Sonnet 18 : Deconstructive writing

     Welcome readers !

             Before I begin the main phrase of my deconstructive writing of the poem sonnet 18, I want to share another blog that is also on deconstructive writing. ( Thinking activity on Derrida ) click here…..

        Here I would like to share a link that through you get an idea about this blog and also you can learn through the video and the multiple choice test and the discussion by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. That  is in Ed. Ted platform.

( Click here........

        And also it was an amazing experience to learn the platform like Ed. Ted. The features help us to make them learn more better with videos, tests and also discussion and also the task. It was a good experience.

       As we know the theory Deconstruction and Post - structuralism coined by famous philosopher Jacques Derrida.  What is the meaning of Deconstruction ? In the criticism of literature, Deconstruction is a theory and practice of reading which questions and claims to 'subvert' or ' undermine' the assumption that the system of language provides grounds that are adequate to establish the boundaries and the coherence or unity, and the determinate meaning of a literary text. Basically it is involved in structuralism but he carries this structuralist movement to its logical extreme and his reasoning is original and startling. 

          Deconstruction is an approach to understanding the relationship between text and meaning. But also he talked about free play of meaning and undecidability. There is also a concept of decentering the center. That is to say that according to Derrida there is no presence or truth apart from a language. There is no reality other than textuality. In Deconstruction we find that one of the important things is Binary opposition.

                     We know the concept of the Deconstruction but sometimes it is difficult to apply it to any literary work.  Normally that is happening in our education. So let's begin the Deconstructive writing of the poem, that is the poem by the most famous English poet and dramatist none other than The great William Shakespeare. The whole poem is given below :

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

   So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

             This sonnet is certainly the most famous in the sequence of Shakespeare’s sonnets; it may be the most famous lyric poem in English.

             The opening line of the sonnet is one of the most quoted Shakespearean lines. It is also one of the most eloquent statements of the power of the written word. Shakespeare preserves his friend in the lines of the poem. Here we are making textual analysis of the language. 

           This is a much debatable poem among Scholars because of many scholars who said that the series of poems is about his beloved  and others who said that the first 126 sonnets were originally addressed to a young man, who is the friend of Shakespeare. That is sparking debates about Shakespeare’s sexuality. The nature of the relationship between the two men is highly ambiguous and it is often impossible to tell if Shakespeare is describing platonic or erotic love.

       If we try to understand the poem then the first line of the poem :

 

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

            In which Shakespeare talks about his beloved or his male friend  that is not clear. If we put his beloved here then this poem must have become a love poem.  The poem is  simply a statement of praise about the beauty of the beloved. And if we put as a friend then also the poem means differently. 

              And also here we can see that the opening line through it looks like a nature poem because  of the description of summer days, rough wind, buds,etc.

          If we read a whole poem and understand the deep context then the poem is not about nature or beloved that is more than that.

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;

In the opening line the poet compares his beloved with the summer's day but in the 8th and 9th lines he turns his view like nature changed with time and  if he compares his beloved with nature then there should be changes. So whether should he compare or not that is the question. Again we can see how this poem's center is decentered by its own.

     

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

      Here we can say that eternal summer is not possible because of nature's cycle. Then the last lines of the poem  though we get an idea that here he was not praising his beloved but praising himself.  We can say that he sings a song by himself. That is self-reflexivity,  is the process by which an artist refers to his own art. 

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

That is exactly what Shakespeare does in the last line of this sonnet by referring to his poem as “this”. He is intensely aware of the value that his own poetry can accord to something. He knows that his poetry can, in fact, make his beloved immortal. That way we may assume that the poem is about immortal love. The poetic speaker asserts that she cannot be thus compared because she shall be eternal through the power of his poetic lines.

        Interestingly, not everyone is willing to accept the role of Sonnet 18 as the ultimate English love poem. As James Boyd-White puts it:

What kind of love does 'this' in fact give to 'thee'? We know nothing of the beloved's form or height or hair or eyes or bearing, nothing of her character or mind, nothing of her at all, really. This 'love poem' is actually written not in praise of the beloved, as it seems, but in praise of itself. Death shall not brag, says the poet; the poet shall brag. This famous sonnet is on this view one long exercise in self-glorification, not a love poem at all; surely not suitable for earnest recitation at a wedding or anniversary party, or in a Valentine. (142)

               The ending couplet finalizes the theme of eternal beauty and youth caught in the poet's immortalizing lines by saying she will live as long as "men can breathe or eyes can see."

       To conclude we can't exactly say what the poem means by. Because the center is decentered there is also a free play of meaning. So this is how the poem is . Deconstruction is  not in order to reject or discard them, but to reconstitute them in another way.

Boyd-White, James. The Desire for Meaning in Law and Literature. Current Legal Problems. Volume 53. Ed. M. Freeman. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000.

Shakespeare, William. "Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's..." Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2020. <https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45087/sonnet-18-shall-i-compare-thee-to-a-summers-day>.

        

The Plague - Epidemic literature

                          नमस्ते friends, 

              I hope you are staying at home  and follow the rules of lockdown, that through we are fighting against COVID-19. We know that the current situation is very questionable, suspicious for human beings. We don't know what is happening next, what is the future for us. So welcome to these disputable conditions. Our country is in a mood of fighting against Coronavirus.

                As a student of Literature and criticism, I am thinking that How this terrible situation affects literature ? How is this situation portrayed in literature? whether this type of literature is existing or not?  If yes then which kind of story is there? Situations are similar to us or not? How do people deal with this type of situation at that particular time period? 

            When we look for epidemic 

Literature then got a very important and interesting novel by Albert Camus.

He was a French philosopher, author, and journalist. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44 in 1957, the second-youngest recipient in history. The novel is " The Plague" published in 1947. 

            

           So here I am going to write about the novel The Plague. This novel is a very popular novel, Psychological fiction, Philosophical fiction and Absurdist fiction. Originally written in French language ( la Peste). The Plague, an allegory of the German occupation of France and an attack on dogma and cowardice, established the reputation of Albert Camus. Today, argues Tony Judt, it is more relevant than ever.

The novel is believed to be based on the cholera epidemic that killed a large proportion of Oran's population in 1849 following French colonization, but the novel is set in the 1940s. Oran and its surroundings were struck by disease several times before Camus published his novel.

"The Plague" is a famous allegorical novel by Albert Camus, who's known for his existential works.So the initial impression is that  the novel is about pestilence of plague disease. Shakespeare also used a word pestilence : " I'll Pour this pestilence into his ear "

Albert Camus believed that human suffering is meaningless in itself but an individual can make his or her life meaningful by rebelling against suffering. Being an atheist he did not believe that God had assigned any meaning to suffering, that is, suffering cannot be said to be just punishment for human sins. Camus brings out this idea through Dr. Rieux’s attitude towards Father Paneloux, the Jesuit priest who preaches that God has sent the plague to Oran in order to teach the people a lesson.

So here I am writing about my initial impression of reading the novel "The Plague". So the COVID-19 epidemic is going on and this time the reading of the book is a very interesting one. Because the viral situation is also similar to the novel's calamities. Because of this pestilence, it is easy to understand the psychological and philosophical conditions. Let's discuss through the points : 

Humanity : Human self centeredness v/s  human sacrifice

           In the  novel we have many situations that symbolize both self-centeredness and human sacrifice. Dr. Rieux was the most relevant example of self sacrifice. Because his wife was admitted in the hospital and he was busy in his work  for the sake of plague patients he was sacrificing everything. He does not think about health but he more thinks about diseased people. He sacrificed his love towards his wife and his family.

Somehow the character of cottard who is similar, for that police has been arresting him. But because of the plague pestilence he was not arrested by police. That's why he was happy and he wanted that this epidemic never end that showed his self centeredness. Because if the situation changed then he must be arrested by police. Rambert also self centered early in the novel. But he was changed at the end.

          We may assume that humanity's concept changed person to person.  Every situation affects the human mind in a different manner. So humanity changed with each person. That's why the question raised is :  what is humanity ?

"You can't understand. You're using the language of reason, not of the heart; you live in a world of abstractions."

There is a contrast between reason and emotions.

Lack of women character :

       If we closely observe the novel then and then we find that in the novel we do not find any strong women character. Two characters are there like,

Mme. Rieux - mother of Dr. Rieux

Old Spanish  women : the conversation  between Raymond Rambert is an important one.  In a way Camus doesn't give attention to women's character. 

The old Spanish women went to Mass every morning. "Don't you believe in God"  she asked Rambert.

' But the old Spanish women lost nothing of her serenity '

            These sentences show that Camus showed women character as religious. Maybe it is true also. 

Science v/s Religion : 

        Each and every calamity we find is the conflict between Science v/s religion.  Here in the novel we find that the concept of science v/s religion. Paneloux was the priest in church. In his holy speech he said that the disease of plague is the punishment of God. Because the people of Oran had committed innumerable crimes so  that's why God became angry on them. This type of foolish advice given by him.

           

         But in the other side Dr. Castel and Dr. Rieux is  doing their job. They don't stay with hope in god but they believe in work, in the sense of science to find medicine for patients. So here is like to mentioned Dr.Rieux words for Paneloux :

"Paneloux is a man of learning, a scholar. He hasn't come in contact with death; that's why he can speak with such assurance of the truth — with a capital T. But every country priest who visits his parishioners and has heard a man gasping for breath on his deathbed thinks as I do. He'd try to relieve human suffering before trying to point out its goodness." ( Part-2)

   In a way Dr. Rieux believed in the philosophy of karma.

• References :

•  Camus, Albert (1970). Philip Thody (ed.). Albert Camus: Lyrical and Critical Essays. Ellen Conroy Kennedy, translator. Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-394-70852-2.

Romantic Literature : John Keats and his Mythology

   Assignment

Topic :

John Keats and his Mythology

                    
  Paper : 3

   Romantic Literature 

Name :  Ravina Parmar
Roll no : 19
SEM : M.A. sem- 2
Batch year : (2019-2021)
Email :ravinaparmar827@gmail.com
Enrollment no : 2069108420200031
 Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi English Department Bhavnagar

• John Keats and his Mythology : 

- ( Ode to a Nightingale)
- ( Ode to Psyche )

Introduction :

                     

                  John Keats used Greek mythology in his Odes. Normally the question was raised in my mind why John Keats used mythical elements in his odes ?  How does mythology connect with his odes ? As we know that the Myth was used and transformed by its believer. As we have great mythical characters Rama and Krishna, and of course we have thousands of different stories about them. So here we discussed how Keats used myth in his famous odes.

                  Generally the myth is used to explain how things came to be, to teach lessons or values, to explain social or religious rituals, and to entertain, to give different kinds of messages. But Keats uses myth in a vastly different way. Let's see what is the meaning of "Mythology" according to merriam Webster dictionary :

                 An allegorical narrative and a body of myths: such as the myths dealing with the gods, demigods, and legendary heroes of a particular people. And also a branch of knowledge that deals with myth.

     So the main purpose of the assignment is how John Keats used myth in his odes, which way he portrayed, how he connected with his time and situations. He had used many mythical elements in various poems but here I am dealing with two poems that are Ode to Psyche and Ode to a Nightingale.

Introduction of Poet :

                     John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) belonged to the romantic age. He was the one of the main figures of second generation romantic poets. His poems were not generally well received by critics, during his lifetime but after his death he became a well known English poet. The poetry of Keats is characterised by sensual imagery, most notably in the series of odes. He died when Only 25 years old but he was known as one of the most remarkable in the history of literature.

His remarkable poetry :

No.	Poetry
1.	Volume of poems (1817)
2.	Lamia and other poems (1820)
3.	On a Grecian Urn
4.	Ode to a Nightingale
5.	To Autumn
6.	To Psyche

   Shelley, Byron, Keats and other romantic writer mythology become a new language for exploring religion and spiritual themes. And also  Harry Levin  notes that the three poets ( Byron,Keats and Shelley) 

" Are very near the center of Romantic, Hellenism in England ".

            

                So here I am discussing four poems and in which how and were Keats used myth. Let's see how John Keats writes his poetry through the use of myth.

Poem : Ode to a Nightingale 

                         This poem was first published in 1819. It is a kind of song. This poem is written in ten lines stanzas. Also that is different from other poems because this poem has a unique rhyming pattern. One thought suggests another and, in this way, the poem proceeds to a somewhat arbitrary conclusion. In this poem we find that human Morality and immortality of poetry symbolized by the Nightingale. And also in this poem 'Ode to a Nightingale' uses the birds music to contrast the Morality of humans with immorality of art.

In 'Ode to a Nightingale' we find that many mythical characters. John Keats relates his ideas and his feelings to the mythical characters. These mythical characters through he was putting beauty in his poem.

It is quite a long poem. In which Keats used the following myths and you can say mentioned these mythical characters:

The myth of Tereus, Philomela and Procne :

          Here in this poem we can connect the myth of Philomela. Philomela and Procne were the daughters of king Pandion. Procne was married to the king Tereus. Who was the son of Mars and the cruel God of war. But later on Tereus like younger sister Philomela. He wished that he had married her instead of Procne. And then He sent Procne away into a great forest and also he had cut her tongue. Then, he told Philomela that her sister was dead. But she could weave most wonderful pictures, and could embroider letters, and put them together to form a few simple words. She needed nothing more but spread her story. Then Philomela finds that these letters are from her sister. Then she helped her sister and at that time Tereus became more cruel.

Philomela and Procne ran as fast as they could but King Tereus was getting nearer and nearer. The gods' pity had changed them into birds, Philomela became a Nightingale.

         She hides away from other birds, and remained silent while they were singing. At night, when all was dark and still, she used to sing under the windows of the peasants, telling the story of her dumb sister's wrongs, and her own sorrow.

         So in this poem also we know that the Nightingale who sings a song in the dark night.

"Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget

         What thou among the leaves hast never known,

The weariness, the fever, and the fret

         Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;"

             Philomela and Procne get freedom from Tereus like that  poet wants that type of freedom. He would like to disappear in forest like Nightingale.

'Darkling I listen; and, for many a time

         I have been half in love with easeful Death,'

As we know, Philomela and Procne got freedom from the cruel Tereus. As a human being dead within a second and have a new life as beautiful birds. So here the poet also wants to "Easeful Death", don't want to have a painful death.  He wished, he could die as easily and painlessly as he could fall asleep.

       In myth, the nightingale symbolizes immortality and freedom. This is an allusion to the myth of Philomela and her sister who were turned into birds in order to escape their captor and rapist.

The myth of Dryad :

In this poem 'ode to a Nightingale' we find that the Poetry lined like :

" That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees "

Dryads are always female and usually inhabit oak. The myth of Hippocrene  that is also  included in this poem. Like the lines :

 ' O for a beaker full of the warm South,

         Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,

                With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,'

The Hippocrene was a fountain in Greek mythology that was sacred to the muses. It was supposed to bring poetic inspiration when a person drank the water from the fountain.

Myth of Bacchus,  he was the Roman God of wine. Bacchus was essentially a copy of the Greek god Dionysus. Here in this poem we got the beautiful Poetic imagination. Here the poet has rejected the wine for imaginative thinking. Keats wants to escape from life not by means of wine  but by a much more powerful agent of imagination.

Poem : Ode to Psyche :

      This poem was written in the year 1819. The whole poem is filled with Greek  symbols, characters, motifs and customs. The poem opens with an address to the Greek goddess Psyche.

O Goddess! hear these tuneless numbers,wrung By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear,

And pardon that thy secrets should be sung

         Even into thine own soft-conched ear:

Surely I dreamt to-day, or did I see

         The winged Psyche with awakene'd eyes?

So here we can see that in the starting of the poem we find that the description of goddess Psyche.

          Here we can see the similarity of the characters and situations between the myth of Psyche and the poem ' Ode to Psyche '. Let's see what is the myth of Psyche and Cupid. How Keats had portrayed in his poem.

              "Ode to Psyche" is  simply a song to love and the creative imagination; in the full context of the odes. The basis for the story of “Ode to Psyche” is a famous myth. 

                     Psyche was the youngest and most beautiful daughter of a king. It has been told and retold in several different versions and it has inspired artists all over the world. She was Nymph who attracted the love of Cupid but who left her. Because she makes him angry for her disobedience. She found her lover all over the Earth and had to carry out supernatural tasks. And then eventually Jupiter, at Cupid's entreaty, consented to their marriage and Psyche was brought to heaven. Let see the description of the poem :

" O latest born and loveliest vision far

         Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy!

Fairer than Phoebe's sapphire-region'd star,

         Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky;

Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none, "

               These lines through we know that she was the youngest, loveliest and most beautiful of all the Olympians gods and goddess. She has no temples like others. Here we can say that the poet constructs a perfect setting for Psyche to enjoy her divine immortality. 

" And there shall be for thee all soft delight

         That shadowy thought can win,

A bright torch, and a casement ope at night,

         To let the warm Love in! "

     So here he recalls the myth of Psyche meeting Cupid  in the dark but evoke a warning evening awaiting the entry of one's warm love. Not in a secret way but openly. That through the poet expresses his own feeling of being an immortal, he wants to become immortal. So here Keats uses sensual imagery to celebrate the creative power of the poetic imagination bto immortalise a goddess, who represented not just love but the way that love and the soul grows through desire, loss, suffering and reunion.

               And also we feel that the poem is like the temple of Psyche, to worship Psyche but also to immortalise her. Therefore the power of art itself. When we thought about, Why did this myth attract Keats ?  In a way all classical illusions are not connected with Poetic expression , But Keats tries to connect the poet's concerns with images and stories which had gathered in meaning over the centuries. And also this Yale clearly relates the keatsian concerns : Like the importance of love, idealised as an expression of emotional desire and sexual sensation. He tries to explain the value of suffering in any situation.

    

Conclusion : 

        Thus, John Keats beautifully used mythical elements in his poems. That through he talked about suffering, death, and wish to become immortal. He suffered from tuberculosis so unintentionally the fear of death comes out in between. His wish to live a long life that comes across. So he connects his situation with mythical characters and situations. And also Myths are sacred tales that explain the world and peoples experience. Myths are as relevant to us today as they were to the ancients. Myths answer timeless questions and serve as a compass to each generation. So in this way he expressed his situations through the myths. 

Cited work :

• Geller, and Geller. “Dryad - Tree Spirit of Greek Mythology.” Mythology.net, 8 Apr. 2017, mythology.net/greek/greek-creatures/dryad/#.

• Keats, John. “Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44479/ode-to-a-nightingale

• Keats, John. “Ode to Psyche by John Keats.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44480/ode-to-psyche

•      “Mythology.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Mythology. Accessed 5 Mar. 2020.

• Myth of Philomela ***, m.talesbeyondbelief.com/myth-stories/philomela.htm.