Worksheet: Aristotle's Poetics (Short Video Lectures, Quiz and Questions)

Worksheet

Aristotle's Poetics

On this worksheet you will find Short Video Lectures, Quiz and Questions on Aristotle's Poetics

Plato and Aristotle

Download Ingram Bywater's translation of 'Poetics'

Download S H Butcher's translation of 'Poetics'

Download Study Material

Download Sophocles's Oedipus, the Rex

View these Short Video Lectures and respond to the questions given below. Give your responses as ‘Comment’ below this blog. Please attempt the quiz also. The link of the quiz is given below embedded videos.

Plato's Objection to Poetry and Aristotle's Defence from Dilip Barad

Short Video Lecture - 1

Plato's Main Objections against Poets and Poetry:

Short Video Lecture - 2

Aristotle's reply to Plato's charges

Short Video Lecture - 3

Theory of Mimesis

Short Video Lecture - 4

Definition of Tragedy

Short Video Lecture - 5

Plot is the Soul

Short Video Lecture - 6

Tragic Hero

Quiz on Aristotle's Poetics

Questions to Respond: (Give your responses in Comment below this blog)

1.  How far do you agree with Plato’s objection to freedom of expression and artistic liberty enjoyed by creative writers? Name the texts (novels, plays, poems, movies, TV soaps etc which can be rightfully objected and banned with reference to Plato’s objections)

2.  With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which followed Aristotelian literary tradition (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc)

3.  With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which did NOT follow Aristotelian literary tradition. (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc.)

4.  Have you studied any tragedies during B.A. programme? Who was/were the tragic protagonist/s in those tragedies? What was their ‘hamartia’?

5. Did the ‘Plot’ of those tragedies follow necessary rules and regulations proposed by Aristotle? (Like chain of cause and effect, principle of probability and necessity, harmonious arrangement of incidents, complete, certain magnitude, unity of action etc)

Presentation and Quiz on Aravind Adiga's 'The White Tiger'

Worksheet, Presentation, Tasks and Quiz on 'The White Tiger'

Narratology: The Study of Narrative Technique

Click here to download Student's Worksheet (Refer to this blog to understand this worksheet)

Click here to download Teacher's Worksheet

Master-Slave Morality

The master and slave moralities: what Nietzsche really meant

Master-slave morality

Video: 

What is MASTER-SLAVE MORALITY? What does MASTER-SLAVE MORALITY mean?

Presentation:

Before you appear in the quiz or respond to the tasks, view this presentation. It may help you in answering several questions.

Literary Appreciation of 'The White Tiger' by dilipbarad on Scribd

Task:

Respond to these questions in the comment section below this post (preferably, post link of your blog/s):

• How far do you agree with the India represented in the novel The White Tiger?
• Do you believe that Balram's story is the archetype of all stories of 'rags to riches'?
• "Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique, deconstructive criticism aims to show that any text inevitably undermines its own claims to have a determinate meaning, and licences the reader to produce his own meanings out of it by an activity of semantic 'freeplay' (Derrida, 1978, in Lodge, 1988, p. 108). Is it possible to do deconstructive reading of The White Tiger? How?
• With ref to screening of select scenes of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire in today's class:
  Write a blog on similarities between The White Tiger and Slumdog Millionaire. Include following points:
  1. Narrative structure - Wanted Poster # KBC show
  2. Indianness
  3. List of questions asked in the film. If you have to replace or add a few questions, which questions would you like to add. Remember, questions shall be in-tune with the screenplay of the film .
  4. On what grounds can u deconstruct the film with reference to post colonial tools / theories.
  5. Compare with Texture and Treatment of subject content in film and novel.

Quiz:

The Quiz will be loaded here under. It may take longer if you have slow internet connection.
If it does not load, click here to open quiz on new page

T. S. Eliot: Tradition and Individual Talent

Short Video Lectures and Quiz on T.S. Eliot's 

Tradition and Individual Talent (1919/1920-22)

IZQuotes

Introduction:

T.S.Eliot’s “Tradition and Individual Talent” was published in 1919 in The Egoist - the Times Literary supplement. Later, the essay was published in The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism in 1920/2. (Gallup). This essay is described by David Lodge as the most celebrated critical essay in the English of the 20th century. The essay is divided into three main sections:

* the first gives us Eliot’s concept of tradition;

* the second exemplifies his theory of depersonalization and poetry. And in

* the third part he concludes the debate by saying that the poet’s sense of tradition and the impersonality of poetry are complementary things.

At the outset of the essay, Eliot asserts that the word ‘tradition’ is not a very favourable term with the English who generally utilize the same as a term of censure. The English do not possess an orientation towards criticism as the French do, they praise a poet for those aspects of the work that are individualistic.

 However, they fail to realize that the best and the most individual part of the poet’s work is that reflects maximum influence of writers of the past. Tradition does not imply a blind adherence to the literary tradition of the past tradition. This would amount to mere copying or slavish imitation.

For Eliot, Tradition has a three-fold significance. Firstly, tradition cannot be inherited and involves a great deal of labour and erudition. Secondly, it involves the historical sense which involves apperception not only of the pastness of the past, but also of its presence. Thirdly the historical sense enables a writer to write not only with his own generation in mind, but with a feeling that the whole of the literature from Homer down to the literature of his own country forms a continuous literary tradition.

As claimed by Chris Baldick that Eliot had created an inverted literary history in which history being second to the permanent quality of literature, is readjusted to accommodate it to literature. Therefore, Eliot’s conception of history is a dynamic one and not static; and is forever in a state of flux.

Short Video Lectures:

1. Introduction:

2. The Concept of Tradition:

3. Explanation of "Some can absorb knowledge, the more tardy must sweat for it":



4. Explanation of The Chemical Reaction: The theory of Depersonalization:



5. Summing up:

Critique of Eliot’s Critical Thought:

Until the middle of the last century, Eliot’s ideas of tradition were extraordinarily influential. His essay was a major contributor to Modernism’s rise and hegemony. Like its author, the essay came to be regarded as conservative, elitist, obsessed with order and backward-looking. (Gareth Reeves – T.S.Eliot and the Idea of Tradition in Patricia Waugh’s Literary Theory and Criticism)

Eliot’s theory of literary tradition has been criticized for its limited definition of what constitutes the canon of that tradition. He assumes the authority to choose what represents great poetry, and his choices have been criticized on several fronts. For example, Harold Bloom disagrees with Eliot’s condescension of Romantic poetry, which, in The Metaphysical Poets (1921) he criticizes for its "dissociation of sensibility." Moreover, many believe Eliot’s discussion of the literary tradition as the "mind of Europe" reeks of Euro-centrism. (on the same note it should be recognized that Eliot supported many Eastern and thus non-European works of literature such as the The Mahabharata. Eliot was arguing the importance of a complete sensibility: he didn't particularly care what it was at the time of tradition and the individual talent.) He does not account for a non-white and non-masculine tradition. As such, his notion of tradition stands at odds with feminist, post-colonial and minority theories. Kenyan author James Ngugi advocated (in a memo entitled "On the Abolition of the English Department") a commitment to native works, which speak to one’s own culture, as compared to deferring to an arbitrary notion of literary excellence. As such, he implicitly attacks Eliot’s subjective criterion in choosing an elite body of literary works. Post-colonial critic Chinua Achebe also challenges Eliot, since he argues against deferring to those writers, including Conrad, whom have been deemed great, but only represent a specific (and perhaps prejudiced) cultural perspective.

Harold Bloom (The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry:1975) presents a conception of tradition that differs from that of Eliot. Whereas Eliot believes that the great poet is faithful to his predecessors and evolves in a concordant manner, Bloom (according to his theory of "anxiety of influence") envisions the "strong poet" to engage in a much more aggressive and tumultuous rebellion against tradition.

In 1964, his last year, Eliot published in a reprint of The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism, a series of lectures he gave at Harvard University in 1932 and 1933, a new preface in which he called "Tradition and the Individual Talent" the most juvenile of his essays (although he also indicated that he did not repudiate it.)

However, now that the dust is settling, when postmodernism is retreating, when we are beginning to live comfortably with the fact of plurality and the notion of literatures rather than Literature, and with canons rather the Canon, it is possible to return to Eliot’s idea of tradition, as critics and theorists have been doing of late, from a more impartial perspective. 

After viewing these short videos on key concepts in the essay 'Tradition and Individual Talent', students shall give their responses to the below given questions/though provokers. The responses shall be given in the comments section below this blog.

1. How would you like to explain Eliot's concept of Tradition? Do you agree with it?
2. What do you understand by Historical Sense? (Use these quotes to explain your understanding)
• "The historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence"
• This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional. 
3. What is the relationship between “tradition” and “the individual talent,” according to the poet T. S. Eliot?
4. Explain: "Some can absorb knowledge, the more tardy must sweat for it. Shakespeare acquired more essential history from Plutarch than most men could from the whole British Museum".
5. Explain: "Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry"
6. How would you like to explain Eliot's theory of ddepersonalization? You can explain with the help of chemical reaction in presence of catalyst agent, Platinum.
7. Explain: " 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."
8. Write two points on which one can write critique on 'T.S. Eliot as a critic'.

Quiz:

Click here to attempt the quiz on this essay.

Further Readings:

• Brooks, Harold Fletcher. T. S. Eliot as Literary Critic. London: C. Woolf, 1987.
• Rainey, Lawrence S. Institutions of Modernism: Literary Elites and Public Culture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.
• Reeves, Gareth. T.S. Eliot and the Idea of Tradition. Ed. Patricia Waugh. An Oxford Guide: Literary Theory and Criticism. International Student Edition. 2006/7. OUP.
• Shusterman, Richard. T. S. Eliot and the Philosophy of Criticism. London: Duchworth, 1988.
• "T. S. Eliot." The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. Ed. Michael Groden, Martin Kreiswirth, and Imre Szeman. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.

Citation credits:
Barad, Dilip. Short Video Lectures on T.S. Eliot. NMEICT Project Playlist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2CTQo6ZPt8&list=PL5C6B835309FB9771 2012.
Gallup, Donald. T. S. Eliot: A Bibliography (A Revised and Extended Edition) Harcourt, Brace & World, New York, 1969. pp. 27–8, 204–5 (listings A5, C90, C7)
IZQuotes-image credit: http://izquotes.com/quotes-pictures/quote-the-progress-of-an-artist-is-a-continual-self-sacrifice-a-continual-extinction-of-personality-t-s-eliot-305388.jpg

Presentations on T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land'

Presentations, Quiz and Points to Ponder on T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land'

1) "Shantih" in The Waste Land. Author(s): K. Narayana Chandran. Source: American Literature, Vol. 61, No. 4 (Dec., 1989), pp. 681-683. Published by: Duke University Press. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2927003
2) The Waste Land and the Upanishads : What Does the Thunder Say? Author(s): M. E GRENANDER and K. S. NARAYANA RAO. Source: Indian Literature, Vol. 14, No. 1 (MARCH 1971), pp. 85-98. Published by: Sahitya Akademi. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23330564

1. 'The Waste Land' by T.S. Eliot

The literature is not only the mirror image of society. It can neither be limited to the metaphor of photographic representation, nor be limited to the lamp which brightens the corner of society or human nature. Sometimes, literature is the x-ray image of the society. The black and while skeleton of society. The ugly-but-real-at-its-core face of society is captured on transparent paper. The writer's eyes like an x-ray machine, penetrates deep and captures the nuances of social decay, moral decay and cultural decay. The rotten state of human life in the early quarter of the Twentieth century is meticulously captured by T.S. Eliot in 'The Waste Land - quite aptly known as 'The Modern Epic'. The root cause of this decay (social, moral and cultural) is spiritual degradation and sexual perversion. Is spiritual degradation the cause of sexual perversion or the effect of sexual perversion is due to spiritual degradation? It is not easy to answer this is simple cause-effect relationship. They both are interdependent. They have walked hand-in-hand, in past, they walk together in present and they will, if the lessons are not learnt from literature. People question the usefulness of 'Arts' in life. Can we find the answer art (verbal) like 'The Waste Land'.

An Introduction and Themati... by dilipbarad

2. Universal Human Laws in the Modern Epic 'The Waste Land'

Are myths subtle codes that contain some universal truth? Are they a window on the deep recesses of a particular culture? Or are they just entertaining stories that people like to tell over and over? The Waste Land not only makes extensive use of myths but also makes, a myth – the myth of the hollowness of Human Beings in Modern Times.The rituals of the modern men are mythified – which in turn attempts to legitimize it.Or rather it would be better to say: the rituals (sexual sins) are illegitimized in epic which is heavily drawn as modern day myth – the myth of decay, desolation and degeneration of human values, civilizations and cultures.As the poem operates in a dismantling way, rather than legitimizing, it illegitimizes the rituals of the Modern Times.

Universal Human Laws in T.S... by dilipbarad

3. Autobiographical Elements in T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land'

It is well said that “Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry” . . . and . . . “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”.Consciously, the poet should make such attempts . . . But the Un/Subconscious is not under the control and commands of Conscious Mind. It finds it outlet in the expression. At the very moment when, quite  consciously, the poet has surrendered itself to the process of creation, it leaks out – it finds its moment of expression. T.S. Eliot, the high priest of the school of depersonalization is also not free from the ‘Un/Subconscious overflow of powerful self . . . Which can only be recollected in tranquility by the biographical critics’.

Autobiographical Elements i... by dilipbarad

4. Shantih:

Three kinds of children of Praja-pati, Lord of Children, lived as Brahman-students with Praja-pati their father: the gods, human beings, the demons.—Living with him as Brahman students, the gods spake, 'Teach us, Exalted One.'—Unto them he spake this one syllable Da. 'Have ye understood?'—'We have understood', thus they spake, 'it was damyata, control yourselves, that thou saidest unto us.'—'Yes', spake he, 'ye have understood.' Then spake to him human beings, 'Teach us, Exalted One.' —Unto them he spake that selfsame syllable Da. 'Have ye understood?'— 'We have understood', thus they spake, 'it was 

datta, give, that thou saidest unto us.'—'Yes', spake he, 'ye have

understood.' Then spake to him the demons, 'Teach us, Exalted One.' —Unto them he spake that selfsame syllable Da. 'Have ye 

understood?'—'We have understood', thus they spake, 'it was 

dayadhvam, be compassionate, that thou saidest unto us.'—'Yes*, spake he, 'ye have understood.' This it is which that voice of god repeats, the thunder, when it rolls 'Da Da Da,' that is damyata datta dayadhvam. Therefore these three must be learned, self-control, giving, compassion. ~ Charles Rockwell Lanman, former Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and Eliot's teacher of Sanskrit and Buddhism

Ezra Pound and the drafts of The Waste Land

Quiz:

Points to ponder:

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

T.S. Eliot and F. Nietzche

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

T.S. Eliot and S. Freud

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

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

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

Key to draft your response:

1) Introductory paragraph > Write about the poem in 50 words > Write about the central theme of the poem.

2) Sub-heading for your response to point no.1 > then explain the point > thereafter express your views.

3) As above for other three points . . .

Video Recordings of Online Remote Teaching:

   

Reading 'The Waste Land' through Pandemic Lens - Part 1

(If you want to read the article - click here)

Reading 'The Waste Land' through Pandemic Lens - Part 2

Short Learning Videos on Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads

Here are some short videos on Wordsworth's Preface. After viewing them you will be able to:
* differentiate between Classicism and Romanticism 
* understand basic concept of Wordsworth's poetic creed
* attempt questions given below these videos 
(Reading material can be downloaded from here or here)

After watching these videos, you can attempt below given questions. You can give your answers in 'Comment' below this blog-post.

• What is the basic difference between the poetic creed of 'Classicism' and 'Romanticism'?
• Why does Wordsworth say 'What' is poet? rather than Who is poet?
• What is poetic diction? Which sort of poetic diction is suggested by Wordsworth in his Preface?
• What is poetry?
• Discuss 'Daffodils - I wandered lonely as a cloud' with reference to Wordsworth's poetic creed.

Take the quiz on 'Preface':

Onilne Quiz on Wordsworth's Preface

Additional study questions: 

(All these questions are not addressed in the video lectures. You can download documents from this page to prepare answers of the below given questions)

1.      What according to Wordsworth should be the theme of Poetry?

2.      Write note on Wordsworth’s view on the subject matter of poetry

3.      Write note on Wordsworth’s theory of poetic diction. Illustrate from Wordsworth’s reading of Dr. Johnson’s The Ant & Cowper’s Religion!

4.      Assess the greatness of Wordsworth as a literary critic.

5.      “A language was thus insensibly produced, differing materially from the real language of men in any situation.” Explain and illustrat with reference to your reading of Wordsworth’s views on Poetic Diction in Preface to the Lyrical Ballads.

6.      “A Poet is a man speaking to men: a man, it is true, endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness.” Explain with reference to your reading of Wordsworth’s views in Preface to the Lyrical Ballads.

7.      “A Poet has a greater knowledge of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than one supposed to be common among mankind.” Explain with reference to your reading of Wordsworth’s views in Preface to the Lyrical Ballads.

8.      “For all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling”. Explain with reference to Wordsworth’s definition of Poetry.

9.      “There neither is, nor can be, any essential difference between the language of prose and metrical composition.” Explain with reference to Wordsworth discussion on Gray’s Sonnet on the Death of Mr. Richard West.

10.   How does Wordsworth describe the language he claims to have selected for his poems? how does he describe the language used by "many modern writers"?

11.  What sorts of "incidents and situations" does Wordsworth claim to have chosen for his poems? How does he believe such incidents can be made "interesting"? Why does he choose situations from "Humble and rustic life"? What is the presumed state of the "essential passions of the heart" in that condition? What is the relationship of these passions to language? To the "forms of nature"?

12.  What, according to Wordsworth, is the relationship in his poems between feeling and action?

13.  According to Wordsworth, "one being is elevated above another in proportion as he possesses" what capability?

14.  What does Wordsworth think of the distinction between the language of prose and metrical composition? Why?

15.  What are some of the characteristics of the poet? What is his relationship to his "own passions and volitions"? What is the relationship between his feelings and the "goings-on of the Universe"?

16.  What sort of truth does poetry give? How is this truth communicated? To what tribunal does it appeal?

17.  Of what is poetry the image? Under what one restriction does a poet write? What sort of information may he expect his reader to possess?

18.  What sort of song does the poet sing? What is his metaphorical relationship to human nature? What does he do for the "vast empire of human society"?

19.  How is the poet "chiefly distinguished from other men"? What characterizes his "passions and thoughts and feelings"? With what are they connected?

20.   What, according to Wordsworth, is the "great spring of the activity of our minds"?

21.   Poetry is defined by Wordsworth as a spontaneous what? From what does poetry take its origin? Then what happens? In what mood is "successful composition" carried on?

Examine ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud . . . daffodils’ to illustrate Wordsworth’s poetic creed.

Presentations on William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'

A few presentations on various topics on William Shakespeare's revenge play - tragedy are embedded on this blog post.
After viewing the presentations, would you like to check your understanding of the play 'Hamlet'?
Please appear in this QUIZ to check your understanding:

The Presentation on the Introduction of the play and Renaissance Humanism

Introduction to the Play: Hamlet from Dilip Barad

• The Presentation on the Greatness of the play

Reasons for the Greatness of Hamlet from Dilip Barad

• The Presentation on 'Hamlet' as a Revenge Play

Hamlet as a Revenge Play from Dilip Barad

• The Presentation on the structure of the play - Is 'Hamlet' an artistic failure?

Is Hamlet Artistic Failure? Structure of the Play from Dilip Barad

Short Learning Videos on Aristotle's 'Poetics' and Dryden's 'Of Dramatic Poesy'

Under the project of eContent development, we prepared some Short Learning Videos. On this blog you will find video playlists on Aristotle's 'Poetics' and John Dryden's 'Of Dramatic Poesy'.

Quiz as an Effecting Teaching, Learning and Assessment Tool

As necessary as ongoing assessment is for both teachers and students, many teachers complain that constant testing stifles their creativity and destroys student interest, at a time when motivation is mandatory for the current crop of media-saturated students. So, how can teachers assess student learning and evaluate the quality of their own teaching, without losing the interest of their students?[1] (Romo).

It is not a question without an answer. The answer is plain, simple and straightforward. Use Quiz!

It helps to ensure that students understand what you are teaching and -- when they don’t -- to understand where your teaching has missed the mark. (Romo).
Moreover, it helps students to check their progress and assess their need to pay attention in classroom discussions.

Here are some interesting outcome of our experiment of ‘Using Quiz for Teaching’:

·        Students identified and rated following benefits of using Quiz in teaching:
o   It helps to do follow-up reading, everyday, after face-2-face classroom discussion
o   It helps in increased concentration in classroom interaction
o   It improves reading habits as they read with specific purpose to find specific information.
o   It cultivates the habit of taking running notes while the face-2-face classroom interaction is going on.

As students voted for Unit-End-Quiz, we have put it in practice rather than daily or weekly quizzes

It is observed that ‘this approach encourages collaborative learning and creates a sense of community among the students. It also gets students coming to class prepared, and I think it makes the quizzes a more positive and useful learning experience’[2]. (Deterding)

Here are the links to visit the quiz pages:

1. Quiz on 'The Background Reading: The Renaissance English Literature'
2. Quiz on Criticism, Plato's Objection and Aristotle's Poetics
3. Quiz on Sir Philip Sidney and John Dryden
4. Quiz on The Twentieth Century Literature
5. Quiz on T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land'
6. Quiz on Virginia Woolf's 'To The Lighthouse'
7. Quiz on Mathew Arnold's 'The Study of Poetry.

Works Cited:

Deterding, Audrey. A New Kind of “Space” for Quizzes. 26 Jan 2012. 24 July 2014 <http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/a-new-kind-of-space-for-quizzes/>.

Romo, Sandra. Using Quizzes to Measure Teaching Effectiveness: How Do You Measure Up? 8 Aug 2010. 24 July 2014 <http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev180.shtml>.
  

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[1] See more at: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev180.shtml#sthash.5QLlTkk4.dpuf[2] Reprinted from Deterding, A. (2010) A New Kind of “Space” for Quizzes. The Teaching Professor, 24 (9), 6. - See more at: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/a-new-kind-of-space-for-quizzes/#sthash.2dahP19J.dpuf