Transcendentalism

TOPIC OF THE BLOG:-

This blog is a part of a thinking activity given by Megha ma'am from The English Department, MKBU, Bhavnagar. Check out Megha Trivedi's Blog (Click here) for more information and knowledge about Transcendentalism and other works and writers. In this blog I am going to explain my point of view about Transcendentalism, and how it also has connections with other Literature.

TRANSCENDENTALISM:-

Transcendentalism is a word made from two words. The first one is 'Transcendental' which means something beyond and second is 'ism' which gives meaning to a word in a form of movement. 

American Transcendentalism as both a philosophical and literary movement, centered in Concord and Boston. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Brosnon Alcott, Frederick Henry Hedge, W. E. Channing, W. H. Channing, Theodore Parker, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Peabody, George Ripley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Thoreau and Jones Very consider themselves members of Transcendental club according to Abrams and Harpham. 

As Emerson explained in his lecture "The Transcendentalist" (1842), the term 'Transcendental' was derived from the German philosopher Immanuel Kant's writings. However, the Transcendentalists were opposed to Kant's view that only external objects, events, experience of space, time and causality etc. can lead to knowledge. They emphasized the need for individualism and self-reliance, an embrace of Nature and the natural world, and a belief in a divine 'principle', 'spirit', 'soul' or 'over-soul' as opposed to formal religion.

In 'self-reliance', Emmerson stresses the need to trust one's intuition:

To believe your own thoughts, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in you time becomes the outmost... 

If we see in simple words 

Transcendentalism is an approach to philosophy, art, literature, spirituality, and a way of living that began in the 19th century and Emerson and Thoreau are founders of this philosophy. 

Here is a short video on what is Transcendentalism available on YouTube by PHILO-notes.

🌼Transcendentalism is an American Philosophy that influenced American literature at length. Can you find any Indian/Regional Literature or Philosophy that come up with such similar thoughts?

Here is an interesting answer by Chat GPT when I ask this question.

👉Yes, there are several Indian philosophical and literary traditions that have similar thoughts to Transcendentalism.

One example is Advaita Vedanta, a non-dualistic tradition that originated in ancient India. Advaita Vedanta emphasizes the unity of all things and the idea that the ultimate reality is one unchanging consciousness. This philosophy shares many similarities with Transcendentalism's focus on individual intuition, spiritual experience, and the search for a higher truth beyond the physical world.

Another example is the Bhakti movement in medieval India, which emphasized devotion and love as a means of realizing one's connection with the divine. This movement also had a focus on individual experience and spiritual realization, similar to the Transcendentalist idea of an "oversoul" that connects all individuals.

In terms of literature, Indian poets and mystics such as Kabir, Rumi, and Mirabai wrote poems and songs that expressed their deep spiritual experiences and connections with the divine, which can be seen as parallel to the Transcendentalist emphasis on individual experience and the search for truth.

These are just a few examples, but there are many other philosophical and literary traditions in India and other regions that have similar ideas to Transcendentalism.

CHARACTERISTICS OF TRANSCENDENTALISM:- 

• SIMPLICITY:-

According to Henry David Thoreau, "To be Philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust."

• SOMETHING BEYOND:-

As the meaning of transcendental means that  something goes beyond what they can see, hear, taste, touch or feel. They mean it can be Transcendentalists and we people too. This beyondness came from imagination. 

"This whole earth in which we inhabit is but a point is space."

- Thoreau 

• SPIRITUALITY AND NATURE:- 

Transcendentalists do not believe in religion but they believe in spirituality and power and Importance of nature. In this Spirituality the Hindu technique to find ourselves by meditation and go through our soul is a very considered way of spirituality. The term oversoul is a transcendentalist term, which explains that everything is connected and thus happens for a reason. And for transcendentalist nature is divine. They don't interfere in the decisions of nature.

“The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship."

-Emerson

• INDIVIDUALISM AND SELF RELIANCE:-

Individualism is as it its name relies on one's own self not on others. This quote by Henry David Thoreau describes Individualism:-

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

Spending time with your self helps us to know ourselves more. Knowing our own abilities can be helpful to make our lives easier. And most importantly one can do without anyone's permission by themselves. 

“But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things."

- Emerson 

To know more about this characteristic visit this site (Click here).

Here are some Songs, Poems, Movies and Novels connected with Transcendentalism. 

1) Hakuna Matata (song) From 'The Lion King'

2) Fix You (song) by Coldplay

3) Drops of Jupiter (song) by Train

4) Walden (Memoir and Autobiography) by Henry David Thoreau

5) Leaves of Grass (Poetry Collection) by Walt Whitman 

6) Little Women (novel) by Louisa May Alcott 

NOTE:- If you find any problem or question or suggestions please let me know☺️. Material used in this blog is collected from various sources and some are from my mind. 

Indian Poetics

TOPIC OF THE BLOG:-

This blog is a part of a thinking activity given by Dilip Barad Sir from The English Department, MKBU, Bhavnagar. Check out Dilip Barad sir's Blog Site (Click here) for more information and knowledge about Indian Poetics and other works and writers. In this blog I like to tell something about Indian Poetics. How it emerges and help us to understand Litrature as well as according to me day to day life. 

WHAT IS INDIAN POETICS?

Let's start from the word Poetics. We all not that what is Indian but emotions which are described in Indian Poetics connected with every human being not only with the Indians.

Now Poetics means કાવ્યશાસ્ત્ર in Gujrati, छंदशास्र (काव्यशास्त्र) in Hindi. So one can easily know that how Poetics works. There is also a very well known book named 'Poetics' by Aristotle gives a theory for Literature. But the Poetics describe to buy ancient Indians called Indian poetics and has deeper meaning in it. 

Indian Poetics includes so many schools which written and described by various Munis and Acharyas. 

• Rasa School by Bharata                 
• Alankara School by Bhamaha      
• Dhvani School by Anandvardhana
• Vakrokti School by Kuntaka            
• Guna and Dosa School by Dandin
• Roti School by Vamana                  
• Aucitya School by Ksemendra      
• Ramaniyata by Panditraja Jagannatha

Indian poetics refers to the literary theory and aesthetics of poetry in the Indian subcontinent. It is rooted in ancient Indian literature, including the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the epics of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Indian poetics also encompasses the works of later poets and literary figures, such as Kalidasa and Bharavi, who wrote in Sanskrit, as well as the literature of regional languages like Bengali, Hindi, and Urdu. (This paragraph taken from Chat GPT)

As above described by AI aslo seems to be related to other languages poetics which connects not only Indian Litrature with each other but emotions of others too. Epic Poems named Mahabharata and Ramayana has fountains of all the emotions and schools. 

In the essay "Linguistics and Poetics" by Roman Jakobson he defines Poetics as the study of 'What makes a verbal message a work of art.' 

According to Satya Dev Chaudhary, 'The Indian politics is nothing but Sanskrit Poetics which is an immortal encyclopaedia of the theories and doctrines about poetry and drama.' The Sanskrit Poetics white spread over period of one and half or two thousand years. 

There is a pdf available work under Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University. (Click here to read) 

According to G.T. Despande Indian Poetics has Five stages:-

1. Kriyakalpa
2. Kavyalakshana
3. Kavyalamkara
4. Sahitya
5. Sahityapaddhati

While according to Satya Dev Chaudhary, 'the subject matter' divided into ten Kavyaangas (constituents of poetry):-

1. Kavya-Svarupa:- The causes of poetry, the definition of poetry, various classifications of poetry and the purpose of poetry.
2. Sabdasakti:- the signification of a word.
3. Dhvani-Kavya:- a piece of poetry containing aesthetic suggestivity.
4. Gunibhuta-Vyangya-Kavya:- a piece of poetry where suggested sense is secondary to primary sense.
5. Rasa:- the poetic relish.
6. Guna:- the excellences is in poetic expression.
7. Riti:- the style of poetry.
8. Alankara:- the figurative beauty of poetry.
9. Dosa:- blemishes in poetry expression.
10. Natya-Vidhana:- Dramaturgy (the theory and practice of dramatic composition)

To know about Aristotle Poetics in detail visit my another blog (Click here).

Here is a video available on YouTube by Vinod Joshi Sir on Indian Poetics.

For Natyashastra or Rasa theory by Bharatamuni visit my another blog (Click here).

DHVANI BY AANADVARDHANA:-

Dhvani means Noise and Sound and in some case name of a girl which basically means Noise and Sound. But here Dhvani has different meaning.

The theory of Dhvani, propounded by Anandvardhana in his text 'Dhvanyaloka'. This theory lies the question of meaning - whether it should be expressed directly (Svabhavokti) or indirectly (Vyanjana). 

Dhvanyaloka consists of 138 karikas, written in simple verse (Sloka or Arta meter) and intended to be memorized. Karikas usually introduced with some search remark as 'This is a supportive (Parikara) stanza' or 'Herewith a summarising (sanksepa, sangraha) stanza'. 

If we look at the simple definition of Dhvani it says 'In which the word and meaning become secondary and that which manifests the concrete meaning is called Dhvani'. Ex. Darkened means the light has gone but it has to be taken to mean that someone has died. 

Anandvardhana writes about Dhavni:-

इति काव्यार्थविवेको योऽयं चेतश्चमत्कृतिविधायी।

सूरिभिरनुसृतसारैरस्मदुपज्ञो न विस्मार्यः॥

ध्वनिकृतामालंकारिकसरणिव्यवस्थापकत्वात्

He also described that Dhvani adorns like a woman's beauty. 

• अर्थः चैत्सिक इति ।
• मुहावरा लक्षणम् ।
• Sound connected with likes and dislikes.
• The cause of sound is motion or movement.
• Sounds are signals and they signal.

Acharya Mammat (मम्मट) gave three words:-

• Abhidha (अभिधा):- The first meaning that emerges while reading is Abhidha.
• Lakshna (लक्षणा):- Deduct the original meaning and take the nearest meaning.
• Vyanajana (व्यंजना):- If you get a direct meaning but you don't have to take it, instead of taking another meaning.

Dhvani divided into three parts:-

1. Vastu Dhvani
2. Alankar Dhvani
3. Ras Dhvani

VAKROKTI BY KUNTAKA:-

According to Kuntaka, 'a certain strikingness of expression (Vakrokti) which is essence (Jivita) of poetry'. The Vakrokti is a mere Poetic figure (kavyalamkara) based upon a play of words and occurs as a kind of pretended speech, in which a sentence or word spoken in one sense by a speaker is taken in another sense another speaker, either because it may be uttered with a peculiar Intonation (kaku) with changes its meaning or because it may be supposed to admit of a double meaning (slesa), the object of this intentional mistake being that of making a suitable or clever reply.

According to Mammata, 'Vakrokti is when a sentence expresses one meaning take in one way and another taken in another, the combination being effected by puns (slesa) or by tone of voice (kaku). 

According to Bhamaha Vakrokti 'not as an Alamkara but as a characteristic mode of expression which underlines all Alamkara and which this forms an essential element of poetry itself, whose meaning can be manifested by Vakrokti alone...'

Here is a video on this available on YouTube which might help you to understand about Vakrokti.

There are six types of Vakrata:-

1. Varna-Vinyasa-Vakrata
2. Pada-Purvardha-Vakrata
3. Pada-Parardha-Vakrata
4. Vakya-Vakrata
5. Prakarana-Vakrata
6. Prabanha-Vakrata

ALAMKARA:-

Natyashastra contains the seeds of Alamkara. Bhamaha is considered as an originator of the Alamkara School in Sanskrit Poetics. He deemed to be the advocate of the Alamkara School of Poetics. His KAVYALAMKARA is the earliest work on ALAMKARA. It is divided into six chapters and contains 398 verses. The word Alamkara derived from the word ALAM - It means Gold in Greek - which in Sanskrit means the making of adornments and beautification.

Alamkaras divided into two parts which includes different Alamkaras:-

• Sabdalamkara 
• Arthalamkara

Here are some other Alamkaras given below:-

• Anupras is a Sabdalamkara known as allitration.
• Yamaka is a Sabdalamkara. 
•  Rupaka is an Arthalamkara.
• Dipaka is an Arthalamkara.
• Upma
• Atisayokti
• Utpreksha
• Prativastupama
• Vibhavana
• Vyatireka
• Svabhavokti
• Akshep
• Arthantranyas
• Samsokti
• Vakrokti

NOTE:- If you find any problem or question or suggestions please let me know☺️.

'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald

TOPIC OF THE BLOG:-

This blog is a part of a thinking activity given by Dilip Barad Sir from The English Department, MKBU, Bhavnagar. Check out Dilip Barad sir's Blog Site (Click here) for more information and knowledge about For 'The Great Gatsby' by  F. Scott Fitzgerald and other works and writers. In this blog I like to tell something about 'The Great Gatsby' and movie based on that as per my understanding. 

 F. SCOTT FITZGERALD:-

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. and died on December 21, 1940 in Hollywood, California. He was American short-story writer and novelist famous for his depictions of the Jazz Age (the 1920s), his most brilliant novel being The Great Gatsby (1925). (Mizener)

NOTABLE WORKS: 

• “Tales of the Jazz Age” 
• “Tender Is the Night”
• “The Beautiful and Damned”
• “The Crack-Up” 
• “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”
• “The Great Gatsby” 
• “The Last Tycoon” 
• “This Side of Paradise” 
• Other 

THE GREAT GATSBY:-

Writer:-  F. Scott Fitzgerald

Written:- Fitzgerald completed a rough draft of the novel in 1924.

Published:- April 10, 1925 by Charles Scribner’s Sons

Genre:- Tragedy 

It is Set in Jazz Age New York, the novel tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman whom he loved in his youth. Unsuccessful upon publication, the book is now considered a classic of American fiction and has often been called the Great American Novel. (Martinez)

For more information about this novel and detailed summary visit this (Click here) site of Britannica.

ADAPTATIONS:-

THE GREAT GATSBY (1926)

It is a silent movie based on the novel 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This movie was directed by Herbert Brenon and produced by Jesse L. Lasky and Adolph Zukor. 

STAR CAST:-

• Warner Baxter as Jay Gatsby
• Lois Wilson as Daisy Buchanan
• Neil Hamilton as Nick Carraway
• Georgia Hale as Myrtle Wilson
• William Powell as George Wilson
• Hale Hamilton as Tom Buchanan
• Carmelita Geraghty as Jordan Baker

Mordaunt Hall—The New York Times' first regular film critic—wrote in a contemporary review that the film was "good entertainment, but at the same time it is obvious that it would have benefited by more imaginative direction." (Hall)

THE GREAT GATSBY (2013):-

This movie based on novel named 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This movie directed by Baz Luhrmann and produced by Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Knapman, Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher and Catherine Martin.

STAR CAST:-

• Leonardo DiCaprio as James Gatz / Jay Gatsby
• Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan
• Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway
• Isla Fisher as Myrtle Wilson
• Jason Clarke as George Wilson
• Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan
• Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker
• Amitabh Bachchan as Meyer Wolfsheim

Let's see some interesting things about movie...

JAZZ AGE, THE ROARING TWENTIES PRESENTED IN THE MOVIE:-

First, let's understand what is jazz? Basically, jazz is American music developed especially from ragtime and blues and characterized by propulsive syncopated rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, varying degrees of improvisation, and often deliberate distortions of pitch and timbre and popular dance music influenced by jazz and played in a loud rhythmic manner.  (Merriam Webster)

How it's presented in movie? Let's see though the photos and videos of the movie. 

So, through these photos one can easily understand that it is a party going on but it is a party of Jay Gatsby which totally have remarks of Jazz Music and that style of the Roaring Twenties.

For more understanding let's look at a article named "GATSBY", THE JAZZ AGE, AND LUHRMANN LAND by David R. Shumway. (David R. Shumway - click here to visit the article)

• This novel has an unusual combination of Romance and Realism.

🌲Now, I am not any high positioned people and knowledgeable person so I am just trying to give my opinion on this article that how much I am agree with it and not. So, it has indeed a bit context of Romance but it is more Realism that Romance in my opinion cause more in this novel it is seems that almost everyone's love life or life is destroying and can't be happy couple. 

One can see the party scene of the movie in this video clearly. Luhrmann perfectly captures Jazz Age in the movie which can be noticed by anyone easily. 

SOURCES:-

🐮Hall, Mordaunt. “Gold and Cocktails.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Nov. 1926, www.nytimes.com/1926/11/22/archives/gold-and-cocktails.html. 

🐮Martinez, Julia. "The Great Gatsby". Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Jan. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Great-Gatsby. 

🐮Mizener, Arthur. "F. Scott Fitzgerald". Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Dec. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/F-Scott-Fitzgerald.

🐮Shumway, David R. “‘GATSBY’, THE JAZZ AGE, AND LUHRMANN LAND.” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, vol. 14, no. 1, 2015, pp. 132–37. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43903071.

'The Birthday Party' by Harold Pinter

TOPIC OF THE BLOG:-

This blog is a part of a thinking activity given by Yesha ma'am from The English Department, MKBU, Bhavnagar. Check out Yesha Bhatt's Blog (Click here) for more information and knowledge about 'The Birthday Party' by Harold Pinter and other works and writers. In this blog I give a YouTube link of my Video which we made on a scene from play 'The Birthday Party' by Harold Pinter.

HAROLD PINTER:-

Harold Pinter was born on October 10, 1930 in London, England and died on December 24, 2008, in London. He was English playwright, who achieved international renown as one of the most complex and challenging post-World War II dramatists. His plays are noted for their use of understatement, small talk, reticence - and even silence - to convey the substance of a character’s thought, which often lies several layers beneath, and contradicts, his speech. In 2005 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was related to a movement named Theatre of Absurd. (Britannica)

NOTABLE WORKS:- 

• “Moonlight” 
• “The Birthday Party”
•  “The Caretaker” 
• “The Dumb Waiter“
•  “The Homecoming” 
• “The Room” and others 

'THE BIRTHDAY PARTY':-

Written by:- Harold Pinter 

Written in:- 1958

Published in:- 1959

Genre:- Drama, Comedy of Menace, Theatre of Absurd

Acts:- 3

Here is a link of the Video which we made in Indian Context.

Let's see something about the play 'The Birthday Party'.

CHARACTERS:-

• STANLEY WEBBER:-

Stanley is a lodger at the Meg and Petey's boarding house. Stanley, in his late thirties, is an unemployed musician, unwilling to leave the boarding house, the nebulous persecutors destroyed his career as a concert pianist in his past. He has grown both slobbish and erratic and although he fantasies about playing in great cities on the world tour, he has no real hope. Laking a piano, he cannot even practice. Stanley, the nominal protagonist of 'The Birthday Party'.

• MEG BOLES:-

She is Petey Boles's wife, pleasant women in her sixties. Sometimes she flirts with Stanley, trying to fill a second void in her life. Meg's marriage to Petey has settled into mechanical routine. Meg tries to win Stanley's approval of her as a woman, shamelessly fishing for compliments. As the play progresses, it becomes clear that Meg, though a mental trivial, is the decent woman and also rather sentimental. 

• PETEY BOLES:-

Like his wife, he is in his sixties too. Petey is a dull and ambitionless, no more inclined than his wife to find challenges beyond the confines of their rooming house. Petey's decency is finally as hopeless as Meg's. At the play's conclusion, he can do nothing but slip back into vapid conversation with his wife. 

• NET GOLDBERG AND DERMONT MCCANN:-

Net Goldberg, in his fifties, is the older of the two strangers who come to interrogate. He affectionately recalls his family and events in his early life. Goldberg's soft heartedness is pure shame. His outward charm and polite manner mask a sadistic nature. His cruelty is first reveal in his interrogation of Stanley. 

Dermont McCann, in his thirties, is Goldberg's younger associate. Unlike Goldberg, he is possibly a defrocked priest. He is also methodical and compulsive, as is revealed in his ritual habit of carefully tearing Petey's newspaper into strips. He somewhere differs from Goldberg, he physically more immediate than Goldberg. He snaps and breaks the glasses of Stanley at the party. 

• LULU:-

A girl in his twenties, she is a neighbour of Meg and Petey. She first appears carrying Stanley's Birthday present, the toy drum and drum sticks. She is self conscious about her sexual appeal and cannot sit still for long without taking out a compact to powder her face. Behind her glamour, there is some youthful innocence to Lulu. 

For summary or analysis read this metrial by Britannica (Click here)

MOVIE REVIEW OF 'THE BIRTHDAY PARTY':-

This adaptation of movie taken from the same named play called 'The Birthday Party' by HAROLD PINTER. This movie released on 9 December, 1968. This movie directed by William Friedkin and produced by Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky. Star cast of the movie are Robert Shaw as Stanley, Patrick Magee as McCann, Dandy Nichols as Meg, Sydney Tafler as Goldberg, Moultrie Kelsall as Petey and Helen Fraser as Lulu. 

WORKS CITED:-

💤 Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Harold Pinter". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Dec. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harold-Pinter

Tradition and The Individual Talent

TOPIC OF THE BLOG:-

This blog is a part of a thinking activity given by Dilip Barad Sir from The English Department, MKBU, Bhavnagar. Check out Dilip Barad sir's Blog Site (Click here) for more information and knowledge about For 'The Waste Land' by Thomas Stearns Eliot and other works and writers. In this blog I like to tell something about 'Tradition and The Individual Talent' as per my understanding and also some answers of points to ponder from the blog of Tradition and Individual Talent' by Dilip Barad Sir (Click here). 

T. S. ELIOT:-

Thomas Stearns Eliot also known as T.S. Eliot. He was born on September 26, 1888 in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. and died on January 4, 1965, in London, England. He was an American-English poet, playwright, literary critic, and editor. He was a leader of the Modernist movement in poetry in such works as The Waste Land (1922) and Four Quartets (1943).(Tate)

NOTABLE WORKS:-

• Ash Wednesday
• Burnt Norton
• East Coker
• Little Gidding
• Murder in the Cathedral
• Notes Towards the Definition of Culture
• Prufrock and Other Observations
• Sweeney Agonistes
• The Confidential Clerk
• The Dry Salvages
• The Elder Statesman
• The Family Reunion
• Four Quartets
• The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
• The Metaphysical Poets
• The Sacred Wood
• The Waste Land
• Tradition and the Individual Talent

"In my beginning is my end"

- Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot

From Milton which is in Massachusetts, he entered Harvard in 1906; he received a B.A. in 1909. He was influenced by George Santayana (a Philosopher and Poet) and Irving Babbitt (Critic). He has read widely from childhood and he is interested most in philosophy. From Babbitt he derived an anti-Romantic attitude.(Tate)

ELIOT'S CONCEPT OF TRADITION AND THE INDIVIDUAL TALENT:-

'Tradition and the Individual Talent' is an essay written by T. S. Eliot and published in 1919 in The Egoist:Times Literary Supplement. He was normally knows as a Poet but he also contributed critisism. In this essay we can find clear idea of relation between poet and literary traditions.

By Tradition an individual talent he means poet who is writing a poetry should add elements and reference of past and great works. By this in literature he wants to tell everyone to spread awareness. Second thought he gave that, Novelty has its own uniqueness but no works of literature can start with 0% novelty. There should be some thoughts, reference and ideas of other past works and traditions. Third is a great poet never express his personal feeling in his expressions. He consider poetry as an escape from emotions.

This essay divided into three parts:-

1. Concept of Tradition 
2. Theory of Impersonal Poetry 
3. The conclusion

• Tradition is not slavish imitation of the past. 
• Tradition can not be inheritated, it can only be obtained by hard labour.
• Tradition can only be obtained by those who have historical sense.
• Tradition is not anything fixed and static.
• It is constantly changing and becoming different from what it is.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE CENTRAL IDEA OF 'TRADITION AND THE INDIVIDUAL TALENT':-

• The relation between tradition and individual talent in interdependent.
• the historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence.
• Tradition cannot be inherited. It can be mastered only by labour and erudition.
• The idea of tradition is not to have literally 'read' each and every thing written till date. It is rather to absorb knowledge, so he said "Some can absorb knowledge, more tardy must sweat for it'.
• Eliot's theory of depersonalization.
• the more perfect the artist, the more completely separate in him will be the man who suffers and the mind which creates; the more perfectly will the mind digest and transmute the passions which are its material.
• Impressions and experiences which are important for the man may take no place in the poetry, and those which become important in the poetry may play quite a negligible part in the man, the personality.
• Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.

This all points are taken from quiz on 'Tradition and The Individual Talent' by Dilip Barad Sir which help us to understand more clearly and deeply this concept. 

HISTORICAL SENSE:-

"The historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence; the historical sense compels a man to write not merely with his own generation in his bones, but with a feeling that the whole of the literature of Europe from Homer and within it the whole of the literature of his own country has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order."

This quote has all about historical sense in which Eliot believe in. According to my understanding, if a person who wants to something, suppose a poetry or any work he should write with having historical sense or historical ideas about it in his mind. Like not merely his own generation but whole of the litrature of Europe from Homer. 

A person who is writing perticular work he should have information and awareness about its history and background. Like NORTHROP FRY belived about history and philosophy can be remarkable here. 

Philosophy and history are two major tools- for interpretation of

literature and archetypal criticism is based on philosophy and history of a people. 

We can also get the nearest meaning of this quote (The Historical......Order) form the quiz. - It means that literature makes a historical monument. Each writer is contributing to the monument by putting a brick in form of poem or other writings. It makes writer understand the responsibility which he carries on his shoulder when he undertakes literary writings. It also makes it clear that without proper understanding (not only information) of History, writers cannot write something significant.

WHAT IS THE RELATION BETWEEN 'TRADITION AND THE INDIVIDUAL TALENT'?

"Some can absorb knowledge, the more tardy must sweat for it. Shakespeare acquired more essential histories from Plutarch than most men could from the whole British Museum."

According to quiz 'It means that only those who do not have sense of understanding must literary read, others can learn by absorbing from experience and observation and a little reading.'

Like here he gave example of William Shakespeare a man who don't have heavy language to write his works but he do have historical sense and skill to observe knowledge and as we can see he also wrote so many historical plays also like King John Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, Henry V, Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part III, Richard III, Henry VIII and others.

Eliot also explained that a person who do not have any sense of historical elements at least they should read and understands literary writing and others can learn and absorbing from experience and observation. 

"Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry."

It means that true criticism or appreciation should be of poetry and not that of poet. In short if anyone wants to like and say and criticise work of writer they should criticizes work not the writer, to the poetry not the poet. 

"The process of depersonalization, which is “a continual surrender of himself as he is at the moment to something which is more valuable. The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality."

It means that the poet has to make him/her-self insignificant and surrender or self-sacrifice at the altar of poetry, because poetry is more important than his self. (From quiz).

It simply means that when poet start to write poetry or he wants to write a poetry he should give his hundred percent in it and give haa soul to this poetry. They have to sacrifice themselves for this poetry. And the artist continually are going through self sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality. 

So many ideas and thoughts are taken from quiz, other sites and some are from my mind. 

‘Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.’

What he meant by escape of emotion? In normal terms he says that Poet never describes his personal feeling, personal emotions, in his poetry and make it different from what he felt about personal emotions. This idea by Eliot might considered as escape from emotion. Poets Personality should be different from his Poetry or one say that it should not expresses his personality through his poetry. That's why it is an escape from personality too.

WORKS CITED:-

🎊Tate, Allen , Gardner, Helen and Davies, Hugh Alistair. "T.S. Eliot". Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Dec. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/T-S-Eliot.

NOTE:- If you find any problem or question or suggestions please let me know☺️.

Words:- 1306

Photos:- 2

Quotes:- 7

Group Presentations of Sem - 2 (Batch 2022 - 2024)

TOPIC OF THE BLOG:- 

In this blog you can find all of the Sem 2 Presentations (Batch 2022 - 2024, Department of English, MKBU, Bhavnagar, Gujarat). These all Presentations are by me and my classmates and all categories as group Presentation. 

🎧Presentation on Robert Frost:-

Robert Frost presentation .pptx from DrashtiJoshi21

🎧Presentation On W.b. Yeats Poems:-

W.B.Yeats Poems.pptx from 

MansiGajjar13

🎧Presentation on Bob Dylan:- 

Bob_Dylan.pptx from Pooja Bhuva

🎧Presentation on Transcendentalists:-

Transcendentalist.pptx from Pooja Bhuva

🎧Presentation on 'The Great Gatsby':-

The Great Gatsby.pptx de DrashtiJoshi21

🎧 Presentation on 'The Waste Land':-

The_Waste_Land.pptx from RiddhiRathod31

🎧 Presentation on 'Waiting For Godot':-

Waiting for Godot.pdf from Gayatri Nimavat

🎧 Presentation on W. H. Auden and his Poems:-

W.H._Auden_and_His_Poems.pptx from Pooja Bhuva

Stay tune for some more PPTs😁

Dadaism, Surrealism and Expressionism

TOPIC OF THE BLOG:-

In this blog I try to describe these three isms named Surrealism, Dadaism and Expressionism with some art and a little description. This activity is given by Yesha Ma'am to all of us and we all do our best. To study literature it doesn't mean to criticize only but to enjoy the art and what is in particular movement too. 

DADAISM:-

It is an artistic movement that began - from the Cabaret Voltaire which established in 1916 in Zurich - as a reaction to the horrors and slaughter of great war and which laid emphasis on spontaneity, chance, collage and irrationality in expression as opposed pathologic and reason of Bourgeois capital societies and preferred shock and provocation as techniques to inspire intellectual interpretation.

Here is a Dadaist art made by me.

WHAT IS THIS ART?

My Point of View:-

So, In this painting - I can't say it's a painting, I try to draw this one - I can see the reference of the colours which I used. Normal skin tones of human beings are cream, brown and black but it can be plain white. The background colour of this painting is maroon and a mix of red. Which symbolises death, darkness, and fear in some way. Through the face structure of this face and red lips one can say that it is a lady but there are chances it isn't. This face has only one I which symbolises a person seeing only through one side or one point of view. 

Others Point of View:- 

I did a survey on these paintings and asked everyone to interpret what they understand by these pictures. Of course most of them didn't reply, but I want to write what some of them replied. 

Here are the list of interpretations:-

• There is a love bite on neck.
• A lady.
• Accident of this lady and losing one eye.
• No boundaries of making the drawing perfect
• Draw what you want to draw without thinking.
• Different perspectives of things which our eyes noticed. 
• Eye of Lady and Lips.

But after all these points of view, in the end one can see it as stupid and meaningless painting. And that is what Dadaism is known for.

Here is a video available on YouTube that might help you to understand more clearly.

SURREALISM:-

This movement originated in France in the 1920. Surrealism can be considered a development or successor of Dadaism. The Surrealist took the Dadaist concern for spontaneity and liberation from logic and reason to its logical conclusion in their experiments with automatic writing. Surrealism means 'Above and Beyond Realism'. 

The term super-realism was coined by Guillaume Apollinaire and André Breton issued the first of the total Three Surrealist manifesto in 1924. 

Let's see the example of a Surrealist poem by Robert Desnos. 

The Zebra, horse of twilight,

Lifts its hoof, and shuts its eyes

Sets its backbone resonating

With joyful neighs and cries.

From its stable it emerges

To bright suns of Barbary,

And on the prairie grazes

The herbs of sorcery.

But on its coat the prison scars

Remain, the shadows of the bars.

Poem describes a zebra who has been set free from its stables for the night. It felt freedom for some time, lifts its hoof, and shuts its eyes. I do things like that and enjoy its pleasurable activity. However, Zebra is free but cannot escape from the fact that it would have to return to its normal life. The black strap on its skin resembles prism bars. 

This metaphor in this surrealist episode is that of the human condition which is exactly similar to the zebra. In some activities humans forget their systematic life and feel free and relaxed but human beings are never free from stress, difficulties, problems etc. just as the zebra carries on its own skin the reminders of its captivity. 

Here is a Surrealist art made by me:-

This is a man with the head of a bulb and has a tap on his head with a little flower. Normally Surrealism is an art which can be real but all together their existence is not real. Here is the other one made by me which has a group activity done by me and my classmates.

This one is by me but a little sprinkle by Yesha Ma'am.

These are by the whole class.

Here is a link of recording or a fun reel of this Surrealism art (Click here).

WHAT IS THIS ART?

My Point of view:-

I drew two Surrealist drawings cause one of them (Blub one) I just copied by 'Jugad' and the other one I did with my classmates in class as a classroom activity. According to me, In first blub one, I can see a boy full of mind and genius, and also through tap he/she can give his/her knowledge to others. And the flower symbolises kindness in him/her.

Now in the other one. I combined fish and ice cream. The straps on ice cream were done by Yesha Ma'am to complete the drawing.

Others Point of View:-

Here is the point of view of others whom I asked to tell something about these drawings.

• Ice cream and fish.
• A child.
• A bulb.
• A tap. 
• A flower.
• A fish.
• A shark. 
• Bulb as good thought which light up his/her life.
• A combination of veg and non veg food.
• Parachute.
• A Fish with a Flower Pot.
• An alien with a Lamp.

But after all these points of view, in the end one can see it as stupid and meaningless painting. And that is what Surrealism is known for.

Here is a video available on YouTube that might help you to understand more clearly.

EXPRESSIONISM:-

The term Expressionism was probably used by Vauxcelles after a series of paintings by Julien - Auguste Herve in 1901. Thus, expressionism is basically a German Movement in Literature and other arts developed fully during 1910 to 1925. There were various groups of Writers, Painters, play producers and dancers who called themselves expressionist. There were painters who believed that children should not be taught to draw because this lesson would tempt them to imitate other people's ideas in their mind.  Essentially the approach of the expressionist was, "This is how I write. Take it or leave it." The major painters who followed this movement were Vincene Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Munch while the writers were Chorles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Nietzsche etc.

Now, what do we understand about this Expressionism? This is an art which expresses how a painting speaks or shows its expressions through paintings. 

Here is an Expressionist art made by me. 

WHAT IS THIS ART?
My Point of View:-

If someone asks me about this drawing, I like to say that in this painting or truth is painting, reflection of expression in the human mind clearly visible. Our thoughts mixed with each other. The colours mixed in each other. What others think affects another. They of course have three faces between them and they only have one eye. One cannot say that this painting has a particular expression of sorrow or sadness. 

Others Point of View:-

Here is the point of view of others whom I asked to tell something about these drawings.

• Multiple personalities in humans.
• Three people.
• Couple animals.
• Three eyes.
• Colourful painting.
• So many colours.
• Water around humans.
• Lake, Squirrel and Turtle.

But after all these points of view, in the end one can see it as stupid and meaningless painting. And that is what Expressionism is known for.

Here is a video available on YouTube that might help you to understand more clearly.

Thank You note...

It is very interesting to see how people give their interpretations and thoughts to art. How everyone thinks differently. Thank you so much everyone for responding to me and helping me to write this blog. It doesn't matter so some of them didn't reply but everyone praised that, everyone praised my creative and meaningless art. So again thank you so much everyone to help me, to support me. 

NOTE:- If you find any problem or question or suggestions please let me know☺️.

Words:- 1368

Images:- 7

Video:- 3