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LITERARY ESSAY (b)Narrative Essays
THE ART OF ESSAY WRITING
As a form of literature the essay includes compositions of
a varied character: Bacon, Addison, Lamb, Macaulay, Mat-
thew Arnold, for instance, all wrote “essays” though their
compositions that go by that name seem to have few fea-
tures in common. But for examination purposes the term
“essay” has a definite meaning. It is applied to a composi-
tion in which the writer states his knowledge of, and gives
his opinion about, a certain topic. The essay, as thus un-
derstood, may contain narrative or descriptive elements.
But it will also include comments and criticisms represent-
ing the writer’s own point of view. The essay thus becomes
a test, not merely of knowledge, but of thought and imagi-
nation of an examinee.
THE FOUR STAGES IN ESSAY WRITING
It is most important that essays should be written strictly
according to method. There are four stages to be gone
through:
(a) Think about the subject, and set down on paper all the
facts or ideas which occur to you. The title of the essay
must be read carefully so that the precise scope of the
subject and the point of view from which it is to be treated
may be grasped.
(b)Arrange these facts according to topics, and so con-
struct an outline for the composition. When the facts have
been arranged, it will be found that they group themselves
under certain heads. Suppose there are five topics. Each of
these topics will now form the subject of a paragraph, and
the essay will contain five paragraphs in all. It must be seen
that a due proportion of space is allotted to each aspect of
the subject.
(c)Write the essay. In writing the essay, one must pay
attention, of course, to grammar, punctuation and style. In
the matter of style the following points should be particu-
larly noted:
1.Clarity is the first essential. Therefore words must be
chosen accurately. Words, phrases, and clauses must be
placed in the right order. All pronouns must be clear in their
reference.
2. Slangs must be avoided.
3.The first person should not be used in any essay in
which the subject can be treated impersonally, that is to
say, such expressions as “I think”, “in my opinion” should
not be used. To qualify a statement it is always possible to
use impersonal expressions such as “it is generally agreed
that”, “it is probably a fact that”
(d)Revise what you have written. It is most important that
everything that is written should be thoroughly revised. In
this way the student will detect a number of errors which
can be easily corrected, but which, if allowed to remain,
would detract considerably from the value of his work.
COMMON MISTAKES TO BE AVOIDED
1.The paragraphs must not be numbered.
2.Headings must not be inserted in the body of the essay.
3.Single sentence paragraphs should be avoided. In gen-
eral, each paragraph should consist of several sentences.
TYPES OF ESSAYS
(a) Reflective Essays
A reflective essay consists of reflections or thoughts on
some topic, which is generally of an abstract nature, such
as Music, Romance, Proverbs, Cant, Personal Influ-
ence etc.
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A narrative essay deals with a narration of some event, or
series of events. The narrative it relates should be treated
as a subject for thought and comment, and so the essay
should be more or less reflective. It may deal with historical
facts or legends, biographies, incidents, journey or voyage,
a story etc.
(c)Descriptive Essays
It deals with a description of some place or thing such as
animals, plants, minerals, towns, countries, aspects and
phenomena in Nature etc.
(d)Expository Essays
An expository essay consists of an exposition or explana-
tion of some subject such as institutions, industries, occu-
pations, scientific and literary topics. Sometimes the topic
set is a statement—Often a quotation or proverb—which is
to be explained and illustrated.
(e)Essays Involving Discussion
Essay subjects frequently require the writer to discuss a
certain problem and to present a logical statement of his
point of view, for example Co-education, The Influence
of Sea-power on History, The Finest Occupation in Life,
Should All Censorship Be Abolished? etc.
THE OPENING PARAGRAPH OF AN ESSAY
It is most important to devise a good opening paragraph for
an essay. It may be said that writing an interesting intro-
duction is half the battle won. When once you have struck
out a sound and perhaps an original idea for your first sen-
tence, the remaining sections of the essay follow naturally.
On the other hand, few essays recover from a lame and
halting opening. It is, therefore, worthwhile to spend con-
siderable thought on the introductory paragraph. The open-
ing should not be unduly abrupt; it should introduce the
reader to a perfectly definite idea bearing on the theme.
THE CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH
As with the opening paragraph, so with the concluding para-
graph examinees often experience difficulty. It is important
to give an essay a graceful conclusion, and not to bring the
reader to an abrupt halt. In some essays the concluding
paragraph presents no difficulty. In an argumentative com-
position, for instance, the summing-up and the statement
of the writer’s own opinion will naturally come at the end.
Sometimes it is possible to conclude with a generalisation
suggested by the subject. Again, a quotation from some
distinguished person may fitly round off an essay.
It is best to avoid beginning the concluding paragraph with
stereotyped phrases like the following:
In conclusion, we may say...
Summing up, we see that the advantages greatly
overweigh the disadvantages...
Finally, looking at the matter from both points of
view, we may conclude that...
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THE NATURE OF LITERATURE
Literature grows out of life, reacts upon life, and is fed by
life. Yet to define literature is an extremely difficult task.
The scope of literature is so vast that it is impossible to
reduce it to a formula. Generally we can say that every-
thing in print is literature. But this would be a very vague
description of literature. Literary study is related with the
history of civilization but then such a study would not be
exactly literary; it may be more historical and less literary.
Then we can take up another distinction. The study of ev-
erything that is historical will naturally out crowd the liter-
ary values and the emphasis will be on values other than
literary. The work of art in which information content is pre-
dominant is mainly historical and not literary. And the work
of art in which the emotion content is predominant is mainly
literary and not historical or cultural. But even this distinc-
tion is not water-tight. We can not say that a work of litera-
ture in which emotion is predominant does not contain
thought, because every work of literature does contain
thought. The only difference is that the thought content in
such works is subordinate to the emotional content. Con-
versely a history of civilization has mainly thought content
but it does not mean that it cannot have emotional appeal.
Only, the emotional appeal is subordinate.
Then we can say that we should include only great books
of literature in the category of literature. This will not be
correct because great books are judged by aesthetic stan-
dards and we cannot exclude the books with less aes-
thetic values. The study of isolated great books may be
good enough for beginners who should read atleast good
books, if not great books. If we limit imaginative literature
only to great books, we shall forget the continuity of literary
tradition and developments of literary genres. The aesthetic
point of view may be found even in books of history or phi-
losophy when that historian or philosopher uses style and
organization of material at his disposal in an imaginative
way. For example, Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire has a number of literary qualities. It
has been accepted by a number of critics as pure literature
and a great work of art, although it is a book of history. But
in the history of literature such a writer will be mentioned in
a superfluous way.
One other objection to such classification of literature is
that this imaginative literature is limited only to written lit-
erature and it ignores oral literature like legends, folk tales,
etc., which have literary values.
Literary style gives literature its distinctive stamp. Litera-
ture is the expression of written words. The best way to
solve the question ‘What is literature?’ is to notice the way
in which literature uses the language. “Literature is the per-
sonal use or exercise of language.” The history of civiliza-
tion uses the language because language is the raw mate-
rial out of which literature is composed. When the language
is emotionally charged, it gives literature. When the lan-
guage is concentrating or giving information or thought, it
gives history and that is the scientific use of language.
Literature is distinct from all other arts. It has no medium of
its own. Many mixed forms of literature exist; therefore it is
fairly easy to distinguish between the language of literature
and the language of science. The main contrast is between
thought and emotion. The language of science is domi-
nated by thought and the language of literature is domi-
nated by emotion but it does not mean that the language of
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science will have no “emotion” or the language of literature
will have no “thought.” No literature can exist without thought
but the predominant characteristic is “emotion.” Similarly,
the predominant characteristic in scientific language is
“thought.” That is why scientific language is precise or de-
notative.
The language of literature is often vague and full of ambigu-
ities. It is full of antecedents and other connections. There-
fore the language is connotative. In connotative language
the writer does not merely express what he says; he wants
to influence the attitude of the reader and persuade him. In
the literary language the sound symbolism of the word is
stressed and all kinds of devices and patterns of sound are
used.
In scientific language the distinction may be made in a dif-
ferent way. The sound pattern will be less important in a
novel than in a lyric. It means that the expressive element
will be less important in a novel than in a lyric. The poetical
element will play a large part in a novel or a satirical poem.
Even here there are a number of variations. For example,
there are philosophical poems which are almost equivalent
to the scientific use of language. Yet literary language is
found far more deeply in the structure of language and it
stresses the awareness and has the expressive side which
scientific language wants to minimize.
It is difficult to trace exactly the difference between every-
day language and literary language. In everyday language
we often use the language of commerce, the language of
religion and the slang of students. Everyday language has
its expressive function though it varies from ordinary
colourless statements to passionate pleas. Thus everyday
language is full of irrationalities and contextual changes. It
sometimes has the preciseness of scientific description
and has awareness of signs which appear in sound sym-
bolism and puns. No doubt, everyday language wants to
achieve results and influence actions but it would be wrong
to limit everyday language to mere communication.
The main difference between the every day and literary lan-
guage is quantitative. In subjective poetry there is person-
ality of the author which is far more important than the per-
sons in every day situations. Poetry will use paradoxes
and ambiguity etc. Thus poetic language organizes and
tightens the resources of every day language. In highly de-
veloped literature, the language is so polished by the use of
generations that the poet uses the established conventions
and the language poeticizes for him.
Imagination and fictionality are the distinguishing traits of
literature. In works like Plato’s “Republic” there is thought
as well as imagination. The conception of literature is de-
scriptive and when we talk of fictionality as a criterion of
literature, we have to include even the worst novels simply
because they are fictional.
One misunderstanding must be cleared. Imaginative litera-
ture need not use images. Poetic language is full of imag-
ery but we have a number of good poems in which images
do not exist; therefore imagery should not be confused with
image making. One school of critics says that all art is
pure visibility but a lot of great literature does not evoke
sensual images. Great novelists have created immortal
characters but we know only their states of mind, not their
visual images, and so a novelist suggests a physical trait
and creates a great character. But that does not mean that
we have to visualize every metaphor in poetry. The psycho-
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logical question should not be confused with the analysis
of the poet’s metaphysical devices. Metaphor is latent in
much of our every day language. Poetry makes us aware of
the metaphysical character of language.
So the distinction between literature and non-literature is
confined to organization, personal expression, explanation
of the medium, lack of practical purpose and fictionality.
And we use for these distinctions terms like “unity in vari-
ety”, “disinterested contemplation”, “aesthetic distance”,
“invention”, “imagination”, “creation.” Each one displays one
aspect of the literary work. One fundamental fact emerges
that a literary work is not a simple object but rather a highly
complex organization with multiple meanings; it stresses
the aspect of unity in variety. The idea of identity of content
and form in literature encourages the illusion that the analysis
of any element of art, technique, etc., absolves us from
viewing the work of art as a whole.
THE FUNCTION OF LITERATURE
Whenever any instrument or a piece is replaced by a later
instrument or a piece, the utility, the function of the earlier
piece becomes obsolete. This has not happened in the case
of literature even though more than 2000 years have passed.
The conception and function of literature have remained the
same through all the centuries. The history of aesthetics
can be summed up so far as the function of literature is
concerned, in Horace’s words, “dulce” and “utile” or “sweet-
ness” and “usefulness.” Each objective separately would
give us a misconception of the function of a poet. The view
that poetry is pleasure is put against the view that poetry is
instruction. The view that poetry should be propaganda is
answered by the view that poetry is pure sound and emo-
tion. These opposing arguments defined the basic function
of art as discussed in art versus play. The function of litera-
ture with regard to “dulce” or “sweetness” or “pleasure” or
“play” or “spontaneous amusement” or “purposelessness”
describes the function of art to do justice to the “dulce”. So
the Horatian formula of “dulce” and “utile” is good enough
as a helpful start remembering that precision in the use of
critical terms is a very recent thing. The usefulness of art
does not necessarily lie on the enforcement of such a moral
lesson that Homer found in the writing of the Iliad. The word
useful is equivalent to “not a waste of time”, “not a form of
passing time”, “something deserving serious attention.”
Can we use this sort of double standard for all types of
literature? There are books which can be called great litera-
ture and there are books which fall into the category of
good literature or sub-literature. Can this literature be called
useful or instructive or amusing? But one fact emerges that
even this type of literature has its appropriate readers and it
is sweet as well as useful when a work of literature is a
successful work. The two functions of literature should not
only co-exist but also coalesce. The pleasure and utility
should be blended like a chemical compound. The plea-
sure of literature is the highest type of pleasure because it
is pleasure in a higher type of activity and the utility or
seriousness becomes aesthetic seriousness.
Has literature one function or more functions? Eliot speaks
about the variety of poetry and various functions that poetry
can do at different times. Nothing can be a substitute for
poetry. Literature can help us about travel in foreign lands
or about history but the basic question is: Is there a use
which literature can do better than any other art? The unique
value of literature is basic to any theory of literature. One
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contemporary theory says that the use and seriousness of
poetry lies in its capacity to convey knowledge. Poetry is a
form of knowledge. Aristotle had said that poetry is more
philosophical than history. History relates things which have
happened; poetry, such as might happen. In poetry we get
the general as well as the particular. Othellois not about
jealousy but is about Othello’s jealousy.
Literature stresses the type as well as the individual or the
generality as well as the particularity. Literature is more
general than biography and more particular than sociology.
This idea of particularity or individuality changes from age
to age. Characters in literature combine the type with the
individual. We recognize the type in the character books of
the 17th century but the type also can be individual like
Hamlet, the lover, the scholar, the fencer, etc. The charac-
ter types can be flat characters whereas round character
are characters which developed in different stages of life.
The novelist can teach you more about human nature than
the psychologist. We can see this in Shakespeare, Ibsen
and others. They reveal the introspective life of the charac-
ter. We might say that the great novels are source books
for psychologists because they show generalized types.
Max Eastman, a minor poet, says that in the age of sci-
ence a literary mind cannot lay claim to the discovery of
truth, because it is an unspecialized immature mind. Truth
in literature is the same as truth outside literature. The imagi-
native writer misunderstands himself if he thinks that his
main object is knowledge. His real function is to make us
perceive what we see and imagine what we already know.
Poetry is artistic insight. It makes us see what was there
all the time, but we had not seen it. It wants us to under-
stand values or aesthetic qualities. One can understand
why the aestheticians refuse to accept truth as a poetry of
art. One can attribute the supreme value to art. Imaginative
literature is a fiction, an imitation of life as Plato has put it;
the opposite of fiction is not truth but fact, and fact is stranger
than the probability with which literature deals. In art some-
thing may be truer than other things. That truth is literature.
Truth is the province of systematic thinkers and artists are
not thinkers. The whole controversy centres round the words
‘Knowledge,’ ‘Truth’ and ‘Wisdom.’ If all truth is concep-
tual, then the arts cannot be forms of truth. If all truth is
limited to what can be verified, then also arts cannot be
forms of truth. So there are truths and truths. There are
various ways of knowing. Sciences use the discursive
modes and arts use the presentational mode. So presenta-
tional truth takes care of religious myths as well as poetry.
After that way, it is beautiful and true. A poem is equal to
poetry and it possesses the equivalence of truth. Literature
is the presentational method of describing truth. So truth of
art or literature in a flash gives us the view of truth which is
more real and more vivid than the truth of science.
Some critics declare that the artist is the persuasive pur-
veyor of truth. The term propaganda is not correctly used
here. The artist tries to convert the reader to his particular
point of view because he wants to evoke in the heart of
readers, the same responses that he has felt for himself; in
that sense we can say that some art is propaganda but not
great art or good art can possibly be propaganda.
According to Montgomery Belgian, the literary artist is an
irresponsible propagandist. The purpose of the artist is to
convert the readers to his particular point of view by subtly
appealing to the emotions of the reader. The responsible
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artist does not want to confuse the emotion and thinking,
experience and sincerity. The propaganda motive of the art-
ist must stay as much in the background as is possible.
Then there is the question of Catharsis. Catharsis is the
word first used by Aristotle with reference to the function of
tragedy. Similarly the function of literature is to relieve the
reader from the pressure of emotions. At the end of the
aesthetic experience the reader is left with “Calm of mind.”
But then, does literature relieve us of the emotions or incite
them? Plato is of the opinion that literature nourishes and
waters our emotions. Are the emotions not wrongly dis-
charged when they are wasted on poetic fiction? Again,
should all art be cathartic?
The question concerning the function of literature has been
discussed from the days of Plato down to the modern times.
Such questions are asked by people who take a utilitarian
view of arts. They are looking for special values in art; when
challenged in this way, Poets have to make a reasoned
reply. They stress the use of art rather than the delight of
art but from the days of romantic poets, the poet has given
one standard answer for the function of poetry. A. C. Brad-
ley calls it “poetry for poetry’s sake.” So using the word, we
say poetry has many possible functions but its prime and
chief function is fidelity to its own nature. Literature, there-
fore has a number of functions to fulfil.
LITERATURE AND BIOGRAPHY
The work of art and the author are intimately interconnected;
hence the explanation in terms of the personality and the
life of the writer has been an old, established method. Biog-
raphy can be judged in the context of the light it throws on
the production of poetry; that is why the study of the author
and his mental and intellectual development has its own
interest. Biography explains and illuminates the actual prod-
uct of poetry. The interest of biography gets reflected in the
personality of the author and is also reflected in the book
and biography. Biography is a material for the psychology
of artistic creation.
Biography can be considered chronologically and logically;
that becomes a sort of historical survey and can apply to
anybody including an author From the point of view of the
biographer the poet is a man whose mental development
can be reconstructed with reference to standards of the
society and the author’s works as events happen in the life
of a man. So publications are published in the life of an
author. If we accept this view the biographer is purely a
historian of literary events basing his conclusions upon
documents, letters, statements, etc., about an author. This
in its turn depends upon the chronological presentation and
discreet selection of events.
How far can a biographer be justified in using the evidence
of works in the construction of a biography. How far can a
biographer use the results of a literary biography in under-
standing the works themselves. Normally poets are highly
subjective people and therefore abundant evidence can be
found in their works or a biography.
Early literature did not possess documentary evidence on
which a writer can draw. We have only public documents
like birth and death certificates etc. We can know about
the finances of Shakespeare but we have absolutely noth-
ing excepting doubtful anecdotes regarding the author’s life.
This has resulted in an expense of a vast amount of schol-
arship. Therefore a good biography of Shakespeare is a
very difficult problem to handle. We cannot use a state-
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ment in a play as a valid document for use in the biographi-
cal study. A writer need not be in a tragic mood to write a
tragedy nor should he be in a comic mood to write a com-
edy. Similarly, we cannot say that a particular character of
his play gives the personal views of Shakespeare. So the
relation between the private life and the work of an author is
not a simple relation. Some supporters of biographical
method will argue that in our age plenty of biographical evi-
dence is available regarding poets. Many have left autobio-
graphical statements also; in such a case we can easily
check the biographical approach by referring to the works
of an author in this respect. The romantic poets were very
vocal yet in poems like “The Prelude” by Wordsworth we
feel that we cannot take every statement at its face value.
Poets are of two types: subjective and objective poets. Those
like Keats and Hemingway are subjective and the opposite
type of a poet may not want to draw a self-portrait so as to
express himself.
But even with the subjective poets the distinction between
the statement of an autobiographical nature and the use of
the statement for a motif in a work of art cannot be with-
drawn. A work of art is quite different from a diary or a letter.
Therefore it would be perversion of the biographical method
to use the intimate or casual documents of an author’s life
for the central study or to interpret the poems in the light of
such documents. For example, Brandes criticizes Macbeth
because it is not very much related to the personality of
Shakespeare. In some works there are elements which can
be identified as biographical. But we have to remember that
these incidents are so transformed under the imagination
of the poet that they lose all their specifical personal mean-
ing. The professedly autobiographical “Prelude” differs from
Wordsworth’s actual life during that particular specific pe-
riod.
Even when a work of art contains biographical elements,
these elements become so much transformed and inte-
grated that they lose all their specific meaning. This we
can see in Wordsworth’s “Prelude” in which the actual life
and the incidents used in the book look so very different.
The view that all art is self-expression can be proved false.
Even when the work of art represents author’s life it cannot
be a mere copy. The biographical approach obscures the
proper understanding of a literary process because it tries
to substitute the cycle of an individual. It also ignores the
psychological facts. This is because the work of art may
be a dream or a mask behind which the real person is hid-
ing. Again experiences are not seen with a view to their use
in literature. Therefore we must not take seriously some of
the lives of authors in which the author takes every state-
ment in the poem or a novel as literal truth. This is the type
of argument which has led people to say that Emily Bronte
must have experienced the passion of “Heathcliff’ or that
because Shakespeare knows so much about a woman’s
heart, he must have been a woman.
This does not mean that personality can be ruled out in
literature. We know that behind the works of Dante or Tolstoy
there is a person behind the work. Different writings of the
same author would have a family resemblance; for example
in works of Milton there is a quality which we call “Miltonic”
but this quality can be deduced from the works of the au-
thor and not from the life of the author.
The poet’s work can be a mask or conventionalization of
his own experience. This can be useful only if it is used
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carefully. It may explain allusions to works in an author’s
work. The biographical frame-work will help us to under-
stand the gradual maturing and possible decline of an
author’s work. Biography also gives us data for literary his-
tory such as the poet’s reading, his travels, etc.
So it is dangerous to ascribe critical importance to biogra-
phy because no biographical data can change critical evalu-
ation. If we try to judge literature in terms of biographical
truth, literary sincerity would be thoroughly false. There is
no relation between sincerity and value of art: for example,
Byron’s “Fare Thee Well” is neither a better poem nor a
worse poem because it dramatizes the poet’s relations with
his wife. The poem stands on its own merit.
LITERATURE AND PSYCHOLOGY
Among the Greeks the superior power possessed by a poet
was explained by the theory that the poet was inspired or
possessed by some god or spirit- And that is how he got
the superior power of writing.
There was a belief that some writers possessed extra sharp
senses because of certain physical handicaps. It was a
belief that God compensated such men by giving them an
advantage in other senses. Milton was blind, Pope was a
hunchback, and Byron had a club foot. God compensated
for their defect by giving them some extra sensitive power
to their senses. But this belief has no scientific or rational
base. The idea of being possessed is explained in different
ways by saying that the writer is a neurotic but if the writer
is a neurotic how his writing can be intelligible to other
people.
Freud says that the writer is not quite steady. And the writer
is a neurotic who, by his creative works, keeps himself
from a crack-up. The artist converts a reality into a fantasy
in his mind and then reconverts the fantasy into a work of
art. So the poet is a day-dreamer who publishes his fanta-
sies. The artist’s contemplative results are alternations in
the outer world by readers of novelists. While the day-
dreamer forms his fantasies in his mind, the actual writer
gives a local habitation and a name to the fantasies. Most
of the writers do not want to be cured of their neurosis be-
cause if they are cured, they fear, they will lose their power
of writing. As Auden says, the artist should be as neurotic
as possible.
Is neurosis another name for imagination? As a child tells a
romantic story so an artist converts the world of reality into
a fantasy of hopes and fears. Some novelists like Dickens
say that their characters speak to them and sometimes
take control of the action of the stories. The artist thus
retains the archaic trait of the race. He feels and sees his
thoughts.
Another gift assigned to the writer is synaesthesia or the
capacity of combining sensory perceptions. A writer may
see colour as well as the smell of an object. In fact, syna-
esthesia is a literary technique. According to T. S. Eliot, a
poet has in his subconscious mind the race history and
also the memory of his childhood. The artist is thus more
primitive as well as more civilized than his contemporary.
The pre-logical mentality persists in civilized men but it
becomes available to us only through a poet. In other words,
beneath the individual lies the collective unconscious, the
blocked off memory of our racial past. The extrovert and
introvert are two types of writers who are sub-divided on the
basis of thinking, feeling, intuition and sensation. All writ-
ers are not necessarily introvert. Some writers reveal type
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in their writing. Some do not.
Subjective or objective writers are not necessarily single
types; there are romantic poets who are lyric poets and
there are narrative poets who are dramatic and epic poets.
In other words, the poets are subjective writers and the
novelists are objective writers or the poets can be called
‘possessed’ and the novelists can be called ‘makers.’ The
professionally trained bards are the poets of the Renais-
sance. And the makers of the neo-classical period lay
emphasis on the mechanical side of the work of creation.
But in the case of great writers like Shakespeare or
Dostoyevsky, we find both elements of the maker and the
possessed in the same writer.
Apollo and Dionysus are two art-gods of the Greeks. They
represent the art of sculpture and the art of music or dream
and specially this corresponds to the classical maker and
the romantic possessed.
Imagination has been divided by a French psychologist into
two parts: ‘plastic’ (shape giving) and ‘different’ (symbolic).
A symbolic poet is a writer of romantic tales who is entirely
subjective. Dante’s visual imagination has the same es-
sential quality of Milton’s ‘auditory imagination.’
Psychologists have divided writers into three divisions
(1) ‘type sympathique’ (spontaneous)
(2) ‘type demoniaque anarchic’ (demon-like anarchic)
(3) ‘type demoniaque equilibre’ (demon-like equilibrium).
This suggests sympathetic and anarchy which ends in the
tensions being brought into equilibrium. There are examples
of Dante, Shakespeare, Dickens and others. The creative
process covers all stages of a work of art from the literary
origin to revisions.
There is the distinction between the mental structure of a
poem and the composition of a poem. According to Croce,
an object of art creates a vivid impression on the mind of
the artist. Once the impression is created, the work of ar-
tistic creation stops. When a writer tries to put his impres-
sion on paper he is expressing his impressions and that is
expressionism.
Can impression be induced? Can the writer become pos-
sessed or go into a trance with the help of objects other
than imagination? For example, Coleridge wrote ‘Kubla
Khan’ under the influence of opium. De Quincey was an
opium eater but there is no true evidence that drugs help in
creative work. Others use ritualistic devices to induce the
spirit of possession. ‘Mentors’ or ‘religious’ formality was
used for the same purpose. Schiller could write after put-
ting rotten apples in his work desk. Balzac wrote dressed
in the robes of a monk. Some people prefer night time for
writing. Dr. Johnson believed that a man can write at any
time if he is determined to write.
Does the method of writing have any effect upon any liter-
ary style? Does it matter whether you write with pen or you
use a typewriter? Actually speaking no such claim can be
scientifically proved. We have only individual cases of writ-
ers who prefer one thing to another; they cannot be used
for general rules.
On the creative side, not much has been found profitable to
literary theory. Some authors write analytically about their
art; psychologists try to find the common factor in original-
ity, invention, philosophical and aesthetic creation. The pro-
cess of creation will depend upon relative parts played by
the conscious and the unconscious mind. Romantic and
expressionistic periods depend upon the unconscious........
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IMPORTANT MODAL QS. - ANS.
OPTIONAL QUESTIONS ON CRITICISM
How does Aristotle defines tragedy ?
In his Poetics Aristotle defines tragedy as "the imitation of
an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude,
complete in itself; in language with pleasurable accessories,
each kind brought in separately...in the parts of the work; in
a dramatic not in a narrative form; with incidents arousing
pity and fear, where with to accomplish its catharsis of such
emotions."
What does Aristotle say about imitation in poetry ?
Aristotle in his Poetics says that differs in terms of form,
content and manner of imitation. In terms of the kinds of
mimitation they offer Aristotle differentiates between the three
main kinds of poetry known to the ancient Greeks - epic,
dramatic poetry and lyric poetry. It was also on the basios
of imitatin that he distinguished comedy from tragedy : "the
aim of comedy is to represent men as worse, that of tragedy
as better, than in actual life."
What does Aristotle mean by 'catharsis' ?
Aristotle uses the term 'catharsis in the famous definition of
tragedy in his Poetics. 'Catharsis' may be translated as
'purification', 'correction', refinement', sublimation, etc. By
'Catharsis', Aristotle seems to be simplicity suggesting that
tragedy helps to keep pity and fear in their due proportions
by allowing for a find of ritual purgation of these emotions.
According to Humphrey House. Aristotle says that 'catharsis'
"directs our pity an fear towards worthy objects."
What doe Aristotle say about the constituent elements
of a tragedy ?
In Poetics Aristotle enumerates the elements that consti-
tute the form of a typical tragedy : Plot, character, thuought,
diction, spectacle and song. Of these, he asserts, "Plot is
the most important...since tragedy is a representation not
of men but of action and life...there could be no tragedy
without action but there could be one without character."
What is the Aristotelian principle of organic unity in
literature ?
While taking about tragedy in Poetics Aristotle mentions
that the action of a tragic plot musthave a begining, a middle
and an end; all parts of the action must be equally essential
to the whole, so that it would not be possible to remove a
part without damaging the whole; all parts must be property
ordered with an appreciable conherence. These percepts
add up to what is usually known as the principle of organic
unity in literature as Aristotle compares tragedy to a living
creature.
How does Aristotle contrast poetry and history ?
While considering the kinds of truth poets tell, Aristotle in
his Poetics writes that "the difference is that one [a histori-
cal writes about what has actually happened, while the other
[a poet] deals with what might happen. Hence poetry is
morephilosophical and deserves more serious attention than
history for while poetry concerns itself with universal truths,
history considers only particular facts."
How does Aristotle distinguish simple and complex
plots?
In the Poetics Aristotle defines simple plot as being one in
which change of foturne takes place without Reversal' or
'Perpeteia', and a complex plot as one in which the change
of fortune is accompanied by a Reversal or by a Recognition
or Discovery or both 'Peripetela' and 'Anagnorisis', i.e.
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'change from ignorance to knowledge'.
What, according to Aristotle, should be the qualities
of a dramatic character ?
Poetics Aristotle speaks of the four points to aim at in the
treatment of dramatic characters : they should be good,
ie,not depraved or odious but capable of arousing pity and
sympathy; appropriate, ie., true to type, king kngly an
woman womanly; true to life, a normal person or of an
intermediate sort; and consistent from begining to end.
What does Aristotle mean by 'hamartia' ?
According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is one who falls from
high state or fame not through vice or depravity but by some
great 'hamartia'. Etymologically 'hamartia' means the 'miss-
ing' of a mark with bow and arrow, an unskilful but not nor-
mally culpable act'- or 'an error of judgement', an intellectual
error little concerned with the normal character of the man.
Oedipus is an excellent example of such a tragic protago-
nist.
On what grounds does Sidney consider poetry supe-
rior to philosophy ?
Sidney in his An Apology for Poetry says that dealing with
abstract rules and precepts, the philosopher is hard of ut-
terance and misty to be conceived. But the poet takes up
the abstract rules and universal truths of philosophy and
illustrates them by vivid and concrete examples which are
intelligivle to everybody and so Sidney says, "the poet is
indeed the right popular philosopher."
Why according to Sidney, is poetry superior to
history ?
Sidney says that history is so tied should be, to particular
truths and not to general reason, that it cannot draw nec-
essary consequences and therefore is a less fruitful doctrine
than poetry, which deals with universal considerations : What
is fit to be said or done. Thus poetry transcents Nature
without contradicting her. Poetry deals with 'what ought to
be' not 'what it is' and so is superior to history.
How does Sidney criticize contemporary drama ?
Sidney in his An Apology for Poetry points out that most
contemporary dramas are "neither right tragedies nor right
comedies". He is against the mixing of tragic and comic
material in one single play (as he says, 'mingling kings and
clowns'). Another absurdity that he points out is the neglect
of the Unities of Time and Place. According to him, it is
impossible to suppose the stagenow a garden, now a bat-
tlefield, and to see a whole life story in a short-span of two
hours.
On what ground does Dryden defend the English
tragicomedy ?
Dryden, in the person of Neander, attempts to vindicate the
English practice of writing tragicomedies in his Essay on
Dramatic Poesy. According to him, the mixing of tragic and
comic elements brings variety in the play, and so imitate
life more closely. Dryden says that in tragiccomedies,
comedy heightens the pathos of tragedy by contrast, and
thus is simply more entertaining.
What arguments are given in favour of rhymed verse
in Essay on Dramatic Poesie ?
Dryden in his Essay on Dramatic Poesie defends the use
of rhyme in serious plays saying that "in serious plays
rhyme is more natural and more effectual than blank verse."
He also says that 'heroic rhyme is nearest nature, as being
the noblest kind of modern verse". Blank verse is too low
for even a poem, and so much more for tragedy.
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hat according to Dryden is the chief function of
poetry?
Dryden emphasizes delight rather than instruction as the
chief end of poetry. According to Dryden, "delight is the
chief, if not the only, end of poesy; instruction can be
admitted but in the second place, for poesy only instructs
as it delights". It is true that to imitate well is a poet's work;
but to affect the soul, and excite the passions, and above
all, to move admiration, a bare imitation will not serve.
What does Dryden say, about heroic poetry in Essay
on Dramatic Poesic ?
Dryden regards the heroic poetry or epic "the greatest work
of human nature". He considers Epic superior to Tragedy
because, according to him, its action is more extensive, its
heroes more perfect and its style more lofty and ornate.
Due to the limited area the tragedy has to leave out many
tings and thus fails to make that deep impression which is
made by epic.
What view does Dryden put forward on satire in his A
Discourse Concerning the Origin and Progress of
Satire ?
Dryden ragards satire as 'a species of heroic poetry' that
should treat of one main theme with one particular moral.
The function is to caution the reader 'against some one
particular vice or folly'. Rejecting the burlesque 8 syllabled
verse of Butler's Hudibras, Dryden champions the 10-
syllabled verse or heroic couplet as the ideal verse from for
writing satires.
What does Pope say about the poet and 'Nature' in
his An Essay on Criticism ?
The key term in Pope's Essay is 'Nature', not as the Ro-
mantics were to understand it, wild and mysterious, but
something reflecting deep order, moderation and universal
laws; it placed due limits on men's taste and writing, dictating
that they should avoid excesses of enthusiasm and freakish
originality. Pope suggests that the critics should study the
rules of classical thinkers because these rules are none
than 'Nature methodized' ?
What are Pope's views on criticism in An Essay on
Criticism ?
According to Pope, an aurhor can only be a good critic. He
warns the critic against judging by parts rather than by the
whole. He is against those critics who consider only the
diction, style or verse apart from the sense. He also
condemns judgments based on popular notions and without
a proper understanding of the work itself. He further
condemns extreme fastidiousness in criticism: "As all looks
yellow to the Jaundic'd eye."
What according to Pope, is required of the language
of poetry in An Essay on Criticism ?
Regarding the language of poetry, Pope in An Essay on
Criticism writes that the words selected should be neither
too old nor too new: "In words, as fashions, the same rule
will hold / Alike fantastic, if too new or ole," and that the
expression should be according to the snese. For the beauty
of an idea or image depends on its context, and it will not
be effective if we take it alone outside its context.
What does Pope say on versification in his Essay ?
Pope thinks that the poet should not rely on such devides
as equal syllables, open vowels, expletives, too much use
of monosyllables and needless Alexandrine. The correct
verse, according to him, is that which is in keeping with the
thought and it should vary to suit the different ideas
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7
expressed. If one follows Pope's formula he is sure to get
ease in writing: "True ease in writing comes from Art, not
chance."
What are the scheme and purpose of Pope's Essay on
Man ?
The first epistle of Pope's Essay on Man is concerned with
the nature of man and his place in the universe; the second
with man as an individual; the third with man in society;
and the fourth with man and the pursuit of happiness. The
purpose is to demonstrate, the essential rightness of the
world as ordered by God: man's inability to realizedered by
God; man's inability to realize this is the fault of limited
perception.
How does Dr. Johnson defend tragicomedy ?
Dr. Johnson regards the tragicomedy as more representative
of actual life and a better source of instruction; "That the
mingled drama may convey all theinstruction of tragedy and
comedy cannot be denied". Dr. Johnson puts forward a lib-
erating defence of Shakespeare's 'mixed' style of drama
which does not impair the emotional effect because he
thinks, "all pleasure consist in variety".
How does Dr. Johnson defend the violation of unities
by Shakespeare ?
Dr. Johnson believes that "the unities of Time and Place...are
always to be sacrificed to the nobler beauties of variety and
instruction." He says, "the truth is that the spectators are
always in their senses and know...the stage is only a stage
and that the players are only players." So there is no need
of the unity of Place. According to Dr. Johnson, "Time is...
most obsequious to the imagination". and so the unity of
Time isnot essential for drama. Thus he defends the violation
of unities by Shakespeare.
What are Dr. Johnson's views on the Metaphysical po-
ets and their poetry ?
In his Life of Cowley Dr. Johnson writes."The metaphysicals
were men of learning and to show their learning was their
whole endeavour." Metaphysical poetry is "great labour di-
rected by great abilities" and metaphysical poets are wits
rather than poets because they neither limitate nature nor
life. It has "more propriety though less copiousness of sen-
timent" and is only "useful to those who know their value."
Why does Dr. Johnson advocage that the poet should
collect only good things for his poetry ?
In his Preface to Shakespeare, Dr. Johnson writes : "The
end of writing is to instruct : the end of poetry is to instruct
by pleasing...Poetry pleases by exhibiting an idea more
graceful to the mind than things themselves afford". it is for
this reason that he suggests that the poet should select
only beautiful and good things and reject all that is ugly or
bad.
What defects of Shakespeare does Dr. Johnson point out ?
According to Dr. Johnson Shakespeare "sacrifices virtue to
convenience and is so much more careful to please than to
instruct, that he seems to write without anh moral purpose".
Further he dinds faults with the plots and ending in Shake-
spearean plays, with the comic scenes and the narratives
in tragedies. Dr. Johnson is so put off by Shakespeare's
puns and word-plays that he says : "A quibble was to him
the fatal Cleopatra for which he lost the world, and was
content to lose it."..........
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 8

IMPORTANT POINTS Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)

ENGLISH LITERATURE AT A GLANCE
MAIN PERIODS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
C. 450-C. 1066
C. 1066-C.1500
C. 1500-1660
1558-1603
1603-1625
1625-1649
1649-1660
C. 1660-C. 1800
1660-1700
C. 1700-C.1745
C. 1745-C. 1798
C. 1798-C. 1832
1832-1901
1901-1918
1918-1939
1939-
TABLE OF THE SOVEREIGNS SINCE THE CONQUEST
[1066]
I. THE NORMAN KINGS
1. William I [1066-87]
3. Henry I [1100-35]
II. PLANTAGENET KINGS
5. Henry II of Anjou [1154-89]
7. John [1199-1216]
9. Edward I [1272-1307]
11. Edward III [1327-77]
III. THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER
13. Henry IV [1399-1413]
15. Henry VI [1422-61]
IV. THE HOUSE OF YORK
16. Edward IV [1461-83]
18. Richard III [1483-85]
V. THE TUDOR EYNASTY
19. Henry VII [1461- 1509]
21. Edward VI [1547-53]
23. Elizabeth I[1558-1603]
VI. THE STUART DYNASTY
24. James I [1603-25]
[Commonwealth [1689-1702]; Protectorate (1653-60)]
25. Charles I (1625-49)
26. Charles II (1660-85
27. James II (1685-88)
28. William and Mary (1689-1702)
29. Anne (1702-14)
VII. THE HOUSE OF HANOVER
30. George I (1714-27)
32. George III (1760-1820)
34. William IV (1831-37)
36. Edward VII (1901-10)
38. Edward VIII (1936)
40. Elizabeth II (1952-)
ENGLISH LITERATURE AT A GLANCE
THE AGE OF CHAUCER (1340-1400)
POETRY
Old English (or Anglo-
Saxon) Period
Middle English Period
The Renaissance
Elizabbethan Age
Jacobean Age
Caroline Age
Commonwealth and
Protectorate Period
Neo-classical Period
The Restoration Age
The Augustan Age or The
Age of Pope
Age of Sensibility or The
Age of Johnson
Period of the Romantic
Revival
Victorian Age
Edwardian Age
Modern Age
The Present Age
2. William II [1087-1100] .
4. Stephen [1135-54]
6. Richard I [1189-99]
8. Henry III [1219-54]
10. Edward II [1307-27]
12. Richard 11[1377-99]
14. Henry V [1413-22]
17. Edward V [1483]
20. Henry VIII [1509-47]
22. Mary [1553-58]
31. Geroge II (1727-60)
33. Geroge IV (1727-60)
35. Victoria (1837-1901)
37. George V (1910-36)
39. George VI (1936-52)
The Romaunt of the Rose (1360-65?); The Book of the
Duchesse (1369); The Parlement of Foules; Troilus and
Criseyde (1379-83); The House of Fame (1383-84); The
legend of Good Women (1385-86); The Canterbury Tales
(1386 onward).
William Langland (1330-1386)
The Vision of william Concerning Piers the Plowman (1362
90).
John Gover (?1330-84)
Speculum Meditantis(1378?), Vox Clamantis(1382),
Confessio Amantis(1390)
John Barbour (1320-95)
Bruce(1375).
PROSE
Sir John Mandeville (died 1372)
Mandeville’s Travels (1356).
John Wycliffe (1320-84)
Wycliffe’s Bible (1380).
Sir Thomats Malory (died 1471)
Le Morte D’ Arthur (1469).
FROM CHAUCER TO ‘TOTTLE’S MISCELLANY’
(1400-1557)
POETRY
Geoffrey Chaucer(1340-1400)
The Tale of Melibeus, The Parson’s Tale.
James I (1394-1437)
The King’s Quair (1423-1424).
Sir David Lyndsay (1458-1555)
The Dreme(1528), The History of Squyer Meldrum(1549),
The Testment and Compleynt of the Papyngo,(1530), Satyre
of the Thire Estaitis(1540).
Robert Henryson(1430-1506)
Lament for the Makaris (1508), The Testament of cresseid
(1593), Orpheus and Eurydice; Robene and Makyne;
Garmond Qf Gude Ladies.
William Dunbar(?1456-?1513)
The Goldyn Targe (1503), The Dance of the Sevin Deidlie
Synnis (1503-1508), Tua Mariit Women and the Wedo
(1508), Lament for the Makaris (1508).
Gawin Douglas(?1474-1552)
The Palice of Honour (1501),published (1533),King Hart
(first printed 1786).
John Skelton(?1460-1529)
Garlande of laurell (printed 1523),Dirge on Edward Iv, The
Bowge of Court(1499).
John Lydgate(1370-1451)
‘Iroy Book (1412-1420), The Falls of Princes(1430-1438),
The Temple of Glass; The Story of Thebes(1420), London
Lickpenny.
Thomas Occleve(1368?-1450?)
The Regement of Princes (1411-12), La Male Regle (1406);
The Complaint of Our Lady, Occleve’s Complaint.
Stephen Hawes (?1474-1530)
The Passtyme of Pleasure (1509), The Example of Virtue
(1512), The Conversion of Swerers; A Joyfull Medytacyon.
Alexander Barclay (?1475-1552)
Ship of Fools (1509), Certayne Ecloges (1515).
PROSE
Reginald Pecock (?1390-?1461)
The Repressor of over-much Blaming of the Clergy (1455),
The Book of Faith (1456).
Willism Caxton (?1422-91)

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 9
Recuyell of the Historie of Troye(1471), (?1422-91) Game . Nymphida (1627).
and Playe of the the chesse (1475), The Dictes and Thomas Campion (1567-1620)
Sayengis of the Philosphers (1477). A Book of Ayreas (1601), Songs of Mourning (1613), Two
John Fisher (1459-1535) Books of Ayres (1612).
Tracts and sermons; The Ways to Perfect Religion. Phineas Fletcher (11582-1650)
Hugh Latimer (?1485-1555) The Purple Island, of The Isle of Man (1633).
Sermons (1562). Giles Fletcher (11588-1623)
Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) Chirst’s Victorie and Triumph (1610).
Utopia (1516); The Lyfe of John Picus (1510), The Historie Samuel Daniel (1562-1619)
of Richard III (1543). Delia (1592), The Complaynt of Rosamond (1592), The Civil
Sir Thomas Elyot (?1478-1535) Wars (1595).
The Boke named the Governour (1531), The Doctrine of William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Princes (1534) The Rape of Lucrece (1594), Venus and Adonis (1593). A
John Capgrave (1393-1464) Collection of Sonnets, (1609), The Passionate Pilgrim
The Chronicle of English History extending to A. D. 1417. (1599).
Sir John Fortescue (?1394-?1476) DRAMA
On the Govenance of England, A Delcaration upon Certain George Peele (1558-98)
Wrytinges (1471-73). The Araygnement of Paris (1584), The Famous Chronicle
DRAMA of King Edward the first (1593), The Old Wives’ Tale
John Heywood (?1494-?1580) (159194). The Love of King David and Fair Bathsabe (1599).
The Four p’s (?1545), Play of the Wether (1533), A Play of Robert Greene (1558-92)
Love (1433). Alphonsus, King of Aragon (1587), Friar Bacon and Friar
Thomas Norton (1532-84) and T. Sackville (1536-1608) Bungay (1589), Orlando Furioso (1591), The Scottish
Gorboduc (1561). Historie of James of Fourth (1592).
Thomas Preston (1536-1608) Thomas Nashe (1567-1611)
A Lamentable Tragedy mixed full of Mirth Containing the Summer’s Last Will and Testament (1592).
life of Cambyses, King of Percia (1569). John Lyly (11554-1606)
WIlliam Stevenson Alexander and Campasye (1584); Endymission (1591),
Gammer Gurton’s Needle (1562). Midas (1592), The Woman in the Moon (1597)
Nicholas Udall (1505-56) Thomas Lodge (1558-1625)
Ralph Roister Doister (written 1553, published 1567) Henry VI (1591-92), The Woundes of Cicil War, Rosalynde,
THE ELIZABETHAN AGE (1558-1603) THE JACOBEAN Euphues Golden Legcie (A Romance) (1590), Scillaes
AGE (1603-1625) THE AGE OF SHAKESPEARE (1558- Metamorphosis (1589).
1625) Thomas Kyd (1558-94)
POETRY The Spanish Tragedy (1585), Cornelia (1593), Soliman and
George Gascoigne (?1525-77) Perseda (1588), First Part of Jernimo (1592).
Jocasta Jocasta (1566), Supposes (1566). Christopher Marlowe (1564-93)
Edmund Spenser (1552-99) Tamberlaine the Great (1587), The Second Part of
The Shepherds Calendar (1579), Mother Hubberd’s Tale Tamberlaine the Great (1588), Edward II (1591), The Jew of
(1591), The Ruins of Rome (1591), Amoretti (1595); Malta (1589, Docator Faustus (1592), The Tragedy of Dido,
Epithalamion; Colin Clout Comes Home Again (1595), Four Qween of Carthage (1593). The Massacre of Paris (1593).
Hymns (1596), Prothalamion (1596), The Faerie Queene William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
(Book I-III, 1589, IV, 1596). 1. Henry VI (1591-92) 2. Henry VI (1591-92), 3. Henry VI
John Donne (1573-1631) (1591-92), Richard III (1593), The Comedy of Errors (1593),
Satires (1590-1601), The Songs and Sonnets (1590-1601), Titus Andronicus (1594), The Taming of The Shrew (1594),
The Elegies (1590-1601), Of the Progress of the Soule (1601) Love’s Labour’s Lost (1594), Romeo and Juliet (1594), A
Holy Sonnets (1617). Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595), The Two Gentlemen of
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42) Verona (1595), King John (1595), Richard II (1596) The
In Tottel’s Miscellany (1557), Included in Songs and Merchant of Venice (1596), Henry IV (1598),Much Ado About
Sonnetts (1557) ed.Tottel. Nothing(1598), Henry V (1599), Julius Caesar (1599),The
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-47) Merry Wives of Winsor (1600), As you Like It (1600), Hamlet
Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aeneis turned into English Meter (1601), Twelfth Night (1601), Troilus and Cressida (1602),
(1557)his poems; in Tottle’s Miscellany (1557). All’s Well that Ends well (1602), Measure for Measure (1604),
Thomas Sackville (1536-1608) Othello (1604), Macbeth (1605), King Lear (1605), Antony
The Induction (1563), The Complayment of Henry, Duke and Cleopatra (1606), Coriolanus Timon of Athens (1607),
of Buckingham, (1563). Pericles (1608), Cymbeline (1609), The Winter’s Tale (1610),
George Gascoigne (1534-77) The Tempest (1611), Henry VIII (in part) (1613)...........
The Steele Glas, A Satyre (1576)
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86)
Astrophel and Stella (1591).
Michael Drayton (1563-1631)
The Harmonie of the Church (1591), Englnad’s Heroicall
Epistles (1597), The Baron’s Wars (1603), Polyolbion (1622),

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ELECTIVE-III
INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH AND
INDIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH FICTION
1. INTRODUCTION
Who was the first story teller ? A lonely hunter consoling
his fellows on a cold northern evening far from home ? A
mother calming a frightened child with takes of god and
demigods ? A lover telling his intended of fantastic exploits,
designed to foster his courtship ? The reader can multiply
the number of possibilities, but we shall never know the
answer, for the impulse to tell stories is as old as the devel-
opment of speech, older than the invention of writing. It has
deep psychological springs we do not fully comprehend,
but the need to make up characters, and to place them in
worlds that are parallel to our own or are perhaps wildly at
variance with it, is part of the history of all peoples, cul-
tures, and countries; there is no-known human group that
has not told tales.
Oral cultures are great sources for students of the theory of
fiction. Researchers have established that in those that still
exist, the storyteller (or bard) is highly revered for the abil-
ity to relate from a memory a number of verse narratives of
enormous length, told within the regularities of meter and
conventional figures of language that aid the memory, con-
taining the stories of characters known to listeners who
share in a common folklore and myth. These stories, about,
familiar characters in recognizable situations, do not en-
gage their audience in the mysteries of an unresolved plot,
for the listeners know that story already, have heard it told
before, and are often as familiar with its events as they are
with events in their own lives. Then why do they listen ?
Beyond the story itself, the audience concerns itself with
the voice and manner of the taller of the tale; the texture
and density of the story's material; the fit of the characters
with the audience's expectations about how human beings,
gods, demigods, and mythic heroes behave in a world some-
thing like their own. For such people- just as for ourselves-
fictions have an extraordinary explanatory power, they make
clear why, for instance, there are seasons, why there is an
underworld for the spirits of dead ancestors, why there is
one royal line of descent and not another.
We begin this collection of essays on the theory of fiction
with a discussion of so-called primitive origins because we
believe that the impulse to tell takes and listen to them is
akin to the impulse in " literature" cultures to writes stories
and read them, and as Claude Levi- Strauses has shown
us in the Savage Mind (Lapensee sauvage) the science of
primitive peoples is as sophisticated in its own purposes
as the science in literate cultures; so too are the fictions.
Tribal members in oral cultures may or may not have de-
tailed discussions of the nature and forms of their func-
tions, but clearly they do make judgements as to the ad-
equacy of the telling of stories, and the act of judgement is,
after all, an act of criticism. Questions of judgement and
interpretation, in fact, inform human discourse everywhere.
While we do not claim that the theory of fiction occupies
much of the attention of tribal scholars, we do claim that
the interpretation of works of literature, and in particulars of
fictional creation, is part of the written record of all literate
cultures. It has constituted an extremely large and impor-
tant part of literature since the times of the ancient He-
brews and Greeks, with its beginnings in Midrashic texts
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10
and in the writings of Plato and the sophists and, ultimately,
in the most important literary critical text of Western antiq-
uity, the Poetics of Aristotle.
The study of literature and literary theory-by which we mean
the use of rhetorical, linguistic, and structural analysis as a
means of interpreting texts-has, therefore, a long tradition
in Western intellectual history, one employed quite heavily
during certain periods and certainly appearing during the
current century as a principal form of literate intellectual ac-
tivity.
In its forms of analysis, literary theory has been defined to
a great extent by the kinds of texts to which it has been
applied. In the Poetics Aristotle was concerned primarily
with discussing the epic poem and the two dominant forms of
drama, comedy and tragedy. For the most part, these were
the most important forms, along with lyric poetry, written
by the ancient Greek authors that Aristotle studied. The
fictions about which Aristotle could have written were, there-
fore, composed in verse dialogue, not in prose, and the
forms were not the prose fictional forms that dominate our
time: the novel, the novella, and short story.
Historinas of literature have argued at length about which
prose fictions might qualify as the first novels. There were
certainly prominent examples of lengthy prose fictions in
the ancient world with The Golden Ass of Apuleius and
Petronius's Satyricon coming conspicuously to mind. But
while these are extended narratives in prose, they do not;
for most critics, fulfill the criteria for defining a novel for-
mally in terms of the development of plot and character.
Both tales are products of the early Christian centuries and
were followed by more than a millennium in which the long
fictional forms consisted mainly of verse epics and ro-
mances whose subject matter was the relatively conven-
tional material of shared folklore and myth. Indeed, with
some exceptions such as the Icelandic sagas and
Boccaccio's Decameron, extended prose fictions did not
begin to flourish in England and on the European continent
until the sixteenth century, in the writings of Nashe and
Lyly in England, Rabelais in France, and Cervantes in Spain.
Some critics have called Cervantes' Don Quixote, published
during the early years of the seventeenth century, the first
European novel, and while the adventures of the man of La
Mancha have been extraordinarily influential on later forms
of prose fiction - Lionel Trilling finds its theme of illusion and
reality to be the essence of the novel - Don Quixote did not
found a tradition in which those writers who came after him
self-consciously thought of themselves as writing "novels."
Rather, Cervantes's book summed up and parodied the tra-
dition of medieval and Renaissance romance, with all its
chivalric and courtly conventions. The self-conscious es-
tablishment of a tradition of novel writing did not come about
with any lasting force until more than a century later, in an
increasingly mercantile and industrial Europe where the
middle classes were rapidly rising. The rising literacy that
always accompanies trade and technology created an ex-
panded reading public hungry for stories of people like them-
selves, in prose like that of the newspapers, journals, and
scientific treatises that had come to dominate the new tech-
nology of print For the middle classes poetry was identified
with the aristocracy, except for such didactic verse as they
sang in church...........
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