Eos

In Greek mythology, Eos (Roman equivalent: Aurora) is the goddess of the dawn. She was the daughter of the Titans, Hyperion and Theia (also called: Euryphassa; alternative spellings: Thea, Thia). She was the sister of Helios (Roman equivalent: Sol), the god of the sun, and of Selene (Roman equivalent: Luna), the goddess of the moon.

Eos was believed to rise up into the sky each day from her island on the shores of Okeanos (a fresh-water stream in ancient Greece) dispersing the shadows of night with her rays of light. Her presence announced the arrival of the sun. In art, Eos is represented as a charming deity often driving a golden chariot drawn by two winged horses, Lampos and Phaithon. In some other portrayals she is shown ascending towards the sky by her own pair of wings.

Eos is known best for her inconstant love affairs. She had an uncontrollable desire for good-looking youths. These affairs allegedly resulted from a curse called down to her by Aphrodite (also called: Cytherea; Roman equivalent: Venus). It is assumed that once Aphrodite discovered Eos’ illicit affair with Ares (Roman equivalent: Mars), the god of war and then out of jealousy she punished Eos to be perpetually in illicit love affairs.

The effect of the curse is evident in her tragic love affair with the Trojan prince Tithonus, the son of Laomedon, the king of Troy, and of Strymo, the daughter of the river Scamander. After falling in love with Tithonus, she kidnapped him and took him to Ethiopia. With him Eos had two sons, Memnon, the king of Ethiopia and Emathion. Eos was so deeply in love with the mortal that she decided to adopt him as her official husband. Therefore, she asked Zeus (Roman equivalent: Jupiter, also called: Jove), the ruler of the gods to grant Tithonus eternal life. Zeus granted her request instantly. However, because of the curse, she forgot to obtain eternal youth along with it. As a result, in his old age Tithonus transformed into a feeble and shrunken old man. Eos locked him in her palace, since she could not watch his misery any longer. A later account related his final transformation into a grasshopper. Alfred Tennyson, the famous English poet recounts a partially altered story in his famous dramatic monologue Tthonus. In the poem Eos herself confers Tithonus the gift of immortality. The poem begins in a melancholic vein expressing the grief of an ailing male psyche over his gradual decrepitude being trapped into perpetual old age:

"The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,
The vapours weep their burthen to the ground,
Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,
And after many a summer dies the swan.
Me only cruel immortality
Consumes: I wither slowly in thine arms,"

Eos could not resist her predilection to illicit love even when she was with the dearest of her lovers, that is, Thithonus. Her affection agitated the peaceful conjugal life of Cephalus and Procris. Eos told him to elope with her, but Cephalus, who truly loved his wife, denied doing so. Finding no other alternatives, Eos then sought to prove Procris’ inconstancy to her husband. To materialize her conspiracy, she changed Cephalus’ appearance and told him to try to seduce Procris. Cephalus then went to his wife and managed to seduce her without disclosing his true identity. After the incident Procris felt humiliated and thus ran away far from Cephalus. Eos then kidnapped Cephalus and took him to Syria, where they had a son named Phaeton. But Cephalus left her very soon and returned to his beloved wife.

Eos’ irrepressible obsession with love engendered the tragic tale of the handsome giant and mighty hunter Orion, the son of Poseidon (Roman equivalent: Neptune), the god of the sea, and Euryale, the Gorgon. When Eos fell in love with Orion she kidnapped him as usual. But when Artemis (Roman equivalent: Diana), the goddess of hunting, wilderness and wild animals, discovered his affection for Eos, she got envious and consequently killed him.

Astraeus (also spelt: Astraeos), the Titan god of the dusk, was also Eos’ husband. She had several offspring with Astraeus, who are also identified as the parts of the earth’s atmosphere as well as of the celestial bodies. They include Zephyrus, the god of west wind, Boreas, the god of north wind, Notos, the god of south wind, Eosphoros (also called: Hesperos; Venus), Stilbon (Mercury), Phosphorus (morning star) and all other Stars.

Apart from her promiscuous standard of living, Eos is also remembered for her association with the Trojan War. Her son Memnon brought his army to the aid of Troy in the 10th year of the Trojan War. He fought bravely but was eventually killed by the Greek hero Achilles. Since then Eos used to shed tears lamenting over her son’s demise during announcing the starting of the day. Her tears are now known to us as dew drops that we see at early in the morning on the grass.

References

Khan, Farhad. An Encyclopedia of Classical Literature. Dhaka: Protik, 1996.

“Eos.” Wikipedia. 2011. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 3 April 2011

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eos >.

“Aurora (mythology).” Wikipedia. 2011. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 3 April 2011

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(mythology)>.

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The Models of Teacher Education

The current educational climate is essentially driven by an overriding interest in preparing students to become effective teachers. Therefore, some teacher education programmes have been developed in order to enhance this process. These programmes explore the possible approaches which could encourage student-teachers or teachers-in-service towards learning-focused teaching activities. Although teacher education programmes have been in existence for a long time, ESL teacher education is a relatively recent development. Numerous educational theorists and practitioners have handed down different opinions on the possible models for teacher education from their personal point of views. However, most of the researchers shared three common views. Subsequently these three concepts attained worldwide critical acclamation as teaching models. The latest models of teacher education have been put forward by, Michael J. Wallace in 1991. Wallace moulded his models after the existing concepts of his precursors, but in a more convenient or transparent way.

1. The Applied Science Model

The Applied Science Model is the traditional and perhaps still the most prevalent model underlying most ESL teacher education programmes. It was put forward by Michael J. Wallace in 1991 based on the Technical Rationality of Donald A. Schön. The model derives its authority from the achievements of emperical science, particularly in the 19^th and the 20^th centuries. The Applied Science Model emerges on the following assumptions:

• Teaching is a science and as such can be examined rationally and objectively.
• Teachers learn to be teachers by being taught research-based theories.
• These theories are being conveyed to the students only by those who are considered to be the experts in the particular field.
• Teachers are said to be educated when they become proficient enough to apply these theories in practice.

Merits: The Applied Science Model has the following plus points:

• This model takes into account the crucial element of the explosive growth of relevant scientific knowledge in recent times.
• Its theory oriented study provides much opportunity for the learner to achieve received knowledge.

Demerits: In spite of its wide-spread usage, it has some shortcomings:

• Changes at the practical level applied by practitioners are not taken into account; therefore, their value is underestimated, thereby creating a separation between research and professional practice.
• The most serious problem occurs when the students are asked to apply on their own the scientific theories they have learned in classroom.
• Another shortcoming is the Applied Science Model’s failure to address adequately many of the important issues in teaching English. There has been relatively little research that directly concerns the teaching and learning of English in the classroom.
• Many researchers claim that trainees who take courses based on the Applied Science Model feel that such courses do not help them develop professionally, that is, the theoretical studies are of no help.
• Here the learner is passive, he cannot ask any question. He just follows the instructions of the expert.
• The Applied Science Model is somewhat limited in scope as it does not take care of student- teachers’ self-development or awareness of their role not only as teachers but as teacher-researchers in their classrooms.
• In Applied Science Model teaching is based on external knowledge, because it is essentially depended on rules and principles derived from preexisting knowledge sources.
• The Applied Science Model is prescriptive since it advocates teachers to follow some proven teaching method instead of relying upon individual or intuitive theories of teaching and learning.
• The Applied Science Model is a product oriented model. It slavishly follows various established methods and theories to improve teaching ability. In this model there is no scope for expressing one’s creativity.
• Its major shortcoming is that it has not been able to deliver a relevant “scientific” solution to the various professional dilemmas that the teacher faces in real-life classroom situations.

2. The Craft Model

The Craft Model is the oldest form of professional education and is still used today in ESL teacher education, albeit rather limitedly. Its conceptual basis, however, is widely utilized in practicum courses in which students work with classroom teachers, often called cooperating teachers. Its use in one course in a programme of ESL teacher education cannot be regarded as a model for an entire programme. The basic assumptions underlying this model are as follows:

• In its most basic form, Craft Model consists of the trainee or beginner working closely with the expert teacher.
• The practitioner is supposed to learn by imitating all the teaching techniques used by the experienced teacher.
• Knowledge is acquired as a result of observation, instruction, and practice.

Merits: The positive sides of this model are as follows:

• The Craft Model of second language teacher education allows the learner to develop experiential knowledge, since the primary responsibilities of the learner are in the classroom.
• It is one of the quickest models of ESL teacher education. Researches proved that students can imitate their teacher very quickly.

Demerits: This model of ESL teacher education programme suffers from several shortcomings:

• The most relevant strategies of training are provided by experts, thus the student-teachers play a passive role.
• The Craft Model is essentially conservative. It does not account for any kind of change. It depends merely on imitation.
• It does not handle the relevant scientific knowledge.
• In this model there is no scope for developing one’s creativity since it does not allow suggesting new theories.

3. The Reflective Model

The reflective practice has become a dominant paradigm in language teacher education research and programmes worldwide. But it is not an innovation in teaching. It has its roots in the work of a number of educational theorists and practitioners. Most definitions on reflective thinking found in the literature of teacher educatin are based on Dewey’s inquiry oriented concepts. In the 1980s, Dewey’s foundational aspects on reflection were further extended by the American sociologist Donald A. Schön. Later on, in 1991 Michael J. Wallace described Schön’s critique in a more explicit way.

The Reflective Model is based on the assumption that teachers develop professional competence through reflecting on their own practice. In other words, a teaching experience is recalled and considered to reach an evaluation and to provide input into future planning and action.

For Wallace a teacher education course should include two kinds of knowledge for it to be professionally structured:

• Received knowledge: It is related to all the theories, concepts and skills that are studied during the student-teacher’s ELT methodology lessons.
• Experiential knowledge: It is that knowledge which is developed by the trainees throughout their teaching practice.

Wallace’s Reflective Model is applicable to both pre-service and in-service education. The model is separated it into three stages:

1. The pre-training: It is believed that the person who has decided to embark on professional education does not enter the progamme with blank mind. He has, at least, some pre-training knowledge about teaching.
2. The professional development: It is the stage of professional education or development through theory and practice.
3. The professional competence: The ultimate goal of this model is to increase professional competence.

Wallace presents the Reflective Model as a cyclical process in which the trainees are involved throughout their teaching experience. Such a cycle aims for continuous improvement and the development of personal theories of action. There is an assumption that the student-teachers already have some knowledge that they acquired as students and during the development of their English programme. Once the student-teachers have the opportunity to enter the classroom environment, they discover the actual framework of teaching and become aware of the different classroom situations. Thus, they start recalling about their performance during the teaching practice, how some experienced teachers deal with those situations, and also, how they themselves could manage them. So, they make some decisions and think about possible actions they could apply to their context. Or sometimes they simply reflect upon their classroom activities to evaluate their professional performance. Such a study helps them to figure out both the positive as well as the negative side of their teaching strategy. That means reflection helps them to avoid various future professional dilemmas by recalling and evaluating past experiences. The following illustration is a graphical representation of Wallace’s Reflective Model of professional education or development:

This is a very common way in which professional competence is developed, and in it the process of reflective practice is clearly taking place, even though the practice element occurs outside the formal framework of the course. The use of reflective practice is obviously valid, but it should be noted that this sort of practice for professional education carries certain disadvantages:

• The main disadvantage is that the experience is private, not shared.
• The second disadvantage is the potential lack of focus in the discussion.
• The third problem could well be the lack of structure in the mode of articulating reflection.
• Ultimately, its flexibility and stress on participant initiative and input may cause lack of organisation and a pooling of ignorance, at the expense of genuine professional or personal progress.

Merits: Reflective teaching is very much beneficial for teacher development. It offers more advantages than disadvantages:

• Reflective practice helps the novice teachers become more aware of decision-making processes to help them determine the effect their decisions have in the context in which they are implemented.
• Reflective Model is broad in scope since it enables teachers to investigate, and clarify their own classroom processes, and their individual theories of teaching and learning, instead of relying on some specific method of teaching.
• The Reflective Model is a process oriented teaching approach since it provides an opportunity for the teacher to reveal his creative sides.
• Reflective practice provides an opportunity for the teacher to find a self-defined solution for a particular classroom problem.
• With a sharp contrast to the other models of teacher education, the Reflective Model does not treat the student-teacher as a passive participant. Here he works with his educator as a co-participant.
• This is the only model that fulfills almost all the requirements for teacher development.

References

Day, Richard. “Models and the Knowledge Base of Second Language Teacher Education.”

University of Hawaii System. 2008. University of Hawai‘i. 20 September 2008

< http://www.hawaii.edu/sls/uhwpesl/112/day112.pdf>.

“Tasting Teaching Flavors: A Group of Student-Teachers’ Experiences in their Practicum.”

Scielo. 2008. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. 20 September 2008

< http://www.scielo.org.co >.

Wallace, M.J. Training Foreign Language Teachers: A Reflective Approach. Cambridge: CUP,

1991.

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The Organs of Speech

The various organs which are involved in the production of speech sounds are called speech organs (also known as vocal organs). The study of speech organs helps to determine the role of each organ in the production of speech sounds. They include the lungs, the vocal folds, and most importantly the articulators.

1. The Lungs

The airflow is by far the most vital requirement for producing speech sound since all speech sounds are made with some movement of air. The lungs provide the energy source for the airflow. The lungs are the spongy respiratory organs situated inside the rib cage. They expand and contract as we breathe in and out air. The amount of air accumulated inside our lungs controls the pressure of the airflow.

2. The Larynx & the Vocal Folds

The larynx is colloquially known as the voice box. It is a box-like small structure situated in the front of the throat where there is a protuberance. For this reason, the larynx is popularly called the Adam’s apple. This casing is formed of cartilages and muscles. It protects as well as houses the trachea (also known as windpipe, oesophagus, esophagus) and the vocal folds (formerly they were called vocal cords). The vocal folds are like a pair of lips placed horizontally from front to back. They are joined in the front but can be separated at the back. The opening between them is called the glottis. The glottis is considered to be in open state when the folds are apart, and when the folds are pressed together the glottis is considered to be in close state.

The opening of the vocal folds takes different positions:

1. Wide Apart: When the folds are wide apart they do not vibrate. The sounds produced in such position are called breathed or voiceless sounds. For example: /p/f/θ/s/.
2. Narrow Glottis: If the air is passed through the glottis when it is narrowed then there is an audible friction. Such sounds are also voiceless since the vocal folds do not vibrate. For example, in English /h/ is a voiceless glottal fricative sound.
3. Tightly Closed: The vocal folds can be firmly pressed together so that the air cannot pass between them. Such a position produces a glottal stop / ʔ / (also known as glottal catch, glottal plosive).
4. Touched or Nearly Touched: The major role of the vocal folds is that of a vibrator in the production of speech. The folds vibrate when these two are touching each other or nearly touching. The pressure of the air coming from the lungs makes them vibrate. This vibration of the folds produces a musical note called the voice. And sounds produced in such manner are called voiced sounds. In English all the vowel sounds and the consonants /v/z/m/n/are voiced.

Thus it is clear that the main function of the vocal folds is to convert the air delivered by the lungs into audible sound. The opening and closing process of the vocal folds manipulates the airflow to control the pitch and the tone of speech sounds. As a result, we have different qualities of sounds.

3. The Articulators

Articulators transform the sound into intelligible speech. They can be either active or passive. They include the pharynx, the teeth, the alveolar ridge behind them, the hard palate, the softer velum behind it, the lips, the tongue, and the nose and its cavity. Traditionally the articulators are studied with the help of a sliced human head figure like the following:

(i) The Pharynx: The pharynx lies between the mouth and the food passage, that is, just above the larynx. It is just about 7cm long in the case of women and 8cm long in the case of men.

(ii) The Roof of the Mouth: The roof of the mouth is considered as a major speech organ. It is divided into three parts:

a. The Alveolar Ridge/Teeth Ridge: The alveolar ridge is situated immediately after the upper front teeth. The sounds which are produced touching this convex part are called alveolar sounds. Some alveolar sounds in English include: /t/d/.

b. The Hard Palate: The hard palate is the concave part of the roof of the mouth. It is situated on the middle part of the roof.

c. The Velum or Soft Palate: The lower part of the roof of the mouth is called the soft palate. It could be lowered or raised. When it is lowered, the air stream from the lungs has access to the nasal cavity. When it is raised the passage to the nasal cavity is blocked. The sounds which are produced touching this area with the back of the tongue are called velar sounds. For example: /k/g/.

(iii) The Lips: The lips also play an important role in the matter of articulation. They can be pressed together or brought into contact with the teeth. The consonant sounds which are articulated by touching two lips each other are called bilabial sounds. For example, /p/ and /b/ are bilabial sounds in English. Whereas, the sounds which are produced with the lip to teeth contact are called labiodental sounds. In English, there are two labiodental sounds: /f/ and /v/.

Another important thing about the lips is that they can take different shapes and positions. Therefore, lip-rounding is considered as a major criterion for describing vowel sounds. The lips may have the following positions:

a. Rounded: When we pronounce a vowel, our lips can be rounded, a position where the corners of the lips are brought towards each other and the lips are pushed forwards. And the resulting vowel from this position is a rounded one. For example, /ə ʊ/.

b. Spread: The lips can be spread. In this position, the lips are moved away from each other (i.e. when we smile). The vowel that we articulate from this position is an unrounded one. For example, in English, /i: /is a long vowel with slightly spread lips.

c. Neutral: Again, the lips can be neutral, a position where the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread. And the articulated vowel from this position is referred to as unrounded vowel. For example, in English /ɑ: / is a long vowel with neutral lips.

(iv) The Teeth: The teeth are also very much helpful in producing various speech sounds. The sounds which are made with the tongue touching the teeth are called dental sounds. Some examples of dental sounds in English include: /θ/ð/.

(v) The Tongue: The tongue is divided into four parts:

a. The tip: It is the extreme end of the tongue.

b. The blade: It lies opposite to the alveolar ridge.

c. The front: It lies opposite to the hard palate.

d. The back: It lies opposite to the soft palate or velum.

The tongue is responsible for the production of many speech sounds since it can move very fast to different places and is also capable of assuming different shapes. The shape and the position of the tongue are especially crucial for the production of vowel sounds. Thus when we describe the vowel sounds in the context of the function of the tongue, we generally consider the following criteria:

• Tongue Height: It is concerned with the vertical distance between the upper surface of the tongue and the hard palate. From this perspective, the vowels can be described as close and open. For instance, because of the different distance between the surface of the tongue and the roof of the mouth, the vowel /i: /has to be described as a relatively close vowel, whereas /æ / has to be described as a relatively open vowel.

• Tongue Frontness / Backness: It is concerned with the part of the tongue between the front and the back, which is raised high. From this point of view, the vowel sounds can be classified as front vowels and back vowels. By changing the shape of the tongue we can produce vowels in which a different part of the tongue is the highest point. That means a vowel having the back of the tongue as the highest point is a back vowel, whereas the one having the front of the tongue as the highest point is called a front vowel. For example: during the articulation of the vowel / u: / the back of the tongue is raised high, so it’s a back vowel. On the other hand, during the articulation of the vowel / æ / the front of the tongue is raised high, therefore, it’s a front vowel.

(vi) The Jaws: Some phoneticians consider the jaws as articulators since we move the lower jaw a lot at the time of speaking. But it should be noted that the jaws are not articulators in the same way as the others. The main reason is that they are incapable of making contact with other articulators by themselves.

(vii) The Nose and the Nasal Cavity: The nose and its cavity may also be considered as speech organs. The sounds which are produced with the nose are called nasal sounds. Some nasal sounds in English include: /m/n/ŋ/.

References

Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. 3^rd ed. England: Longman-

Pearson, 2001. 28-35.

Yule, George. The Study of Language. 2^nd ed. Cambridge: CUP, 1996. 40-50.

Varshney, Dr. R.L.  An Introduction of Linguistics & Phonetics. Dhaka: BOC, n.d. 38-42.

NB  This Article is Essentially in the Tentative Stage. Further Revision is Required.

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Antiromanticism

Antiromanticism is a movement in English literature that emerged in the 20th century as a reaction to Romanticism that dominated the field of literature during the late 18th and the early 19th centuries. Antiromanticism shares some tenets of Classicism, which was subsequently opposed by Romanticism. From this point of view, Antiromanticism could be considered as the resurgence of Classicism in a new name and guise. Antiromanticism questioned the stability and rationality of Romanticism and necessitated a reassessment of the nature of literature and the role of the writer in society. When first arrived, this new type of literary tendency not only baffled but also shocked the audience, writers, and critics around the globe with its novel, unconventional, and highly disputable ideas. The basic difference between Romanticism and Antiromanticism is that whereas the former has a strong predilection to an idealisation of life, the latter tends to explore life from a practical point of view. Though hard to assign precisely, literary works based on antiromantic attitude roughly hinge around the following concepts:

• Ironic, indirect, and impersonal (objective) representation of ideas.
• Uncompromising criticism of romantic illusions.
• The opposition of unreal ideas and artificiality of treatment.
• Satirisation of irrational and whimsical attitudes of the so-called aristocracy.
• Criticism of established conventions of sentimental love, marriage, sex, religion, and rituals.
• Criticism of social, political, cultural, and moral customs and manners of the contemporary society.
• Advocacy of pragmatism and disapproval of idealism.
• Valuing reason over emotion and imagination.

Chief Representatives

The major literary artists who helped to establish Antiromanticism through explicit rejection of Romanticism include:

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Shaw is antiromantic in person and by nature. He opposed Romanticism for he assumed that it shamelessly and irrationally deals with the imaginary and vague artificiality of emotions. Shaw wrote a number of plays on antiromantic tone. The greatest expression of this outlook found its way in his first successfully staged drama Arms and the Man (1894), where he wittily, humorously, and critically exposes the futility of romantic and emotional concept of war, love, heroism, and marriage. Another critically acclaimed play is Man and Superman (1903), dealing with the antiromantic attitude towards marriage.

W.H. Auden (1907-1973)

Auden is strongly antiromantic. His poetry reveals a strong rejection of the ideas of the poetry of earlier generation and an admiration of earlier and less fashionable poetic movements. Auden’s poetic theory and practice are largely engendered by impersonality, that is, he is able to write poetry by keeping his own feelings aloof. He sought to exercise objectively the anarchy, dismay, desolation and spiritual decay of the contemporary society to portray the obscurity of modern life. Due to his scepticism about the idealistic claims about the nature of poetry, imagination, love, society, politics, etc., he was able to forge himself as one of the strongest representatives of Antiromanticism.

Philip Larkin (1922-1985)

Apart from Auden, Philip Larkin happens to be the most representative of the poets who gave expression to the antiromantic sensibility. He treats the modern English setting in a withdrawn and non-sentimental manner, but often with considerable feeling. The works which established Larkin as a fine antiromantic poet of great wit, sophistication, and compassion include The North Ship (1945), and The Less Deceived (1955).

Kingsley Amis (1922-1995)

The tone of Amis’ work is antiromantic and rational. His works take a humorous yet highly critical look at British society, especially of the period following the end of World War II in 1945. In a number of novels, he explored his disillusionment: Lucky Jim (1954), That Uncertain Feeling (1955), and Take a Girl Like You (1960).

Other antiromantic poets of the same generation include Donald Alfred Davie (1922-1995), D (ennis) J (oseph) Enright (1920-2002), John Barrington Wain (192-1994), Elizabeth Jennings (1926-2001) and Robert Conquest (1917-2015).

In America, a similar type of literary tendency was prevalent during the mid-nineteenth century. It was known as Antitranscendentalism (also known as Dark Romanticism). It stemmed from Transcendentalism, which was developed in the first half of the 19th century. But the antitranscendentalists did not accept all ideas of Transcendentalism; rather they rejected or modified most of the utopian ideas. Transcendentalism was regarded by many scholars as the American version of English Romanticism. Transcendentalism was based on the belief that there was inherent goodness in man, and that nature always cares for the wellbeing of the humankind, since it is created by god. In contrast, Antitranscendentalism held a less optimistic view about the Transcendentalist assertions. To the antitranscendentalist, man was capable of evil and nature was destructive and unsympathetic. Thus the chief difference between the two schools of thought is that whereas the former is predominantly utopian in nature, the latter is essentially down-to-earth in its thoughts. Generally, the antitranscendental outlook centres around the following principles:

• Less optimistic assertion about the inherent goodness in mankind, nature, and the universe.
• Disclosure of the dark sides of the human heart.
• Acceptance of nature as a spiritual force.
• Revelation of the destructive and indifferent side of nature.
• Exposure of social corruption.

Chief Representatives

The major representatives of the antitranscendental sensibility include:

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

Hawthorne is widely deemed to be one of the distinguished members of the antitranscendentalist movement. His writings feature psychological probing into human nature, especially its darker side. Hawthorne’s psychological exploration found its greatest expression in his allegorical magnum opus The Scarlet Letter (1850), a tale of sin, punishment, and redemption.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Allan Poe is the unchallengeable leader of the antitranscendentalist movement in American literature. He is, perhaps the best of the antitranscendentalists. In his masterful works, Poe tries to explore human psychology with a keen interest in the perverse and self-destructive nature of the conscious and subconscious mind. Amongst Poe’s literary output, the short stories: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (1838), The Fall of the House of Usher (1839), The Pit and the Pendulum (1842), The Tell-Tale Heart (1843), The Cask of Amontillado (1846) and the poems: The Raven (1845), The Sleeper (1831), Lenore (1831), and Annabel Lee (1849) are distinguished for their uniqueness.

Herman Melville (1819-1891)

Psychological exploration provides the force and vitality to the works of the Antitranscendental writer Herman Melville. It is this psychological exploration, for which his works remained in obscurity until the 1920s when his genius was finally recognised. Among many of his creations, Moby Dick; or The Whale (1851) is the most appreciated one, and it is definitely the apex of his creation. The novel, in its entirety, is a meticulous illustration of man's evil toward fellow man and nature.

References

“Dark Romanticism.” Wikipedia. 2010. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 26 August 2010

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_romanticism >.

“Kingsley Amis.” Microsoft Encarta. DVD-ROM. Redmond: Microsoft, 2005.

“Philip Larkin.” Microsoft Encarta. DVD-ROM. Redmond: Microsoft, 2005.

“Philip Larkin.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 25 August 2010

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/330650/Philip-Larkin>.

NB: This article was last updated on January 09, 2018

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Dylan Thomas Quick Facts

Dylan Thomas

20th century Welsh poet, short-story writer, playwright, journalist, broadcaster, and scriptwriter

• Full name: Dylan Marlais Thomas
• Birth: October 27, 1914
• Death: November 9, 1953
• Place of Birth: Swansea, South Wales
• Buried: Laugharne, Wales
• Father: D(avid) J(ohn) Thomas
• Mother: Florence Williams Thomas
• Sister: Nancy Marles Thomas
• Spouse: Caitlin Macnamara
• Number of Children: Three (2 sons: Llewelyn Edouard Thomas and Colm Garan Hart Thomas; 1 daughter: Aeronwy Bryn Thomas)
• Education: Swansea Grammar School (attended from 1925 to 1931)
• Known for: the force and vitality of his verbal imagery and for his celebration of scenic aspects of nature
• Notorious for: leading a bohemian lifestyle that included heavy-drinking and philandering

Quote:

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night (1951)

Notable Works:

1934: Eighteen Poems
1936: Twenty-five Poems
1939: The Map of Love
1940: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog
1946: Deaths and Entrances
1951: In Country Sleep
1952: Collected Poems
1953: The Doctor and the Devils
1954: Under Milk Wood (published posthumously)
1955: Adventures in the Skin Trade (published posthumously)
1957: Letters to Vernon Watkins

Did You Know?

• Alongside his reputation as a poet, Thomas is also remembered today for his alcoholism and womanizing.
• Dylan Thomas was not an Englishman. He was a Welshman, but chose to write in English poetic tradition.
• During his tenure as a student at the Swansea Grammar School he showed much interest in the extra-curricular activities than regular studies.
• Later Thomas could realise the value of formal education and regretted over his lack of linguistic command and professional training and lived in fear of his ignorance being found out.
• It is assumed that Thomas’ marriage was a happy one, but a book published by Caitlin after his demise included the fact that almost each day of their conjugal life featured fighting and quarreling.
• Thomas’ reaction to the outbreak of World War II was both cowardly and patriotic. He was afraid of being conscripted and so being killed. He even couldn’t flee to America like W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, hence chose to become a conscientious objector. However, he was saved from being filed for conscientious objector status as he was declared medically unfit for the armed forces.
• During the post-World War II phase, financial need provoked him to give more energy to his profitable short stories and screenplays rather than to his poetry.
• His American tour in 1950, and those that followed in 1952 and 1953, were marked by inebriation, outrageous behaviour, and in some cases, brilliant readings.
• Thomas’ attempt to secure regular employment with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and various film companies was hindered by his notoriety as a heavy-drinker.
• Even though Thomas planned to use the profits from his readings in America to pay back his growing debts at home, he squandered most of his earnings before he made his way back to Wales.
• Thomas died at the age of 39 in New York City of pneumonia caused by excess of drinking.
• When Thomas’ life ended prematurely of alcoholism, the world regarded his demise as a symbol of the tragic life of the modern artist.

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Conceit/Metaphysical Conceit

Generally conceit is a figure of speech and the term generally denotes “idea”, “concept”, “opinion”, or a “theme”, especially one that is fantastic or eccentric to certain extent. In terminological sense, it is an elaborate, often extravagant metaphor or simile making an analogy between two totally dissimilar things or images. The point of relation between them is difficult to determine. This comparison jolts the mind. During the Renaissance period, the term indicated any particularly fanciful expression of wit, and was later used pejoratively of outlandish poetic metaphors. The term is generally associated in the contemporary usage with the 17th century English metaphysical poets. It is generally considered that John Donne is the originator of conceits. But this claim is not fully plausible, since the use of such device can also be found in the works of Petrarch and the Elizabethan poets.

The modern literary critics have used the term to mean simply the style of extended and heightened metaphor common in the Renaissance and particularly in the 17th century, without any particular indication of value. Within this critical sense, conceits are generally placed into two categories:
 

1. Petrarchan conceit: Petrarchan conceits are conventional comparisons imitated from the love sonnets of the Italian poet Petrarch. It is also known as Elizabethan conceit. In this type of conceit human experiences are described in terms of an extravagant metaphor or hyperbolic comparison, like the stock comparison of eyes to the sun, which Shakespeare employs in his sonnet 130:

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun."

2. Metaphysical conceit: John Donne is the chief begetter of the metaphysical conceit. It is a more intricate and intellectual device. It startles and at the same time amuses the readers. In the metaphysical conceit, metaphors have a much more purely conceptual and thus tenuous relationship to the thing being compared. The most outstanding paradigm of conceit appears in Donne’s A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, where the poet compares the two lovers’ souls to a draftsman’s compass:

“If they be two, they are two so
As stiffe twin copmpasses are two,
Thy soule the fixt foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the ’other doe.”

The central difference between a metaphysical conceit and an Elizabethan conceit is that the former is an organic (structural) part of the poem, while the latter is a mere decorative device. The Elizabethan conceit does not convey any sorts of philosophies, while the metaphysical conceit conveys a wide range of philosophy.

References

“Conceit.” Wikipedia. 2008. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.20 September 2008

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceit>.

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John Donne’s Treatment of Love and Women

The literature of the 17^th century is rife with conflicting as well as novel poetic ideas. Being the major metaphysical poet of that era, John Donne contributed much in the escalation of the flow of that literary transformation. In his poetry he sought to establish a view of love and women that was diametrically opposite to the conventional philosophy of courtly love of the great poetic personalities like Sidney and Petrarch. From this point of view, his approach to love was much brave and original than the poets of the preceding generations.

The most original contribution of John Donne in love poetry is perhaps the blending of thought with imagination, passion with intellect. This intellectuality is expressed in the conceits he frequently employs in his poems. His conceits are based on the similes and metaphors drawn from all branches of knowledge such as theology, cosmology, philosophy, medicine, chemistry, law, etc. The Elizabethan poets based their conceits on the conventional physical comparisons, but Donne, on the other hand, moulded his ones by scholastic and fanciful comparisons. He is exceptionally good at creating unusual unions between different elements in order to illustrate his point and form a convincing argument in his poems. His most outstanding and striking example of conceit appears in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, where the poet compares the two lovers’ souls to a draftsman’s compass:

“If they be two, they are two so
As stiffe twin copmpasses are two,
Thy soule the fixt foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the ’other doe.”

Donne looked upon the relationship of love between man and woman from both sensuous and realistic standpoints. In scrutinising the pragmatic sides of love Donne supports the necessity of both the body and the soul. This attitude is another aspect that distinguishes Donne from both the Petrarchan and the Platonic school of thoughts. In his poems Donne seeks to establish the relationship between the body and the soul. He assumed that physical intercourse without spiritual union cannot be considered as love; such passion is nothing but momentary attraction. Again, true spiritual union cannot be accomplished without the union of the bodies. Thus true love is engendered by the mating of both the bodies and the souls, and such a love lasts long. For example, in the poem The Canonization physical love is regarded as a holy emotion like the worship of devotee of God. After physical intercourse the lovers feel a strong emotional passion for each other, and it is this fire of passion that unites their souls together. Thus physical love helps to form a spiritual bond between the lovers. However, in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, Donne’s treatment of love is sensuous. In this poem his statement reverberates the Platonic assertion that physical contact is unnecessary for the formation of spiritual love. A truer and more refined love, Donne explains comes from a connection at the mind, the union of two souls as one. The Physical presence is irrelevant if a true bond of the minds has occurred, joining a pair of lovers’ souls eternally.

Another novel aspect in Donne’s poetry was the difference in angle in which he looked at womankind. The followers of Petrarchan tradition depicted women as deities. They only portrayed their beauty and positive sides. But with a sharp contrast to the Petrarchan followers, Donne was bold enough to expose the negative sides of women. He sceptically believes that women are neither deities nor fully honest; they possess all the human shortcomings. Thus Donne’s attitude towards women is materialistic, pessimistic, and occasionally misogynistic. For example, in the poem Goe, and Catche a Falling Starre Donne comments on the faithlessness of women. He ironically remarks that it is totally impossible to find a constant woman in this world. However, he is not always cynical towards women, because when he finds a woman really honest and faithful he deeply admires her virtues. For instance, in the poem Twicknam Garden he cynically says that all women are false; they cannot remain faithful to a single lover. But he shows a ray of optimism when he says that only his beloved is true, since she is faithful to a single lover. He greatly admires her for this particular quality, which is, undoubtedly, a rare virtue in womanhood.

The Petrarchan poets sang about the pains and sorrows of love, the sorrows of detachment, and the pains of rejection by the cruel mistress. But Donne, in sharp contrast to the Petrarchan poets, considered love to be mutual and self-sufficient. In the poems The Canonization and The Sunne Rising, he expresses the delight of mutual love-making, without reference to outside interference, and with no hint of inadequacy in the beloved. Donne often tells about separation but in an unconventional way. For example, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Donne tells us about the mystical union between him and his beloved despite their discreet position.

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