Assignment : 7 : Literary Criticism
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Assignment
Name : Parmar
Krupa Jivabhai
Roll No : 20
Enrollment No
: 2069108420180040
M.A.Sem. : 2
Year : 2017-19
Email id : parmarkrupaj25@gmail.com
Paper No : 7 -
Literary Criticism
Submitted To :
Department of English Bhavnagar
Topic : I.A.Richards's
view on the Language of poetry
Introduction :
As we all know that this work Figurative Language is
done by gem writer I.A.Richard. So, before we discuss about figurative language
of poetry let’s know about I.A.Richard. Richards is recognized for his
perceptive theories of poetic language which maintained the importance of
poetry, while reflecting the scientific approach of the modern age. His
differentiation of language use—referential for scientific discourse and
emotive for poetry—originated from his early pronouncement that poetry could
offer only "pseudo-statements." This controversial issue prompted
much discussion of the problem of belief and value in poetry as Richards
analyzed it in Coleridge on Imagination. Richards also delineated four areas of
meaning to be disentangled by the responsible critic: a poem's sense, its
feeling, its tone, and its intention.
Richards's
reputation as the forerunner of New Criticism derives from two of his earliest
books. Principles of Literary Criticism, published in 1924, was his attempt to
establish a criticism based upon scientific method. Of particular interest to
Richards was the relatively new discipline of psychology, which he hoped would
eventually justify his theory of value that the best art satisfies the greatest
number of "appetencies." In Practical Criticism, published in 1929,
Richards applied his theories to the study of literature. The method he
introduced, asking students to comment on poems without benefit of background
information, was for a time a widely accepted exercise in evaluating
literature. Richards was especially concerned with the reader's reaction to the
poem; he believed that only close analysis would reveal the complexity of great
art and he warned against sentimentality and stock responses.
According
to I.A.Richards language can be used in two ways, i.e. the scientific use and
the emotive one. It’s only in recent years that serious attention is given to
the language as a science. In the scientific use of language, we are usually
matters of fact. All the activities covered by this use require undistorted
references and absence of fiction.
I.A.Richards
was an orthodox advocate of a close textual and verbal study and analysis of a
work of art. According to Richards there are three objectives to write ‘The
Practical Criticism.’
To introduce a new kind of documentation:
This documentation is to be introduced to those
who are interested in the contemporary state of culture whether as critics,
philosophers, as teachers, as psychologists, or merely as curious persons.
To provide new technique:
New technique
is to be provided for those who wish to discover for themselves what they think
and feel about poetry and why they should like or dislike it.
To prepare the way for educational methods:
Educational
methods are to be preparing more efficient than those we use now in developing
discrimination and the power to understand what we here and read.
In his methodology, a lot of
importance is given to the “words”. According to him the poet writes to
communicate, and language is the means of that communication. Language is made
of words and hence a study of words is all important if the meaning of work of
art is understood. Words carry four kinds of meaning: Sense, tone, feeling and
intention
To
his language of poetry is purely emotive, in its original primitive state. This
language affects feelings. Hence we must avoid intuitive and over-literal
reading of poems. Words in poetry have an emotive value, and the figurative
language used by poets conveys those emotions effectively and forcefully. His
approach towards criticism is pragmatic and empirical. I.A.Richards by his, own
work could make literary criticism factual, scientific and complete. It no
longer remains a matter of the application of set rules or more ‘intention’ or
‘impressions.’ His factual and scientific method of critical analysis,
interpretation and evolutions has exercised considerable influence on the New
Critics everywhere.
Richards
constructs this theory on the base of like or dislike of reader and he uses two
approaches for this theory.
« Pragmatic:
Basically pragmatic means to deal with cause
but Richards uses it in different way. He concedes it as knowledge.
« Empirical:
This theory basically follows practicality.
So this approach is based on practical observation and experiments. It is not
based on theoretical things but practicality is base of this theory and
approach.
The Importance of Words:
A
study of his Practical Criticism together with his work ‘The Meaning of
Meaning’ reveals his interest in verbal and textual analysis. According to him
a poets writes to communicate, and language is the means of that communication.
Language consist words so study of words is significant to understand the
meaning. The meaning depends on
i) Sense:
By sense it meant something that
is communicated by the plain literal meanings of the words.
ii) Feeling:
Refers to emotions, emotional
attitudes, desire, will, pleasure, UN pleasure and the rest. Words express
feelings.
iii) Tone:
Tone
here means the writer’s attitude towards his audience. The writer chooses his
words and arranges them keeping in mind the taste of his readers. Feeling is
only state of mind.
iv)
Intention:
Intention is author’s conscious or
unconscious aim. It is the effect that one tries to produce. Also intention
controls the emphasis, shapes the arrangement or draws attention to something
of importance. Richards says that
Words in poetry
have an emotive value and the figurative language used by poets conveys those
emotions effectively and forcefully. Words have different meanings in different
contexts. Words are symbols or signs and they deliver their full meaning only
in a particular context sense and feeling have a mutual dependence.
“The sound of a word has much to do with
the feeling it evokes.”
“The feelings already occupying the mind
limit the possibilities of the new word.”
Importance of Rhythm and Meter:
Rhythm and Meter and integral and important
parts of any poem because they determine the meaning of the words used by the
poets. Rhythm, meter and meaning cannot be separated; they form together a
single system.
Richards finds two kinds of belief and disbelief
i) Intellectual belief
ii) Emotional belief
The Nature of Poetic Truth:
The
‘poetic truth’ is much, different form the ‘scientific truth’. In the principle
of literary criticism he writes “It is evident that the bulk of poetry consists
of statement which only the very foolish would think of attempting to verify.
They are not the kind of things which can be verified. If we recall what was
said in chapter 16 as to the natural generality of verge of reference, we shall
see another reason why references as they occur in poetry are rarely
susceptible to scientific truth or falsity. Only references which are brought
in to certain highly complex and very special combinations, so as to correspond
to the ways in which things actually hang together, can be either true or false
and most references in poetry are not knit together in this way. But even when
they are on examination, frankle false, this is no defect. Indeed, the
obviousness of the falsity forces the reader to reactions which are incongruent
or disturbing to the poem. An equal paint more often misunderstood, their truth
when they are true, is no merit.” Metaphorical language is important purpose of
communication.
The
enthusiasm for science is an apartment in Principles of Literary is never
carried out in a rigorous programme of research. In 1992, Practical Criticism
followed: arguably a kind of reality statement after the illusions of
principles. Practical Criticism was no doubt a pedagogic necessity, the
consequence of Richards’s work as a lecture in English literature. With the
influx of students just back from the war, Richards had to direct his lectures
to an audience with quite different expectations from those of pre-war
students. The legacy of this pedagogical practice is the central and persistent
place in Anglo-American criticism which is accorded to interpretation and to
close reading, whether the objects are poems, Hollywood films, or historical
documents. This is despite the fact that Richards himself practiced little extended
close reading. Significantly, when Basil Willey credits Richards with founding
the modern school of New- Criticism, it is Practical Criticism, and not
Principles, that he mentions. Part 3 of Practical Criticism, ‘Analysis’, begins
with chapter ‘The Four Kinds of Meaning’, which pronounces that: the original
difficulty of all reading, the problem of making out the meaning, is our
obvious starting-point. The answers to those apparently simple questions: ‘What
is a meaning?’ ‘What are we doing when we Endeavour to make it out?’ ‘What is
it we are making out?’ are the master-keys to all the problems of criticism. If
we can make use of them the locked chambers and corridors of the theory of
poetry open to us, and a new and impressive order, is discovered even in the
most erratic twists of the protocols.
Is
it the return of the repressed in the form of Moore’s ‘What do you mean by
that?’ is this what is behind Richards’s wish to eliminate the question, ‘Is
the passage good or bad poetry?’ , and to invite answers only to the question,
‘What does it mean?’ at the outset of Practical Criticism? Commentators have
pointed to the underplaying of meaning in poetry in the early work, inherent in
the division between symbolic and evocative language for scientific and poetic
use respectively.
Source of Misunderstanding in Poetry:
According to
I.A.Richards there are four sources of misunderstanding of poetry. It is
difficult to diagnose with accuracy and definiteness, the source of some particular
mistake or misunderstanding. First, there might be a misunderstanding of the
sense of poetry. It arises from inattention, or sheer, cardessness.
I.A.Richards warns readers- In most poetry the sense is as important as
anything else; it is quite as a subtle,
and as dependent on the syntax, as in prose, it is the poet’s chief instrument
to other aims when it is not itself his aim. His control of thoughts is
ordinarily his chief means to the control of our feelings, and in the immense
majority of instances we miss nearly everything of value if we misread his
sense.
An
over literal-reading is as great a source of misunderstanding in poetry as
careless, ‘intuitive’ reading. Careless, intuitive reading and prosaic
“over-literal” reading are the simple-grades, the justing rocks. Defective
scholarship is a third source of misunderstanding in poetry. The reader may
fail to understand the sense of the poet, because he is ignorant of poet’s
sense. A far more serious cause of misunderstanding is the failure to realize
that the poetic use of words is different from their use in prose. Complaints
may rest upon an assumption about language that can be fatal to poetry.
Literary is one serious obstacle in the way of a right understanding of the
poetic words. According to Richards-‘poetry is different from prose and needs a
different attitude for right understanding.’
FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE:
A Simile is a
FIGURE OF THOUGHT:-
A
simile is a figure of thought in which one kind of thing is compared to a
markedly different object, concept, or experience; the comparison is made
explicit by the word “like” or “as”; “jen’s room is like a pig sty.” The simile
can be carried further and specify some feature of the comparison: “jen’s room
is as dirty as a sty.” In either case, the effect is that the subject and the
analogy are pictured in quick sequence, side by side.
Similes
occur in both poetry and prose, and they may be short and simple or long and
extended. They provide an important indication of an author or speaker’s TONE;
that is implied attitude towards the subject. As with a METAPHORE, the means is
to use a comparison that reflects some key quality of the literal subject. For,
use a comparison that reflects some key quality of the literal subject. For
example, the tone of simile may be exalted, as in Robert Burns’ lyrical
tribute: “O, May luve’s like a red, red rose.” Here, the image evoked is of a
fresh, vibrant, and lovely object of adoration.
The Value of Figurative Language:
The
use of figurative language can create problems. It is difficult to turn poetry
into logical respectable prose. Only through accuracy and precision is combined
with recognition of the liberties which are proper for a poet, and the power
and value of figurative language.
The
use of figurative language can create problems. It is difficult to turn poetry
into logical respectable prose. Only through accuracy and precision is combined
with a recognition of the liberties is combined with a recognition of the
liberties which are proper for a poet, and precision is combined with a
recognition of the liberties which are a
recognition of the liberties which are proper for a poet, and the power and
value of figurative language.
A Health, a
ringing health, unto the king, of all our hearts today! But what proud song,
should not followed on the thought, nor do him wrong? ………………….. Away into the
sunset-glow.
There
are various comments on the above piece of the hyperbole of sea-harp. The only
concrete simile in the octave is the likening of the sea to a harp-surely a
little extravagant.
There
is no doubt that the similarity between the sound of a harp and the sea but in
poetry such things do happen. It is clear that the effect proposed by the poets
is, “an exhilarating awakening of wonder and a fusion of the sea, lightning and
spring, those three ‘most moving manifestations of Nature.’
Mixed
Metaphors :-
Mixtures in metaphors work well if
in the mixture the different parts or elements do not cancel each other out.
The mixture must not be of the fire and water like. ‘Woven’ does not mix well
with sea and lightening and so here the mixed metaphor is a serious fault.
Figurative
Language:
The
poet is rather negligent in the choice of means he has employed to attain his
end. The enjoyment and understanding of the best poetry requires a
sensitiveness and discrimination with words, a nicely, imaginativeness and
deftness in taking their sense which will prevent the poem in question, in its
original form receiving the approval of the most attentive readers.
The Value of
Personification:
Personification comes naturally to us.
Personification may not express sense but it expresses the feelings of the poet
towards what he is speaking about personification enables the poet to clear and
comprehend the difficult work. Personification should not be over-elaborated.
There are degrees of personification. If it is over-elaborated it becomes
over-burdened.
Comparative
Criticism:
Richards
warns his readers against the dangers of over simple forms of ‘comparative
criticism’. A critic has compared the poet and Shelley is clear in the
conception. One thing should be noted that ‘end’ and ‘means’ both differ. As
two poets are often closely paralleled in their intents, divergence in their
methods does not prove one poem better than the other, ‘Comparative Criticism’
has value under conditions and circumstances.
“When
after five years of ‘antics’ chiefly concerned with the cloud- shadows, he
turns to the cloud itself in its afternoon dissolution, he cuts the
personification down, mixing his metaphors to reflect its incoherence, and
finally, ‘O frail steel issue of the sun,’ depersonifying it altogether in
mockery of its total loss of character. This recognition that the
personification was originally an extra vantage makes the poem definitely one
of fancy rather than imagination to use the Wordsworthian division but it
rather increases than diminishes the descriptive effects gained by the device.
And its peculiar felicity in exactly expressing a certain shade of feeling
towards the cloud deserves to be remarked.”
Analysis of
the poem with the help of “figurative language of poetry” by I.A.Richard
Joy and woe are woven fine
Joy
and woe are woven fine,
A
clothing for the soul divine,
Under
every grief and pine,
Runs
a joy with silken twine.
It
is right it should be so,
We
were made for joy and woe,
And
when this we rightly know,
Through
the world we safely go.
- by William Blake
In
this poem poet William Black uses some figures
of language like Paradox, personification, exaggeration or Hyperbole. So
let’s discuss it.
1.
Paradox : -
Joy and woe.
We
know that Joy means Happiness and woe means sadness and this both are together
in very first line of this poem. So, we can say that here poet used paradox in
first line of this poem.
2.
Personification:- clothing for the soul divine
Personification gives human characteristics
to inanimate objects, animals, or ideas. And here poet says that clothing for
the soul divine. We all know that soul can’t
wear clothes but here poet used
personification in this line.
3.
Personification :- Runs a joy
it is also personification because we all know
that joy can’t run.
‘ Joy and woe are woven fine’.
Conclusion:
Briefly, a proper understanding of
figurative language needs closer study. Its literal meaning must be traced. Its
literal meaning cannot be found in any imaginative appreciation of it. There
should be a judicious balance between literalism and imaginative freedom. One
should comprehend the meaning of poetry properly and then come to the judgment
whether it has any fault or not.
I.A.Richards
says :-
“The chemist must not require
that the poet writes like a chemist, not the moralist, not the man of affairs,
nor the logician, nor the professor, that he writes as they would. The whole
trouble of literalism is that the readers forget that the aim of the poems comes
first and is the sole justification of its means. We may quarrel, frequently we
must, with aim of the poem, but we have first to ascertain what it is. We
cannot legitimately judge its means by external standards which may have no
relevance to its success in doing what it set out to d
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