Literary Criticism and Theory Part - I (Upto New Criticism) (Eng2c06)

School of Distance Education LITERARY CRITICISM AND THEORY PART - I (UPTO NEW CRITICISM) (ENG2C06) STUDY MATERIAL SECOND SEMESTER CORE COURSE MA ENGLISH CBCSS (2019 ADMISSION) UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION Calicut University P.O, Malappuram, Kerala, India 673 635. 190006 Literary Criticism and Theory – Part I (Upto New Criticism) Page 1 School of Distance Education UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION STUDY MATERIAL SECOND SEMESTER MA ENGLISH (2019 ADMISSION) CORE COURSE : ENG2C06 : LITERARY CRITICISM PART I (UPTO NEW CRITICISM) Prepared by : Dr.C.G.Shyamala, Assistant Professor, PG Dept. of English and Research- Centre for Comparative Studies, Mercy College, Palakkad. Scrutinized by : Dr.Umer Thasneem, Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, University of Calicut. Literary Criticism and Theory – Part I (Upto New Criticism) Page 2 School of Distance Education CONTENTS 1 Section A : The Classicists 5 2 Section B : An Apology for Poetry 34 3 Section C : Indian Aesthetics 78 Literary Criticism and Theory – Part I (Upto New Criticism) Page 3 School of Distance Education Literary Criticism and Theory – Part I (Upto New Criticism) Page 4 School of Distance Education Section A The Classicists The systematic study of literature, its interpretation, and appreciation are indispensable to literary criticism. The word criticism originates from the Greek word krisis, which includes several connotations such as ‘separation’, ‘selection’ and ‘judgement’. “All these meanings are pivotal to the decisions taken in courts and poetic contests, which are popular forms of literary practices prevalent across various city states of Greece,” points out Gary Day. Though an appropriate terminology for literature was not prevalent during those times, Plato’s argument to separate good poetry from the bad for the ideal state could probably be considered the start- point of criticism of literature. His critique of the anthropomorphic tendencies in the works of Homer and Hesiod is crucial for the framing of a branch of study for comments on works of art. Day refers to the Great Dionysia, a state festival held every year in honour of the God Dionysus in Greece as “the public face of criticism” because the comedies and tragedies written by Aeschylus, Aristophanes and others are performed on this day to provide amusement and instil patriotism and other virtues in the audience that comprised of people from all walks of life. Tragic and comic plays are staged in this state sponsored festival in Athens and the playwright who wins the contest is acknowledged and rewarded by the state. The fact that creativity and criticism are interweaved in the social and cultural matrix of very society is evident not only in the poetic contests of the fifth century BC Greece, but also the initial texts of classical literature. The contribution of the Greek, Roman and Italian scholars, philosophers, and critics is considered the initial landmark of serious critical activity grounded on philosophical precepts and theoretical formulations. European Classical literature or Greco-Roman literature (8 BC to 6 AD) encompasses a time span of more than 1200 years. It includes Archaic Age (776 BC to 479 BC), Classical Age (479 BC to 323 BC), Hellenistic Period (323- 31 BC) and Roman or Latin Literature (31 BC to fourth century AD). This conventional classification is an arbitrary divide because several overlaps are evident. However, this categorisation has to be seen as the start point for a better understanding of literary history and the history of criticism. Plato (427B.C.-348 B.C.), though not primarily a critic is an acknowledged idealistic philosopher who is interested in philosophical enquiry, which forms the basis of his celebrated Dialogues. This work, written in the form of scholarly exchanges between himself and his teacher Socrates, propounds Plato’s ideas on philosophy. Plato, an idealist presents his theories in the form of dialogues with an eye on the social needs of the state. He carries several of his philosophical discussions by the way of conversations from the Republic down to Ion, Cratylus, Protogoras, Gorgias, Symposium, Phaedrus, Philebus and Laws. Plato’s theories of literature, which rely on ethics argue that poetry is an imitation of life that appeals to the emotions of man rather than reason, therefore it is insignificant. He asserts that poets should be expelled from the state as their influence could be harmful. His pronouncements deriding art, artists and poetry are firmly refuted by his pupil Aristotle in Poetics. The major contribution of Aristotle (384 B.C- 322 B.C) (the name means ‘the best purpose’) to criticism is Poetics (circa 335 B.C.), probably the response to Plato’s charges against poets, artists and art. Aristotle considers poetry the representation of the universal truth of life that gives a particular type of pleasure that purges the spectators of the emotions such as pity and fear. Apart from the discussions related to poetic art, and his disagreement with Plato on art as imitation, Poetics contains an elaborate discussion on the other genres such as tragedy, comedy, tragi-comedy and epic that have greatly influenced critics and artists down the ages. Aristotle’s Rhetoric is concerned with the art of speaking. Taking a scientific and objective stance, and relying on observation and analysis, Aristotle lays down the qualities of Literary Criticism and Theory – Part I (Upto New Criticism) Page 5 School of Distance Education a good poet and a skilled orator. The significant treatises include Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, and De Anima (On the Soul). He was adept at anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geography, geology, meteorology, physics, zoology, education, foreign customs, literature and poetry, and philosophy. He also expressed his opinions on aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics, economics, psychology, rhetoric and theology in his works. Among the Roman critics, Horace (65 B.C.-8 B.C.) and some of the great Roman writers like Virgil, Tibullus, Propertius, Ovid and Livy contributed immensely to literature and philosophy during the reign of Octavian Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome. Horace’s two books of Satires, four books of Odes, and three books of Epistles, the last of which, the Epistle to the Pisos, is generally called the Ars Poetica (Art of Poetry), the title given to it by Quintilian in his Institutio Orataria (The Education of an Orator) are discussions on poetry, poetic style and drama. He revived the ancient Greek tradition instead of the prevalent Alexandrin and the burgeoning old Latin. Since Horace is both critic and orator, there is affinity between what he practices and what he preaches. Longinus (213 A.D.-273 A.D.), known by the names Dionysius Longinus or Pseudo- Longinus rose to prominence during the1st century AD with one of the great seminal works of literary criticism On the Sublime (Greek Peri Hypsous). This treatise is commonly called Longinus on the Sublime. Written in Greek, it is addressed to one Postumius Terentianus, a Roman whose identity remains unknown. The work elaborates the value of literature that lies in its ability to transport the reader and lift him out of himself. Longinus emphasises the importance of emotions in literature and advocates delighted ecstasy rather than persuasiveness to be the aim of great writing. While the subject of the book is rhetoric, its pivotal argument is centred on the notion of sublimity. Quintilian (35 A.D.-100 A.D.) is a Latin teacher and writer whose work on rhetoric, Institutio Oratoria (The Education of an Orator), written in twelve books discusses the education process from infancy onward until the development to an orator. He assets that his work does not propose any new theories on rhetoric, but makes judgement between the prevalent ones. He rejects anything considered absurd and asserts that theoretical knowledge without experience and good judgement would not benefit mankind. He admired Homer, Pindar, Aristophanes, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato and Aristotle among the Greeks, and Virgil and Horace among the Romans. Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was born in the middle of the thirteenth century in the City of Florence, Italy into a noble family of ancient lineage. Deducing from autobiographical sketches and clues he had provided in Divine Comedy, historians believe his year of birth to be 1265. Dante’s contribution to criticism is related to language and its relation to literature. He is principally recognised for De Vulgari Eloquio, an unfinished critical treatise in two books written in Latin. Also known as De Eloquentia Vulgari (Of the Vulgar Tongue) or De Vulgari Eloquentia (Of Writing in the Vernacular) the work is a plea for writing in the vernacular or native tongue, for classical Latin wan not only difficult for the writer to learn but also cumbersome for the common reader to understand. Since Latin was the language of the learned scholars rather than the masses, he argues for the adoption of Italian as the language of Italian literature. ---------------------------------- References Allan, William. Classical Literature: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UP, 2014. Day, Gary. Literary Criticism: A New History. Edinburgh UP, 2008. Literary Criticism and Theory – Part I (Upto New Criticism) Page 6 School of Distance Education Habib, M. A. R. A History of Literary Criticism. Blackwell Press, 2005. Kennedy, George, editor. The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism Volume 1: Classical

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