History Mystery: Sex And The Religions Part.IV

Almost all the religion worship the power greater than us. Prehistoric men followed many forms of Divine Power, and consequently polytheism, or a faith in numerous gods, is a peculiarity of Pagan peoples and Hinduism. In whatever mode the immense divine power was conceived, it always followed the form of worship of a sexual power that created the nature.“Father”, “our father” or “Father who is in heaven” is the words mentioning the creator in all nations of Aryan extraction (All the religions of European origin else Aryan are the male worshipers). The most primitive idea of Aryans Greek and Romans was the Sky (male) overlay and held Earth (female) in an unending embrace, which result in the creation of all living things. Simply saying, all materialization of nature (thunder, lightning etc) which are mysterious to the primitive people were called by them as god.

The power of procreation or reproduction was the overwhelming characteristic of all religions. In the ancient times the people noticed the child was born after the man first copulated with his counterpart and hence the credit for creation of a new born was given to the male. The same theory was mentioned in Anaxagoras of 450BC. According to the Anaxagoras the embryo was seed given by the father and the mother was only the ground from where the seed grow into a plant.

“Give me children or else I will die” Rachel said to Jacob (Gen.XXX, 1). Because of his physical strength and he subjugate the women and children from the enemies most of the tribes accept the male superiority. Even the life and death of his women, children and his slaves were at his liberty (most of the researchers believe the ancestor worship was the first and foremost original religion).  The Greeks called the penis and the testicles as Phallus and therefore the sex worship was named as phallic worship. The Phoenicians called the Penis as “Asher” which means; “The Upright”, The Powerful”, and “The Opener”. Since the Penis ruptured the hymen and opens the door of the womb in the first coition with a virgin it is called as The Opener.

The Phoenician god Asher was similar to that of Egyptian god Ptah and Ptah were considered identical with Baal-Peor means; “The Master of the Opening”, “Master of the Hole” or The Master of the Vulva”. Even the same ideas were prevailed among the ancient Israelites (refer Bible, “And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her and opened her wo4m1b ;”) Gen.XXX, 22 :) In the ancient days the Jews were taken oaths by laying their hand on the penis of the one to whom the oath was given. Later period the translators of the Bible ashamed of using the word phallus or penis they used the word loin.  The bible of ancient Israelites tells us the Pagan gods as Baal or Baal-Peor. The Hindus reverenced the Penis as “Lingam” and worship it as the visible representation of the Creator himself. The ruins of Aztec temples and ancient Egyptian temple sculptures speak the truth so loudly.                                                                     (to be continued)

History Mystery: Sex And The Religions Part.III

In Indian mythology the gods are usually represented with four, six, twelve or more arms which symbolically indicate their superior power this is somewhat similar to that of the ancient Greek gods with hundred handlers. The development of bible is similar to that of Indian Rig Vedas; entire composing of Bible took at least a sixteen hundred full years. Bible is actually a collection of history, hymns, law, proverbs, visions and even romantic or erotic love stories (Story of Esther is worth mention) and it is not written by God himself in heaven. From the unique internal evidences available in bible we can conclude that bible was compiled from some other old sources that may be lost long before.

Some stories in the bible are quiet similar with the stories found in the Vedas, Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions. The great flood and the sun standing still for accommodate a human hero are the few. The Assyrian inscriptions are a whole thousand years ancient than the Bible with the similar stories. As recent researches have shown that the Old Testament is largely derived from the same sources as the Assyrian, Babylonian, Chaldean and Egyptian religions, it should not surprise us to find traces of these religions and of their symbolism in Christianity, as will appear farther on in our future posts.

In its early stage, the religious worship of sex was as pure in intention and as far removed from any ideas of anything impure or obscene as any of our own religions. As of now those rites may seems to us indecent but the primitive peoples followed those rituals without any idea that they are impure and religious. The Unitarianism, the oneness of all religion seeks to find the truth in worship of god. Most of the people believe in revelation as the source of their religion but both ancient and modern writers thought that the religions are the due to the process of evolution. Our own religion is rarely the result of study and though but rather it is the result of habit and heritage; we are what our parents are. We follow the religion because of the inherited faith on it. Since we have no time or no facilities or don’t have the skill or ability to study our own religion critically and impartially to ascertain the truth; or we don’t have the theosophical education that will enable as to judge our religious inherited faith hence we solemnly settle with the thought our religion is the best to the greater extent.
(to be continued)

Know Your English Literature Part. XIII

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Children’s book by Lewis Carroll published in 1865 and written for Alice Liddell, the daughter of a friend. Alice enters Wonderland by following the white Rabbit down his hole, and has many strange adventures there. She meets the Mad Hatter and the march Hare, the grinning Cheshire Cat and the Queen of hearts, who shouts, ‘Off with her head!’ when Alice makes a mistake at croquet. The book was highly successful and was followed in 1872 by through the Looking Glass.

The book has been interpreted in many different ways, from being a satire on the court of Queen Victoria or academic pedantry at oxford, to mocking the legal system or exploring the unconscious mind.

William Wordsworth: English poet whose work played a major role in the development of Romanticism in English literature. His writing expresses a mystical view of life in which nature and the unman spirit are closely connected. Wordsworth grew up in Cumbria, and the Lake District country side inspired many of his poems, such as ‘The prelude,’ ‘Intimations of Immortality’ and ‘Resolution and Independence’. He was a close friend of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and in 1798 they published a joint volume, Lyrical Ballads, which included such poems as The Rime of the ancient mariner and Tintern Abbey. He was mad poet laureate in 1843.

Wordsworth lived with his sister Dorothy and wife, Mary, at Dove Cottage, now a museum, in Grasmere.

Brer Rabbit: Wily animal character from black American folklore used by the 19^th century American author Joel Chandler Harris in his ‘Uncle Remus’ tales.

Brer is a dialect version of brother

Know Your English Literature Part. XII

The Charges of the Light Brigade: The poem written by Tennyson in 1854, about a disastrous British cavalry charge in the Crimean War, in which nearly 250 soldiers were killed or wounded. The poem contains the lines:

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die.

‘Big Brother is watching you’: Slogan appearing on posters throughout the fictional dictatorship in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty four. Big brother is the unseen head of the ruling party. The term ‘big brother’ is used to refer to any ruler or government seen as invading the privacy of individuals.

Brave New World: Futuristic novel by the British author Aldous Huxley published in 1932. It is set in a time when society is governed by science, and solutions have supposedly been found to all human problems. The main character is an intellectual, Bernard Marx, who in his travels encounters ‘Savages’ who still lead lives of unscientific disorder. Marx returns to London accompanied by a Savage, and the book ends with a debate on human freedom versus scientific determinism.

The book’s title comes from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest in which Miranda, brought up alone on an island, catches her first glimpse of a man other than her father. ‘O brave new world,’ she exclaims,’ that has such people in it.’

Anita Brookner: Novelist and former art historian who began writing fiction in middle age. Her heroines are innocent romantics who find to their cost that in life – unlike literature – there are few happy endings. Her novel Hotel du Lac won the 1984 Booker prize.

Know Your English Literature Part. XI

Othello: Tragedy by William Shakespeare, probably written between 1602 and 1604. Othello, a Moor, has command of the Venetian forces in Cyprus. However, the villain Iago cunningly convinces Othello that Desdemona, his beautiful and faithful wife, has committed adultery with Cassio, a lieutenant. Consumed by jealously Othello murders Desdemona by smothering her in bed. When he realizes his error and Iago’s malice, he kills himself.

Pride and Prejudice: Novel by Jane Austen published in 1813. The story concerns an upper middle class Hertfordshire family consisting of the foolish Mrs. Bennet, her wryly humorous husband and their five daughters. After a complex succession of proposals, refusals, engagements and even an elopement, three of the daughters end up happily married.

                The book’s opening sentence is well known:’ It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife’.

The Wind in the Willows: Animal story for children by Kenneth Grahame published in 1908. The book started out as a series of tales told to Grahame’s son, featuring the highly strung, conceited and irresponsible toad and his riverside companions Rattie, Mole and Badger- characters partly based on friends of Grahame’s and partly on the rural gentry.

A musical, Toad of Toad Hall, was adapted from the book by A.A.Milne in 1930.

‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may’: First line of the 17^th century poem urges young people to make the most of life in particular,of love- while they can.

Know Your English Literature Part. X

The Jungle Book: Collection of short stories for children by Rudyard Kipling published in 1894 and followed by the second Jungle book. Many of the stories feature Mowgli, a boy who is brought up by wolves and educated in the ways of the jungle by animals such as Ballo, the brown bear, and Bagheera, the Black Panther.

·         Mowgli and his friends are now, perhaps, best known to thousands of youngsters through Walt Disney’s 1967 delightful animated film version of the jungle book.

·         The Jungle Book was the inspiration behind the Wolf Cubs, the junior division of the Boy Scouts, founded in 1916.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Comedy by William Shakespeare, written around 1595. Four lovers spend a night in a wood outside Athens, where the fairy king and Queen, Oberon and Titania, have had an argument. To punish Titania, Oberon gets the sprite Puck to drop the juice of a magic herb on her eyes while she sleeps so that she will fall in love with the first thing she sees when she wakes. This turns out to be the weaver Bottom wearing an ass’s head mask for a play rehearsal, Puck also uses the herb on the human lovers who unfortunately set eyes on the wrong partners first. When Titania and Oberon are reconciled, Oberon releases the human lovers from the spell.

Ø  Well known lines from the play include

Ø  ‘Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania’

Ø  ‘Lord, what fools these mortals be!’

Know Your English Literature Part. IX

Emma: Novel by Jane Austen published in 1816 and regarded by many as her best work. The heroine, Emma Woodhouse, is a talented and attractive young woman who is, however, just a little too pleased with herself and a little too keen to meddle in the lives of others. Her action upset many people and nearly causes disaster on several occasions. However, Emma eventually learns her lesson and is rewarded by marriage to the chivalrous Mr.Knightley.

Samuel Johnson: Writer, wit, critic and lexicographer, best known for his Dictionary of the English language, published in 1755. In it, Johnson defines more than 40000 words and includes over 100000 quotations illustrating their usage. The book remained the standard reference work until publication of the Oxford English Dictionary began in 1884.

Henry V: Historical play by William Shakespeare, written in 1599. The new king, Henry V, is advised that he has a claim to the French throne and wages war on France. After his rousing and patriotic speech- designed to increase his soldiers comradeship, and which includes the line ‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers’- the English win a great victory at Agincourt. The play ends with peace reestablished and Henry courting Katherine of France.

·         Films of Henry V include a 1944 version, starring Laurence Olivier, and a 1989 version directed by Kenneth , Branagh in which he also played the title role

‘Let us go then, you and I’: First line of the poem The Love song of J.Alfred Prufrock by T.S.Eliot. The title is ironic, and Eliot deliberately uses unromantic images to reflect the nature of modern existence. The poem continues:

         When the evening is spread out against

                       The sky

          Like patient etherised upon a table.

Know Your English Literature Part. VIII

A Passage to India: Novel by E.M.Forster published in 1924 and set in India at the time of the British Raj and in which Forster examines the complex interaction of the two cultures. The events revolve around the strange experience of a young English woman, Adela Quested, in the Marabar caves. The experience- never fully explained- leads her to accuse Aziz, an Anglophile Indian, of rape. Eventually she withdraws the charge, but Aziz and many other Indians are left angry and embittered, and the British community is divided.

A Modest Proposal: Satirical pamphlet written by Jonathan Swift in 1729, suggesting the eating of children’s as a way of solving social problems in Ireland. It was written in outrage at government policy towards Ireland and at the appalling conditions in which the Irish peasantry lived.

The lady of Shallot: Poem by Tennyson based on medieval legend. It tells of a lady shut up in a tower on a river island. She is under a curse, and may only look at the world outside in a mirror. One day, hearing Sir Lancelot approach, she rushes to the window- and brings down the curse upon herself. She knows that death is near, leaves the tower and floats downstream in a boat, singing a last lament until her arrives- dead-at Camelot.

Jane Eyre: Romantic novel by Charlotte Bronte published in 1847. It describes how Jane, an orphan, becomes governess at Thornfield hall and eventually marries its intense, brooding master, Mr. Rochester.

Know Your English Literature Part. VII

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Children’s book by Mark Twain, Published in 1876. The hero is a wily, independent boy who engages in a series of anarchic escapades. In one episode, Tom tricks his friends into whitewashing a fence for him by pretending it is a great privilege and making them pay to take over the job.  On another occasion, Tom and his friends disappear for so long that they are presumed dead, finally returning to find their own funeral in progress.

The Tempest: magical romantic play by William Shakespeare, written in about 1611. Prospero, the usurped Duke of Milan and a magician, had to bring up his daughter Miranda on an island where they are alone except for the monster slave Caliban and various spirits, such as Ariel. The play opens as Prospero, who is concerned about the young Miranda’s future, creates a tempest which shipwrecks a young man, Ferdinand, together with the false Duke of Milan and his confederates, on the island. Miranda and Ferdinand fall in love and the others are delivered into Prospero’s hands. He forgives them on condition that his dukedom is restored. At the end of the play, Prospero renounces magic and prepares to return to Italy.

Sex and Shopping novels: Popular works of fiction, generally written for and by women, in which glamorous characters indulge in steamy romantic affairs and spend vast sums of money. Typical examples include Judith Krantz’s novel princes Daisy, Shirley Conran’s Lace and Jackie Collins’s Hollywood Wives. An earlier example is Jacqueline Susann’s 1968 novel The Valley of the Dolls, Which sold more than 28 million copies.

Know Your English Literature Part. VI

Wuthering Heights: Romantic novel by Emily Bronte published in 1847. It tells the story of the passionate but troubled relationship between Catherine Earnshaw and the brooding Heathcliff, a homeless youth taken in by her family. Heathcliff overhears Catherine say that it would degrade her to marry him, and he leaves the house in a fury. Three years later Heathcliff returns to seeking vengeance.

A series of disasters ensue; most notably, Catherine now married to the feeble Edward Linton – dies in child birth. The story ends with Heathcliff’s death- which he greets as a reunion with his beloved Catherine. Wuthering Heights is the name of the Earnshaws’ home on the Yorkshire moors.

Ulysses: Controversial novel, experimental in form, written by the Irish author James Joyce and published in Paris in 1922, although not in England until 1936 because of obscenity laws. Ulysses deals with the experiences of a small number of Dublin characters as they go about their business on June16th, 1904- ad date now known as Blooms day. In themselves the events are ordinary, everyday occurrences, but Joyce describes them in terms of episodes from Homers Odyssey.

    The main characters are a middle aged Jewish   advertisement salesman Leopold Bloom (representing Homer’s hero Odysseus), a young poet Stephen Dedalus to whom Bloom acts as a father figure and leopold’s wife Molly.

     Ulysses introduce Stream of consciousness into English writing and greatly influence the modern novel.

Wife of Bath: one of the pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. She is robust, colorful character that who has had five husbands –all now dead- and is sometimes seen as an early feminist. The wife of Bath launches a spirited attack on chastity and female submissiveness.

Know Your English Literature Part. V

Paradise Lost: Epic poem written by John Milton, between about 1658 and 1663, and consisting of 12 books containing more than 10000 lines. The poem deals with the temptation and disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the Fall of Man which follows. It also describes the rebellion and punishment of Satan and his cohorts, and foretells the coming of the Messiah, who will redeem mankind.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat: Children’s nonsense poem written by Edward Lear in 1867 for the daughter of a friend. I t begins with the lines:

The Owl and the Pussy- Cat went to sea

In a beautiful pea-green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

Wrapped up in a five pound note.

Ring a Ring o ‘Roses: Nursery rhyme sung in a children’s game. The children hold hand and dance around in a ring until reaching the last line, when they pretend to sneeze and fall down. The words are believed by many to date from the Great Plague, with the’ roses’ being the red spots and ‘pocketful of posies’ the herbs which were supposed to ward off the illness. ‘A tishoo! a tishoo! Is said to imitate the cold symptoms which came before ‘we all fall down’ and die. However, there is no evidence to confirm this, and the earliest printed version dates only from 1800s.

Harold Robbins (1916): Best selling American novelist known for books such as Never Love a stranger and The Carpet-baggers, the latter of which sold more than 6 million copies.

History Mystery: Sex And The Religions Part.II

Of course, sex was clearly perceptible in the higher animals and humans, but the ideas as to the sexual progression were fuzzy and are completely unscientific. In fact, the most primitive references in the oldest mythology did not always spoken of “aggressive principles", but it is evident that it taught that the God was of hermaphrodite nature. The story of Cronus is worth remembered. According to Hesiod (The great old Bible of Greek) Cronus (Saturn) separated the Earth and the Heaven with a sickle, by dissecting (Castrated) the sexual organ of his father Uranus.

In Elephanta caves near Bombay there are lot of magnificent old workmanship representing Lord Shiva and Shakthi as one being of hermaphrodite in nature. One of these statutes is about 16 feet high, both male and female sex organs, or being half female and half male. The genderless form of Siva Parvathi, before separation, was called Viraj. In the middle of this cave temple is a bust of the Hindu Trimurti, six feet high.

The thought that formerly gods and men were androgynous, and had to be separated into unisexual beings, accounts for the word "sex," derived from secus (the seco means to ampute or cut apart). Here I wish to state one peculiarity here. Most of the Aryan nations speak of their ultimate God as “Father”. This proclaims the importance of sex in the religion.

The ancient Rig Veda which is the sacred writings of Hindu religion is the oldest literary work of the religious faith. They are supposed to be composed between 4000 to 1500BC. Earlier Vedas were transmitted orally to the younger by the elders of the family. It was reduced to writing only after 600BC. The Vedas in one supreme god Brahma whose   attributes are the three personified powers of creation, protection and destruction. The respective names are Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. They together form the Trimurti, or Hindu Trinity, represented as one body with three heads or three faces within a single head.

                                           (to be continued)

History Mystery: Sex And The Religions Part.I

The information consolidated about the phallic religion led me to doubt whether this was ever a religion from all other religions apart; it seems to me that this is merely a phase in the evolution of all religions. Nor was it a real worship of the genital organs, but rather a use of representations of the phallus and yoni as symbols for certain religious ideas which were embodied in nature-worship.

According to the modern civilized thought, the most of the religions like the ancient Egyptian, Roman, and Greek and or the latest Hindu worship of Siva are based on sex. According to ancient thought, Heaven and the earth were first permanently united as a genderless (hermaphrodite) deity or an endless sexual hug. The same idea can be found in all ancient myths (Uranus male and Gea female) and then later separated into male and female gods. The heaven mentioned here is not of the Christian belief. The heaven mentioned here is the atmosphere (The region of clouds and over clouds) which covers the earth on all the sides and considered earth being beneath (heaven- male; earth- female).
According to Bible ''So God created man in his own image; male and female created He them" (Genesis 27the verse of I chapter) and it is again emphasized by the wordings ''In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he them; and God blessed them, and called their name Adam.'' (Genesis Chap. V, verses one and two). According to Hebrew tradition (The Talmud) Adam was created Androgynous (Androgynous means hermaphrodite or genderless). His head touched the clouds and God caused the sleep fall on him and created ordinary men and women from his body parts and scattered them over the world. According to another version, Adam’s first wife deserted him and hence God separated Adam into his two sexual parts and made Eve from his ribs. According to Philo a Jewish philosopher who lived in the same period of Jesus, Adam was a double, androgynous or hermaphrodite and God separated Adam in to male and female (Eve).
The desire for reunion which love inspired in the separated halves of the originally dual being, is the source of the sexual pleasure, which is the commencement of all transgressions." The Targum of Jonathan mentions that Eve was made from the thirteenth rib of Adam's right side; even modern theologists have the view that Adam had one more rib than his offspring.

The Hindu religion explains the creation of the different animals in the same way. Purusha Avas was first lonely in the world and he was tired of his very loneliness he divided himself into two human beings man and his wife. His wife regarded having sex with him to be incestuous since both of them came from the same body (Brother and Sister). She fled from his romantic advances and embraces and to avoid him she herself changed into various forms but Purusha also assumed the same shapes as his wife and in these forms he succeeded in his hot pursuit. That was result in the creation of various animals in the universe.

                                                           (to be continued.)

How the Internet and Technology has Impacted Religion

How the Internet and Technology has Impacted Religion

                                                   (Guest Article By Ruben Corbo)

The ever-increasing popularity of the Web has risen out of necessity. The recession, gas prices, time constraints and countless other reasons have driven more people to the Web. During the recession, many people found jobs and solace through the church. As times grew more difficult, people confined to the home even sought religious information on the Internet. There are many church resources that can be accessed online, including church services. Technology and the Internet have significantly impacted religion and the way people worship today. Internet service providers facilitate this communication on the Web.

 According to a study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, nearly 25 percent of all Internet users have accessed information about religion online. Twenty-five percent of the entire Internet community equates to approximately 28 million people. This number has increased 21 percent since the year 2000. Sixty-seven percent of these people were seeking information about their own faith and 50 percent were seeking information about other faiths.

According to the same report, 38 percent of people have used the Internet to send prayer requests. Since people are online, churches have to meet people where they are physically located. The Internet allows churches to reach people in their homes, offices or other locations. Fifteen percent of people reported that the Internet makes them more committed to their faith.

What Religious Resources are Available Online?

Sixty-four percent of users found that it was easier to access religious materials online rather than through other sources. Forty-four percent of people also find that asking for a prayer request and devotional materials online was easier than asking for a request offline. Christians, Muslims and Jews have used the Internet forum for prayer and information.

For example, Muslims use the Internet to access their prayer schedules on their cell phones through an application called iPray. Muslims also have access to MuslimMatters, Elan and other sites that connect Muslims around the world in their faith. This is important to nearly two-thirds of Muslims that were born abroad but now live in the United States.

Christians may look up Bible passages through BibleGateway. They may also view church services online or participate in blogs. Many churches have Twitter accounts and some churches are hiring IT guys and consultants like ChurchCrunch.com to help them improve their online presence.

Jews may learn Hebrew through @JewishTweets. The lessons come 140 characters at a time. Jews also network with other people of their faith online. Jewish dating sites allow like-minded Jews to meet one another online and discuss their faith.

Even Atheists have their own sites. The Friendly Atheist, Atheist Revolution and the Atheist Blogger are among the most popular. These forums allow people to come together and critique religious news, politics and other topics. These forums help Atheists feel more comfortable about who they are.

What are the Benefits of Religion Online?

Not only is religion benefitting the parishioners of the church online, but the ministerial leaders are also utilizing the resources available. The minister of the The First Church of Cyberspace has used the Internet to collaborate with other ministers and also to find information for sermons. Ecunet is the resource that was established for religious professionals in 1985, and many found the resource to be “life changing.” The resource is convenient and full of incredible information. Other members of the religious community can critique the sermons online to improve presentation style.

The First Church of Cyberspace is designed for discussion and to promote deeper thinking in the religious community. The forum attempts to address controversial questions that traditional church organizations do not address in the pulpit. People, who cannot travel to church, no longer have to resort to one way communication from television programming. The online community can participate in the church community online. Nearly 45 percent of churches today have websites and experts expect that number to grow to 90 percent in the next five years.

Summary

Internet and technology has made a significant impact on religion. Many people who did not feel comfortable in a church environment, feel comfortable discussing religion online. As the costs decrease for Internet service providers, websites and web hosting services, the number of participating churches is expected to increase significantly. Churches may make a significant impact on people confined to their homes without significant resources.

This is a guest article by Ruben Corbo, a writer for the website Broadband Expert where you can find high speed internet service providers in your area and compare prices on different deals for your wireless internet necessities.

Know Your English Literature Part. IV

Noddy: Character in a children’s book invented by Enid Blyton in 1949 after she had seen a sketch by the Dutch artist Harmsen van der Beek. Noddy books, featuring such characters as big-ears the Brownie and Mr Pold the Police man, have been best sellers ever since. But they have also been attacked for racism.

Old English: Germanic language with genders and cases, also called Anglo- Saxon, which was spoken and written from 700Ad to 1150. At least four dialects were used Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon. The best known Old English poetry, including BEOWULF, is contained in four manuscripts from the late 10^th and early 11^th centuries. The earliest known works is the Hymn of Creation, composed in the late 7^th century by Caedmon, an illiterate Northumbrian cowherd.

Peter Pan: Play by the Scottish writer J.M.BARRIE, first performed in 1904. The title character is a little boy who lives in a place called Never Never Land where children never grow up. Peter Pan, accompanied by the fairy Tinker bell, persuades Wendy and her two brothers to leave their parents, the Darlings, and their faithful Canine nurse, Nana, and fly from their Kensington home to Never Never Land. There they have various adventures and finally vanquish the pirates and their leader, evil Captain Hook.

‘To be or not to be’: opening line of one of the most celebrated speeches in English literature. It comes from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, and occurs in a Soliloquy in which the prince considers suicide as a way out of his dilemma. Ultimately, he rejects it because of fears about ‘what dreams may come’- that is, the possibility of damnation and eternal torment- and concludes, ‘Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all’