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                                    The Study of Poetry by Matthew Arnold Summary "Poetry attaches its emotion to the idea; the idea is the fact" - Arnold In his seminal work, the “Study of Poetry” Matthew Arnold opines that one should evaluate poetry by comparing and contrasting it with a piece from a high classic. According to Arnold, poetry is worthy of high destinies. We can notice in our society that many of the religions, principles, rules, creeds, and dogmas are all becoming questionable and broken over time. In the case of poetry too, many find it difficult to evaluate the true essence of good poetry. Arnold wanted to treat poetry as something worth higher value-capable of higher uses and called to higher destinies. He quotes lines from Wordsworth to define poetry, it is“the impassioned expression which is in the countenance of all science”; poetry is “the breath and finer spirit of all k...

With these simple steps, I managed to ease my exam stress and was able to cover 90% of my syllabus. 1. Collect the materials required for the subject you want to study 2. Before you sit down to study, make sure that your desk is neat and organized. 3. Look at your syllabus. Analyse the texts which you find easy and comfortable to study 4. Pro tip: "Intelligently" cross off 2-3 texts that are either hard or not important from the examination point of view (this step works well if you have options in your question paper) 5. Now you have a self revised syllabus. Happy... 6. Make a list of topic/texts that you will cover in day 1 7. Next step is to set a timer for 50 minutes and start studying. Take breaks of 15 minutes or as you want.                                                  8. If you get bored or feel sleepy watch a study vlog on Youtube  9. Finally whe...

The Need for Literary Criticism Literature is the essence of life and nature. And a piece of text has a wide range of aspects giving it its prominence and aesthetic value. Literature presents before us more than one possible interpretation and meaning. In order to appreciate a piece of work one has to look at its merits and demerits and has to cover every aspect of the work; the history behind, socio-political aspects, time period, tone, purpose, use of words, content and context etc. Most often when analysing a text we arrive at open ended questions that have multiple answers. While critiquing a work work one should also see to it that he or she must point out their personal views and opinions on it, apart from an objective analysis of the text. An ultimate right or wrong is quite impossible to arrive at due to the existence of multiple perspectives. Every time you re-read a work it is like looking through a kaleidoscope. The goal and outcome of literary criticism is to fully apprecia...

Who Was James Joyce? James Joyce / James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (1882-1941), was an Irish novelist noted for his experimental use of language. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Joyce came from a big family and was the eldest of ten children. His father was a talented singer (he reportedly had one of the finest tenor voices in all of Ireland), but failed to support his family. His habit of drinking and spending money carelessly soon brought the family into financial crises. From an early age, Joyce loved to write and had a passion for literature. He taught himself Norwegian so he could read Henrik Ibsen's plays in the language they had been written and spent his free time devouring Dante, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. Because of his intelligence, Joyce's family pushed him to get an education. Largely educated by Jesuits, Joyce attended the Irish schools of Clongowes Wood College and ...

Wasteland by T.S Eliot One of the main harbingers of the Modernist movement in literature, T.S Eliot’s canonical work The Wasteland is a public outcry against the degenerating and decaying modern life devoid of any real values. The lack of hope, the looming uncertainty of the future, and the inevitability of death occupy the base of the various allusions and references made in the poem. The very title of this poem is rich in references. The title evokes associations with vegetation myths which assert that the sterility of the land is due to the impotence of its ruler. And both can be cured by the questing knight asking the right question at a ritual. Eliot has borrowed much from Jessie L Weston’s book From Ritual to Romance (1920) which speaks about the Grail Legend. The Golden Bough by James Frazor is another work from which Eliot has borrowed. According to Weston, the fisher king was the ruler of the land that was cursed with an evil spell that rendered the king impotent. A questing ...