A TO Z Literary Principles from History of English Literature: Note 62


History of English Literature: A Set of 26 Objective Questions & Answers :

Critical Estimates of Romantic criticism (William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge,  Percy Bysshe Shelley, Margaret Fuller and Ralph Waldo Emerson)

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  William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge

  •   Wordsworth was primarily a poet and not a critic. He has left behind him no comprehensive treatise on Criticism. The bulk of his literary criticism is small yet "the core of his literary criticism is as inspired as his poetry". 
  •  "He knew about poetry in the real sense, and he has not said even a single word about poetry", says Chapman, "which is not valuable, and worth thinking over".  Also read the other set of A to Z (Objective Questions) 
  • Wordsworth's criticism is of far-reaching historical significance. When Wordsworth started, it was the Neo-classical criticism, which held the day-Wordsworth is the first critic to turn from the poetry to its substance; builds a theory of poetry, and gives an account of the nature of the creative process. 

Model English Note -14 for PGT , TGT and Other Competitive Examinations




Difficulty Level:  Graduation     Time: 2hr
Each Question: Word Limit: 30  
 
 1. Describe the ‘garden scene’ in She Stoops to Conquer
                                                                                       
 Ans- The ‘garden scene’ is one of the tricks of Tony played upon his mother to get rid of Miss Neville. In fact, when Hastings’s plan to elope with Neville having been disclosed, Mrs. Hardcastle gets too much stern with Miss Neville and deludes to keep her under aunt Pedigree’s custody for strict supervision upon her until her carriage to Tony actualized. Tony does not like the plan and as a lyric he runs the carriage round their own estate for three hour and at last tops nearby a pond and tells his mother about the place as horrid crack skull common. Here Mrs. Hardcastle meets her husband and mistakes him as highwayman.  
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2. ‘One hope remains’-Mr. Woodwork speaks of in The Prologue to She Stoops to Conquer. Which hope remained?                   

Ans- The prologue to she stoops to conquer is engineering in defense of true comedy. Mr. Wood work, the speaker, denounces the false sentiments. The comic muse, Talia is thus in death-bed and awaiting death in the hands of Sentimental dramatists. Yet, at the present condition one doctor has come to revive the true spirit of comedy. Wood work is hopeful of introducing true essence of laughter in comedy in the way of the performance of she stoops to conquer written by deliver Goldsmith.

A TO Z Literary Principles from History of English Literature: Note 61




A Set of 26 Objective Questions & Answers

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1. ‘Inversion’ is the change in the word order for creating rhetorical effect, e.g. this book I like. Another term for inversion is

(A) Hypallage

(B) Hubris

(C) Haiku

(D) Hyperbaton Read More about A to Z (Objective Questions)

2. The phrase ‘the willing suspension of disbelief’ occurs in

(A) Biographia Literaria

(B) Preface to Lyrical Ballads

(C) In Defence of Poetry

(D) Poetics

3. The religious movement Methodism in the 18th century England was founded by

(A) John Tillotson

(B) Bishop Butler

(C) Bernard Mandeville

(D) John Welsey

** John Wesley, considered the founder of Methodism, and his brother Charles, the sons of an Anglican rector. John preached, and Charles wrote hymns. Together they brought about a spiritual revolution, which some historians believe diverted England from political revolution in the late 18th century. ** Read More about A to Z (Objective Questions)

4. My First Acquaintance with Poets, an unforgettable account of meeting with literary heroes, is written by

(A) Charles Lamb

(B) Thomas de Quincey

(C) Leigh Hunt

(D) William Hazlitt Read More about A to Z (Objective Questions)

 5.   Which of the Title and theme is not correctly matched?

(A) Pamela – Love of a peasant girl rewarded

(B) Clarissa- Live History of a nun

(C) A Doll’s House-women’s equality

(D) Cyrano de Bergerac- fictional account of the adventures of an author of the title name

Shakespearean Text: The Stationer’s Register is Important for Publishers, Book-sellers and Scholars




Even much before Shakespeare was born, the book trade of London was monopolized by a Stationer’s Company that existed since 1404. Its incorporation was made by a Royal Charter of 1557 which provided for an elected Master, two Wardens and a Court of Assistants. Read More about William Shakespeare It secured the monopoly of English printing except for the book‘s published by the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge. All the publishers and book-sellers of London as also most of her printers (93 as per the charter of 1557) formed the freemen of the company. The exercise of monopoly powers over publication and printing of books was deemed necessary to fight the political and religious views antagonistic to the regime of Mary Tudor. Read More about History of English Literature (Essay)

The system once introduced continued and practical procedure was laid down for licensing. The printers who were the freemen of the company entered their copy in the stationer’s register for a fee of 4£ pence, which was later raise to 6 pence. Read More about Drama  
This procured for them the sole right of printing or selling a book. The company had total control of the licensed presses and unlicensed printing became well-nigh impossible. 

The company, however did not bother how, its members secured their copy. Many published plays went unregistered and without copyright. This led to confusion and the cumbrous licensing procedure was sought to be remedied by a Decree of the Star Chamber of 23 June, 1586 which provided that all books had to be licensed for printing by Archbishop of Canterbury or Bishop of London who again functioned through authorized deputies, mostly clergymen. The book Read More about Drama  was entered by the publisher in the register of the Stationer’s Company, under the hands of the licensee and one or both of the wardens and payment of requisite fee would then secure the copyright. Later in 1607 the authority to license books was entrusted to Master of Revels. Read More about History of English Literature (Essay)

The Stationer’s Register is important evidence establishing Shakespeare’s authorship Read More about William Shakespeare of his plays. It, again, is of immense help in ascertaining their chronology. An entry in the register proves the existence of a play before that date, for example, Hamlet’s entry on 26th July, 1602 shows clearly that its composition was complete prior to that date. Non-entry, however, does not account for bad quartos, and entry of bad texts in the Stationer’s Register was not infrequent.


Ardhendu De

Why Should Every Student Learn from Sententious Polonious? Act I, Sc III, Hamlet




“Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay'd for. There; my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts in thy memory
See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!”

LORD POLONIUS to  LAERTES    Act I, Sc III, Hamlet

Polonius’ famous advice to his son, Laertes is given in Act I, Sc III of Hamlet. In this scene, we are able to get a glimpse, and a very important glimpse, of the Polonius household. The characters of Polonius, the head of the family and his son, Laertes, and daughter, Ophelia, are sketched here in outline.Read More about Drama   

When the scene begins, we find Laertes packing up for his journey to Paris. He is a young man worldly wise beyond his years. He takes leave of his sister, Ophelia, while advising her to careful in receive the court of Hamlet. 

Polonius enters at this stage and asks his son to hurry up and board immediately the ship bound for Paris for “the wind sits in the shoulder of your sail”. He blesses his son and then pronounces the following precepts to keep in his memory. These precepts are a summing up of all Polonius’ experiences and knowledge of the world. He asks Laertes not to give expression to his thoughts but to be a good listener. He shall act after due deliberation and never out of any impulse. Friends should be chosen with care and caution and others to be kept at a safe distance. He should seek to be familiar but never shall be vulgar. Once friends are properly selected, he shall grapple them to his soul “with hoops of steel”. Similarly he should never entertain people unworthy of comradeship. Read More about William Shakespeare Quarrels have to be avoided; however, if forced into them, the opponent must be made to run them. He should give every man his ear, but few his voice. He must take every man’s opinion while reserve his own judgment. People are often judged by what they wear; so the sartorial style for Laertes shall be “rich not gandy”. This should be particularly so in France where the men of rank and station are especially selective in such matters. Laertes must neither be a borrower nor a lender, for loan losses “both itself and friend”, while “borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry”. After all this very worldly advice, Polonius suddenly strikes a very contrasting note in his conclusion when he advises his son to be true to his own self, above all.  Read More about William Shakespeare

The above sententious advice of Polonius shows the worldly wisdom of the minister to the king. It also exhibits in a funny way a pompous, talkative old man “bred in courts, exercised in business, stored with observations, proud of his eloquence and declining into dotage” (Dr .Johnson).Read More about Drama  In his son, he appears a commonly prudent man with a streak of cynicism in him. But at the conclusive part of his eloquent advice when he asks his son to be true to himself, he appears to attain a sort of greatness otherwise unsuspected in his generally funny and commonplace character. Perhaps remembering this part of the scene, Coleridge remarked: “this scene must be regarded as one of Shakespeare’s lyric movements in the play, and the skill with which it is interwoven with the dramatic parts is peculiarly an excellence of our poet. You experience a pause without the sensation of stop”.    

Critical Analysis: Theme and Image: Miller’s The Death of Salesman




Theme and image: The Death of Salesman: Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1949) was a thumping success; won the Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award and is considered a milestone in America drama. Undoubtedly, the play consisted of themes and images that had a mass appeal. The play got a variety of interpretation. The reaction of scholars and drama critics was a mixed one. They have explained painstakingly why it is or is not a great play or a genuine tragedy.

Regarding its essential theme, different explanations have been forwarded; some regard it as communist propaganda denouncing capitalism in all its muck and sooty filth, which others view it as a sympathetic stud , of the problems of big  business . some have interpreted it in exclusively Freudian terms have attributed to its author , rigid psychological theories .A catholic view of the play recognize it as warning of the meaningless  and futility of life in a society where religion has been thrown to days . Read More about American literature    
Miller rejects the validity of any of these interpretations as his intention one of the others.

Essential Conflict between Public Image and the Real Personality: The essential theme in Death of a salesman appears to be the one that recurs in Miller’s plays. It is the relationship between man’s identity as an individual and the image that society demands of him .The playwright, in the process of the play shows us , how we are the cause of disappointment to those we love ,by disappointing our own selves .He depicts the torment of family tensions ,the compensations that friendship provides the heart break that accompanies, hurt ego and last confidence. He is aware of loyalties not blind but open eyed, that are needed to support lonely mortals the playwright displays his insight in to,and his dexterity at , the depiction of an anatomy of failure , the pathos of age , and the tragedy of those years when life is an its descent from the hill , it has laboured to climb Millen has really excelled himself in dealing with these subjects . Death of a Salesman tells, in almost poetic terms, the tragic story of Willy Loman, an average man much like Miller’s father. Loman is a traveling salesman who has devoted his life to the pursuit of “success.” His misguided philosophy has ruined the lives of his wife and two sons. When Loman is too old to travel, he loses his job. In a series of scenes, brilliantly dramatized by the playwright, Loman relives his experiences. Eventually his mind begins to fail, and he commits suicide. Read More about American literature

THE PLAY Grew OUT OF IMAGES: - Although Miller generally wrote in a realistic style , much of Death of a Salesman is conveyed expressionistically through Willy Loman’s mind and memory. As Loman becomes more and more absorbed by scenes from his past, the action progressively takes place in his mind. The play becomes a collage of memories with rapid, surreal shifts in setting and time. Its expressionistic setting is ideally suited to the dialogue, which, though recognizably colloquial, is eloquent and lyrical. 
According to Miller, the play grew from simple images. A key to the Underlying theme of the play is grown by Miller’s deception from which the play grew in his mind. Read More about Drama   

  1. A little frame house in a sheet of little frame houses , which lad queen from land with the noise of groaning boys , and then was empty and silent ,and finally occupied by strangers – strangers who could not know with what conquistadorial  joy wily and his boys had once resigned the roof . Now it was guilt in the house, and the wrong people in the beds.
  2. It grew from images of futility – the cavernous Sunday of tendons polishing the can .Where is that car now? And the chamois cloths carefully washed and put up to dry, where are the chamois cloths . Read More about American literature
 And the endless ,convoluted discussion , wonderments , arguments , belittlements , encouragements , fiery resolutions ,abdications , returns , parties Voyage out voyage back , tremendous opportunities and small , squeaking denouement and all in the kitchen now occupied by stranger  who cannot lean what the walls are saying . Read More about Drama  
  1. The images of aging and so many of your friend already gone and stranger in the seats of the mighty who do not know you or your triumphs on your incredible value .
  2. The images of the sons lard public eye upper you. No longer swept by the myth, no longer reusable from the separateness, no longer knowing you have lured for him and have weft for him.
  3.  The image of ferocity when love has tuned to something eve and yet is there, is somewhere in the room if one could only find it.
    Ardhendu De     

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