wander here.
…
There is in God, some say,
A deep, but dazzling darkness; as men here
Say it is late and dusky, because they
See not all clear.
O for that Night! where I in Him
Might live invisible and dim!

In an interview to New Verse (1934), Thomas described the essence of his poetry as follows: “My poetry is, or should be, useful to me for one reason: it is the record of my individual struggle from darkness towards some measure of light … should be useful to others for its individual recording of that same struggle with which they are necessarily acquainted.” Supposedly, the frequent mention of the notion of darkness and blur was due to the never ending financial problems and uncertainty that the Thomas family had to bear constantly.

Dylan from his early childhood believed himself to be the Prince of Darkness. His father’s choice of names for his son (Dylan and Marlais) is rather interesting, since both names are from the bardic tradition, pre-Christian, dealing with magic and myth having to do “with the mystery of water, the big seas and the rivers of dreams that were to haunt Dylan’s imagining.”2

Darkness and death prevail in love poems as well. Oddly enough, the lover is either mourning over the death of his lover, or calling out to the lost beloved. These poems have not bright pictures shining with joy, there are no cheerful laughter and immense kisses mentioned, only lamenting and sadness dominate the tone.
The majority of Thomas’ own writings are elegiac, they have a warm tone yearning for the past that could never come again.3

In W. H. Davies’ poem Body And Spirit, only the ghost of the dead lover is present, a transparent spirit that the poet tries to cuddle.

“Who stands before me on the stairs:
Ah, is it you, my love?
My candle-light burns through your arm,
and still thou dost not move;
Thy body’s dead, this is not you –
It is thy ghost my light burns through.”

Thomas himself did not always get on well with his wife, since the triumph that he felt when conquering an attractive woman meant a primary urging force for his work as an artist. In fact, continuous financial problems, and the fact that most of the time Dylan was either drunk or getting drunk gave a bitter feeling to the relationship between Thomas and Caitlin.4 Perhaps this might have been a reason for why Thomas primarily chose those love poems that communicate the darker side of “happiness.”

Talking about family relations, I believe it important to mention the role that Thomas’ father held in his life. He continuously urged him to be different, to arrive in the higher class of society that could mean opening up to the world. Thomas’ greatest struggle from his early youth was that of emigrating to America. He was most happy when he could go on lecturing tours in New York and Texas. He and Caitlin have travelled to Italy, even though Dylan found staying in Florence rather dull and disappointing. Thomas had the spirit of the ancient wanderer, the Celtic bard who immersed in nature chants the songs of his Wales to the strangers in America. The figure of the father who urged him appears in William Morgan’s Childhood:

“My father would say brusquely, Boy, remember
When the sun shines all hands keep moving,
The warm days were not given us for loving
But to prepare for the death in winter.
…
Returning through the fields when day was dead
From worship and the chapel father said,
Between God and the cattle there is no time for reading.”

The majority of the poems in this collection are formulated of stanzas well rhyming, rhythmical. It is in fact a pleasure to read these finely composed pieces. If I may allow myself a personal note, I should say the most convincing pieces I found to be those of W. H. Davies. The Inquest is a moment’s encounter with a dead body, a child’s remains, that in an instant’s time is the account of an outstretched murder and its consequences.

“One eye, that had a yellow lid,
Was shut – so was the mouth, that smiled;
The left eye open, shining bright –
It seemed a knowing little child.
…
And I could see that child’s one eye
Which seemed to laugh, and say with glee:
‘What caused my death you’ll never know –
Perhaps my mother murdered me.’”

“Much of the flat, abstract poetry of the present has no narrative movement, no movement at all, and is consequently dead. There must be a progressive line, or theme, of movement in every poem.”5 -as Thomas explains in the same interview mentioned earlier. In fact, all of the poems in the collection testify Dylan’s urge to present sometimes even a whole arch of life in one single stanza.

As a conclusion, Dylan Thomas as an editor was rather consequent in his choice of poems to constitute this collection to present the same principles and patterns that he in his art used to enrich his works with, namely the pictures of nature, darkness, love, and the dubious idea of God and his creation that occupied his mind from the beginnings, as he would put it: The joy and function of poetry is, and was, the celebration of man, which is also the celebration of God. (Poetic Manifesto 1951)

Footnotes

1 A. Sinclair, Dylan Thomas, Poet of His People (Michael Joseph, 1975), pp. 17-8.
2 Ibid., passim.
3 Ibid., p. 146.
4 Ibid., passim
5 Ibid., p. 219.

Bibliography

Primary Source
Maud, Ralph. ed. Wales In His Arms Dylan Thomas’s choice of Welsh poetry. Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 1994.

Secondary Source
Sinclair, Andrew. Dylan Thomas, Poet of His People. London: Michael Joseph, 1975.

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Nowadays, the most well-defined dialect boundary in Britain lies between England and Scotland. Even though there are several features that dialects from the north of England share with those of Scotland, there are many distinguishing features that are unique. (Crystal, 1995:329) In this article, I will focus on the phonetic and phonological differences represented in writing. Here are some examples of Scots linguistic features listed by Derrick McClure in a chapter on English in Scotland which appeared in The Cambridge History of the English Language which I will present through some examples that are taken from a written document of Edinburgh working class dialect compiled by Rev. Robert Anderson. (The following description is based on CHEL pp. 235-240)

• The absence of lip-rounding in words like go and stone, thus giving Scots gae and stane, sair for StE sore.
• A velar fricative is heard in such words as loch and nicht (’night’).
• A glottal stop is widely heard in urban accents, in such words as butter, and is spreading throughout the country, especially in the speech of younger people.
• Pitch range and direction tend to be wider than in RP, and unstressed syllables are often pronounced with greater emphasis (e.g. Wednesday with three distinct syllables).
• The close back vowel /u:/ is fronted, so that SE moon and use are heard in several dialects with [y] (in Hu: [ü]). For example, “Somebody’s pit a black bag oot on the roof.”

There exist various spoken dialects of Modern Scots, which mainly differ from each other in their sound systems. All these dialects derive from Early and Middle Scots, it is possible to describe the historical development of each dialect’s phonology, however they lack any agreed spelling conventions. (CEEL, p. 63)

The short vowels of Older Scots have all undergone changes in the modern period. Original /e/ before /r/ has not been lowered, as in English, but raised or left unchanged: /hert/ for heart. [o] has given /a/ when in contact with a labial consonant, such as /tap/ for top, /drap/ for drop etc. /u/ in all Scots dialects, as in southern (but not northern) English, is lowered to / /\ /. However, this vowel when preceding or following a nasal, is often fronted to short / i /, as in /hine/ for ‘honey’ etc. (CEEL, p. 64)

N: Whit’s wrang wi’ you?
In this example we can see that the sound / /\ / in ‘What’s’ becomes short / i / before an alveolar stop, although this kind of change normally takes place when / /\ / precedes or follows a nasal sound.

“The change in the word ‘with’ to ‘wi” above can be explained by the fact that in Modern Scots short / i / and / /\ / are not subject to the lengthening process. These vowels have no long allophones. They remain short even before voiced fricatives (v z ) and / r /. This explains why ‘with’ becomes ‘wi” in spoken and written Scots.” (CEEL, p. 68)
Although, it is the consonant which disappears here.

Morphology/Syntax

R: Robert, whit are you daein’ wi’ a tie oan? Has somebody deed or are you goin’ tae a weddin’?

D: There are some bad drivers. This morning a car tried tae overtake me comin’ oot o’ Wallyford. There were two tankers comin’ oot o’ the sewage works. Where he thocht he was goin’, Ah don’t know. He could have caused an accident. It wouldnae ha’e made ony difference onyway. He couldnae get to the bypass ony quicker.
R: But David, people say that you never let anyone overtake you.
D: Naw - Ah didnae!

D: Somebody’s pit a black bag oot on the roof. I’m no’ going oot tae get it. …later…Dae ye* ken whit was in that black bag? Beer cans an’ whisky bottles. I went oot tae see whit was in it.

The underlined expressions and words represent the auxiliary-verb system in contemporary usage and how it differs from those of both older Scots and modern standard English. The Scots cognate of do is written , representing /de/, have as , doing as , just like to . Various possibilities are available for the formation of verbal negatives. The non-clitic form is no /no/ in dialects south of the Tay, nae /ne/ north of it. This latter is the result of an assimilation of the verbal negative to the negative quantifier, which is nae in all dialects. With auxiliary verbs the clitic gives characteristic forms. didnae, wouldnae ha’e.

Negative interrogatives / affirmatives are formed by placing the full negative between the subject and the infinitive :
Dae ye no hear it?
Goan no do that.

A distinctive development in the Edinburgh dialect is the use of the form isn’t it no? It occurs only with negative sentences, and its function appears to be to seek confirmation of the negative: She didnae like him, didn’t she no? ” (CEEL, p. 73)

• “In the plural, a consistent distinction between nominative ye and objective you survived into the modern period,[…], Ye, however, is now general.” (CEEL, p. 73.)

Vocabulary

In the above text the word ken means ‘know’, the other typical example of the lexical difference is the word wee which means ’small’.
D: There’s a lot o’ wee Poles runnin’ roon Innerleithen.

Finally, here are some other examples of dialectal differences of Modern Scots, here not explained:

R: Ma knees are sair. (absence of lip-rounding)

R: David, wid ye like a piece of chocolate cake?
D: That wid put me off ma dinner.

R: Gie’s a fag Liz, Ah’m knackered.

I: Oh no - no that wummin’ again.

Bibliography

Burchfield, R. ed. “English in Britain and Overseas”, In The Cambridge History of the English Language. Vol. V. Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Crystal, D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 1995.

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One advice you might like to follow is to read backwards. Read every paragraph from its last sentence proceeding to the first one. This way you force yourself not to get involved in the story which may prove to be too risky in trying to maintain an objective attitude.

When we read, we do not read character by character, or even word by word. Reading is like playing music. You concentrate on the whole and it is enough to see the first and last letters of a word to figure out what it can be. Our brain builds up the “real” meaning of a word by the context and image of it, which consequently may not be the real thing knowing how fallible human mind is.
As a musician, I do not concentrate on the note I am playing at the moment, rather I am reading ahead in the notes. My brain is able to transfer the information from my brain cells to my fingers with a slight time of retardation. The risk stands for reading as well. You get carried away with the story and you no longer care if it was an “advice” or “advise” you read about.

Keep your desk tidy and spacious. You will need a lot of room on your desk. Often people tend to disregard this tip and pile up books, coffee mugs, and pencil sharpener on their desk. Yeah, it looks cool to be busy but I am the living proof, Einstein risked a lot with spilling coffee over his studies. Similarly, you can also not afford yourself to be asking for a second copy since all your material got soaked in some sticky fluid, or worse, a proof to trace your dinner menu back on.

Help your eyes with a ruler or an envelope to lead you line by line. This way the speed of your reading will slow down not allowing you to “believe” having read something that is not there at all.

Talking about tools, you will use different colours in proofreading.

You will need a red pen to mark typesetter errors.

Non-typesetter errors are marked in blue. Marks in blue might be correcting errors by the editor or alterations made by the author. The reason for differentiating between the types of change is that typesetters do not charge for correcting their own mistakes.

There may be occasions when you are unsure whether to make a change. In such cases, use a pencil to mark the change and carry on proofreading.

Green is used by the typesetter’s reader (proofreader) to raise their own queries to point out matters marked in the edited typescript to be dealt with in proof.

Some publishers differentiate between changes that are made by the author and those correcting an error by the editor. Red and green are assigned to the typesetter, black and blue are used for the editor and author changes.
However, unless otherwise instructed, always use blue ink to mark your changes in a standard way.

Other tools you need to have at hand are a good dictionary, a thesaurus, and maybe a grammar reference book.

We are not infallible, therefore it is worth to keep record of your mistakes from your previous works, and refer to these before you start proofing. For example, one typical mistake of mine is when the publishing house uses -ize form, I tend to keep -ise as I learnt at school.

It might be useful (however, may be somewhat time consuming) to proofread for one type of error at a time. If punctuation marks prove your major problem, it is worth going over the copy just looking at commas, colons, etc. After you have done this, you can escalate to the next error type.

Proofreading, like all other mental exercise, is best done in the morning, or when you are most alert (some of us are night owls and prefer to work when all is quiet).
Similarly, if you are the author and editor of your work in one person, you need to give yourself some time to “forget” what you have written. Knowledge of the text makes proofreading all the more difficult. You might need one night before you start editing the finished work.

If time allows you, and you have some help, ask someone else to read the text to find odd or unclear sentences. A clear eye will always find something extra that your eye might have skipped anyway.

As a first filter, you can use a grammar and spell checker, but do not depend on them. Read the body first, then go back to the headings. Proofreaders sometimes forget to proof the headings.

Look at all the unusual fonts, like italics or bold, make sure they are really needed and correctly applied. Here I would like to mention the boilerplate text, for example the company letterhead, which also needs to be checked as it is still part of the document.

Once you have spotted the typos, you can go back to read again for sense and meaning. Even though, you are not an editor, you can also spot mistakes and unclear meaning.

Review page numbers, headers and footers that they are accurate and in order.

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The main idea is to get the message to the reader that “This Is for YOU! Read this!”
Your headline should identify the goal group of your product, it should convey the message that reading on will be beneficial to them.

If your headline simply promises the reader that “This car turns your solitary life into a luxurious dream” will not be as effective and interesting as if you say “This hot cabrio will turn your ride into a non-stop stag night.” Two are the reasons why I, as a reader or potential car owner will read on the article. On the one hand I think, gosh, girls on the go non-stop, I can be popular. Secondly, I wonder how come someone has tagged a ride a “non-stop stagnight”, let me find out what a twisted thinking this can be. Attract attention. At any cost. If you need to sound crazy, doesn’t matter.

Although the topic of writing headlines could fill a whole encyclopedia, there is not a definite matrix to follow. You always have to check the style and interest of your target audience when composing the title of your text. Most important of all is that your keyword should appear in the Title tag of your page. Remember, all your keywords should be wrapped up in the title tag clarifying the objective of the text.

The best way to create a headline may be to imagine yourself in the shoes of your customers. Understanding their view point and what they are looking for in your product prove essential to turn them into prospective customers.

Your headline should always focus on the uttermost benefit of your product. It should be simple and short, making the reader want to carry on reading.

Avoid titles that sound sparling, or too good. No one actually takes them seriously.

Before giving a headline to your article, do some research on the internet. Try to focus on what grabs your attention, who is the first in rank when you search for what is of interest to you. Go to their site and read on to see how their headline really relates to the copy.

Keep your style simple. If you think of your customers as part of your company or business, you will adjust to an honest and down-to-the-point tone that they surely appreciate. Directly addressing a customer will pay in the long run. Do not be too formal, although you need to adjust your stile to the social or financial level of your customers. On an executive level, you can but keep yourself out of your proposal as much as you can. Main focus should always be on your customers and the benefit they will get if they act for themselves and contact you.

People prefer direct interaction and buying from smaller enterprises. Everyone appreciates your eye to detail and your hands-on attitude. Reliability and sounding honest is a must. Do not overdo promises and benefits.

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Website traffic originates mainly and significantly from Search Engines. The first priority is to list in the first ten and grab the reader’s attention.

META tags are HTML code. These are notes within the code’s header that provide aspects of your page to the search engines. This description will ideally focus on the main topic of your site and should not contain any generalisations. To get the best results, you need to include the most important keywords around the beginning of your description. If you make your description appropriately detailed, your visitors will know exactly what you are offering. However, make sure the description is not too lengthy, it should be not more than 200 characters including spaces.

The META keywords tag will hold the listing of relevant keywords and keyword phrases of your site and enable the Search Engine to point to you. You can also download a free software to help you get the best keywords your site needs at goodkeywords.
This site also includes a site popularity tool which will enable you to check your ranking.

There are four meta tags that should be considered when building your site:

1. Title
2. Keywords
3. Description
4. Alt

In the following, I will give some examples on how these meta tags should ideally look.

Title

E.g. < title>Copywriter : Proofreader : Creative Writer: Linguist< / title>

Since the title is the most important of the META tags, try to include the keyword in it at least once. The keyword should appear preferably towards the beginning of the sentence. Apart from its crucial importance in ranking your site, it is also having a huge impact on your Click Thru Rate. The text that you include in this title, will be the one appearing in Google in your listing. This is the part that a visitor reads first and decide to click on it. If you regard it as an advertisement headline, the better you make it, the more clicks you get from it. Google only displays 66 characters in the clickable part of your listing, therefore make sure these are your selling keywords.

Keywords

E.g. < meta name="KEYWORDS" content="Copywriter, Proofreader, Creative Writer, Linguist" / >

In the past, search engines would look at this line to identify the subject material of your site. Nowadays, only a few search engines follow that method. There have been some rules set up about how many characters this tag should include. Generally, you can go up to 300, however, there is not a strict limit set. Yahoo for example pays a lot of attention to this tag and assigns quite some importance to it. If you get this wrong, you will be penalized. In other words, you should not include keywords in this tag that do not appear in your copy.

Description

E.g. < meta name="description" content="Copywriter : Proofreader : Creative Writer: Linguist - Professional copywriter offering you reliable services in copywriting, proofreading, and creative writing" / >

Your keyword should be included in the Description at least once, since Search Engines do take this line into consideration for identifying your site’s subject material. This text is also used by search engines as the description of your site. You can make this look like an ad to your site.
Google only displays 160 characters in this field including spaces.

Alt

E.g. < img xsrc="filename.gif" alt="Copywriter : Proofreader : Creative Writer: Linguist" title="Copywriter : Proofreader : Creative Writer: Linguist" >

Alt tag was designed for the benefit of visually impaired people who wish to use the world wide web. They need to use a software that will read the content out loud on their computer. This software, upon encountering a picture, will look for the alt text to learn what the picture is. Ideally, the picture uploaded in your site will relate to your keyword and content, therefore Search Engines do look at the alt text. You need to include your keyword at least once in this text.

To round up, depending on how many keywords you are targeting to use, you can use the same tags for various pages, or you can create different meta tags for each to be unique. It is always worth taking a look at your competitor’s tags as well.

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Copywriting will provide your advertising material with the hint of marketability which is crucial in dramatically raising figures.
Your site may look fancy and cool but that will not ensure top-ranking in the search engines. Using powerful, motivating, and persuasive words will market your product and sell it to your customers.

Everyone uses internet. It is not merely a time pass, it is to get as much information in as little time as possible. Readers are interested in getting information about services, products, anything that is relevant for making their life better.

We need to examine the elements of an advertisement. The below structure should always be followed when you are writing a direct response sales letter.

An eye-catching, powerful headline will grab the reader’s attention.
This is followed by the subhead which reinforces the main heading.
You can further emphasize the heading with a photo or an illustration.
The body of the advertisement should start with a persuasive and compelling paragraph that will lead the reader to the next section.
Following paragraphs will reinforce the benefits of the offer for the customer.
The penultimate paragraph should elaborate on the consequences or losses the customer will face if s/he misses out on the offer.
The final paragraph should stimulate response like order now or contact us for further details.
The ad can also include a PS (Post Scriptum) that will further stimulate response from the customer.
The company logo always appears at the end of the ad, except for web pages. This helps the customer in linking the picture with the text.
After the logo, a tagline can comfort the customer, like “Kentish Mortgage. “We put people into homes!”"

Your ad should comply with the AIDA formula, i.e., grab Attention, stimulate Interest, build up Desire, and urge the reader into Action.

Selling however, does not necessarily mean cashing something all the time. You can sell an idea on your site, in this case you need to make sure that you sound credible and experienced enough to be trusted. Trying to sell the product to the reader may be dependent on the reader’s emotional state, preferences, etc. However, if you try to sell the benefits of a product and how they can improve the quality of life of the reader, then you have a greater chance to hit the point. For example, in a library brochure, you would need to emphasize the location, accessability, and flexible opening hours that all affect the readers’ life in a positive way. If you sell the benefits of the library with how much time the closeness of the location and the catalogue’s online accessibility saves, you are sure to turn on the customer.

A well constructed ad will be easy to follow, thus easy to remember.

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