Function of a Poet

Short Note about The Function of a Poet

Generally a poet is he who is able to use the best words in the best orders. Wordsworth emphasizes that self-gratification is not the aim of a poet. His fiction is not the aim of a poet. His purpose is to communicate to others about his own thoughts, feelings and his own pleasure. For this reason Wordsworth calls upon the poet to come down from the ivory tower (tower of knowledge) saying, “Poets do not write for poets alone but for men.”

Romantic Movement of English Literature

Romantic Movement of English Literature

The Romantic Movement or period flourished in England during the 18^th and 19^th Centuries. It was the most prominently personified by seven renowned poets- Samuel Taylor, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Blake, John Keats and Lord Byron.

Invocation

Invocation: Invocation is the noun form of invocate that means to seek inspiration, courage, encourage and guidance from the goddess when somebody is going to start any hard work; especially in the beginning of an Epic. As an epic is a hard and long narrative poem, on a great and serious subject, so before writing the epic Paradise Lost the author John Milton seeks inspiration from the holy spirits. So, it can be said that invocation means asking God or goddess for inspiration at the beginning of any difficult activities especially in an epic. John Milton begins Paradise Lost with the invocation, Sing, “Heavenly Muse.”

Short note about Hell:

Short note about Hell: Hell is a boundary less place which is covered with fiery gulf. It is a dungeon and horrible place. There is no light, no peace, no food but darkness is available here. The relines are sorrow, doleful and shades. Happiness and rest can never be seen here without difficulty.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne

As virtuous men pass mildly away,    And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of their sad friends do say,    "The breath goes now," and some say, "No," So let us melt, and make no noise,    No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; 'Twere profanation of our joys    To tell the laity our love.

Seven Sleepers:

Seven noble sleepers of Ephesus hid themselves in a cave in order to escape from the persecution (punishment) of Christians. The entrance (doorway) of the cave was blocked up. The seven men slept there for nearby two hundred years and then they came out, still youths in the region of the younger Theodosius. The two lovers in “The Good Morrow” composed by John Donne slept for a long, long time and it was only when they woke up that they started making love to each other. 

Fable

Fable: Generally, a fable is a short and fairly simple story which is designed to teach a moral lesson. Most of the characters of the fable are often animals and they play an important role like the human beings. The fables of the Greek slave Aesop are the most familiar.

Explanation, She stopped, she looked at her....... she could not explain.from The Garden Party

Explanation 03: She stopped, she looked at her brother. ‘Isn’t life’, she stammered, ‘ isn't life’. But what life was she could not explain.

The quoted lines have been extracted from Katherine Mansfield’s familiar short story ‘The Garden Party’. In this line the writer has explained us how Laura felt when she visited the dead man’s bereaved (mourning) family after the party was over.  

 Laura persisted (continued) to stop the party when she learnt about the death of the young man in the neighborhood. Her sister and mother chided (rebuked) her for this matter, calling her absurd (silly) and sentimental,

Explanation, There lay a young man...... from them both. from The Garden Party

Explanation 02: There lay a young man, fast sleep- sleeping so soundly, so deeply, that he was far, far away from them both.

The quoted line has been extracted from Katherine Mansfield’s well-known short story ‘The Garden Party’. In this line the writer has explained about the reaction and inner feeling of Laura when she saw the dead body of the young man. 

As Laura was born and brought up in a wealthy and royal family so she did not know what poverty was and what want was. Before visiting the poor family she had never seen death in her life. It was in the first time of her life that she had encountered death.

Explanation, You’ll have to go, Laura; you’re the artistic one. from The Garden Party

Explanation: 01. You’ll have to go, Laura; you’re the artistic one.

The line has been mentioned from Katherine Mansfield’s famous short story, The Garden Party. This is a speech made by Mrs. Sheridan to her youngest daughter Laura. The line shows the activity of Laura.

After many difficulties the Sheridan family fixed a date for their garden party. The weather of the day was ideal and the sky was without a cloud. On the day when the workmen came to put up the marque, Laura went to her mother to know where the marquee would be put up but her mother wanted to be free from the party and stay like a guest.

Contribution and Place of I.A. Richards As A Psychological Critics

What is Psychological Criticism? Discuss about Contribution and place of I.A. Richards as a psychological critics. 

Generally, psychological school of criticism wants to make criticism more scientific by applying psychological knowledge to its problems. It is itself divided into two groups, one would 'explain' about the works of art, and other finds more attractive psychological investigation of the processes of appreciation. The psychological critic tries to search the hidden objects behind a work of art. The psychological criticism of literature began in 1900 with the publication of' Freud's Interpretation of Dreams.

Character of Joe Gargery in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

Discussion about the Character of Joe Gargery in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

1. A Good Natured Foolish Man:

2. His Deep Affection for Pip:

3. Kind and Sympathetic to All:

4. Well-built Person:

Character of Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

Discussion about the Character of Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

1. Frustrated Love and Disappointment:  

2. Pip’s First Contact with Miss Havisham:

3. The Unconcerned Miss Havisham:

4. A Pathetic Creature:

Character of Abel Magwitch in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations

Discussion about the Character of Abel Magwitch in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

a. Magwitch’s encounter with Pip in the beginning character: His Ugly Humor:  

b. His Decision to Make a ‘Gentleman’ of Pip:

c. A Mixed Character:

d. His Deep Affection for Pip:

Character of Estella in Dickens’ Great Expectations.

Discussion about  the Character of Estella in Dickens’ Great Expectations.

1. Young Conductress:

2. Taught to Charm and Reject:

3. Changing after the Influence of Estella:

4. Wishful Thinking:

5. Pip’s Artificial Mind:

F.R. Leavis’ achievement as a critic

Q. Commands on F.R. Leavis’ achievement as a critic.  

Ans: Dr. F. R. Levis is a Professor and an academic critic who is also regarded as one of outstanding figures of New Criticism in England. Sometimes his criticism is called 'Philosophical Criticism' as it is the reviver of the philosophical criticism whose great supporters were Sidney, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley and Arnold.

Great achievement of F.R. Leavis:

    a. Revolutionary Figure: Leavis is a revolutionary figure in the histories of 20^th century. He professionalized the study of literature and also, literary criticism. But for his systematically explaining critical principals his position as a critic is not certain.  Still now he is regarded as a charming and certain leader of the critical world of England.

Contribution of F.R. Levis in New Criticism.

       Dr. F. R. Levis is a Professor and an academic critic who is also regarded as one of outstanding figures of New Criticism in England. Sometimes his criticism is called 'Philosophical Criticism' as it is the revive of the philosophical criticism whose great supporters were Sidney, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley and Arnold. It protects poetry on the highest altar of Truth, and teaches to grow poetry as an abstract quality. But Literary Criticism to Leaves is not Philosophy.

The Shepherd by William Blake

          Text 
How sweet is the Shepherd's sweet lot,
From the morn to the evening he strays:
He shall follow his sheep all the day
And his tongue shall be filled with praise.

An essay on the New Critics and New Criticism of the twentieth century.

An essay on the New Critics and New Criticism of the twentieth century.

During the late twenties and early thirties of the present century, New Criticism was born and cultivated. Sociological or Marxian criticism is regarded as a litterateur, who is considered as a product of the society in which he lived. Generally New Critics are opposed to the biographical, historical, sociological and comparative approach of conventional criticism. Similarly, they reject the traditional division of literature into periods and groups for the purpose of criticism.

Their criticism is Basic or Ontological, and not Extrinsic. A poem which is a piece of literature is the thing in itself, with a definite entity of its own separate both from the poet and the socio-cultural milieu in which it is produced. The music of a poem must be taken into account to arrive at its meaning. Words must be studied with reference to their sound, and their emotional and symbolic significance.

New Criticism is mainly written, and the new critics have purified valuable service to literature by their study and interpretation of literary classics. The poem is the thing, and it must be studied in itself, but he is against the ‘lemon-squeezer’ critics who press the words too closely. The term ‘new criticism’ was first used by Joel E. Spingam in his address at Columbia University, it came in general use after John Crow Ransom published his book, The New Criticism in 1941. And I. A. Richards provided the theoretical foundations.

Contribution of the New Critics: The contribution of the new critics and their concentration upon linguistic expression has benefited the study of poetry. The self-evaluation of the New Critics during the past few years, and the indications that they are increasingly ready to widen their study, are encouraging signs.

The Basic Views of the New Critics: The basic doctrines and principles view of the New Critics are summarized in the bellow:

(a) Permission: The critic must not permit himself to be hampered and narrow-minded by any literary theories.

(b) Concentration: A poem, or a work of art, is the thing in itself to the new critics. The critic must concentrate all attention on it and illuminated it.

(c) Function of the critics: The function of the critic is to analyze, understand and value a work of art. A poem is separated from the poet and his social environment; it is a certain object in itself and must be studied as such. The critic must dedicate himself to close stylistic study, free by any unnecessary concerns.

(d) Irrelevant works of literature: Moral and religious considerations, social, political and environmental conditions, the details of the poet’s biography, are all irrelevant and are all obstacles in the way of a real understanding of a work of literature. The literary critic must approach the work with an open mind, ready to study it. 

(e) Form and content: A poem has both form and content. Both should be closely studied and analyzed before a true understanding of its meaning becomes possible.

(f) The form of poetry: Words, images, rhythm, metre, etc. create the form of poetry and they are to be closely studied. A poem is a living whole and these different parts are inter-connected and these inter-connections, the reaction of one upon the other, and upon the total meaning, is to be closely followed, and examined.     

(g) Important elements: The study of words, their arrangement, the way in which they act and react on each other is all important. Words, besides their literal significance, also have emotional, associative, and symbolic significance, and only close application and analysis can bring out their total meaning. The new critics, in their minute scrutiny of words, and the structure of poetry, have propounded different theories.   

(h) Poetic language: Poetry is considered as the communication and language is considered as the meaning of communication, so the New Critics seek to understand the full meaning of a poem through a study of poetic language. So, the words of the New Critics are all important, and their study is the only key to the poetic meaning of the poem.

   (i) Different: The New Critics are opposed both to the historical and comparative methods of criticism. Historical considerations are extraneous to the work of literature, and comparison of works of art is to be resorted to with great caution.  So their methods, their techniques and their forms are bound to be different.

Limitations and Shortcomings of New Criticism:

(a) Pre-occupied with textual analysis: The New Critics are too much pre-occupied with textual analysis. Their excessive pre-occupation with words, images, paradox, irony, etc., makes them forget that the poem is an organic whole. In their pre­ occupation with the parts they ignore the beauty of the whole.

    (b) Their Approach: Their approach is dogmatic and narrow. According to them, it is through Textual study and analyses alone that truth can be arrived at. However, there are a number of other approaches—the historical, the sociological, the psychological, etc., and each has its own value and significance. All possible ways should be tried to arrive at the full truth about a poem.

   (c) Functions: A work of art has two functions, artistic and moral. While the older criticism erred in its over-emphasis on the moral concern of literature, the New Critics go to the other extreme in their entire neglect of it. Art cannot be divorced entirely from life.

  (d) An art-form: Literature is certainly an art-form, but it has other values also, besides the literary. Stylistic analysis can establish only the literary quality of a work, to determine its greatness. Other methods are also necessary.

  (e) Documentary approach: The textual or documentary approach may work well with some categories, but it is not equally effective with all categories. There are different kinds of poetry, and different critical techniques are needed for their evaluation. The same technique cannot be effective both with the lyric and the epic.

   (f) A poem is an artistic structure: A poem is certainly an artistic structure, and it must be studied as such. The understanding of the poetic meaning of a poem is essential, and textual and structural study is an effective tool for the purpose. But social and biographical factors may also determine its meaning and knowledge of them may also help the critic to brighten the work under study.

   (g) Fault: The New Critics are wrong in ignoring the study of the history of literary criticism. A historical study shows that various critical tools have been used effectively in different ages and countries, and their use may be worthwhile in the present also. A historical study is the only way of understanding the comparative merits of the rival schools of criticism.

Edited by: Mahbub Murad. Dhaka, Bangladesh. Cell: +8801919879309, +8801761519111. Email: Mahbub_murad@yahoo.com 

A short note on New Criticism or the New School of Literary Criticism.

 Introduction: We observe there are various manners and techniques, streams and irritable currents of criticism in style at present. Generally Modern literary criticism has an unclear change and it has been influenced by new discoveries and researches in the field of sciences, sociology, psychology, anthropology, linguistics and philosophy.

    

   Psychological Criticism: If we notice in the first place we will find there is a psychological school of criticism. It concentrates on human psyche more and more exploring, the hidden motives and urges behind a work of art. It is believed that a work of art protects the unfulfilled desires and repressed characters of the writer. It wants to concentrate criticism more scientific and technical and objective.    

   The new school of Literary Criticism is divided into two groups. From complete knowledge of the psychology of the artist one may explain works of art, and the other finds more attractive psychological investigation of the processes of gratitude. The most remarkable critics of this school are I. A. Richards, Robert Graves, Trilling, Edmund Wilson, Kenneth Burke and others.

   Sociological School: This type of criticism is regarded as literature and as a social institution, under the influence of socialism or communism. So, the followers of the sociological criticism try to make relationship between literature and society. They practice judicial criticism, political and ethical standards. They are not only students of literature and society but also the prophets of the future, monitors, essayists.

   Ontogenetic Criticism: Sir Herbert Read’s criticism is considered as Ontogenetic Criticism. It tries to find a combination between the psychological criticism and the sociological criticism. In one of his essays he has mentioned that, the only kind of criticism which is basic is ontogenetic criticism. It is therefore matching not only to literary but also to ethical, theological.  

  New Criticism: Psychoanalytic and sociological criticisms had lost much of their style in the late thirties, and many of the younger critics turned to a group ‘for guidance that is to be known as the New Critics. These New Critics are mainly the followers of T. S. Eliot but they have also been deeply influenced by Coleridge, Henry James, Ezra Pound and I. A. Richards. The main ideal before the New Critics was to be free literature from the heaviness and competition of science. It was definitely an American movement. The New Critics have neglected the historical sense. So they have been criticized by Lionel Trilling.

  When a poem, a play or a work of literature is analyzed, the New Critics very often set stress on ambiguity, irony, paradox and tension. In fiction they stressed upon ‘the point of view’ and the metaphoric use of language. In fiction, they laid emphasis on symbolism. The New Critics treated all literary works as if they were lyrics. Sometimes they provided enormous readings that strengthen the poem into a moral allegory.

Impressionistic School: The evaluation school of criticism is the rough school. It holds that the critic should make grateful communication with the work of art before him. He should avoid judgment and put aside all temptation to praise or blame. He should describe the impression made by the work of art in his own mind in free gratitude. An impressionist tries to be truthful to reality. He is subjective and autobiographical. He gives his own impressions about a work of art. Impressionism favors art for art’s sake. The only necessary equipment of the impressionistic critic is his sensibility.

Exegetical Criticism: Another kind of criticism which is getting popularity is known as Exegetical criticism. The greatest merit of this type of criticism is that it clears the recordings of literary works of art from inaccuracies and restores them to their original state. It tries to recover the meanings which words bore at the time when they were written. For this great scholarship is needed. Only scholarship can reconstruct the full symbolic implications pi the language.


Edited by: Mahbub Murad. Dhaka, Bangladesh. Cell: +8801919879309, +8801761519111. Email: Mahbub_murad@yahoo.com 

Mending Wall by Robert Frost

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it
And spills the upper boulder in the sun,
And make gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,

Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning

Complete Text

But do not let us quarrel any more,
No, my Lucrezia; bear with me for once:
Sit down and all shall happen as you wish.
You turn your face, but does it bring your heart?
I’ll work then for your friend’s friend, never fear,
Treat his own subject after his own way,
Fix his own time, accept too his own price,
And shut the money into this small hand
When next it takes mine. Will it? tenderly?
Oh, I’ll content him,—but to-morrow, Love!
I often am much wearier than you think,

Home Burial by Robert Frost

Home Burial

HE saw her from the bottom of the stairs Before she saw him. She was starting down, Looking back over her shoulder at some fear. She took a doubtful step and then undid it To raise herself and look again. He spoke         5 Advancing toward her: “What is it you see From up there always—for I want to know.” She turned and sank upon her skirts at that, And her face changed from terrified to dull. He said to gain time: “What is it you see,”

Songs of Innocence by William Blake

THE LAMB 

Little lamb, who made thee?
Does thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little lamb, who made thee?
Does thou know who made thee?

Songs of Innocence by William Blake

THE ECHOING GREEN

The sun does arise,
And make happy the skies;
The merry bells ring
To welcome the Spring;
The skylark and thrush,
The birds of the bush,
Sing louder around
To the bells' cheerful sound;
While our sports shall be seen
On the echoing green.

Songs of Innocence by William Blake

          INTRODUCTION 

Piping down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he laughing said to me:

'Pipe a song about a Lamb!'
So I piped with merry cheer.
'Piper, pipe that song again.'
So I piped: he wept to hear.

Lotos-eaters by Alfred Lord Tennyson

COURAGE!” he said, and pointed toward the land,
“This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon.”
In the afternoon they came unto a land
In which it seemed always afternoon.
All round the coast the languid air did swoon,
Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.
Full-faced above the valley stood the moon;
And, like a downward smoke, the slender stream
Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.

Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Complete Text

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy’d
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades

THE GOOD-MORROW

THE GOOD-MORROW.
by John Donne


I WONDER by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved ? were we not wean'd till then ?
But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly ?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den ?
'Twas so ; but this, all pleasures fancies be ;
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.

Theory of Impersonality

T.S. Eliot’s impersonal conception of art and the fullest expression of his classicist attitude towards art and poetry are essentially given by him in his essay Tradition and the Individual Talent.

Eliot explains his theory of impersonality by examining first, the relation of the poet to the past and secondly, the relation of the poem to its author. According to his view the past is never dead, it lives in the present. “No poet or no artist has his complete meaning alone.