Thinking Activity

Bridge Course: Dryden's Essay on Dramatic Poecy

Introduction:

Though he died in 1700, John Dryden is usually considered a writer of the 18th rather than the 17th century. Incredibly prolific, Dryden made innovative advances in translation and aesthetic philosophy, and was the first poet to employ the neo-classical heroic couplet and quatrain in his own work. Dryden’s influence on later writers was immense; Alexander Pope greatly admired and often imitated him, and Samuel Johnson considered him to have “refined the language, improved the sentiments, and tuned the numbers of English poetry.” In addition to poetry, Dryden wrote many essays, prefaces, satires, translations, biographies (introducing the word to the English language), and plays.

John Dryden:

John Dryden (1631- 1700), is regarded by many scholars as the father of modern English poetry and criticism. Dryden dominated literary life in England during the last four decades of the seventeenth century. He was a great poet, critic, dramatist, satirist and translator. Samuel Johnson in “the Lives of English Poets” calls him the father of English Criticism. He is also regarded as one of the chief founders of modern prose style- logical, exact, based on the exercise of reason rather than on the excitement of emotion. “An Essay on Dramatic Poesy” by Dryden marks the beginning of a new era in English literary criticism. In his estimate of Elizabethan dramas, he attains to the highest level of pure criticism. He judged the Elizabethans not by literary standard of a school but by the higher standards of literary judgement i.e. the appreciation of positive literary excellences.

An Essay on Dramatic Poecy:

An Essay of Dramatic Poesy” was probably written in 1666 during the closure of the London theaters due to plague. It can be read as a general defense of drama as a legitimate art form—taking up where Sir Philip Sidney’s “Defence of Poesie” left off—as well as Dryden’s own defense of his literary practices. The essay is structured as a dialogue among four friends on the river Thames. The group has taken refuge on a barge during a naval battle between the English and the Dutch fleets. The four gentlemen, Eugenius, Crites, Lisideius, and Neander (all aliases for actual Restoration critics and the last for Dryden himself), begin an ironic and witty conversation on the subject of poetry, which soon turns into a debate on the virtues of modern and ancient writers. While imitation of classical writers was common practice in Dryden’s time, he steers the group’s conversation towards dramatic poetry, a relatively new genre which had in some ways broken with classical traditions and was thus in need of its own apologia. The group arrives at a definition of drama: Lisideius suggests that it is “a just and lively Image of Humane Nature.” Each character then speaks in turn, touching on the merits of French and English drama, continuing the debate over ancient versus modern writers, and discussing the value of the “Unities” or rules of French drama. While French plays hew closer to classical notions of drama (adhering to the unities of time, place and action), Neander steps in to support English drama precisely because of its subplots, mixture of mirth and tragedy (in tragicomedy), and spirited, multiple characters. Drawing on Platonic dialogues for inspiration, Dryden’s characters present their opinions with eloquence and sound reasoning. The group discusses playwrights such as Ben Jonson, Molière, and Shakespeare with great insight, and has a final debate over the suitability of rhyme to drama. Crites objects to the use of rhyme because he believes it detracts from the verisimilitude of the scene, and cites Aristotle; Neander suggests a “natural” rhyme to serve the play’s meaning can add to its artistry. During this final speech, the barge docks at the Somerset-Stairs, and the four friends go their separate ways, content with their evening. 

The narrative of An Essay of Dramatic Poesy has four debaters among whom, Neander is the one who holds the views of Dryden. Unlike other characters, Neander does not diminish the arguments that are on contrary to his views. Though he himself favours modern drama, he does not blame others.

About the Essay on Dramatic Poecy:

The beginning of the narrative An Essay of Dramatic Poesy or Of Dramatic Poesie is as follows. A battle is going on between England and the Netherlands.

Four gentlemen namely Crites, Eugenius, Lisideius and Neander are travelling by boat to see the battle and start a discussion on modern literature. 

Crites opens the discussion by saying that none of his contemporaries (i.e. moderns) can equal the standards and the rules set by ancient Greeks and Romans. Eugenius restrains him from wasting time on finding demerits. He asks him to find relative merit in Greeks and Moderns.

Views of Crites:

Crites favours classical drama i.e. the drama of Aristotle who believed that drama is “imitation of life”. Crites holds that drama of such ancients is successful because it depicts life. He says that both classical and neoclassical favour rules and unities (time, place and action). 

According to Crites, modern dramatists are shadows of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Seneca and Terence. E.g. Elizabethan dramatist Ben Jonson borrowed from Classics and felt proud to call himself modern Horace. The classical is more skilful in language than their successors. At this, he ends up his conversation.

Views of Eugenius:

Eugenius favours modern dramatists. However, instead of telling about the virtues of moderns, he criticises the faults of Classical playwrights. According to him, the Classical drama is not divided into acts and also lacks originality. 

Their tragedies are based on worn-out myths that are already known to the audience and their comedies are based o overused curiosity of stolen heiresses and miraculous restorations.

There disregard poetic justice. Instead of punishing the vice and rewarding the virtue, they have often shown prosperous wickedness and an unhappy devotion. The classical drama also lacks affection.

The Heroes of Homer were lovers of appetite, food etc, while the modern characters of French drama gave up everything (sleep, water and food) for the sake of love.

Views of Lisideius:

Lisideius favours French drama of earlier 17th century. French drama led by Pierre Corneille strictly followed unities of time, pace and action. The French dramatists never mix tragedy and comedy.

They strictly adhere to the poetic justice i.e. reward the virtue and punishment the vice. For this, they even alter the original situation.

The French dramatists interweave truth with fiction to make it interesting bringing elements that lead to fate and borrow from history to reward the virtuous which he was earlier deprived of.  

They prefer emotions over plots. Violent actions take place off stage and are told by messengers rather than showing them in real.

Views of Neander:

Neander contradicts Lisideius’ arguments favouring the superiority of French drama. He talks about the greatness of Elizabethans. For him, Elizabethans fulfil the drama’s requirement i.e. imitation of life.

French drama raises perfection but has no soul or emotions as it primarily focuses on the plot. For Neander, tragicomedy is the best form of drama. Both sadness as well as joy are heightened and are set side by side. Hence it is closest to life.

He believes that subplots enrich the drama. This French drama having a single plot lacks this vividness. Further Samuel Johnson (who defended Shakespeare’s disregard of unities), he believes that adherence to unities prevents depth.

According to him, deviation from set rules and unities gives diverse themes to drama. Neander rejects the argument that change of place and time diminishes dramatic credibility in drama.

For him, human actions will seem more natural if they get enough time to develop. He also argues that Shakespeare is “the man who of all the modern and perhaps ancient poets, and largest and most comprehensive soul”. 

Francis Beaumont and John Fletchers’ dramas are rich in wit and have smoothness and polish in their language.

Neander says, “I am apt to believe the English language in them arrived at its highest perfection”. If Ben Jonson is a genius for correctness, Shakespeare excels him in wit.  

His arguments end with the familiar comparison, “Shakespeare was the Homer, or father of our dramatic poets; Jonson was the Virgil, the pattern of elaborate writing; I admire him, but I love Shakespeare.”  

Thus for him, Elizabethans are superior because they have a variety of themes, emotions, deviations, wit. They do not adhere to rules as well. Thus their drama is really an imitation of life.

Views on Rhyme in Drama:

At the end of the discussion, there is an argument between Crites and Neander over rhyme in plays. Crites believes that Blank Verse as the poetic form nearest to prose is most suitable for drama.  

On the other hand, Neander defends rhyme as it briefly and clearly explains everything. The boat on which they all were riding reaches its destination, the stairs at Somerset House and the discussion ends without any conclusion being made.

Argument between Crites and Neander on rhyme and Blank Verse:

After the discourse of four characters on the ancients, moderns, the French and the English Crites and Neander enter into an argument where rhyme and Blank Verse are discussed. Crites is speaking against rhyme and in favour of blank verse. Neander speaks in favour of rhyme.

👉Do you any difference between Aristotle's definition of Tragedy and Dryden's definition of Play?

Ans, Yes I find wide difference between Aristotle's definition of tragedy and Dryden's definition of play. Here I write both definition :

Dryden defines Drama as: “Just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humours, and the. changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the. delight and instruction of mankind.”

According to the definition, drama is an ‘image’ of ‘human nature’, and the image is ‘just’ and ‘lively’. By using the word ‘just’ Dryden seems to imply that literature imitates (and not merely reproduces) human actions. For Dryden, ‘poetic imitation’ is different from an exact, servile copy of reality, for, the imitation is not only ‘just’, it is also ‘lively’.

Aristotle's Definition of Tragedy is, “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;... in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear,effecting the proper purgation- catharsis of these and similar emotions.”

Aristotle's definition is most of suitable for tragedy play. Aristotle use this word pity and fear in his definition , this word is most of related tragic drama , it is not related with any other type of drama.

Thinking Activity

Thinking Activity:

Here i am writing a blog as a part of Thinking activity. In this blog i   write about Aristotle's Poetics.

Aristotle Poetic 

Aristotle's Poetics begins with the definition of imitation. He thinks that poet is a creator, not a mere recording device (imitator). He/she creates things and teaches us to see something in his creation that we never saw before. For Aristotle, imitation is productive action. Imitation does not mean the sort of mimicry. It is the imitation of action, and action does not mean mere happenings.

Action signifies only to what consciously chosen and capable of finding completion in the achievement of some purpose. Imitation is the reproduction through imagination. It is a powerful human communication and the thing imitated is something that defines human realm. If there is no imitation, life is mere oblivion without traces. Aristotle states, "Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature". Therefore, imitation is not a low kind of business as Plato says. Dramatic poetry is a natural mode of imitation through language, rhythm and music.

Over the years the Poetics has been both praised and disparaged. Some critics object to Aristotle's theory of poetics and regret that the work has held such sway in the history of Western literature. One contemporary critic argues that Aristotle "reduces drama to its language," and the "language itself to its least poetic element, the story, and then encourages insensitive readers...to subject stories to crudely moralistic readings that reduce tragedies to the childish proportions of Aesop-fables" (Sachs 1). Other critics have argued against such views and reclaimed the Poetics for their own times; often these critics emphasize the importance of reading the Poetics in its historical context - it was, after all, written an awfully long time ago - and stress that despite this historical barrier the insights contained in the work still hold true. Whichever side of the debate you end up on, it is important when studying the Poetics to take time to decode its dense text. The Poetics is widely considered one of Aristotle's most demanding but rewarding texts, requiring commitment in its study, but offering profound returns to the diligent reader.

Aristotle's ''Poetics'', differentiates many kinds of poetry. He also explained that the poetry has different structure of a good poem and division of a poem, its component parts. He defines poetry as a 'medium of imitation' that represents non-real life through character, emotion, or action. He illustrates poetry in a very profound ways, including epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry and even some kind of music.Mainly in his book Aristotle wrote about three main forms :

1, Epic

2,Tragedy

3, Comedy

Firstly he wrote about poetry. And qualities and structure of poetry, and also noted that how to divide poetry in various parts. He give one vary famous definition of poetry,

"Poetry is an art of imitation".

 In other words, as per many documents in the history of philosophy and literary theory, Aristotle wrote ''Poetics''. He adopted two major works, they are:

1. Rhetoric

2. Poetics

Aristotle's defense to Plato's theory of 'Mimesis':

   In Plato's theory of 'Mimesis', he says that all art is mimetic by nature. In other words, art is an imitation of life; it is nearer to ultimate reality. Thus, to explain this idea he gives an example of a carpenter and a chair. He believed that art is twice removed from reality. He gives first importance to philosophy, because it deals with the ideas and poetry deals with illusion-all these things which are twice removed from reality. So that he believed that art is twice removed from reality. In short Plato rejected poetry as it is mimetic in nature on the moral and philosophical virtues. Aristotle who believes that poetry as it is mimetic nature. He gives his views that poetry is an imitation of an action, and he neither in favor of philosophical nor moral.

Aristotle gives the definition of tragedy

   '' Tragedy , is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of certain magnitude; in the language embellished each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play ; in the form of an action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgative-catharsis of these and similar emotions''.

Poetry as Imitation

The first scandal in the Poetics is the initial marking out of dramatic poetry as a form of imitation. We call the poet a creator, and are offended at the suggestion that he might be merely some sort of recording device. As the painter’s eye teaches us how to look and shows us what we never saw, the dramatist presents things that never existed until he imagined them, and makes us experience worlds we could never have found the way to on our own. But Aristotle has no intention to diminish the poet, and in fact says the same thing I just said, in making the point that poetry is more philosophic than history. By imitation, Aristotle does not mean the sort of mimicry by which Aristophanes, say, finds syllables that approximate the sound of frogs. He is speaking of the imitation of action, and by action he does not mean mere happenings. Aristotle speaks extensively of praxis in the Nicomachean Ethics. It is not a word he uses loosely, and in fact his use of it in the definition of tragedy recalls the discussion in the Ethics.

Following his definition, Aristotle begins to introduce the six constitutive components of a tragedy. The first in the discussion is spectacle, which includes the costuming of the actors, the scenery, and all other aspects that contribute to the visual experience of the play.

The Elements of Tragedy

Aristotle presents these components in order of importance, expanding a little on the significance of each to the tragedy as a whole.

Plot

Emphasizing that tragedy is first and foremost the representation of actions, and not of characters, Aristotle makes the remark that many contemporary tragedies do not succeed in their characterizations, but are still tragedies. The tragic effect comes from the plot, and especially from the peripeteia–the reversal of the situation in which the characters find themselves– as well as from scenes of recognition.

Character

Character is second in importance after plot; tragedies depict characters as they relate to the action which is the main object of representation. Characters represent their moral qualities throught the speeches assigned to them by the dramatist.

Thought 

 Thought comprises both the rational processes through which characters come to decisions, as represented in the drama, as well as the values put forward in the form of maxims and proverbs.

Diction

Diction has already been defined as the metrical composition of the play, the way language is used to convey the representation.

Song

Music is described as an embellishment of language. The lines assigned to the chorus in a tragedy are usually conveyed in song accompanied by rhythmical movement.

Spectacle

Aristotle lists spectacle last in order of importance, pointing out that the power of tragedy is not fully dependent upon its performance (we can read a tragedy and still appreciate its message), and that the art of the spectacle really belongs to the set designer and not to the poet.

Aristotle Compares epic and Tragedy

Aristotle’s view of Epic

After thoroughly discussing six component parts of tragedy, Aristotle concludes the Poetics by reflecting on the questions:

• "Which is better genre of literature, tragedy or epic?"

• “Which is the higher form of literature, tragedy or epic poetry?”

The argument in favor of epic poetry is based on the principle that the higher art form is less vulgar and addressed toward a refined audience. Tragedy is performed before large audiences, which results in melodramatic performances or overacting to please the crowds. Epic poetry is more cultivated than tragedy because it does not rely on acting/gesture at all to convey its message.

Aristotle's view of Tragedy

All art is representation (imitation) of life, but none can represent life in its totality. Therefore, an artist has to be selective in representation. He must aim at representing or imitating an aspect of life or a fragment of life.

Action comprises of all human activities including deeds, thoughts and feelings. (so, soliloquies, chorus etc is also Action).The writer of ‘tragedy’ seeks to imitate the serious side of life just as a writer of ‘comedy’ seeks to imitate only the shallow and superficial side. The tragic section presented on the stage in a drama should be complete or self contained with a beginning, middle and an end. A beginning is that before which the audience or the reader does not need to be told anything to understand the story.

The language of our daily affairs is not useful here because tragedy has to present a heightened picture of life’s serious side, and that is possible only if elevated language of poetry is used. According to need, the writer makes use of songs, poetry, poetic dialogue, simple conversation etc is various parts of the play.

Aristotle answers this argument by noting that the melodrama and overacting are faults of the performance and not of the tragic poet himself. The recital of epic poetry could similarly be overdone without reflecting poorly on the poet. Further, not all movement is bad—take dance, for instance—but only poorly executed movement. Also, tragedy does not need to be performed; it can be read, just like epic poetry, and all its merits will still be evident.

Further, he advances several reasons for considering tragedy superior. First, it has all the elements of an epic poem and has also music and spectacle, which the epic lacks.

Second, simply reading the play without performing it is already very potent.

Third, tragedy is shorter, suggesting that it is more compact and will have a more concentrated effect.

Fourth, there is more unity in tragedy, as evidenced by the fact that a number of tragedies can be extracted from one epic poem.

Aristotle concludes by suggesting that different genres produce different kinds of pleasure. The pleasure of the epic lies in its episodic, diverting story, while the more intense–and "higher" in terms of social value–pleasure produced by the tragedy is catharsis, the mysterious "purging" of our emotions of pity and fear when we witness the unfolding of a tragedy.

Jude The Obscure

Thinking Activity:

Here i write a blog, as a part of thinking activity. The blog is about characters of Jude the Obscure.

Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy

Jude the Obscure is a novel by Thomas Hardy, which began as a magazine serial in December 1894 and was first published in book form in 1895 (though the title page says 1896). It is Hardy's last completed novel. The protagonist, Jude Fawley, is a working-class young man; he is a stonemason who dreams of becoming a scholar. The other main character is his cousin, Sue Bridehead, who is also his central love interest. The novel is concerned in particular with issues of class, education, religion, morality and marriage.

Hardy's strongest point in Jude the Obscure is his character development. Jude, Sue and Phillotson are completely rounded individuals. It is this that gives the novel its realistic feel as well as a certain depth.

👉What is your reading of prominent female characters in Jude the Obscure?

🔅Sue Bridehead:

Sue is one of Hardy's triumphs. What strikes the reader about Sue is her intellectual capacity. Both Jude and Phillotson are impressed by how well read she is: J.S. Mill and Gibbon are her heroes, she is familiar with Latin and Greek writers in translation, as well as Boccaccio, Sterne, Defoe, Smollett, Fielding, Shakespeare and the Bible. She belongs to the eighteenth century tradition of critical intelligence and rational skepticism. Jude himself calls her "quite Voltairean." Towards the end of the novel, Jude, when talking to Mrs. Edlin, describes Sue as: "a woman whose intellect was to mine like a star to a benzoline lamp". Phillotson too talks of her intellect which "sparkles like diamonds while mine smoulders like brown papers". She is quick-witted and observant and a good teacher. She is able to draw accurately from memory the model of Jerusalem she saw at an exhibition. She is also able to quote accurately when she wants to win an argument.

But though the reader can admire her daring and unconventional approach, one gets the impression that many of her opinions are borrowed from her undergraduate friend. She lacks the tolerance of the true, liberal intellectual. This is evident in her attempt to undermine Jude's beliefs with her sarcastic comments about his faith and ideals. In this sense she is very prejudiced: she cannot bear Jude to hold opinions opposed to her own. When her own opinions are attacked, she conveniently takes refuge in tears, displaying her emotional side.

At the same time one cannot resist Sue's charm. She is vivacious, friendly and yet refined. Hardy contrasts Sue with Arabella to represent the difference between the spirit and the flesh. Sue is often spoken of as "ethereal" and "aerial." Jude himself calls her, "you spirit, you disembodied creature, you dear, sweet, tantalizing phantom, hardly flesh at all..." . Even Phillotson remarks on the rather spiritual affinity between Sue and Jude as something "Shelleyan." Though in some ways Sue represents a free spirit struggling against an oppressive, conventional social order, in other ways Sue can be very conventionally Victorian, for instance, in her shrinking from the physical and in her aversion to sex. She refuses to live with Jude as his lover even after leaving Phillotson. She regards physical relations as repugnant. Furthermore, she sees marriage as a "sordid contract" and a "hopelessly vulgar" institution. It often seems that she is merely seeking excuses to postpone marriage. Her dislike of Arabella is revealed in her comment to Jude about her being a "fleshy and coarse" and a "low-passioned woman."

Yet with all her sensitivity and apparent fragility, there is in Sue a selfishness and a corresponding insensitivity to the feelings of others. There is the Christminster undergraduate whose heart she broke, kind and decent Phillotson whose career she wrecks, and Jude, to whom she does great injury by undermining the beliefs which are essential to his well being. She utterly fails to realize the pain she inflicts on Jude with her wavering attitude. Jude is provoked to remark, "Sue, sometimes when I am vexed with you, I think you incapable of real love". Despite all the sacrifices Jude has made for her, despite being free to marry him after her divorce, she will not make a commitment.

Hardy captures Sue's quality of unpredictability and elusiveness. She buys nude statues of Greek divinities, then repents and conceals them from her landlady. She snaps irritably at Phillotson, then regrets it later. Sue is sometimes reckless and then diffident, stern and then kind, warm and then standoffish, candid and then evasive. In portraying these glimpses of Sue--her unceasing reversals, her changes of heart and mind, her conflicting behavior-- Hardy creates a complex, fascinating character. The reader sees her telling Jude, "You mustn't love me"and then writing to him, "you may." After her marriage she forbids Jude to come to see her, and then she revokes the ban and invites him the next week. Later, she cancels the invitation. Hardy indicates that along with her changing moods, she has a tendency to shift ground under pressure.

Finally, when tragedy strikes in the violent deaths of the three children, Sue is seen breaking down under the strain and becoming a sick woman. She plunges into a state of tormenting guilt and remorse. The reader sees a personality distorted by the effort to bear terrible burdens and now blindly seeking a self-inflicted punishment.

🔅Arabella Donn:

 

Arabella seems to be almost the antithesis of Sue and this is how she appears to Jude, especially after he has met Sue. While Sue is delicate and refined, Arabella is well built and coarse; while Sue distrusts the physical, Arabella is a flirt. She is uneducated and common in her tastes and interests, but at the same time, she is shrewd enough to advance her own interests. Her motives are uncomplicated: what she wants is to escape from her unsatisfactory life as a pig breeder's daughter and to find a husband who will give her security and the comforts of life. Jude, she feels, will fit the bill, and in her pursuit of him she shows considerable determination and unscrupulousness. That she is a ruthless schemer is obvious from the way she traps him into marriage. However, when the marriage proves disappointing, she has no qualms about deserting Jude and leaving for Australia. Her total lack of feeling and selfishness are displayed when she sells the photograph Jude gave her as a wedding gift. In Australia she enters into a second marriage without even a flicker of anxiety about its validity. Her child by Jude, Little Father Time, is regarded as a nuisance, who must be conveniently transferred to Jude and Sue. She displays no maternal tenderness or affection towards the child.

When she becomes a widow, her second pursuit of Jude and entrapment of him is as calculating and relentless as the first. She has not changed at all, and her temporary religious conversion is entirely unconvincing. As the book ends, the reader perceives her insensitivity when she leaves her deceased husband alone to go out and enjoy herself in the festivities at Christminster. Unlike Sue, who is broken by life, Arabella is resilient.

👉What is your reading of prominent male characters in Jude the Obscure?

🔅Jude Fawley:

Jude is the hero and the central character of the book, and his life is interconnected with that of all the other major and minor characters in the story. Hardy presents the protagonist as an ordinary, working-class man of humble origins struggling hard to realize his dreams but thwarted by a cruel fate and a pitiless, snobbish social system. Despite the resemblance to the hero of Greek tragedy (in his nobility of character), Jude, of all Hardy's characters can be said to come closest to a kind of Marxist literary hero. He is the outsider who is denied access to improvement and social advancement by a rigid, conservative class-system.

The reader first sees Jude as a child of eleven, hardworking, persevering, affectionate, gentle and extremely sensitive. Hardy develops certain traits in Jude's personality as he grows older: he displays a lifelong inability to hurt any living creature or to see it suffer, whether it be an earthworm, a pig, a horse, a rabbit or even his wife, Arabella. His vulnerability and essential gentleness lead him to be careless regarding his own survival.

Part of Jude's tragedy arises from his incurable idealism. As a child he is fascinated with Christminster. It is the focus of all his dreams, a shining ideal of intellectual life. But even though he realizes his ambitions may be futile, the university remains an obsession with him. Similarly, he idealizes Sue as the perfect intellectual woman, but here too he is disillusioned and frustrated. His obsession with Sue continues nevertheless. Both Christminster, the intellectual ideal, and Sue, the ideal of womanhood, promise fulfillment, and both frustrate him. All his hard work and earnest effort at mastering Greek and Latin come to nothing, and despite his great patience with Sue and devotion to her, he loses his job, his children and finally even his title as husband. His utter loneliness and desolation create a strong emotional impact on the reader. It is here that Jude, despite his humble working-class origins, rises to heroic stature. Very often in the book he is compared to heroic figures such as Job; he has, like Job, the ability to bear great suffering. He reconciles himself to the endless tragedies and disappointments of life.At the end of the novel, he matures as a man. With all the setbacks life deals him, he never loses his dignity. 

Jude's death at the young age of thirty (the approximate age of Jesus Christ at his death) indicates that he has been "crucified" by society. But even the flaws that contributed to his downfall are not really faults. If his sensitivity, kindness, sense of honor, naïveté and idealism are considered weaknesses, they are also his strengths. His only real weakness is a tendency to drink when in despair, although he is not a drunkard.His death in Christminster on Remembrance Day and his loneliness and desolation has a strange poignancy.

🔅Richard Phillotson:

   

Phillotson is the ordinary, unassuming schoolmaster of Marygreen, but it is he who inspires Jude with the desire to go on to the university. He tells the young Jude to be kind to animals and birds, and kindness then becomes one of Jude's strongest qualities. He is like Jude in many ways; he is honest, decent, good-hearted and loyal. Though Sue treats him rather unfairly, she herself admits he is a kind, considerate and tolerant husband: "he's as good to me as a man can be and gives me perfect liberty . . . which elderly husbands don't do in general...". When Sue's marriage to him fails, he is pained and bewildered to find that she does not love him, yet so deeply does he love her, that he is willing to set her free. He cannot bear to keep her against her will. His friend, Gillingham, describes him as a "sedate plodding fellow" and is amazed that such a respectable, conservative man could take such an unconventional step. He is generous to the extent that he is willing to blame himself for the tragedy of his marriage. He laments, "She was a pupil-teacher under me. I took advantage of her inexperience and took her out for walks and got her to agree to a long engagement before she well knew her own mind."

His protectiveness and unselfishness are remarkable. Even after Sue leaves him, he sends Jude a note, telling him to be good to Sue and to take care of her: "I make only one condition, that you are tender and kind to her. . . . You are made for each other--it is obvious, palpable to any unbiased older person. You were all along the shadowy third in my short life with her."

However, his kindness and generosity to Sue lead to his financial and social ruin. His career is shattered, and he becomes a pathetic figure. Years later, beaten and impoverished, he cannot really be blamed for seeking to regain some social standing by remarrying Sue. Even then, he treats her with great sensitivity and consideration, agreeing to a marriage in name only until Sue insists on sharing his bed.

Jude the Obscure is a poignant novel with disquieting moral and social concerns. Its message aims to put into question the very foundations of traditional marriage and class-based elitist education. In his narrative strategy, Hardy makes use of the form of a realistic Bildungsroman and introduces a New Woman character, but he goes far beyond this framework presenting psychological portraits of a modern man and a modern woman in a futile search for their selfhood. As in his previous major fiction, Hardy shows in a series of symbolic images the tragic clash between tradition and modernity in late Victorian society. He also denies the relevance of Christianity to a dehumanised society.

Words Count: 2,180

Thinking Activity

Thinking Activity: This Activity given by Yesha Ma'am

⭐Crossing The Bar by Alfred Lord Tennyson

   

Crossing the Bar, an elegy written by the British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, is a poem focusing on the transience of life and the finality of death. Lord Tennyson was a poet of the Victorian period and remained the poet laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during his lifetime. He is well celebrated to this day for his short lyrics.

⭐Alfred Lord Tennyson:

⭐About Poet:

Born on August 6, 1809, in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England, Alfred Lord Tennyson is one of the most well-loved Victorian poets. Tennyson, the fourth of twelve children, showed an early talent for writing. At the age of twelve he wrote a 6,000-line epic poem. His father, the Reverend George Tennyson, tutored his sons in classical and modern languages. In the 1820s, however, Tennyson's father began to suffer frequent mental breakdowns that were exacerbated by alcoholism. One of Tennyson's brothers had violent quarrels with his father, a second was later confined to an insane asylum, and another became an opium addict.

Tennyson escaped home in 1827 to attend Trinity College, Cambridge. In that same year, he and his brother Charles published Poems by Two Brothers. Although the poems in the book were mostly juvenilia, they attracted the attention of the "Apostles," an undergraduate literary club led by Arthur Hallam. The "Apostles" provided Tennyson, who was tremendously shy, with much needed friendship and confidence as a poet. Hallam and Tennyson became the best of friends; they toured Europe together in 1830 and again in 1832. Hallam's sudden death in 1833 greatly affected the young poet. The long elegy In Memoriam and many of Tennyson's other poems are tributes to Hallam.

In 1830, Tennyson published Poems, Chiefly Lyrical and in 1832 he published a second volume entitled simply Poems. Some reviewers condemned these books as "affected" and "obscure." Tennyson, stung by the reviews, would not publish another book for nine years. In 1836, he became engaged to Emily Sellwood. When he lost his inheritance on a bad investment in 1840, Sellwood's family called off the engagement. In 1842, however, Tennyson's Poems in two volumes was a tremendous critical and popular success. In 1850, with the publication of In Memoriam, Tennyson became one of Britain's most popular poets. He was selected Poet Laureate in succession to Wordsworth. In that same year, he married Emily Sellwood. They had two sons, Hallam and Lionel.

At the age of 41, Tennyson had established himself as the most popular poet of the Victorian era. The money from his poetry (at times exceeding 10,000 pounds per year) allowed him to purchase a house in the country and to write in relative seclusion. His appearance—a large and bearded man, he regularly wore a cloak and a broad brimmed hat—enhanced his notoriety. He read his poetry with a booming voice, often compared to that of Dylan Thomas. In 1859, Tennyson published the first poems of Idylls of the Kings, which sold more than 10,000 copies in one month. In 1884, he accepted a peerage, becoming Alfred Lord Tennyson. Tennyson died on October 6, 1892, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. 

⭐Crossing The Bar Poem:

 Tennyson wrote “Crossing the Bar” in 1889, three years before he died. The poem describes his placid and accepting attitude toward death. Although he followed this work with subsequent poems, he requested that “Crossing the Bar” appear as the final poem in all collections of his work.

Tennyson uses the metaphor of a sand bar to describe the barrier between life and death. A sandbar is a ridge of sand built up by currents along a shore. In order to reach the shore, the waves must crash against the sandbar, creating a sound that Tennyson describes as the “moaning of the bar.” The bar is one of several images of liminality in Tennyson’s poetry: in “Ulysses,” the hero desires “to sail beyond the sunset”; in “Tithonus”, the main character finds himself at the “quiet limit of the world,” and regrets that he has asked to “pass beyond the goal of ordinance.”

The other important image in the poem is one of “crossing,” suggesting Christian connotations: “crossing” refers both to “crossing over” into the next world, and to the act of “crossing” oneself in the classic Catholic gesture of religious faith and devotion. The religious significance of crossing was clearly familiar to Tennyson, for in an earlier poem of his, the knights and lords of Camelot “crossed themselves for fear” when they saw the Lady of Shalott lying dead in her boat. The cross was also where Jesus died; now as Tennyson himself dies, he evokes the image again. So, too, does he hope to complement this metaphorical link with a spiritual one: he hopes that he will “see [his] Pilot face to face.”

⭐About the poem:

Crossing the bar’ was written in 1889 when the poet was visiting the Isle of Wight and published in a volume Demeter and Other Poems (1889). He was eighty years old at the time and was down with a severe illness, from which he eventually recovered. The illness, however, made the poet ponder on Death as he himself was very old and nearing his time. He uses the metaphor of crossing a sand bar to represent death in this poem. He died three years later, and although he wrote a few more poems, he requested that all of his poetry volumes be ended with this poem. Thus, the poem is an important one and can be seen as Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s choice of his final words.

👉Crossing the Bar: Line by Line Explanation:

First stanza:

“Sunset and evening star,

And one clear call for me!

The poem begins with the speaker describing the atmosphere. He says it is sunset and the evening star can be seen in the sky. Someone is calling the speaker. It is a clear, unmistakable call. It is the call of death. The speaker believes that his death is close. It is interesting to note here the imagery the poet presents before us at the start of the poem. ‘Sunset’ and ‘Evening star’ represent the end of the day. Just as the day is about to end, the speaker says that his life is drawing to an end as well.

And may there be no moaning of the bar,

When I put out to sea,

Here the poet uses his famous metaphor of ‘Crossing the bar’, describing death as an act of passing beyond life. The word ‘bar’ here means a sandbar. A sandbar is a geographical structure which forms around the mouth of a river, or extends from a ‘Spit’ by slow deposition of sediments carried by the current over millions of years. The structure forms a kind of barrier between the water inside (the river water) and outside it (the open sea). The poet uses this sandbar as a symbol of death, with the water inside representing his life, and the water beyond representing the afterlife. He wants to ‘put out to sea’ without the ‘moaning of the bar’. The poet wishes his death to be without pain and without mourning.

Second stanza:

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam,

Through the poem, the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson compares his impending death to crossing a bar. In the stanza, the speaker of the poem talks about the inevitability of death.

The poet wishes that when he ‘put(s) out to sea’, that is when he dies, let it be like a ride which seems asleep as it moves. The speaker wants his death to be smooth. Like a calm sea wave, which is ‘too full for sound and foam’ the speaker hopes that his death will be silent, smooth and quick, making no fuss.

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

Turns again home.

In the subsequent lines, the poet uses the example of the river and the sea to express the kind of death he wishes for himself. The water from the sea evaporates and turns into clouds; these clouds bring rain, entering that water into the river, and these rivers too flow, carrying their water and eventually pouring it into the sea. They, thus complete a cycle, and the water returns from where it came. Just so, the speaker, considering himself like the water, says that he is returning where he came from. ‘The boundless deep’ here apparently stands for the sea, and in an allegorical sense to the place the poet believes he will go to after his death.

Here, we should notice that this stanza is a strict continuation of the idea introduced in the first stanza. The last lines of the first stanza together with this one makes up the meaning of the verse.

Third Stanza:

Twilight and evening bell,

And after that the dark!

In the third stanza, the poet again resorts to describing the atmosphere to convey his inner feelings. It was sunset when the speaker started the poem, but now it is twilight. The sun has already gone down the horizon and dusk is settling. The speaker can hear the evening bell tolling. It is the indication that night is approaching. Then after a while it gets dark. It is night. The poet here uses twilight to show us the state of his life. Just as the day has ended, his life too is about to end. Here twilight stands for sadness, darkness and grief portray the speaker’s miserable state before his death.

And may there be no sadness of farewell,

When I embark;

The speaker expresses his hope that there will be no ‘sadness of farewell’ upon his death. The ‘sadness of farewell’ is ambiguous and can mean both the speaker’s own sadness as he departs from life, or the sadness of the people whom he leaves behind and who are saying farewell to him. However, we think, the former is more relevant. Again, Lord Tennyson writes ‘When I embark’ to convey the idea of the speaker’s death. Thus, it is evident from the word ’embark’ that death is not seen as a final destination by the poet, but rather as a new beginning.

Fourth stanza:

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place

The flood may bear me far,

In the previous stanza of the poem, we see the speaker’s positive attitude towards death. It is seen to be exemplified in this final stanza of the poem. We understand that the speaker has accepted his reality – inevitability of death. He appears to have made his peace with the idea of his fast approaching death.

He says that he will be beyond the boundaries of time and place and the flood of death will carry him far away. This is going beyond the reach of this world. The speaker suggests that there is a place beyond our time and space where he hopes to go after his death. We are, thus, acquainted with the poet’s belief in afterlife.

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have crost the bar.

These final lines of the poem are shrouded in allusions and hidden meanings. Firstly, we are told that the speaker hopes to see his pilot face to face when he will have crossed the bar. Here, the word pilot is a direct reference to God. Lord Tennyson had peculiar views on religion. On one hand, he disapproved of Christianity, while on the other, we see wide use of religious things and ideas in his works. Since God is considered to drive the world and all living things, we see the pilot reference of the divine world in the poem.

Also, the use of the word ‘crost’ is interesting. While it might simply be a word to suggest ‘Crossing’ the bar, it is speculated that it might be a reference to Christ, as crost is similar in sound to both Christ and Cross. If so, then we find another allusion from the poet to region and afterlife.

The poem thus ends on a positive note with the poet both accepting the finality of death and hoping to meet God in the afterlife.

👉Crossing the Bar: Form and Structure:

The poem consists of four stanzas, and each of them are quatrains. The poet uses the classical rhyme scheme of abab. The structure of the poem is akin to that of a ballad verse but it falls short of the metre. There is no apparent metre to the poem.

The length of the lines is a feature of interest in the poem. The poet varies the length of the lines between ten, six, and four syllables per line randomly throughout the poem.

The entire poem is connected, both in theme and conceit. The stanzas do not stand individually on their own. They are tightly knit and carry the meaning forward to the next ones.

This poem consists of four quatrain stanzas rhyming ABAB. The first and third lines of each stanza are always a couple of beats longer than the second and fourth lines, although the line lengths vary among the stanzas.

Words Count 2,194

Assignment paper 105( History of English Literature)

Assignment writing: Paper 105( History of English Literature)

This blog is Assignment writing on Paper 105 (History of English Literature) assigned by Professor, Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the English Department of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

Name: Nidhi Dave

Paper: History of English Literature

Roll no: 16

Enrollment no: 4069206420210005

Email ID: davenidhi05@gmail.com

Batch: 2021- 23( MA Semester 1)

Submitted to: Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

👉Chief Characteristic of Romantic Age:

• Individualism
• Glorification of Nature
• Return of Nature
• Awareness and Acceptance of Emotions
• Celebration of Artistic Creativity and Imagination
• Theme of solitude
• Focus on Exoticism and History
• Idealization of Women
• Emphasis on Aesthetic Beauty
• The age of symbols and Myths

⭐Introduction:

The Romantic Movement is marked by the two great events of this time:i) French Revolution (1789)and ii) the publication of 'Lyrical Ballad 1798' by Wordsworth and Coleridge. That is  why many critics think that the Romantic era starts with the publication of Lyrical Ballad. William. J. Long in his book 'English Literature it's History and significance for the Life of the English Speaking World' Says that Romantic Age is the second creative period of the English Literature. Romantic age covers the first half of the 19th century. This era starts under the region of king George lll and  ends with the region of Queen Victoria. During this time steel was one of the best materials of England. The causes of this threatened revolution were not political but economic. By her invention in steel and machinery, and by her monopoly of the carrying trade, England had become the workshop of the world. 

We can see the repid changes of the society through the literature  or through the art of particular time. And that is why it is said that 'Literature is mirror of society.' Here also we can see the repid changes of Romantic age among literature. Here are some basic characteristic of Romantic Age:

👉What Is Romanticism in Literature?

Popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Romanticism was a literary movement that emphasized nature and the importance of emotion and artistic freedom. In many ways, writers of this era were rebelling against the attempt to explain the world and human nature through science and the lens of the Industrial Revolution. In Romanticism, emotion is much more powerful than rational thought.

👉What Are the Characteristics of Romanticism in Literature?

Although literary Romanticism occurred from about 1790 through 1850, not all writers of this period worked in this style. There are certain characteristics that make a piece of literature part of the Romantic movement. You won’t find every characteristic present in every piece of Romantic literature; however, you will usually find that writing from this period has several of the key characteristics.

🔅Individualism:

  Romanticism emerged as a reaction against 'The Age of Enlightenment,' which emphasized on reason and logic. Pioneers of the Romantic period wanted to break away from the conventions of the Age of Enlightenment and make way for individuality and experimentation. This was the time when people start thinking about themselves. That is why this characteristic is one of the important characteristic of this age.

🔅 Glorification of Nature:

Nature, in all its unbound glory, plays a huge role in Romantic literature. Nature, sometimes seen as the opposite of the rational, is a powerful symbol in work from this era. Romantic poets and writers give personal, deep descriptions of nature and its wild and powerful qualities.

Natural elements also work as symbols for the unfettered emotions of the poet or writer, as in the final stanza of “To Autumn” by John Keats. Keats was aware that he was dying of consumption throughout much of his short life and career, and his celebration of autumn symbolizes the beauty in the ephemeral.

🔅Return to Nature:

Again, this is one of the important characteristic of the Romantic Age. We can also say that the whole age is marked by this characteristic. During this age the writer used the elements of nature to satire on the society.we think that romanticism is something related to the physical world.yes, it is but in a wilder way. Romanticism reflect the nature. Nature is  which we see around us like trees, plants, birds, animals, and sea etc. and also the nature of men. It includes both the meaning at a time. Through using the elements of nature the writers of this time tried to talk about the nature of human beings. Wordsworth's poem 'Deffodils' is the best example.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o' er vales and hills"

🔅Awareness and Acceptance of Emotions:

A focus on emotion is a key characteristic of nearly all writing from the Romantic period. When you read work of this period, you’ll see feelings described in all forms, including romantic and filial love, fear, sorrow, loneliness, and more. This focus on emotion offered a counterpoint to the rational, and it also made Romantic poetry and prose extremely readable and relatable.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein offers a perfect example of this characteristic of Romanticism. Here, Frankenstein’s monster shows great self-awareness of his feelings and offers a vivid emotional description full of anger and sadness.

🔅Celebration of Artistic Creativity and Imagination:

In contrast to the previous generations’ focus on reason, writers of the Romantic movement explored the importance of imagination and the creative impulse. Romantic poets and prose writers celebrated the power of imagination and the creative process, as well as the artistic viewpoint. They believed that artists and writers looked at the world differently, and they celebrated that vision in their work.

You can see this in William Wordsworth’s poem, “The Prelude."

Imagination—here the Power so called

Through sad incompetence of human speech,

That awful Power rose from the mind’s abyss

Like an unfathered vapour that enwraps,

At once, some lonely traveller. I was lost;

Halted without an effort to break through;

But to my conscious soul I now can say—

“I recognise thy glory:” in such strength

Of usurpation, when the light of sense

Goes out, but with a flash that has revealed

The invisible world…

🔅Themes of Solitude:

Writers of the Romantic era believed that creative inspiration came from solitary exploration. They celebrated the feeling of being alone, whether that meant loneliness or a much-needed quiet space to think and create.

🔅Focus on Exoticism and History:

Romantic-era literature often has a distinct focus on exotic locations and events or items from history. Poems and prose touch on antiques and the gifts of ancient cultures around the world, and far-away locations provide the setting for some literary works of this era.

One great example is Percy Byssche Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias."

I met a traveler from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

🔅Idealization of Women

In works such as Poe’s The Raven, women were always presented as idealized love interests, pure and beautiful, but usually without anything else to offer. Ironically, the most notable novels of the period were written by women (Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, and Mary Shelley, for example), but had to be initially published under male pseudonyms because of these attitudes. Much Romantic literature is infused with the concept of women being perfect innocent beings to be adored, mourned, and respected—but never touched or relied upon.

🔅Emphasis on Aesthetic Beauty

Romantic literature also explores the theme of aesthetic beauty, not just of nature but of people as well. This was especially true with descriptions of female beauty. Writers praised women of the Romantic era for their natural loveliness, rather than anything artificial or constrained.

A classic example of this characteristic is George Gordon, or Lord Byron’s, poem “She Walks in Beauty."

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

🔅The Age of symbols and Myths:

With all these characteristics this age is also marked especially for the myths and symbols used  by the writers during this time. Human was the centre and the symbol and the myths were  of the nature of this time. And  the symbols and Myths  were also taken seriously by the people of that time because it suggests many things.  Again I would like to give the example of John Keats and his ode 'Ode on a Grecian Urn.' In this ode he use many myths.

👉 Conclusion:

As no Romantic artist followed any strict set of rules or regulations, it is difficult to define the characteristic of this movement accurately. Some of these characteristics are reflected in the works of that period. Though many  writers and critics have called this movement "irrational,"it cannot be denied that it was an honest attempt to portray the world, especially the intricacies of the human nature,in a paradigm shifting way. In short, this was the time of celebration on self as well as the nature. And here I am summing up with Rousseau's statement that "Iam not made like anyone I have seen; I dare believe that I am not made like anyone in existence. If I am not superior, at least I am different."

Words Count: 2,531

Reference:

https://www.thoughtco.com/romanticism-definition-4777449

https://examples.yourdictionary.com/10-key-characteristics-of-romanticism-in-literature.html