I.A Richards

I.A Richards who along with T.S Eliot consider as the pioneer of new criticism gave an idea of close reading of text and also verbal analysis of text. He also gave the theory of practical criticism. Here also I tried to analyze one song’s lyrics from the movie “Always kabhi kabhi” and the lyricist is Amitabh Bhattacharya and sung by Benny Dayal, Roshan Abbas, and Apeksha Dandekar.

Antenna Lyrics

Antenna.. (Antenna.. Antenna.. Antenna….)
Frequency.. (Frequency.. Frequency.. Frequency……)
Not catching.. (Not catching.. Not catching.. Not catching…..)
Not matching.. (Not matching.. Not matching.. Not matching…..)
Frequency.. (Frequency.. Frequency.. Frequency……)
Antenna.. (Antenna.. Antenna.. Antenna….)
Frequency.. (Frequency.. Frequency.. Frequency……)
Sapne hamare hai toh
Chasma tumhara kyun lagaye
Sapna hamara hai toh
Rasta bhi hoga na humara
Chalane kaho toh chale
Rukne ko bolo ruk jaye..
Aapke remote pe hume
Nahi chalna gawara..
Baatein karna humari kabhi
Tum jo kaho woh dohrayen
Yahin dil mein chupade
Always dard humara
Chahe jo bhi kahen
Kabhi tum problem samajh na paaye
Kabhi bhule se bhi
Signal pakad na paye kyun humara
Antenna..nahi karta match..Antenna
Antenna..nahi karta catch..Antenna
Antenna..nahi karta match..Antenna
Antenna..nahi karta catch..Antenna..
You don’t know the frquency
Why can’t you just let me be
You don’t know the frquency
Why can’t you just let me be
Galti humari kya
Jo haan mein haan
Tumhari na milaye..
Badta hi jata hai
Kyun voice ka level tumhara
Dono hi taraf se jo baatein ho
Toh samajh mein aaye..
One way sunenge kyun
Yeh lecture FM tumhara
Mein bhi kharche uthao
Zara kum jo hamari toh chalega..
Mile badle mein uske
Jo hume zyada time tumhara..
Chahe jis frequency pe set
Karke bhi samjhaye..
Kabhi bhule se bhi
Signal pakad na paye kyun humara..
Antenna..nahi karta match..Antenna
Antenna..nahi karta catch..Antenna
Antenna..nahi karta match..Antenna
Antenna..nahi karta catch..Antenna..
Hum hai jahan
Iss life ki galiyon
Se nikal ke hi
Wahan pahunche ho tum
Toh phir kaho
Har baat jo hum bole
Usse ignore kyun
Karte ho tum..
Kabhi samjho humari
Zara apni bhi hume samjhado
Hai jo beech mein apne
Woh mit jaye farak humara
Chahe jo bhi kahen
Kabhi tum problem samajh na paaye
Kabhi bhule se bhi
Signal pakad na paye kyun humara
Antenna..nahi karta match..Antenna
Antenna..nahi karta catch..Antenna
Antenna..nahi karta match..Antenna
Antenna..nahi karta catch..Antenna..
You don’t know the frquency
Why can’t you just let me be
You don’t know the frquency
Why can’t you just let me be
Antenna..nahi karta match..antenna
You don’t know the frquency
Why can’t you just let me be
Antenna..nahi karta catch..antenna
You don’t know the frquency
Why can’t you just let me be
Antenna..

These are the lyrics of the song ‘Antenna’ from the movie “Always,kabhi kabhi”. I didn’t seen the movie so I can’t tell perfectly that in which situation this song takes place but by watching video of this song and by lyrics I got the right idea of this song. It is may be because the topic of the song is quite understandable without checking any connection. But there is many examples which shows that to understand any literary work one should have historical sense, say for example there is “Shiva tandav stotra” as a song in the movie “Bahubali” and the lyrics are as below…

 "Jata kataha sambhramabrama nillimpa nirjari,
Vilola veechi vallari viraja mana moordhani,
Dhaga dhaga daga jjwala lalata patta paavake,
Kishora Chandra shekare rathi prathi kshanam  mama"

Now this language is Sanskrit and to understand it first we need translation or the knowledge of the language and suppose we know the language but don’t know about Lord Shiva then we find problem in understanding this lines and if we translate it in English it is something like as below…


"The Spiritual river is moving through his entangled, knotted hair
Strands of hair are like huge waves

His Forehead is shining brilliantly like fire

The crescent of moon on his head i an adornment

It gives me immense pleasure and my love for him grows every second"

After getting translation also we can’t find for whom it is written if we don’t know that from whose head the river is moving and who has moon on his head. So the historical sense is need to understand the core meaning.

The song lyrics which I present here has a common issue of generation gap between parents and children and some lines can also be told to society. Because pf the generation gap and the different thinking of parents and children there is always a conflict between both of them and in many cases children has to follow parents because of their authority on their children. Here in this song children wants to describe their problems and thinking to their parents.

It starts with words like antenna and frequency which don’t give any idea of the song. We have to go further in lyrics and it the children told to their parents about their dreams and they deny to walk on the path which they decide for them and next says that in whatever way we want to told you about our thought you never got an idea and the lyrics comes like ‘antenna nahin karta match antenna’ which wants to say that Our thoughts doesn’t match or you don’t understand our thoughts.

Then children deny to obey their parents and they told to have conversation from both the side and ask for their time not money and again they said that their parents don’t understand them. After that they ask that you are also at same stage on your age then why you don’t understand us and again they ask to talk and try to understand each other.

Very nice song with very nice idea but as per I.A Richards there is two types of sense in metaphor one is scientific sense second is emotive sense and if we look at this lyrics some may have questions like…

1) Humans don’t have frequency and antenna so there is cannot be question of catching signals.

2) Humans can not control by remote.

According to I.A Richards these types of metaphors can use in literary work and we have to look at its emotive sense and not the scientific one. Here metaphors are used like ‘antenna’, ‘signal’, ‘remote’, ‘one way’, ‘FM’, ‘frequency’ and this all have emotive meanings like thoughts, understanding, nature of having authority. 

There is also mixing of two languages Hindi and English and also the words from electronics like TV, FM, or satellite so it may create difficulty in understanding because of language. It shows that to understand literary work one has to have the knowledge of language, emotive sense, historical sense, social sense, political sense also because writer writes satires also. After looking this things we can say that the without all the sense they can’t able to understand the core meaning of the literary work.

Thank you.

Frankenstein

Thinking activity on Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein"

Here is the answer of the given task and also the link of the task 

 http://milanparmar94.blogspot.in/2017/12/worksheet-screening-movie-frankenstein.html?m=1

Mary shelly wrote gothic novel named “Frankenstein – The modern Prometheus”. This novel is about galvanism and it is science fiction also. This novel is published in 1818 and the setting on the novel is early 19th century.

1) What are some major difference between movie and the novel Frankenstein?

There is also movie adaptation by Kenneth Branagh but there are some difference between movie and the real novel.
First major difference we can find is that in movie Frankenstein’s friend Henry meet him at the university while in actual novel they both are childhood friends and Henry never visit that university.
Second major difference that in movie when Frankenstein create lady monster, the lady monster commit suicide while in actual novel Frankenstein himself kill the lady monster.
The third major difference which I found is that in movie at the end monster commit suicide and destroy himself on pile of Frankenstein while in novel monster went far away.
There are some minor difference also but these are the three I found major one.

2) Did this movie help you in understanding the plot of the novel?

Yes, definitely the screening of movie help me to understand the plot of novel because the novel has frame narrative and by reading and listening it will become confusing the movie helps in that area. Though there are some difference between movie and the novel but all over it is very helpful to understand the whole structure of novel.

3) Who do you think is real monster?

As per my opinion Victor Frankenstein is the real monster. Some thinks that monster is real monster but this is not the case because monster becomes monster and the reason is society and situations. The situations are taking place in such a way that monster is ready to become cruel to society. It is may be monster’s pay back to society as society give him rejection, sorrow and loneliness. In the case of Victor he himself chooses to become monster. I don’t think that society plays any role in case of Victor. Victor has false pride on his knowledge. He wants to be demi god. He wants to challenge the rules of nature, he wants to make dead one alive again. Though many people suggest him to not to go on that way but he didn’t listen and by collecting the body parts from different dead bodies he create one man. Which is totally a disaster. Victor himself become frightened by the look of his creation. After that also he said that he will burn his creation tomorrow if he burn it at that moment when he disappointed then may be there is no monster but he didn’t. He also step back from his responsibility of his creation. We can say that he wants to become like God but don’t posses the quality of becoming like God. He rejects his own creation and that is why monster is alone and become what society made him. If Victor would take responsibility of his creation and taught it how to live then may be the situation is not worst like this and may be monster will never become monster. So as per my thought Victor is real monster.

4) From where Mary Shelly get the idea for the novel Frankenstein?

It is told that at once, Mary, her lover Percy Shelly and Byron, these three are on holidays and Byron give challenge to write one novel to see who is best and from this Mary get the idea of writing “Frankenstein”.

5) Do you think the search for the knowledge is dangerous and destructive?

No I don’t think that the search for knowledge is dangerous or destructive, I think that the use of that knowledge make it dangerous or destructive. We can take example of Dr. Faustus who posses great knowledge but he just remain a mere musician as he don’t know that how to use that knowledge in appropriate way. Same thing happen with Frankenstein also, he possesses the knowledge but he don’t know how to use it. He uses his knowledge against the law of nature and that resulted in destructive way. So I think search for great knowledge is not dangerous but in which way that knowledge is used that becomes dangerous. We posses knowledge but one should also know the limits of human, one can not go against the nature and if anyone does that then it will lead us to the dangerous end same as Frankenstein.

6) What are some myths used by Mary Shelly in the Frankenstein?

There are several myths which are used by Mary Shelly like the myth from bible – the story of creation which is connected to Frankenstein created the monster same as God created the Adam. The difference is the creation of God is perfect while on the other hand the creation of Frankenstein is dangerous. Second myth Mary uses is of Narcissus who has obsessed with his own reflection in water and fall in love with it and decide not to leave that place and he just sit there and die by watching his own reflection. Same happen with Frankenstein as he is obsessed with his creation or the work of create something that he rejects all and live alone. The third myth which is used by Mary is, myth of Prometheus, who is angle and stole fire from heaven for human kind and got punished by God in same manner Frankenstein also wants to do good of society by make a man who is more powerful and more intelligent but it ultimately ends tragically. So these are some myth used by Mary Shelly.

7) Write about the narratology of Frankenstein.

The narrative style of “Frankenstein” is frame narrative or box with in the box. Narratology is study of narrative and Gerard Genette give term narratology. In this type of narrative style there is story with in the story and there can also be more than one narrator. In this novel there is three narrator one is Captain Walton who told story to his sister through letters. Second is Victor Frankenstein who telling the story to Walton and third is monster who is telling story to the Frankenstein. This is the narrative style of Frankenstein.

Thank you.

T.S Eliot "Tradition and Individual Talent"

Thinking activity of T.S Eliot's "Tradition and Individual talent"

Here isthe answer of given task and the link of the task is here...  http://dilipbarad.blogspot.in/2014/12/t-s-eliot-tradition-and-individual.html?m=1

1) How would you like to explain Eliot's concept of Tradition? Do you agree with it?

Concept of tradition for Eliot is in more larger sense. He does not find tradition as something in negative way, he rather takes it in positive way. For Eliot to follow tradition does not mean just slavish imitation it is something to add in the existing tradition. For Eliot tradition is not dead but it is something which always live. Yes I am agree with Eliot as he doesn’t believe the tradition as something which is at some time followed by living people of that time but it is rather a live and a new writer who don’t have anything their own unique it is something they are taking from the existing tradition and by their creativity they add their own new thing in the living tradition and make their place.

2) What do you understand by historical sense?

Eliot says that historical sense is necessary element for poet or writer because it gives them a sense of writing timeless and temporal. As Eliot says, “The historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence” which means it is not about to know figures and facts of history but understand the time in which people are living and their ways of living and also how that past is present in contemporary time. Further he says, “This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional” which means that with the help of historical sense a writer can write timeless and temporal together and which makes the writer traditional and not the slavish imitation.

3) What is the relationship between 'Tradition' and 'Individual talent' according to the poet T.S Eliot?

According to Eliot a new writer does not have anything their own and unique, tradition and individual talent both are not separate. Though individuals are not just imitating the tradition. New writers use their individual talent to expand or extent something new in existing tradition by keeping harmony with the tradition and give it more beauty and more meaning and also make their own place in the huge tradition. So tradition and individual talent both goes together.

4) Explain quote, "Some can absorb knowledge, the more tardy must sweat for it. Shakespeare from plutarch than most men could from the whole british museum"

In above given quote Eliot talks about the greatness of Shakespeare and his historical sense. Before he says that a writer or reader should have well read and also having the full understanding and knowledge of history but he find Shakespeare exception and then again he try to justify his thought and says that Shakespeare has seems to absorb the knowledge of his age and not only his age but the past ages also and he has the great understanding which learned men does not have. He says in this quote that historical sense or tradition is not inherited one must have to do a great labor to achieve this.

5) Explain "Honest criticism and sensitive appretiation is directed not upon the poet butupon the poetry."

In this quote Eliot wants to shift attention from the author to the text. Eliot wants to say that for the honest criticism the critic should only concern or focus on only the work not on the author or something else also they have to be free from all their prejudices then and then a critic can give a honest criticism on any work and for sensitive appreciation also to concern about only the work because a critic might have some problem or some prejudices about the author which should not affect the talent of the writer critic should forget all things while giving any views about any work and for make it honest concentration upon only a work is needed.

6) How would you like to explain Eliot's theoy of depersonalization? You can Explain with the help of chemical reaction in presence of catalyst agent, platinum.

To make the thought of depersonalizing clear Eliot uses science. He gave an example of chemical reaction. He describe the process of making sulfuric acid and he says that sulfuric acid made from sulfur dioxide and water but the process did not take place if platinum is not available though platinum plays very vital role in process then even it doesn’t have existent in sulfuric acid. Eliot also says the same thing that the man who suffers and the mind which creates both should different. Mind should absorb every emotion clearly and then with the full consciousness poet create a work it should not have any element of poet’s own self in work. Though the poet’s own self is necessary to create work but it should not reflect in work. This is what the theory of depersonalization.

7) Explain, "Poetry is not turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality."

In above given quote Eliot again talk about the depersonalization. He says that  whenever poet create something their own self should not reflect in their creative work. Poet should learn to be aloof or detach when they create something. Eliot says poetry is impersonal it is not for showing one’s own emotion or self it is about escape from that emotions and self. Poet’s own self should not reflect in their own poetry or work.

8) Write two points on which one can write critique on "T.S Eliot as a critic."

As per my thinking one can write critique on Eliot’s two points
1) Eliot’s idea of Tradition
2) Eliot’s view of escape from emotion and escape from personality

These are the two points on which we can analyse T.S Eliot as a critic.
 

Thank you.

ख्वाब

आज मैने अपने आप को शीशे मे देखा
कुछ नया नहि था
रोज देखती हु
मगर आज कुछ अलग दिखा
थोडा सा गुस्सा थोडा सा गुरुर
बहोत सारे समजोते बहोत सारे ख्वाब
मगर आज मुजसे अपने आप से नजर नही मीली
एसा क्या हो गया मुजसे
थोडा सोचने के बाद पता चला
आज फिर एक समजोता हुआ था ख्वाब के आगे
एक बार फिर ख्वाब पीछे रेह गया

एक बार फिर कुछ छुट गया.

Matthew Arnold

Here I’m posting my answer of thinking activity on Matthew Arnold which is given to us by our professor. Here is the link of given task…
 http://dilipbarad.blogspot.in/2014/11/mathew-arnold-study-of-poetry.html

Do you agree with Matthew Arnold's views on detachment, disinterestedness, fallacies like historical and personal, touchstone method and his definition of poetry? If you agree, why and on what grounds do you agree? If you disagree, why and what are the points of disagreement?


Matthew Arnold, English poet and cultural critic of Victorian age and also inspector of schools. Here I am going to give my view on his three views or methods, first is his views on detachment and disinterestedness, fallacies like historical and personal, second is his ‘touchstone method’, and third is his definition of poetry.

The first great principle of criticism enunciated by Arnold is that of disinterestedness or detachment. Disinterestedness on the part of the critic implies freedom from all prejudices, personal or historical. On this view of Arnold I agree with him that for apt or honest criticism one has to leave all their prejudices about author also and work also. Though it is very tough to remain detach or disinterested from personal or historical views or prejudices, it take time to be like, but this method of criticize any work as per my thinking is right.

Arnold also says that, The business of criticism is neither to find fault nor to display the critic’s own learning or influence; it is to know “The best which has been thought and said in the world.” And to do this detachment and disinterestedness is necessary element which the critic need so on this point I am agree with Arnold.

Second in his “Touchstone method” he basically wants to say that , this method introduced scientific objectivity to critical evaluation by providing comparison and analysis as the two primary tools for judging individual poets. In a simple language he wants to say that for judging any new poet’s work we have to use one of best old poet’s best work and by taking best work of old poet we have to compare it with new poet’s work and analyze the new work and if its have the same quality which old work has then we can consider that new work as good or best work. Now on this view of Arnold I am not agree with him. There is no need of comparison. Everyone has their own qualities we can not expect to all to have same qualities and we can not consider one quality as best and other inferior. If we do this to all new works then we can not find novelty. If we take example of singing, nowadays there are many remake of old songs we can find, which sang by some new singers but the voice of old singer and new singer does not have same quality. Here I want to give example of the Hindi song ‘yeh rate yeh mausam’ which originally sang by Kishor Kumar and Asha Bhosle but the remake of this song which sang by Sanam Puri and Simran Sehgal does not have same quality which old one has. In old song we can find peace and the music is also calm but in new song we can find the spices of new music and the voice of both singer is also different but we can not say that old one is good and new one is bad. Both have their own quality, both songs are like by audience. So I am not agree with Arnold’s touchstone method, new things has to differ from old otherwise it will not call the new.

Third is his definition of poetry, “poetry is criticism of life, must conform to the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty.” Poetic truth here means the truth and seriousness of matter and poetic beauty is felicity and perfection of diction and manner. On this definition I am agree with Arnold that poetry is criticism of life because we can find it in any work that the life or thoughts of poet is always reflect in their work. Second poet should serious about his subject, it doesn’t matter which subject poet has the poetry should reflect the subject that is called the seriousness of matter. The beauty of manner, appropriate use of diction give poetic beauty to the work. After all poetry or literature is for pleasure and for that these all elements are necessary. On this point I am agree with Arnold.  

Thank you.