Wit is an art of expression. It can be found in the use of words or in the use of ideas. It is produced by combining similar or congruous ideas or words to produce pleasure and surprise at the same time. In other words, true wit appears in "the assemblage of ideas wherein can be found any resemblance or congruity to make up pleasant pictures and agreeable visions in the fancy". Addison further says that this assemblage must give 'Delight' and 'Surprise'. This will constitute true wit. If this assemblage gives only one – either Delight or Surprise' – it would produce false wit. For this, it is necessary that ideas should not lie too near or be very obvious in meaning, otherwise they would produce only false wit. If we compare a white thing with milk or snow, it produces not wit. But if something more is added to it, which gives delight and surprise, it will produce wit. Addison gives an example. If a poet says that the bosom of his mistress is as white as snow, there is not wit. But when he adds, with a sigh, that it is as 'cold' too, it is true wit. False wit generally arises from the resemblance and congruity of letters, words or phrases. In this case, new words are framed by the rearrangement of letters in a word; or by using words which have the same sound but different meanings (as , rode and road), or one word having two meanings (as 'bat'). They produce false wit. However, too much use of wit often makes the meaning obscure.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query addison. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query addison. Sort by date Show all posts
00049--Discuss Addison's concept of imagination and how it gives pleasure to the Reader?
Addison discusses his concept of Imagination and how it gives pleasure to the reader, in the eleven papers of The Spectator. He discusses how imagination works and how it gives pleasure. He makes imagination dependent on the sense of sight. He says, "it is this sense which furnishes the imagination with its ideas; so that by the pleasure of imagination or fancy I here mean such as arise from visible objects, either when we have them actually in our view, or when we call up their ideas into our minds by paintings tatues, descriptions or any the like occasion". Therefore, according to Addison, the pleasures of imagination are of two kinds.
a) primary or those which entirely proceed from such objects as are before our eyes, and,
b) secondary ones, which flow from the ideas of visible objects when the objects are not actually before the eye, but are called up in our memory, or formed into agreeable visions of things that are either absent or fictitious.
It is only the secondary pleasures of imagination that are aroused by works of art or literature. As we know, the copy of an object is always more appealing than the original. The copy is free from any defects or short comings that may be found in the original. It is natural for imagination to form the image of the ideal. Imagination gives an aesthetic picture of the real, and therefore it is more appealing and delightful.
00047--What was Addison's approach to Criticism?
Addison was basically an essayist and a journalist. His critical observations are found in many of his essays that appeared in the spectator. As a critic, therefore, his approach is not that of an established literary critic, but that of a popular observer and analyst of some literary works and literary genres. His observations were intended, no for the learned readers or the authors themselves, but for the common masses interested in literature as a pastime. His primary aim was to draw out 'philosophy out of closets and libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and in coffee-houses".
His critical essays were meant 'for those who had yet their rudiments to learn, and found it not easy to understand their mater.' This gave a new turn to English criticism. Normally, the classical critics like Dryden, Pope and Dr. Johnson wrote their principles for different literary genres for the help and guidance of poets, dramatists and other authors. They sought to teach them how to enjoy and appreciate great literary works like The Paradise Lost. He enlightened the common reader and explained to him the intrinsic beauty and grandeur of a work which might otherwise have escaped his attention and appreciation. The important critical essays of Addison on popular topics are On True and False Wit, On the pleasure of Imagination, On Tragedy, and On Paradise Lost.
00050--Discuss Joseph Addison's appraisal of Milton's 'Paradise Lost.'
The most important part of Addison's literary criticism is his appraisal of Milton's Paradise Lost. Addison has devoted eighteen papers published in the spectator on the appraisal of Paradise Lost. He has judged Paradise Lost on the basis of classical principles, placing Homer's 'Iliad' and Virgil's 'Aeneid' for his models. According to Aristotle, the fable or plot of the epic must be single, complete and great. The plot of Paradise Lost fulfills all these three requirements.
The fable is single because it has only one action to relate the fall of man from paradise; it is complete because it has a regular beginning, a middle, and an end. The end is man's expulsion from heaven and his inevitable death. The action is great because it involves the fate, not of a single person or a nation, but of all mankind. The characters are equally great; God and His Archangels, Satan and his friends, and our first parents-Adam and Eve. Milton's style has unparalleled grandeur enriched with classical mythology and Homeric similes.
There is only one deviation from Aristotle's principles. The epic, according to Aristotle, must end happily. But Milton's Paradise Lost ends unhappily with the punishment to Adam and Eve and victory of sin and Death. All the same 'Paradise Lost' is one of the greatest epics ever produced in the world.
00190--UGC-NET, English Literature Objective Type Question Answers 61 to 75
.
61) “…the
error of evaluating a poem by its effects—especially its emotional effects—upon
the reader” is:
A.
Affective
Fallacy
B.
Intentional
Fallacy
C.
Both A and B
D.
Pathetic
Fallacy
Answer:
…………………………………………
62) Match A with B
A B
a.
Robert Penn Warren 1.
Ode to the Confederate Dead
b.
Allen Tate 2.
Understanding Poetry
c.
John Crowe Ransom 3.
Literary Criticism: A Short History
d.
W.K. Wimsatt 4.
The New Criticism
A.
a-4, b-3, c-1, d-2
B.
a-2, b-4, c-3, d-1
C.
a-2, b-1, c-4, d-3
D.
a-1, d-4, c-2, d-3
Answer:
……………………………………………
63) Marlowe’s all four great tragedies share
two features in common. Which are they?
1.
Magic Realism
2.
Theme of overreaching
3.
Blank Verse
4.
Romantic presentation
A.
Only 1, 2 and 3
B.
Only 3 and 4
C.
Only 2, 3 and 4
D.
Only 2 and 3
Answer:
………………………………………..
64) Who said
that the writer should be “outside the whale”, because otherwise, the state or
society could swallow the writer up, as the whale had swallowed Jonah.
A.
Andrew Marvell
B.
S.T.Coleridge
C.
T.S.Eliot
D.
George Orwell
Answer:
……………………………..
65) “I have
used similitude.” Who said this about his which work?
A.
Thomas Hobbes about ‘Leviathan’.
B.
Bunyan about ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’
C.
Milton about ‘Paradise Lost’
D.
Alexander Pope about ‘The Dunciad’
Answer:
…………………………………
66) Which
of the following is wrong?
A.
Jonathan Swift—A Modest
Proposal—Pamphlet—1728
B.
Samuel Johnson—The Vanity of Human
Wishes—Imitation of Juvenal’s 10th satire
C.
Robinson Crusoe—Friday—Colonialism
D.
Henry Feilding—Tom Jones—Story of a
foundling
Answer:
……………………………………….
67) The two
gentlemen in the Two Gentlemen of Verona
are (a) Douglas and Calvin
(b) Valentine and Protons
(c) Henry Bailey and Davenant
(d) Lovelace and Herrick
Answer: …………………………….
68) Who popularized the inductive method for arriving at a conclusion through his Novum Organum?
(a) Ben Jonson
(b) Francis Bacon
(c) Addison and Steele
(d) Dr. Johnson
Answer: …………………….
69) Thomas Hardy’s life and career are obliquely depicted in:
A. The Return of the Native
B. Jude the Obscure
C. Tess of the d’ Urbervilles
D. The Mayor of Casterbridge
Answer: …………………………….
70) Which of the following statements is/are wrong based on the novel “Heart of Darkness”?
1. Kurtz pretends to be mad.
2. The novel opens on the mouth of the Thames.
3. Marlow is the hero-narrator of the tale
4. Chinu Achebe denounced this novel as “bloody racist”.
A. Only 1
B. Only 2
C. Only 3 and4
D. Only 4
Answer: ………………….
71) “The
humblest craftsman over near the Aemilian school will model fingernails and
imitate waving hair in bronze; but the total work will be unhappy because he
does not know how to represent it as a unified whole. I should no more wish to
be like him, if
I desired to compose something, than to be praised for my dark hair and eyes
and yet go through life with my nose turned awry. You who write, take a subject
equal to your powers, and consider at length how much your shoulders can bear. Neither
proper words nor lucid order will be lacking to the writer who chooses a
subject within his powers. The excellence and charm of the arrangement,
I believe, consists in the ability to say only what needs to be said at the
time, deferring or omitting many points for the moment. The author of the
long-promised poem must accept and reject as he proceeds.”
Horace
here:
A.
Gives advice
B.
Criticises
C.
Evaluates
D.
Inspires
Answer:
……………………..
72) “The ancient poets animated all sensible
objects with gods or geniuses, calling them by the names and adorning them with
the properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, nations, and
whatever their enlarged and numerous senses could perceive.
“And
particularly they studied the genius of each city and country, placing it under
its mental deity.
“Till
a system was formed, which some took advantage of, and enslaved the vulgar by
attempting to realize or abstract the mental deities from their objects: thus
began priesthood; choosing forms of worship from poetic tales.
“And
at length they pronounced that the gods had ordered such things.
“Thus
men forgot that all deities reside in the human breast.
……………….
Who
speaks here?
A.
Addison
B.
Matthew Arnold
C.
William Blake
D.
Alexander Pope
Answer:
………………………………….
73) “I had not a dispute but a disquisition with
Dilke on various subjects; several things dovetailed in my mind, and at once it
struck me what quality went to form a man of achievement especially in
literature and which Shakespeare possessed so enormously-I mean negative
capability, that
is when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without
any irritable reaching after fact and reason-Coleridge, for instance, would let
go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the penetralium of mystery,
from being incapable of remaining content with half-knowledge.”
This
is taken:
A.
from Letter to Benjamin Bailey.
A.
from Letter to George and Thomas Keats .
B.
from Letter to John Taylor .
C.
from
Letter to Richard
Woodhouse.
Answer:
……………………..
74) Well, we are all condamnes. as
Victor Hugo says: "les
hommes sont tous condamnes a mort avec des sursis indejinis ": we have an interval, and then our place knows
us no more. Some spend this interval in listlessness, some in high passions,
the wisest in art and song. For our one chance is in expanding that interval,
in getting as many pulsations as possible into the given time. High passions
give one this quickened sense of life, ecstasy and sorrow of love, political or
religious enthusiasm. or the "enthusiasm of humanity." Only, be sure
it is passion, that it does yield you this fruit of a quickened, multiplied
consciousness. Of this wisdom, the poetic passion, the desire of beauty, the
love of art for art's sake has most; for art comes to you professing frankly to
give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply for
those moments' sake.
This
is from:
A.
Is There a Text in This Class?
B.
The Contingency of Language
C. Studies
in the History of the Renaissance
D.
The Metaphoric and Metonymic Poles
Answer:
………………………….
75) Or, after dark, will dubious women come
To make their children touch a particular stone;
Pick simples for a cancer; or on some
Advised night see walking a dead one?
Power of some sort will go on
In games, in riddles, seemingly at random;
But superstition, like belief, must die,
And what remains when disbelief has gone?
This is taken from Philip Larkin’s
A. The Less Deceived
B. An Arundel Tomb
C. Church Going
D. Toads
Answer:
…………………………….ANSWERS:
61-A
62-C
63-D
64-D
65-B
66-A
67-B
68-B
69-B
70-A
71-A
72-C
73-B
74-C
75-C
01644--Augustan Age
Augustan Age is the greatest period of Roman literature, adorned by the poets Virgil, Ovid,
Horace, and Propertius. It is named after the reign (27 BCE-14 CE) of the
emperor Augustus, but many literary historians prefer to date the literary
period from the death of Julius Caesar in 44 CE, thus including the early works
of Virgil and Horace. In English literary history, the term is usually applied
to the period from the accession of Queen Anne (1702) to the deaths of Pope and
Swift (1744-5), although John Diyden, whose major translation of Virgil's works
appeared in 1697, may also be regarded as part of the English phenomenon known
as Augustanism. The Augustans, led by Pope and Swift, wrote in conscious
emulation of the Romans, adopted their literary forms (notably the epistle
and the satire), and aimed to create a similarly sophisticated urban
literary milieu: a characteristic preference in Augustan literature, encouraged
by the periodicals of Addison and Steele.
00248--OF STUDIES/ESSAY/FRANCIS BACON [English literature free notes]
OF STUDIES
The word ‘essay’ was first used by the French writer
Montaigne from whom Bacon adopted it. Bacons essays are in a class apart from
those of the other essayists like Lamb, Macaulay and Addison. He himself called them “pithy jottings,
rather apt than curious’. The
description exactly fits his writings, especially earlier essays like “Of
Studies”.
In “Of Studies”, the sentences are nearly all short; crisp
and sententious. There are few
connectives. Each sentence stands by
itself, expressing briefly and precisely his weighty thought. The epigrammatic terseness and the sharp
antithesis and balance are seen as found in all his writings. But in, “Of Truth”, Bacon imparts warmth and
colour to his style. Illustrations
abound, metaphors and similies crop up.
In “Of Studies” each sentence is a concentrated expression of his idea,
and most of them have acquired the universal currency of proverbs.
Bacon speaks at length of the value of study. According to him, three purposes are served
by studies.
1. They give delight.
2. They are an ornament
to man.
3. They add to the
ability of man.
In retirement and in aloofness reading gives pleasure. As an ornament, one’s study adorns one’s
conversation. The ability of a learned
man is seen in his judgment and in the way he carries out his business. Even experienced men turn to learned people
for advice and guidance. Yet to spend
too much time in studies is a sort of idleness, and to use one’s knowledge too
much in conversation is nothing short of affectedness. To judge wholly by the
rules one has studied is the tendency of a scholar. Studies perfect the inborn talent of man,
which is further completed by experience.
In this respect studies are like natural plants which require pruning. Reading should not tempt one to contradict
others. Neither should one believe all
that is stated in books. What is
absorbed from books should be weighed well before introducing them in one’s
talk.
Bacon speaks of different types of books in his essay
entitled “Of Studies”.
1. Some books are to be tasted [just enough to go through the book]
2. Others to be swallowed
[read with great attention]
3. Few to be chewed and
digested [each word must be meditated upon]
Condensed or abridged books are like distilled water, bright
but tasteless. Books on history add to
the wisdom of man, for they are authentic account of the plots and plans made
by the leaders of men who have gained tremendous success in life or failed
miserably. Reading of poetry makes man
intelligent and imaginative, for poets present an imaginary world in their
works. The study of mathematics makes
men clever and quick in grasping. The study
of natural science increases the depth of mind.
Morality makes men grave and the study of logic enables men to argue
well.
Reading, according to Bacon, makes a man well-informed while
conversation makes him quick-witted, and writing makes him impeccable. To write well he needs a good memory, for a
writer should be careful not to repeat his ideas.
Bacon concludes his essay “Of Studies” by suggesting remedies
for deficiencies in some of the mental faculties. He believes that there is scarcely any
frailty in human mind which cannot be dispelled by the study of a subject fit
for such a mind. Just as physical
exercises can cure the diseases of the body, the imperfections of the mind can
be expelled by study.
Bowling is considered good for curing the stones in the
kidney; shooting is good exercise for lungs and breast; gentle walking is good
for the stomach and riding is prescribed for any illness associated with the
head. Similarly, if a man’s mind lacks
concentration he should study mathematics in which if his mind wanders from the
subject, he will have to start again from the beginning. If one is unable to discover the fine
distinctions, he should study the works of the medieval philosophers who were
skilled in subtle debates, and in the case of men who cannot argue well, Bacon
recommend the study of the lawyer’s cases.
Thus every defect of the mind can be cured by the study of the proper
subject.
END