The Different Kinds Of Poetry

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  • Pastoral: This kind of poetry deals with anything that concerns the life of shepherds, herdsmen, and husbandmen. Such poems are usually in the form of a dialogue or a monologue. e.g Spenser's Shepherd's Calender (A.D. 1552-1599)
  • Descriptive: This kind of poetry describes the seasons of the year, scenes of historical interest, cities, places, countries, etc., and gives expression to the thoughts suggested by the various scenes and objects as they arise. Descriptive poetry doesn't usually narrate events. If narrative is sometimes introduced, this is done by way of episode or for the sake of variety. e.g.Goldsmith's Traveler and Deserted Village(1563-1631)
  • Narrative: In this(as the name implies) narrative is the chief aim, and the description is merely subsidiary. Poems of this character may be roughly classified under three headings.
    • Epic or Heroic: dealing with one great complex action, in lofty style, and in fullness of detail. e.g. Paradise Lost by Milton(1608-1674)
    • Romance, Legend or Tale: a lighter and shorter kind of narrative poetry than the Epic. e.g. Coleridge's Ancient Mariner ( 1772-1834)
    • Ballads: This is the lightest and shortest form of narrative poetry. It deals with short anecdotes, local legends, etc., and tells them in the simplest language and in a light metre. e.g. Wordsworth's Lyrical Ballads(1770-1850)
  • Reflective: Poems of this character may be roughly classified into two headings.
    • Longer Poem: e.g Young's Night Thoughts(1684-1765)
    • Elegiac poems: always of a serious, and frequently of a plaintive character. e.g Shelly's Adonais(1792-1822)
  • Dramatic: the poetry of the stage. Under the head of dramatic we must include poems which have been written in form of drama, but were not intended to be acted. e.g. Shakespeare's Plays, subdivided into Tragedies, Comedies, and Histories(1564-1616)
  • Lyrical: Short poems written in a rapid and irregular metre, fit to be sung or recited. Such poems are often called odes. They are of much higher order than "ballads," and may be either descriptive or narrative. E.g. Gray's The Bard
  • Didactic: Instructions given in verse. e.g. Somerville's Chace (1692-1742)
  • Satire: Censures the faults of individual or communities. The style may be jocose or serious. Butler's Hubidras(1612-1680)

Subject Reader Response Theory

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This theory argues that there is no literary text beyond the meanings created by the reader's interpretation. To put in other words, the text which the critic analyzes is not the literary work but the written response of the readers. To understand how there is no literary text beyond the meanings created by readers' interpretations; we need to understand the concept of David Bleich and how he defines the literary text. Like many other reader- response critics, he differentiates between real objects and symbolic objects.

Real objects are physical objects such as tables, chairs, cars, books and the like.

The experience created when someone reads the printed passage of the text like language itself is symbolic object as it occurs not in physical world but in the conceptual world(in the mind of readers). This is why Bleich calls reading - the feelings, associations, and memories that occur as we react subjectively to the printed words on the page i.e. symbolization. Our perception and reading experience create a symbolic world in our mind as we read, so, when we interpret the meaning of the text, we are actually interpreting the meaning of our symbolization. If we are interpreting the meaning of our own conceptual experience, it is an act of interpretation of re-symbolization. Re-symbolization occurs when our experience of the text produces in us a desire for explanation. Our evaluation of the text's quality is also an act of re-symbolization. Actually, we don't like or dislike a text; rather we like or dislike our symbolization of it. Hence, the text we talk about is not really a text on the page: it is the text in our mind.

The Method Of Deconstructionism In A Text

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Deconstructionism a text is similar to breaking a house to see what mistakes were made in its building. When a reader deconstructs a text he is examining it for prejudice and bias that the author might have used for purpose of control. For example, a deconstructionist reading the declaration of Independence would note that the phrase "all men are created equal" excludes women, and while it talks of freedom, it was written by a white male slave- owner. Sexism and slavery contradict the language of liberty. The Deconstructionists look for deception or bad faith, which might be consciously or unconsciously (the Freudian element) motivating a particular author/artist/politician. Note also, that what is absent (gender or ethnic group) from a text may appear large in a deconstructionist interpretation of a text. They refer to this as "the presence of absence"

The task of Deconstructionists, therefore, is to discover contradictions, to show the hidden and suppressed meanings that inhere in a text, whether it is a literary work, or a social institution. Since the official meaning of a discourse is determined by those "in power," Postmodern critics "deconstruct those meanings" to discover what is hidden or suppressed in a text, thereby dishonoring the establishment which stands behind the text and gaining the "right" to overthrow its authority.

The ultimate aim of an interpretation is to construct a meaning that accounts for one's own experience or that of a group. For example, a revisionist historian might write a history of Columbus' discovery of the New World which might benefit those who were oppressed by the white Europeans. Just as we have "spin doctors" in politics and the news media, we have "spin scholarship."

Structuralism And Literature

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In literary theory, structuralism is an approach to analyzing the narrative material by examining the underlying invariant structure, which is based on linguistic sign system of Ferdinand de Saussure. The structuralists claim that there must be a structure in every text, which explains why it is easier for experienced readers than for non-experienced readers to interpret a text. Hence, they say that everything that is written seems to be governed by specific rules, a "grammar of literature", that one learns in educational institutions and that are to be revealed. For example, a literary critic applying a structuralist literary theory might say that the authors of West Side Story did not write anything "really" new, because their work has the same structure as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In both texts a girl and a boy fall in love(a "formula" with a symbolic operator between them would be "Boy + Girl") despite the fact that they belong to two groups tat hate each other ("Boy's Group - Girl's Group" or "Opposing forces") and conflict is resolved by their death.

The versatility of structuralism is such that a literary critic could make the same claim about a story of two friendly families (""Boy's Family + Girl's Family) that arrange a marriage between their children despite the fact that the children hate each other ("Boy - Girl") and then the children commit suicide to escape the arranged marriage; the justification is that the second story's structure is an 'inversion' of the first story's structure: the relationship between the values of love and the two pairs of parties involved have reversed.

Structuralist literary criticism argues that the "novelty (new) value of a literary text" can lie only in new structure, rather than in the specifics of character development and voice in which that structure is expressed. One branch of literary structuralism, like Freudianism, Marxism, and transformational grammar, posits both deep and surface structure. In Freudianism and Marxism the deep structure is a story, in Freud's case the battle, ultimately, between the life and death instincts, and in Marx, the conflict between classes that are rooted in the economic base.

Queer Theory

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The word "queer" in queer theory has some of these connotations, particularly its alignments with ideas about homosexuality. Queer Theory is brand new branch of study or theoretical speculation; it has only been named as an area since about 1991. Queer Theory emerges from gay/lesbian' studies attention to the social construction of categories of normative and sexual behavior. But while gay/ lesbian studies, as the name implies, focused largely on questions of homosexuality, queer theory expands its realm of investigation. Queer theory looks at, and studies, and has a political critique of, anything that falls into normative and deviant categories, particularly sexual activities and identities. The word "queer", as it appears in the dictionary, has a primary meaning of "odd", "peculiar", "out of ordinary."

Queer Theory concerns itself with any and all forms of sexuality that are "queer" in this sense- and then, by extension, with the normative behaviors and identities which define what is "queer"(by being their binary opposites). Thus queer theory expands the scope of it's analysis to all kinds of behaviors, including those which are gender-bending as well as those which involve "queer" non-formative forms of sexuality. Queer theory insists that all sexual behaviours, all concepts linking sexual behaviours to sexual identities, and all categories of normative and deviant sexualities, are social constructs sets of signifier which create certain type of social meaning. Queer theory follows feminist theory and gay/lesbian studies in the idea that sexuality is an essentialist category , something determined by biology or judged by eternal standards of morality and truth. For queer theorists, sexuality is a complex group of social codes and forces, forms of individual activity and institutional power, which interact to shape the ideas of what is normative and what is deviant at any particular moment, and which then operate under the rubric of what is "natural", "essential", "biological", or"god-given".

Figurative Language

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There are for types of Figurative Language. They are:
  1. Image:
    Image is a word or words that refer to an object perceived by the senses such as color, shape, sound, taste, smell, texture, etc. When it is seen by the eye(usually) it is called an image.
    e.g. Red flag is an image of anger.

    There is always a literal and emotive meaning behind an image.
    e.g. Cloud(image): It's literal meaning illustrates that it is a cloudy day whereas it's emotive meaning expresses that sadness is approaching.

  2. Symbol:
    Where image comes repeatedly in a text it becomes a symbol. Just like image, even symbols have literal and emotive meaning.
    e.g. Spring and Autumn: Literal Meaning- Seasons
    Emotive Meaning- Spring reflects birth or rebirth.
    Autumn reflects process of dying.
    Symbol is similar to abstract idea it stands for. Sometimes symbol can be private. In such case only author understands what symbol he/she is using. However, Symbol should match with theme. While analyzing a text we should see if the formal elements enhance the theme no matter even if its a private symbol. Authorial intention is not a concern in this matter.

  3. Metaphor:
    Unlike image and symbol, metaphor only has figurative meaning. Metaphor is direct comparison between two dissimilar objects.
    e.g. My love is a rose.
    Literal meaning: I am deeply is love with a flower.
    Emotive/ Figurative Meaning: My love share some qualities with rose.

  4. Simile:
    Simile is a comparison of two dissimilar objects using words such as "like"and "as"
    e.g. My love is as beautiful as a rose.
    My brother is like a gem

    Note: Simile is rather softer than metaphor because in metaphor comparison is direct whereas in simile, the comparison is done by using words like "like" and "as".

Four Linguistic Devices

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The four types of linguistic devices are:
  1. Paradox:
    It is a self contradictory statement whose underlying meaning is revealed by careful scrutiny (deep analysis). It seems absurd surfacially but makes good sense.
    For e.g
    • One must lose one's life to go to heaven.
      It's meaning is: By giving up materialistic life you will gain something better. After losing materialistic life we will gain actual spiritual life.
    • You don't know what you've got till it's gone(everyday language)
      It's meaning is: The value of things is only realized only when we lose it
    New Critics noticed that paradox is highly used to define spiritual and psychological realities of life which are paradoxical in nature itself. So they are responsible in bringing complexity which is portrait in literature.

  2. Irony:
    In this linguistic device, real intent is concealed or contradicted by literal meaning of words or situations. It reveals flaws indirectly which is usually tragic in nature unlike satires which is humorous even though it point out the flaws. Irony hides the actual case not in order to deceive but to achieve special artistic affects. There are two types of irony

    a) Verbal Irony:
    Verbal Irony is the statement in which the meaning that the speaker implies differs shortly from the meaning that is expressed. It arises from an awareness of contrast between "what is" and "what ought to be."

    b) Dramatic Irony:
    Dramatic Irony involves in a play which the audience or reader share the awareness of fate store for the characters they do not suspect. The result if Irony is a complexity of meaning.

  3. Ambiguity:
    Ambiguity is the us of single word or expression to signify two or more diverse attitude or feelings. It is produced when a word image or event generates two or more different meanings.
    e.g. In Toni Morrison's "Beloved" there is an image of tree produced by a scar on Sethe's back refer to suffering, endurance and renewal.

    In scientific and everyday language, ambiguity is considered to be a flaw/ error/ mistake. But in literary language, ambiguity is source of richness, depth and complexity that enhance the value of the text.

  4. Tension:
    Tension is a device that creates complexity where opposites like concrete and abstract are linked to bring forth specific images.
    e.g
    Abstract: Peace
    Concrete: White flag, Dove
    Such concrete universals where images and characters are meaningful both at physical and symbolic level are forms of tension. Interplay between paradox, irony and ambiguity bring forth tension.

Creativity In Language

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Recent experiments with chimpanzees suggests that certain animals cannot only learn individual symbols(in this case manual rather than vocal signs), but can also learn to combine them in ways reminiscent of sentences like Give me key. However, as far as we know, they cannot do certain things that all human beings can- they do not appear to be able to learn sign language without specific instruction, they cannot, on the basis of small number of elements and relations between them, create an infinite number of messages.

When linguists speak of the"creativity" of human language they are usually referring to these two characteristics. Anyone who knows a language is able, without specific instruction, to produce and understand utterances which have been heard before but which are possible within the system. You are using this ability wight now to read this blog, and you rely on it nearly every time you talk. Certainly, language does not include some fixed routines like greetings, farewells, and a wide variety of other relatively fixed utterances which function in society as gestures of group solidarity somewhat like mutual grooming of monkeys. But obviously human beings are not limited to such routines. The number of sentences possible in a human language is infinite in principle, for there is no limit on how long a sentence can be.

The creativity of language consists in this fact: The number of rules and elements in the system is finite, while the number and length of utterances the system can produce is infinite. In this respect, linguistic systems are somewhat like the number system. Given any number, one can always construct a larger number by addition or multiplication. In practice we are limited, of course, by space, time, memory, interest and many different factors, so that no actual sentence will ever be infinitely long. But what is important is that system has this potential.

Symbols In Language

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We know that language is symbolic. What exactly does it mean? First of all, it means that language involves sign. In language, the signs are sequences of sound, though these can be transferred to visual signs, as in writing or the gestural sign language of the deaf. According to one theory,the relationship between and object, whether real or imaginary, and the sign which stands for it can be of three types. If two are associated by a physical resemblance, like an object or photograph of it, the sign is called an icon. If the relation is one of the physical proximity, as between smoke and fire, thunder and lightening, spots and measles, then the sign(smoke, thunder, spots) is called an index. If the relationship is one of convention, that is, one has to be learned as part of the culture, like the relationship between black armband and mourning, then the sign is called a symbol.

No one knows how the symbolic linguistic code of humans came into being. Some have argued that the origin of language lies in onomatopoeia, that the people began talking by creating iconic signs to imitate the sounds heard around them in nature. This theory, sometimes called the bow-bow theory, is unlikely to be right, because language in fact makes very little use of iconic words.(Bow-wow itself is conventional. In French, dogs bark with oua-oua, pronounced "wa-wa.") Another theory is that language was originally indexical, arising out of cries of fear, pleasure, and so forth. This theory leaves signs came to be. We do not know that at this point in our biological history our ability to use symbols and learn language is genetically built in, an innate capacity of the human brain. But we know practically nothing about language over ten millennium ago, and very little indeed about language over five millennium ago. That is a tiny fraction of the biological history of man, and until we know far more about the neurophysiological aspects of language, we can only speculate about the origins of signs as symbols.

Literal Comprehension Of 'The Library Card(Richard Wright)"

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Richard Wright was only nineteen years old. One day in the bank lobby while he was standing beside a desk, he saw a White man was badly criticized in a magazine. He was called a "fool". Wright wondered why this White man, H.L Mencken, was badly scorned by another white man. Curiosity drove him to read about Mencken and his writings. According to him, Negroes were allowed to use only the parks and playgrounds, but never a public library. As a matter of fact, an idea led him to take help from Mr. Falk, an Irish Catholic, often condemned for being his less biased about the Blacks. When he contacted, Mr.Falk advised the speaker to keep his aim secret from other Whites. Thus he secured a card. He wrote a note and made false signature. He went to the library. He overcame the librarian's suspicion. She gave him two books which inspired him to read further other books. He kept on reading one after another. Every book developed his thinking power about the life of the Negroes in the land of the White, He was immensely in agony. He say prejudices prevalent against the Negroes in the North America. He was able to tolerate the hunger but the vice against the black people was intolerable. Since the number of the Negroes was too thin in the South, he thought that it was not possible to organize Blacks ti struggle against the Whites. Open fighting would be equal to committing a suicide. He believed that in no ground educated Negro could be less competent than any White for his black color. Ultimately he decided he would live there and write against injustice, inhumanity, cruelty, prejudices, apartheid and much other social discrimination.

Critical Thinking on "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!(Feynman & Leighton)"

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Though the title seems funny, there is a serious message to give to the reader that in spite of confronting so many odds at Princeton, he learned a great deal about interrelated subjects of pure science. While detailing the episodes of the ways he was embarrassed by the management of the school, he feels as if he were joking not with others but with himself. Despite doing so many types scientific researches, he showed no interest in verifying even some of the tests of spiritual belief while at the school.


Like Salman Rushdie, Mr. Feynman too does not show any direct concern with the conventional philosophy of religion persuading man kind to be divided into different sects, races and nationalities. To Feynman, education is ever good if its result or purpose serves the needs of broad humanity, as done by their contributions to make man capable of showing his potential to benefit mankind and safeguard humanity against any natural calamity. Maybe, if a scientist or learned man is tagged with a bias of sex, religion or nationality, his vision is restricted and would not do any service to broad human race. Since the passage is from scientific pen, it has given space for many technical terms used in physics, biology and biochemistry. So unless the student taps the Internet, latest encyclopedias, dictionaries and concerned experts, he would find the discourse very difficult to understand.
And man can never be sure about what happens to him in a fraction of a money. In many cases, people makes gains from things they have never hoped and face losses from things they have long expected. Studying science alone is not enough to understand the miracles of life. It should be coupled with the study of spiritualism.

Interpretation Of "A 1996 Commencement Speech(Salman Rushdie)"

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The content of the talk sparks from Salman's ideas evoked by his experiences with most of Cambridge managerial staffs, working system, arrangement for graduation ceremony and flaws in the sexual conduct and revengeful acts of the deities and his sense of great wonder at finding his name in a paper as a substitute for Miss Piggy for the 1996 commencement speech to the graduates of Southampton University on Long Island. It was only on the speakers' desire, his first American friend, the former editor for Alfred Knopf- a New York Publishing House, founded by Alfred A. Knopf in 1915, informed him that Kermit the Frog was not but Miss Piggy or even Pig, the author of "Guide to Life", a popular preacher of the philosophy of twentieth century American life. Miss Figgy, Kermit the Frog was popular American author and also a character in Mr. Jim Henson's The Muppet or Puppet TV presentation.

Before Mr. Salman joined the Cambridge University, he did not now even the least of the official procedures of its graduation ceremony. Further, at the hint of an American friend, he is reminded of the episode of how a past university batch was to go on a sit- in at the gate for a protest against Jeanne Kilpatrick, a democrat turned republican, nominated to give a Graduation address. The speaker's graduation speech reveals that he has no respect for conventional wisdom and practice of offering the degree to the graduate only when he falls on his knees before the Vice-chancellor. Though he did so, he felt too humiliated to bow down before the VC to acquire what he earned on his own efforts. He is depressed here for his inability to fight against the infringement of his individual right by the university authorities. He is so sick of the system that takes the university management as a means of control over human liberty. He is also the believer in organized religion as Feynman or Palacio is.

Salman expresses deep reverence for any person who has done the best in service to broad humanity and appreciates all those men and women who have made this world a beautiful place to live amidst mutual affinity. Also, he honors human strength to make and condemns the network of power, the type which compelled him to pay the fine as the scapegoat for the fault of the re decorator to receive the degree from the VC seated in the ceremonial chair quite high above him.

Critical Thinking On "A 1996 Commencement Speech(Salman Rushdie)"

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There are few contradictions in between what young Salmon thought about preservation of his liberty and the manner he compromised with the disgusting Cambridge principles while obtaining the degree with his body down at the knees below the Vice-Chancellor who seemed very likely to drop direct over him from the high placed chair. In a sense, he did right by following all of the University principles as the price for making himself eligible to be conferred with a degree. Otherwise, no value system of higher education could be substantiated unless the individuals resigns himself to the established principles handed down as the legacy from the long past in a way of giving credit to those who paved the course for the development of educated culture.

Though Salman surrendered his individual liberty in receiving the degree, he regrets later and feels very sorrowful for being forced to do so and compromise with repulsive Cambridge traditions and show passivity before gods and the university authorities. In this light, any type of defiance is a counter to the established value system followed as a legacy for ages to achieve the educational goal. So, if no respect is shown for academic formalities established ion the past, that would prove to be a great weakness and result merely in causing social chaos and endangering base of human culture honoring the seniors and being safeguarded by seniors and authorities.

Salman reacts negatively even about the things he did to serve his purpose but addresses the audience not to and says nothing about the duties to be fulfilled by the degree earners. He should fully know that no human right can be ensured or practiced without fulfilling the corresponding duties in a way as expressing "thanks" to those who show favour to the other. Of course, this practice doesn't prevail among the beasts always centred for the fulfillment of personal needs. And we know education flourishes only through the practice of mutual care and respect. Keeping the same in mind, the teachers teach and the scholars guide those who come to be guided or instructed.

Salman details largely about pros and cons of Cambridge University from where he graduated but ignores almost to highlight the academic greatness of Southampton University. He simply shows his indebtedness to the University for honoring him with an opportunity to give 96th Commencement Speech and extends gratitude to the President of the Bard, who offered him a position of teaching in the Department of English even during the crucial moments of his life.

To the rationalists and the scientific men, religion is moral code of conduct. They want it to be applied by all men and women for mutual welfare,, trust, and happiness. So, they are against the purpose of 'organized religion' characterized these days by blind faith and as means for the power mongers to exploit the ignorant and exert the power over those who are powerless for the fulfillment of their false-ego. Maybe holding for similar ideas , Salman was declared as an atheist and condemned to death by Mullahs as Thomas Becket and Martin Luther King for their fair attempt to stand up against religious repression. So, as the educationists with free mind, Mr. Feynman, Riva Palatino or Rushdie would not show regard for distorted conventional wisdom and for 'organized religion' characterized now by blind faith, irrational beliefs, power grabs, ulterior motives of greedy ministers, a lack of love and no personal respect.

Intrepretation Of "The Good Example" by Riva Palacio

Posted by anjila | Posted in | Posted on 12:28 AM

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Text's Name: The Good Example
Author: Riva Palacio

The message of the author is justified by the title, itself. The setting of the story is pure nature and the details of environment effectively reflects the taste of Don possessed with a virtues of good teacher. All that Don holds is expected in every teacher if dedicated to his hob. His nature becomes so hospitable that even the students and the pets follow a the parrot does in the story. For his noble qualities and full commitment to his regular duties, Don was quoted far and wide in the village. In the villager's eye, Don Lucas was a true follower of the course of action, who cares nothing as the return from the students from his efforts to teach them. So, Don was quoted as a good model of teaching community and as veritable martyr.

Don as a good example of teaching cared for the student's needs as he did for his own. So he encouraged Perico, the parrot to share with his regular refreshment. Similarly, the parrot should be appreciated for acquiring the good qualities of good company or of all those around. Even babbling with Don Lucas as a friend and listening to the pupils singing in chorus at the school, the parrot learned alphabets, words syllables exactly as pronounced by the school children. The tale shows that a teacher is a best source for the pupils to learn the best about the good principles and conduct of life. This is shown in the industry by passion of the parrot for imitating and paving the path of Don to teach his neighbours as taught to himself to chant Ba, Da, ...Ge, Je, etc even in far distance from the master.

Despite all these, the story is tilted towards throwing a satire on education system based on memory that of Mexico in the 19th century. The writer is much convinced if the learning process is as such then the school can be opened and run by the other creatures as well. To exemplify the very statement, he has intentionally brought about the case of Perico pet tamed by Don Lucas. To mug up something is terrible monotonous and boring. Repetition of something to set in our mind indeed kills our creative power and intuition. education is not something we should gain out of memorizing. Rather it should be assimilated and implemented into our practical affairs by understanding. It is a satire in the sense that education system of Mexico in 19th century was not inclined towards encouraging students towards comprehension and promoting their creative aspect. Rather it was forcible and tiring process which the writer did not prefer. That is why he attacked it in a mild and literary way.

Literary Comprehension of Yudhisthira's Wisdom

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One dry day, the Pandava brothers walked off miles from their shed in search of a deer. After walking miles, every of the five brothers grew tired and too thirsty. But there was no trace of water near by. Shahadeva, the youngest brother, went away for water on the command of the eldest brother, but Shahadeva did not return on expected time. Yudhisthira sent Nakula to bring report of cause of Shahadeva's delay to return with water. But he too did not come back sooner as expected. Neither did Bhima and Arjun respectively, as they left the eldest brother on his will to fetch out the two brothers already delayed to return. Finding none of his brothers as back as yet, Yudhisthira grew impatient and moved-off tracking their footsteps. After walking away some distance, he reached a lake by an open, green field. But suddenly while discovering four of his younger brother's lying all cold, either as unconscious or dead near the lake, he was shock-stricken.

As Yudhisthira did not know what to do with, he simply began to sob bitterly for long on the bank later, for being much thirstier, as he dragged himself to the edge of the water with head down for a drink, he happened to hear Yaksha's voice warning him to drink water only after showing his full ability to answer the question, Yushisthira said even the earth is not more respectful than the mother for an individual. Again, one should give up his self pride to be respected by the following beings. Further he added that only the person who loses desires can really be rich. Similarly having all his questions answered correctly Yaksha got satisfied with Yudhisthira and as a reward he wanted to restore the life of any one of Yudhisthira's brothers. Instantly Yudhisthira wished to have Nakula's life back. Yaksha was greatly surprised and asked him the reason for his unexpected wish to have Nakula's life restored instead of his own brothers. He justified the cause saying it would be morally unjust for Nakula and Shahadeva were the brothers from Madri's line. So if their lives were not restored, her lineage would come to end. Hence Yaksha was very pleased. As the conversation was going on in between, there appeared Yama, Yaksha's own heavenly brother who declared that sonce he had come down to help the Pandavas, he would restore the lives of all four younger brothers. More over, Yama assured them of his full protection during the rest of his exile.

Theory Of Time- Plato

Posted by anjila | Posted in | Posted on 11:09 PM

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The view of "Plato" is called "Theory Of Time". It includes
  • True Knowledge
  • Immortal Soul
  • Ideal-state
  • Myth of cave(allegory)

True Knowledge

Plato believed that everything we see around us in world is changeable. So, we can never gain true knowledge from something that changes constantly rather we can only have knowledge of things that can be understood with our reason.

Immortal Soul

Reality is divided into two reasons
World of senses
World of ideas
The world of ideas can provide true knowledge because here we use our reason. And based on this idea, Plato has claimed a man to be a duel creature having a body that is realted with senses and an immortal where the reasons lie.

Myth of Cave(Allegory)

Through myth of cave Plato refers to the journey of philosopher from darkness to light(knowledge). This myth leads to the idea of ideal state or (Utopian State) as elaborated by Plato in "The Republic".

Ideal State

The ideal state of Plato is clearly defined in his work "The Republic" which is somewhat like old Hindu caste systen where everyone is prescibed certain role and function to be performed in the society for the development of whole community like rulers and warriors are not allowed to have family life or private property in Plato's ideal state, rearing children should be responsibility of the state and so on.

It is worth noting that in Plato's ideal state, women could govern just as effectively as men. Since rulers govern by virtue of their reasons and women has exactly the same power of reasoning if they had provided similar traing. Plato, therefore had positive view of women considering the time he lived in.

Literary Language And Organic Unity

Posted by anjila | Posted in | Posted on 5:05 AM

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Literary Language is such language which is used by any literary text. It is different from scientific language and everyday language. Scientific Language depends upon denotation(direct meaning) and it doesn't try to be beautiful.

e.g: "father" denote "male parent(dad)",

On the other hand, literary language depends upon connotation, implication, association, suggestion and indirect meaning. It tries to bring out aesthetic beauty through words.

e.g: "father"connotation is authority, power, protection, responsibility.

Everyday language is expressive, connotative which have practical use but Literary Language chooses specific words and arranges it in an order to bring complexity(aesthetic beauty) and thus to create aesthetic experience and world of it's own. The form of literary language consists of specific word choice and arrangement to create aesthetic expression which cannot be separated from the content and meaning (theme) of the text.

Organic Unity is the form and meaning of literary work which is developed together. When a text has an organic unity all the formal elements work together to generate theme/meaning of the whole work. In organic Unity of a work all parts do job together to make an inseparable whole. It is criteria by which New Critics judge the quality of a literary work because when text has an organic unity then all it's general elements work together to bring out its theme or meaning of the work. Organic Unity brings "complexity" that a literary work must have along with "order " that human being seek. Complexity is produced by four linguistic devices- Paradox, Irony, Ambiguity, and Tension.

New Criticism

Posted by anjila | Posted in | Posted on 5:52 PM

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New Criticism
New criticism subjugated literary studies from 1940s to 1960s. Before the birth of New Criticism, Pre-Critical theory was the major tool to examine a literary work. At that time aesthetic beauty and biographical-historical background were considered important to interpret a text which was not enough but as New Criticism emerged text was considered as important factor to be criticized. Previously writer were given more priority but in New Criticism text bore significance.

Some characteristics of New Criticism are:

  • It governed literary study from 1940 to 1960.
  • It is not practiced any longer.
  • It provides a framework for how to handle the text. It teaches about the tools and how to apply it.It is universal to every text.
  • New Criticism is still important as it provides theoretical framework. It tells us about the devices, metaphor, irony, ambiguity.
  • It helps us understand other theories that emerged as a reaction against New Criticism (Structuralism, Deconstruction, etc)
  • New Criticism focused on "text". It searches the evidences in the text through reading.

Definition of text according to New Criticism

  • In New Criticism, a literary work, text is timeless as it is written only once and can never be changed.
  • Literary text is autonomous(self-sufficient). When text is written, we can not add or reduce the text after completing it.
  • Literary text is verbal because when science technology hadn't developed printing system, literature was taken as verbal object.
  • New Criticism focused mainly on the complex meaning(aesthetic beauty) which is generated from formal elements. Words placed out in a specific order gives out a complex meaning.
  • New Criticism also focused on poetry. It believes we can't use paraphrasing/translation to establish meaning of the text. To understand a poetry stanza we paraphrase or summarize it but it cannot generate the true meaning of the poem. The complete meaning of the poem can only be explained when we use the formal elements that could generate the actual and true meaning of any text or poem.

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