assingment: March 2016

It is clear that Cultural Studies involves studying culture,what may not be nearly so obvious is just what culture is.The ambiguity of the concept of culture is notorious.some anthropologists consider culture to be social behaviour.for others,it is not behaviour at all,but an abstraction from behaviour.To some,stone axes and pottery,dance and music,fashion and style constitute culture;while no material object can be culture to others.yet still for others,culture exists only in the mind.

American anthropologist Margaret Mead says that:

“Culture is the learned behaviour of a society or a subgroup.”

Raymond Williams,one of the founders of cultural studies says that:

“Culture includes the organization of production,the structure of the family,the structure of the institutions which express or govern social relationships,the characteristics forms through which members of the society communicate.”

We can conclude that:

Culture is the ensemble of social processes by which meanings are produced,circulated and exchanged.

Culture is the site of the production of meanings,not the expression of meanings,which exist elsewhere.some meanings may be quite stable,os course,but others may be highly and rapidly variable.

Meanings migrate from one context to another,sometimes ending up very far from where it was started.they are always getting,displaced,diverted,reworked and exchanged.

We should add that culture is not a single unified process,but an ensemble of processes.they may work together tightly,but in other cases they may be in considerable conflict with one another.we shall have to keep the disparate nature of cultural processes clearly in mind as we proceed.

Cultural Studies:

Cultural Studies is an exciting field of study.it has become the rage amongst progressive of all sorts:not least because culture as a theme or topic of study has replaced society as the general subject of inquiry among progressives.Cultural studies has made its presence felt in academic work within the arts,the humanities,the social science and even science and technology.it appears to be everywhere and everyone seems to be talking about it.but what exactly is “Cultural Studies..?”The term “Studies” suggests a broad field of inquiry like:business studies or management studies.

Cultural Studies does not habe a clear defined subject area.its starting point is a very broad and all inclusive notion of culture that is used to describe and study a whole range of practices.this makes cultural studies radically different from such conventional disciplines as physics or sociology or philosophy,each of which has its own clearly demarcated subject area or object of study.apart from the ambiguous nature of its subject area,cultural studies also lacks its own principals,theories and methods.but it does not have its own very distinct and distinctive history.

Cultural studies functions by borrowing freely from social science disciplines and all branches of humanities and the arts.it appropriates theories and methodologies from anthropology,psychology,lingustics,literary criticism,musicology,philosophy,political science and art theory.Almost any method from textual analysis,ethnography and psychoanalysis to survey research can be used to do cultural studies.cultural studies takes whatever it needs from any discipline and adopts it to suit its own purposes.

All this makes it very difficult,if not impossible,to agree on any basic definition of the natyre of the beast that is cultural studies.cutural studies is not one thing,it is many things.it straddles the intellectual and academic landscape from old established disciplines to new political movements,intellectual practices and modes of inquiry such as Marxism,Post:colonialism,Feminism and Post structuralism.it moves from discipline to discipline,methodology to methodology,according to its own concerns and motivations.

This is why cultural studies is often described as an Anti Discpline:a mode of inquiry that does not subscribe to the straitjacket of institutionalized disciplines.

Features Of Cultural Studies:

1)Power Relation & its influence & shape on Cultural Practices:

Cultural critics assumes ‘Oppositional’roles in terms of power structures,wherever they might be found.Veeser credited the new historicists with dealing with ‘Questions of politics,power,indeed on all matters that deeply affected people`s practical lives.’and of course there are the large emphases on power in the matter of Jonathan Swift`s Laputa.

Let us turn towards the approach Shakespeare`s “Hamlet”,with a view to seeinh power in its cultural context.

Rosrencrantz & Guildenstern:

Two characters that can study unde the approach of Cultural Studies.After the play within the play,Claudias is taking privetly with Rosencrants and Guilsenstern,who were Hemlet`s fellow friends and students from Wittenberg.in reaction to Claudias`s plan to send Hemlet to England,Rosencrants delivers a speech that:if read out of context:is both an excellent set of metaphors and a summation of the Elizabethan concept of the role and power of Kingship.

Some passage is a thought and imagistically successful passage,worthly of a wise and accomplished statement.

Guildenstern had just agreed that he and Rosencrantz would do the king`s bidding.the agreement is only a reaffirmation of what they had told the king when he first received them at court.both speeches are wholly in character,for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are among the jellyfish of Shakespeare`s character.easy it is to forget which of the two speaks which lines indeed easy it is to forget most of their lines altogether.

If ever we wished to study two characters who are marginalized,then let us glimps upon Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

The meanings of their names hardly match what seems to be the essence of their characters.Murray J. Levith,for example,has written that “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are from the Dutch German:literary,’Garland Of Roses’and ‘Golden Star’.Although of religious origin,both names together sound singsong and odd to English ears.their jingling gives them lightness,and blurs the individuality of the characters they label.”

In short,Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are no more than what Rosencrantz called a “Small Annexment”,a “Petty Consequence”,mere nothings for the “Massy Wheel” of kings.through this we can conclude that that type of characters have same speech as hero has though they have not much attention as hero has.we seemed in various movies that supporting characters sometimes gave the idea that hoe to meet hero to heroine and then hero take action on that.sometimes what happen that supporting characters are more important than hero.For Example:

In the novel:’Tughlaq’ by Girish Karnad.

2)Cultural Studies is not simply the study of cultural as though it was a discreat entity divorced from its social or political context.its objective is to understand culture in all its complex forms and to analyse the social and political context within which it mainifests itself.

3)Culture in cultural studies always performs Two Functions:it is both the Object of study and the Location of political criticism and action.cultural studies aims to be both an intellectual and a pragmatic enterprise

4)Cultural studies attempts to expose and reconcile he division of knowedge,to overcome the split between tacit and objectives (first that is intuitive knowledge based on local cultures and secondly universal),forms of knowledge.it assumes a common identity and common intrest between the knower and the known,between the observer and what is being observed.

5)Cultural studies is commited to a moral evaluation of modern society and to a radical line of political action.the tradition of cultural studies is not one of value free scholarship but one commiited to social reconstrauction by critical political involvement.thus,cultural studies aims to understand and change the structures of dominance everywhere,but in industrial capitalist societies in particular.

6)Features of Cultural Studies is that it share four goals:

1)Cultural Studies transcends the confines of a particular discipline such as literary criticism or history.

2)Cultural studies is politically engaged as we discussed above the power relation which is related with political things.

Cultural critics see themselves s ‘Oppositional’,not only within their own displines but to many of the power structures of society at large.they question inequlities within power structures and seek to discover models for restructuring relationships among dominant and ‘Minority’ or ‘Subaltern’discourses.

3)Cultural studies denies the sepration of ‘High’and ‘Low’or elite and popular culture.

4)Cultural studies analyse not only the cultural work,but also the means of production.

Conclusion:

In short,we can say that as we dicussed the characteristics of cultural studies.it also have some own limitations.the weaknesses of cultural studies lie in its very strengths,particularly its emphasis upon diversity of approach and subject matter.cultural studies can at times seem merely an intellectual smorgasbord in which the critic blithely combines artful helpings of texts and objects and then “Finds’deep connections between thrm,without adequently researching what a culture means or how cultures have interacted.

click here to evaluate my assignment

Rasa Theory And Natyashastra

click here to evaluate my assignment
Name:Gohil Poojaba S

Roll No.:18

Std:M.A.Sem:2

Sub:Paper No 7

Literary Theory And Criticism

Assignment Topic:Rasa Theory & Natyashastra

Summited To:M.K.Bhavnagar University

Year:2015:2017

Introduction:

“Our emotions are the gastric juices which transform this world of appearance into the more intimate world of sentiments.on the other hand,this outer world has its own juices,having their various qualities,which excite our emotional activities.this is called in our Sanskrit Rhetoric,Rasa,which signifies outer juices having their responses in inner juices of our emotions.and a poem,according to it,is a sentence or sentences containing juices,which stimulate the juices of emotion.it brings to us ideas vitalized by feelings,ready to be made into the life style of nature.”(Rabindranath Tagore)

The very core of the Sanskrit Natya theory is the creation of “Rasa”.every dramatic presentation was aimed at evoking in the minds of the audience a particular kind of aesthetic experiences,which is described as “Rasa”.the concept of “Rasa” is the most important and significant contribution of the Indian mind to aesthetics.the study of aesthetics deals with the realization of beauty in art,its relish or enjoyment and the awareness of joy that accompanies an experience of beauty.Rasa has no equivalent in word or concept in any other language or art of the world hitherto known to us.the closest explanation can be ‘Aesthetic Relish’.

The word Rasa is derived from the root Rasah meaning sap or juice,taste,flavour,relish.the extract of a fruit is referred to us Rasa,which itself is the essence of it,the ultimate flavour of it.Bharata succinctly encapsulates the theory of Rasa in his most famous formula like Rasa sutra thus:

“VibhavanubhavvyabhicharisanyogatRASAnishpattih”.

The aesthetic relish is produced by a combination of the determinants,consequents and transitory states or fleeting emotions.he explains Rasa as the essence derived from the various ingredients.he gives the parallel of the extract,rasa,got from various condiments,having different tastes when combined becomes delectable to taste.hence,that which can be tasted or flavoured can be termed as Rasa.

This aesthetic relish,which is possible only through mental perception,is termed as ‘Natyarasa’.even the terms Vibhava,Anubhava,and Vyabhicharibhava refer only to stage representations,not to realities of life.it naturally follows that what they produce should only be Natya Rasa.

Bharata classifies the Rasa under eight categories and gives the corresponding Bhava which gives rise to the rasa.these are known as Sthayi Bhava or pervading stable emotion.they are:Rati(Love),Hasa(Mirth),Shoka(Grief),Krodha(Anger),Utsaha(Heroism),Bhaya(Fear),Jugupsa(Disgust),and Vismaya(Wonder).

The corresponding eight Rasa are Sringara(Amorous),Hasya(Humourous),Karuna(Pathetic),Raudra(Furious),Vira(Valorous),Bhayanaka(Horrific),Bibhatsa(Repugnant),and Adbhuta(Wondrous).

There are three types of Bhava,namely Sthayi,Vyabhichari and Satvika totaling to forty nine.The Satvika bhava are the physical manifestation of intense emotion.they are Sthamba(Petrification),Sveda(Perspiration),Romancha(Horripilation),Svarabheda(Voice change),Vepathu(Trembling),Vaivarnya(Facial colour change),Asru(Weeping) and Pralaya(Fainting).it is an amazing analysis of human emotions put in a nutshell.

For instance,in the play,Abhijnanshakuntalam,Kalidasa uses King Dushyanta`s coming to the hermitage to pay respect to the sage,as the alambana vibhava.The girl`s talk,the bee,their attire,the flower garden,and such other become the uddipana vibhava.on Dushyanta`s entry,fleeting emotions like confusion,wonder,fear,curiosity,bashfulness and such others seems to fill the minds of all the characters present.The blossoming of love between Shakuntala and Dushyanta is gradually established through the reactions of both of them to the conversation of the Sakhis with the king.if the ‘Patra’enacting as Shakuntala is able to show the Satvika bhava of horripilation or vepathu out of the new experience of love which is strange to an ashramite and Dushyanta is able to portray sthambha on seeing her beauty and romancha on knowing her lineage,then the rati sthayi bhava gets established in the mind of the people who can experience the sringara rasa.

Bharata says that Bhava and Rasa are mutually dependent.the performer or producer,be it an actor,dancer,singer,instrumentalist,or stage craftsmen,should be conscious of the sthayi bhava and the rasa that they are striving to establish.this will help them realize their Sidhdhi through Rasotpatti.

The Natyasashastra:

A key text which deals with the emotional theory of Rasa is the Natyasashastra,attributed to Bharata Muni.Bharata ascribed a divine origin to drama and considered it to be a fifth veda.the Natyasashastra primarily deals with theatre,dance & musical performance.According to the Natyasashatra,the major purpose of the dance,drama,ritual and poetry is catalytic in that aesthetic performance should provoke an emotion that is already present in members of the audience.the various elements of a performance combine to create a sympathetic response in those who experience them.Moreover,a member of the audience who has cultivated his or her own aesthetic response may experience a transformation of their own emotion into a purely aesthetic,transcendental feeling:an experience of divine bliss.this is the transformation of Bhava into its essence Rasa.

Natyaveda or Natyashashtra were divided into four parts:

1)Art of effective speech or recitation

2)Art of music

3)Art of acting and

4)Rasas

With the science or theory of which the Natyaveda is concerened,primarily presents Rasa,and the three acts are the means of its effective presentation.thus,it is an organic whole.so the Natya is divided into two parts mainly:Rasa & Presentation of Rasa.

The presentation of Rasa can be done in four ways:

1)Angika (Acting consiting part of body)

2)Vachika (Acting of speech organs)

3)Sattvika (The art of involve oneself in character and feel it which adds involuntary expressions & gestures.

4)Aharya (The other supportive create atmosphere for play.

Sthayi bhava and vyabhachari bhava are the two types of bhavas.Rasas sre engendered from the combination of these three elements.

Vibhav,Anubhav,Vyabhichari bhav and Sanyog are essential for Rasa.

In brief let`s glimps on it:

Vibhav:it has two elements.

1)Alamban (It is the means of expression of feelings through which feelings reaches to the viewer.

2)Udipan (They are the events happens in the drama and the stage decoration as well as the atmosphere created by musis,light effect on the stage and depiction of the atmosphere through words in text.

Anubhav:it is the physical changes due to the rise of an emotion.these changes are voluntary as they can be produced by an effort of the will.they are called Anubhavas.

Vyabhichari Bhav:these are transient emotions.they are like waves,which rise from the ocean of the basic mental state and subside into the same.

There are five aspects of Staus of mind Srasti,Stithi,Samhar,Tirobhava and Anugraha involved in the composition of a poem.

Srasti is aesthetic intuition that charges the poet.

Stithi denotes objects of inspiration which captivate the mind of the poet.

Samhar is indication of expression which is the depth of the poet.

Tirobhava is resulting stimulation which diffuses illusion.

Anugraha is the manifestation of the universal rhythm.

All these aspects are not found in every poem.Kavya which has these aspects offers truth,meaning and knowledge,kavya lacking them is not a poem but merely a verse.

According to Dimock Indian poetics may be appropriated for Indian Literature.he belives ‘Sanskrit critics have taxonomic approach to the psychology of emotions.the taxonomic involves to more from the personal to transpersonal.there is a highly particular level.it is the level of interpersonal aesthetic delight.

“An exhibition and enjoyment that is more like spiritual realization is very much present in Indian Literature.”

Further Dimock includes that the translation of Sanskrit Literature only consist the Sthayi Bhava but can not take the reader or viewer to the Rasa.

T.S.Eliot`s theory of objective corrective and the Rasa theory can be compared.Eliot even believes that a set of objects,a situation,a chain of event are responsible for the portrayal of the emotion in poetry.the feeling of the character is shown by surroundings and it is made objective that can be seen by eyes and felt by heart.the sahradaya cab feel the exact emotions and connect himself with the character.

Rasa theory has its own limitations as well as so many versions in Indian literatures such as Ramayana has.it is like gigantic tree having many branches.the vague interpretations of various Indian scholars about the rasa theory demand more attention to study an emphasis for the criticism of Indian text.

Abhinavgupta`s theory of Rasa:

For Abhinavgupta,all experiences leave ‘Traces’in the mind.these traces have two components:the Representational and the Emotional.the representational element can be visual image or a propositional fact,the emotional element is a re experiencing of the original feeling.

For example:

In recalling a deceased friends,one may recall an image of them,recall certain facts about them but even re experience the sadness felt at their passing.

These traces are latent in our minds,according to Abhinavagupta.at certain times,they may be fully activated.we recall the memories and re experience the emotions associated with them.However,ther are also times when these traces are activated but not brought into self reflecting awareness,yet there is some affect.

For example:

I might enter a particular place and feel suddenly sad.i might reflect on the sudden surge of sadness and recall a prior experiences of sadness in that place,but what is important here is that the representational content of the memory was initially not present.

click here to evaluate my assignment

According to Matthew Arnold Concept of Culture And Meaning of Anarchy in Society

click here to evaluate my assignment
Name:Gohil Poojaba S

Roll No.:18

Std:M.A.Sem:2

Sub:Paper No 6

The Victorian Age

Assignment Topic:According To Matthew Arnold Concept Of Culture & Meaning Of Anarchy In Society

Submitted To:M.K.Bhavnagar University

Year:2015:2017

“Culture is properly described as the love of perfection;it is a study of perfection”.

Brief about Matthew Arnold:

Matthew Arnold was a poet of Victorian period.he was born on 24^th of December,1822 in England.he was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of school.he was the son of Thomas Arnold,The Headmaster of Rugby School.he had two brothers namely Tom Arnold &William Delafield Arnold.Tom Arnold was a literary professor and William Delafield Arnold was a novelist and colonial administrator.he was famous in genres such as poetry:literary social and religious criticism.Matthew Arnold has been characterized as a Saga writer,a type of writer who chastises and instructs the reader on contemporary social issues.

Culture And Anarchy is a series of periodical essays by Matthew Arnold.which was first published in Cornhill magazine in 1867:68.Anarchy is a controversial philosophical work.the essay argues for a restructuring of England`s social ideology.it reflects Arnold`s passionate conviction that the uneducated English masses could be modeled into conscientious individuals who strive for human perfection through the harmonious cultivation of all their skills and talents.Arnold`s famous piece of writing on culture established his high Victorian cultural agenda that remained dominant in debate from the 1860s until 1950s.a cultural condition of Arnold`s thesis is that a state administrated system of education must be replace the ecclesiastical programmed which emphasized rigid individual moral conduct at the expense of free thinking and devotion community.

What is Culture:

In Culture And Anarchy,in the essay Matthew Arnold tries to say the idea of culture.he introduces Culture as,

“The whole scope of essay is to recommend culture as the great help out of our present difficulties;culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know,on all the matters which most concern us,’The best which has been thought and said in the world.’and through this knowledge,turning a stream of fresh and free thought upon our stock notions and habits,which we now follow staunchly but mechanically.”

To show the significance of culture he gave an example of American culture.he proposes to try and enquire in in the simple unsystematic way,what culture really is,what good it can do,what is our own particular need of it.and he seeks to find some plain ground on which a faith in culture may rest securely.Arnold believes that culture is a study of perfection.

He further adds that,

To conceive of true human perfection as a harmonious perfection,as a general perfection,developing all sides of our humanity and as a general perfection,developing all sides of society.

Culture is considered not merely as the endeavour to see and learn this,but also to make it prevail,the moral,social and beneficent character of culture becomes manifest.as religion,culture is also places in an internal condition.character perfection is recommended in culture.perfection of culture is not possible while the individuals remains isolated.

Thus,the notion of perfection as culture brings us to conceive it:a harmonious perfection,a perfection in which the characters of beauty and intelligence are both present,which unites ‘The two noblest of things:Sweetness and Light’.

Arnold connects his ideas of sweetness and light with culture and try to explains with the Greek words Aphuia and Euphoria.because of that central idea,this first chapter is called Sweetness an Light,which is about the introduction of culture.

Sweetness and Light:

The disparagers of culture make its motive curiosity,sometimes,indeed,they make its motives mere exclusiveness in vanity.the culture which is supposed to plume itself on a smattering of Greek and Latin is a culture which is begotten by nothing so intellectual as curiosity;it is valued either out of sheer vanity and ignorance,or else as an engine of social and class distinction,separating its holder like a badge or little from people who have not got it.no serious man would call this culture or attach any value to it,as culture at all.

But there is of culture second view,in which not solely the scientific passion,the sheer desire to see things as they are,natural and proper in intelligent beings that appear as the ground of it.there is a view in which all the love of our neighbours,the impulses towards action help and beneficence the desire for removing human error,clearing human confusion and diminishing human misery,the noble aspiration to live the world better and happier than we found it,motives eminently such as are called social come is as the part of grounds of culture and the main and pre eminent part.

Then culture is properly described not as having its origin in curiocity,but as having its origin in the love of perfection,that is the 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 well.

The movement for culture is of service,culture which believes in making reason and the will of God prevail,believes in perfection,is the study and pursuit of perfection that is no longer debarred by a rigid invincible exclusion of whatever is new from getting acceptance for its ideas,simply just because they are new.

Religion says:

The kingdom of God is within you.

Like manner culture places human perfection in an internal condition,in the growth and predominance of our humanity proper as distinguishing from our animality.it places it in the ever increasing efficiency and the general harmonious expansion of those gifts of thought and feeling,which make the peculiar dignity,wealth and happiness of human nature.

The idea of perfection as an inward condition of the mode and spirit is at variance with the mechanical and material civilization.the ides of perfection as a general expansion of the human family is as variance with our strong individualism,our hatred of all limits to the unrestrained swing of the individual`s personality our maxim of every man for himself.

Doing As One Likes:

Culture is to be study and pursuit of perfection that of perfection as pursued by culture,beauty and intelligence.on the other words,sweetness and light are the main characters.

Arnold`s theory of sweetness and light is full of antipathy against the rougher or coarser movements going on around him.

Matthew Arnold started to speak of culture,by insisting on our bondage to machinery,on our proneness to value machinery as end itself,without looking it to the end for which alone,in reality,it is valueable.in our common notions and talk about freedom,we eminently show our idolatry of machinery.

Our middle class,the great representative of trade and dissent,with its maxims of every man for himself in business,every man for religion,dreads a powerful administration which might somehow interfere with it.

After then to our working class.that pressed constantly by the hard daily compulsion of material wants,is naturally the very center and stronghold of our national idea,that it is man`s ideal right and felicity to do as he likes.

Culture which simply means an attempt to perfect oneself,if we light it shows us that there is nothing so very blessed in merely doing as one likes.worship of the mere freedom to do as one likes is worship of machinery,that really blessed thing to like what right reason ordains.

Culture confers upon us,if in embarrassed times like the present it enables us to look at the ins and outs of things in this way,without hatred and without partially and with disposition to see the God in everybody all round.

Two excellent rules of Bishop Wilson`s for man`s guidance:firstly never go against the best light you have,secondly take care that your light be not darkness.

Anarchy in Society:

Anarchy in Society:
Three Classes:
Barbarians	Philistines	Populace

In the very beginning Matthew Arnold says that from a man without a philosophy no one can expect philosophical completeness.therefore,he observes that in trying to get a distinct notion of our aristocratic,our middle and our working class with a view of testing the claims of each of these classes to become a center of authority.

Philistines conveys a sense which makes it more peculiarly appropriate to our middle class than to our aristocratic.Aristocratic class called The Barbarians.The Barbarians had the passion for asserting one`s personal liberty and the great natural stronghold.

Arnold Says that it is notorious that our middle class liberals have long looked forward to this consumption when the working class shall join forces with them.division of English society two things are to be borne in mind.the first is that since,under all our class divisions,ther is common basis of human nature.the second things to be borne in mind that so far as we are Barbarians,Philistines,or Populace,imagine happiness to consist in doing what one`s ordinary self likes.

Finally,we can summaries that from every walk of life some people must dedicate themselves to the pursuit of perfection.the doors of perfection and culture are wide open to any really dedicated soul from any three great divisions which Arnold finds proper to sort out the people of

England

But then it is essential that man must strive to seek human perfection to establish his best self,and culture would in the end,can find its public recognition.

click here to evaluate my assignment

Paradox in John Keats Odes

click here to evaluate my assignment
Name: Gohil Poojaba S

Roll No.: 18

Std.: M.A. Sem.2

Sub.: Paper No.5

The Romantic Literature

Assignment Topic:Paradox In John Keats Odes

Summited To:M.K.Bhavnagar University

Year:2015:2017

Paradox in John Keats Odes:

Defination of Paradox:

A statement or proposition that seems self contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible term.

The term Paradox is comes from the Greek word Paradoxon that means contrary to expectations,existing belief or perceived opinion.

It is a statement that appears to be self contradictory or silly but may include a latent truth.it is also used to illustrate an opinion or statement contrary to accepted traditional ideas.A paradox,is often used to make a reader think over an idea in innovative way.

Examples of Paradox:

1)What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young…(George Bernard Shaw)

2)Truth is honey which is bitter.

From the above examples of Paradox,we can say that paradox creates a humorous effect on the readers because of its ridiculousness.

How in Literature Paradox works:

In literature,paradox is not just a clear or comical statement or use of words.paradox has serious implication because it makes statement that often summarise the major themes of the work they are used in.let us analyse some paradox examples from some famous literary works:

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm,one part of the cardinal rule is the statement.

“All animals are equal,

But some are more equal than others.”

This statement seems to not make any sense,however on closer examination,is gets clear that Orwell points out a political truth.the Government in the novel,claims that everyone is equal but is has never treated everyone equally.it is the concept of equality stated in this paradox that is opposite to the common belief of equality.

In the famous play if Shakespeare,’Hamlet’,the Protagonist Hamlet says,

“I must be cruel to be kind.”

This announcement dose not seem to mae sense.how can an individual treat others kindly even when he is cruel..?however Hamlet is taking about his mother and how he intends to kill Claudias to avenge his father`s death.

This act of Hamlet will be a tragedy for his mother who is married to Claudias.Hamlet does not want his mother to be the beloved of his father`s murderer any longer and so he thinks that the murder will be good for his mother.

From Shakespeare`s “The tragedy of Romeo and Juliiet”

“The earth that`s nature`s mother is her tomb,

What is her burying grave,that is rainbow in her womb.”

The contradictory ideas of the earth being the birthplace and a graveyard make these lines paradoxical.

In his short lyric “My heart leaps up when I behold.”William Wordsworth remembers the joys of his past and says:

“Child is father of the man”

This statement has seemingly incorrect proposition but when we look deep into its meaning,we can see the truth.the Poet is saying that the childhood experiences become the basis for all adult occurrences.the childhood of a person shapes his life and consequently “Fathers” or creates the grown up adult,so Child is father of the man.”

Functions of Paradox:

Why is paradox used when a message can be conveyed in a straightforward and simple manner..?

The answer lies in the nature and purpose of literature.one function of literature is to make the readers happy to reading.readers enjoy more when they extract the hidden meanings out of the writing rather than something presented to them in an uncomplicated manner.thus,the chief purpose of a paradox is to give pleasure.

In poetry,the use of paradox is not confined to mere wit and pleasure,rather it becomes an integral part of poetic diction.poets usually make use of a paradox to create a remarkable thought or image out of the words.

Some types of paradox in poetry are meant to communicate a tone of irony to its readers as well as lead their thoughts to the immediate subjects.paradox in most of the poems normally strives to create feelings of integral and interest in readers`s minds to make them think deeper and harder to enjoy the real message of the poem.

Paradox in John Keats Odes:

As Brook says,

“The language of poetry is the language of paradox”

Paradox is a characteristics of Keats poetry and thought.it can be found in the following Odes by Keats:

1)Ode On A Grecian Urn:

Written probably in May 1819

Ode On A Grecian Urn is based on a series of paradoxes and opposites.

This ode,together with Ode To A Nightingale are generally thought of as Keats best.

Let us glimps on it in search of paradox as a center element.

Stanza second begins with an idea which,if taken literary,makes no sense:

“Heard melodies are sweet,

But those unheard are sweeter”Lines:(11,12)

Here if we see so there can be no “Unheard”melodies.however,in Line 13 & 14 Keats is creating a paradox in that the pipes on the urn sound “Not to the sensual ear” but “To the spirit”.

Music “Heard” through the imagination can be even sweeter than that heard through the ear.by pipe music the subject:the youth is singing to his girl that is accompanied.through “sweet” and “soft” here we can see the establishment of nature of this music.the reminder of the stanza goes on to express the central truth about the urn:the idea that the ecstasies portrayed are frozen forever in poses which suggests the anticipation of desire but which can never be fulfilled.the stanza get end with another paradox which has the image of the lover who can never kiss when he is so close to winning to his goal even,but he should be happy nevertheless with the thought that:

(Lines:19,20)

“She can not fade,though thou hast not thy bliss,

For ever wilt thou love,and she be fair”

Third stanza continues with the picture that created in the second stanza and further developes the paradox that is at the heart of the poem which is captured perfect joy and fixed by art gives more ecstatic pleasure than joy experienced in life as a passing movement and as such is transitory.

The subject of the stanza this time is the girl who frozen in time on the urn is

“For ever panting,and for ever young”

(Line:27)

In stanza IV,the scene depicts a procession led by a priest taking the sacrificial cow to the altar.Keats poses the questiones of who these people are and to what altar they are leading the beast.the idea of this pagan crowd involved in sacrifice contrast strictly with the two lovers described earlier.Keats does not dwell on this,however,but moves on to imagine a scene not depicted on the urn:

Line:35,37

“What little town by river or sea shore,

Or mountain built with peaceful,

Citadel is emptied of these,

Folk this pious morn?”

The town normally a place full of life,is empty and dead that raises another paradox in the scene here.the idea of death is even introduces the idea of the sacrifice.

The fifth stanza serve as a summary of the poem.the poet reconsiders the whole urn reflecting that:

“Thou,silent form,dost

Tease us out of thought as dost eternity”

(Line:44,45)

A new perspective he can presents in the urn through this change of viewpoint.he now views the urn as an object,a thing without life and the pictures that it displays as “Marble Men” and the scene a “Cold Pastoral” however,this cold,lifelessness of the urn does not tell the whole story.Keats has come to see that the urn does not tell A tale,it is the tale.the urn deliveres its final message as a “Friend to men”(Line:48) and to each generation as it comes along.the final message:

“Beauty is truth,

Truth beauty,

That is all

Ye known on earth,

And all ye held to know”.

(Line:49,50)

Has provoked much scholarly debate and is both cryptic and paradoxical.beauty to Keats,though,represented an experiences rather than a concept and experiences intensely felt can be considered as truth.on the other hand,truth would have to be beautiful in that it must stimulate our deepest feelings in order to be true.

The final affirmation is more to do with how we know rather than what we know,in other words we know through intensely experienced feelings as opposed to rational thought.

2)Ode To A Nightingale:

Written:The exact date that this ode was written is in some doubt but it is dated May 1819 and references suggests that it may have been written in Mid may.

Ode To A Nightingale is the longest of Keats odes and is the most personal in an autobiograohical sense.it is worth noting that in classical times the nightingale was a bird associated with poetry and love and set apart from other birds by its beautiful song.in medieval times the bird was associated with the idea of courtly love often figured in poetry and literature generally.the poem opens with a sense of pain and numbness:

“My heart aches,

And a drowsy numbness pains/My sense”

(Line:1,2)

The comparison to ‘Hemlock’,a poisonous herb,and “Some dull opiate” (Line:3),reveal this “Ache” to be of a particular kind.this seems to bethe kind of pain that is more to do with dull powers of receptivity rather than the conventional sense of pain.this is important in understanding the meaning of the poem which is concerned with the way the poet persives things and the effect that the nightingale has on this perception.however,this is the prelude to a sense of creativity as Keats reveals the reason for this “Numbness”.the effect is paradoxical in that it is a reaction to the happiness he experiences through the nightingale`s song.the poet identifies himself with the bird and is happy but the rub is that he is

“Too happy in thine happiness”(Line:6)

And so the sense of joy also brings with it a sense of loss.he then describes how he seesvthe bird as ‘A Dryad of the trees’(Line:7),presiding over “Some melodious plot”(Line:8)

In stanza,V,it seems that the poet`s identification with the nightingale was only transient and the poet is in darkness.the many beautiful things which surround the poet are left unseen.however,although all this natural beauty may be denied his eye it is not withheld from his imagination.once again a paradox is introduced as although the poet is in darkness he presents us with an array of all the beautiful flowers,grasses and trees that surround him and that give out their colours and scents evoking a sense of the creative mood that Keats desires.Note,though,the combined idea of fragrance and death introduced by the phrase.

“Embalmed darkness”

(Line:43)

Stanza VI developes the idea of stanza V.the poet is still in darkness but he now distances himself to contemplate the effect on himself of the beauty of nature described in the previous stanza as

“Darkling I listen”

(Line;51)

To the song of the bird.

However, the idea of death suggested by the use of “Emblamed”in the previous stanza is enlarged upon as he talks of having “Been half in love with easeful death”

(Line:52)

He is only ‘Half’ in love with the idea,through which again suggests a paradox of his desire for both life and death.his apparent death wish is immediately dismissed as it only “Seems….rich to die”while listening in such ecstasy to the song of the nightingale.if he were to die,though he would no longer be able to hear the song of the nightingale even though the bird would continue to sing as a kind of requiem to the poet:

“Still wouldst thou sing,

And I have ears in vain,

To thy high requiem became a sod”

(Line:59,60)

Yet out of the sadness of the speakers`s state,paradoxically the song of the nightingale is something that gives him great joy and comfort as he reminded of his mortality.

click here to evaluate my assignment