Li

ter
aryCr
it
ici
sm “
Tensi
oni
npoet
ry”

Li
ter
aryCr
it
ici
sm “
Tensi
oni
npoet
ry” Al
l
enTat
e(1899-
1979)

I
ntr
oduct
ion:
-Ther
iseofNewCr
it
ici
sm:
-

Thenewcr it
icism whichwasaschool ofcr i
ti
cism f
louri
sheddur i
ngt hef ir
sthalfofthe
twentiethcenturyinAmer icaandEngl and.Itputt hetheoryofinspirat
ionof fthegear .It
assumesacl oseandcausat iverelat
ionshipbet weensoci etyandl i
ter
atureandbet weensoci et
y
andt hewr i
ter
.Itisthestressont ext
ual cri
ti
cism whi chhasmadei tnew.Ot herwisethereis
nothingnewi nit.I
thadi tsor i
gininthewr it
ingsofT.E.Hul me; butiti
snowmai nlyanAmer ican
mov ement .Theterm wasf i
rstusedbyJ.E.Spi ngam.I t
schiefexponent sinAmer icaare
Kennet hBurke,JohnCr oweRansom, AllenTat e,RichardBlackmur ,Cl
eanthBr ooks,etc.I
n
Englandi t
sleadingr epr
esent at
ivesareI .A.Richar ds,T.S.Eli
ot,F.R.Leavis, Wil
li
am Empson,
etc.

Itwast hereact
ionagainstt
heexternalschoolofcr
iti
cism whichf ocusesonsociol
ogi
cal
,
histor
icalandbiographical
aspectsofatext.I
tisaninter
nalschool ofcriti
cism.Di
ff
erentNew
crit
icsofpoetryanswer eddif
fer
entl
yinresponsetothequestion…“ Whati spoeti
cinpoetr
y?”To
thenewcr iti
cspoeticpoetryi
s“it
sabil
it
ytoat t
ractat
tenti
ontowar dsitself
.”

Aboutt
hisabi
l
ity
,R.S.Cr
aneapt
lyr
emar
ks,

“Fr
om I
.A.Richar
d’sconceptof‘
behavi
orofwor
ds’
.
.orAl
l
enTat
e’st
heor
yoft
ensi
on’
,wf
int
he
samesearchfort
hemeani ngofwords.“

vAl
l
enTat
easacr
it
ic:
-

JohnOleyAl
lenTateisanAmeri
canpoet ,
essayi
standsocialcommentator
.Hrwathe
PoetLaureat
eConsul t
anti
npoetryi
n1943-44.Tatei
scert
ainl
ymor ecomprehensi
vethanJ.C.
Ransom.Howev erbothbel
ongstothegroupofAmer i
cancri
ti
c.JohnPaulsays.
.“All
enTat
e’s
prominenceamongt heNewCr i
ti
csset
shimi naposit
ionnextRansom.”

vTwoTy
pesofMeani
ng:
-

All
enTat
estatesthatver
yagehasuseddi ff
erentapproachest
oexaminedif
fer
entwor
ks.
Accordingtohi
m everyageuseslanguagedif
fer
entl
y.Thissheshowswithexamplefr
om
di
ffer
entpoem.Hesayt hatinmostoft hepoems.,
wef i
ndtwoki ndsofl
anguage.

1.Denot
ati
ve(
sur
facemeani
ng)and(
2)Connot
ati
ve(
hidden)
 Thefi
rstonerefersto‘l
ogicalorsuperfi
cial
meani ngofthepoem’.Thesecondone
means‘ i
mpli
edormet aphor i
calmeaningoft hepoem. ’Manycrit
ici
sm emphasi
zedon
denotati
veaspectofthepoem, whi l
esomeconcent r
atedonlyonconnotati
vemeaningofthe
poem.AccordingtoTat e.“Onl
ythatpoetryisgoodpoet rywhichcommunicateboththeaspect
,
connotati
veanddenotat i
ve.

v“
Tensi
oni
nPoet
ry’
AnEssayofGr
eatWor
th”

I
nthisessay, Tatei
sconcer nedwi ththequest i
on.“Howcant hequal i
tyofapoem be
determined”Hebel ievesthati tcanbedet erminedbyt heeffectresult
ingformi t
smeaning.To
exami nethewayi nwhi cht hepoem at tainsitstotal
meani ng,het akestwowor dsf r
om logi
c.
Thesewor dsare‘i
ntension’ and‘extension’.Her emovesthepr efixandsay sthatthepoetry
att
ainsi t
st ot
ali
tyin‘Tension’.Apoem t her ef
orehasbot hal it
eralmeani ngandalso
met aphoricalmeaning.Extensi onisdenot ati
ve.Thereforeitisthelit
eralmeaning.Ontheot her
hand, i
ntension’i
sconnot ative.Thereforei ti
sthemet aphoricalmeani ngapoem.Agoodpoem
i
sonewher ebothoft heseexi tti
ghterTat esay ,
“Goodpoet ryisunityofallthemeaningf or
m
theext r
emesofi ntentionandext ensi
on.

Thuscombi nat
ionofintensionandext ensi
onresul
tintensi on.Thust hepresenceof
tensi
onisthet ouchst
oneofgoodpoet ryforTate.Heexplai
nst het er
n‘tension’asfoll
owt hat
Tensionisthecoreoft hepoetry
.Itcanbecal ledtheent
rancethr oughwhi chmul ti
plemeani ngs
canbeat t
ained.Hebyt heterm‘tension’neverint
endthe‘psychologicaltension’heclassi
fies
thatIam usingtheterm notasgener almetaphorbutasspecial onederivedf ormlopping.He
prefi
xofthel ogi
cterm ext
ensionandi ntensi
on.
 “
Ir
onyAsAPr
inci
pleOfSt
ruct
ure”
Cl
eant
hBr
ooks [
1906-
1994]

Cleant hBr ookswasanAmer icanl i

terar
ycrit
icandprof essor.Heisbestknownf orhis
contributi
onst oNewCr it
ici
sm inthemi d-20thcentur
yandf orrevol
utioni
zingthet eachingof
poetryi nAmer icanhighereducat i
on.Hisbest-knownwor ks,TheWel lWroughtUr n:Studiesi
n
theSt ructureofPoetry(1947)andModer nPoet r
yandt heTr adit
ion(1939),arguef orthe
centralit
yofambi gui
tyandpar adoxasawayofunder standingpoet r
y.Withhiswr iti
ng,Brooks
helpedt of ormulatefor
mal i
stcriti
cism,emphasi zi
ng"thei nt
eri
orlif
eofapoem"( Lei t
ch2001)
andcodi f
y i
ngthepr i
ncipl
esofcl osereading.

Brookswasalsotheprominentcri
ti
cofSouthernl
it
erat
ure,wr
it
ingclassi
ctextsonWill
i
am
Faulkner
,andco-
founderoftheinf
luent
ial
jour
nalTheSouther
nReview( Lei
tch2001)wit
h
RobertPennWarren.

Obj
ect
ives:

1. Tounder
standt
heconceptofmet
aphor
,or
gani
crel
ati
onshi
p,cont
extandi
rony
.

2. Toappl
ytheseconcept
stot
hepoem,
“myl
astduchess”and“
thechi
mneysweeper
”

3. Tofindoutt
hev
ari
ousmeani
ngi
nthepoemsexpr
essedt
hroughcompar
isonbet
weent
wo
thi
ngs.

I
ntr
oduct
ion:

“I
ronyasapr incipleofstr
ucture”isani mpor t
antcriti
cal theorybycleanthbrooks.Inthisessay
hesay sthatmet aphorall
owspoett oshowpar t
icularthingt ogiv
eamor egener
allevelof
meaning.Accor dingtohimthemeofpoem i sar esultofcoher entstructureofel
ement susedin
poetry.Healsosay sthatparti
cularstatementgetdi f
ferentmeani ngwhenusedondi fferent
context.Hedefinesi r
onyharmonybet weencont radictorythingsandcr eatesmulti
pli
cit
yof
meaning.Allhisar gumentsandi tsapplicat
ionthepoemsar edescr
ibedi ndetai
lasfoll
ows.

Meani
ngofmet
aphor
:

Metaphori
sredi
scover
yofmodernpoet
ictechni
ques.Byusi
ngmet aphorinmodernpoet
rypoet
candealwi
thuni
versalt
hingsi
nthewor
ld.Metaphoral
lowspoett
opoi ntoutpar
ti
cul
arobj
ects,
event
s,orexperi
ence.Ithelpstogiveamor egener
aloruni
ver
sallevelofmeani
nge.
g.‘
aredred
rose’
inthi
spoem ‘rose’isapar t
icul
arfl
owerwhichgi
vesfr
agrance.Butwit
hthehel
pofthi
s
poetsuggestuni
versalthingthatis‘
lov
e’.

Poet
’si
ntent
ionofusi
ngmet
aphor
:

Byusingmetaphorpoetrytakesri
skofsayi
ngsomethi
ngparti
cul
arl
yandobscurel
yofnot
sayi
nganyt
hingatall.Thepoethastotakethi
sri
skbecausehecan’
tmakedirectst
atement
s.I
f
apoetmakesdirectstatements,
poetr
ywill
beful
lofabstr
act
ionandthr
eat
ens.Itwil
lnotbe
poet
ryatal
l.

Pr
inci
pleofor
gani
crel
ati
onshi
p:

Accordingtobrooks,met aphori mpliesapr i

nci pleofor gani crel
ationship.Thatmeanspoet r y
consistofdif
fer
entelement slikewor ds,phrases, images, symbols, f
igureofspeech, rhyme,
rhyt
hm, meteretc.Allofthem cont ri
but eingener at i
ngmeani ngofapoem, al
lthesepar tare
i
nterdependentandal lar
econnect edt othemai nt heme.Thuspoet ryhascoher entstructure.It
i
sl i
keaki t
eorapl antoradr amawher ediff
er entpar tscont ri
butet omaket otaleffect.Thet ai
l
ofthekiteseemst onav i
gatetheki t
e’sfunction.Itwei ght sthekitedown, i
tpar adoxicall
yisa
necessityt
hatall
owst hekitetor ise,andapl anttoo, i
scompassedofsev eralpartsthatal l
ow
theplanttogrowasawhol e.Thel eaves,roots, branches, andst em ar eallessentialtheplan’s
growth.Thepoem i salsoli
keal i
ttl
edr ama.Thet ot aleffectproceedsf r
om all t
heel ement sin
thedramaandi nagoodpoem asi nagooddr ama, thereisnowast emot i
onandt hereareno
superfl
uousparts.Thussmal l
t hi
ngsar eimpor tantt oform abi gcompl et
e.

I
mpor
tanceofcont
ext
:

Brookssay sthatbecauseoft heorgani cr elationshipofpoet i

cst r
ucturecont extbecomest he
mosti mportantthing.Cont extmeansr elat i
onshi pofwor dswi t
heachot herandwi tht hemai n
themeofov eral
lmeani ngthatpoet r
ygener at es.Itcanbecal ledassomet hinglikeat hem or
subjectofapoem.Al lgreatpoemshav epoet icqual i
tiesbecauseofpar ti
cularcont ext.Meani ng
ofapar ti
cularutt
erancebecomessomet hingdi fferentbecauseoft hecont ext.Poet i
cst atement
gainnewmeani ngofunexpect edreferencesbecauseofcont extandnoti nisolati
on.When
parti
cularsentenceisusedf orpart
icularcont extt hemeani nghasmodi f
iedorchanged.Si mple
stat
ementget sadi f
fer
entmeani nginliterar ycont ext.E.g.In‘kinglear’
,t
heexpr ession‘ripeness
i
sal l
’ i
susednoti sposi t
ivething.I
thasnegat i
veki ndofsi gnifi
cance.Edgerwant st osayol d
ageisofnoscopef ori
mpr ov ement.‘t
obeornott obe’ showscompl exi
tyofdi l
emmai n
haml et’
smind.
Conceptofi
rony
:

CleanthBr ooksdefi
nestheir
onyas‘ t
heobv i
ouswr appingofthestatementbyt hecontext’
.
I
r onyiscreatedbecauseofthepresserofthecontex t
.Brooksmakesi tverycl
earthatir
onyisa
wr appi
ngwhi chmeanst wi
sting.Hewantst osuggestthatbecauseoft hecontextst
andardof
onedi mensionalmeaningofanut t
erancegetstwisted.Thushereironymeansacompl ete
reversalofmeaningaffect
edbyt hecontextandpointedprobably
,byt hetoneofv oi
ce.Ir
ony
of f
ersmor ethanoneexpected.

I
mpor
tanceofi
rony
:

1. Uni
mportanceornonl
i
ter
aryut
ter
ancegetaspeci
fi
cmeani
ngwhenpl
acedi
napar
ti
cul
ar
cont
extl
iket
his‘t
obeornott
obe’

2. Utt
erancehavi
ngsomemeani
ngar
echanget
odi
ff
erentorsomet
imescont
rar
ymeani
ng
l
iket
hat‘ri
penessi
sal
l’

Ty
peofi
rony
:

1. Ver
bal
irony:

I
toccur
swhenwor
dsmeansi
ncont
extt
heopposi
teofwhatt
heysayconsi
der
edbyt
hemsel
ves.

2. Si
tuat
ional
irony:

I
toccur
swhenev
entexpect
edbyanot
heropposi
ti
onal
event
.

3. Dr
amat
ici
rony:

I
texist
swhenali
ter
arychar
acterandther
eaderv
iewapar
ti
cul
arsi
tuat
ionf
orm opposi
ng
per
specti
vewi
thknowingmorethantheot
her.

Funct
ionsofi
rony
:

1. Tof
iveopposi
temeani
ngt
hanacommonmeani
ng

2. Fusi
oni
spoet
icst
ruct
urewher
eir
rel
evantel
ementar
eputt
oget
hert
ofi
ndbal
ance.

Appl
i
cat
ionofi
ronyt
othepoems:

Myl
astduchess:

Robertbr
owning'
spoem "
mylastduchess"i
sasplendi
dexampl
eoft
hei
ronythatapoetcan
achi
evewithi
nthefor
matoft
hedr amati
cmonologue,apoet
icf
ormi
nwhicht
hereisonl
yone
speaker.Whent herei
sonl yonespeaker,wenecessaril
yhavetoweighcareful
l
ywhatheorshe
i
st ell
i
ngus, andweof tenhaveto"readbetweent heli
nes"i
nkeepi
nganobj ect
iveperspect
ive
ont hestoryori
ncidentsthatthespeakerdescri
bestous.Wecangat herfr
om thispoem's
setti
ng,"fer
rar
a,"atownini t
aly,
aswellasfrom thespeaker
'sr
efer
encet ohis"
lastduchess,
"
thatthespeakerinthispoem isthedukeoff er
rara.

In‘myl astduchess’ v
er balir
onyi sdemonst ratedwhent hedukesay st ot hi
sguest ,
‘eveni had
skil
l,
inspeech–( whichi havenot )
’.Thedukei snotamodestman, nuthi m maki ngt his
seemi nglyhumbl estatementi nthemi dstofal lhispowerst r
ickenr emar ksest abli
shes
sit
uational i
rony .Dramat i
cmonol oguecanmaket hatanunappr eciat edirony ,withthis
‘
dramat i
c’surroundingt hattotall
yat t
ract
st her eader’
sattent
ionandsowecanappr eciatehow
theduke’ smonol ogueappear sont hesurfacet obeabouthi slatewi f e,acl osereadingwi l
l
shownt hatthement i
onofhi slastduchessi smer elyasidenot einhi ssel f
-importantspeech.In
‘
myl astduchess’ heshowst hereaderhowt hedukeneedt ocontrol andhav ecompl et
elypower
andhecausesawear inesstoov ercomet her eaderthroughirony,br owni ngshowsust he
controll
ing,jealousandar roganttrait
sthedr amat i
cmonol oguehi sdesi r
edhaunt ingef fect
.

Finallywegett ot hehear toft heduke' spr oblem wi thhi

sf ormerwi fe.Shet hankedaper sonwho
pleasedher ,whichwasal lwellandgoodi ntheor y,butshet hankedt hem allwithequal affection,
"asi fsheranked/mygi f
tofani ne-hundred-y ear s-
oldname/wi t
hany body'sgif
t."t
heduke
seemst ohav ebeenof f
endedt hatshedi dnotsi nglehim outamongt heot herswhopl easedher ,
andunder ratedhi sgi f
tofawel l
-est abli
shednameandpr oudf ami lyher it
age.Shesmi led,he
say s,whenev erhepassedher ,"butwhopassedwi thout/mucht hesamesmi le?"andhowdi d
theduker eactt ot his?"who'dst oopt obl ame/t hissortoft ri
fl
ing? "heaskshi saudi tor.The
whol ebusinessi sbeneat hhim.Ev enifhehad" skill/i
nspeech, "itwoul dbest oopingt o
addr esssuchasi tuation,andhet ell
shi sli
stenert hatheindeeddoesnothav eskilli
nspeech.
Thisst at
ementi si ronic,forthedukeact uallyseemst obequi teapol i
shedspeaker ,althoughhe
maybet elli
ngusagr eatdeal abouthi sper sonal ityandhist orythathemaynothav ei ntendedt o
reveal.Sowhatbecameoft hisseemi nglykindandhappyl ady,whoev i
dentlyenjoyedwhat ever
sheexper ienced?" igav ecommands, "thedukesay s,"
thenal lsmi lesst oppedtogether ."hesay s
forasecondt ime, "thereshest ands/asi fali
v e,"suggestingt hatt heladyi snomor e.Andy et
,
strangely,
heshowsnocompunct i
onf orhi sact i
ons.

Thechi
mneysweeper
s:

Thepoem ‘
thechimneysweeper
’iswrit
tenbywi l
li
am blake.Thispoem isapoignantdepi
cti
on
thewret
chednessandabj
ectmiseryofyoungandi nnocentchil
drenf or
cedt
ol i
vesofextr
eme
suff
eri
ngandhardshi
paschimneysweeper s.Therearemanyi nstancesofi
ronyinthi
spoem.

I
nthef
ir
stst
anzapoetpr
esent
scont
rastbet
weent
hebehav
iouroff
atherandmot
her
.Fat
heri
s
sy
mbol
ofsl
aver
y,cr
uel
manandmot
heri
ssy
mbol
ofsecur
it
yandf
reedom.

‘
coul
dscar
cel
ycr
y,“
weep!Weep!Weep!
”

Soy
ourchi
mney
sisweepandi
nsooti
sleep’

For
mt hisli
nespoetwant st
osaythatchi
l
drenaresoy
oungt
hatt
heyl
i
sp‘
weep’
.I
roni
cal
l
ypoet
por
tray
st heinnocenceandmiser
yofthechil
dren.

Tom’sdream i
salsoir
oni
cal
-asevery
thi
ngasj
oysandtheyar
efreetol
eapandfr
oli
cy ethesti
l
l
wakeupt ot
hewor l
dofoppressi
on.Hegoest
oworkfeel
ing‘
happyandwarm’whenitisajob
thatwi
l
lessenti
all
ywouldki
l
l hi
m.

Thestat
ement‘
soi
falldotheirdut
ytheyneednotfearharm’suggestthati
ftheyoungboysdo
workaschi
mneysweeperstheyshouldfearhar
m becausetheywil
ldiefrom i
ll
nessassoci
ated
wit
hwork.

Inthepoem poetski
l
f ul
l
ypor
tray
scontr
astt
hroughi
nnocenceandexper
ience.I
nnocence
suggest
st henat
ural
isti
cwor
ldofchi
l
dhoodandexperi
encesuggest
sadultworl
dofcorrupt
ion
andrestr
aint.

Thusthispoem r
evealsmulti
pli
cit
yofmeani
ngthroughir
oni
cstat
ement.Poetexpressesthe
psychol
ogical
condit
ion.Thepoemsalsoref
lect
sthepoet’
szealf
orsoci
alref
orm andt he
chall
engi
ngstancethatheadoptedtowar
dsauthori
ty.

Concl
usi
on:

Thustheint
erpr
etat i
onofthispoem hel
ptobui l
tacompel l
i
ngcasef ori
ronyasamaj or
pri
nci
pleofstr
uctur ei
npoet r
y.Wecansayt hatir
onyistheonlyter
m avail
abletopoi
ntout
gener
alandimport antaspectofpoet
rythr
oughwhi chreaderscanunderstandandexper
ience
poem fr
om moret han3d( thr
eedimensi
onal)view.