POETRY , OUR OLD FRIEND
Poetry remains our old friend. When our ancestors became happy after hunting a beast , they, in excitement, made a campfire and used to enjoy dancing and uttering sounds. Perhaps, this is the old beginning of poetry.
We are human beings and have two special instincts. One is impulse, and another is imitation. Both of them tend to create sensation. Sensation includes joy, sorrow, love, excitement and so on.
WHAT IS A POETRY?
Sorry, we do not have any precise definition of poetry like physical science or mathematics. But we have many definitions to fill this purpose. Dr.Johnson gives us the feature of poetry as ' material work' in dealing with invitations. Carlyle puts poetry ' a musical thought'. Many Marxist poets call poetry "a collection of emotions'' Wordsworth says it as ' the spontaneous overflow into the of powerful feelings'. Coleridge says , ' the antithesis of science, having the objective to give pleasure'. P.B. Shelley demands it as ' expression of imagination'. To Arnold, it is ' a bottom of criticism'. These are our working ground for the perception of poetry as well as nature of poetry.
POETRY, HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY:
Aristotle, the mastermind of artworks, has drawn a borderline between poetry, history and philosophy. Like other literary febrics of togetherness, poetry is the finest imitation that holds and manifests broader aspects of life. Poetry makes us well-aware about real or would be real. The angle of imitation of life is the displaying of life, not so exactly as two similar photographs. It has an extended sense. Representation of life means not a replica of life. Life has a large establishment of emotions, and emotions are not a few to be captured and freezed. Emotions come from a chain of events. As life has a chain of events, it has an universal appeal, and if it has an universal appeal, it must have a philosophy. Here poetics work. Here is the matter that solidifies a unique universal applicability. And here, the poet is a creator, and he is an artist of imagination that is the spontaneous flow into his powerful feelings. History does not have this spontaneity: the unseen presence that has the power to be potentized by the poetic application. Beside writing history in prose pattern, history could be written in poetry, verse, or in any poetic rhythms. History is the record of the past, and the past is related to a particular time. Yes, lyrics, lyrics are written on past events but it has the spontaneity that the poet collects, feels, and hopes. If hopes work, poetry handles the past, the present and the future. History gives an account of past facts in chronological order. Even it provides us a thousand hundreds of pieces of information, page after page. But, its working area is limited with time and space. A historian has no scope of freedom of his creation. Actually he doesn't create or invent but discovers. He can discover more and more from Alexander's conquest, or from the Sepoy mutiny. He can supply a station of information. But this is not philosophical. Though a historian can be a philosopher, his products are distinct and distinguished. A poet, of course, takes the facts and information from history, but poetical work is produced with desired effects. A historian can't exaggerate, but a poet has no such bindings, but both have to move a million tons of dust for an ounce of gold.
TYPES OF POETRY
Based on poet's approach and his treatment of theme, Hudson makes division of poetry into two kinds:
SUBJECTIVE POETRY.
OBJECTIVE POETRY.
SUBJECTIVE POETRY:
The other name of subjective poetry is personal poetry because in subjective poetry, the poet intends about his thoughts, feelings and experience.The Ode, elegy, and sonnet, being personal, fall into this division.
OBJECTIVE POETRY:
Objective poetry deals with the external world. Here the poet does not deal with thoughts and feelings of his own. He deals with men and women ,and their feelings and experiences of the world outside. He expresses his thoughts ,feelings and situations that are found by him. A poet is a man who is speaking of men.
Though he deals with the external world, he, indeed, can avoid his own view. The ballad, epic , dealing with the external world and being descriptive, narrative and dramatic , fall into objective or impersonal poetry.
But these divisions are not all applicable. Especially in modern poetry, personal and impersonal elements are seen punched into one.
Lyrics;
A lyric is known to us as a poem. Though the lyric falls into subjective poetry or personal pretry, the old ballads and epics were known as lyric poetry then. Actually lyrics then were composed to celebrate certain public affairs. Oxford Dictionary defines lyric as a short poem that is divided into stanzas and directly expresses the poet's thoughts and feelings. A lyric may have all the touches of life, having love, hope, despondency, patriotism and many more. According to Rees, lyrics contain emotions, religion bases, complaints,and philosophy. Lyrics ,in this sense, of course, have an impulsiveness that deeply touches a poet's heart. From being a poet, it expresses a certain element: sight, sound and realization.
LYRICS HAVE IMPULSIVENESS, IMAGINATION, SUBJECTIVITY, REFLEXION, UNITY AND MELODY.
The lyric has a unity or singleness which creates the desirable effect. A lyric, being a particular site, feeling and experience, manifests the poet's poet's imagination in different forms but includes unity and integrity.
As literature has a bond with time, the subject matter of lyrics becomes complex. In the past , lyrical work happened with dramatic treatment of regular life; now in modern times, it has become subjective with modes and feelings of human beings.
Thus it is seen that lyrics include love, patriotism, friendship, masculine love, lesbianism, sextual love, social revolution etc.
Lastly, lyrics are not the lyrics of the past that have simple themes as well as simple songs. A lyricist could set a short humorous poem as a lyric.
Sonnet:
We all know the name of sonnet. It was invented in Italy by the hand of Dante. Though Dante, Petrarch is more familiar in Italy.
The term 'sonnet' has come from the Italian word 'sonetto' which means a song. A common feature that the sonnet has is its material composition of fourteen lines and has specific rhymes. It specially deals with one thought or emotion. Love theme is often a common matter of sonnets.
Types of sonnets:
Sonnets are two kinds: the Italian sonnet and English sonnet, or petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet. Petrarchan sonnets are best known as classical sonnets.
THE ITALIAN SONNET:
The Petrarchan sonnet is called the Italian sonnet. It comprises fourteen lines. It consists of two unequal parts of eight lines and six lines. The first eighth lined part is called the 'Octav' and the second six lined part is called the 'Sestet'. The first part sets and states with subject matter, while the second part confirms and rolls it. The rhyme scheme of the 'Octave' is abba, abba and the 'Sestet' or the second part consists of cde, cde, or cd, cd, ec or others.
The treatment theme of Petrarchan sonnet is basically love, and its pain and passion, or its attachment and frustration. Love is seen as the Lady- love. It includes chivalrous type love and grace, and not with the exception of disappointed love of a rejected lover.
THE ENGLISH SONNET:
The Shakespearean sonnet, being different from Petrarchan sonnet, has the theme and technique of love, but not conventional type love. Shakespeare has left the beaten path of sex- love and chose the masculine love, the friendship. He manages to preserve it by his verse creation. In his twenty six sonnets, he has made the address of a dark lady. Rather than fair and kind, she is dark and cruel.
He applies the technique of sonnet composition in a different way. His sonnet consists of three quatrains with a concluding couplet. Each quatrain contains contrasting differences. In concluding couplet, he builds the bridge between the contrasting elements. The rhyme scheme is used as abab,cdcd,efef, and gg.
Being actually a lyric, a sonnet expresses the poet's thoughts and feelings, and ideas and ideals.
Thus we have seen that Shakespearean sonnets are enriched with autobiographical elements and his sentiments.
The key feature of the sonnet is the singleness of matter in which development of a single mood and single image is all persuasive.
The ode:
The ode, the great quality work of Greek literature, stands for a poem, intended or adapted to be sung with the accompaniment of music. It includes personal and impersonal matters. Impersonal matters may be of feats of war and the passion of love.
It has its own features to be renowned.
First, an ode is addressed to a human being or a dead living, a natural object or an object of abstraction. Thus, we see its own identity. In 'Ode to the west wind' , an address is made to the natural object. In ' Ode to the Grecian Urn', it addresses a marble Vase which is a thing, having no life entity.
Second, an Ode must have a theme which is dignified and exalted and also has a deep reflection and emotion.
Third, an Ode is a short poetic adoration that is praiseworthy of ideal and inspiration.
Lastly, an ode has its own musical quality to be rhymed. Music is its basic economy or recognition.
Types of ode:
Regular ode
Irregular ode
Pindaric ode
Horatian ode.
Shelley's and Keats' odes fall into the regular ode. Examples are 'Ode to the nightingale' and 'Ode to the west wind'.
Wordsworth's 'immortality ode' and Tennyson's 'Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington'
Pindaric ode is named after the name of Pinder. An example of this kind of ode is Gray's ode the birds.
Horatian odes, after the name of the Greek poet Horace, are Ben Jonson's Ode to himself and Mervell's upon Commonwell's Return from Ireland.
ODE AND LYRIC:
Though ode is a kind of lyric, it has a distinct feature. It is famous for the form of addressing. Also, it has an exalted subject matter of short poetical oration.
The Elegy
It is known as a mournful poem. Greek is its birthplace. An elegy is best known as a poem of mourning or as a song of lamentation. The subject matter of the elegy is various kinds. It can be personal, sentimental, and tearful. It is a song sung for the dead or for the loss of beauty or for loss of glory.
The elegy consists of the elements of reflection, affection and affair. The reflection means that the poet meditates on a specific affair of life and the world either. In Thomas Gray's, for example, 'Elegy written in a country churchyard' has the reflection of universal truth of life and a lament on the death of simple villagers. Affection is the matter of sadness. In Tennyson's famous elegy 'In memoriam' , the poet is deeply stuck with personal sorrow. Here it falls the light upon the content of God's omnipotence and love. The affair means the subjectivity of love and spirit that are experienced by the author himself, his feelings and the realization of life. As in, Arnold's ' The scholar Gypsy' gives out a stubbornness of materialism of Victorian age , no hope, no faithfulness and no belief. Also have in the Anglo-Saxon elegy the lamentation over hardship of sealife.
The pastoral elegy is also found as another variety. In 'scholar Gipsy' we have found that the poet is weeping at the death of some person. He is mourning in the disguise of a shepherd on the death of a shepherd.
Elegy and Lyric:
Instead of being a kind of lyric poetry, it has a distinct feature for which it is called an elegy. It has the direct utterance of bereavement and sorrow which is its evidence and that is not available in other lyrics which actually contain the happy mood.
To speak about modern elegy, the modern elegy is of philosophical reflection. Poet's personal concern is philosophical speculation of life and also his concern about the universe. Here is an example of an exception of lyric as a subjective or personal pretry, although having a good quality of reflective elements.
The Satire:
Generally speaking, a satire is a composition in verse or prose. In the early past, it meant a farce. If we seek its distinctive feature we must see that it expresses some corruptions and follies of a certain society or community or the section of such society. A satire has the features of inciting contempt, fun or disgust which are ridiculous and unseeming. It has its uniqueness of application that allows the absolute condemnation, and cues the utmost correction, a blending feature. It makes us clear about not only the wrong side but also shows the way how the same is to be cleaned and cured. The satire is the creative work of Roman literature. Later it comes to English.
Example:
'Absalom and Achitophel',and 'Mac Flecknoe'.
Pope's 'The Rape of the Lock' may also be given as for an example.
EPIC
We already know about great epics - the Ramayana, Mahabharata, the Iliad and Odyssey. An epic is a long narrative in verse. According to Aristotle, the great mastermind in Art, considers an epic next to the tragedy. The tragedy, to him, is mainly a drama. An epic is generally classified under a long narrative poetry dealing with some heroic personalities. An epic is seen working on the high state of civilization. It deals with a serious subject. Its writing style is very attractive. It includes the fulfillment of one after a huge amount of toilings, the heroic personages of history, the divine figures, the half earthly and half divine figures, the figures of tradition etc. Epical work has a large involvement of people, the involvement of a nation, a tribe , a community, a city or the involvement of civilization. But these are the traditional kind of approach to epic poetry. With world changing phenomena, the epic has changed its ingredients and left the old concept, and therefore taken a much broader and more detailed programme of operation. The industrial revolution, the nuclear power, the global village, the network clouds have changed the face of the world as well as the men’s interest. Men have become complex thought seekers. Life is complex and life material is complex as well. The war is held today from the four walled houses not on the battlefield. The economic features, the social structure, the political chess, the personalities all have changed. That is why a good amount of poetry escapes the traditional features of epic but claims to be epics.
That an epic is a long narrative poem is no longer to be considered by many. But, we can neither completely forsake the old nor can we wholly embrace the new. Both of them we need, if not wholly, then partially. Lastly, it is important that we should remember an epic is not to be defined by its bulkiness, but by its theme and technique.
A few examples of epics are the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Iliad, the Odyssey, Beowulf etc.
Leo Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ , though claimed to be a tell of tale.
HISTORY OF EPIC:
That an epic is a long narrative in verse is known to all, but its origin is still shrouded in the mystery. Aristotle opines it the second to tragedy. This poetry has come into being from the tradition. Legends, myths and folk-tales are carried from mouth to mouth; therefore these are preserved by oral tradition. In Europe, first comes the growth epic: the Iliad and the Odyssey. To many, it is supposed to be written before 700BC. The epics come out in the written form in medieval Europe with national inspirations.The French epic ‘Chanson de Roland’ may be the first specimen of European Epic in the early 12th century. Later, it was included in Italian poetry. Epic, then , seemed as a romantic poetry, not as a heroic poetry. Spenser's ‘Faerie queene’ may be called an attempt to compose epic poetry in the Renaissance.
Epic poetry has got a new magnitude through the hand of poet Milton. His Paradise Lost cuts the history of the epics. Supposedly, it is the beginning of modern epic poetry. It is said that he was inspired by Homer and Vergil. It may be true, but his generosity is diverse. He subjects not to erect his epic in a traditional method. His treatment of the epical work is unique, vast and universal. He intends his subject to be the story of man.
The 17th century had the higher demand of epic poetry. The great epics of the time are ‘Mac Flecknoe’by Dydren, ‘The Rape of the Lock’ of Pope etc. In modern times, the epic has got a new and strange harbour and heaven. Its old instruments of operation are all gone. Therefore, the epic has found an unheroic hero. Keats builds a ‘Hyperion’ which calls for an epic with the same model as Milton ‘Paradise Lost’. Many victorian poets incline themselves much into the writing of epic but they become more Miltonic than be much Homeric.
Today it is possible to screen epic dramas within the limited time.
SOME IMPORTANT ARTISTRIES OF EPIC:
THE EPIC SIMILE:
Because of having an immense importance of the epic theme and having an enough significance and also being of tremendous magnitude of calling attention, an epic needs special decorative devices.Among these devices, the epic simile is the most important one device. It is most suitable because it can produce the stylistic effect and commentating. Having its superb ceremonial quality of expression, it can supply an epic a grandeur style. Generally epic similes are long, created, formal,sustained , sophisticated and extended. Besides making comparisons, they draw images.
Example;
“But when he was done with that,
the undertow caught him again and flung
him for out to sea
And just as a cuttlefish
is dragged from its lair
with scores of pebbles
Sticking to its suckers,
So the skin and flayed from
his strong hands;
And struck to the rock”[ Odyssey]
N.B. The epic similes are elaborative kinds; to exaggerate Homeric kind. Actually the epic simile brings not only comparison but also decoration as well as ornamentation.
Another example;
“ Their glow withstand, as when
heaven’s fire.
Hath scathed the forest
oaks and mountain pines,
with signed top their stately
growth, though bare
stand on the blasted head.”
EPIC CONVENTION:
Be it an epic of art or epic of growth, an epic has its own recognition and features which help us to distinguish it from the lyrics. All great epics are related to a matter of convention by their poets though there are some differences in them. The epic convention includes the following;
the invocation,
the proposition,
the main narrative in the middle,
the frequent use of simile,
the employment of machinery,
the several description of battles,
journey and games,
the different characters,
the dreams and speeches and debates,
the description of court life,or social life.
It is not that an epic should have all these conventions, but some of them are the basics.
INVOCATION:
In epic conventions, the invocation is the most identical.The invocation means an address to some high power or the close connection and light from the divine absent existence for poetic and thematic inspiration.Epic writing is doubtlessly a heap of work. The ancient poets believed and requested the divine power to spread light in the heart and give a clear vision in the mind so that they could create the vastness. The nature of invocation by the poets is different. In the ‘Iliad’, Homer , for instance , invoked the goddess of song. In the ‘Odyssey’, he invoked the divine Muse. Again, in the Mahabharata, Vada Vayas invoked Saraswati, the goddess of learning. But, Milton’s invocation was asking for help from the divine spirit, not the common god himself.
“Sing,Heav’nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,
In the beginning how the Heav’ns and Earth
Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion Hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flow’d
Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous Song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above the Aonian Mount, while it pursues’’
Even mock epic, ‘The Rape of the Lock, created by Pop, he asked for the assistance of the classical goddess of poetry.
“Say what strange Motive, Goddess! cou’d compel’’
PROPOSITION:
Proposition is the second important convention in all epics, particularly in the western ones. The proposition calls the attention of mentioning the theme at the beginning. In the ‘Iliad and in the ‘Odyssey’ Homer has stated his objective. In the ‘Paradise Lost’ , poet Milton states with
“Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe
with the loss of Eden”
THE MAIN NARRATIVE:
Generally the main narrative made by the poets is seen in the middle. This trend is actually found in the classical epics such as ‘Beowuld’ and ‘Mahabharata’. The main narrative takes time to come. Also, the main theme , in the ‘Paradise Lost’ gives only after the long details of the rebellion war in heaven.
THE EPIC HERO:
Almost all great epics rely on certain heroic personalities or personalities. This is a mostly needed requirement if it is the epic of growth. Particularly in ancient epics have many special heroic personalities. It does not mean that the epic has no potential heroine. There are a certain number of heroines which are remarkable such as Sita in the ‘Ramayana’, Drapadi in the ‘Mahabharata’ and Helena in the ‘Iliad’. But they are not as potential as epic heroes. They do not have the dominative leadings as heroes.
The epic hero, of course, is a man of the highest aspect. Above all, he is different. He belongs to a higher hawk, a higher lineage, and higher blood. His mission consequences for the noble causes and goes on thinking a higher affidavit of life , having a moral and being idealistic as well as realistic. He is a hero: has health ,education, responsibility and has an organization. He is efficient in his work. He is brave, knightly , physically strong and has stamina and an unfailing skill. If any comment is made by him , no other comments overwhelm him. Such are found in the ‘Ramayana’, as Rama is the supreme powerful man, in the ‘Mahabharata’ Arjun is skilful epic hero, and in the ‘ Beowulf’, Tiber , the hero of the Teutonic race.
Unlike uprising and distinguished heroes in classical ones, heroes in a handful of modern epics have changed their higher ideals , which are also seen and to be believed.
THE EPIC MACHINERY:
Among many distinctive features, the epic poetry has the epic machinery which is one of the most important of them. The involvement of god and goddess, the appraise of divine spirits and the like in the world of human business. Many claim that epic poets have an orthodox allegiance in figuring their work in the human destiny. Seen in the ‘Ramayana’, different heavenly sovereignties assist and spark the hero in the confrontation of demonic force. In the ‘Mahabharata’, Lord Krishna is seen assisting the Pandava. In the ‘Paradise Lost’, Milton creates different angels and rebel angelic agents like Satan and Beelzabab. Also in ‘The Rape of the Lock’, Pope is enthusiastic about the action supernatural objects like Sylph and many spirits to help Belinda in her toilet.
Having these, there are many other machineries: the battle description or the description of journey and game, the embellishment of characters and dreams, the details of court life or the social passages , war, speeches, etc.
[ Be continued]
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