Assignment Biographia Literaria: a critical study.

Name:  Vaghasiya Alisha S.   Roll no.- 1

M.A. Sem-1

Paper no.-3) Literary theory and criticism

Assignment topic: Biographia Literaria: a critical study.

Submitted to: DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH,

M.K. BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY.

Assignment

Assignment Topic: ‘Biographia Literaria: a critical study.’

ü      Introduction

Biographia Literaria is written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Coleridge's new technique of criticism is called 'appreciative criticism'. To quote a renowned critic, 'evidently the new poetry needed a new criticism and this was provided by Coleridge in the Boigraphia Literaria'.
He led the way in a new method in criticism, which sought no to judge but to appreciate and interpret.
he illustrated the tendency of romantic criticism to stress the effect of art upon the critic's emotions and to regard art as a source of moral and philosophical wisdom.
Coleridge sought to give charm of novelty to things of everyday objects- by making supernatural natural. he introduced dream like quality-element of mystery- wonder and supernatural. he went to middle ages a d created the atmosphere of magic and mystery. we find elements of mysticism in his diction and he lived in the world of fancy. he differentiates prose and poetry in diction.  

§  Coleridge’s critical work is contained in 24 chapters of Biographia Literaria (1815-17). In this critical disquisition concerns himself not only with the practice of criticism, but also, with its theory. In his practical approach to criticism, we get the glimpse of Coleridge the poet; whereas in theoretical discussion, Coleridge the philosopher came to center stage. In chapter 14 of Biographia Literaria, Coleridge’s view on nature and function of poetry is discussed in philosophical terms. The poet within Coleridge discusses the difference between poetry and prose, and poetry and poem. He was the first English writer to insist that every work of art is, by its very nature, an organic whole. At the first step, he rules out the assumption which, from Horace onwards, had wrought such havoc in criticism , that the object of poetry is to instruct; or, as a less extreme from of the heresy had asserted, to make men morally better.

 

ü Two cardinal points of poetry are discussed by Coleridge in chapter 14 of Biographia Literaria

§  Two cardinal points of Poetry :  Coleridge begins this chapter with his views on two cardinal points of poetry. To him these cardinal points are

ü The power of exciting the sympathy of the reader by a faithful adherence to the truth of natures and

ü The power of giving the interest of novelty by modifying with the colors of imagination.

o   According to him it was decided that Wordsworth would write poetry dealing with the theme of first cardinal point and the other was to be dealt by him. For the first type of poetry, the treatment and subject matter should be, to quote Coleridge, “The sudden charm, which accidents of light and shade, which moon- light or sun-set diffused over a known and familiar landscape, appeared to represent the practicability of combining both. These are the poetry of nature.”  In such poems , subjects were to be chosen from ordinary life; the characters and incidents were to be such, as will be found in every village and its vicinity, where there is a meditative and felling mind to seek after them, or to notice them, when they present themselves.

ü In the second type of poetry , the incidents and agents were to be supernatural . in this sort of poetry to quote Coleridge, “ the excellence aimed at was to consist in the interesting of the affections by the dramatic truth of such emotions as would naturally accompany such situations, supposing them real. And real in this sense they have been to every human being who, from whatever source of delusion, has at any time believed himself under supernatural agency.” Thus with the help of imagination the natural will be dealt supernaturally by the poet and the reader will comprehend it with ‘willing suspension of disbelief’

ü The Lyrical Ballads consists of poems dealing with these two cardinal points. Wherein, the endeavor of Coleridge was to deal with “persons and characters supernatural”, and that of Wordsworth “was to give the charm of novelty to think of novelty to think of every day, by awakening the mind’s attention from the lethargy of custom, and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world before us.”

ü Coleridge’s view towards Wordsworth’s poetic creed:-

ü In defense of Wordsworth’s poetic creed; - Coleridge even though he did not agree with Wordsworth’s views on poetic diction, vindicated his poetic creed in chapter 14 of Biographia Literaria. Coleridge writes in defense to the violent assailant to the ‘language of real life’ adopted by Wordsworth in the Lyrical Ballads. There had been strong criticism against Wordsworth’s views expressed in preface also. Coleridge writes in his defense ; “ Had Mr. Wordsworth’s poems been the silly, the childish things, which they were for a long time described as being; had they been really distinguished from the comossitions of other poets merely by meanness of language and inanity of thought; had they indeed contained nothing more than what is found in the parodies and pretended imitations of them; they must have sunk at once , a dead weight into the slough of oblivion, and have dragged the preface along with them.”

ü He wrote that the ‘eddy of criticism’ which whirled around these poems and Preface would have dragged them in oblivion. But it has not happened. They were founded too not in the lower classes of the reading public, but chiefly among young men of strong ability and meditative minds; and their admiration was distinguished by its intensity, I might almost say, by its religious fervor.” Thus, Coleridge gives full credit to the genius of Wordsworth.

ü It does not mean that he agreed with Wordsworth on all the points. Coleridge writes; “With many parts of this preface in the sense attributed to them and which the words undoubtedly seem to authorize, I never concord; but on the contrary objected to them as erroneous in principle, an as contradictory both to other parts of the same preface, and to the author’s own practice in the greater number of the poems themselves. Mr.Wordsworth in his recent collection has, I find, degraded this prefatory disquisition to the end of his second volume, to be read or not at the reader’s choice”. Hence, we may say that, Coleridge is frank enough to point out that some of the views of Wordsworth were wrong in principle and contradictory, not only in parts of the Preface but also in the practice of the poet himself in many of his poems.

Coleridge distinguish between prose and poem

ü The poem contains the same elements as a prose composition. But the difference is between the combination of those elements and objects aimed at in both the composition. According to the difference of the object will be the difference of the combination. If the object of the poet may simply be to facilitate the memory to recollect certain facts he would make use of certain artificial arrangement of words with the help of meter. As a result composition will be a poem, merely because it is distinguished from composition in prose by Metre, or by rhyme. In this , the lowest sense one might attribute the name of a poem to the well-known enumeration of the days in the several months;

ü twinkle twinkle little star,

how I wonder what you are

ü Thirty days hath September,

April, June and November , &c.

ü Thus , to Coleridge, mere super addition of meter or rhyme does not make a poem.

o   He further elucidates his view point by various prose writings and its immediate purpose and ultimate end. In scientific and historical composition, the immediate purpose is to convey the truth (facts). In the prose works of other kinds, to give pleasure in the immediate object of a work not metrically composed.

o   Now the question is “would then the mere super addition of meter, with or without rhyme, entitle these to the name of poems?” to this Coleridge replies that if metre  is super added the other parts of the composition also must harmonize with it. In order to deserve the name poem each part of the composition, including Metre, rhyme, diction and theme must harmonize with the wholeness of the composition. Metre should not be added to provide merely a superficial decorative charm. Nothing can permanently please which does not contain in itself the reason why it is so, and not otherwise. If metre is super added, all other, parts must be made constant with it. They all must harmonise with each other.

§  A poem therefore may be defined as, that species of composition, which is opposed to works of science by proposing for its immediate object pleasure, not truth; and from all other species it is discriminated by proposing to itself such delight from the whole, as is compatible with a distinct gratification from each component part.

ü Thus, according to Coleridge, he poem is distinguished from prose compositions by its immediate object. The immediate object of prose is to give truth and that of poem is to please. He again distinguishes those prose compositions from poem whose object is similar to poem i.e.to please. He calls this poem a legitimate poem and defines it as, ‘ it must be one , the parts of which mutually support and explain each other; all in their proportion harmonizing with and supporting the purpose and known influes of metrical  arrangement”.

ü Therefore the legitimate poem is a composition in which the rhyme and the metre bear an organic relation to the total work. While reading this sort of poem ‘the reader should be carried forward, not merely or chiefly by the mechanical impulse of curiosity or by a restless desire to arrive at the final solution; but by the pleasurable activity of mind excited by the attractions of the journey itself”    here Coleridge asserts the importance of the impression created by the harmonious whole of the poem. To him, not one or other part but the entire effect, the journey of reading poem should be pleasurable. Thus  Coleridge puts an end to the age old controversy whether the end of poem is instruction or delight. Its  aim is definitely to give pleasure and further poem has its own disatinctive pleasure, pleasure arising from the partsand this pleasure of the parts supports and increases the pleasure of the whole.

ü The differentiate between poem and poetry 

ü
in the last section of the chapter 14, Coleridge considers to distinguish poem from poetry. Coleridge points out that” poetry of the highest kind may exist without meter and even without the contradistinguishing objects of a poem” ha gives example of the writings of Plato, Jeremy Taylor and Bible. The quality of the prose in this writings is equal to that of high poetry. Then the question is what is poetry? How is it different from poem? To quote Coleridge; “ what is poetry? Is so nearly the same question  with what is a poem?  The answer to the one is involved in the solution of the other. For it is a distinction resulting from the poetic genius itself, which sustains and modifies the images, thought, and emotions of the poet’s own mind.  Thus the difference between poem and poetry is not given in clear  terms.

ü Even John Shawcross writes “ this distinction between ‘poetry’ and ‘poem’ is not clear instead of defining poetry he proceeds to describe a poet and from the poet he proceeds to enumerate the characteristics of ith imagination”. This is so because ‘poetry’ for Coleridge is an activity of the poet’s mind and a poem is merely one of the forms of its expression, a verbal expression of that activity, and poetic activity is basically an activity of the imagination.

ü As David Daiches points our, ‘poetry’ for Coleridge is a wider category than a ‘poem’; that is poetry is a kind of activity which can be engaged in by painters or philosopher or scientists and is not confined to those who employ metrical language or even to those who employ language of any kind. Poetry in this larger sense, brings, ‘ the whole soul of man; into activity, with each faculty playing its proper part according to its ‘ relative worth and dignity,. This takes place whenever the synthesizing, the integrating, power of the secondary imagination are at work, bringing all aspects of a subject into a complex unity then  poetry in this larger sense results.

ü David Daiches further writes in A critical History of English Literature’, “the employment of the secondary imagination is a poetic activity and we can see why Coleridge is let from a discussion of a poem to discussion of the poet’s activity when we realize that for him the poet belongs to the larger company of thise who are distinguished by the activity of their imagination”. By virtue of his imagination  which is a synthetic and magical power, he harmonize and blends together various elements and thus diffuses a tone and spirit of unity over the whole. It manifests itself most clearly in the balance or reconciliation of opposite or discordant qualities such as

ü Of sameness with difference

ü Of the general with the concrete

ü The idea with the image

ü The individual with the representative

ü The sense of novelty and freshness, with old and familiar objects

ü A more than usual state of emotion, with more than usual order

o   Judgment with enthusiasm  and while this imagination blends and harmonizes the natural and artificial, it subordinates to nature the manner to the matter, and our admiration of the poet to our sympathy wuth the poetry.

To conclude,

o   We  may say in his own words, he endeavored to establish the principle of writing rather than to furnish rules about how to pass judgment on what had been written by others.’

o   Thus Coleridge is the first English critic who based his literary criticism on philosophical principles. While critics before  him had been content to turn a poem inside out and to discourse on its merits and demerits, Coleridge busied himself with the basic question of how it came to be there at all.” He was more interested in the creative process that made it , what it was then in the finished product.

Assignment ‘Major writers of the Neo-Classical Age’

Name : Vaghasiya Alisha S. Class: M.A. (semester -1) Roll No. 1   Paper : 2 ( Neo Classical  literature) Topic :Major writers of the Neo Classical age Submitted to: Department of English M.K. Bhavnagar University. ‘Major writers of the Neo-Classical Age’ ·      Introduction Neo-Classical age is considered as a very remarkable age of English literature. In this age literature proceeds in many forms like prose, poetry, drama, novel and many others. And in creating this wonderful form of literature there is immense contribution of many great writers. Some very important of them are describe as under. Ø   Prose writers v     Jonathan Swift  (1667-1745)                     Biography Swift was born in Dublin in 1667. His father died before swift’s birth so the boy was thrown upon the charity of an uncle, who paid for his education in Ireland. Much of his distemper was due to purely physical causes, for he suffered from an affection of the ear that ultimately touched his brain and caused insanity. In 1686, at the age of nineteen, he left trinity college. An embittered man , he spent the last thirty years of his life in gloom, and largely in retirement. His last years were passed in silence and, at the very end lunacy. His poetry Swift would have been among the first to smile at any claim being advanced for him on the score of his being a great poet, though he always longed to excel in poetry, yet in bulk his verse is considerable. His poems were to a large extent recreations, add verses to his friends. In his poems he is as a rule lighter of touch and more placeable in humour  than he is in his prose. His favourite metre is the octosyllabic couplet, which he handles with dexterity. His prose His first noteworthy book was the Batttle of the books, published in 1704. The theme of the work is well known one, being the dispute between ancient and modern authors. Swift gives the theme a half allegorical, mock –heroic setting, in which books in a library at length literally contend with one another. A Tale  of a Tub also published in 1704, though it was written as early as 1696, is regarded by many as swift’s best work. It certainly reveals his power at its highest. It is a religious allegory. A Tale of a Tub is full of wit and brilliant in its imaginative power and the incisiveness of its thought. From a literary point of view, the next important period of life was from 1710, several of them were written for The Examiner, a Tory journal of which he was given charge, and the best known are The conduct of Allies (1711) and Some Remarks on the Barrier Treaty (1712). And The Public Spirit of the Whigs (1714). To this period also belongs journal to Stella, which is a kind of informal private log book. His other important work are The Drapier’s Letters(1724) , which gives him population. Then followed some miscellaneous political work, aimed at the improvement of the lot of the oppressed and poverty stricken irish. And then longest and his most famous book The Gulliver’s Travels (written between 1720 and 1725 and published in 1726). The  style  of swift is best  is not mannered or laboured , clean, powerful, and tireless, ease without being slovenly and as clear as summer noonday. Swift is greatest English dramatist. He restrict himself to general rather than personal attacks, and his work has a cosmic , elemental force, which is irresistible and, at times, almost frightening. His directions of humanity shows a powerful mind relentlessly and fearlessly probing into follies and hypocricy, but he is never merely distructive. Joseph Addison    (1672-1719) · HIS LIFE Educated at the charter house, Addison went to Oxford. He  early made his mark as a serious and accomplished scholar. In  1704 it is said that the instigation of the  leaders of the whigs, he wrote the poem The Camoaign, praising war policy of the whigs in general. This poem brought him fame and fortune. He obtained many appointments and pensions, married a dowager countess and became a secretary of state. Two years later  he died, at the early age of forty-seven. His poetry In his Latin verses Addison attained early distinction. These verses were highly praised at a time for proficiency in such a medium was of some significance. Then his campaign in 1704 gave him reputation as one of the major poets of the age. It is written in Heroic couplet. His other poetical works worthy of notice are hymns which are melodious, scholarly and full of cheerful piety. The one that begins ‘The Spacious Firmament on High’ is among the best. His Drama­ In 1773 he produced the tragedy of Cato. It shows that Addison , whatever his other qualities may be , is no dramatist. It is written in laborious blank verse, in which wooden character devlaim long, dull speeches. But it caught the ear of the political parties. Addison also attempted an Opera Rosamond (1707), which was a failure and the prose comedy  ‘The Drummer’ (1715) adds nothing to his reputation. His Prose Addison started writing with his school and college friend Steele in ‘The Tatler’ and ‘The Spectator. In The Spectator Addison rapidly became the dominating spirit, wrote  274 essays out of a complete total of 555. In march 1713 Addison assisted Steele with ‘The Guardian’ which Steele began. Addison wrote nearly   4  hundred essays , which are of nearly uniform length, excellence of style and the wide diversity of subject, they are faithful reflection to the life. His aim was to point out those vices which are too trivial for a chastened of the law. Literary criticism of a mild and curious kind , found a prominent place in his essays. some times he adopted the allegory as a means of throwing his ideas vividly before his readers, and so we have a popular ‘The Vision of a Mirza’ and the political allegory of Public Credit.       Sir Richard Steele  (1672-1729) His Drama He wrote some prose comedies, the best of which are ‘The Funeral’(1701) ·      ‘The Lying Loner’(1703) ·      ‘The Tender Husband’(1705)  and ·      ‘The Conscious Lovers’(1722) His essays it is as a miscellaneous essayist that Steele finds his place in literature. He started ‘The Tatler’ in 1709 and ‘The Spectator’ in 1711, and several other periodicals such as Ø ‘The Guardian’ (1713) Ø ‘The English Man’ (1713) Ø ‘The Reader’ (1714) and Ø ‘The Plebeian’ (1719) The aim of Steele’s essays was frankly didactic, he desired to bring about a reformation of contemporary society manners and is notable for his consistent advocacy of womanly virtue and the ideal of gentleman of courtesy, chivalry and good taste. His essay on children are charming and he is full of human sympathy. In versatility and in originality he is at least Addison’s equal. His humour is broader. His pathos is more attractive and more humane. He is incapable of irony. Daniel Defoe Ø    Biography Much of Defoe’s life is still undetermined. He was born in London in the year 1660.   He altered his original surname foe to Defoe. He became a soldier, and then took journalism.   As a young man, Daniel Defoe was a great traveller and went all over Europe. his career had ups and downs and he was also put into prison several times. When he was nearly sixty, Defoe started writing novels. He was considered to be founder of English novels. Ø    His prose His work can be divided into two greater groups. 1 Political Writing Like most of the other writer of his time Defoe turned out a mass of political tracts and pamphlets. Many of them appeared in his own journal ‘The Review’ which issued in 1704. His ‘The Shortest Way with the Dissenters’ (1702) brought upon him official wrath, and caused him to be fined, imprisoned and pilloried.  The best known of this class is ‘The True-born Englishman (1701). In all his propaganda Defoe in vigorous and acute and he has a fair command of irony and invective. 2 His fiction his work in fiction were all produced in the later part of his life, at almost Incredible speed. First came v‘Robinson Crusoe’ (1719) v‘Duncan Campbell’(1720) v‘Memoirs of cavellier’(1720) \ v‘Captain Singleton’(1720) all this books appeared in 1720, in 1722 appeared v‘Moll Flanders’ v‘A  journal to the plague year’ v‘Colonel Jacque’  then v‘Roxana’ (1724) and v‘A New Voyage round the World’ This great body of fiction has grave defect, largely due to the immense speed with which it was produced. The general plan of the snovel in each also loose and unequal. At its best in finest part in Robinson Crusoe, his writing has a realm that is rarely approached by the most ardent of modern realists. This is achieved by Defoe’s grasp of details and his unerring sense of their supreme literary value, a swift and resolute narrative method and a plain and matter of fact style that inevitable lays incredulity asleep. To this development of the novel Defoe’s contribution is priceless. Poetry Alexander Pope   (1688-1744) His life Pope was brn in London, the only son of a considerable city tradesman. From his birth two conditions were influence very deeply the career of the future poet , first he was puny and delicate and secondly, he was baptized into  the roman catholic faith. His bodily infirmity, which amounted almost deformity, caused him to be privately educated. Pope’s religious faith, though he was never excessively devout as a roman catholic , closed to him all the careers , professional and political , in which a man of keen intelligence might have been expected to succeed. From his earliest youth we find him passionately desirous of making his name as an author. His early verses , admirably attuned to the ear of the age, brought him recognition and applause. His translation of homer brought him wealth and from that point he nrver looked back .he became the dominating poetical personality of the day. In 1719 he removed to his house at Twickenham. It remained his home till “that long disease , his life” was finished in 1744. His poetry Pope’s earliest important work was his Pastorals. These poems almost certainly written before he was eighteen, were published in 1709. The characters and scenery, based as they are on Classical models, lack vigorous and    reality. but the work is important as an experiment in verse technique. Pope has already choose  his medium , the Heroic couplet , which is here handled  with great metrical skill, variation of speed and tone and delicacy of touch. The rich discriptions are perhaps over loaded with epithet. And the diction is often artificial . we give a specimen of his earliest number. And yet my numbers please the rural throng,Rough satyrs dance, and pan applauds the song;The nymph, forsaking ev’ry cave and spring,Their early fruit, and milk white turtled bring,Each am’rous nymph prefers her gift in vain,On you their gifts are all bestowed again,For you the swains the fairest flow’rs design,And in one garland all their beauties joined,Accept the wreath which you deserve alone,In whom all beauties are compri’d in one.                                                    Summer: the second pastoral In 1711 appeared ‘An Essay on Criticism’ also written in heroic couplet . the poem professes to set  forth the gospel of wit  and nature  as it applies to the  literature of the age. There is no attempt at originality of thought , pope’s aim being  merely  to restate the code of the ancients. This he does with  a conscious  and epi-grammatic neatness which has given his remarks the permanence of proverbs. I give below four well-known examples. ü A Little Learning is a Dangerous thing! ü And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art ü TO err is Human, to Forgive, divine ü True wit is nature to advantage  dressed; What of was though , but ne’er so well expressed.            Windsor Forest (1713) is another pastoral in the familiar meter.                     In 1712 was published  the first version of  ‘The Rape Of the Lock’ one of the most brilliant poems in the language. It is in mock-heroic strain, and its effectiveness  was greatly increased when , in 1714 pope added  the machinery  of the sylph to the original version. For the most part, this satire is gentle and good humoured , though occasionally the half-line of couplet give us a foretaste of the most incisive tones of the later pope.            Then pope translated Iliad , the Iliad  was followed in 1725 and 1726 by the Oddyssey.            Between 1731 and 1735 pope pope published a series of philosophical poems, including §  ‘TO Lord Bathrust’ §  ‘Of the use of Riches’ §  ‘Of the knowledge and characters of men’ §  ‘Of the character of women’ and most famous of all §  “An Essay on Man”, in which he discussed man’s place in the universe. The years 1733 to1737 marks pope’s last important period of production. In them appeared his ‘Imitations of Horace’, in using the latin satirist as his model. His famous prologue “Prologue to the Satirists”, better known by it’s other title, “Epistle to dr. Arbuthnot” (1735) contains some of his most brilliant  and finished work. The style shows the ultimate development of pope’s couplet in its ease, naturalness and versatility.         Both in subjects and in style his poems are limited. They take people of their own social class, and they deal with their common  interests and aspirations. Pope rarely dips below the surface, and when he does so he is not at his best. With regards to his style we have seen that it is almost wholly restricted to the heroic couplet, used in narrative and didactive  subject.         Within these limits his work is powerful and effective. The wit is keen, the satire burns like acid, and his zeal is unshakable.                    Above all he was a great artist. A study of his technique shows a meticulous sense of the exact word in the exact place.           Pope’s use of the heroic couplet marks a great change from Dryden. The couplet is tighter and more compressed. THUS, we can Thus say that Alexander Pope was truly was one very important figure of the Neo-Classical age. vConclusion Thus, Swift, Addison, Steele, Defoe, Pope and many other writer gave their immense contribution to English literature