The Wasteland by T.S.Eilot

 This blog deals with several assigned questions by Dr. Dilip Barad regarding T.S. Eliot’s poem The Wasteland.

The Wasteland

 T. S. Eliot's landmark modernist poem The Waste Land was published in 1922. Divided into five sections, the poem explores life in London in the aftermath of the First World War, although its various landscapes include the desert and the ocean as well as the bustling metropolis.

The five parts of The Waste Land :

• The Burial of the Dead
• A Game of Chess
• The Fire Sermon
• Death by Water
• What the Thunder Said

 The Burial of the Dead:

The title refers to fertility and the burial service. It however brings out the spiritual death of citizens of wasteland. The citizens of the wasteland don't want to get disturbed from their routine of modern life. The idea of spiritual regeneration is painful to them, the value system of the citizens is different from the value system of the traditional one. April is generally the symbol of spring and rebirth while winter is a symbol of decay of death but for waste landers April is bad and cruel because it reminds them of The Spiritual decay and makes them think of regeneration and they enjoy winter because they can enjoy it.

A Game of Chess:

'A Game of Chess' is the second section of T. S. Eliot's 1922 poem The Waste Land, the impact of which was profound and immediate. The title partly alludes to a game of chess played in Jacobean dramatist Thomas Middleton's play Women Beware Women, but also to another of his plays, A Game at Chess.

The Fire Sermon:

'The Fire Sermon' is the third section of T. S. Eliot's ground-breaking 1922 poem The Waste Land. Its title is chiefly a reference to the Buddhist Fire Sermon, which encourages the individual to liberate himself (or herself) from suffering through detachment from the five senses and the conscious mind.

Death by Water:

The shortest section of the poem, “Death by Water” describes a man, Phlebas the Phoenician, who has died, apparently by drowning. In death he has forgotten his worldly cares as the creatures of the sea have picked his body apart. The narrator asks his reader to consider Phlebas and recall his or her own mortality.

What the Thunder said:

Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata. The poem closes with the repetition of the three words the thunder said, which again mean: "Give, show compassion, and control yourself." These are Eliot's final words of advice to his audience, and it's advice he wants us to follow if we're going to have any hope of moving forward.

What are your views on the following image after reading 'The Waste Land'? Do you think that Eliot is regressive as compared to Nietzsche's views? or Has Eliot achieved universality of thought by recalling mytho-historical answers to the contemporary malaise?

Nietzsche and Eliot both has different ideas about bringing peace and togetherness in society but I personally disagree with Eliot’s idea being ‘regressive and backward’ as it is thinking about present and future with strong foundation of Upanishad, Buddhism and Christianity which have been practiced since years.

Prior to the speech, Gustaf Hellström of the Swedish Academy made these remarks:

What are your views regarding these comments? Is it true that giving free vent to the repressed 'primitive instinct' leads us to a happy and satisfied life? Or do you agree with Eliot's view that 'salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition'?

Freud has talked about the ‘primitive instincts’ which give rise to individuality. if one person works according to his wishes and own personal pleasures may be harmful and worrisome to others and if others are working according to their wishes and for their pleasure may be harmful or make us uncomfortable.

Write about allusions to the Indian thoughts in 'The Waste Land'. (Where, How and Why are the Indian thoughts referred?)

The poem is divided in five sections. In the very second section of ‘Fire sermon’ comes the reference of ‘sermon’ which is the idea of buddha. The Buddha's sermon which talks about the four Noble truths in A sacred book of Buddhism named Adittapariyaya sutta. 

Eliot uses the three “Da” taken from “Brihadaranyaka Upanishad". Datta – giver; Dayadhvam – compassion; Damyata – self-control

Is it possible to read 'The Waste Land' as a Pandemic Poem?

We find autobiographical context of Eliot with pandemic flu, Eliot and his wife caught the virus in Dec 1918 in the second wave of the pandemic. Many critics are dealing with the idea of the war fragments though we may say that, in the part of the poem Eliot has portrayed the same thing by post-pandemic consciousness, according to Elizabeth Outka.

Many such references are obtained while reading the Wasteland poem. We can read this poem from a pandemic lens as we have recently faced a corona pandemic and still the world is not completely cured.

Thank you for visit.

 This blog is a response to the blog task ssigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. This blog is dealing with two poems of W.B. Yeats, ‘The Second Coming’ and ‘On Being Asked For War Poem’.

W.B.Yeats Poem

W.B.Yeats

Born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 13, 1865, William Butler Yeats was the son of a well-known Irish painter, John Butler Yeats. He spent his childhood in County Sligo, where his parents were raised, and in London. He returned to Dublin at the age of fifteen to continue his education and study painting, but quickly discovered he preferred poetry. Born into the Anglo-Irish landowning class, Yeats became involved with the Celtic Revival, a movement against the cultural influences of English rule in Ireland during the Victorian period, which sought to promote the spirit of Ireland's native heritage. Though Yeats never learned Irish Gaelic himself, his writing at the turn of the century drew extensively from sources in Irish mythology and folklore. Also a potent influence on his poetry was the Irish revolutionary Maud Gonne, whom he met in 1889, a woman equally famous for her passionate nationalist politics and her beauty. Though she married another man in 1903 and grew apart from Yeat, she remained a powerful figure in his poetry.

The Second Coming

"The Second Coming" is one of W.B. Yeats's most famous poems. Written in 1919 soon after the end of World War I, it describes a deeply mysterious and powerful alternative to the Christian idea of the Second Coming—Jesus's prophesied return to the Earth as a savior announcing the Kingdom of Heaven.

The poem was written in 1919 in the aftermath of the First World War and the beginning of the Irish War of Independence in January 1919, that followed the Easter Rising in April 1916, at a time before the British Government decided to send in the Black and Tans to Ireland. Yeats used the phrase "the second birth" instead of "the Second Coming" in his first drafts.

 Today when we are facing Corona Pandemic we are pulled to read literary works with pandemic insight, till day we used to study same texts but never read it through pandemic sight as we never faced it or it was not in our memory.

Elizabeth Outka in her text ‘Viral Modernism: The Influenza Pandemic and Interwar Literature’ (2019) explains a bit about the authors who addressed pandemic in their work. Outka looked closely at the works of Eliot, Woolf and Yeats who have experienced Flu in person. In this blog we will read W.B. Yeats poem The Second Coming with pandemic insight with reference to Elizabeth Outka’s book ‘Viral Modernism: The Influenza Pandemic and Interwar Literature’.

Yeats wrote this poem when his wife was recovering. Looking at this biographical element we can interpret this poem to be a pandemic poem, it is definitely a war poem but we also find Influenza effect recorded in this poem.

On being Asked for War poem

‘On Being Asked for a War Poem’ is a poem by W. B. Yeats (1865-1939), written in 1915 and published the following year. It’s one of Yeats’s shortest well-known poems, comprising just six lines, and sets out why Yeats chooses not to write a ‘war poem’ for publication. Before we analyse ‘On Being Asked for a War Poem’, here’s a reminder of the text of the poem.

critical analysis of poem

This poem is a contradictory poem, it has an act of refusal-as-assent. It consists of an air of irony, the poet himself is asking poet’s to be silent and he himself is writing it through poem.

In a letter of the same year, sent to John Quinn, Yeats wrote that the First World War was ‘merely the most expensive outbreak of insolence and stupidity the world has ever seen and I give it as little thought as I can.’

 Let's apply Indian Poetics concept in this two western poems.

On Being Asked for War poem

• According to Kuntaka’s Vakrokti theory, the poem has a Vakrokti element in “On being asked for a war poem’ cause of refusal-as- assent in the poem. Specifically Prakaran Vakrokti.

• According to Bharat’s rasa theory, we find Adbhutam originated from (amazement and wonder) rasa in it.

The Second Coming

• According to Bhamaha’s Alankar theory, ‘A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,’ we find upama alankara
• According to Kuntaka’s theory of Vakrokti, The imagery of lion’s body and man’s head and rebirth of god seems ironic, which is not possible in real life.
• Auchitya is also found as it is a symmetric poem.

Thank you for visit my blog. 

W.H.Auden poem

 Hello readers, This blog is assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. In this blog I am dealing with selected poems of W. H. Auden and its contemporary.

 Present - time in Auden's poem 

W.H.Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York, England, on February 21, 1907. He moved to Birmingham during childhood and was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. As a young man he was influenced by the poetry of Thomas Hardy and Robert Frost, as well as William Blake, Emily Dickinson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Old English verse. At Oxford his precocity as a poet was immediately apparent, and he formed lifelong friendships with two fellow writers, Stephen Spender and Christopher Isherwood.

Ever since, he has been admired for his unsurpassed technical virtuosity and an ability to write poems in nearly every imaginable verse form; the incorporation in his work of popular culture, current events, and vernacular speech; and also for the vast range of his intellect, which drew easily from an extraordinary variety of literatures, art forms, social and political theories, and scientific and technical information. He had a remarkable wit, and often mimicked the writing styles of other poets such as Dickinson, W. B. Yeats, and Henry James. 

In this blog with reference to Auden's three poems which are 'Epitaph on a Tyrant', 'In Memory of W. B. Yeats' and 'Sept, 1 1939' I am going to answer the assigned question. 

Auden's poems seem to be written in our times for 2022. Justify this in context of pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war.

 Epitaph on a tyrant.

‘Epitaph on a Tyrant’ is one of Auden’s short masterpieces. In just six lines, W. H. Auden (1907-73) manages to say so much about the nature of tyranny. You can read ‘Epitaph on a Tyrant’ before proceeding to our short analysis of this powerful poem that remains all too relevant today. 

W. H. Auden spent some time in Berlin during the 1930s, and it was here that he probably wrote ‘Epitaph on a Tyrant’, which was published in 1939, the year that the Second World War broke out. The specific tyrant Auden had in mind, then, was probably Adolf Hitler, though the poem can be analysed as a study in tyranny more generally, too.

As it is discussed, Auden’s poems are relevant in every period. Do we find any politicians with the same traits? Yes. With reference to the Ukraine- Russia war which again is read as the beginning of the third World war. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia since 2012.

‘In July 2016, Putin signed a new "anti-extremism" law that, among other things, limits the sharing of religious beliefs to state-registered places of worship only. Critics say this law is in violation of Russia's constitution, in that it effectively outlaws minority "foreign" religions  whose churches and temples are rarely approved to be registered with the state.’

 People easily sink with ideas of nationality, mother land, religion and together weeping a little adds emotional touch and society gets attracted with sympathy. These are also the traits used by dictators/ politicians to bind with the state. 

‘In Memory of W.B. Yeats

‘In Memory of W. B. Yeats’ by W. H. Auden (1907-73) was written in 1939, following the death of the Irish poet W. B. Yeats in January of that year.As well as being an elegy for the dead poet, ‘In Memory of W. B. Yeats’ is also a meditation on the role and place of poetry in the modern world. 

“But in the importance…..slightly unusual.” These last lines of the first part suggest that the world will go on very less people will feel absence or unusuality on the poet’s death. We never find any national holidays on the death anniversary of a poet or no national holiday is announced on poet’s death as on it is announced on the death of politicians like APJ Abdul Kalam and recently on the death of Singer Lata Maneshkar. This poem was published in 1939 and still the same situation prevails. We don't find any change of society or nation in behaviour towards the poets. Poets come and go and the world doesn't stop, here we find the world's refusal to indulge in sentimental public mourning on the poet's death.

Also, a number of people died in the Corona pandemic but it made no effect on the world except for a few minutes of empathy. World was affected with economical breakdown not with the number of deaths.

Decoding the underlying theme in September 1, 1939

Theme of the Lack of Acceptance of Homosexuality in Society.

T.S. Eliot in his essay ‘Tradition and Individual Talent' gives the 'Theory of Impersonal' which says ‘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’. I.e. The personal feelings and emotions of the poet should not be involved in the poem and a poet should not be judged based on his poem/work. But when we read the poem we realise that without reading the autobiographical elements one cannot explore the poem completely. For e.g. W.B Yeats’ ‘The Second Coming’. The first interpretation of the poem is as a War poem but once we read the autobiographical elements of the poet's life and his experience of Influenza one can read the same poem with the Pandemic Lens, it provides con-temporariness and deeper meaning to the poem.

Similarly when we red the autobiography of W.H Auden it forces us to read the Poem ‘Sept 1, 1939’ with another interpretation else then how the dishonesty and manipulation of government can lead to war which is theme of the lack of acceptance of homosexuality in society.

According to Morgan Walker's essay in The Modern American, Auden’s love for Kalmann was very strong and it won't be possible that this matter has not affected his poetry September 1, 1939 which was written in the same year they met. This forces us to read the poem through the Queer theory.

What is Queer Theory?

The term “queer theory” itself came from Teresa de Lauretis' 1991 work in the feminist cultural studies journal differences titled “Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities.” She explains her term to signify that there are at least three interrelated projects at play within this theory: refusing heterosexuality as the .

Queer is often used as an umbrella term to denote sexual identity within a particular community. A queer community may be made up of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and so on. Some find queer an easy way to describe such a large community.

 ‘September 1, 1939’ was published during the world war, beginning of World War II which also gives us a view of the United States. The poet expresses political opinion about the war and how the governmental authority was working in that time. It is the primary interpretation of the war which is talking about Dishonesty of the government during the World War II but we can also read the poem from the secondary interpretation which is intolerance of homosexuality and as we discussed the autobiography of poet we can read the duality of the poem in reference of it.

 Auden talks about the two different subjects in the same poem and that too very strongly. John G. Blair in ‘The Poetic Art of W.H. Auden’ writes about Auden's style and form, his style and form reflect his ideology in writing poetry and creates deeper meaning within theme.

Thank you for visit.

Flipped Learning : Existentialism

 Existentialism 

This blog is about  flipped learning task.  This blog part of our thinking activity allotted by Dr.  Dilip Barad sir. More information about this blog Click here  

 

Flipped learning

Flipped learning is a methodology that helps teachers to prioritize active learning during class time by assigning students lecture materials and presentations to be viewed at home or outside of class. One of the most exciting advancements in the modern classroom is flipped learning.

What is Existentialism?

Existentialism is the philosophical belief we are each responsible for creating purpose or meaning in our own lives. Our individual purpose and meaning is not given to us by Gods, governments, teachers or other authorities.

Existentialism emphasizes action, freedom, and decision as fundamental to human existence; and is fundamentally opposed to the rationalist tradition and to positivism. That is, it argues against definitions of human beings as primarily rational.

Video 1:

  

This video began with the basic introduction of Existentialism and gave three sides of existentialism; freedom, passion and individuality. Existentialism is the theory which came up after war so it came from meaninglessness of life, absurdity. According to Albert Camu one should embrace and understand absurdity rather than start believing in god. Believing is god means escaping from the real situations and leaving everything in god. This is Philosophical suicide. For the first time I came across this out of the box idea, the idea of Philosophical suicide.

Video 2:

 

This video talks about the Myth of Sisyphus- Sisyphus teaches us to never give in to circumstantial disappointments or try to escape from the failures, rather accept failures the same way we accept our achievements. Along with it Absurd reasoning is talking about in relation to suicide.

Video 3:

 

 This video is that one needs to confront problems which are leading one to absurdity . When you confront a problem and try to fight it; there will be the total absence of hope,continuous rejection and dissatisfaction but all this is not equal to despair, renunciation and immature unrest.

Video 4:

 

 This video talks briefly about the three theories of Dadaism, nihilism, and existentialism. Dadaism emerged after WW I which questioned every traditional value and tried to destroy its base. 

Video 5:

 

 This video clarified that it to be a gloomy philosophy because it pulls anxiety, despair, absurdity, depressing/ frightening thoughts into life. 

Video 6:

 

This video explains that Existentialism and Nihilism are not the same things. Existentialism believes in the moment or now and here, while Nihilism believe in nothing or at least faith in nothing. Nihilism rejects any universal truth. The philosophy arose in early 19th century in Russia as a revolt of the existing structure recommending rejection of social constructs.

Video 7:

 

This video gives the difference between Existentialism and Nihilism. It says existentialism is not a psychological system or set of rules, it is a movement.

Video 8:

 

This video talks about Eric Dodson’s personal experience being existentialist. He likes existentialism because it appeals to our mind, heart and soul. He shares that if one keeps on looking at things rationally then life takes away the magic of things/ life.

Question of in this video

1. what  is Existentialism? 
2. What is the most important thing in existentialism?
3. why existentialism is important in literature and human life?
4. What is absurd reasoning?
5. Plato and Aristotle thought that every things has an essence including to us and they believe that over essence exist in us before we're even born is it true or not?

Thank you for visit.

Nineteen Eighty - Four Novel by George Orwell

This blog is in response to the assigned task by Dr, Dilip Barad Sir. This blog answers to the assigned question and deals with the major concern in Dystopian Social Science Fiction by George Orwell nineteen Eighty Four.

Nineteen Eighty -Four 

Dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), written by George Orwell depicts a society under a dictatorship where thoughts and actions are monitored and controlled.

The first title for this novel was The last man in Europe, but Orwell changed it because Frederic Warburg, publisher, suggested him to do so. It's unknown why he has chosen the title 1984, there is presumption that he might have been switched the numbers.

The protagonist is Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party, who lives in London and works in the Ministry of Truth. His job is to change historical information, destroy evidence, amend newspaper article and delete people identified as unperson by the Party, all that in order to portray the Party and Big Brother right and correct. He hates the government and he begins writing a diary in which he reveals his anti-government thoughts. The proles, the lowest class in the society who live without police surveillance fascinate him. He becomes friend with the the prole who owns a shop, Mr. Charrington, with whom he talk about the facts and life before the rule of Big Brother. She meets Julia, a worker in another department in the Ministry of Truth, who gives him a paper telling him that she loves him. They secretly begin a romantic relationship, renting the unmonitored room above Mr. Charrington's shop where they can meet and talk about their hopes of freedom.

What is dystopian fiction? Is '1984' a dystopian fiction?

Dystopia is the opposite of utopia: a state in which the conditions of human life are extremely bad as from deprivation or oppression or terror.  A dystopian society is characterized by human misery in the form of squalor, oppression, disease, overcrowding, environmental destruction, or war.

Dystopian fiction is usually set in the near — rather than far — future to generate urgency about real current events. Because dystopian literature and cinema is set in the future, it is by definition science fiction. However, this can also look very different than the best sci-fi movies.

One of the most famous dystopian fiction examples is George Orwell’s 1984 (1948). Orwell's book imagines what England would be like under extreme fascist or totalitarian rule, such as that of Nazi Germany or The Soviet Union. The video below summarizes the novel and illuminates its dystopian elements, including thought police and loss of individuality.

1984 has influenced countless dystopian authors since its publication and has become a cultural touchstone, commonly referenced to describe dystopian threats to the real world. 

George Orwell's 1984 is a defining example of dystopian fiction in that it envisions a future where society is in decline, totalitarianism has created vast inequities, and innate weaknesses of human nature keep the characters in a state of conflict and unhappiness.

Society in ‘1984’ is always in fear of wars, government surveillance and political oppression of free speech. Totalitarian rule destroys the individuality and identity of one. It was written after war when fascism was rising in the Soviet Union and Germany, it draws a pessimistic picture of society's ability to avoid such disasters.

What according to you is the central theme of this novel?

In the dystopian novel 1984, George Orwell's use of a totalitarian government exemplifies its themes throughout the story. Themes and motifs such as censorship, freedom, and propaganda are prevalent throughout the novel and explored through the suspense of Big Brother's control and motives. 1984 discuss various theme.

 

The Party removes the power of an individual over his mind and they use language to implant their own ideals so that they can take absolute power. The purpose of the invention of “Newspeak” in 1984 is to limit the range of thought. The Party empties the minds of the Party members and fills them with its own doctrine.

• Language as mind control/ use and abuse of language
• Class system

• political loyalty

• Totalitarianism
• Resistance and revolution

• Independence and identity

In all these various themes the major theme which stunned me and we will discuss are Language and the newly introduced term Totalitarianism.

Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is one of the major themes of the novel, 1984. It presents the type of government where even the head of the government is unknown to the public. This theme serves as a warning to the people because such regime unleashes propaganda to make people believe in the lise presented by the government. Throughout the novel, there is no proof of Big Brother’s existence in Oceania. The Party exercises complete control not only on the sexual lives of their citizens such as Julia’s and Winston Smith but also on their thoughts, feelings and even writing a diary. The overall monitoring and surveillance of the people through telescreens and subversion of history through the Ministry of Truth are some of the common casualties of such regimes. The third casualty of the totalitarianism is the truth through language. This happens in the shape of mottos such as “War is Peace.”

language as maid control

In 1984 by George Orwell, the protagonist, Winston Smith, makes observations and analyses of the institutions that control his society. In Oceania, the country in which Winston resides, language is a powerful system. Language is a method of communication used by a particular group, and in Oceania, the language they use is that of Newspeak. Newspeak is a powerful force within Oceania due to the authority that is has. However, The Party, the organization who rules the society, has control over the language. In 1984, Orwell institutions’ control over people is illustrated through Newspeak and how it is utilized in Oceania. The language gives The Party the power to control the thoughts of its citizens and alter the past and future, which aids it in upholding their ideology. Yet, this control of the language is only meant for those who have power and status in their society.

 Newspeak, the "official" language of Oceania, functions as a devise of extreme Party control: If the Party is able to control thought, it can also control action. In the year 1984, Newspeak is not fully employed, and for good reason; we would not understand the novel otherwise.

When two languages mix it enriches the language but here the party is reducing the language because one cannot think without language and they aim to control people. They are eliminating negative words e.g. the opposite of good is not bad but ungood. Today similar things we find on social media where the words like Friend and Unfriend are used, Enemy is not used. Social media majorly spreads hatred but by not using negative words they try to show that they are positive and spread love.

 “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

In the novel we clearly see the control of language through its motto ‘ war is peace, slavery is freedom’. With the help of language they try to play with their minds.

What do you understand by the term 'Orwellian'?

"Orwellian" is an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society.

The word Orwellian has come after the dystopian writing of George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty- Four’. Generally, when one is opposing British or Mughals they are considered to be nationalist and if one is questioning their own selected ruler/ authority they are considered anti- nationalist and that is where the idea of Orwellian Theory comes from.

The primary theme of 1984 by George Orwell is to warn readers of the dangers of totalitarianism. The central focus of the book is to convey the extreme level of control and power possible under a truly totalitarian regime. It explores how such a governmental system would impact society and the people who live in it.

Write in brief about 'Newspeak' - and refer to Orwell & Pinter's essays.

The term newspeak was coined by George Orwell in his 1949 anti-utopian novel 1984. In Orwell's fictional totalitarian state, Newspeak was a language favored by the minions of Big Brother and, in Orwell's words, "designed to diminish the range of thought." Newspeak was characterized by the elimination or alteration of certain words, the substitution of one word for another, the interchangeability of parts of speech, and the creation of words for political purposes. 

Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate that is the setting of the 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell. In the novel, the Party created Newspeak to meet the ideological requirements of Ingsoc in Oceania.

The language Newspeak allows the Party to control how its citizens think and talk. The telescreens allow the Party to maintain surveillance on its citizens at all times, forcing citizens to censor their words and even facial expressions.

Thank you for visit.