History of Literary Criticism

A Historical survey of Literary CriticismClassical Literary CriticismPlatos doctrine doctrine of essences, ideas, formsUltimate reality is spiritualWithout the existence of The Ideal Form (spiritual realm), the physical form (a shadowy replica) could not exist Plato and his students value the art of reason and abstraction(deduction) as opposed to the presentational mode for discovering truth (use of Iliad and Odyssey as a narrative framework or mode)Favored philosophical inquiry and abstract thinkingPlato on Literature and Poets Poets merely imitate an imitation - two steps removed from realityPoetry is an inferior craft who marries an inferior and has an inferior offspring three steps removed from reality Trees (Joyce Kilmer)

I think that I shall never seeA poem as lovely as the tree...

The Ideal FormActual treeA poem about trees = artpoets (imitators of reality) cannot be trusted art produces nothing but copy of a copy poets produce their art irrationally, relying purely on intuition, rather than reason (cave story) For the poet is a light and winged and holy thing, and there is no invention in him until he has been inspired and is out of his senses, and then the mind is no longer in him.Poets are both untrustworthy and damned, their works can no longer be the basis of Greek morality or ethics (Iliad sets a bad example and may lead the people to wickedness and immorality)Poets should be banished.

But....later Poets are needed for crafts that celebrate the victors of the statePoets who are in themselves good and also honorable in the statePoetry in Platos state: to sing the praises of loyal GreeksPoets must be supporters of the state or be banished; their works, being imitations, need rigorous censorshipThe Academy: founded a complex theory of literary criticism that initiated ongoing debate on the value, nature, and worth of the artist and literature.Ang Babaeng Kumain NG asawa (Rio Alma)Unay kinain niya ang dila ng asawaSapagkat binukalan ng tamis at aliw. Dinukot niya pagkaraan ang mga mataSapagkat banyaga ang sulyap at ningning.

Tinistis niya pagkuwan ang dibdib at bungoAt sinimsim ang lihim ng pusot utak;Itinumis din niya ang kulo ng bitukat dugoAt iginarapon ang nanliit na bayagInihuli niyang lagariin ang paat bisigPara maipalaman sa madaliang almusal-Kailangan niya lagi ang lakas at talas ng isipPara maharap ang hirap sa labas ng bahay.

Kayat di kataka-takang ang asawang lumpoSa duloy kainin nang buo pati anino.9Aristotle agrees with Plato that art is a form of imitation because people are imitative creatures who enjoy imitating. Unlike Plato, he does not consider that the pleasure of imitation can undermine society. He posits that poetry is more universal, more general. It is the duty of the poet to relate not what happened but what may happen according to the law of probability or necessity.Poets are not historians. They present things (imitation of the ideal form) as they should be. Not all imitations are of noble actions: comedy is an imitation of inferior men.The POETICSPoetics = Things that are made or crafted; the cornerstone of western lit criticism general principles of tragedy: definition of tragedy, components of a literary work , etcTragedy is, then, an imitation of a noble and complete action, having the proper magnitude; it employs language that has been artistically enhanced by each of the kinds of linguistic adornment, applied separately in the various parts of the play; it is presented in dramatic, not narrative form, and achieves, through the representation of pitiable and fearful incidents, the catharsis of such pitiable an fearful incidents.

Tenets tragedy or work of art is an imitation of nature that reflects a higher form of art exhibiting noble characters and noble deeds, the act of imitation itself giving us pleasure.

Art possesses form; that is, tragedy, unlike life, has a beginning, a middle and an end, with each part being related to every other part. A tragedy, then, is an organic whole with all its parts interrelated. In tragedy, concern for form must be applied to the characters (hamartia(flaw)=tragic hero)as well as to the structure of the play. (tragic hero, flaw, tragic end)

tragedy must have emotional effect on its audience = catharsis (thru pity and fear)

The universal, not the particular should be stressed, for unlike history, which deals with what happened, poetry deals with what could happen, and is therefore closer to perfection or truth the poet must give close attention to diction or language itself, be it in verse, prose or song, but ultimately, it is the thoughts expressed through language that are of utmost concern.He did not touch on the didactic value of poetry

In summary

The issue of poetic imitation, the connection between art and reality, the distinction between genres as well as high and low art, the study of grammar and language, the psychological and moral effects of literature, the nature and function of the audience, the structure (organic whole) and rules of drama, and the notions of plot (unified), narrative and character

Richard CoryWhenever Richard Cory went down town,We people on the pavement looked at him:He was a gentleman from sole to crown,Clean favored, and imperially slim.4

And he was always quietly arrayed,And he was always human when he talked; But still he fluttered pulses when he said,'Good-morning,' and he glittered when he walked.8

And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -And admirably schooled in every grace:In fine, we thought that he was everythingTo make us wish that we were in his place.12

So on we worked, and waited for the light,And went without the meat, and cursed the bread; And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,Went home and put a bullet through his head. 16Edwin Arlington Robinson

Classical Latin Criticism Tenets poets must imitate other poets, particularly of the past (vs Platos imitation of nature) A good writer writes about traditional subjects in novel ways The poet should avoid all extremes in subject matter, word choice ( a language that lives) , vocabulary and style (follow the examples of Greek and Roman authors Virgil, Homer) Writers should avoid appearing ridiculous, not attempting to be a new Virgil or HomerPrinciple of decorum: proper relationship between form and content expression and thought, style and subject matter, diction and characterThe principal fountainhead of writing correctly is wisdom.Poetry must be based on knowledge and must exhibit a high degree of realism. Poetry as the repository of social and religious wisdomLiteratures aim: dulce et utile, sweet and usefulThe best writings both teach and delightThus, writers must understand their audience (to be instructed or amused) The greatest reward: adulation of the public

Sublimity is a kind of eminence or excellence of discourse. It is the source of the distinction of the very greatest poets and prose writers and the means by which they have given eternal life to their own fame. SUBLIME...consists in a consummate excellence and distinction of language, and...this alone gave to the greatest poets and historians their pre-eminence....For the effect of genius is not to persuade the audience but rather to transport them out of themselves. what inspires wonder casts a spell upon us and is always superior to what is merely convincing and pleasingSUBLIME...consistsHomer: Nature has appointed us men to be no base or ignoble animals...for she implants in our souls the unconquerable love of whatever is elevated and more divine than we.When our intellects, our emotions, and our wills harmoniously respond to a given work, we know we have been touched by the sublime.We can control reasoning but the sublime exerts a power which we cannot resist

Question: Does art come from innate genius or from conscious application of methodology and rules? Nature is indeed the prime cause of all production but that the operations of genius cannot be wholly random and unsystematic, and need the good judgment supplied by the rules of art.

Faults of Artists who Fail to reach GrandeurHow can the poet avoid these faults?Influential:His recognition of the power of languagefounded on grandeur of thought and the skillful use of figuresto attain sublimity thereby transforming our perception of the worldSublime embodies the highest purpose of humankind: to strive beyond our own human nature toward the divine, on the wings of unconquerable passion.Sublimity lifts men near the mighty mind of God.De Vulgari Eloquentia (Eloquence in the Vernacular Tongue)- he defended the use of the vernacular Italian as appropriate for the writing of poetry Allegory is integral to the work of Dante Alighieri. Arguably the greatest poet of the Western world has produced.

TenetsThe faculties of speech and reason distinguish man from animalsIt is necessary that the human race should have some sign, at once rational and sensible, for the intercommunication of its thoughtsLanguage(sound and meaning) is the external instrument of thought rather than determining the process of thought. Vernacular: natural speech acquired when we were children, through the practice of imitation without following rulesGrammar: secondary speech, which arises form the first

In Letter to Can Grande della Scala the vernacular, the language spoken by the people, is an appropriate and beautiful language for writing, an excellent and acceptable vehicle for works of literature

he notes the multiple levels of interpretation or symbolic meaning in the Divine Comedy

praises lyric poem

Because of him, literature found an increasing number of audience

In Letter to Can Grande della Scala Dante dedicates his Divine Comedy to his patron and explains the allegorical structure of his poemHis text is polysemous, that is, having several senses. The literal sense necessarily signifies beyond itself to higher senses which complete it. The non-literal senses, although they are called by various names (allegorical, moral, anagogical or beyond the senses) may all be called allegorical, since they are all different from the literal or historical.

In Letter to Can Grande della ScalaHence, the structure of allegory is dualistic: literal sense as being the narrative of this world and allegorical sense as the spiritual domainDante views the end or ultimate aim of the work as spiritual, namely to lead souls from a state of sin and misery to a state of blessedness.

RenaissancePoesy therefore is an art of imitation, for so Aristotle termeth it in his word mimesis, that is to say, a representing, a counterfeiting, or figuring forth.He adds (Horatian note), poesys chief end: to teach and delightLike Aristotle, he values poetry over history, law, philosophy, and adds that above all arts and sciences, poetry embodies truthThe different literary genres are instructive, but poetry excelsHe insists on unity of action, time and place to Aristotelian tragedy Poetry is not a mindless or even immoral activity. he curses those who are possessed of so earth-creeping mind, that it cannot lift itself up, to look to the sky of poetry.Sidney elevates poetry to a sacred statusThe art of poetry, for Sidney, is the highest form of art (knowledge) because it attempts to look at the IDEAL, and therefore ascends the flaws of nature. His entire text is an exaltation on poetry, justified, as previously noted, by a historical development of the form and comparison to the other forms of art.It is important to take note of Sidneys methodology in this text An Apology for Poetry (Defense of Poetry). He establishes a historical background of poetry and poetic accomplishments, while linking mankinds achievements to the production of creative work.

Deconstructs the three most important amputations laid to the poor poets:

that there being many other more fruitful knowledges, a man might better spend his time in them than in this.for if it be, as I affirm, that no learning is so good as that which teacheth and moveth to virtue, and that none can both teach and move thereto so much as poetry, then is the conclusion manifest that ink and paper cannot be to a more profitable purpose employed. And certainly, though a man should grant their first assumption, it should follow (methinks) very unwillingly, that good is not good because better is better. But I still and utterly deny that there is sprung out of earth a more fruitful knowledge.

Deconstructs the three most important imputations laid to the poor poets:

that it is the mother of lies.

I think truly, that of all writers under the sun the poet is the least liar, and, though he would, as a poet can scarcely be a liar. he nothing affirms, and therefore never lieth.

Deconstructs the three most important imputations laid to the poor poets:

that it is the nurse of abuse, infecting us with many pestilent desires, with a sirens sweetness drawing the mind to the serpents tail of sinful fancy.

Basically, in Sidneys point of view, ALL forms of knowledge can be abused. The accusation is general, and poetry really shouldnt be singled out for its faults, or for the abusers among the number of writers that claim to be poets. Aka, dont kill the form for the messenger.

Neo-classicismJohn DrydenEnglish poet John Dryden wrote poetry, prose, drama, and satire that influenced fellow writers in the latter part of the 17th century and well into the next. Drydens achievements included refining the heroic couplet poetic form and establishing a clear, precise prose standard. Dryden wrote Mac Flecknoe (1682) to satirize Thomas Shadwell, a rival poet who sought to equal Drydens preeminent stature (excerpt recited by an actor).

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An Essay of Dramatic PoesyWhen: a naval battle between the English and the Dutch

What: discussion on the aesthetic theory of Renaissance and Neo-classicist traditions (Platonic and Aristotelian debate)

Who: four men floating down a barge on the Thames

First Topic: art as an imitation ( imitation of nature or of classical authors such as Homer) Second Topic: Aristotelian unity of time, place and action in drama (Drama should unquestionably keep the three unities) Other concerns:The language or diction of a play ( emphasis:proper speech)Issues of decorum (it would be quite improper to show violent scenes onstage)The differences between English and French theaters (English drama wins for its diversity, its use of the stage, and Shakespearean tradition)the value of rhymed as opposed to blank verse (rhymed verse wins)

POINTS: clarity, politesse , order, decorum, elegance, cleverness, and wit in literary works

Alexander Pope

English poet Alexander Pope is known for the brilliant verse and stinging satire he wrote during the early and mid-18th century. Pope emulated the classical style of the poets of antiquity and further developed the poetic form known as the heroic couplet. He first earned fame with the work An Essay on Criticism (1711), in which he wrote the now famous line, To err is human, to forgive divine.

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The heroic couplet, two rhyming iambic pentameter lines, is also called a closed couplet because the meaning and the grammatical structure are complete within two lines. John Dryden and Alexander Pope employed this form with great effect, as for example, in Pope's Essay on Criticism (Part I, 68-69):

First follow Nature, and your judgment frame By her just standard, which is still the same.

the literary age is the classical age (Homer, Horace, Longinus= discoverers of the rules and laws of a harmonious and ordered nature)It is the critic and poets task first to know and then copy these authors and not nature, for to copy nature is to copy themThe good poet possesses natural genius coupled with a knowledge of the classics and an understanding of the rules of poetry such knowledge should be tempered with grace and politeness Without good and breeding, truth is disapproved/ That only makes superior sense beloved.Next to natural genius and good breeding, the critic/poet must then follow rules and established traditions of the ancients poetic diction, the establishment of heroic couplets as a standard verse, personification of abstract ideas; emotional outbreaks and free verse were considered unrefined

poetry is governed by rules, restraint, and good taste.

It seeks to reaffirm truths or absolutes already discovered by classical writers.

Critics task: to validate and maintain classical values in the ever-shifting winds of cultural change; thus, the critic becomes the custodian and defender of good taste and cultural values Popes theory: mimetic (imitation) and rhetoric (patterns of structure)50RomanticismMost important contribution to literary criticism is the controversial: Preface to Lyrical Ballads became classic statements of Romantic aesthetic doctrineReturn to REALISM, a descent of poetic language from its stylized status, from its self- created world of metaphorical expression and artificial diction to the language actually used by human beings in common life especially rustic lifeThe imaginary world created by the poet must resemble the real world. Views poetry as a meditated craftIn Lyrical ballads his purpose: to choose incidents and situations from common life, and...describe them in language really used by men in situations... The manner in which we associate ideas in a state of excitement.

Subject and Language of poetryCommon men and women will people his poetry, not kings, queens and aristocrats, for in humble and rustic life the poet finds that the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic languageStill on language of poetry language really used by people everyday speech, not inflated poetic diction of heroic couplets (two iambic pentameters), the complicated rhyme schemes, and the convoluted figures of speech

True ease in writings comes from art, not chanceAs those move easiest who have learned to dance

The time shall come, when, free as seas or windUnbounded Thames shall flow for all mankindWhole nations enter with each swelling tideAnd seas but join the regions they divide

Wordsworth redefines poetry For all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.

Highlights poetrys emotional quality: Imagination, not reason or disciplined thought, becomes poetrys core

The Poet: he is a man speaking to men: a man endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature and more comprehensive soul than are supposed to be common among mankind

And the poet has acquired a greater readiness and power in expressing what he thinks and feels, especially those thoughts and feelings which by his own choice, or from the structure of his own mind, arise in him without immediate external excitement =express his/her own individualism in poetryPoetry the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings...its origin from emotions recollected in tranquility- the poet crafts a poem by internalizing a scene, circumstance or happening and recollects that occasion with its accompanying emotions at a later time when the artist can shape that remembrance into words

Intuition, not reason reigns.

PoetryThe reader: he/she relies on his own feelings and imagination as he/she grapples with the same emotions the poet felt

Through poetry, the poet and the reader share emotions. (Expressive art)

TRUTH: emotion, individualism, intuitionVictorian Era(1830s) The rise of reason, science and historical determinism began to supplant romantic thoughtInfluential: Charles Darwin The Origin of the Species = Humankind was demystified.Sciencehad provided us with the key to our past, present and futurePositivism,systemofphilosophy based on experience and empirical knowledge of natural phenomena, in which metaphysics and theology are regarded as inadequate and imperfect systems of knowledge.

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a text is like a fossil shell that naturally contains the likeness of its inhabiter, the author

to study only the text without considering the author and his inner psyche is an incomplete analysis

An investigation of both the text and the author would result in an accurate understanding of the literary text.

What are the environmental causes that joined in the creation of the text? Three Influences: race, milieu, moment

Race: authors of the same race share particular intellectual beliefs, emotions and ways of understanding Milieu or surroundings: People respond differently to lifeMoment/ epoch: the time period in which the text was written- it will reveal the dominant ideas or worldview held by people at that particular time.The text becomes a literary object that can be dissected to discover its meaning. No text is written in a vacuum, but each is a result of its history.

William Henley InvictusJohn Milton On His BlindnessEdgar Allan Poe Annabel Lee Matthew ArnoldArnolds literary criticism is the problem of living adequately in late industrial society. Arnolds world view is deeply humanist, and he writes in the tradition of a humanismHe sees the human being in industrial society as mechanized, as wholly given to external pursuits, as stunted in his spiritual and moral sensibility. Arnold was somewhat obsessed with the narrow moralism andmercantilism of the bourgeoisie, whom he termed philistines. In his essay My Countrymen Arnold affirms: Philistinism is . . . characteristic of . . . the middle class . . . which has . . . risen into such preponderating importance of late years, and . . . governs the country.In The Function of CriticismConcerned to counteract the philistinism of the world as defined by the English bourgeoisie, enshrined in the restrictive obsession of this class with practicality, utility, and reasonHe acknowledges that the critical faculty is lower than the inventive, and that the exercise of the creative power . . . is the highest function of man, he suggests that it is an atmosphere of appropriate criticism that creates the conditions in which creative genius can be realizedtask of criticism to establish anorder of ideas and to make the best ideas prevail. It is the business of the critical power in all branches of knowledge, theology, philosophy, history, art, science, to see the object as in itself it really isIn The Function of CriticismCriticism must be disinterested by keeping aloof from the practical view of things and by following the law of its own nature, which is to be a free play of the mind on all subjects which it touches.Criticism must attempt to know the best that is known and thought in the world, and by in turn making this known, to create a current of true and fresh ideas . . . but its business is to do no moreCriticism must be entirely independent of all interests. And its purpose? To lead man towards perfection, by making his mind dwell upon what is excellent in itself, and the absolute beauty and fitness of thingsCriticism should embrace the Indian virtue of detachment, the Hindu ideal of ascetic renunciation of all worldly concernsIn Culture and AnarchyArnold both redefines culture and affirms the need for it in a modern industrial society devoted to mechanism and profit. He calls culture a study of perfection. It moves by the force, not merely or primarily of the scientific passion for pure knowledge, but also of the moral and social passion for doing goodCulture, then, has an intellectual and an ethical component, and just as Arnold sees the time as ripe for true criticism, so he sees a historical opportunity opening for culture to be of service, culture which believes in making reason and the will of God prevailIn The Study of Poetry insists on the social and cultural functions of literature, its ability to civilize and to cultivate morality, as well as its providing a bulwark against the mechanistic excesses of modern civilization.It is to poetry that we must turn, not merely for spiritual and emotional support and consolation but to interpret life for us. He defines poetry as a criticism of life. the best poetry is of a higher truth and seriousnessPoetrys high function is actually to replace religion and philosophyIn The Art of Fiction a novel is in its broadest definition, a personal impression of life: that, to begin with, constitutes its value, which is greater or less according to the intensity of the impression. the only obligation to which in advance, we may hold a novel, without incurring the accusation of being arbitrary, is that it be interesting a text must be realistic, a representation of life as it is and one that is recognizable to its readers (Realism- to offer a truthful, accurate, objective representation of the real world)Good writers write about the stuff of life (facts or pictures of reality)The work should be organicThe author should show characters, actions and emotions, not tell about them (point of view) (more realistic)