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.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness centers around Marlow, an introspective sailor, and his journey up the Congo River to meet Kurtz, reputed to be an idealistic man of great abilities. Marlow takes a job as a riverboat captain with the Company, a Belgian concern organized to trade in the Congo. As he travels to Africa and then up the Congo, Marlow encounters widespread inefficiency and brutality in the Company’s stations. The native inhabitants of the region have been forced into the Company’s service, and they suffer terribly from overwork and ill treatment at the hands of the Company’s agents. The cruelty and squalor of imperial enterprise contrasts sharply with the impassive and majestic jungle that surrounds the white man’s settlements, making them appear to be tiny islands amidst a vast darkness.

Theme & Motifs :-

#Theme

ü The Hypocrisy of Imperialism

Heart of Darkness Explore the issues Surrounding imperialism Iin complicated ways. As Marlow travels from the Outer station to the central station and finally up the river to the inner station, he encounter scenes of torture, cruelty and near-slavery. At the very least, the incidental scenery of the book offers a harsh picture of colonial enterprise. The impetus behind Marlow’s adventures too. Has to do with the hypocrisy inherent in the rhetoric used to justify imperialism. The men who work for the company describe what they do as “trade”, and their treatment of native African Is part of a benevolent project of “civilization”. Kurtz on the other hand, is open about the fact that he does not trade but rather takes ivory by force, and he describes his own treatment of the natives with the words “suppression” and “extermination”. He does not hide the fact that he rules through violence and intimidation. His perverse honesty leads to his downfall, as his success threatens to expose the evil practices behind European activity in Africa.

ü Madness as a Result of imperialism

Madness is closely linked to imperialism in this book. Africa is responsible for mental disintegration as well as physical illness. Madness has two primary function. First it serves as an ironic device to engage the reader’s sympathies. Kurtz, Marlow is told from the beginning id mad. However, as Marlow and the reader, begin to form a more  complete picture of Kurtz, it becomes apparent that his madness is only relative, that in the context of the company insanity is difficult to define. Thus, both Marlow and the reader begin to sympathize with Kurtz and view the company with suspicion. Madness also functions to establish the necessity of social fictions. Although social mores and explanatory justification ae shown throughout Heart of Darkness to be utterly false and even leading to evil, they are nevertheless necessary for both group harmony and individual security.

ü The Absurdity of evil

This novella is, above all an exploration of hypocrisy, ambiguity and moral confusion. It explodes the idea of the proverbial choice between the lesser of two evils. As the idealistic Marlow is forced to align himself with either the hypocritical and malicious colonial bureaucracy or the openly malevolent, rule defying Kurtz, it becomes increasingly clear that to try judge either alternatives is an act of folly how can moral standards or social values be relevant in judging evil? Is there such things as  insanity in a world that has already gone insane? The number of ridiculous situations Marlow witnesses act as reflections of the larger issue: at one station, for instance, he sees a man trying to carry water in a bucket with a large hole in it.

#Motifs:-

ü Observation and Eavesdropping

Marlow gains a great deal of information by watching the world around him and by overhearing others’ conversations, as when he listens from the deck of the wrecked steamer to the manager of the central station and his uncle discussing Kurtz and the Russian trader. This phenomenon speaks to the impossibility of direct communication between individuals information must come as the result of chance observation and thus they must be taken in the context of their utterance. Another good example of this is Marlow’s conversation with the brickmaker, during which Marlow is able to figure out a good deal more than simply what the man has to say.

ü Interiors and Exterior

Comparisons between interior and exteriors pervade Heart of Darkness. As the narrator states at the beginning of the text, Marlow is more interested in surfaces, in the surrounding aura of a thing rather than in any hidden nugget of meaning deep within the thing  itself. This inverts the usual hierarchy of meaning: normally one seeks the deep message or hidden truth. The priority placed on observations demonstrates that penetrating to the interior of an idea or a person is impossible in this world.

 hierarchy of meaning: normally one seeks the deep message or hidden truth. The priority placed on observations demonstrates that penetrating to the interior of an idea or a person is impossible in this world.

ü Darkness

Darkness is important enough conceptually to be part of the book’s title. However, it is difficult to discern exactly what it might mean, given that absolutely everything in the book is clocked in darkness. Africa, England and Brussels are all described as gloomy and somehow dark, even if the sun is shining brightly. Darkness is the inability to see this may sound simple, but as a description of the human condition it has profound implications failing to see another human being means failing to understand that individual and failing to establish any sort of simpathytic communication with him or her.

Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Bluest Eye 

Whiteness as the standard of Beauty

     The Bleest Eye provides an extended depiction of the ways in which internalized white beanty standard deform the lives of black girls and women. Implicit message that whiteness is superior are everywhere, including the white baby doll given to claudia, the idealization of  shirley temple, the consensun that light - skinned Maureen is cuter than the other black girls,the idealization of white beauty in the movies ,and pauline breedlove's preference for the little white girl she works for over her daughter . Adult women, having lerned to hate the blackness of their own bodies ,take this hatred out on their children.  Mrs. Breedlove shares the conviction that pecola is ugly , and lighter - skinned Geraldine curses  pecola's blackness. Claudia remains free from  this worship of  whitness ,imagining pecola's unborn baby as  beautifulvin its blackness.but it is hinted that once Claudia reaches adolescence , she too will learn to hate herself ,as if racial self - loathing were a necessary part of maturation .

Seeing versus Being seen

         Pecola's desire for blue eyes, while highty   unrealistic is based on one correct in sight into her world .she believes that the cruelty she witness and experience is connected to how she is seen .if she had beautiful blue eyes , pecola imagines ,people would not want to do ugly things in front of her or to her. The accuracy of this insight is affirmed by her experience of being teased by the boys when Maureen comes to her rescus .it seems that they no longer want to behave badly under maureen's attractive gaze.in a more basic sense .pecola and her family are mistreated in part because they happen to have black skin .By wishing  for blue eyes  rather than lighter skin , pecola indicates that she wishes  to see things differently as much as she wishes to be seen differently .the connection between how one is seen and what one sees has a uniquely tragic outcome  for her.

The Power of stories

      The Bluest Eye is not one story .but multiple , sometimes contradictory ,interlocking stories characters tell stories to makesense of their lives ,and these stories have tremendous power for both good and evil. Cloudia's stories, in particular standout for their affirmative power. First and foremost , she tells pecola's stories and though she questions the accuracy and meaning of her versio‌n, to some degree or attention and care redeem the ugliness of
       pecola's life. Furthermore, when the adults describe pecola's pregnancy and hope that the baby dies, cridia and frieda attempts to rewrite the story as a hopeful one, casting themselves as saviors. Finally, claudia resists the premise of white superiority, writing her own story about the beauty of blackness. Story by auther characters are often destructive to themselves and others. The story Pauline Breadlove tells about her own ugliness reinforces her own self-hetred and the story she tells herself about martyrdom reinforces her cruelty about her family Soaphead church's personnel narratives about his good intentions and his special relationship with God are pure hypocrisy.

Sexual lnitiation and Abuse

    To a large degree the bluest eye is about both the pleasures and the perils of ssxual initiation Early in the novel pecola has first menstrual periodandtoward the novel's end she has her first sexual experience, which is violent. Fried knows about and anticipates menstruating .and she is initiated into sexual experience when she is fondled by henry Washington. We are told the story of cholly's first sexual experience.the fact that all of these experiences are humiliating and hurtful indicates that sexual coming of age is fraught with peril,especially in an abusive environment.
    In the novel , parents carry much of the blame for their children's often traumatic sexual coming of age. The most blatant case is cholly's rape his own daughter, pecola , which is , in a sense a repetition of the sexual humiliation cholly experience under the gaze of two racist whites .frieda's exper is less painful than pecola's because her pare immediately come to her rescue .playing the  appropriate protector and underlining .byway ofcontrast the extent of cholly's crime against his daughter.there is also s pervasive assumption that women'sbodied are availble for abuse. The refusal on the part of parents to teach their girls about sexuality makes the girls 'transition into sexual msturity difficult .

Satisfying Appetites versus supressing them

        A number of characters in the Bluest Eyedefine their lives though a denial of their bodily needs. Geraldine prefers cleanlinessand otder to the messinessofsex, and she is emotionally frigid as a result similarly pauline prefers cleaning and organizing the home of her white employersto expressing physical affection toward her family Soaphead churchfinds physicality distasteful,and this peculiarity leads to his preference for objects over humans and to his perverse attraction to little girls . Cholly's greatest moments of happinesses are eating the best part of a watermelon and touching a girl for the first time pauline 's happiest memory is of sexual fulfillment with her husband . The novel suggests that no matter how messy and sometimes violent human desire is ,it is also the source of happiness.denial of the body begest hatred and violence, not redemption.

Symbols in the novel bluest eye

   Symbols are objects characters, fingares, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts

Hairy Ape by Eugene O'Neill

Hairy Ape

Eugene O’Neill is one of the greatest dramatist of America. As a dramatist, he earned wide acclaim. His contribution to the American drama is notable, remarkable and memorable. The bulk of his output is fairly large. Being a tireless experimented with a variety of dramatic forms and modes. In order to communicate inner reality he used expressionistic techniques in his plays. “The Hairy Ape” Is one of them. Due to the many merits of these play O’Neill enjoyed wide popularity. This play is a piece of social satire and propaganda. It deals with man’s quest for identity. It is a study in disintegration of the modern civilization.

Ø Belongingness :

Belongingness is one the major themes of “The Hairy Ape”. It deals with alienation and search for identity. In the beginning of the play. We find that yank is quite confident and proud of his superior strength. His fellow stokers respect his superior physical capacity and obey him. Yank is satisfied with his position. He feels that he belongs but his fellow stokers don’t belongs. But Yank’s  sense of belongingness is soon shattered as he is confronted with Mildred Douglas. Douglas looks at him as if he were an hairy Ape. He calls him a filthy beast. Now yank becomes aware of the fact that he does not belong. Like yank many others suffer from the same problem in the fifth avenue.

Ø Theme of protest

In ‘The Hairy Ape’ O’Neil examines the psychological implications of the machine age. Here Yank is trying to know his position. In pursuit of the answer to this problem he receives blows and insults. The real danger to modern civilization is the stupidity and timidity of the ruling class. Therein lies the real drama of this play. Yank is more than an individual. He is the symbol of deep protest against the whole structure of modern civilization. This play is not a protest against low wages and unemployment. It is a condemnation of the whole structure of machine civilization. This civilization flourishes when it destroy those who make it possible. It is this that gives the play universality.

Ø Search For Identity

In this play O’Neill makes it clear that search for identity is the greatest problem of the modern civilization. Yank moves from here to there to find some answer to this problem. But he does not get any solution. When he reviews his situation in this world, he finds that in this machine civilization the existence of mankind in in danger. Wags, food, home, family etc. do not act as suitable remedy. As the machine age created wealth, it destroyed the joy of living. Thus, O’Neill his presented the paradox of modern civilization with great insight into its fundamental tragedy.

Ø Yank’s Tragedy

Yank is rejected by society. He does not belong to the world of man. But he can’t exist in isolation with him and ultimately it takes him to the Zoo. There he stands face to face with a gorilla in its cage. He talks to it as to a brother. He shakes hands with it and sets it free. But alas! The gorilla crushed him to death. It does not think that Yank belongs. His search for identity ends with his death. It does not think that Yank belongs. His search for identity ends with his death.

Ø Conclusion

Thus, Neill ‘The Hairy ape’ deals with the theme of belongingness. Yank’s quest for identity is very tragic. In fact, the tragedy of Yank is the tragedy of millions in the modern age.

    

Othello by Shakespeare

Othello

William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice,or simply Othello, is a tragedy written in approximately 1603. One of Shakespeare's most tightly woven works, it explores themes of racism, betrayal, love, revenge, and forgiveness, and has spawned multiple film, literary, and operatic adaptations.

Shakespeare based his play on the story Un Capitano Moro (A Moorish Captain,) written by the Italian novelist and poet Cinthio. The term "moors" refers to Muslim inhabitants of the Arab west but was attributed to Arabs, Berbers, North Africans and Muslim Europeans.

The play begins with a jealous complaint, as Roderigo, a rich Venetian gentleman laments to his friend Iago about the secret marriage of Othello and Desdemona. Roderigo had asked Desdemona's father for her hand in marriage, but Othello's secretly married her, leaving Roderigo alone and upset.

Iago is Othello's ensign, and though trusted by Othello, he is jealous and spiteful as well. He believes he has been unfairly overlooked for promotion as Othello gave the young Michael Cassio a title above him. As both men lament their misfortune at the hand of Othello, they devise a plan to use Othello's misgivings to their advantage. Iago persuades Roderigo to wake the young Desdemona's father and inform him of Othello's secret wedding to his daughter.

The news infuriates Desdemona's father Brabantio and he vows to behead Othello, though he is prevented by Othello's residence that is full of the Duke of Venice's guards. In Venice, word has it that the Turkish plan to attack Cyprus. Othello is called upon to advise the senators, and Brabantio is left in the unfortunate position of accompanying Othello to the Duke's residence. His spite remains, and he accuses Othello of seducing his daughter with witchcraft.

Before the Duke of Venice, Othello defends his marriage to Desdemona, explaining that she fell in love with him when he told her the sad stories of his youth. Though the Duke and senate are satisfied after hearing Desdemona also proclaim her love for Othello, her father is dismayed. He tells Othello that she has deceived her father and will deceive him as well. Othello leaves Venice as commander of the Venetian armies, accompanied by his wife, lieutenant Cassio, Iago, and Iago's wife Emilia who is to serve as Desdemona's attendant.

Good news meets the band of travelers as they arrive in Cyprus to find that a storm has obliterated the entire Turkish fleet. Othello orders a celebration for all and leaves to spend time with his new wife. Iago, looking for trouble, intoxicates Cassio and encourages a fight between Roderigo and he. When Othello blames Cassio for the noise and strips him of his rank, Cassio is horrified. Iago suggests asking Desdemona to persuade her husband to reinstate his rank.

Iago plays all his cards, and persuades Othello that Cassio and Desdemona are not to be trusted. Emilia finds Desdemona's lost handkerchief, a gift from Othello, and gives it to her husband Iago. He continues the narrative of Desdemona's deceit against Othello with a series of lies involving Cassio and a local courtesan, the result of which are Othello vowing to kill his wife and asking Iago to kill Cassio. Iago shrugs off that responsibility to a still angry and misguided Roderigo.

As a scuffle ensues in the street, Iago first injures Cassio then kills Roderigo to stop him from reporting his plot. An enraged Othello smothers Desdemona to death in the bed believing she's committed adultery. Emilia realizes the handkerchief was alleged proof, and exposes her husband, who then murders her. Othello realizes he has killed his love in vain, and stabs, but does not kill Iago, preferring that Iago live the rest of his life in pain. Iago makes no explanation for his behavior, and after he and Othello are apprehended for their part in Roderigo and Emilia's murders, he commits suicide, leaving Iago to be punished solely by Cassio for his wrongdoings.

Reference:

https://www.williamshakespeare.net/othello.jsp

Poem Nightingale and Rose

Various point of view

Introduction

Birds love their life they also love their beloved truly. But they don’t know about fickleness of human love and they don’t know about the instant fancies of immature human mind that we call love. Knowing not this cost nightingale in Oscar Wild’s “The nightingale and rose”

Title

Two chief words are important here in the title nightingale and rose. In fact this is a story of young student and his love. But the nightingale became the central character hence, it is absolutely suitable.

Characterization

This is a different type of story written in poetic style. It is like fairy tale. Wild has made use of personification and that’s why only human beings. The young boy and the girl are not the character but the nightingale, butterfly. Some other creatures like the moon, the oak tree. The rose tree etc. have their own role. though this is a story of young students desire to get red rose. The nightingale turns out to be the central character.

Setting

The place or location in the story is mainly a beautiful garden. Most of the part develops here. At the end the setting shifts to the girl’s house. Most of the story develops in the pleasant and beautiful atmosphere.

Summary

This is a touching story of the sacrifice of the nightingale for the sake of human love. The young boy is worried in the beginning of the story because of his worried in the beginning of the story because of his beloveds condition that she would dance with him if he brought her the red rode. Unfortunately the young biy gets the red rose but on the other hand the lovely birds loses her life. When very enthusiastic young boy presents the red rose to the girl and she rejects. It by saying that she has got a real jackpot chamberlain nephew and she also comments that,

 “Jewels cost for more than flowers”

  The boy feels disappointed and angrily throws the rose into the street where it falls into the gutter and cart – wheal goes over it. The disappointed lover returns to his book and reading.

Style

Oscar wild emerges here as a unique short story teller. This treatment to the story teller. This treatment to the story is highly poetic. He has made use of figure of speech like personification. Some of the finest statement.  In this way Wilde’s style is really magnificent that makes a story a charming one.

Conclusion

This is a story of sacrifice of a nightingale for the sake of human love. even through there are always immortal love stories among the mortal human beings. Most often their passions are last and misnamed as love.