HISTORY

OF
POETRY
 Greek Criticism

-Greek critics mainly emphasized upon poetry's educational

purpose.

-Poetry must instruct.

-It should offer morals for readers to learn from.

-Poetry as an imitative art.

-Reality based, philosophical and straightforward poetry was

common.
 PLATO

-Severely condemned poetry on moral, emotional, intellectual and

utilitarian grounds.

-Considered it to be thrice removed from reality.

-Argued that poetry is immoral, false, irrational, harmful, purpose

less and ignorant.

-He believed that poets have no knowledge about their own content
and their poetry serves no good purpose.
 PLATO

-He considered philosophy to be better than poetry.

-He therefore insisted that poets should be completely

banished as they greatly disrupt a society.
 Aristotle

-In his 'The Poetics' he defended poetry on the same grounds as those
which were criticized by Plato.

-He debated that poetry is not merely 'a shadow of a shadow' but an
outcome of a 'creative process’.

-The poet not only tells how things are, but also informs how things
should or can be.
 Aristotle

-He believed that poetry is far better than history, due to the fact that
it not only informs about the past but also alarms about the future.

-He also said that poetry does not induce unnecessary emotions,
instead, it helps in escaping piled up emotions (i.e. Catharsis).
 Renaissance Criticism
Efforts to revive and surpass ideas of classical antiquity

GENERAL CHARACTERISITCS:

• Change from theoretic to secular

• Translation of the works of antiquity

• Italian influence

• Rise of printing press

• Most important stage: “Apologetic Criticism”

• Thought given to nature and function of poetry

• Poets were considered highly.

• Function of poetry: to delight as well as to instruct

 Sir Philip Sidney

Definition of poetry:

• “Poetry, is an art of imitation, a representing, counterfeiting, or

figuring forth; to speak metaphorically, a speaking picture, with this
end,—to teach and delight.”

• Rhyming and versing do not make one a poet, or produce poetry

• Imitating notable images with delightful teaching

 Sir Philip Sidney

Function of Poetry:

• Preach morality through delightful teaching

• It serves as the very test of poetry

• Virtuous action is the end of all learning

 Sir Philip Sidney

Superiority over Philosophy and history

Poetry is conducive to virtue; the end of all learning; better than

any art or science
 Sir Philip Sidney

Sidney’s defence of poetry

• Poetry is useless and a waste of time

• Poetry is the “mother of all lies”

• Poetry is the “nurse of abuse”

• Plato banished poets from his ideal state

 Neo-Classic Criticism
Began with French influence

Shift from romanticism towards rational thought

CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS:

Emphasis on “correctness”, “reason”, & “good sense”

Focus on universal truth and ideas

Function of poetry: to delight and instruct

Focus on style & diction of poetry

 SAMUEL JOHNSON
Views clear in “Lives of the Poets”

Severe and strict Neo-Classicist

Definition of Poetry

Life of Milton
“Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth, by calling imagination to the
help of reason”

Life of Waller
"The essence of poetry is invention; such invention as, by producing something
unexpected, surprises and delights.”
 SAMUEL JOHNSON

• Poet’s inventive and imaginative powers

• Poem’s imagery

Function of Poetry:

• Pleasure and Truth; purpose of life

• Poet should find a moral first

• Nothing is useless to a Poet

 SAMUEL JOHNSON

• Poets mind should be full of variety and knowledge

• Remote allusions and unexpected instruction

 SAMUEL JOHNSON

His Realism:

• He wanted to wed poetry to life

• Remove artificial ornaments

• Hostility towards mythology

 SAMUEL JOHNSON

Dislike of Blank Verse

Passion for sincerity and reality

Dignified language

Elaborated speech disliked

Advocated “rhymed couplet”

 Romantic Criticism

-Romantic critics mainly argued that the main purpose of poetry is to induce
pleasure.

-Poetry must delight.

-It rested upon emotional and imaginative thoughts.

-Nature oriented, fantastical and melodramatic poetry was common.

 Wordsworth

-Promoted highly imaginative and nature-inspired poetry.

-According to him, art must serve poetic pleasure.

-Poetry is superior to science.

-Firmly believed that 'fancy' or spontaneous overflow of emotions is the driving

force behind creation of poetry.

-In the 'Poetic Diction', Wordsworth proposed that the language of poetry should be
as simple as that of the common people.
 Wordsworth

-Feelings are more important to him than action or situation.

-Turns real situations into unrealistic ones.

-He believed that there is no evident difference between the nature

and function of prose and poetry except for the use of meter.

-Wordsworth promoted plain and simple diction written with noble

passion
 Coleridge

-He believed that poetry does not result through spontaneous use of fancy, it is a
product of thorough thinking and creative imagination.

-He condemned Wordsworth's idea of using rustic language, since, according to

him a poet should stand out by using embellished and painted language.
 Coleridge

-Turns unrealistic situations into realistic ones via 'Willing Suspension of

Disbelief’.

-He argued that prose and poetry are extremely different from each other.

-He criticized William Wordsworth for not implementing his own views in his
works.
 Victorian Criticism
“Crisis of culture”

Economic, social, and scientific changes

CHARACTERISTICS:

• The decay of romantic tradition

• Foreign influences
• Rationalistic and Materialistic trends
• Evolution in stages
 Matthew Arnold
He brought about a revolution in the world of English literature

“The Study of Poetry“ is Arnold’s attempt to establish criteria for what poetry ought to be.

Definition of poetry:

Poetry is “simply the most delightful and perfect form of utterance that
human words can reach”; It is, “a criticism of life under the conditions fixed
for such a criticism by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty.”
 Matthew Arnold
The “criticism of life”

• It must concern itself with life and its problems

• The idea, the subject-matter, the theme of poetry

• The more powerful the application of ideas, the greater will the resulting
poetry is

• However, the application must be under conditions fixed by the laws of

poetic truth and poetic beauty
 Matthew Arnold

POETIC TRUTH & POETIC BEAUTY

• ‘Poetic truth’: representation of life in a true way,

• ‘Poetic beauty’: manner and style of poetry

• Matter: truth, and seriousness

• Manner: superiority of diction and of movement.

 Matthew Arnold

High seriousness

• Quality that gives poetry its power

• A poet’s sincerity

• Found in the poetry of Dante, Homer and Milton

 Matthew Arnold

Poetry’s superiority over other forms of knowledge

• Arnold claims that poetry is superior to philosophy, science and religion.

• Poetry attaches its emotion to ideas and ideas are infallible.

• Arnold is of the view that poetry can be our sustenance

 20th Century Criticism
Mix of the old and the new.

CHARACTERISTICS

• Lack of originality

• Foreign influences

• Expressionism & Surrealism

• Psychological approaches

• Symbolistic and Archetypal Approaches

 T.S. ELIOT

• Brought about revolution in taste

• Raised appreciation for the Metaphysical poets

• Defined significance of tradition

• Objective Correlative
 T.S. ELIOT
The Impersonality of Poetry

• Relation of the poet to the past

• Relation of poem to the author

• The past is never dead and lives in the present

• The poet must abandon all emotions and acquire “tradition”

 T.S. ELIOT

The Poetic Process

• Eliot compares the poetic process to a chemical reaction

• The mind constantly combines different emotions, however

remains unchanged

• Poetry: Emotions, Feelings , or both

 T.S. ELIOT

POETRY AS AN ORGANISATION

• “Poetry is an organisation rather than inspiration”

• Compares Poet’s mind to a Jar

• The particles eventually unite and form a new compound together

• Greatness relies on the process of poetic composition

 T.S. ELIOT

POETRY AS AN ESCAPE FROM 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.”

• The poet must detach himself

• He is present in the present moment of the past

• Not only what is dead, but what is already living

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