Thinking Activity on Northrop Frye : The Archetypes of Literature

What is archetypal criticism? What Does the archetypal critic do?

The archetypal criticism means identifying patterns of action, Character-types, and themes in literature as well as in myths dreams and social rituals. The Archetypal critic observes the symbols, myths, pattern of action and applies it to any particular literature.

2.   What is Frye trying prove by giving an apology of ‘Physics to Nature’ and ‘Criticism to Literature’?

Frye uses the season in his archetypal schema. Each season is aligned with  a literary genre: comedy with spring, romance with summer, and satire with winter.

*Sprig

 The spring seasons represent the comedy. As per the genre of comedy is characterized by the birth of the hero, revival and resurrection.

*Summer

 The season of summer indicates romance because summer is the culmination of life in the seasonal calendar and the romance genre culminates with some sort of triumph, usually a marriage.

*Autumn

Autumn is the dying stage of the seasonal calendar, which parallels the tragedy genre because it is known for the ‘fall’ or demise of the protagonist.

*Winter

Winter season denotes satire because of darkness. Satire reflects the darkness of literature, it is disillusioned and mocking from of literature.

3.  Mention the relationship of literature with history and philosophy.

Literature is the central division of Humanities. Historical sense and philosophy sense and philosophy are about morality, ethics and all these things are required when we study literature. Philosophy is about existence and it progressively moves on, its ideas never stopped. for understanding literature reader must refer history for events and philosophy for ideas.

4.  Briefly explain inductive method with illustration of Shakespeare’s Hamlet’s Grave digging scene.

The inductive method of analysis deals with particular to general. So here it can be applied in Hamlet because if we see it from micro level then the grave digging scene is observed but if we observe from general view then we can see Hamlet’s love for Ophelia.

Thinking Activity on Matthew Arnold

About Author 
Matthew Arnold, (born December 24, 1822, Laleham, Middlesex, England—died April 15, 1888, Liverpool), English Victorian poet and literary and social critic, noted especially for his classical attacks on the contemporary tastes and manners of the “Barbarians” (the aristocracy), the “Philistines” (the commercial middle class), and the “Populace.” He became the apostle of “culture” in such works as Culture and Anarchy (1869).Matthew was the eldest son of the renowned Thomas Arnold, who was appointed headmaster of Rugby School in 1828. Matthew entered Rugby (1837) and then attended Oxford as a scholar of Balliol College; there he won the Newdigate Prize with his poem Cromwell (1843) and was graduated with second-class honours in 1844. For Oxford Arnold retained an impassioned affection. His Oxford was the Oxford of John Henry Newman—of Newman just about to be received into the Roman Catholic Church; and although Arnold’s own religious thought, like his father’s, was strongly liberal, Oxford and Newman always remained for him joint symbols of spiritual beauty and culture.In 1847 Arnold became private secretary to Lord Lansdowne, who occupied a high cabinet post during Lord John Russell’s Liberal ministries. And in 1851, in order to secure the income needed for his marriage (June 1851) with Frances Lucy Wightman, he accepted from Lansdowne an appointment as inspector of schools. This was to be his routine occupation until within two years of his death. He engaged in incessant travelling throughout the British provinces and also several times was sent by the government to inquire into the state of education in France, Germany, Holland, and Switzerland. Two of his reports on schools abroad were reprinted as books, and his annual reports on schools at home attracted wide attention, written, as they were, in Arnold’s own urbane and civilized prose.

1.  Write about one idea of Matthew Arnold which you find interesting and relevant in our times.

Arnold says that “Poetry is a criticism of life”. This definition is very relevant in our present time also. Whatever writer or a poet write is not simply consider as creative work, it is also a criticism of nature or life, or anything else from where they got their subject to write. Arnold also speaks about his main principle of criticism is that od Disinterestedness or Detachment. We find this great principal of Arnold relevant in present time also because it speaks about the fair judgment of a critic.

2.Write about one idea of Mathew Arnold which you found out of date and irrelevant in our times.

I think Matthew Arnold’s theory of “Touchstone Method” is out of date and irrelevant in our time. Because Arnold’s general principal, the “Touchstone Method” introduce scientific objectivity to critical evaluation by providing comparison and analysis as the two primary tools for judging individual poets.   

Thinking Activity on Derrida : Deconstruction

Q.1) What do you understand by ‘Deconstruction’? (Remember: If you think you understand Deconstruction, you don’t )

We can not define Deconstruction because Derrida himself refuse to define the term Deconstruction. Jacques Derrida himself doesn’t define it. The deconstruction is the theory of reading which question and claims that the system of language provides grounds that the adequate to establish the boundaries. Deconstruction is not a destructive activity, but it is an inquiry into the foundation of everything. Post structuralist critics go deep into the foundation of text and then they try to undermine it. Deconstructionist says that the work is made of words and words have no definite meaning. It is the reader who creates meaning words can’t give meaning. Derrida deconstructs the metaphysics of presence. There is nothing like truth apart from language. He tries to prove that the structurality of the structure does not indicate the presence, its free play of sign.

    

Thinking Activity on I.A Richard

About Author

I.A. Richards, in full Ivor Armstrong Richards, (born Feb. 26, 1893, Sandbach, Cheshire, Eng.—died Sept. 7, 1979, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire), English critic, poet, and teacher who was highly influential in developing a new way of reading poetry that led to the New Criticism and that also influenced some forms of reader-response critic. Richards was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and was a lecturer in English and moral sciences there from 1922 to 1929. In that period he wrote three of his most influential books: The Meaning of Meaning (1923; with C.K. Ogden), a pioneer work on semantics; and Principles of Literary Criticism (1924) and Practical Criticism (1929), companion volumes that he used to develop his critical method. The latter two were based on experimental pedagogy: Richards would give students poems in which the titles and authors’ names had been removed and then use their responses for further development of their “close reading” skills. Richards is best known for advancing the close reading of literature and for articulating the theoretical principles upon which these skills lead to “practical criticism,” a method of increasing readers’ analytic powers.During the 1930s, Richards spent much of his time developing Basic English, a system originated by Ogden that employed only 850 words; Richards believed a universally intelligible language would help to bring about international understanding. He took Basic English to China as a visiting professor at Tsing Hua University (1929–30) and as director of the Orthological Institute of China (1936–38). In 1942 he published a version of Plato’s Republic in Basic English. He became professor of English at Harvard University in 1939, working mainly in primary education, and emeritus professor there in 1963. His speculative and theoretical works include Science and Poetry (1926; revised as Poetries and Sciences, 1970), Mencius on the Mind (1932), Coleridge on Imagination (1934), The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1936), Speculative Instruments (1955), Beyond (1974), Poetries (1974), and Complementarities (1976). His verse has been collected in Internal Colloquies (1971) and New and Selected Poems (1978).

Ivor Armstrong Richards was pioneer in the domain of New Criticism.His practical approach gave new path to literary criticism.Instead of intuitive and impressionistic criticism, it became more factual & scientific.In his methodology, a lot of importance is given to the “words”.

He believed that poet writes to communicate, and language is the means of that communication. Language is made of words, and hence a study of words is all important if we are to understand the meaning of a work of art. Words carry four kinds of meaning: Sense, Feelings, Tone and Intention.

To him, language of poetry is purely emotive, in its original primitive state. This language affects feelings. Hence we must avoid intuitive and over-literal reading of poems. Words in poetry have an emotive value, and the figurative language used by poets conveys those emotions effectively and forcefully.

There for here I have done one poem written by “Krushan Dave”

In this poem we saw poet say to flavour to wear uniform and for butterfly he say they came with the school beg. In this poem we see flavour cant wear the cloth and butterfly cant take a beg. Poet use metaphor uniform and the bag.

Thinking Activity on T. S. Eliot : Traditional and Individual Talent

Thomas Stearns Eliot was one of the major poet of 20^th century. He was an essayist, publisher, playwright and literary and social critic.  

·      How would you like to explain Eliot’s Concept of Tradition? Do you agree with it?

Yes, I agree with Eliot’s concept of tradition. He positively Introduce word Tradition. Eliot says that tradition is not be inherited but it must be acquired with great labor.

·      What do you understand by Historical Sense? (use these quotes to explain your understanding)

·      “The historical sense involves a perception not only of the pastness of the past, but of its              

presence”

 The quotation means what is important in the pastness of the past and its important.

·      “This historical sense, Which is a sense of the               timeless as well as of the temporal and of

the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional.”

·      What is the relationship between “tradition” and “the individual talent,” according to the poet T.S.Eliot?

 

    Tradition for Eliot is an already an existing monument and the individual can only marginally add a bit, extend a bit. According to Eliot Tradition is not dead but a living thing and every new artist extend a bit in the tradition and individual makes his/her own place in the long history called tradition.

·      Explain: “Some can absorb knowledge, the more tardy must sweat for it. Shakespeare acquired more essential history from plutarch than most men could from the whole British Museum”

“Some can absorb knowledge, the more tardy must sweat for it. Shakespeare acquired more essential history from plutarch than most men could from the whole British Museum”. In this quote Eliot explain that it is not necessary for a poet to read all the literary history of the past but one has to have understanding of human nature. Like the Shakespeare was not very much educated but still he is famous and his works are still read.

·      “Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the poet but upon the poetry “

His theory of depersonalization state with honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry. Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation that time possible when artist him or herself and also extinction of his personality that time poetry becomes more valuable and it is become well.

·      How would you like to explain Eliot’s theory of depersonalization? You can explain with the help of chemical reaction in presence of catalyst agent, Platinum.

Eliot takes help of scientific analogy to prove the theory of depersonalization. He gave example of sulphuric acid, to describe creative process he used as a example of sulphuric acid, to describe creative process he used as a example from science chemical reaction to sulphuric acid -H2so4.

He talked about formation of sulphuric acid to create this acid it needs sulfurttrioxide-so3, water-H2o in which most important thing is the entire process will not take place without a catalyst, named platinum without a strip of platinum sulfuric acid will not form. Here critic described poets mind as a catalyst-platinum. He says about this chemical reaction that ‘the man who suffers and the mind which creates are different.

·      Explain: “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality”.

·      Write two points on which one can write critique on T. S. Eliot as a critic.

       

1.  His theory of historical sense: “The historical sense involve a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence”

2.  “Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry”

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (pre task)

Dream means series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep.

1)  When did you have a dream?
   
   One week ago I saw a dream

2) What did you see in your dream ?

I saw a horror dream. In my dream I sleep near the window and the ghost came n hold my legs and I wack Up after that.  This dream came because in the evening I saw a  movie  'kanchana'. 

3) Based on your dream if you are asked to create something. What type of creation would be there ?

If I asked create  something on my dream i would like to create horrible according to my horror dream

4)The creation will be ugly or beautiful?

My creation will be ugly because the dream based on the horror and the

5)If ugly, Why ? If beautiful, why? 

My answer is ugly because the my dream was horror . IN my dream ghost Was look like ugly.

6)What are your interpretation for the word monster ?
 
According to my interpretation monster was ugly, frightening imaginary.

7) have you ever visited such a kind of places which has some connection with horror and terror?

Yes, once I visited such a kind of places which some connection with horror and terror.