The Journey of the Magi--T. S. Eliot

The Journey of the Magi--T. S. Eliot--Poetry

[Lecture notes and summary by Dr. S. Sreekumar]

Throughout his life, T. S. Eliot struggled with religion and belief.  Born and brought up in a Unitarian¹ family, he was surrounded by a particular kind of religious ideology. When he joined Harvard, he began to get interested in Buddhism. But Eliot’s search did not end with Buddhism. His quest eventually led him to a full conversion to High Anglicanism² in 1927.

“The Journey of the Magi”, was written in 1927 after Eliot’s conversion to Anglicanism. Thus the poem forms a landmark in the spiritual journey of Eliot. In the poem, Eliot retells the story of the Magi who travelled to Palestine to visit the newborn Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew. As per the Gospel, the Magi were the three wise men namely Balthazar— King of Chaldea, Gaspor—King of Ethopia, and Melchoir—King of Nubia. They came to Bethlehem to pay homage to infant Christ presenting him with gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense. The poem is a narrative told from the point of view of one of the Magi. It expresses the theme of alienation and a feeling of helplessness in a world that has changed.

'A cold coming we had of it,                                                                                                      

Just the worst time of the year                                                                                                

For a journey, and such a long journey:                                                                               

The ways deep and the weather sharp,                                                                                    

The very dead of winter.'

Modern Rhetoric: The Forms of Discourse and the Main Intentions

Modern Rhetoric

The Forms of Discourse and the Main Intentions

Study materials—Dr. S. Sreekumar & Prof. Mangalapratapan

Introduction

            The term “discourse” comes from the Latin word “discursus”, which means “running to and fro”. Discourse is a process of reasoning, which, as everyone might have experienced at some time or other, involves a ‘to and fro movement’ in the mental space. However, the idea of a mechanical ‘back and forth’ movement disappeared in course of time and is almost non-existent in the definition given to discourse by The Encarta Encyclopedia (2002).  It defines discourse as “a serious and lengthy speech or piece of writing about a topic”, or “a serious discussion about something between people or groups”. The Oxford English Dictionary also agrees with the above observation of Encarta and defines discourse as “a lengthy treatment of a subject” or a “lecture/ speech”.

Literary critics and theoreticians, however, had always used the term in a causal way but with the ascendancy of the discipline of Linguistics after the 1950s, the term “discourse” received a new validity. Moreover, during the 1970s a critical practice called “Discourse analysis” provided a new theoretical significance for the term “discourse”.

            In poststructuralist criticism, discourse has become an important term replacing “text” as the name of the verbal material which is the primary concern of literary criticism. [A note to the scholar: Terms like “novel”, “drama” or “poem” are not preferred by the structuralists and poststructuralists. They want to refer to such materials as “text”. A “text” is any written/spoken material, be it the Bible or a doctor’s prescription].

·         Text and discourse: the term “discourse” has replaced “text”.

THEMES IN THE PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE

THEMES IN THE PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE

Themes

          Themes are the ideas/concepts that William Shakespeare explores through the dramatic experience of his characters. Themes define the plays. There are some common themes reiterated through many plays. For example, the difference between appearance and reality is a theme which appears again and again in Shakespeare. We can see this theme highlighted in tragedies like Othello and King Lear. ‘I am not what I am’, says Iago. This statement can be considered a maxim as it highlights the fissures between appearance and reality. This theme is repeated in the comedies also, however in a light-hearted manner. Twelfth Night offers us the best example for this. In fact, the whole play revolves round the divergence between perception and actuality. What the characters perceive to be true is diametrically opposite to the reality of the situation.

Other prominent themes that find their place in Shakespeare’s oeuvre are: change; order and disorder; and conflict. These were matters that deeply perturbed Shakespeare as he observed the world around him. His tragedies offer us profound statements on the above themes. Tragic consequences that follow when the established order is disrupted is the theme of Macbeth, Hamlet and King Lear. Restoration of order brings back normalcy to the world of these dramas. 

IMAGERY IN SHAKESPEARE

IMAGERY IN SHAKESPEARE

Dr. S. Sreekumar

Imagery

Merriam-Webster defines imagery as the “language that causes people to imagine pictures in their minds”. Mental images created in the mind of the reader/listener are products of imagination. For example, when we come across a sentence like the following—

            ‘It was dark and dim in the forest’ —the words ‘dark’ and ‘dim’ create visual images in our mind. This is imagery at its simplest form. However, master craftsmen like Shakespeare had created complicated mental images through the clever use of language. Romeo praises Juliet thus in Act I Scene V—

            O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!

            It seems she hangs upon the cheeks of night

            Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear

Rich mental images are employed here to convey the beauty of Juliet. Juliet teaches the torches to burn bright by her example. Torches dispel darkness in the night. [In Shakespeare’s England they were the only means to drive away darkness.] The poet goes on to compare Juliet to a rich jewel that hangs upon the cheeks of night, as in the ears of an African woman. Here the comparisons get multi-dimensional. The night is as black as the African woman. Her face is brightened because of the bright jewel she is wearing. Similarly Juliet brightens the dark night. Then there is a subtle implication that Juliet is unaware of her beauty as the African woman is unaware of the price of the rich jewel she is wearing. These explanations do not exhaust the meaning. Thus we can see that the use of imagery aids the reader’s imagination by enlarging his senses.

Post Structuralism--Criticism & Theory

Post Structuralism

From a PowerPoint presentation—Dr. S. Sreekumar

Let us begin with a brief overall view of 20^th century Literary Criticism.

A brief history of 20^th century criticism

Year	Trends
1920s & 30s	Russian Formalism
1930s & 40s	Archetypal Criticism
1940s & 50s	New Criticism, Phenomenology & Stylistics
1960s	Structuralism, Feminism
1970s	Post Structuralism   [postmodernism]
1980s	Lacanian Psychoanalysis, Dialogic criticism, New Historicism, Postcolonialism, Gender studies, queer studies, Cultural studies.
1990s	Life Writing—Ecocriticism--Utopian Studies--Trauma Studies, Future Studies
2000 onwards	Cyberspace Textuality, Computer Technology and Literary Theory

The above table is based on A Glossary of Literary Terms by M.H. Abrams ( a basic text for beginners). Here we can see that trends change almost every decade so much so that Literary Criticism can be labeled as the most perishable commodity in the field of literary studies. The students of Literature can guess to some extent the difficulties of undertaking a study of literary theory. However, without adequate knowledge of literary theory, no student can progress much. Hence literary theory may be considered a necessary evil by all students aspiring to get across hurdles like NET/ SET / Research Fellowship etc.

Post structuralism & postmodernism

Though often used interchangeably with post-structuralism, postmodernism is a much broader term and encompasses theories of art, literature, culture, architecture, and so forth. Some theorists assert that post structuralism comes under postmodernism. Both reject the anti humanist, totalizing narrative of the modernists.

Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) One day I wrote her name upon the strand

Edmund Spenser

(1552-1599)

One day I wrote her name upon the strand

Edmund Spenser wrote “Sonnet 75″ during the 16th century in the Elizabethan era. It was written while he was in Ireland.

“In early 1595 he published Amoretti and ‘Epithalamion’, a sonnet sequence and a marriage ode celebrating his marriage to Elizabeth Boyle after what appears to have been an emotional courtship in 1594.

This group of poems is unique among Renaissance sonnet sequences in that it celebrates a successful love affair culminating in marriage.  

This poem, consisting of 14 lines and a rhyme scheme of (abab/ bcbc /cdcd/ ee), is a Spenserian sonnet. It has three quatrains and a couplet.

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night—Dylan Thomas

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night—Dylan Thomas

[ Poem and summary for Literature students] S. Sreekumar

The poem is at the same time a defiance of death and also an acceptance. The rhyming words ‘light’ and ‘night’ contrasts life and death.

It is a very personal poem written for Thomas’s father, who died in 1952. Thomas urges his father to fight against death and dissolution. At the same time he admits the inevitability of death. Thomas greatly respected his father for his strength of character and independence of judgment. The imagery of light and darkness in the poem is particularly important.

The attitude of different people towards death also is represented in the poem. The poem which is in praise of life and an acceptance of death ends on an ironical note when Thomas asks his father both to bless and curse him.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Traditional Approaches in Literary Criticism--Criticism & Theory

Traditional Approaches in Literary Criticism--Criticism & Theory

[Study material for Annamalai University MPhil students—for purely scholarly purposes

Dr. S. Sreekumar]

            Introduction

New Criticism put into clear focus what a poem, novel, or drama is trying to do. New Critics insisted that the scholars must concentrate on the work itself. New Critics insisted that literature has an intrinsic worth. But many 20^th century New Critics have been guilty of totally ignoring the biographical and historical background of a work. Fortunately the most astute critics have recommended a varied approach to literature, which includes elements of all approaches. Oscar Cargill, in the introduction to his Towards a Pluralistic Criticism endorsed an eclectic approach.

               

I have always held that any method which could produce the meaning of a work of literature was a legitimate method…. I came to the conclusion that…. the critic’s task was…. to procure a viable meaning appropriate to the critic’s time and place. Practically this meant employing not only one method in interpreting a work of art but every method which might prove efficient.

THE FORMALISTIC APPROACH

THE FORMALISTIC APPROACH--Criticism & Theory

[Study material prepared for MPhil students of Annamalai University] Dr. S. Sreekumar

I.    A.     A brief history. Formalistic criticism became popular in the 20^th century. This approach is also called New Criticism. Formalistic criticism is not directly connected with the Russian Formalists though there are some connections between the two. Formalists helped to create the habit of close reading among students, teachers and scholars.

     Formalists taught us to look at a work as an organic form. One of their main concerns was with the form. The new critics did not invent the form. But they helped us to look at form as a vital part of any art. “Art entails form; form takes many forms.”

B.            Backgrounds of Formalistic Theory. 

“DIGGING”—SEAMUS HEANEY

“DIGGING”—SEAMUS HEANEY 

[ Lecture notes --Dr. S. Sreekumar]

Seamus Heaney was born in April of 1939 in Northern Ireland. He Heaney grew up as a country boy.  In 1957 Heaney travelled to Belfast to study English Language and Literature at the Queen’s University of Belfast.

In 1966, Seamus Heaney published his first collection of poems, called “Death of a Naturalist”, which deals with the loss of childhood innocence and the following transitions into adulthood. In this collection of poems, we are shown his admiration for his ancestors, his own distorted view of nature and why he became a writer. The first poem of that collection is “Digging”, which is the reconciliatory expression of an artist who will not follow in his father and grandfather’s footsteps as a common labourer.

Technique as Discovery---- Mark Schorer

Technique as Discovery--Criticism & Theory

Dr. S. Sree Kumar

Mark Schorer believes that technique is the means by which the writer's experience, which is his subject matter, compels him to attend to it; technique is the only means he has of discovering, exploring, developing his subject, of conveying its meaning, and, finally, of evaluating it. Thus, when we speak of technique we speak of nearly everything.

Schorer is very clear from the beginning of the article that only if we apply technique to the subject matter of the novel ,only then it can be called art.Otherwise it is just social experience .“The difference between content, or experience, and achieved content, or art, is technique."
Schorer takes three novelists—H.G. Wells, D. H. Lawrence and James Joyce—as examples to prove his point.

H.G. Wells

The Sceptre and the Torch--Helen Louise Gardner

The Sceptre and the Torch--Criticism & Theory

Notes by Dr. S. Sree Kumar

Helen Louise Gardner  (1908 –  1986) was an English literary critic and academic. She was best known for her work on John Donne and T. S. Eliot. 'The Profession of a Critic', is a lecture delivered in the University of London in the spring of 1953. This essay constitutes a part of the lecture.

Criticism has increasingly in this century become professionalized. The tone in literary criticism is only professional. The notion that anybody with natural taste, some experience of life, a decent grounding in the classics, and the habit of wide reading can talk profitably on English Literature is highly unfashionable. The cynic might point to other more sinister signs of professionalism: the esoteric and almost unintelligible vocabulary of some critics; the appearance of a Dictionary of Critical Terms, comparable to a legal or medical dictionary and the embittered quarrels of rival sects. the fact that so many contributions to critical journals consist not of studies of a writer or his works, but of considerations of Mr. X's modifications of Mr. Y's criticism of Mr. Z's article on — shall we say Measure for Measure, or Marvell's 'The Garden?' The ordinary cultured reader, picking up such a journal, feels like someone entering a cinema in the middle of a gangster film, baffled about the antecedents of the battle which is raging, and uncertain who is fighting on whose side.

Orientation of Critical Theories – M.H.Abrams (lecture notes)

Orientation of Critical Theories – M.H.Abrams (lecture notes)--Criticism & Theory

Introduction

 This is the first chapter of the book, The Mirror and the Lamp, by Abrams. Abrams explains the title of the book thus: “ The title of the book identifies two common and antithetical metaphors of the mind”. One of the metaphors compares the mind to a reflector (mirror). The other (lamp) is a radiant projector, which gives light to others. From Plato to the 18^th century, creative writers considered mind as a mere reflector of external realities. But during the Romantic period this idea changed and mind is considered as something that illuminates and gives a new appearance to external realities. The principal object of Abram’s study is the suppression of the first idea by the second. The first chapter also gives a brief survey of criticism. Thus the essay is a very good introduction to modern criticism.

Structuralism and Literature [Theory and Practice]

Structuralism and Literature--Criticism & Theory

[Theory and Practice]

Dr. S. Sree Kumar

Introduction—some definitions.

Structuralism is an intellectual movement which began in France in the 1950s—seen in the works of Claude Levi –Strauss, the anthropologist and Roland Barthes (1915 – 1980). 

►   —a theory of humankind in which all elements of human culture (including literature) are thought to be parts of a system of signs.

►   Robert Scholes has described structuralism as a reaction to “modernist alienation and despair”.

►   “Structuralism is not a new way of interpreting literary works, but an attempt to understand how it is that works have a meaning for us”—Jonathan Culler.

►   “…a method for the study of cultural artefacts”—Roland Barthes.

Reader Response Criticism

Reader Response Criticism

                                                Dr. S. Sree Kumar

Additions

►   Wolfgang Iser—exponent of reception theory—the text is a site for the production and proliferation of meaning. This view owes much to the phenomenology of Husserl.

►   Phenomenology stresses the centrality of consciousness in all investigations of meaning.

►   Iser says that the experience of reading literary texts is a uniquely valuable consciousness raising activity.

►   Reading literature, he says, “gives us the chance to formulate the unformulated”.

Roland Barthes –The Death of the Author

Roland Barthes –The Death of the Author

Lecture notes by Dr. S. Sree Kumar

Barthes—the most brilliant of his generation—Writing Degree Zero—Mythologies[analysis of popular and high culture]—depends heavily on structuralist semiotics in the tradition of Saussure and Jakobson—The Elements of Semiology, Image-Music-Text—S/Z, a very important work—an exhaustive commentary on a Balzac short story ‘Sarrasine’—illustrates the method of Barthes—breaking down the text into small units or ‘lexias’—show how they carry different meanings simultaneously on different levels or in different codes—

 S/Z distinction between two types of texts—‘lisible’ or ‘readerly’ classic text [ readers are passive consumers]

 ‘scriptible’ or ‘writerly’ modern texts which invites readers to an active participation in the production of meanings that are infinite and inexhaustible.

IRONY AS PRINCIPLE OF STRUCTURE-- CLEANTH BROOKS

IRONY AS PRINCIPLE OF STRUCTURE--Criticism & Theory

CLEANTH BROOKS

The modern poetic technique can be summed up as the rediscovery of metaphor and the full commitment to metaphor. A poet can deal with the universal only through the particular.

The poet does not first discover an abstract theme and then embellish it with concrete details. On the contrary, he first establishes the details and from there come to the general meaning. The meaning must come from the particulars.

Here it is the tail that wags the dog. It is better to call the tale the tale of the kite. The tail makes the kite fly. Without the tail, the kite will become a piece of paper crazily blown away by the wind.

The tail of the kite negates the kite’s function. It weighs down something made to rise. In the same way the concrete particulars with which the poet loads himself seem to deny the universal he aspires.

The poet wants to say something. He does not say it directly. He says it only through metaphors. There is a risk in using metaphors. He may not be able to say clearly or fully what he wants to say. But the risk has to be taken, for direct statement leads to abstraction and threatens to take us out of poetry altogether.

Indian Contribution to Linguistics—Panini

 Indian Contribution to Linguistics—Panini

The Origin of Indian Linguistics

[Strictly speaking, Panini is a grammarian, but his influence is far-reaching. There is hardly any field of study untouched by his innovative ideas. All students of English Literature must have some idea about Panini. The picture will become clear when you realize that Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and semiotician, widely considered to be one of the founders of 20^th century linguistics, spent his life-time as a Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Geneva. Similarly many linguists and literary theoreticians like Edward Sapir, Leonard Bloomfield and Noam Chomsky were influenced by Panini.]

Structure, sign, and play in the Discourse of Human Sciences-- Jacques Derrida

Structure, sign, and play in the Discourse of Human Sciences--Criticism & Theory

                                    Jacques Derrida

 [This is a path-breaking essay, prescribed at different levels in various universities and colleges. The concept of 'Deconstruction' started with this. ]

Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2005)

A French philosopher. The present essay is a paper presented to a conference held at John Hopkins University in 1966 at which America experienced the challenge of new ideas and methodologies generated by European structuralism.

            The essay marks the moment at which post structuralism as a movement begins, opposing itself to classical structuralism as well as to traditional humanism—when ‘the structurality of structure has to be rethought’.

Derrida’s works: Writing and Difference, Of Grammatology, Dissemination.

A A rupture has occurred in the history of the concept of structure.

A The concept of structure and the word ‘structure’ are as old as western philosophy.

A A structure has a centre and we cannot imagine a structure with out a centre.

A The centre is the point at which the substitution of contents/elements/terms is no longer possible.

A It has always been thought that the centre which is by definition unique, constituted the very thing within a structure which governs the structure while escaping structurality.

A Classical thought could say that the centre is within the structure and outside it. Derrida says that this is a paradox.

INTERPRETING THE VARIORUM

INTERPRETING THE VARIORUM

[This essay was prescribed for Annamalai University MPhil]

Stanley Fish

S

tanley Fish is a leading exponent of American ‘Reader-response’ criticism. His book on Milton Surprised by Sin was subtitled, ‘The Reader in Paradise Lost’. Fish argues that the reader in the book is constantly lured into mistakes of interpretation by the ambiguities of Milton’s syntax, and thus compelled to recognize his own ‘fallen state’.

I

NTRODUCTION

In the present essay Fish questions New Criticism’s efforts to locate literary meaning in the formal features of the text, rather than on the author’s intention or the reader’s response— “The intentional Fallacy” and  “The Affective Fallacy”— and argues:

à Both authorial intention and formal features are produced by the interpretive assumptions and procedures the reader brings to the text.

à Authorial intention and formal features have no prior existence outside the reading experience.

DIALOGICS--DIALOGISM--Criticism & Theory,

DIALOGICS--Criticism & Theory, 

          During 1960s and 70s the dominant literary trends were structuralism and post structuralism. These two theories shook the world of criticism “like a tidal wave after an earthquake” (David Lodge) and European and American academia were much influenced by them. But the situation underwent a drastic change with the discovery of Bakhtin during the 80s. “The discovery of Bakhtin” may appear to be a slightly ambiguous expression. Actually, it took nearly fifty years for the academia to discover what Bakhtin discovered during the 30s and 40s. Thus it was a discovery in both senses of the expression.

Vakrokti of Kuntaka--Criticism & Theory

Kuntaka--Vakrokti

Kuntaka was an 11^th century poetician who has brilliantly anticipated many concepts used in the 20^th century criticism.

His theory of Vakrokti is a comprehensive one. It means figurativeness and obliquity of expression. It is a manifestation of the basic obliquity of the poet’s creative process.

According to Kuntaka, vakrokti or figurativeness manifests at 6 levels of expression in poetry:

Phonetic,

Lexical,

Grammatical,

Sentential,

Contextual, and

Compositional.

There is a surprising similarity between Kuntaka’s vakrokti and the concept of style as ‘deviation from the norm’ seen in modern stylistics. However it is equally important that while stylistics is concerned with phonological, grammatical and lexical aspects of the language, Kuntaka takes into account larger units of discourse also, such as context and composition itself taken as a whole. This enables him to view the entire gamut of the poetic creation from the point of view of artistic efficacy.

Phonetic figurativeness (Varnavinyasa Vakrata)—encompasses alliteration, rhyme, and all other subtle effects of sound in poetry. Kuntaka recognises onomatopoeic effects. Shakespeare’s ‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’.

Lexical figurativeness (padapurvardha Vakrata)—includes stylistic choice in vocabulary, metaphor, power of adjectives and veiled expressions. For example, carefully concealing a Mahapataka—“Is he despatche’d”

Grammatical figurativeness ( pratyaya vakrata)—involves the deft use of suffixes, especially those indicating numbers, person, and case forms. It also includes delineation of inanimate objects as animate and personification of objects—instead of saying ‘tense’—‘make my seated heart knock at my ribs’.

Sentential Figurativeness (Vakyavakrata)—it is the permeating presence that enters all other elements. The effect is akin to a painter’s stroke that shines out distinctively from the beauty of the material used. Most of the figures of speech are instances of it.

                                    ‘Out, out, brief candle

                                    Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player

                                    That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

                                    And then is heard no more….”

Kuntaka’s theory does not stop with the analysis of sentence as is done in stylistic studies, since techniques like contextual and compositional figurativeness analyse larger segments of the discourse than the sentence.

Contextual figurativeness (Prakarana vakrata) comprises all those factors which contribute to the strikingness of the context. The equivocation in the prediction of witches, culminating in the materialisation of the Birnamwood coming to Dunsinane, the  emergence of Macduff, ‘untimely ripp’d from his mother’s womb’ to kill Macbeth, the apparition of the witches and the sleep walking scene are examples of contextual figurativeness.

Compositional figurativeness ( Prabandha vakrata). This includes adaptation of  a story from a well-known source with new twists added to it, with a new emotional significance, deletion of unnecessary episodes, the development of even minor incidents into events of far reaching consequences and strikinglness. Kuntaka regards  a  literary composition as an allegory which conveys some profound moral message and this moral content is also regarded as a compositional figurativeness.

Duncan from a young and unsatisfactory monarch into a venerable old man so that his murder seems more gruesome. Conversion of a catalogue of crime and bloodshed in Holinshed into a profound study of guilt and self-destruction.

Kuntaka looks upon the literary piece as a whole from an essentially artistic angle, where the creativity of the poet is at play in fashioning out an artifact. This perspective should suit any work of art, especially literary masterpieces of all-time greats. However, an exploration of a work of art from Kuntaka’s perspective necessitates an understanding of the literary norm, from which the poet effects creative deviation. The literary norm, unlike in modern stylistics encompasses extra-linguistic features like context and composition. Both linguistic and extra linguistic aspects of art are encompassed in a comprehensive aesthetic theory with creativeness as its aesthetic mark.