The Romanticism and The Classicism.

 we learnt that what are the basic dissimilar feature between The Romanticism and The Classicism. It's really entertaining and interesting to learn about these features, i.e. The Classicism hinge around the typical concept  " Art as a Mirror and Reflective", and on the other side in The Romanticism "Art as a Lamp and Exploration"

A Constable Calls" composed by Seamus Heaney, an Irish Nobel Laureate.

 A shadow bobbed in the window.
He was snapping the carrier spring
Over the ledger. His boot pushed off
And the bicycle ticked, ticked, ticked..

 

Reference:

                      This excerpt writing has been extracted from the poem " A Constable Calls" composed by Seamus Heaney, an Irish Nobel Laureate.

Context:

                This under-discussion poem is about the fears and apprehensions of the Irish people. Therefore, uncongenial circumstances are demonstrated by the persona's eye-view in a very artistic and elegant style.The persona is stunned and flabbergasted while looking at the Constable as well warrior appliances. The Constable as it is evident by the title of the poem is an ironical and an alarming figure at the rest of the poem. Whereof, the constable, comprehensively, represents the dominated forces.In addition, the poet narrates how the Irishmen were being exploited and harassed. Therefore, to enlighten the actual rationale, the narrator donates the reader particular and persuasive information regarding the authorities' behaviour with the farmers. Although, patriotism and propagandist elements are obvious in this poem, yet through the employment of the poetic techniques like universalization and generalization the poet acquires his target to not being a propagandist which he has stipulated in his "Redress of Poetry" as well. Hence, after the accomplishment of his authoritative and torturous investigation, the constable is going out-side the kitchen, the setting of this poem.

Explanation:

                         

                                  This thought-provoking excerpt is the crux of the poem titled " A Constable Calls". The constable is going out from the kitchen where the personae,child, and his father are present. While the constable is going , according to the persona there is someone outside the window. Might be some female_ the child's mother_or the constable's shadow. Afterwords, due to keen observation, the child listens the sound of tick, tick, tick, after departure of the Constable. Whereof, this expression of impression is the most significant constituent of "A Constable Calls". Hereby, this paragraph of poetry presents the apex of the narrator's view-point through content and form comparatively.

                            According to the content, the excerpt is about the childish imaginations. Although,the Constable has gone from the farmer-house, yet the child is frightened. This very aspect of his childish fancies is proved by the "shadow" like image behind the window. On the other side, it also could be of feminine figure. Actually, alienation from women is too one of the distinguished literary feature in the Post-Modern literature.

                          The sound of "tick, tick, tick" refers to the perpetual dangerous set-up. The personae still is in the anxious and apprehensive state of mind. This type of situation is the significant literary characteristics in the Post-Modern literature and Seamus Heaney is one of the most distinguished poet and critic of this particular age.

                      

                       Though there are some romantic elements in his poetry yet through the use of poetic techniques like universalization, generalization and myth-making he turns them to be the modern way of expression. Accordingly, Impressionism and expressionism are the dominant theme as well particularly in this last quatrain of the poem.

                     

                      According to the form, this quatrain is also one of the most best-expressed pieces of poetry particularly by the mastery pen of Seamus Heaney. This particular quatrain is condensed with figure of speech, e.g. Onomatopoeia, personification, symbolism, alliteration, assonance, consonance, internal rhyme scheme,, Repetition, visual imagery, audacity,organic, kinetic-movement, understatement, etc.

               

                    The very first line of the under-discussion excerpt is written in internal rhyme scheme. It is in other words is an instance of having element of the poetic device consonance, i.e. " A Shadow bobbed in the window". The letters "Dow" are significant in the word "shadow", and "window".

                         The second line of this concerning quatrain is an example of alliteration, i.e. the letter "s" is the starting character "s" of both prominent words "shipping", and, "spring" of this excerpt is similar to each other.

                       The second-last line of this poem and concerning quatrain is an instance of personification. Here, The word "boot" is personified. Here, not the constable pushed the pedal but "boot" himself pushed the pedal .

                     The concluding line of the very significant quatrain and the whole poem is condensed with meanings. Apparently, it is very interesting expression of the ideas. Notwithstanding, bicycle is symbolised. Therefore, the Constable's bicycle is representative of the authorities. Furthermore, through the use of visual imagery and the audible poetic device the poet brands the departure of the constable more strange and significant.

                        The denotation of "ticked, ticked, ticked" is, no doubt, best example of alliteration and repetition but it also predicts the upcoming horrible and catastrophic events. It also refers toward the doomsday.

                       In depth, denotation of "ticked, ticked, ticked" is an onomatopoeic poetic expression. Therefore, it alarms the reader about the upcoming devastating and destructive consequences, e.g. bomb-blast. As a result, one may say that, the tone of the poet in excerpt is to some extent frightened and observing. Moreover, the mode of the poet is anxious and agitated.

            

                 In nutshell, this under-discussion excerpt is a magnificent piece of poetry which deals with a number of themes. Accordingly, his poetic process comes to its apex in this concerning quatrain. Hence, this authentic and illustrative excerpt enlightens the most crucial aspect of Seamus Heaney's poetry; Irishmen were frightened and flabbergasted. They were in a state of dilemma and destruction. They were being exploited by the dominated brutal and barbaric forces. But, on the whole all these stuffs are expressed behind the curtain of poetic techniques, i.e. universalization and generalization.

COMPOSED BY:- M. SALEEM AKHTAR BODLA

Notes:

Attempt Questions regarding to M.A English part 2. Punjab University.

 Important points for exam preparation.

        Seamus Heaney is a great poet. His master-pieces of poetry are paradigm of bardic poetry. He is also a mythopoeic. His writing is replete with element of  fact and fiction. Amalgamation of classical, romantic and modern elements gives his poetry an outstanding touch. Therefore, he attracts the attention of the reader at once. Through very simple wording, he delivers very deep ideas. He doesn't seem to be propagandist in his poetry. This potential he achieves through the use of stylistic devices of universalization and generalization. Although in deeper sense he relates those problems and issues which surround his nation.

Outline of Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy in the POETICS
Definition of Tragedy:
 “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its katharsis of such emotions. . . . Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Characters, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Melody.”
The treatise we call the Poetics was composed at least 50 years after the death of Sophocles. Aristotle was a great admirer of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, considering it the perfect tragedy, and not surprisingly, his analysis fits that play most perfectly. I shall therefore use this play to illustrate the following major parts of Aristotle's analysis of tragedy as a literary genre.

Tragedy is the “imitation of an action” (mimesis) according to “the law of probability or necessity.” Aristotle indicates that the medium of tragedy is drama, not narrative; tragedy “shows” rather than “tells.” According to Aristotle, tragedy is higher and more philosophical than history because history simply relates what has happened while tragedy dramatizes what may happen, “what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity.” History thus deals with the particular, and tragedy with the universal. Events that have happened may be due to accident or coincidence; they may be particular to a specific situation and not be part of a clear cause-and-effect chain. Therefore they have little relevance for others. Tragedy, however, is rooted in the fundamental order of the universe; it creates a cause-and-effect chain that clearly reveals what may happen at any time or place because that is the way the world operates. Tragedy therefore arouses not only pity but also fear, because the audience can envision themselves within this cause-and-effect chain (context).

Plot is the “first principle,” the most important feature of tragedy. Aristotle defines plot as “the arrangement of the incidents”: i.e., not the story itself but the way the incidents are presented to the audience, the structure of the play. According to Aristotle, tragedies where the outcome depends on a tightly constructed cause-and-effect chain of actions are superior to those that depend primarily on the character and personality of the protagonist. Plots that meet this criterion will have the following qualities (context). See Freytag's Triangle for a diagram that illustrates Aristotle's ideal plot structure, and Plot of Oedipus the King for an application of this diagram to Sophocles’ play.
1.    The plot must be “a whole,” with a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning, called by modern critics the incentive moment, must start the cause-and-effect chain but not be dependent on anything outside the compass of the play (i.e., its causes are downplayed but its effects are stressed). The middle, or climax, must be caused by earlier incidents and itself cause the incidents that follow it (i.e., its causes and effects are stressed). The end, or resolution, must be caused by the preceding events but not lead to other incidents outside the compass of the play (i.e., its causes are stressed but its effects downplayed); the end should therefore solve or resolve the problem created during the incentive moment (context). Aristotle calls the cause-and-effect chain leading from the incentive moment to the climax the “tying up” (desis), in modern terminology the complication. He therefore terms the more rapid cause-and-effect chain from the climax to the resolution the “unravelling” (lusis), in modern terminology the dénouement (context).

2.    The plot must be “complete,” having “unity of action.” By this Aristotle means that the plot must be structurally self-contained, with the incidents bound together by internal necessity, each action leading inevitably to the next with no outside intervention, no deus ex machina (context). According to Aristotle, the worst kinds of plots are “‘episodic,’ in which the episodes or acts succeed one another without probable or necessary sequence”; the only thing that ties together the events in such a plot is the fact that they happen to the same person. Playwrights should exclude coincidences from their plots; if some coincidence is required, it should “have an air of design,” i.e., seem to have a fated connection to the events of the play (context). Similarly, the poet should exclude the irrational or at least keep it “outside the scope of the tragedy,” i.e., reported rather than dramatized (context). While the poet cannot change the myths that are the basis of his plots, he “ought to show invention of his own and skillfully handle the traditional materials” to create unity of action in his plot (context). Application to Oedipus the King.
3.    The plot must be “of a certain magnitude,” both quantitatively (length, complexity) and qualitatively (“seriousness” and universal significance). Aristotle argues that plots should not be too brief; the more incidents and themes that the playwright can bring together in an organic unity, the greater the artistic value and richness of the play. Also, the more universal and significant the meaning of the play, the more the playwright can catch and hold the emotions of the audience, the better the play will be (context).
4.    The plot may be either simple or complex, although complex is better. Simple plots have only a “change of fortune” (catastrophe). Complex plots have both “reversal of intention” (peripeteia) and “recognition” (anagnorisis) connected with the catastrophe. Both peripeteia and anagnorisis turn upon surprise. Aristotle explains that a peripeteia occurs when a character produces an effect opposite to that which he intended to produce, while an anagnorisis “is a change from ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between the persons destined for good or bad fortune.” He argues that the best plots combine these two as part of their cause-and-effect chain (i.e., the peripeteia leads directly to the anagnorisis); this in turns creates the catastrophe, leading to the final “scene of suffering” (context). Application to Oedipus the King.

Character has the second place in importance. In a perfect tragedy, character will support plot, i.e., personal motivations will be intricately connected parts of the cause-and-effect chain of actions producing pity and fear in the audience. The protagonist should be renowned and prosperous, so his change of fortune can be from good to bad. This change “should come about as the result, not of vice, but of some great error or frailty in a character.” Such a plot is most likely to generate pity and fear in the audience, for “pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves.” The term Aristotle uses here, hamartia, often translated “tragic flaw,” has been the subject of much debate. The meaning of the Greek word is closer to “mistake” than to “flaw,” and I believe it is best interpreted in the context of what Aristotle has to say about plot and “the law or probability or necessity.” In the ideal tragedy, claims Aristotle, the protagonist will mistakenly bring about his own downfall—not because he is sinful or morally weak, but because he does not know enough. The role of the hamartia in tragedy comes not from its moral status but from the inevitability of its consequences. Hence the peripeteia is really one or more self-destructive actions taken in blindness, leading to results diametrically opposed to those that were intended (often termed tragic irony), and the anagnorisis is the gaining of the essential knowledge that was previously lacking (context). Application to Oedipus the King.
Characters in tragedy should have the following qualities (context):
1.    “good or fine.” Aristotle relates this quality to moral purpose and says it is relative to class: “Even a woman may be good, and also a slave, though the woman may be said to be an inferior being, and the slave quite worthless.”
2.    “fitness of character” (true to type); e.g. valor is appropriate for a warrior but not for a woman.
3.    “true to life” (realistic)
4.    “consistency” (true to themselves). Once a character's personality and motivations are established, these should continue throughout the play.
5.    “necessary or probable.” Characters must be logically constructed according to “the law of probability or necessity” that governs the actions of the play.
6.    “true to life and yet more beautiful” (idealized, ennobled).

Thought is third in importance, and is found “where something is proved to be or not to be, or a general maxim is enunciated.” Aristotle says little about thought, and most of what he has to say is associated with how speeches should reveal character (context 1; context 2). However, we may assume that this category would also include what we call the themes of a play.

Diction is fourth, and is “the expression of the meaning in words” which are proper and appropriate to the plot, characters, and end of the tragedy. In this category, Aristotle discusses the stylistic elements of tragedy; he is particularly interested in metaphors: “But the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor; . . . it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances” (context). Application to Oedipus the King.

Song, or melody, is fifth, and is the musical element of the chorus. Aristotle argues that the Chorus should be fully integrated into the play like an actor; choral odes should not be “mere interludes,” but should contribute to the unity of the plot (context).

Spectacle is last, for it is least connected with literature; “the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet.” Although Aristotle recognizes the emotional attraction of spectacle, he argues that superior poets rely on the inner structure of the play rather than spectacle to arouse pity and fear; those who rely heavily on spectacle “create a sense, not of the terrible, but only of the monstrous”.

The end of the tragedy is a katharsis (purgation, cleansing) of the tragic emotions of pity and fear. Katharsis is another Aristotelian term that has generated considerable debate. The word means “purging,” and Aristotle seems to be employing a medical metaphor—tragedy arouses the emotions of pity and fear in order to purge away their excess, to reduce these passions to a healthy, balanced proportion. Aristotle also talks of the “pleasure” that is proper to tragedy, apparently meaning the aesthetic pleasure one gets from contemplating the pity and fear that are aroused through an intricately constructed work of art (context).
We might profitably compare this view of Aristotle with that expressed by Susanne Langer in our first reading
A work of art presents feeling (in the broad sense I mentioned before, as everything that can be felt) for our contemplation, making it visible or audible or in some way perceivable through a symbol, not inferable from a symptom. Artistic form is congruent with the dynamic forms of our direct sensuous, mental, and emotional life; works of art . . . are images of feeling, that formulate it for our cognition. What is artistically good is whatever articulates and presents feeling for our understanding. (661-62)

ARISTOTLE & THE ELEMENTS OF TRAGEDY

ARISTOTLE & THE ELEMENTS OF TRAGEDY:

TERMS: actor, anagnorisis, antistrophe, audience, auditorium, catharsis, dialogue, Dionysus, dithyramb, hamartia, hubris, mask, mimesis, music, mythos, orchestra, parados, pathos, peripeteia, plot, reversal, satyr, skene, soliloquy, spectators, strophe, theatron, tragedy, tragic hero, tragôdia

Aristotle on Tragedy

Definition: Tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of hubris, fate, and the will of the gods. The tragic hero's powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty (flaws in reason, hubris, society), the gods (through oracles, prophets, fate), or nature. Aristotle says that the tragic hero should have a flaw and/or make some mistake (hamartia). The hero need not die at the end, but he/she must undergo a change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition (anagnorisis--"knowing again" or "knowing back" or "knowing throughout" ) about human fate, destiny, and the will of the gods. Aristotle quite nicely terms this sort of recognition "a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate."

I. Definition of Tragedy

(From the Poetics of Aristotle [384-322 BC])

"Tragedy, then, is a process of imitating an action which has serious implications, is complete, and possesses magnitude; by means of language which has been made sensuously attractive, with each of its varieties found separately in the parts; enacted by the persons themselves and not presented through narrative; through a course of pity and fear completing the purification (catharsis[*], sometimes translated "purgation") of such emotions."

a) "imitation" (mimesis)[*]: Contrary to Plato, Aristotle asserts that the artist does not just copy the shifting appearances of the world, but rather imitates or represents Reality itself, and gives form and meaning to that Reality. In so doing, the artist gives shape to the universal, not the accidental. Poetry, Aristotle says, is "a more philosophical and serious business than history; for poetry speaks more of universals, history of particulars."

b) "An action with serious implications": serious in the sense that it best raises and purifies pity and fear; serious in a moral, psychological, and social sense.

c) "Complete and possesses magnitude": not just a series of episodes, but a whole with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The idea of imitation is important here; the artist does not just slavishly copy everything related to an action, but selects (represents) only those aspects which give form to universal truths.

d) "Language sensuously attractive...in the parts": language must be appropriate for each part of the play: choruses are in a different meter and rhythm and more melodious than spoken parts.

e) tragedy (as opposed to epic) relies on an enactment (dramatic performance), not on "narrative" (the author telling a story).

f) "purification" (catharsis): tragedy first raises (it does not create) the emotions of pity and fear, then purifies or purges them. Whether Aristotle means to say that this purification takes place only within the action of the play, or whether he thinks that the audience also undergoes a cathartic experience, is still hotly debated. One scholar, Gerald Else, says that tragedy purifies "whatever is 'filthy' or 'polluted' in the pathos, the tragic act" (98). Others say that the play arouses emotions of pity and fear in the spectator and then purifies them (reduces them to beneficent order and proportion) or purges them (expels them from his/her emotional system).

II. The Tragic Hero

The tragic hero is "a [great] man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake."

a) A great man: "one of those who stand in great repute and prosperity, like Oedipus and Thyestes: conspicuous men from families of that kind." The hero is neither a villain nor a model of perfection but is basically good and decent.

b) "Mistake" (hamartia): This Greek word, which Aristotle uses only once in the Poetics, has also been translated as "flaw" or as "error." The great man falls through--though not entirely because of--some weakness of character, some moral blindness, or error. We should note that the gods also are in some sense responsible for the hero's fall.

III. Plot

Aristotle distinguished six elements of tragedy: "plot, characters, verbal expression, thought, visual adornment, and song-composition." Of these, PLOT is the most important. The best tragic plot is single and complex, rather than double ("with opposite endings for good and bad"--a characteristic of comedy in which the good are rewarded and the wicked punished). All plots have some pathos (suffering), but a complex plot includes reversal and recognition.

a) "Reversal" (peripeteia): occurs when a situation seems to developing in one direction, then suddenly "reverses" to another. For example, when Oedipus first hears of the death of Polybus (his supposed father), the news at first seems good, but then is revealed to be disastrous.

b) "Recognition" (anagnorisis or "knowing again" or "knowing back" or "knowing throughout" ): a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate. For example, Oedipus kills his father in ignorance and then learns of his true relationship to the King of Thebes.

Recognition scenes in tragedy are of some horrible event or secret, while those in comedy usually reunite long-lost relatives or friends. A plot with tragic reversals and recognitions best arouses pity and fear.

c) "Suffering" (pathos): Also translated as "a calamity," the third element of plot is "a destructive or painful act." The English words "sympathy," "empathy," and "apathy" (literally, absence of suffering) all stem from this Greek word