VICTORIANISM VS MODERNISM
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THE NATYASHASTRA AND INDIAN CINEMA
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Comparison: Robert Frost’s ‘Fire and Ice’ & Edmund Spenser's ‘My Love is Like to Ice and I to Fire’
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Queer Theory In W.H. Auden’s “September 1, 1939”
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Modernism in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
This is my presentation on Paper no.: 106 The Twentieth Century Literature: 1900 to World War II
Introduction to Indian Poetics
Introduction
Indian poetry started to develop with the contribution of the exponents and grammarians like Bharata, Bhamaha, Mamata, Anandvardhan, Dadin, Vamana, Udbhata, Rudrata, Ksemendra, etc. we find no written record of Indian poetics in early history so Bharata is largely considered to the father of Indian Poetics. Bharat’s Natya Shastra is to be the oldest existing work of Indian poetics. It consists of thirty-seven chapters and deals with all the aesthetics and technicalities of dance, drama, and dramaturgy. Apart from drama and dramatic theory, the importance of Bharata in the history of Sanskrit poetry lies in the rasa theory of poetics.
We also find a myth connected to Natya shastra; It’s a myth about the ‘Natyashashtra’ that the God Indra has requested to Lord Brahma to create something which is delightful to eyes and pleasing to ears. Brahma took the element of the song from ‘Samaveda’, ‘the tandava’ from God Shiva, and ‘Lasya’ from Goddess Parvati. And he compiled the ‘Natyashashtra’.
Now further let us discuss the origin of Indian poetics and will discuss two theories that are Alankara and Vakrokti.
Sanskrit Poetics
Sanskrit poetics had been evolved with different schools of thought and
those schools are as follows:
Alamkara (poetic figures) school
Rasa (aesthetic pleasure) school
Riti (style) school
Guna (attribute) school
Dhvani (suggestion) school
Vakrokti (obliquity) school
Anumana (inference) school
Aucitya (propriety) school
Tamil Poetics
Tamil poetics is Tholkappiyar.Tamil Poetics besides Sanskrit, another major field of Indian poetics is Tamil. It is also an ancient and contemporary school of Indian poetics as Sanskrit.
• Major theorist of Tamil poetics is Tholkappiyar.
• He was a linguist and grammarian also.
• His book Tholkappiyam deals with diction and syntax mainly.
This book is actually concerned with the descriptive linguistics of Tamil. Though his work deals with grammar and other parts of linguistics, the major reference was poetry. Therefore, words, meaning, and syntax in poetry are anałysed with keen interest.
Persian Poetics
The Persian language in India has a very rich history of literature. Entire medieval India has observed Persian as an influential literary culture and many modern Indian languages have adapted or translated texts from Persian.
Therefore, the history of Persian literature in India is not only the history of Persian alone but a comparative history of influence study also. Different literary genres and themes are adapted from Persian and Arabic Literature. Besides this Amir Khusru, a rare genius is one among the very famous poets who have lived in popular culture. But Khusru is not only a poet; he is a chronicler, musician, composer, author, and poet all in one mind. His idea of literary history is also a model for writing a history of literature. Like Badaoni he also proposed historiography of Indian literary history and Indian history also. Albadaoni's Twarikh and Amir Khusru's Nuh Sipihr are the texts which contain the theoretical thinking of these two great minds.
Modern Interpretations- Tagore, Aurobindo, Coomaraswamy, Mardhekar, Krishna Rayan, Suresh Joshi, Krishnamurti, Hiriyanna, Bhalchandra Nemade, Ramanujan, Bimal Krishna Matilal, Patankar, Spivak, Sudhir Kakar, and Aijaj Ahmed are such scholars. Aesthetics of Modernism-Rabindranath Tagore; Satya sheel and Sundara-Rabindranath Tagore
Indian Aesthetics
What is Abhinay?
Abhinay means when you act.
The character who is playing the role can only evoke the feeling of Rasa in the audience.
Rasa Siddhant Is based on 4 Abhinay.
Angika ( voluntary Non - Verbal Expression).
Angika or Gestures are performed by the actors voluntarily.
Sattvika ( Involuntary Non - verbal action / Expression.
Vachika ( Tone, pitch ).
Aharya ( Costume and stage action).
Alamkara Theory
Bhamaha, author of kavyalankara ( known as the father of Alamkara school in Sanskrit poetics).
It is a figure of speech.
- According to Bhamaha, Alamkara ( Figures of speech ) are given the highest place than
grammatical and logical correctness.
- Alamkara divided into two kinds
1) Shabdalankar.
2) Arthalankaras.
Shabdalankar - its Function was to make the sound Aspect of the compositions
agreeable to the ear.
- Arthalankaras - To produce an appealing turn of speech.
Types of alankara
1.Simile ( Upama) - comparison b/w two ideas . For Ex:- As, Like.
- Simile is used in the oldest form of Vedic writings.
Ex. Her smile is as bright as the sun
2. Rupaka ( Metaphor ) – It is another way of expressing the simile.
• Metaphor directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas.
3. Deepika Alamkara
Deepika is a word that indicates gender, Action, quality, and subject but is understood
Differently in different places. Based on the principle of similarity.
-For Example:- your Face and the moon rejoice at night. It is impossible for an inanimate
object like the moon to rejoice, the action of rejoicing being possible only to a rational
Being.
4. Hetu Alamkara ( Cause) It is an ornamental sound.
5. Paryayokta Alamkara - it means to speak in a roundabout way.
• Keeth defines " An utterance in which something is expressed indirectly.
• Falls in two major categories:-
1) Circumlocutory - a phrase that circles around a specific idea with multiple words rather
than directly evoking it with fewer and apter words.
2) synonymic – which is used by poets instead of the proper name For Ex- Bhuteshu ( Shiva).
6. Virodha – It is the same as Antithesis.
Giving a comparison in which the terms are in opposition.
For Ex:- your face and the lotus are similar.
7. Vyaj Stuti ( Irony) - A person utters words or sentences that contain an idea contrary to what he means.
Vyaja means Feigned, stuti means - praise
It means Feigned praise or Irony.
8. Siesa ( Pun) - Greeks call it paronomasia .
- It is a Greek word that means to suggest in one word something more than the user.
- Pun consists of the use of words of more than one meaning.
9. Atishayokti - Greek Rhetoricians like Longinus and Demetrius call this hyperbole.
In Hindi, it means an expression that lies in excess.
- It represents things in excess.
Bhamaha describes it as something that surpasses the ordinary.
It means to convey the most pleasing flattery.
10. Anupras Alankar
It is called alliteration.
- It consists of the harmonic repetition of the same sound in a verse or in a series of verse by means of the same letters.
• Using Different types of Alamkara results in the beauty of poetry. Actual beauty lies in the correct use of Different parts of speech.
Correct usage of the figures of speech.
Using words in the correct places we derive pleasure in that work.
Good poetry rests on word and meaning ( Two Factors).
Poetic Figures of speech are going to decorate your poetry and focus on meaning.
The function of poetry is to inculcate moral values.
Good poetry results in proficiency in the values of life.
- Bhamaha, considers Epic. poetry is the best of all Genres in form and style.
- Characters are lofty.
He appears in Book " Kavya Alamkara " in the 9th century.
Vakrokti Theory ( Oblique Speech)
This theory was developed by Kuntaka. The text in which he developed this theory was Vakrokti Jivika. Vakroti means a roundabout way of Expressing, not a straightforward or indirect way. When you say a thing in a very different manner. Saying a word in an indirect manner.
Poetry is marked by a roundabout turn of Expression. How you can present the same idea in very different Manners. According to S.K De, It is a kind of heightened expression. Kuntaka defined it as the vital essence of poetry. It is important for poetic Expression. According to him inadequate expression and Expressions devoid of ideals are of no use. He calls a beautiful expression without a beautiful idea dead.
Vakroti means a certain striking or charming mode of Expression. To Kuntaka, vakrokti is the only embellishment possible to the word and its meaning, and all poetic figures are different manifestations of Vakroti.
Kuntaka Classifies Vakrokti into 6 Levels of Expression in poetry.
1) Phonetic Figurativeness – Skillful
Employment of Syllables or consonants with a to effect sound of the poem.
2) Lexical Figurativeness - It includes Stylistic Choice in vocabulary, Metaphor, adjectives veiled expressions ( Hidden Expression)
3) Grammatical Figurativeness – It Includes delineation of inanimate objects as animate and personification of objects.
4) Sentential Figurativeness - The poetry, the poetic material, and the poet bear a close resemblance to the painting, the painting material, and the painter respectively.
5) Contextual / Episodic Figurativeness – It depends upon the Context, and which topic / Subject is talked about.
6) Compositional Figurativeness – This Includes adaptation of a story From a well-known source with new twists added to it, with a new Emotional significance, deletion of unnecessary episodes, and the development of even minor incidents into events of Far-reaching consequences.
Thus, Over the period different theoreticians, grammarians, and scholars of Indian poetry developed and contributed different methods and concepts to early Indian literature. the mentioned schools of poetry and stalwart theoretician like Bharat, Anand Vardhan, Abhinav Gupta, etc contributed immensely in order to solving the logical and philosophical, and linguistic problems in Literature. Indian ave undoubtedly remained the guidelines for further progress in flourishing literature in a prolific way.
LITERARY MOVEMENTS.
Introduction:
Literature of the 20th-century refers to world literature produced during the 20th century. In the terms of Euro- American tradition, the main periods are captured in the division of modernist and post-modernist literature. In the 20th-century experimentation became a prominent force, and various European and American writers began to experiment with various given forms. Tendencies that formed during this period later became parts of the modernist movement. The Cantos of Ezra Pound, the post-World War I work of T.S. Eliot, prose, and plays by Gertrude Stein, were some of the most influential works of the time, though James Joyce’s Ulysses is generally considered the most essential work of the period.
This idea of new experimentation in the literature gave rise to the various genres or styles of writing, and various -isms came into existence like absurdism, surrealism, expressionism, impressionism, dadaism, etc. These all are the result of experimentation writing which broke all the conventional rules of writing and with the idea of modernism to do something new there came various isms in literature.
The definition of 'experimental writing' is highly subjective, but for me, it includes writing that plays with form and pushes the possibilities of language further than usual. Some experimental writing can be difficult, asking for careful and active reading, such as Russell Hoban's novel Riddley Walker (1980)
We will discuss some -isms:
Expressionism:
Expressionism, according to R. G. Hagger, “is a form of romantic art in which emotion or emotive element expressed through violent distortions and exaggeration, are taken to the point of excess. It is a characteristic of art that emerges and becomes dominant in times of social and spiritual stress.” This movement became dominant, especially in Germany, during the decade following World War 1. An expressionist paints life not as it is visible to him on the surface, but life as he or his character passionately feels it to be. The external appearance of the object is consciously distorted in order to represent the object as it is felt. For example, the scenery is an expressionist drama that will not be photographically accurate but will be so distorted that it may reflect the defendant's state of mind. the word which, though it can be defined with some exactness in painting, has been so variously applied in Literature as to be devoid of any precise or single meaning. Kurt Hiller was the first to apply the term “expressionism” to German literature in 1911. It flourished in Germany as an anti-realistic Mod of artistic expression.
The expressionists rejected the limitation of external reality in order to express either a private, inner vision or a wider political one of a world often depicted as bizarre and violent. Expressionism can be used to describe virtually any of the deliberate distortion of or departures from reality that pervade modern literature and art.
Signor Benedetto Goce, The Italian critic expounded the definition of expressionism. His philosophy of art is nothing but the intuition or the expression (within the mind) of impressions. The intuition assumes the form of art when the spirit persists in it, intent only upon the activity of perfect, expression by which impressions are elaborated to receive to die of imagination. “The artist is the man,” writes Scott James, “who vividly sees, the vividness of his seeings nothing else than vividness of expression. It does not matter what kind of life it may be. There is no superior excellence in this block of subject matter. The excellence lies in the vision of it- in giving formal expression to impressions to the full activity of imaginative power.”
What counts most with Goose is the athletic or creative process in which everything takes place within the artist’s mind aesthetic expression is wholly inward, the Impressions objectified are objectified only for him, and not in any physical form by which a critic can become aware of them. The artist is only an artist during the moments of free inspiration in which he finds himself big with his themes, he knows not how. This inward expression becomes “beautiful” when it unfolds itself successfully. Beauty, according to Gce is “successful expression, or better expression and nothing more, for expression, when it is not successful, nor epsilon”. Thus art, according to Gocce is “intuition expression”. It implies that “art is essentially free from practical interest”. For “so long as ugliness and turpitude exist in nature and impose themselves on the artist, it is not possible to prevent the expression of these things also.” What counts is the expression. J. E. Spingarn in America and Lascelles Abercrombie in England are the self-confessed followers of Goce.
In American literature, the plays of Eugene O’ Neill, particularly Emperor Jones, The Hairy Ape, and The Great God Brown were influenced by expressionism. T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Virginia Woolf’s novels, and the works by William Faulkner and Wyndham Lewis are influenced by expressionism. To some extent, W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood are influenced by it.
Surrealism:
The founder of the movement, known as surrealism, was Andre Breton, who in 1924 issued the first surrealist manifesto, which explained that a higher reality could be captured by freeing the mind from logic and rational control. To Breton surrealism was a changed manifestation of romanticism. He saw it as the “Prehensile bail” of romanticism. Certainly, it employed some of the methods of romanticism- a concern with dreams, madness, hypnosis, and hallucination. It was influenced by Coleridge, Nerves, and Baudelaire. This movement laid emphasis on the expression of the imagination as realized in dreams and presented without conscious control. In this respect, it was influenced by Freudian psychology. Herbert Read, the famous English critic, has placed surrealism in the tradition of romanticism. It is mainly concerned with the exploration of the mind. Thoslaviis, holey aimed at synthesizing the working of the unconscious mind with those of the conscious mind. Surrealist is non-logical and not illogical. He is Anti- rational and Nati- realist. The surrealists were particularly interested in the study and effects of dreams and hallucinations and also in the interpretations of sleeping and waking conditions on the threshold of the conscious mind, that kind of limbo where strange shapes materialize in the gulfs of the mind. In his second manifesto, which appear in 1929 Breton explained how the surrealist idea was to revitalize the psychic forces by a “vertiginous descent” into the self in quest of that secret and hidden territory where all that is apparently contradictory to your every- day lives and consciousness will be plain. There was a point in the min, he thought, where, beyond realism, is attained a new knowledge. It proposes the release of the imagination and stood as an implicit criticism of restrictive rationalism in society and realism in literature
Surrealism spread all over the world. It became popular in Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Holland, Scandinavia, Britain, Jap, and the whole continent of South Africa. Apart from poetry, it has influenced the novel, the theatre, the cinema, the painting, and the sculpture. Among the poets who have worked in a surrealist manner are Aragon and Elnard and among painters are Picasso, Tanguy, and Salvador Dali. James Joyce, Dylan Thomas, Samuel Beckett, William Burroughs, Alan Burns, B. S. Johnson, and many others too came under the influence of surrealism.
Dadaism:
Dadaism was a movement of young artists and writers in Paris during and after world war I. It aimed at suppressing the relationship between ideas and statements and absolute freedom, held meetings at bars and in theatres; and delivered itself numerous nonsensical and semi nonsensical “manifestos”. It was meant to signify everything and nothing. it became popular in Paris immediately after the first world war. “Nothing” was the basic word in the vocabulary of Dadaism. in art and literature manifestos of this aesthetics were mostly collage effects: the arrangement of unrelated objects and words in a random fashion. The purpose of dadaism was a nihilistic revolt against all bourgeois ideas of rationality. It was opposed to form and order. the artists and poets who follow Dadaism used collages to arrange objects and words into meaningless and illogical patterns. It wished to destroy us along with bourgeois society
Dadaism was founded in Zurich in 1916 by Tristan Tzara with the avowed object of perverting and demolishing the tenets of art, philosophy, and logic and substituting them with the conscious madness of war. Its exponents were Joan Miro, Marcel Duchamp, and Max Ernst, it Mod between fantasy and destruction and its influence spread from London to New York.
it was influenced by futurism. Its chief objective- Manifesto, phonetic poetry, Simultaneous poem, noise, music, and provocative public spectacle- were all borrowed from futurists and stood as an image of dissolution which seemed the central fact of modern existence. Dadaism stood for Masculinity in art and literature, Dada as opposed to mama. Robert Motherwell bought out the Dada painter and poet in 1951 in New York.
HESITATION IN ROBERT FROST’S POETRY.
“The universe is a rhythm; if we listen closely, we can hear its poetry.”
― Natalia Beshqoy
Life:
Robert Frost was an American poet who depicted realistic New England life through language and situations familiar to the common man. He won four Pulitzer Prizes for his work and spoke at John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration. He was born on 26 March 1874 in California and for around 11 years of his life lived there until his father died of tuberculosis. after that his mother and sister went to Massachusetts with his grandparents. He attended Lawrence School and later Dartmouth college and because of the financial issues he has to leave his college Halfway. later he went to Harvard University but dropped out after 2 years due to health issues.
He got married to Elinor White. they both were attending Lawrence High School, she was his co-valedictorian when they studied in graduation. in 1984 Frost proposed Elinor. she refused because she wanted to study further. Frost then decided to leave on a trip to Virginia after returning from the trip. He again proposed to White and she accepted they got married. They had 6 children out of them only two daughters were alive.
After getting married, in 1900 Frost with his wife and children went to you New Hampshire where they had property, and started farming. They attempted to make their life for the next 12 years. it was a fruitful time for Frost's writing but it was a very difficult period for their personal life. Elinor and Frost attempted various activities like poultry farming for having better earnings but all were unsuccessful. despite all these challenges they grew quite well, got acclaim in the life of the countryside, and began to write poetry about the countryside.
Robert Frost’s first poet ‘My Butterfly: An Elegy’ was published in the journal in New Hampshire. he was not getting any publishers to publish his poetry. Later, they decided to sell the farm and move with the family to England with the hope of getting a new publisher and a chance to meet new poets. after moving to England he found a publisher, and he published his poetries. he also met the poets like Ezra Pound and Edward Thomas who played a significant role in the life of Robert Frost as a poet.
Robert Frost was not known for the 40 years of his life but he was a reputation his following life and was well received by the literary world. In 1916 he published a ‘Mountain Interval’, a collection of other works that he created in England and various other Publications. In the latter part of his life after his wife died, he started a teaching profession in various schools and colleges. he has won 4 Pultizer Prizes and around 40 honorary degrees. a person who was not known for 40 years of his life got a chance at the age of 86 to recite his poetry ‘The Road not Taken’ in the presence of President John F Kennedy in 1961. He died on 29th January 1936 due to complications in the surgery.
We will discuss his two poetries: ‘The Road not Taken’ and ‘Stopping By The Woods’
The Road Not Taken (1915)
"The Road Not Taken" is a narrative poem by Robert Frost, first published in the August 1915 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, and later published as the first poem in the collection Mountain Interval (1916). Its central theme is the divergence of paths, both literally and figuratively, although its interpretation is noted for being complex and potentially divergent. The poem consists of four stanzas of five lines each. With the rhyme scheme as 'ABAAB'.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
In the poem the speaker is moving through the forest and is an is regretting that he or she is unable to travel on both the road and for a long time and tries to decide on which path he must walk, which will lead him. after deciding for a long period the speaker is taking another path and thinking it to be a good choice. supposing that it is grassy and looks less worn so it must be less traveled. then further in the poetry, he says that in the morning both the path were looking the same it is actually difficult to decide which route is less traveled. in the poem speaker says that he or she has kept the first path for the next time but doubts whether he will get a chance to come for the second time or not. Moving on to the choice of a past he has taken the speaker's images of himself or herself in the future and as if he is telling a story that the choice of road that he made is the only reason for the best and better future he is having.
In this poetry, we find the hesitation of a poet or speaker to choose one path. The roads in the poem are metaphorical for the path to be chosen in life. The poem is not affirming that if one chooses a path that is less traveled, they will definitely get what they want or they will be in their life. it is just a chance that can happen in life. poetry shows the theme of non-conformity and individualism, in the poem the speaker wants to have his or her individual choice but he or she has also no confirmation that whether his or her choice will be good or bad will be resulting in or not. poetry very aptly depicts the hesitation in the mind of the speaker to choose a path. the poem shows very minor examples of a speaker being in a forest, poetry depicts the situation of life a point in life comes when you have to choose one path and have to leave another.
Stopping by the Woods (1923)
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a poem by Robert Frost, written in 1922, and published in 1923 in his New Hampshire volume. The text of the poem reflects the thoughts of a lone wagon driver (the narrator), pausing at night in his travel to watch the snow falling in the woods. It ends with him reminding himself that, despite the loveliness of the view, "I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep."
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
In the poem stopping by the woods, the speaker is standing in the woods and appreciating the Woods. the narration about the woods makes a realization that the speaker wants to stay in the woods. he or she loves nature and wants to be in nature but in the last few lines of the poetry that so poet or the narrator or the speaker is not able to stay in the wood and enjoy the wood because of the materialistic world or social obligations that he or she has to follow. he wants to be in a nature but there is a society that won't allow him he has made promises to his family that he has to follow. Here ‘sleep’ might be meaning death; it can be interpreted as completely giving himself or herself to nature. he has much more to do in his life according to society and societal rules before he does something for himself. This poetry is very aptly depicted hesitation in the mind of the speaker to choose personal desire all to follow the societal rules.
Conclusion:
In the above-discussed poem, we can easily see the hesitation of the speaker or the narrator. We can interpret this hesitation about choosing a self individual life or the family life which is based on the societal rules and the other poem depicts the confusion between the choosing paths. To choose a path followed by everyone or to follow individualism with non-conformity. We can interpret that this hesitation in the poetries is from the personal life experience of Robert Frost. Both the poetries seem to be influenced by his personal life. As we discussed his personal life, after his father’s death he couldn't study in college and had to work for the earnings and later health issues didn't let him study. He got married and after that in spite of his wish to be a poet and write poetry he had to work hard, do farming and earn for the family. He was completely bounded to follow societal rules. Later around the age of 40, he chose to follow his passion for his writing and poetry.
Thus, we can clearly read the hesitation in the poems of Frost, the hesitation between personal desire, non-conformity, and social obligations.
Works Cited
Beshqoy, Natalia. If Stars Could Speak. Natalia Beshqoy, 2021.
Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.” Poetry Foundation, 1915, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken. Accessed 9 May 2022.
Frost, Robert, and Henry Holt. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert….” Poetry Foundation, 1923, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42891/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening. Accessed 9 May 2022.
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