Defining Literature: (What is Literature); Definition of Literature: English Literature

Defining Literature

Looking for the definition of literature is the same Herculean task that every student of literary curious person has to take up; however, the result is the same – either a philosophized hallucination or nothing! To define literature in the most appropriate terms is very difficult and rather impossible (this is what I think to be true; and most others too). In the academic days, a teacher may come in the class with his spectacles on the forehead and might tell you that ‘literature is the mirror of society’. It is, however, the most suiting of the available definitions. Literature is, indeed, the mirror of society. Nevertheless, will you take the risk to ask him that which ‘image’? A real image; a forged image; a virtual image; or some other image! The question them moves to a new level of the argument. What type of mirror is literature is? A plain mirror that reflects simply what it observes; a convex mirror that forges the image otherwise; or a concave mirror that starts predicting rather than reflecting…

Therefore, friends, defining literature persists to be a pain in neck for the students, teachers, and scholars. We offer you to construct a definition of your own for best results!

Wordsworth and Nature... Debate. Issue. Poetry of Wordsworth and Nature. Poet Wordsworth and Nature Poetry

CONCLUSION

It is well-known in the world of poetry readers and literary persons that nature and Wordsworth more or less work like synonymous to each other. Without nature, the poetry of Wordsworth is nothing; since the beginning of his poetic career to the end of his poetry, one can easily find the impression that nature marked upon him and his poetry. Nature is the inevitable force when we talk about the poetry of Wordsworth; it works like the central object around which the cobweb of Wordsworth’s poetry is weaved. Nature to Wordsworth means everything in his last stage… however, it was not a sudden ‘flash’, rather it was a gradual process that integrated nature to the poetry and even the life of Wordsworth. Nature in the beginning was only of a ‘secondary pursuit’ to the poet and eventually it became the ‘mistress’ and later ‘mother’ and sustainer of the poet. All the story, Wordsworth records in his celebrated autobiography – The Prelude.

To Wordsworth, nature does not only mean the object to see and be pleased with; he perceives nature as offering security and protection to the world, to humankind, and acting like an authority to manage the movements of the environment. Writes an author about this unique trait of Wordsworth:

“In Wordsworth’s The River Duddon: A Series of Sonnets (1820), the speaker is again drawn to the thought that nature actively protects – as the stream descends from bare upland, ‘to form a shade / For Thee, green alders have together wound / Their foliage; ashes flung their arms around; / And birch-trees risen in silver colonnade’. In the sequence, individual sonnets present different parts of the landscape, often raising the possibility of an allegorical meaning for them, sometimes making it unmistakable. In this case, the trees are like parents watching over and nurturing the young stream; the course of a life, charted by the stream, has reached childhood and nature’s nursing of the human soul is visible in the trees’ protective efforts and again, a moment later, in the cottage nearby where a ‘mother’s eyes / Carelessly watched’ her children at play (Sonnet 5). This movement of thought is typical of the sonnets and, as here, the fancifulness of Wordsworth’s language draws attention to the mind creating the allegorical sense at the same time as it claims that that sense is genuinely present.” ¹

Indeed, to Wordsworth, ‘human soul is visible in the trees.’ Wordsworth is a unique poet with such blessed eyes that can actually see nature and human so commingling that one without the other cannot exist! When the sister of the poet calls him to stay with her, he composes a poem and writes the first line:

“On Nature’s invitation do I come,” ²

For Wordsworth, it was not merely the call of his sister, rather it was the call of Nature unto him… it was in the habit of Wordsworth, in his poetry and his sensibility to relate everything to Nature. A serious poetry reader can find certainly the quality in the poetry of Wordsworth that mingles human emotions and sufferings with nature – nature that endures all; nature that returns only good; and nature that acts like the guardian to humankind! It is the company of nature that lets Wordsworth listen –

“The still, sad music of humanity,”

And for the asylum, for the peace Wordsworth releases himself in the arms of nature and so he advises to everyone else. Wordsworth is the genuine flag-holder of the romantic revival’s call that advocates ‘return to the nature’.

Wordsworth wished always the development of humankind and the mutual harmony between man and man, and man and nature, ‘By Nature’s kind and ever-present aid’.

At last, to conclude this dissertation, there is no better way than quoting his lines that muse the Nature:

“The spot was made by Nature for herself;

The travellers know it not, and 't will remain

Unknown to them; but it is beautiful;

And if a man should plant his cottage near,

Should sleep beneath the shelter of its trees.

And blend its waters with his daily meal,

He would so love it, that in his death-hour

Its image would survive among his thoughts:” ³

REFERENCES

1.     Stephen Gill, The Cambridge Companion to Wordsworth. p. 193.

2.     William Wordsworth, The Complete Poetical Works of Wordsworth (New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919), p. 213.

3.     Ibid. p. 310.

Further Reading

Primary Sources:

1.     Wordsworth, William. The Complete Poetical Works of Wordsworth. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919.

2.     Wordsworth, William. The Collected Poems of William Wordsworth. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 2006.

3.     Wordsworth, William. The Prelude. Agra: Narain, 2007.

4.     Wordsworth, William. Selected Poems. New Delhi: Vimal Prakashan, 2006.

Secondary Sources:

1.     Herford, Charles H. The Age of Wordsworth. Kolkata: Books Way, 2008.

2.     Gill, Stephen. The Cambridge Companion to Wordsworth.

3.     Hopkins, Kenneth. English Poetry: A Short History. New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1962.

4.     Legouis, Emily and Louis Cazamian. History of English Literature. Gurgaon: Macmillan, 2012.

5.     EVANS, Ifor. A Short History of English Literature. Noida: Penguin, 1990.

Auden: Dear though the Night is Gone: Love Poem by Auden: Summary

This poem, surely a serious one with complications, is undoubtedly very tough for the readers with some single interpretation to carry on. One can say it draws a picture of prostitution; someone can figure it out as the love story of the poet, which was a failure. Moreover, some new interpretations may come into play too. 
However, to summarize the poem as a whole with some definite idea is difficult. Still, if you read the poem carefully, you will come through the ideas of faith, revelation, illusion, and disillusion etc. too. The poet describes of a night spent with someone in a place where there are other couples too. (It might lead a mind to think of some brothel.) Moreover, other couples have hostile eyes for this couple which poet forms with his beloved/partner. The poet and his beloved/partner are making love and the other couples are sad, inactive, though in each other's arms. This situation might take us back to the 'wasteland' of Eliot where 'exploring hands encounter no defence.'
The situation in the poem is dense and sad. Love has been not at all a pleasure. 
The last part/stanza of the poem is very significant and most complicated. It's true that I am also unable to find something definite in that. However, we must make some ideas about the lines. So, the poet seems (to me) making a question to himself. Was he trying to taste the depth of love? Was he not ready to indulge in physical contact? 'That you then, unabashed, did what I never wished,' this line raises questions of dispute in the poem. Whom is he addressing to? To himself, or to his beloved/partner? 
One idea arises and that veers the other idea. 
Or it was some truth that the poet finds through the course of the night and falls aside of the conventional way? 

Becky Sharp: Character Sketch: Vanity Fair: William Thackeray

This is a formal start for the sketch, you will get a base then you have to put your own ideas in play.

One of the most animated characters, sharpest woman character, and perhaps the most cunning of all female protagonists that have been created so far by the pen of any author, Becky Sharp, the character of Vanity Fair, reflects all these qualities from her personality and actions. She is short but not at all short in her wit. She smiles with the most gracious movements of her lips but strikes the sentiments of the victim so ungraciously! Becky Sharp justifies her name and she is sharp from all the angles one can observe.

Becky, the ill-bred girl with some inherit gifts like French in natural accent and humour to amuse all around her, is very ambitious since her childhood. Ambition- something like integrated in the character of Becky, we may say that it is the gift of the society to her. When in the Pinkerton’s school, everyone is harsh towards Becky except Amelia only. (Amelia has the reason; Thackeray has made her stupid.) The harsh behaviour of the school, Pinkerton’s now and then rebuke on Becky makes Becky ill and sick with the typical Victorian arrogance to grow up and up in the society. Moreover, the Pinkerton’s style, the Pinkerton’s hatred, and everything about modern and socially aware Pinkerton enter into the life of Becky and later we see that Becky is the perfect resemblance of Pinkerton.    ..............

A Comparison Between Mathew Arnold and Tennyson

Paradoxically, if we say that Victorian age in the history of England suffered an enjoyment, it will be true to speak thus! The whole country, under the reign of their queen, Queen Victoria (1837-1901), underwent an all-round progress. Mechanically, the country touched the new heights of prosperity. Industrialization on a great scale marked the rise of new business era for England. Moreover, we must remember that this was the age in which England made the grip of dominance stronger in the colonized countries.

However, this growing prosperity and the decaying faith in the existence of supreme divinity did not lure the hearts of the great literary figures of Victorian age. The poets, writing in Victorian age, were in dire need of escaping to the countryside areas in search of peace and solace! John Clare stands as an example of this group of poets, who was a farmer and painted the rural life in his poetry. Another perfect and foremost example of this trend is Mathew Arnold who always remains with his ‘scholar’ in the countryside areas of Oxford and enjoys the company of nature and rustic people. Arnold despises the city life and advises the ‘scholar’ of his imagination and indirectly the fellow citizens to escape:

“But fly our paths, our feverish contacts fly!

 For strong the infection of our mental strife,

 Which, though it gives no bliss, yet spoils rest.”

Another contemporary of Mathew Arnold is Alfred Lord Tennyson. He also writes of the disappearing faith in the existence of God and the increasing interference of enlarging hands of Science and Mechanism in the society. In his protracted elegy, In Memoriam, he expresses the agony of his heart and in a way, the entire Victorian society:

“Our little systems have their day:

  They have their day and cease to be:

  They are but broken lights of thee,

  And thou, O Lord, art more than they.”

We can have the conspicuous glimpse of the conflict prevailed the Victorian age, in the hearts of Victorian people; and we can see the realization that the heart of this great poet, Tennyson, feels. Thus, we can say that the Victorian period saw the prosperity of mechanics and industries, which the governing body and the citizens liked, but the poets of higher spirit and noble soul, felt the coming danger of moral and religious decadence and tried to present their foresight to the society.

Victorian age bears two greatest poets of the English Literature of all time, the first is Alfred Lord Tennyson, and the other is Mathew Arnold. They both are genius on their place. No one can hold the dignity of another. They both enjoy the gift of heavens; they both have the poetic fire; the “Muse” has been very tender to her both sons! Therefore, to make an analogy amid these two great figures of the English Literature is a very difficult task. Still, we can try to exercise our wit to present the qualities and special merits of both of them as a poet. This effort will lead us to make certain perceptions that discriminate the two great poets, their style, their views to art and poetry, and more.

The View towards Art and Poetry:

The first and foremost point that discriminates the great literary figures is undoubtedly the view towards art and poetry; moreover, the two, Arnold and Tennyson are not the exceptions. They are certainly different in their perception about art and poetry, though, they are the representatives of the same age. Both the poets were aware of the falling standards of art in the age of Victorian Flourishing. Amid the topsy-turvy of faith and belief, both the poets had to choose their way different and set a standard of themselves. We have certainly to rank Arnold above to Tennyson in this regard. Arnold was very early to know what the standard of poetry should be; he decided the way of his poetic growth and always moved constantly on that like the Etna. For Arnold, “poetry is the criticism of life under the conditions fixed for such a criticism by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty.” Arnold, in his poetic creation, The Buried Life, compiled in Empedocles on Etna and other Poems, announces the weakness and crisis of the Victorian age:

“Alas, is even love too weak
To unlock the heart, and let it speak?
Are even lovers powerless to reveal
To one another what indeed they feel?”

This quote reveals the motive of Arnold and his poetry- only to reveal the truth and unbiased judgment, to announce the society of his time as it is, and to tell the ways of a content and alive life!

Moreover, we have to admit that Arnold knew the ‘poetic truth’ and the ‘poetic beauty’. However, when we have to make a judgment of Tennyson in the regard of his realization of art and poetry, we have a quote made by the great critic, IforEvans that is worth to quote:

 “….. Though Tennyson was charged with sometimes having one eye on the audience and, after he was made laureate, with having both eyes on the Queen.”

This remark says so much about the perception of Tennyson towards poetry. He had in view the audience, and then the Queen. However, it is the masterpiece of Tennyson, In Memoriam, and some other writings indeed, where Tennyson, to an extent, surpasses all the poets of his age or any age in the matter of realization the true meaning of poetry! The very opening line of the longest elegy written hitherto in English, In Memoriam, strikes our conscience with a grand force:

“Strong son of God, immortal Love,”

In this line, we have the mature and learned Tennyson, who enjoys a washed soul and solace after the protracted suffering of the loss of his friend, Arthur Henry Hallam. Tennyson announces in the same elegy:

“I hold it true, whate’er befall;

 I feel it, when I sorrow most;

‘Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.”

However, if we are compelled and bond to compare the two great poets in this regard, that is, in the realization of the poetry and its motive, we certainly have to rank Arnold above Tennyson; Arnold was quick in realizing, Tennyson was late! Arnold, almost in each of his poems, speaks with the authority of his own propagated theory; Tennyson at the same time fails to follow the rhythm of In Memoriam in all of his poems! Thus, the first and foremost of the distinguishing points, announces Arnold as superior to Tennyson.

Style of Composing Poetry:

In the matter of style, it is indeed tough to fix that who is superior- Arnold or Tennyson. They both enjoy their own way of expressing their great ideas. However, Tennyson has been praised for his beautiful lyricism and Arnold has been charged of “Coldly efficient narrative.” Arnold emphasizes on the grand style of composition, while Tennyson bends towards the charming ways of expressing his ideas in the poems. For instance, if we consider the lines of Tennyson, in the fragment of his poem, The Eagle:

“He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

 Close to the sun in lonely lands,

 Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.”

Here we have the sight animated in front of our eyes; we can see; we can imagine; we can trust the poet of his imagination too. The lyricism is apparently visible. Moreover, the beauty of the lines is unchallenged! Now, let us concentrate on the lines of Mathew Arnold, in his poem, Dover Beach:

“Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.”

After the beautiful expression of the ‘calm sea’, ‘fair moon’, and other sceneries, the poet expresses his great ideas in a fashion suiting to it; in other words, he adds the ‘poetic truth’ and ‘poetic beauty’ to his ‘criticism of life.’ We all know the erudition of the great figure, Mathew Arnold, and in the words of IforEvans, he imparted something ‘permanent and major contribution’ to the English literature with his great prose writings. However, the same critic, IforEvans charges him of being not so great in the matter of being a poet. By and large, we see it in the case of his expression, Arnold is able to perceive great ideas; he is able to impart knowledge and wisdom to his verse; yet, he is not able to make his expression as beautiful as Tennyson!

The Influences on the both Poet: Their General Tendency to Follow

Any poet is not a poet at once; a poet is born and he is lulled amid some certain fancies and tendencies. Every poet has liking for poets of the past, or the contemporary, or a person or people of another areas of art. No poet can pave his was alone in the field of literary production without being affected by some other literary figure. Tennyson and Arnold are not the exceptions. These two great poets also reflect certain impressions of the older poets. Except some occasions, generally, both of the poets were unaffected by the growing mechanism of the Victorian age. We have the example of Locksley Hall where the poet Tennyson finds himself amid the mirage of Victorian bright diadem!

Arnold was in favour of the Ancient Classic masters and always tried to reinforce his verses with a universal message like them. Even in the great essay written by him, The Study of Poetry, Arnold tends to blow the triumph of the Ancient Masters and warns his readers to use them as the ‘touchstone’ jewels to brighten their readings. Tennyson, just contrary to Arnold, finds himself amid the Romantic remains. Except of some fixed numbers of examples, he leaves nothing of permanence for his readers to remember! His poems are the ‘day’s enjoyment’ except the elegy or long length that remains to suggest us the value of universal and eternal realm! However, we must not forget that the lasting phase of the career of Tennyson showed him as the magnificent poet who tries to follow the ancient style of writing:

“Where never creeps a cloud, or moves a wind,

 Nor ever falls the least white star of snow,”

Tennyson in these two lines stands in the rank of Homer! The beauty of the lines, the grandeur of the rhythm, everything we have to remark thus…

Now, to conclude the argument of the comparison between these two poets, I must leave it upon the readers to choose whether one is surpassing other or the two, just move along on the road to greatness.

The concluding verse of Arnold, the most worthy to quote of the poet who is very hopeless of the crisis of Victorian prosperity:

“But ah, though peace indeed is here,
 And ease from shame, and rest from fear;
 Though nothing can dismarble now
 The smoothness of that limpid brow;
 Yet is a calm like this, in truth,
 The crowning end of life and youth?”

And the concluding verse of the poet Tennyson:

“And it sings a song of undying love:

 And yet, tho’ its voice be so clear and full,

 You never would hear it; your ears are so dull,”

Both the poets stand dazzling on the ground of English Literature! To compare them, and to come to a solid ground of judgment, is too tough a task for any scholar! Still, it was my attempt to bring out their merits and qualities together. 

Written by Alok Mishra

Author and Poet

Student of MA in English Literature at Nalanda College, Biharsharif, Bihar

Greek Effect on the Poetry of John Keats or Keats Hellenism or The Hellenistic Approach of Keats or The Greek Note in Keats

Paper on the Greek Effect on the Poetry of John Keats

The German knowledge voracious exclaims after the covetable first glimpse of the eternal beauty of Helen:

“Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,

  And burnt the topless towers of Ilium…”

In this utterance, though a paradoxical truth, we have conspicuous evidence of a passion for beauty. Again, when we pay attention to one closing paradoxical and many a time anthologised:

“‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ that is all

   Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

Here we find the same passion for beauty, beauty that is truth. John Keats, whose span of literary career was too short to be another Shakespeare, owed much of his poetry to the ancient Greeks. That is why Shelley was compelled to remark, “John Keats is a Greek.” John Keats suffered a passion for beauty that ended only with his death. Though, we must remember that this passion was not infatuation; Keats knew the truth; Keats knew the beauty! It is a sure truth that Keats followed the ancient Greeks and the mythology created by them. My paper is dedicated to the ‘ever-unfortunate-and-sad’ poet John Keats and his Hellenism.

John Keats was acquainted to the wondrous world of ancient Greek through the translations and the dictionaries only; it means clearly that, then what knowledge he gained about the Greek world was scanty. John Keats, however, read, liked, and owed much of his Hellenism to Chapman. His sonnet, “On First Looking into the Chapman’s Homer” is an example of that.

Though clumsy were the sources, yet Keats’ imagination was phenomenal and he pierced deep into the world of ancient Greeks. A Pagan, for whom the only truth was beauty, be that beauty in ugliest creature like the serpent, or in the wonderful ‘Grecian Urn’, he started seeing every possible personification in the nature. It was the effect of his Greek reading that Keats saw the image of ‘Selene’ each time Keats saw the moon. He saw the nymphs dancing and ‘Dryads’ when he saw forest or a tree. Often we find Keats listening to Orpheus in his verses, giving a divine shape to ‘Autumn’, making a Goddess of human ‘Psyche’ and doing all sort of acts that force us to go in a state of nostalgia and live in the world of ancient Greeks!

Apart from his view of Gods present everywhere in nature, we find another Greek effect on his poetry in the form of his deep interest in Greek mythology. Keats was such fascinated with the myths of Greek that rare are his protracted verses those are orphan of Greek myths! The beauty of ‘Endymion’ and the act of ‘Selene’ we find in his first composed long and loosely handled narrative romance “Endymion.” This long poem is very famous for the opening line that strikes every bosom with the enormous beauty and a solace:

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

“Endymion” throughout moves in the setting of ancient Greek myths and amid the Greek Gods. Other poems of Keats that ploy with the Greek myths are “Lamia”, “Hyperion”, and the “Fall of Hyperion” majorly in the lengthy poems. As the very titles of these pieces evoke, these deal with and lull ancient Greek mythology with painting of Keats’ imagination and his gifted gift of powerful lyricism! Among these, “Lamia” again countersigns the revival of ancient Paganism of Greeks in John Keats. Keats, in “Lamia” tries to favour the beauty even in the ugliest creature like serpent. The beauty, for a poet of beauty in pure sense, does never end, and in this poem, Keats presents the resemblance of grand opening line of “Endymion”:

“And soon his eyes had drunk her beauty up,

 Leaving no drop in the bewildering cup,

 And still the cup was full…”

Here, amid the setting of nymphs, monsters, and ancient Greek, Keats also carries the Greek hoisting flag of beauty with full swing.

Apart from the long narratives, the shorter poems of Keats also display conspicuous Greekness. The best known of them is perhaps “Ode on a Grecian Urn”. This ode sings of an ancient urn that displays the marvellous beauty to the eyes of the poet Keats. However, with beauty, Keats love is bare for the ancient Greek arts and once again, he displays it in the “Ode on a Grecian Urn”. Keats speaks of his love for the beauty for ancient Greek Urn in a manner like this:

“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

  Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on:

  Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,

  Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone…”

The lines reflect the apparent passion of Keats for the ancient Greeks, their art, their creation, and everything about Greek! Keats, in short, suggests in his ode that art is superior to experience and men must realize it and not underestimate the value of ancient art.

He paints the war amid Greek Gods in “Hyperion” without any secure knowledge save some scanty readings and his imagination. Keats delights in the world of ancient Greeks and in the ‘vales’ where he finds nymphs, and trees raising their hands and dancing; he finds the sea Goddess in water, God Bacchus in wine, and the life in everything sought! Keats is a true Greek in his poems, in his imagination, in his perception, in his Paganism, and by birth! He found the truth in beauty, and beauty in the ancient ruins of the once glorious Greeks; therefore, he followed the footsteps of the ancient Greek masters and mixed his fancy and lustre of dazzling imagination to produce the poetry that was meant to lead the modern poets and fulfil the wish of young poet to remain in the list of English Poets after his death.

At last, to deduce the argument about the Greek effect on the poetry of John Keats, I have to add that a young learner, who was sad about the decaying virtue- beauty, found no other way than escaping the age and remain in the nostalgia of ancient glory. His poetry, that is fulgent with meaning and a pure Greek adoration of beauty, will ever be a landmark for the newcomers. However, some critics and poets, even one like Byron, claims the passion of Keats in the vulgar phrase: “Poetic masturbation.” It is nothing but only the pain of not realizing the truth! Keats is a pure poet who has indeed a passion for beauty. His art, his poetry is for the sake of poetry and nothing else. He is an English Greek…

                                                  An Apology for Keats and His Greekness

On Keats being a Greek

Let him live in solace, in nostalgia

Where he finds his Truth- beauty,

To adore that truth is his duty,

Whither shalt thou or they judge?

He remains the sole to glean

The myriad beauty so calm and clean,

And present the pure painted reminiscence

To the ignorant eyes of unknown immense!

Paper by Alok Mishra

(Author and Poet)

Pursuing MA in English from Nalanda College Biharsharif