The Quirks of the Quill By Arushi Lakhanpal | Short Summary | Question-Answers | Video Explanation

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The Quirks of the Quill is an essay on the ludicrous habits of few writers. Arushi Lakhanpal wrote this essay due to her fascination for the quirky obsessions of some amazing authors.


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- SHORT SUMMARY -
Literature can be very ludicrous (funny) sometimes, So can authors. from frightening plays and electrifying epics to terrible tales and rotten rhymes. Literature offers a treasure of amazing authors and priceless poets to some weird writers. Often, these weird writers creates fantastical worlds within their stories where they live charming characters. In the journey of creating such fantastic worlds, these weird writers face daily worries and some strange habits.

As a matter of fact, many of the praiseworthy literary figures have lots of Quirks (strange habits) such as writing during the day or at night; In a car, Bathroom or beneath a tree. Not only they fuss about the writing space and time but also about choosing what to write with - a pencil, pen, crayon or simply on a typewriter. They all have some Quirks while writing their amazing masterpiece.


Let's learn more about some quirks of these amazing quirky writers -

# Charles Dickens couldn't work without his blue ink, writing quills, statuettes, a green vase, a paper knife and a desk calendar placed on his writing desk. It was of utmost importance to him to have all these things arranged in the right order before he began writing.

# Edgar Allan Poe, a poet and a writer, mostly wore a black suit and preferred black ink. He was extremely fond of cats. A tortoise shell cat, Catterina  was often found resting on Poe's shoulders, observing him as he wrote. She would purr to show her approval of his work.

# James Joyce was a night owl. To aid his vision, he wore a white coat that helped reflect light onto the paper in front of him. Joyce opted to use crayons instead of quills; to write not on paper but on large pieces of cardboard. For this, he used plethora of colors, from red and blue to green and orange.

# Franz Kafka’s job kept him busy during the day so Kafka chose to write at night starting at 10 pm sharp.


If there is one thing that is common among these writers, it is their love of walking. William Wordsworth is considered the greatest walker of all time. For Robert Frost, walking into the wild offered inspiration for writing.

Some writer’s also have writing abodes means the places that writers chose to right in order to arouse their creativity like DH Lawrence sat beneath the shade of pine trees to write. GB Shaw used to work in a tiny shed in his backyard.

Some of the writers were coffee and tea fanatics. They couldn’t start their day without a fresh cup of coffee or tea. These were known as coffee craving wordsmiths and tea enthusiasts. Honore De Balzac used to drink 50 cups of coffee a day.

Some writers also have quirks of Early Birds and Night Owls. As some of them are Diurnal writers who chose to write at daybreak. They were very particular about when they would begin writing and some are Nocturnal writers who chose to write at night when the world fast asleep.

The art of writing is a solitary act often accompanied by daily rituals and routine. All these weird writers certainly got the best out their weirdness !



- WORD MEANINGS -

  • Petrifying - Frightening
  • Disguised - Change of appearance
  • Qualms - Worries
  • Quirks - Strange habits
  • Laudable - Praiseworthy
  • Obsessions - The state in which a person's mind is completely filled with thoughts of one particular thing or person.
  • Finicky - too Fussy
  • Phantasm - Imaginary thing
  • Abhorred - Disgust and hated
  • Eavesdrop - Listen secretly
  • Eccentric - Uncommon
  • Modernist - Who believe in modernism
  • Easel - Wooden stand for painting
  • Immortalising - Prevent to forgotten in future
  • Fanatics - Extremely obsessed
  • Ally - Supportive person
  • Wordsmiths - Skilled user of words

- QUESTION /ANSWERS -

Q. What do you understand by the quirks of the writers?
Q. List any five quirks of three writers mentioned in the Chapter.
Q. What were the quirks of Charles Dickens?
Q. What were the quirks of Franz Kafka?
Q. What were the quirks of Edgar Allan Poe?
Q. What were the quirks of James Joyce?
Q. Who are diurnal writes?
Q. Who are nocturnal writers?


Q. Why do you think some authors prefer to work through the night?
Q. What are the benefits of drinking tea or coffee as stated by the writers in the essay?
Q. Who are coffee craving wordsmiths and tea enthusiasts?
Q. What are Writer’s Writing Abodes? Give any two examples.
Q. Why do some writers prefer to write at particular places?
Q. What were the quirks of Weird Writer’s Ways of Walking?

- ANSWERS -


- SELF EVALUATION TEST -
This is a quiz based test which is consist of 20 Multiple Choice Questions to test your Understanding about this Chapter...



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