Criticism : IAR Practical Criticism Reading poem

 How to Tame a New Pair of Chappals by Gopal Honnalgere :-

Gopal Honnalgere (1942 - 2003), a once prominent English language poet who published six volumes in his lifetime. Unfortunately, all six volumes are now out of print and Honnalgere remains largely forgotten. He was born in Karnataka and later, taught art and writing at the Oasis School in Hyderabad. It is said that he spent his later years in abject poverty, however, we could not find any information about his circumstances or his demise.

Read the full poem below :-

How to Tame a New Pair of Chappals

don't leave them together

don't allow them to talk to each other

they may form a trade union

don't at anytime leave them near

a wall clock, law books, a calendar, the national flag,

gandhi's portrait, or a newspaper

they may hear about

independence, satyagraha,

holidays, working hours, minimum wages, corruption

don't take them to your temple

they may at once know you are weak

your god is false and they may bite you

don't let them near your dining table

they may ask for food

or cast their evil eyes on your dinner

first use them only for short walks

then gradually increase the distance

they should never know the amount of work they have to do

pull their tight straps loose

let them feel happiness

they are growing bigger

smear some old oil on the rough straps

let them feel they are anointed

now they are good subdued labourers

ready to work overtime

for your fat feet

The poem progresses the poet's assumed personae . He just gives direction like a businessman would give an assembly line for months. Don't let them talk to each other , don't let them come clost newspaper, don't let them talk about holiday, working hours, or minimum ways. It is kind of its very beautiful form for poem and for chappals which never give so much importance too. The way chappals personify their life is brief to them. It's actually really good and the way the poem ends for your fat feets. Now their good subbed labourers are ready to do over time for your fat feet. The reader is immediately call fat in the end.

Frame study : Charlie Chaplin's 'The Modern Times' and 'The Great Dictator'

 Hello Friends! I am a student of English department of MKBU. Here is my thinking activity task about Frame study of The Modern Times and The Great Dictator' by Charlie Chaplin. This is assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir.

The Modern Times :-

Modern Times is a 1936 American silent comedy film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin in which his iconic Little Tramp character struggles to survive in the modern, industrialised world. The film is a commentary on the desperate employment and financial conditions many people faced during the Great Depression - conditions created, in Chaplin's view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialization.

 

Twenty years after he first became a global icon, Charlie Chaplin bid farewell to the silent era with a film inspired by the social struggles of the time. In one of his best outings, Chaplin’s ‘Little Tramp’ battles industrial mechanisation, unemployment and the law in an undying pursuit of happiness.

Modern Times features Chaplin as a factory worker, forced to endure the harsh realities of a monotonous production line. After being fired for causing havoc, he spends the rest of his time either in jail or trying his hand at other jobs, with varying degrees of success. Along the way, he meets a kindred spirit in ‘The Gamin,’ played by Paulette Goddard, a struggling young woman on the run. The pair bond over their shared dreams, and despite tough circumstances, they remain optimistic for the future.

The modern machinery and humorously exaggerated production line of the opening factory section is used to criticise and mock ideas of future technological progress, as workers frantically try and keep up. The president of the company keeps an overly watchful eye on his employees in ‘Big Brother’ style, and even entertains the idea of the ‘feeding machine,’ a scene that illustrates the ludicrous nature of control exerted over the workers. It’s clear where Chaplin’s sympathies lay, and the film takes pleasure in the chaos and rebellion that later ensues.

Unusually, the ‘Little Tramp’ meets his match with ‘The Gamin,’ a female companion of equal standing. The pair escape their troubles and live a carefree existence in the department store and in their own dilapidated home; Chaplin spoke of them being ‘children with no sense of responsibility, whereas the rest of humanity is weighed down with duty.’ Chaplin had met Paulette Goddard after returning from his world travels in 1932, and the pair remained together throughout the decade. Although she has a troubled life, the streetwise ‘Gamin’ is far from helpless, and Goddard brought a charming sense of mischief and tenacity to the character.

Despite being the only ‘silent’ film released in America at the time, Chaplin’s decision to maintain his style of visual comedy was vindicated when Modern Times attracted widespread praise upon release. It didn’t perform as well commercially in America as his previous films, but it was a big success in Europe and around the world. Although nobody knew at the time, it was the final appearance for the ‘Little Tramp,’ as sound films endured and the world from which the famous character emerged changed beyond all recognition.

The Great Dictator :- 

The Great Dictator is a 1940 American satirical comedy-drama film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the only Hollywood filmmaker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, Chaplin made this his first true sound film.

Chaplin's film advanced a stirring condemnation of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis. At the time of its first release, the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany and neutral during what were the early days of World War II. Chaplin plays both leading roles: a ruthless fascist dictator and a persecuted Jewish barber.

It's hardly surprising that Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator was banned in Germany, and in every country occupied by Germany, in 1940. A film that mocked Adolf Hitler was never going to be the Nazi High Command's first choice of Friday night entertainment. The more surprising thing, from today's perspective, is that Chaplin was warned that it might not be shown in Britain or the US, either. Britain's appeasement policy kept going until March 1939, and the US didn't enter World War Two until December 1941, a year after The Great Dictator was released, so when Chaplin was scripting and shooting the film – his first proper talkie – colleagues at the studio he co-owned were afraid that no government would let it be seen.

               Chaplin didn't just capture Hitler, 

but every dictator who has followed in his goose steps

But Chaplin wouldn't be dissuaded. He knew that The Great Dictator was worth making, and, sure enough, it was a box office smash: 1941's second biggest hit in the US. On the 80th anniversary of the film's release, Chaplin's prescience is even more startling. The Great Dictator is a masterpiece that isn't just a delightful comedy and a grim agitprop drama, but a spookily accurate insight into Hitler's psychology. "He was a visionary," said Costa-Gavras, the Greek-French doyen of political cinema, in a making-of documentary. "He saw the future while the leaders of the world couldn't see it, and remained on Hitler's side."

The message is that Hynkel is not a brilliant strategist or a mighty leader. He is an overgrown adolescent – as demonstrated in the sublime set piece in which he dances with an inflatable globe, dreaming of being "emperor of the world". He is an insecure buffoon who bluffs, cheats, obsesses over his public image, manhandles his secretaries, revels in the luxury of his extravagant quarters, and reverses his own key policies in order to buy himself more time in power. "To me, the funniest thing in the world is to ridicule impostors," wrote Chaplin in his autobiography, "and it would be hard to find a bigger impostor than Hitler."

Thank you!

Wordcount-991

Thinking Activity : The Setting of 20th Century Literature

  Dystopian Literature :- 

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a dystopia is "An imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible." The easiest way to think about Dystopian Literature and dystopias is to consider that a dystopia is often the result of a society's arranging its government and laws around good 

The Characteristics of Dystopian Settings :-

Many dystopias share similar characteristics, including:

Economic challenges :- 

 There’s widespread poverty that the citizens must endure, or there are massive gaps in wealth that create a ruling class of elites and relegate everyone else to a life of scarcity and hardship.

Environmental damage :- 

Environmental devastation wreaks havoc on the lives and fates of the characters. This destruction might take the form of major weather events, like earthquakes or floods; climate change and its disastrous effects; or the ramifications of pollution, overpopulation, or disregard for the planet and its finite resources.

Government influence :-

Typically, there’s either no government overseeing law, order, and civilization, or there’s a domineering government that operates a police state and controls and monitors the lives of all citizens.

Loss of freedom or individual identity :- 

A dystopian society often robs its citizens of their basic freedoms and/or individualism. It reduces them to sheep who must blindly follow the dictates of a tyrannical and unjust system.

Propaganda :-

The existing power structure in a dystopia produces propaganda to keep the citizenry in line. Such propaganda might present a deceptive “everything is fine“ picture of life in order to control the population, or it might incite fear and terror and, thus, generate an excuse to engage in further domination and subjugation.

Survival :- 

The characters in a dystopian setting are in a fight to survive the oppressive conditions in which they find themselves. They must resort to extreme measures to protect themselves and those around them, which usually means rebelling against the powers that be.

Technology :- 

Advancements in technology tend to play a key role in controlling or tracking the citizens of a dystopia. Rather than solving problems, technology creates them- damaging relationships, reinforcing hierarchies and power structures, and reducing quality of life.

Subsets of Dystopian Literature:-

Dystopian literature is itself a subgenre of speculative fiction. Speculative fiction takes place in settings that could potentially be a reality but are hypothetical at the time of writing. This hypothetical quality separates speculative fiction from works of pure science fiction or fantasy. Speculative fiction possesses certain plot points that root them to existing realities. The narratives are not as hyper-focused on science, technology, supernatural elements, and other hallmarks of science fiction and fantasy literature. Instead, they centre around the human responses to these themes.

There are also subsets of dystopian fiction. Some works combine both a utopia- an idealised, perfect world-and a dystopia. Ectopian fiction takes place in a dystopia or utopia and emphasises environmental issues, such as the preservation or destruction of the story’s natural environment. Feminist dystopias utilize their settings to critique male-dominated social and political structures and the relationship between gender identity and power.

         

Utopian :-

Utopia is the ideal state of society, where no distress prevails. Society there is full of prospects and opportunities, and no one is unhappy or hopeless there. Utopian society possesses almost perfect qualities for its citizens. In his book “Utopia”, Thomas More describes a fictional island and its rules and lifestyle.

Dystopian :-

Dystopia is the opposite of Utopia, where everything is chaotic and disordered, nothing is good there, and it is not desirable at all.

Writers known for Dystopian Literature :-

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake

Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange

Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower

Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

Lois Lowry, The Giver

George Orwell, 1984, Animal Farm

Veronica Roth, Divergent

Fantasy Literature :-

Fantasy is a genre of literature that features magical and supernatural elements that do not exist in the real world. Although some writers juxtapose a real-world setting with fantastical elements, many create entirely imaginary universes with their own physical laws and logic and populations of imaginary races and creatures. Speculative in nature, fantasy is not tied to reality or scientific fact.

Type of fantasy :- 

Fantasy includes a robust and ever-growing number of subgenres, some of which writers combine in their works. There are a few essential subgenres of fantasy:

High or epic fantasy :-

Set in a magical environment that has its own rules and physical laws, this subgenre’s plots and themes have a grand scale and typically center on a single, well-developed hero or a band of heroes, such as Frodo Baggins and his cohorts in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (1954).

Low fantasy :- 

Set in the real world, low fantasy includes unexpected magical elements that shock characters, like the plastic figurines come to life in Lynne Reid Banks’s The Indian in the Cupboard (1980).

Magical realism :-

While similar to low fantasy, magical realism characters accept fantastical elements like levitation and telekinesis as a normal part of their otherwise realistic world, as in Gabriel García Márquez’s classic One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967).

Sword and sorcery :- 

A subset of high fantasy, it focuses on sword-wielding heroes, such as the titular barbarian in Robert E. Howard’s Conan pulp fiction stories, as well as magic or witchcraft.

Dark fantasy :- 

Combining elements of fantasy and horror, its aim is to unnerve and frighten readers, like the gargantuan, otherworldly monsters in H. P. Lovecraft’s universe.

Fables. Using personified animals and the supernatural, fables impart moral lessons, like the stories in Aesop’s Fables and Arabian Nights.

Fairy tales :- 

 Intended for children, these fairy tales and folk tales are typically set in distant magical worlds where trolls, dragons, witches, and other supernatural characters are an accepted truth, as in the Brothers Grimm’s Grimm’s Fairy Tales (1812).

Superhero fiction :- 

 Unlike stories in which a hero acquires special abilities through scientific means, such as exposure to radiation, these protagonists’ powers are supernatural.

Example of Fantasy Literature :- 

Alice in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll.

The Hobbit (1937) by J. R. R. Tolkien.

The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955) by J. R. R. Tolkien.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) by C. S. Lewis.

One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) by Gabriel García Márquez.

Bridge course : T. S. Eliot's Tradition and Individual Talent

       T.S. Eliot's "Tradition and Individual Talent" :-

                   

T.S. Eliot’s essay Tradition and the Individual Talent was first published as an anonymous piece in The Egoist, a London literary review, in September and December 1919 and subsequently included by Eliot in his first collection of essays, The Sacred Wood, published in 1920. That it continues to exert a genuine influence on thought regarding the interrelationship among literary classics, individual artists, and the nature of the creative imagination, is a comment on its value. In any case, Eliot was able to let loose in this comparatively short essay-it runs to little more than 3,000 words-packing virtually every sentence with pronouncements that, in any other context of presentation, might have required far more elaboration and persuasive defence.

"The poet's mind is in fact a receptacle for seizing and storing up numberless feelings, phrases, images, which remain there until all the particles which can unite to form a new compound are present together."

The concept of Tradition :-

The concept of “tradition” according to Eliot is the sense of continuity from the past. It is a continuity where a writer or a poet should write in tradition and it is readily unacceptable to the Whites as it is like a “censure”. The Western world seems to be occupied more on the creative forces and Eliot stresses on the elements of critical thoughts as well as while obtaining a “tradition’. According to Eliot, a poet has to write in “tradition” and there exist the elements of past in the work of poet’s art when it is examined or explored for critical elements rather than creative forces, the very “individual parts” will show the impressions of the continuity of the past or the element of past which the poet has taken from which has already existed before. He states that “the most individual parts of his work may be those in which the dead poets, his ancestors ,assert their immortality vigorously”.

According to Eliot , if a poet or a writer imbues the element of the past, there is an imitation of the past but he justifies that the imitation is “not the slavish imitation” of the past or the existed work of art before. He argues that the strict blinding of imitation of the past is not tradition and hence “Novelty is better than repetition”. He tries to suggest that a poet do not slavishly imitate the past but there is something new which is born out of that imitation. Hence, there will be a new novelty in the piece of work of art which he implies the “individual talent”. He says that a passive imitation of the past is to be discouraged and ignored.

In addition to this, Eliot suggest that a poet can obtain a “tradition” by understanding the past and he calls it as a “historical sense” which is not merely an imitation but of its presence in the present. It not involves the “pastness of the past but of its presence” but of the literary circle from the whole European literature produced from “Homer” to the present and the poet creates his own new work in the present with not just a mere imitation of the past but by understanding the past to obtain the “tradition”. A poet has to differentiate the good and bad things from the past and has to obtain the good things to create his own new work of art and hence the amalgamation of the understanding of the past and the poet’s liability to obtain the good things from the past constitute a “historical sense’. Hence,there will be both elements of past as well as of the present in a new work of art through a “historical sense” to establish a continuity of literary tradition by a poet.

Moreover, he highlights that “tradition” is not easily obtained and “inherited” but requires a “hard labour” and effort. There has to be the development of the “historical sense” by a poet to write in “tradition” and there is a recognition of the past and the present poet creates a new work of art so there is a continuity of literary tradition because every poet write in tradition. The poet starts to write in “tradition” when he has obtained the “historical sense” and it is possible for the poet to obtain when he has understood the past and is guided by the past in the present where he adds a new piece of work. Here, he suggests that there is a continuity as well as the creation of a new work of art in the present.

Eliot further goes on to say that “tradition” is a “dynamic one”. He suggests that the past directs the present and the present alters the past to create a new work of art which is the “individual talent”. Hence , the knowledge of the past and the creation of a new art becomes the “Tradition and Individual Talent”. He adds that the poet takes a “tradition” or the elements from the past but there is also a change or alteration in the present which creates something new and hence it is “dynamic one”. It is also a “dynamic” in a sense that when one would judge critically, one can find the elements of the past which has been existed before is guided to the present and the present modifies it when the new work of art to produce in the present. Hence, the entire structure becomes a reciprocal and the relationship of the past or the “historical sense” reciprocates to the present where it modifies the past to bring forth a new work of art or “individual talent” and the “tradition” is established and continued.

Lastly, Eliot also points out the judgement of the new piece of work in the present. He states that the judgement of the new piece of work is done by comparison and contrast between the past and the present which has altered the past. It is not merely done through a comparison and contrast but it is to see the manners in which the present has modified or altered the present has done to the past. It is to observe the range of changes in the new work of art to the present and to the past as well as to undermine the values of the past and present which is equally balanced without undermining the past as well as the present. Hence, Eliot says that this is the real sense of “tradition’.

   Thank you…

Word :1079

Bridge course : Aristotle's poetics

 Here I am writing a blog as a part of my thinking activity. This task was given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. This blog is about Aristotle's poetic.

Aristotle :-

Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist who is still considered one of the greatest thinkers in politics, psychology and ethics. When Aristotle turned 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy. In 338, he began tutoring Alexander the Great. In 335, Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens, where he spent most of the rest of his life studying, teaching and writing. Some of his most notable works include Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, Metaphysics, Poetics and Prior Analytics

Poetics:-

Poetics is not a mere enunciation of the principles of the poetic art. Its conclusions are firmly rooted in Greek Literature.

Poetics is a treatise of about fifty pages containing twenty six small chapters. It gives the impression of being a summary of his lectures to his pupils, written either by them or by himself. It is believed to have a second part, which is lost. For it is incomplete and omits some of the important questions he himself raises which were reserved for a fuller treatment in the second part.

The first four chapters and the twenty-fifth are devoted to poetry, the fifth in a general way to comedy, epic, and tragedy, the following fourteen exclusively to tragedy, the next three to poetic diction, the next two to epic poetry, and last to a comparison of epic poetry and tragedy. Aristotle’s main concern appears to be tragedy, which in his day, was considered to be the most developed form of poetry.

Aristotle's Definition of Tragedy :-

"A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;… in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions."

These six elements can be organised, as Aristotle shows, under the major categories of medium, object, and mode:

Objects

Plot (Mythos) :-

Emphasising that tragedy is first and foremost the representation of actions, and not of characters, Aristotle makes the remark that many contemporary tragedies do not succeed in their characterization, but are still tragedies. The tragic effect comes from the plot, and especially from the peripeteia–the reversal of the situation in which the characters find themselves– as well as from scenes of recognition.

Character ( Ethos) :-

Character is second in importance after plot; tragedies depict characters as they relate to the action which is the main object of representation. Characters represent their moral qualities through the speeches assigned to them by the dramatist.

Thought (Dianoia) :-

Thought comprises both the rational processes through which characters come to decisions, as represented in the drama, as well as the values put forward in the form of maxims and proverbs.

Media

Diction ( Lexis) :-

Diction has already been defined as the metrical composition of the play, the way language is used to convey the representation.

Song ( Melos) :-

Music is described as an embellishment of language. The lines assigned to the chorus in a tragedy are usually conveyed in song accompanied by rhythmical movement.

Mode

Spectacle ( Opsis) :-

Aristotle lists spectacle last in order of importance, pointing out that the power of tragedy is not fully dependent upon its performance (we can read a tragedy and still appreciate its message), and that the art of the spectacle really belongs to the set designer and not to the poet.

Thank you!

Bridge course : The Dramatic Poesy

 Hello friends, welcome to my blog. This blog is about Dryden's "Dramatic Poesy". This task given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir.

John Dryden :-

John Dryden was a prominent English poet, critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of the Restoration Age; therefore, the age is also known as the Age of Dryden. He was a Cambridge Scholar, literary genius and critic, and considering his extraordinary literary contribution he was credited with the honour of poet laureate of England in 1668.

Definition of the play :-

  

 "A play ought to be a just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humours, and the changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the delight and instruction of mankind."

According to the definition, drama is an 'image' of human nature and the image is ' just' and 'lively'. By using the word 'just' Dryden seems to imply that literature imitates human action. For Dryden, 'poetic imitation' is different from an exact, servile copy of reality, for the imitation is not only 'just', it is also 'lively'.

When the group talks about the definition of Drama Lisideius expresses his views about Drama as " a just and lively image of human nature".

Eugenius ( Charles Sackville) :-

Who favors the moderns over the ancients argued that the moderns exceed the ancients because of having learned and profited from their example.

Eugenius says that " the moderns have profited by the rules of the ancients" but moderns have " excelled them". He points first to some discrepancies in the applications of the Unities, mentioning that there seem to be four parts in Aristotle's method: the entrance, the intensifying of the plot, the counter turn, and the catastrophe. But he points out that somewhere along the line, and by way of Horace, plays developed five acts.

Critics (Sir Robert Howard):-

Critics develops the main point in defending the ancients and raises objections to modern plays. The modern are still initiating the ancients and using their forms and subjects, relying on Aristotle and Horace, adding nothing new and yet not following their good advice closely either, especially with respect to the Unities of time , plac and action. While the unity of time suggests that all the action should be portrayed within a single day, the English plays attempt to use long period of time sometimes years. In terms of place, the setting should be the same from beginning to end with the scenes marked by the entrances and exits of the persons having business within each. The English,on the other hand,try to have all kinds of places, even far off countries, shown within a single play. The third unity, that of action, requires that the play " aim at one great and complete action", but the English have all kinds of subplots. Which destroy the unity of the action.

Lisideius ( Sir Charles Sedley):-

Lisideius favours French drama of earlier 17th century. French drama led by Pierre Corneille strictly followed unities of time, pace and action. The French dramatists never mix tragedy and comedy.They strictly adhere to the poetic justice i.e. reward the virtue and punishment the vice. For this, they even alter the original situation.The French dramatists interweave truth with fiction to make it interesting bringing elements that lead to fate and borrow from history to reward the virtuous which he was earlier deprived of.  

They prefer emotions over plots. Violent actions take place off stage and are told by messengers rather than showing them in real.

Neander:-

Neander contradicts Lisideius’ arguments favouring the superiority of French drama. He talks about the greatness of Elizabethans. For him, Elizabethans fulfil the drama’s requirement i.e. imitation of life.French drama raises perfection but has no soul or emotions as it primarily focuses on the plot. For Neander, tragicomedy is the best form of drama. Both sadness as well as joy are heightened and are set side by side. Hence it is closest to life.

He believes that subplots enrich the drama. This French drama having a single plot lacks this vividness. Further Samuel Johnson, he believes that adherence to unities prevents depth.

According to him, deviation from set rules and unities gives diverse themes to drama. Neander rejects the argument that change of place and time diminishes dramatic credibility in drama.

For him, human actions will seem more natural if they get enough time to develop. He also argues that Shakespeare is...

           “the man of all the modern and perhaps ancient              poets, and the largest and most comprehensive soul”. 

Francis Beaumont and John Fletchers’ dramas are rich in wit and have smoothness and polish in their language.Neander says, “I am apt to believe the English language in them arrived at its highest perfection”. If Ben Jonson is a genius for correctness, Shakespeare excels him in wit.  

His arguments end with the familiar comparison, 

“Shakespeare was the Homer, or father of our dramatic poets; Jonson was the Virgil, the pattern of elaborate writing; I admire him, but I love Shakespeare.”  

Thus for him, Elizabethans are superior because they have a variety of themes, emotions, deviations, wit. They do not adhere to rules as well. Thus their drama is really an imitation of life.

1)Do you any difference between Aristotle's definition of Tragedy and Dryden's definition of Play?

Dryden's play of definition “Just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humours, and the. changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the. delight and instruction of mankind.”

Aristotle's d definition of Tragedy is, “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;... in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear,effecting the proper purgation- catharsis of these and similar emotions.”

3) Do you think that the arguments presented in favour of the French plays and against English plays are appropriate? (Say for example, Death should not be performed as it is neither 'just' not 'liely' image, displaying duel fight with blunted swords, thousands of soldiers marching represented as five on stage, mingling of mirth and serious, multiple plots etc.)

In Dryden's essay in the Lisideius favours French drama of earlier 17th century. French drama led by Pierre Corneille strictly followed unities of time, pace and action. The French dramatists never mix tragedy and comedy. They strictly adhere to the poetic justice i.e. reward the virtue and punishment the vice. For this, they even alter the original situation. The French dramatists interweave truth with fiction to make it interesting, bringing elements that lead to fate and borrow from history to reward the virtuous . They prefer emotions over plots. Violent actions take place of stage and are told by messengers rather than showing them in real.

Thank you!

Word :- 1138

Bridge course : Wordsworth's Preface

 Wordsworth :-

    " Several of my friends are anxious for the success                 of these Poems ... and ... have advised me to prefix a                              systematic defense of the theory. "

William Wordsworth was English poet whose Lyrical Ballads (1798), written with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the English Romantic movement.

Wordsworth's Preface :-

The “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads” is, at its core, a manifesto of the Romantic movement. Wordsworth uses this essay to declare the tenets of Romantic poetry, which has distinctly different preoccupations from the Neoclassical poetry of the preceding period. The Neoclassical poets emphasised intellectualism over emotion, society, didacticism, formality, and stylistic rigidity. The last stage of Neoclassicism, before the onset of Romanticism, is known as the Age of Johnson. In this last stage, writers attempted to break from the classical tradition through gestures like incorporating nature and melancholy, but were, in Wordsworth’s eyes, unsuccessful. Wordsworth proposes something more revolutionary in his “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads”: emotion and imagination over intellectualism, nature over society, simple forms of expression, and the stylistic liberty of the poet. Through his “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads,” Wordsworth argues that it’s time for a new kind of poetry-one that can revive humankind to be emotionally alive and morally sensitive-which he hopes to catalyse with his own ballads.

Wordsworth sees great harm in the poetry of the Age of Johnson. The poets of this age have attempted to break from Neoclassicism, but their poetry displays an unforgivable insensitivity and sensationalism. Wordsworth notes that there appears to be “a craving for extraordinary incident” among the general public for his time, and “the literature and theatrical exhibitions of the country have conformed themselves” to this taste: “The invaluable works of our elder writers are driven into neglect by frantic novels, sickly and stupid German tragedies, and deluges of idle and extravagant stories in verse.” Writers from the Age of Johnson have attempted to incorporate certain characteristics of Romanticism but have created works that are overwrought and lacking in insight. From Wordsworth’s critique of these writers, readers of the “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads” can infer that Wordsworth believes writers should be sensitive to emotions but should not dramatise these emotions so that they become artificial.

Nevertheless, the decline of literature has not led Wordsworth to be hopeless. The poet declares, “I should be oppressed with no dishonourable melancholy, had I not a deep impression of certain inherent and indestructible qualities of the human mind, and likewise of certain powers in the great and permanent objects that act upon it which are equally inherent and indestructible.” In other words, Wordsworth believes that the decline from the Age of Johnson can be counteracted by “certain powers” that can revive the human mind-namely, the powers of Romanticism. Wordsworth wishes to guide his readers to the “fluxes and refluxes of the mind when agitated by the great and simple affections of our nature,” to guide his readers back to their natural sensitivity.

In the introductory paragraphs of the “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads,” Wordsworth declares that by publishing the Lyrical Ballads four years ago in 1798, he was conducting an experiment to see if people would accept a new class of poetry. Since these poems were well-received, Wordsworth decided to write the “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads” to give readers insight into why he wrote such experimental poems. In these poems, Wordsworth has attempted to “ to metrical arrangement a selection of the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation.” By writing these poems, Wordsworth intends not only to impart pleasure, but also to produce a class of poetry “well adapted to interest mankind permanently, and not unimportant in the multiplicity, and in the quality of its moral relations.” From this, readers can see that Wordsworth had two main goals in mind to create poems that appeal not only to well-educated readers but also to the “multiplicity,” or general public, to have these poems be relevant to humanity’s “moral relations,” inspiring readers to have humane conduct. Aware that his poems are “so materially different from those upon which general approbation is at present bestowed”in other words, the poetry that is popular at the time of his writing-Wordsworth emphasises that his poetic digression from Neoclassicism is not the product “of an indolence which prevents him from endeavouring to ascertain what is his duty.” Instead, Wordsworth wants to exclude “certain classes of ideas and expressions” in Neoclassical poetry that, to him, demonstrate an artificial “gaudiness and inane phraseology.” Wordsworth emphasises that his decision to write in a simpler, less-rigid style than the Neoclassicists does not arise from laziness, but from dislike for their lofty phrases. Wordsworth finds the Neoclassical style to be too flashy and rather senseless.

Neoclassicism, in its dedication to intellectualism and other lofty ideas, seems heartless to Wordsworth. Poets in the Age of Johnson who attempted to diverge from earlier classes of Neoclassicism failed to produce better literature and instead fell into the trap of sensationalism. Romanticism is something wholly revolutionary, and, according to Wordsworth, has the potential to revive the public back to sensitivity.

1)What is the basic difference between the poetic creed of 'Classicism' and 'Romanticism'?

Classicism :- 

The imitation primary of the style and aesthetic principles of ancient Greek and Roman classical art and literature. The term neoclassical is often used in referring to revivals of classicism.

Romanticism :-

It is moment in the literature that lasted from about 1750 to about 1870 ,characterised by reliance on the imagination and subjectivity of approach , freedom of thought and expression and an idealization of nature.

       

2)Why does Wordsworth say 'What' is poet? rather than Who is poet?

Wordsworth say that,"a poet is a man speaking to man, endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, great en knowledge of human nature, more comprehensive soul, men in the spirit of life, creative volition, passions and situations where he does not find them, who rejoice more."

3)What is Poetry?

Wordsworth say that,

"poetry is breath and finer spirit of all knowledge, the impassioned expression that is in the countenance of all science". Poetry is the instrument for the propagation of moral thought.

Thank you!

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