Attempting critical appreciation of a poem

This presentation showcases the PRACTICAL MECHANISM to extract the SEMANTIC and SYNTACTIC implication that a poem in particular and English literary works, in general, can offer.
Follow the STEP-AFTER-STEP method to attempt the critical appreciation of a poem

1. Critical Appreciation of a Poem Prof. Sarath Kumar H R @ Arena for Augmented Learning, India

2. INTRODUCTION 1

3. A literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the apt use of distinctive style and rhythm; As a genre, it adheres to certain regulations with reference to the individual types Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement. - Christopher Fry A poem is never finished, only abandoned. - Paul Valery Critics defined it thus: What is meant by Poetry? 1

4. To criticize is to appreciate , to appropriate , to take intellectual possession , to establish in fine a relation with the criticized thing and make it one’s own - Henry James, Preface to ‘What Maisie Knew’ Critics defined it thus: What is meant by Criticizing ? 1

5. To dig out the aesthetic sense in the poem, To find out how words and sentences can have duplicity or multiplicity of meaning, To estimate a poet's unique qualities expressive through his / her work, To find pleasure in and through the activity of appreciation or analysis, To research if all the parameters of a literary genre have been followed or not, If YES, how does that adherence contribute to the overall effect of the poem, If NO, how do the deviations from the established norms of the genre afffect the poem and To adjudicate the pros and cons of the poem The reasons are: Why should a poem be critically analysed or appreciated ? 1

6. Critical appreciation and Critical Analysis are activities that provide an apt critique of a poem. The same parameters are used for both the activities. However it is the length, the structural mechanics and the nature of the theme of the poem that decides the nomenclature of the activity. The longer the text is, usually the more eloborate the explanation will be. The same is the case with the two other parameters namely the structural and thematic components of a poem. Thus Critical appreciation is an activity that is related to shorter poems like lyrics, sonnets, elegies (of shorter length), Idylls and ballads (of shorter length), while Critical Analysis is an activity that is related to longer poetic genres like Odes, Epics ans Satires. The DIFFERENCES are: “ Critical Appreciation” Vs “Critical Analysis” 2

7. Introduced in England in the eighteenth century A new methodology by I. A.Richards (18931979), a lecturer at Cambridge published Principles of Literary Criticism (1924) and Practical Criticism (1929) , the New Criticism (1929). A critic exam i nes and evaluates a piece of literature from a discerning point of view. The critic knows the work well enough to have a logical basis for liking or disliking it. It is a step-after-step and logical examination of a poetic work. It explains why the work should be appreciated. It is an objective evaluation of both the structure of the work and the literary materials. Criticism is based on “What is left UNSAID”? What is meant by Critical Appreciation ? 2

8. Mechanics of Critical Appreciation 3

9. CONTENT EXPLANATION The poem is analyzed with reference to 5 points that determine the nature of the content of the poem tobe appreciated CRITICAL APPRECIATION A harmonious presentation of both the points above produces the apt critical appreciation of the poem at question FORM EXPLANATION The form of the poem is analyzed in terms of 5 points that give the text the look of a poem The fundamental steps 3 CONTENT EXPLANATION + FORM EXPLANATION = CRITICAL APPRECIATION

10. 50%  A poem is like an iceberg  Social and Political implications  Appreciation as ‘discovery’  Characters  Instability of critical judgments  ‘Creative’ reading  Harold Bloom – ‘every reading is a misreading’  Central themes – famous topics from everyday experience – love , death , nature, religion etc.  Image of poet as a designer ; carpenter and wood  Labeling a poem is very useful for appreciation  Majority of poems are lyrics  Philosophy ‘message’  2 worlds – the ‘real world’ and the ‘imaginary / ideal world’  How the components contribute to the meaning  2 approaches to poetry – 1. Concentrate on the poet 2. Discussing the poem itself  Poet as ‘a maker,’ a maker of meanings with words - craftsmanship in ‘content and ‘form’  Open text  Prosody  Metrical Analysis  Generic Analysis Structure of Critical Appreciation Probing the Content 50% Analysing the Structure 3

11. How to perform a Critical Appreciation of the Content ? 4

12. Philosophy / message / moral of the poem The EXPLICIT meaning of the poem Type of the poem Is it NARRATIVE or DESCRIPTIVE? Theme of the poem What does the poem deal with? The EXPLICIT & IMPLICITmeaning Tension / Contrast Do look :  for a tension , conflict or opposition in a poem  for the positive images and impressions that can be set against negative images and impressions  for nice / nasty images  Harmony / Lack of harmony  Pattern / Lack of pattern  Order / Disorder Tone / atmosphere / mood Humorous – serious, sarcastic, meditative, ironic etc. Does the mood change? Contents & their Components 1 2 3 4 5 4 1.Narrative A poem that tells a story; Ex: the E pic, the B allad, the Satire, the R omance. 2. Non - narrative A poem of feelings and ideas Ex.t he Lyric, the Ode, the S onnet, the Idyll, the E legy etc.

13. Critical Appreciation of the Form 5

14. CHARACTERS EMBELLISHMENTS OF SPEECH & SOUND MENTAL PICTURE GRAPHIC INDICATIONS OF CONCEPTS . RHYTHM, METER, STRESS, PROSODY, SCANSION, RHYME, CAESURA, STANZA TYPES, etc. PERSONA FIGURES IMAGERY SYMBOLS METRICS HOW DOES IT WORK? Form & its Components 5

15. 1. SPEAKER | PERSONA Who is the active speaker of the poem? The poet, or the narrator,or any character of the poem? Is the speaker a LIVING BEING or AN ENTITY? 1 4. FORM & ITS COMPONENTS 2.FIGURES OF SPEECH & SOUND Assonance, Alliteration, Hyperbole, Simile, Metaphor , Synecdoche , Metonymy, Onomatopoeia , Pathetic fallacy, Personification, Oxymoron, etc. 2 3. COMMON IMAGERY A mental picture  A paired image Patterns like peace & war, male & female etc. Visual = Sight  Auditory = Sound Tactile = Touch  Thermal = Heat/cold Olfactory = Smell Gustatory = Taste  Kinesthetic = Movement 3 4. SYMBOLS An object which stands for something else ( a dove symbolizes peace)  An IMAGE is associated with is stated in the poem , but with a SYMBOL we have to infer the meaning and association  Private /public symbols 4

16. 1. SPEAKER | PERSONA Who is the active speaker of the poem? The poet, or the narrator,or any character of the poem? Is the speaker a LIVING BEING or AN ENTITY? 1 4. FORM & ITS COMPONENTS

17. 4. FORM & ITS COMPONENTS 2.FIGURES OF SPEECH & SOUND 2

18. 4. FORM & ITS COMPONENTS 2.FIGURES OF SPEECH & SOUND 2

19. 4. FORM & ITS COMPONENTS 2.FIGURES OF SPEECH & SOUND 2

20. 4. FORM & ITS COMPONENTS 3. COMMON IMAGERY A mental picture  A paired image Patterns like peace & war, male & female etc. Visual = Sight  Auditory = Sound Tactile = Touch  Thermal = Heat/cold Olfactory = Smell Gustatory = Taste  Kinesthetic = Movement 3

21. 4. FORM & ITS COMPONENTS 4. SYMBOLS An object which stands for something else ( a dove symbolizes peace)  An IMAGE is associated with is stated in the poem , but with a SYMBOL we have to infer the meaning and association  Private /public symbols 4

22. 4. FORM & ITS COMPONENTS 5 METRICAL ANALYSIS A RHYTHM ANALYSIS F CAESURA B SYLLABLES D METERS E FEET ANALYSIS i VERSE TYPE H RHYME G SCANSION C STRESS ANALYSIS “Metre” (from the Greek metron ) means “measure” and denotes the rhythmical organization of verse lines; Not a mere supplying of labels. “The technical terms should be used to show how the poet has used rhythm to help in the poem’s total effect.” ( V. S. Seturaman, Practical Criticism ) J STANZA FORM

23. Rhythm denotes the musicality of a language. English is basically a stressed language (as against a syllabic language). In a Stressed Langauge, it is the CONTENT WORDS which are stressed where as the structure words are unstressed. Hence, while saying words one has to try to ignore the unstressed words. As the number of intervening unstressed syllables increase the native speaker achieves ISOCHRONICITY by moving over the unstressed syllables. Rhythm and meaning cannot be separated. If the speaker is troubled, and then the rhythm will be troubled: if the speaker is happy and excited, so too will the rhythm be; if he or she is calm and contented the rhythm will be relaxed. Ex:“Thus I : faltering forward, Leaves around me falling, Wind oozing thin through the thorn from norward, And the woman calling.( Hardy “The Voice”). Busy old fool, unruly Sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows and through curtains call on us?” (“The Sun Rising”) “There is sweet music here that softer falls Than petals from blown roses on the grass”( “The Lotus Eaters”) A. RHYTHM

24. B. SYLLABLES The smallest unit of metrics  A word or part of a word produced with a single puff of breath  In a syllable, there is always one nuclear element( a vowel or diphthong), and with or without any marginal elements (consonants); One vowel or diphthong, one syllable  Eg. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  Tell / me / not / in/ mourn /ful/ num / bers (H.W. Longfellow: “ A Psalm of Life”)  About 60 to 80 per cent of words in English poetry are monosyllabic, the remaining are polysyllabic.  Eg. ‘Taught’ –  ‘Property’ –  In fact, the first step in determining the metre of a poem is to find out the average number of syllables in a line.

25. C. STRESS PATTERN In pronouncing words, one syllable carries more weight than another. Eg. ‘Property’ ‘Today’ Mistakes in word stress are a common cause of misunderstanding in English. Here is the reason: Stressing the wrong syllable in a word can make the word very difficult to hear and understand; for example, try saying the following words: o O O o b'tell hottle And now in a sentence: "I carried the b'tell to the hottle ." Now reverse the stress patterns for the two words and you should be able to make sense of the sentence! "I carried the bottle to the hotel ." Stressing a word differently can change the meaning or type of the word: "They will desert* the desert** by tomorrow." o O O o desert* desert 1

26. C. STRESS PATTERN What is word stress? When we stress syllables in words, we use a combination of different features. Experiment now with the word 'computer'. COM-PU-TER Say it out loud. Listen to yourself. The second syllable of the three is stressed. What are you doing so that the listener can hear that stress? A stressed syllable combines five features: It is l-o-n-g-e-r - com p-u-ter It is LOUDER - comPUTer It has a change in pitch from the syllables coming before and afterwards. The pitch of a stressed syllable is usually higher. It is said more clearly -The vowel sound is purer. Compare the first and last vowel sounds with the stressed sound. It uses larger facial movements - Look in the mirror when you say the word. Look at your jaw and lips in particular. 2

27. D. FEET PATTERNS After marking the stresses of each line, it may be divided into smaller units or feet, each with the same number of syllables. 1. Iambic foot or Iamb ( U / ) an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. Eg.  U / U / U / U / This bread / I break / was once / the oat (Dylan Thomas, “This bread I break”) U / U / U / U / Be hold/ her sin/gle in / the field (Wordsworth, “The Solitary Reaper”) Iambic verse is the most popular form and it is widely used in English poetry. Closest to the rhythms of speech, this ‘ speaking foot ’ is used in much narrative and dramatic verse. 1

28. D. FEET PATTERNS 2. Trochaic foot or trochee ( / U ) a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Eg. / U / U / U / U Once up / on a / midnight/ dreary (E.A.Poe, “The Raven”) 3. Anapaestic foot or anapaest (U U / ) 2 unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable Eg. U U / U U / U U / U / It was man / y and man / y a year/ ago (E.A.Poe, “Annabel Lee”) 4. Dactylic foot or dactyle ( / U U ) one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables Eg. / U U / U U One more un /fortu nate / / U U Weary of/ breath. (Thomas Hood, “The Bridge of Sighs”) 2

29. D. FEET PATTERNS 3 5. Spondaic or spondee ( / / ) two stressed syllables. Eg. / / U / Blow winds / and crack U / / / Your cheeks. / Rage! Blow. (Shakespeare, King Lear ) 6. Pyrrhic foot or pyrrhic ( U U ) two unstressed syllables Eg. U U U U In the / of a 7. Amphibrach ( U / U ) one unstressed, then stressed and one unstressed syllable. Eg. U / U Denoted

30. 6 4 1 2 5 E. LINE PATTERNS 3 7 Monometer Dimeter Trimeter Tetrameter Hexameter Heptameter Octometer Pentameter 8 A line may consist of any number of feet, from one to eight. Monometre – one-foot line Dimetre – two-foot line Trimetre - three-foot line Tetrametre – four-foot line Pentametre -five-foot line Hexametre -six-foot line Heptametre – seven-foot line Octometre – eight-foot line

31. F. CAESURA example 2 features example 1 definition The caesura may also occur near the end as in:  Eg.It brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery;//we Find also in the sound of a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. (Arnold, “Dover Beach”) A natural strong pause within a line is known as a caesura. It adds variety to the metre of the poem: eg. But where, where?//It was only the glib stream talking Softly to itself. (R.S.Thomas, “The Lonely Farmer”) The pause may also occur at the beginning of the line to emphasize a word or phrase as in: Eg.Begin,// and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow,… (Arnold, “Dover Beach”)

32. 1.Speak naturally and smoothly when reading a poem 2. Every foot must have one primary syllable, and one or more stressed or unstressed syllables 3. Sound and not spelling counts in scansion. Diphthongs count as one vowel G. SCANSION 4.The rules of scansion are loose as nearly every line of verse can be marked in a number of ways. It may not be treated as an exact science.

33. H. RHYME SCHEMES The two words appearing at the end of each line above have similarity of sounds (TIME | CRIME. This phenomenon is known as RHYME. The patterns in which similarly sounding words are arranged are called RHYME SCHEMS. As M H Abrams opines, a rhyme is “t he idea of an order in things”. In English poetry, it is usually employed at the end of lines, but poets can make use of all types of rhyme scheme. As they can occcur at the beginning, the middle and at the end of a poetic line, one has to construct a case about how the use of rhymes contributes to the overall meaning and effect of the poem. RHYME SCHEMES are divided into EIGHT types based on two factors: PLACEMENT & INTERNAL STRUCTURE. PLACEMENT indicates WHERE the rhyming words are positioned within a poetic line. Thus acccording to the first typerhyming can occur INITIALLY, MEDIALLY & FINALLY. INTERNAL STRUCTURE indicates two things: the FORMATION of the rhyming words & the DEGREE of rhyming. While formaton indicates the use of strong and weak syllables present in the words, degree indicates up to which level rhyming can reach. “Had we but world enough, and time , The coyness, Lady , were no crime .”

34. H. RHYME SCHEMES INITIAL RHYME occurs at the BEGINNING of lines END RHYME occurs at the end of lines INTERNAL RHYME occurs in the middle of lines In English Poetry, END RHYME is more frequent.  MASCULINE RHYME FEMININE RHYME HALF RHYME IMPERFECT RHYME Also called weak rhymes –a stressed one followed by an unstressed one – hollow and follow Also called strong rhymes – a single stressed syllable – hill and still EYE RHYME Also called courtesy rhymes – words spelt alike but not actually rhyming – love and prove Words which do not rhyme and so produce a sense of discordance. - soul and wall Repetition of the same consonant sounds before and after different vowels – groaned and grained

35. i. VERSE FORMS Among the VERSE TYPES we discuss BLANK VERSE here. BLANK VERSE Unrhymed iambic pentametre  Sometimes lines are irregularly grouped so that the divisions mark the stages in a narrative or discussion  Such units vary in length and do not follow any rhyme scheme. They are called verse paragraphs and they appear in long poems or plays. When read aloud, it sounds like speech. Marlowe, Shakespeare, Milton, and T.S.Eliot used blank verse. 

36. i. VERSE FORMS Among the VERSE TYPES we discuss BLANK VERSE here. FREE VERSE The verse which does not conform to any exact metrical pattern. The poet using free verse must create a form without the metrical pattern. Free Verse / Verse libre s eeks to free itself from the formality of metrical feet and syllable count. Walt Whitman has been considered the father of free verse. Eg. The river’s tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind Crosses the brown land unheard. Before I built a wall I’d ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense. ( “Mending Wall”)

37. J. STANZA TYPES The idea of order within the work ; why a writer might chose to organize a poem in this way ? 1. Couplet – a pair of rhymed lines 2.Heroic couplet – rhymed lines in iambic pentameter 3. Tercet or triplet – three lines with a single rhyme 4. Quatrain – a four –line stanza 5.Rhyme royal – a seven – line stanza in iambic pentameter rhyming ababbcc 6.Octava rima – an eight – line stanza rhyming ababbcbcc 7.Spensaran stanza – a nine-line stanza rhyming ababbcbcc 8. Sonnet - A FOURTEEN LINE STANZA FORM;also, a poetic genre

38. E xample:1 O Rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm That flies in the night, In the howling storm, Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy, And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy. The CRITICAL APPRECIATION of this poem should focus on the following points. CONTENT 1.What is the theme of the poem? 2.What does the expression invisible worm” stand for? 3.Comment on the expression“crimson”joy? FORM 4.Explain the symbolism in the poem. 5.Comment on the imagery in the poem. 6.Who is the speaker? 7.What are the figures of speech and sound? 8.What about rhythm,syllables, stress analysis,meters, feet analysis, caesura, scansion,rhyme schemes, verse forms and stanza types?

39. “The Sick Rose” / / I u u / O Rose thou art sick. 5 The invisible worm, 6 u / I u u / That flies in the night 5 u u / I u / In the howling storm: 5 u / I u u / Has found out thy bed 5 u / I u / Of crimson joy: 4 u u / I u u / And his dark secret love 6 u u / I u / Does thy life destroy. 5 This is a poem that may be read a number of ways, and I’ll try to highlight all of them, at least the ones that I noticed. Let’s start with what the metrical form of that this poem is in. I’d argue that, despite the extreme variations on the theme, the set meter of the poem is anapestic dimeter. Only two of the lines in the poem are pure anapestic dimeter (and one of them is disputable), but the only other repeated meter is an anapest followed by an iamb, which appears twice but which is not a traditionally employed metrical form. So, the poem can be said to be in anapestic dimeter technically, but with so many variations that it would be misleading to talk about it in that way. The first line of the poem, in fact, involves such a variation (or substitution, though the irregularity of the meter almost makes that term seem misleading here). This line starts with a spondee (two stresses), as is fairly common for an apostrophe, and though the Rose seems at times buried in the poem (it is only mentioned twice more and the worm is given the strongest verbs: “destroy” and “flies”), the singular presence of the spondee helps establish the Rose as the poem’s focus so that the reader does not lose it in the twists and turns of what turns out to be one sentence. The second line is one of the hardest. It might be read two ways: either one may elide “the invisible” so that it reads in four syllables (“th'invisible”), thus keeping the overall syllable count at five, which is the poem’s set syllabic amount, or one might read it, as I have chosen to do, as anapestic dimeter. I have chosen the latter for two reasons: Blake could easily have used “th'invisible” if he wanted it to be read that way (a not uncommon convention even in the 18th Century, I believe) and the lack of a second instance of anapestic dimeter makes the poem’s metrical form practically indeterminable, which is annoying. So there. The third, fourth, fifth, and eighth lines make iambic substitutions, and the sixth line is entirely in iambs. So what do we learn from all of this? Well, we learn first that this is a wild poem, irregular, hard to pin down. This works well with the subject matter; remember that this poem is juxtaposed in Blake’s oeuvre with the more traditionally metric “The Blossom” from Songs of Innocence. I believe that the structure of this poem is intended to highlight that subversion.

40. E xample:2 so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. The CRITICAL APPRECIATION of this poem should focus on the following points. CONTENT 1.1.What does red wheel barrow stand for? 2.Comment on the metrical pattern of the poem 3.Why “so much depends” upon the red wheel barrow? FORM 4.Explain the symbolic significance of the poem. 5.Elaborate the use of imagery in the poem. 6.Who is the speaker? 7.What are the figures of speech and sound? 8.What about rhythm,syllables, stress analysis,meters, feet analysis, caesura, scansion,rhyme schemes, verse forms and stanza types?

41. E xample:3 The butterfly, a cabbage-white, (His honest idiocy of flight) Will never now, it is too late, Master the art of flying straight, Yet has – who knows so well as I? – A just sense of how not to fly: He lurches here and there by guess And God and hope and hopelessness. Even the aerobatic swift Has not his flying-crooked gift. The CRITICAL APPRECIATION of this poem should focus on the following points. CONTENT 1.1.What does red wheel barrow stand for? 2.Comment on the metrical pattern 3.Why “so much depends” upon the red wheel barrow? FORM 4.Explain the symbolic significance. 5.Elaborate the use of imagery in the poem. 6.Who is the speaker? 7.What are the figures of speech and sound? 8.What about rhythm,syllables, stress analysis,meters, feet analysis, caesura, scansion,rhyme schemes, verse forms and stanza types?

42. THANK YOU