English Literature: November 2013

Thursday 14 November 2013

Drama of Ideas

Drama of Ideas


"Drama of Ideas", pioneered by George Bernard Shaw, is a type of discussion play in which the clash of ideas and hostile ideologies reveals the most acute problems of social and personal morality. This type of comedy is different from the conventional comedy

Drama of Ideas established George Bernard Shaw, one of the popular dramatist in English literature

Wordsworth's Theory of Poetic Diction

Theory of Poetic Diction in Wordsworth's Poetry


Wordsworth preface to the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads, he sets fourth his aims: The principal object proposed in these poems was to choose incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them throughout in a selection of the language really used by men and  at the same time  to know over them a 

William Wordsworth

Wordsworth's Treatment of Nature

Treatment of Nature in Wordsworth's Poetry

As a poet of nature, Wordsworth stands supreme. He is "a worshiper of Nature": Nature devoted or high -priest. Nature occupies in his poems a separate  or  independent status and is not treated in a casual or passing manner. Tintern Abbey is a poem with Nature as its theme.

William-Wordsworth poet of nature

Wednesday 13 November 2013

The Ethereal Quality of Shelly's Poetry

Ethereal Quality of Shelly's Poetry


There is a vagueness, an abstractness, an ethereal quality about the poetry of Shelly. It is the poetry of a man living not earth, but in the aerial regions above. This ethereal in his poetry is due to the want in 
 
the ethereal quality of Shelly's poetry

general, of  "a sound subject-mater". Even Adonais which is a poem of grief on the death of Keats , he preserves a sense of unreality and calls in many shadowy allegorical figures.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Shelly and Byron

Shelly and Byron


Shelly stands with Byron as a poet of revolt, but his devotion to liberty is purer, his love for man is readier to declare in deeds of hope and sympathy, his philosophy of life is ennobled by loftier and more selfless aims. Byron's cry  is, "I am unhappy". Shelly's "The World is Unhappy and I hope to brighten it. The two poets in their 

shelly and byron

different ways represent two sides of the French Revolution. Byron its backward destructive side, Shelly, its forward reconstructive idealists side. Byron's heroes are engrossed egotists at war with society, while

Shelly and Wordsworth as a Poets of Nature

 Shelly and Wordsworth as a Poets of Nature


Interpretation of nature, Shelly suggests Wordsworth both by resemblance and by contrast. To both poets all natural objects are symbols of truth. Both regard nature as a permeated by the higher 

Shelly was a  poet of nature


Sunday 10 November 2013

Nature as a Chief Actor in Drama

Nature as a Chief Actor in Drama


Synge is an exception, where drama is blended with nature mysticism. If some dramatists tried to maintain the balance between the two, the output was not much brilliant. Greeks to the

beauty of nature is charming us all which is a chief actor in drama.

Elizabethan, many writers tried their hand in combining dramatic poetry with nature, it remained quite distinct from the unique style of Synge. For Synge nature is not only a background or a setting to charm the

Friday 8 November 2013

Synge's Limited Output of Plays

Synge's Limited Output of Plays


The premature death of Synge kept his work some what limited. the classification of the work is difficult as Synge's plays are mostly blended with both forms of dramatization in tragedy and comedy.

J M Synge limited output of play

Thursday 7 November 2013

Tennyson's Poetry: General Characteristic

 Characteristics of Tennyson Poetry:

Tennyson is a chiefly remembered as the most representative poet of the Victorian age.   He was a national poet, whose poetry reflected the various important tendencies of his time. That is why he was a popular in his own day. But one whose poetry is so representative of his age is apt to be less universal  in his appeal.
 
Tennyson's Poetry General Characteristic

Tuesday 5 November 2013

George Bernard Shaw, a Prolific Playwright.

George Bernard Shaw, a Prolific Playwright


Shaw had completed his first play Widower's Houses, in 1892. In 1893 he wrote a play called The Philanderer which was followed in1893-94, by Mrs. Warren's Profession. From now on Shaw went on writing plays without interpretation, proving himself to be a very prolific writer. Although he did not earn much popularity or income in the beginning, success came to him during the repertory season

George Barnard Shaw a prolific Playwright