The Magic of Words
English XI | Class 11 Notes
The Magic of Words is based on the idea that reading is an informational as well as a recreational activity, and that a good selection of well-written texts sensitize the readers toward developing an intelligent awareness of some of the most important issues involved in living. This selection is organised in six unit. Each unit has a clear thematic content, and all the six units together present an intelligent treatment of important idea and topics of present-day relevance.
Unit One (“Stories o the supernatural”) is a “link” unit, and it recapitulates general reading, writing, and grammar activities for revision and prepares the students for the study of the major themes presented in the selection. Unit Two (“Men, Women and Children”) deals with discovering family relationship in their different aspects, and presents children, adolescents and adults engaged in various interpersonal activities.
Unit Three (“Ecology and Environment”) powerfully presents how the environment is threatened as well as suggests the necessity of conserving it for the survival of the earth and its inhabitants. Unit Four (“Humour”) entertains and informs. Unit Five (“Identity, Gender and Ethnicity”) deals with the burning problems of identity, power and race relationships that need to be understood dispassionately and wisely for peaceful coexistence. The final unit, Unit Six (“Life and Death”), explores the pain, vanity, dignity and beauty of life and death.
UNIT ONE : STORIES OF THE SUPERNATURAL
UNIT TWO : MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN
- MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD : William Wordsworth
- SPEAKING OF CHILDREN : Barbara Holland
- LOOK AT A TEACUP : Patrica Hampl
- A WORN PATH : Eudora Welty
- THE THREE DAY BLOW : Ernest Hemingway
UNIT THREE : ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT
- THE POPLAR FIELD : William Cowper
- THE NIGHTMARE LIFE WITHOUT FUEL : Issac Asimov
- UNCHOPPING A TREE : W.S. Merwin
- KEEPING THINGS WHOLE : Mark Strand
UNIT FOUR : HUMOUR
UNIT FIVE : IDENTITY, GENDER AND ETHNICITY
UNIT SIX : LIFE AND DEATH
- THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN : Harold J. Morowitz
- ON THE VANITY OF EARTHLY GREATNESS : Arthur Guiterman
- IN BED : Joan Didion
- THE GARDENER : Rudyard kipling
The Magic of Words | Class 11 Notes