Essay on Dramatic Poesy (Dryden) - Text

 SALIENT FEATURES OF DRYDEN’S CRITICAL FACULTY

Dr. Johnson calls Dryden “the father of English Criticism”. His poetic talents did not prevent him from critically assessing the worth of real poetry. The essay that we have taken up for critical analysis is the only major work of literary criticism that Dryden wrote. His prefaces, epistles dedicatory etc. contain some critical material, no doubt, but they have been written for justifying some of his own standpoints. They cannot be considered objectively critical works. Dryden established English norms for proper criticism. Rules and regulations should be taken as general guides and not as strict disciplinarians. In his plays his aim was to delight the audience who flocked to the theatre for a full night’s entertainment. He fully appreciated and made full use of the variety in his patrons at the theatre to introduce an immense variety in his plays. Discarding arbitrary rules and regulations, he could make his plays truer to life and nature. He is one of the  champions of liberal classicism. His limitations. There are many limitations and shortcomings in the art of literary criticism as Dryden developed. He did not deal with ultimate problems of literature. He indulged in lengthy discussions on specific matters of technique and method such as comparative merits of rhyming and blank verse. He took up several points for discussion but not in a systematically developed manner.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS OF THE ESSAY

      “The Essay of Dramatic Poesy” had the Horatian motto prominently displayed on the title page. This motto announces in unmistakable terms what the general public can and should expect. Practical issues along with theoretical ones should be pondered over and so Dryden’s aim was to stimulate thought about them. He also proposed criteria for judging plays as well for writing them because the readers of the Essay at that time were expected to be his audience at the theatre. Dryden did accomplish his aim in ways that entertained and convinced those readers.

 

      The main theme. Five points of discussion emerge from the Essay (a) What are the distinct merits of the ancient and modem poets? (b) Can the French School of Drama be called superior to that of the English? (c) Can the Elizabethan dramatists be considered superior to Dryden’s contemporaries of the seventeenth century? (d) Do plays acquire more literary worth by strictly adhering to the rules laid down by the ancient writers and critics? (e) What are the comparative merits of rhyming verse and blank verse?

      The form of the Essay. Dryden has introduced four persons engaged in a dialogue for the discussion of the topic mentioned above. The four persons are (1) Crites who defend the ancients. It is evident that Dryden meant his own brother-in-law Sir Robert Howard. (2) Eugenius: This is Charles Sackville, Lord Buckhurst to whom Dryden dedicated his essay. He is the spokesman for the moderns. (3) Lisideius: He stands for Sir Charles Sedley. He defends the French Drama and is inclined to believe in the superiority of the French over the English. (4) Neander: This is Dryden himself. He advocates the superiority of the English over the French and the modems over the ancients. No one person states the whole truth. Every speaker makes his own contribution to the discussion. The give and take of views are freely indulged in and the readers are expected to draw their own conclusions.

SYNOPSIS OF THE MAIN ARGUMENTS OF ‘ESSAY OF DRAMATIC POESY’

Introduction. Dryden’s Essay of Dramatic Poesy is concerned with some of the major controversies of the day. The main themes or critical issues discussed by Dryden in the Essay are: (i) the comparative worth of the ancients and the modems, (ii) the relative merits of the contemporary French and English Schools of Drama, (iii) whether the Elizabethan dramatists were in all respects superior to the dramatists of Dryden’s age, (iv) the extent to which the worth of a play depends upon its conformity to the dramatic rules laid down by the ancients, and (v) the comparative merits and demerits of blank verse and rhyme in serious plays. These issues are discussed in the form of a debate among four speakers who, while they may stand for real individuals of the poet's time, are more important for the ideas they represent.

 

Crites: spokesman for the ancients. Crites undertakes to present the case for the ancients, (i) Dramatic art was indigenous to ancient Greece and the drama there had gained an early maturity, (ii) Dramatists were highly esteemed in ancient Greece and thus encouraged to excel at their work. In the modem age lacking deserved encouragement and healthy competition, the dramatists were not interested in doing well. (iii) The ancients emulated nature, the distortion of which aspect led to the decline of drama in the present, (iv) Men of the present looked mainly to the ancients for their rules of the drama. The ancients observed the Unities well. They saw to it that a play’s action fell as nearly as possible within twenty-four hours, the natural duration of the day, and was equally divided between the Acts. The Unity of time, however, was not followed by the modern English dramatists. Nor did they follow the Unity of place as practiced by the ancients. The French observed this unity of representing the same scene throughout a play. The Unity of Action implies that there should be only one great and complete action. These Unities are violated by the modem dramatists who thus render their plays unnatural and improbable, (v) The ancients had possessed the power of expression in a superlative degree. Crites thus argues that the ancients are superior to the moderns.

 Eugenius presents the case for the moderns. Eugenius replies to the arguments of Crites, (i) The modern dramatists had actually improved on the work of the ancients though it was always difficult to assess fairly the value of contemporary writings, (ii) The ancients too had defects. The division of the play into protasis, epitasis, etc. was ineffective. Their tragic plots were mostly based on hackneyed tales of Thebes and Troy, while in comedy characters were limited to certain stock types, (iii) The Unities were not always observed by the ancients. At times the strict observance of the Unities of time and place led them into absurdities. In any case, apart from the Unity of action those rules were not Aristotelian but French in origin. (iv) Other defects in technique include excess of speech at the cost of action leading to monotony, many instances of faulty diction and metaphors. The ancients having had writers exclusively devoted to either tragedy or comedy, should have achieved perfection in each field, and there is no justification for their defects. (v) Apart from technical defects the ancients also exhibited a faulty moral attitude. Instead of ‘punishing vice and rewarding virtue’ they often displayed “a prosperous vice and an unhappy piety’’ Their themes of lust, revenge and ambition gave rise to horror rather than pity in an audience. Love, with its moderating influences, is conspicuous by its absence in ancient tragedy.

 Crites’s concession. The discussion is brought to a close by Crites’s concession that whether the moderns surpassed, or merely differed from the ancients, yet the ancients had they lived in later times would doubtless have made many changes. The change in ideas and values accounts for much of the difference between the ancients and modems.

The debate now takes a new turn, and Lisideiqs and Neander enter on a discussion of the respective merits of French and English plays

 

Lisideius: Contention of French superiority over English drama. To begin with Lisideius grants that English plays of forty years previously had clearly surpassed those of the French. However, political turmoil at home had since hampered the progress. (i) The French, aided by Richelieu and Corneille, had lately reformed their stage so that it had become unrivaled in Europe, (ii) The superiority of the French dramatists firstly lay in their observance of the three Unities. They had discarded the absurd tragi-comedies with their mingled passions and yet provided variety in plenty, (iii) The French based their plots on familiar history but modified and transformed for dramatic purposes, whereas Shakespeare’s historical plays were nothing but chronicles, cramping years into hours in an unnatural fashion, (iv) Another notable feature of the dramatic art of the French was their economy in plotting, their selection of significant details, which, while constituting a great and complete action, yet allowed for a more searching treatment of emotions and passions, (v) The French method of characterization too was effective as it gave due importance to characters even while exalting one of them. Each character had a suitable role to play. (vi) No less notable was their skill in narrative though too much explanation could become tedious. On the other hand, there were many incidents in a story which could not well be represented on the stage, such as duels, battles and scenes of cruelty and these were best related, not acted. Such narratives could be both impressive and convincing, whereas to represent an “Army with a drum and five men behind it” was merely ridiculous, while a death-scene in an English tragedy was often the most comic part of the play, (vii) Other commendable points about French drama were a logical development of the plot, and the use of rhyme in preference to blank verse.

Neander (or Dryden) spokesman for England and liberty. Neander now takes up the challenge and with the skill of a great advocate strikes at the heart of the question. He grants the French some plus points but vindicates the English at the same time. (i) The French drama had regularity and decorum, while the English plays had many irregularities but these virtues and defects were not enough to place the French above the English, (ii) The beauties of the French plays were artificial, lacking touch with actual life, hence defective if considered with the laws of Nature as the ultimate test. Moliere, notably, followed the English tradition for variety of humor.  (iii) Neander disapproved of the rigid separation of tragic and comic elements in French plays. He preferred the English characteristic of mingling the serious and the mirthful as (a) contraries set off each other, (b) the juxtaposition of a comic scene amidst continued gravity provided relief, (c) compassion and mirth are coexistent in nature also, and (d) tragic-comedy is a more pleasant way than was known to the ancients or any modems who have eschewed it.  (iv) Neander could not admire the barrenness and severity of French plays in excluding under-plots and minor episodes. Provided such details contributed to the main design, their value lay in adding a pleasing variety, the effect being similar (as he puts it) to that of the two-fold movements of planets in the Primum Mobile. (v) That the preoccupation of the French with a single theme (or Unity of action) gave opportunity for impassioned appeals was unconvincing, since such appeals consisted mostly of long-winded and boring declamations. Furthermore, long speeches were untrue to life, while short speeches were more likely to stir the emotions. As for comedy, repartee was “one of its chief graces”.   (vi) Variety was enhanced by having a large number of characters. If skilfully managed, as by Ben Jonson, the large number of characters need not cause confusion.     (vii) As regards showing violence on stage, such scenes had become part of the English tradition, being a concession to the native temperament which somehow delighted in these things. As for incredibility, if an audience could imagine an actor as a king, they could also imagine three soldiers to represent an army. And if the English were guilty of showing too much action on the stage, the French were guilty of showing too little action. A mean path must be taken, eschewing the indecent and the incredible but representing the beautiful. Death, however, must not be shown on stage.  (viii) The French dramatist Corneille had observed that French dramatists had suffered from too strict an observance of the rules, and had thereby banished from the stage many artistic beauties. (ix) Regular English plays were not entirely wanting—an example being Jonson’s Silent Woman. For the rest, however, English plays were more original, more varied and spirited. Neander now goes on to illustrate these qualities from the works of outstanding English dramatists.

Neander’s appreciation of Shakespeare, Beaumont and Fletcher and Jonson. Neander hails Shakespeare as the largest and most comprehensive soul of all modem, and perhaps ancient poets. Reference is made to his unlaboured art, his inborn genius, his life-like characterization, though he is also said at times to stumble into bombast and punning.

 

Crites’s attack on rhyme and Neander’s defense. After vindicating the English dramatists, which is the main object of the Essay, Dryden is unable to conclude without some reference to the question of the verse most suitable for dramatic purposes. Crites notes that blank verse had established itself in popular favor since Shakespeare and others had written, and rhyming verse was an unnatural and artificial form of expression. Aristotle too had held that tragedy was best written in verse nearest prose. Nor could he accept the argument that rhyme was instrumental in curbing wild fancies; for a dramatist unable to control these fancies in blank verse would not be able to control them anyway.

Neander marshalls all his arguments in favor of rhyming verse and boldly asserts that it is more natural and effectual than blank verse in serious plays. Rhyming verse had been universally adopted abroad and could be made to resemble prose by varying the cadences, by running the sense on from one line to another, or by irregular devices. Blank verse was no verse at all, at its best only poetic prose. The truth was, so Neander felt, that the possibilities of blank verse had been exhausted by those earlier dramatists. All that was left for a later age with its different genius was to employ rhyming verse in which excellence unknown to the earlier age had lately been achieved, Furthermore, rhyming verse was, according to Neander ‘the noblest kind of modem verse’, and the only adequate verse-form for tragedy. Tragedy was a representation of ‘Nature wrought up to a higher pitch’ and for such a treatment of Nature, rhyming verse was the only verse form. Moreover, rhyme was an aid to judgment.

 

Conclusion. The Essay concludes at this moment in a picturesque fashion, with the moonlight playing on the Thames, as the boat reaches its destination, and the disputants disperse on their several ways.

     

Cyrus Mistry's "Percy" (Text)

 While it was still night in their small cluttered flat the old woman rose quietly and flicked on the harsh, naked light of the overhead bulb. The sleeping figure of her son on the bed parallel to her stirred. Some days she let him sleep longer, till she had lit the stove and put on the kettle. But today, she rudely pulled off the sheet which he had drawn over his head, and called in her throaty, rasping voice:

 

‘Percy! Percy! Are you getting up? Are you awake? I haven’t slept all night.’

Percy sat up in bed and groaned, rubbing his eyes. Outside, it was turning grey and birds had begun to chirp softly.

Mother and son went about their morning chores and ablutions silently. Banubai lit the wick stove and put the kettle on. Percy took in the milk bottle from the verandah, switched off the night lamp and proceeded to fold the sheets. Then, using a polythene hose fitted with a nozzle, Percy filled water in the large plastic drum and brass pots in the kitchen and bathroom. The plastic nozzle had become loose, and the force of the water in the tap created a fountain of spray which drenched his shirt and wetted the floor all around him. While the steaming water in the soot-blackened kettle soaked in the colour of tea leaves, the old woman and her son stood outside on the verandah facing east, flicking their kashtis and reciting their morning prayers. When they had finished, Banubai noticed that his sudrah was very damp, and she made him change it; Percy was prone to colds.

After tea, Banubai and Percy swept and swabbed the three small rooms and kitchen of their flat (Banubai had long ago decided to dispense with servants, whose slave she didn’t want to be), taking turns with the broom and mop. Next, from her collection of rangoli boxes the old woman selected a little one, perforated with the outlines of a pair of fish, and printed patterns of chalk on the threshold of every doorway. By now the coals on the fire would be hot and sparking. Using a pair of pincers, Banubai arranged them carefully on the afarghan and sprinkled them with incense dust. Then, raising the silver smoking receptacle high in the air, and mumbling her prayers softly, the small figure of Banubai walked through their rooms, circumnavigating the many old pieces of furniture, fumigating every corner with the incense smoke, dispelling the last vestiges of night and ungodliness from their homestead. She had had a traditional upbringing. She liked to do everything right, the way it was prescribed by her ancestors. Ever since her husband died, eighteen years ago, there had been no one to prevent her from doing things just right: the way she liked to do them.

Soon it would be time for Percy to leave for work. The firm of Bhairam Cheliram & Sons Pvt Ltd opened early, at a half past eight, and closed at half past four. He had been working there for the last fifteen years, first as delivery boy, and now as Chief Clerk (as it happened, there was only one clerk employed by the firm).

Percy was thirty-four, and was going to turn thirty-five next month, but Banubai didn’t trust him to fry his own eggs for breakfast.

‘You’ll splash hot oil on yourself, you ninny. Don’t even try!’ she had said cuttingly the only time he had put the frying pan on the stove to make his own breakfast. ‘And how much oil! Marere mua, you’ve finished half my tin! Do you know how much this one tin costs?’ She bullied him too much, she sat on his head. He knew it. Sometimes, in his heart, he rebelled against her tyranny, her strict routines. But he never spoke his resentment. It was better to be obedient if you were a duffer. And Percy had had long training in servility. Maybe he could have managed quite well on his own, better than she thought he could. But he wasn’t sure. He had never been without her, and the thought had never occurred to him that he might, some day.

Half an hour later, as Percy was getting dressed to leave for office, he discovered there wasn’t a single button on his trouser flies. His other two pairs were with the dhobi.

‘Mumma!’ he called out to Banubai in his flutey, quavering voice. ‘Mumma, all my buttons are gone. Not one left. Stitch me some now, will you? How can I go like this?’

‘My eyes don’t work so well anymore. Haven’t I told you, start doing things with your own hands now. How much can one person do? I have but two hands,’ Banubai harangued her son. ‘If something happens to me tomorrow, God forbid, what will become of you? Give, give. . . Bring needle and thread. And my specs.’

Her protestations notwithstanding the short and wiry Banubai, who was sixty-eight, was very active still. Holding the needle within an inch of her nose, she threaded it skillfully, at the first try. Then, bending over the trousers, she muttered under her breath, softly but audibly, ‘Where will I find you a wife? Who will marry you, a chap like you . . .?’

And Percy, who was standing beside her in his shirt and his shoes, with a towel wrapped around his midriff declared, ‘I don’t want anyone, Mumma, I don’t want! I’ll stay here with you. You can look after me better than any wife.’

‘Ja, ja gadhera! Show some sign of brains when you open your mouth,’ Banubai shouted at him; but it was playful ire, and a half smile diffused her grouch of concentration.

As soon as Percy left the house, Banubai retired to the kitchen and began furiously to knead the dough which she had left overnight in a wet cloth. She had an order to meet today, for one dozen popatjis and two dozen bhakhras. Three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, Banubai walked from door to door in her own colony and to neighbouring Parsi homes, with a bag full of doughnuts, pickles, sweet malido, spicy vasaanu, and other homemade delicacies, which she sold at a modest price, in this way supplementing Percy’s small income.

Prothalamion (Edmund Spenser)

 Introduction: “Prothalamion” is Spenser’s second wedding song; the poem is modelled on his own marriage song called Epithalamion. In this poem he celebrates the occasion of the marriage of the daughters of Earl of Worcester. In fact, Spenser coined the word "prothalamion" specifically for it, modelling the title on the word "epithalamion," or "wedding song." Unlike an "epithalamion," which celebrates a wedding, a "prothalamion" celebrates a betrothal or engagement. In this poem the poet attempts to win a patronage and the favour of the Queen. Prothalamion (1596) was written at a time in his life of disappointment and trouble when Spenser was only a rare visitor to London. We find reference in the poem to the poet’s own discontent to the history of Temple as to the achievements of Essex.

 

Discussion: The poet walks along the banks of River Thames to forget the worries of his personal life. He was completely frustrated with the Job at the court and all he wanted is some mental peace. The cool breeze covered the heat of the sun by reflecting a shade of tender warmth. There are flowers everywhere and the birds chirp happily. The poet as a refrain requests the river to flow softly until he ends his song.

The poet happens to see a group of nymphs along the banks of the river. Here the poet makes use of first Mythological figure, the nymphs which are supernatural maidens known for their purity. Every nymph looked stunning and had loose strands of hair falling to the shoulders. Nymphs together prepared bouquets of flowers with primroses, white lilies, red roses, tulips, violets and daisies.

As the second mystic entity, Spenser introduces the swans. Swans that swam across the river looked holy and whiter than Jupiter who disguised as a swan to win his love, Leda. But, yes, what Spenser says next is that these swans are shinier than Leda herself. The River Thames requests its waters not to dirty the sacred wings of the swan.

The nymphs were all dumb struck watching the swans swim across the river. Swans are usually assigned to drawing the chariot of Venus, the goddess of love. The white lilies are matched to the purity or virginity of the nymphs.

As the next step, the nymphs prepare poises and a basket of flowers which look like bridal chamber adorned with flowers. The nymphs on excitement of the upcoming wedding throw the flowers over the River Thames and birds. The nymphs also prepare a wedding song. With all the fragrance of flowers, Thames exactly looked like the Peneus, the river of ancient fame flowing along the Tempe and the Thessalian valley.

 

The song of the nymph mesmerizes with an enchanting musical effect. Here Spenser wishes the couple live forever with swans’ contented heart and eternal bliss as these birds are the wonder of heaven. He also prays to Cupid and Venus to bless the couple with love and care lest they be safe from deceit and dislike. With endless affluence and happiness, their kids must be a sign of dignity and a threat to immoral people. The river Lee, with headquarters at Kent, flows with happiness on such an occasion. As the birds flew above the swans, the sight looked like moon (Cynthia) shining above the stars. Once the wedding starts at London, the poet begins to recollect his encounters at the mansion and the building where the wedding occurs.
The Earl of Essex lived in the mighty castle which actually was the venue of the wedding. He was so chivalrous that he served as a danger to foreign countries. His brave attack on Spain shot him to fame and entire Spain shook at his very name. Queen Elizabeth was so proud of him and he deserves to be celebrated with a poem.

The Earl of Sussex walked towards the river and he looked fresh with his lovely golden hair. He was accompanied by two young men who were brave, handsome and glorious. They resembled the Twins of Jupiter namely, Castor and Pollux. The men held the hands of the brides and their wedlock begun thereby.

 

Uses of Devices - The poem has a pastoral setting, specifically here, the bank of the river Thames, also the poet employs a couplet at the end of the first stanza that is reworked into a refrain at the end of each stanza. And at the end of the stanza like ‘Epithalamion’, Prothalamion too invokes pagan god, to bless the couple and guard them from ills.

Theme of the Poem - The theme is a song in the honour of the marriage of lady Elizabeth and Catherine Somerset. Its central theme is the celebration around the river Thames, which is also a key symbol and setting. Images and ideas of beauty surrounds the Thames such as nymphs gathering flowers for the crown to sisters and natural world and the fragility of perfection is also used as one of the themes in the poem.

Conclusion: Thus, in “Prothalamion” Spenser celebrates the twin wedding along with bringing out his personal woe for his present unpatronized condition. With all the necessary ingredients for a successful verse, Prothalamion is embroidered with long lasting style and simplicity. The natural setting adds beauty to the poem and the symbolic represent of the beauty of the two swans and the use of mythological analogy in the poem give natural touch to the poem.

 

 

When Raging Love with Extreme Pain - Henry Howard

 Introduction: Surrey in “When Raging Love with Extreme Pain” glorifies love. When he says ‘love’, certainly it is not only in terms of human-love but also in terms of metaphysical love which has the ability to transcend the material world to reach the world of cosmos or God. In fact, love is the basic human emotion. The poet says that the course of mortal love is not smooth. It always transforms a person affecting his day- to-day affairs, if he or she falls in love. The pains of love portrayed in the poem, by Surrey, using imageries and analogy exactly match to the central idea of it.

Discussion: In the first line of the poem itself, as the poet says love causes extreme pain to the lover. Metaphorically the pain kills the lover. The thought his lady love itself causes pain to the lover or the speaker of the poem and that “cruelly distrains” the heart of him. So, tears flow from his eyes like the “floods of rain” and the tears are the witnesses for his extreme love for the lady. This shows the intensity of love that the lover has for the lady. Symbolically, the heart (soul) of man is aching to mingle with God (super-soul) and so it always experiences a kind of transcendental pain in it. The lover in the poem, always thinks that the heavy sigh that he makes in the memory of his lady is a waste as there is only a little response that he elicits from the lady. Like this the soul of man elicits only a little response from the super-soul and so it makes a lot of sighs when it searches for the ways to attain the super-soul. The lover in the poem sighs heavily as if he on his death-bed. So, he urges the lady to accept his proposal before he die, heaving heavily. Like this the soul of man urges God to accept his little soul before he dies.

 

The lover or the speaker of the poem justifies his act of love by saying that it is an instinct which is common in all human beings. Even great historical happenings were taken place in order to win the hands of fair ladies. So, he quotes a very great happening, Trojan War which is told in the Greek mythology. The analogy to the Trojan War which was fought for winning the hands of Fair Lady Helen is apt when the poet states about the power of love and for which the pain that the lovers taken. The war was fought for winning the hands of Queen Helen who was the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. While explaining the greatness of Greek army and the war, the poet uses many images in similes and metaphors. The Greek had a biggest navy but it was defeated by the Paris of Troy, in the beginning. Hence the army chief, Agamemnon gave the blood of his daughter to the god war in order to appease his hunger. After that, the Greek army was able to march against the enemy.

 

In the course of ten years of Trojan War many incidents took place. So many brave soldiers died on both the sides. Many lords and kings from other nations came in support of both the sides were also killed during the war. Like this, many brave knights died during the course of war. However, in the end, King of Greek won the Trojan War and rescued Helen from the King of Troy. To win the fair Queen, the King had wasted ten years and had given up the lives of many who supported his cause. Hence, The Trojan War explicates that men are ready to war against any great force, either open or hidden, to win the hands of fair ladies.

 

Thus justifying his cause, the lover or the speaker of the poem says that Kings and many brave men gave their lives for the sake of winning the hands of fair ladies and so it is no wonder on his part as an ordinary man to make many attempts to win the hands of his fair lady. He is ready to suffer from the pain of love. He also considers that even if his entire life is needed to be spent on wooing the lady for his sake, he is ready to accept all such pains to win her. He is also ready to serve the lady throughout his life. Making the analogy to the Trojan War, the poet justifies his cause and says that he is not going to repent for his action of wooing the fair lady throughout his life to win her hands. He is ready to suffer because he thinks that sufferings give his heart the strength to endure the pain of love. The poet is hopeful that the lady will accept his love. The poet compares his love-pain to that of the cruel winter and his hope of winning lady to that of the spring season. In fact, plants endure the winter hoping that the season will change to spring soon. Like this, the poet is also ready to wait, , enduring the pain of love, for the lady to turn her heart towards him. The simile used in this part by the poet later used by the Romantic poet, Shelley who says, “If Winter comes can Spring be far behind?” in the poem,  “Ode to the West Wind”.

Conclusion: Thus, the poet, in this poem, justifies man’s emotions which is based on his basic instinct called love. ‘Love has the power to build and destroy any man or nation’ is the theme which is portrayed by the poet citing the analogy of the Trojan War. The similes such as winter and spring seasons used by the poet are apt when the theme of love is discussed in detail.

 

The Happy Life (Henry Howard)

 About the author:  Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516/1517 – 19 January 1547), was an English nobleman, politician and poet. He was one of the founders of English Renaissance poetry. His name is usually associated in literature with that of the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. He was the son of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, and when his father became Duke of Norfolk (1524) the son adopted the courtesy title of Earl of Surrey. Owing largely to the powerful position of his father, Howard took a prominent part in the court life of the time, and served as a soldier both in France and Scotland. He and his friend Sir Thomas Wyatt were the first English poets to write in the sonnet form that Shakespeare later used.  Howard was the first English poet to publish blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) in his translation of the second and fourth books of Virgil’s Aeneid. Together, Wyatt and Howard, due to their excellent translations of Petrarch’s s sonnets, are known as "Fathers of the English Sonnet". While Wyatt introduced the sonnet into English, it was Howard who gave them the rhyming meter and the division into quatrains that now characterises the sonnets variously named English sonnets.

Critical Appreciation of “The Happy Life”:

Introduction: Everyone in this world craves for a happy life. It is difficult to define happiness as it is a state of the mind and it is subjective. Happiness is related to material glory and splendour by some. Some associate it with the health of a man while for some it lies in a sort of contentment with whatever one possesses. But according to Henry Howard both material life and mental peace are needed for man to lead a happy life.

Discussion:

This poem is generally titled “The Means to Attain Happy Life.” This poem is a translation from one of Martial’s “Epigrams”. The poem has the merit of being one of the earliest translations in English language. In this poem, Henry Howard (Earl of Surrey) has selected the themes such as birth and death and also the moral nature of men, in order to enlighten the readers about happy life. In fact, the poem is intended for the young men and this is explicit when the poet addresses the youngsters saying ‘Friends”, but this poem is common to all those who want to lead happy life.

The poem highlights the different things that a man can have in order to attain a happy life. Surrey begins the poem by saying that wealth which is gained without any pain or hard work would be a great mental torture and that would spoil the peace of mind. The poet further says that one should have friends who is equal to him in terms of education, wealth and talents. At the same time, the friends must not carry any kind of ill-feeling or enmity in his mind. According to Surrey, if the friend is in equal term naturally, he is a good friend to one, or the same friend would become one’s master. Hence friend of equal terms gives happiness to one. The poet strongly believes that health is most important than the wealth and so he recommends for a healthy life without any diseases to lead a happy life. The poet also says that one should hold a household which contains generations of health and wealth together. This kind of decent life and quiet and contented mind are important for one to attain happy life.

The poet further says that though a man is wealthy enough to afford for feasts every day, he should have only ‘the mean diet’. If he is uncontrollable for having feast every day, he would naturally get all sorts of diseases and this would spoil is happy life. The poet strongly believes that one should possesses “true wisdom”.  ‘If the wisdom joins with simplicity that will give happiness to one’ and this is the strong belief of the poet. When one has a sound sleep without any worries or without the effect of wine on him, then it is certain, according to the poet, that he leads the happy life. Finally, the poet arrives at the point that if one has a wife who is so submissive but intelligent, then he can lead a happy life without his wife’s debate on every affair of life.  The poet also wishes that such wife must be virtuous and she must be true to her husband. Thus, the poet in this poem says that if one possesses all the above said things in his life then he can lead a  happy life and these are the ways and means for one to attain the happy life.  

Conclusion:  The rhyme scheme of this poem is “abab.”  The intrapersonal and interpersonal relationships spoken by the poet in this poem are the means for one to lead the happy life. Besides, according to the poet, one must have wisdom, and lineage of wealth and health for one to attain the happy life. 

Wings of Fire (Chapter-II; Creation) by Abdul Kalam

 

About Abdul Kalam: A P J Abdul Kalam was born in 1931 to a little educated family of boat owners in Rameswaram. ‘Wings of Fire’ is a powerful autobiography of courage and belief, as much an individual journey as the saga of India’s search for scientific and technological self-sufficiency. He believed in, “We are born with a divine fire in us. Our efforts should be to give wings to this fire.” The fire to achieve and the wings of determination helped him to climb the ladder of success. Kalam had been previously awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1981, the Padma Vibhushan in 1990, and a recipient of India’s highest Civilian Award, the Bharat Ratna, in 1997. He was sworn in as the Eleventh President of India on 25^th July 2002. He dreamt of transforming India a developed nation by 2020.

Introduction: In Chapter- II, titled “Creation” of Abdul Kalam’s “Wings of Fire”, he discusses how his scientific spirit is lit and moulded in the space exploration agencies like NASA and ISRO. In this chapter, he also discusses how his career as a space-scientist and his personality as an indomitable sage take various turns and twists by the sharp appraisers and intellectuals like Prof. Vikram Sarabhai. As Khalil Gibran says “Bread baked without love is a bitter bread, that feeds but half a man’s hunger”. Kalam felt that those work without their hearts achieve a hallow, half-hearted success that only breeds bitterness within. It is extremely important to become emotionally involved with one’s work, such that any obstruction to the success of that work fills one with grief. With this idea in mind, Kalam had worked untiringly for the development of nation till his death.

Discussion: As a graduate in Aeronautical Engineering, Kalam wanted to realize his dream of flying. So, he applied for a job in Indian Air Force and at the Directorate of Technical Development and Production (DTD & P). Kalam was called for interview at both the places simultaneously. The Air Force authorities called him to Dehradun for an interview. At the Selection Board, the emphasis was on personality, physical fitness and the ability to speak well. Kalm was excited but nervous, determined but anxious, confident but tense. He managed to finish ninth in the batch of 25 candidates, from which eight officers were selected to IAF.

Kalam was utterly disappointed. He had missed an opportunity to join the air force. But on his return to Delhi, he was informed that a new type of target had been taken up at DTD & P (Air) and that he had been included in the design team. He completed this task with the other team members. Then, he undertook a preliminary design study on human centrifuge. Later he carried out the design and development of a vertical take-off and landing platform. Three years passed, the Aeronautical Development establishment was established in Bangalore and Abdul Kalam was posted to the new establishment. Here a project team was formed to design and develop an indigenous hovercraft prototype, a ground equip machine. Kalam was to lead the team with four persons to assist him. He was given a time limit of three years to launch the engineering model.

The project was beyond their capabilities and none of them were experienced in that field. They tried to collect all information about the hovercrafts but there was not much material found on hovercraft nor could they find any person who had the knowledge about the hovercraft. One day, finally, they decided to go ahead with the limited information they had about hovercraft. After spending a few months on the drawing board, they moved on to actual model, part by part, stage by stage, things started moving. Kalam was impressed by this endeavor to produce a wingless, light, swift machine. He feared that with a background such as, from a small town, middle class would shrink from responsibilities and wait for fate or destiny to take its course. M.G.K. Menon was the then Defence Minister of India. He was very much interested in the progress of their small project. He saw it as a stepping stone to India producing Defence equipment within the country. His confidence was a boost to them.

Many of his senior colleagues did not accept Kalam’s inventory pursuit. When the project was one year old, the defence minister came to ADE for his routine visits. Kalam escorted him to their assembly shop. The model was culmination of one year’s untiring effort to develop a practical hovercraft for battlefield application. The minister asked a lot of questions. The hovercraft was christened Nandi. The hovercraft was beyond their expectations. The defence minister V.K. Krishna Menon took a ride in Nandi, with Kalam. The Minister asked Kalam to be the pilot. It was a smooth ride and the Minister was very appreciative. He told Kalam that they have solved the basic problems involved in developing hovercraft. He asked him to develop a more powerful prime mover.

They completed the project ahead of schedule and created a successful working hovercraft. Prof. MGK Menon was the director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). Kalam received the call from the Indian Committee for Space Research (INCOSPER) to attend interview for the post of a rocket engineer. Kalam went to Bombay to attend the interview, he was relaxed because he did not attempt for the interview. Kalam was interviewed by Prof. Vikram Sarabhai along with Prof. Menon and Mr. Saraf. They were warmth and friendly. There were none of them show the arrogance or the patronizing attitude towards Kalam. Prof. Sarabhai’s questions did not probe Kalam’s Knowledge or skills. Interviewers were looking for the possibilities within Kalam. The entire interview seemed to Kalam a total moment of truth. Kalam was asked stay back for a couple of days. The next day they absorbed Kalam as a rocket engineer at INCOSPAR. It was a breakthrough for a young man could only have dreamed of.

The Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launch Station was further developed in active collaboration with France, the USA and USSR. It was to be the centre of India’s integral national space programme. The real journey however began with the Rohini Sounding Rocket (RSR) programme. This programme was responsible for the development and fabrication of sounding rockets and their associated on-board systems for scientific investigations in India. Under the RSR programme, a family of operational sounding rocket was developed. These rockets had wide ranging capabilities and several hundred such rockets have been launched for various scientific and technological studies. Two Indian rockets were born at Thumba. They were Rohini and Menaka. This was major achievement for Indians. This could be achieved because of the atmosphere of trust created by Prof. Sarabhai at INCOSPAR.

The development of these rockets made India capable of producing fully indigenous sounding rockets. This could be seen as the revival of 18^th century vision of Tippu Sultan. When Tippu Sultan was killed, the British forces captured more than 700 rockets and the subsystem of 900 rockets. These rockets were taken to England and were subjected to reverse engineering. With the death of Tippu Sultan, Indian rocketry came to a standstill. Rocketry was reborn in India, thanks to the technological vision of our late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Prof. Vikram Sarabhai. Their vision was very clear if India was to play a meaningful role in the community of nation, which must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies. Prof. Sarabhai was keen on trying novel ideas and liked to rope in young people to do this. He had the wisdom to judge people. Abdul Kalam felt that he was an innovator. INCOSPAR was filled with young and inexperienced but energetic and enthusiastic persons, who had been given the task of shaping the Indian spirit of self-reliance in Science and Technology. This was an example of leadership by trust.

Prof. Sarabhai assigned to Kalam the task of providing interface support to payload scientists. Almost all physical laboratories in India were involved in the sounding rocket programme each having its own mission, its own objective and its own payload. It was his presence that would fill them with enthusiasm. They wanted to show something new to Prof. Sarabhai. Prof. Sarabhai believed in an open and free exchange of views. He felt that without collective understanding of a problem, effective leadership was impossible in a team. Prof. Sarabhai took a series of decisions that were to become the life mission of many scientists in India. He wanted to create new frontiers in the field of science and technology in India. He made own payload. This was a tedious task. Abdul Kalam had to X-ray payloads to look at stars, payloads to analyse the gas composition of the upper atmospheric payloads to explore the layers of atmosphere. He had to interact with payload scientists from India and abroad.

Abdul Kalam was very much impressed by Prof. Oda’s work. Prof. Oda was an X-ray payload scientist from the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Sciences, Japan. The X-ray payloads he brought were to be engineered by his team to fit into the nose cone of the Rohini. One day, Abdul Kalam was working on the integration of Prof. Oda’s payload with his timer devices, Prof. Oda insisted on using his timer devices. But Kalam thought it look flimsy and so Prof. Oda stuck to his decision and the timer devices were replaced. The rocket took off elegantly, but reported mission failure because of timer malfunction. Prof. Oda was so upset that tears filled in his eyes. Kalam was involved with building subsystems like payloads housing and Jettisonable nose cones. Working with the nose cones Abdul Kalam was led into the field of composite materials.

Prof. Sarabhai had developed trust in them. Prof. Sarabhai was very optimistic. If he goes to Thumba, would electrify the people with unceasing activity. People would work around the clock in their enthusiasm to show Prof. Sarabhai something new, something that had not been done before in our country. Prof. Sarabhai took a series of decisions that were to become the life-mission of many scientists and he wanted to create new frontiers in the field of science and technology in India. After the successful launch of Nike-Apache he shared his dream with his team members of an Indian satellite launch vehicle (SLV). His decision to make our own SLVs and our own satellites too simultaneously was remarkable one.

In February 1969, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited Thumba and dedicated TERLS to International Space Community. She also commissioned India’s first filament winding machine in their laboratory. In 1969, Prof. Sarabhai decided to plunge ahead in building and launching our own satellites. He chose the east coast, so that vehicle could take the advantage of the earth’s west to east coast rotation. He finally selected Sriharikota Island, a hundred kilometers north of Madras. Thus, SHAR Rocket Launch Station was born. This Island was crescent shaped and had a maximum width of eight kilometers. It was along side the east coast line. It was the size of Chennai. In 1968, Indian Rocket Society was formed. Prof. Sarabhai had picked a few scientists to give form to his dream of an Indian SLV. It came to be known as SLV – 3. Kalam felt honoured to be chosen as the Project Leader. He was also given the additional responsibility of designing the fourth stage of SLV-3.

Kalam was not a perfectionist. He preferred to learn by making mistakes. For that matter, he did not want to commit mistakes necessarily. He supported learning of his team members through successful and unsuccessful attempts. Kalam laid the foundation for stage-IV on two rocks. His team members carried on the work. He was sorry that he could not spend enough time with them. At this stage, a professor from France, Dr. Curian, President of CNSE (Center Nationale de Etudes Spatiales). At France, they were developing the Diamont Launch Vehicles. Dr. Curian was a thorough professional. He helped Kalam in realizing his target. Dr. Curian was so impressed by their plan that he inquired if they could create the Diamont’s fourth stage.

Work on Diamont’s fourth stage began simultaneously. Abdul Kalam gave instructions in writing. He wanted the team to meet once in a week. Dr. Curian was very appreciative. He said that they had achieved everything in a year’s time, what their counterpart could hardly manage in three years. A good leader commands commitment and participation on his team. He has to get the team together to share whatever little development has been achieved. The slight loss of time was the very small price to pay for that commitment and sense of teamwork. Kalam could spot out good leadership qualities in his small group of workers. They existed in all levels. Kalam continued to observe his colleagues carefully if they had the interest and willingness to experiment. He also started to listen and observe anyone who showed the slightest promise.

Kalam continued to work towards modifying SLV-3’s stage IV design to suit the Diamont airframe. After two years, when they were about the deliver it to CNES, the French suddenly cancelled the programme, saying they did not need our design any more. This was a great shock to Kalam and his team. Kalam got over this disappointment, as he was busy with RATO. On one occasion, Prof. Sarabhai identified a person who could be given the responsibility for developing a tele-command system for SLV-3. Two men were competent to carry out this task- Prof. U.R. Rao and Prof. G. Madhavan Nair.

Abdul Kalam was impressed by Madhavan Nair’s dedication and abilities. He went out of his way to demonstrate his highly reliable tele-command system. Prof. Sarabhai was impressed. He later on became the Director of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Abdul Kalam was totally involved in SLV-3 project. SLV-3 was taking shape. Kalam’s team was trekking towards success on several individual paths. The emphasis was on communication particularly within the team. While working on SLV-3, Kalam was able to define the problem and solve them through effective communication.

Abdul Kalam reached Trivandrum, as he was supposed to meet Prof. Sarabhai at the airport. As he reached Trivandrum, there was a pall of gloom that hung in the airport. Unfortunately, Prof. Sarabhai had passed away early that morning, following a cardiac arrest. Prof. Sarabhai was the Mahatma of Indian Science. His vision defined the country’s space programme. He generated leadership qualities and inspired them through both ideas and examples. He had trained many scientists and engineers who were later to take charge of important scientific projects. As a tribute to the man, who tailed hard for its existence, the whole complex at Thumba was merged together to form an integrated space center and named it as Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

Conclusion: Thus, in Chapter-II titled “Creation” of Wings of Fire, Kalam expresses his great gratitude to the famous personalities like Prof. Vikram Sarabhai, Prof. Oda, Dr. Curian, Prof. U.R. Rao and Prof. G. Madhavan Nair who have moulded his scientific spirit. In fact, he thankfully says that they are the real root-cause for his development into a rocket scientist. They also helped him develop his communication skills and leadership quality. Above all, he commemorates the good-wills and the enthusiasm of Indian political leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and MGK Menon in this part of the book, for their dream of making India into a ‘self-sufficient’ nation, in the field of science and technology.

Black Arts Movement

 Black Arts movement, period of artistic and literary development among black Americans in the 1960s and early ’70s. Based on the cultural politics of black nationalism, which were developed into a set of theories referred to as the Black Aesthetic, the movement sought to create a populist art form to promote the idea of black separatism. Many adherents viewed the artist as an activist responsible for the formation of racially separate publishing houses, theatre troupes, and study groups. The literature of the movement, generally written in black English vernacular and confrontational in tone, addressed such issues as interracial tension, socio-political awareness, and the relevance of African history and culture to blacks in the United States.

The Black Arts Movement was the name given to a group of politically motivated black poets, artists, dramatists, musicians, and writers who emerged in the wake of the Black Power Movement. The poet Imamu Amiri Baraka is widely considered to be the father of the Black Arts Movement, which began in 1965 and ended in 1975.

After Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, those who embraced the Black Power movement often fell into one of two camps: the Revolutionary Nationalists, who were best represented by the Black Panther Party, and the Cultural Nationalists.  The latter group called for the creation of poetry, novels, visual arts, and theater to reflect pride in black history and culture.  This new emphasis was an affirmation of the autonomy of black artists to create black art for black people as a means to awaken black consciousness and achieve liberation.

The Black Arts Movement was formally established in 1965 when Baraka opened the Black Arts Repertory Theater in Harlem. The movement had its greatest impact in theater and poetry. Although it began in the New York/Newark area, it soon spread to Chicago, Illinois, Detroit, Michigan, and San Francisco, California. In Chicago, Hoyt Fuller and John Johnson edited and published Negro Digest (later Black World), which promoted the work of new black literary artists. Also in Chicago, Third World Press published black writers and poets. In Detroit, Lotus Press and Broadside Press republished older works of black poetry. These Midwestern publishing houses brought recognition to edgy, experimental poets. New black theater groups were also established. In 1969, Robert Chrisman and Nathan Hare established The Black Scholar, which was the first scholarly journal to promote black studies within academia.

There was also collaboration between the cultural nationalists of the Black Arts Movement and mainstream black musicians, particularly celebrated jazz musicians including John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Archie Shepp, and others. Cultural nationalists saw jazz as a distinctly black art form that was more politically appealing than soul, gospel, rhythm and blues, and other genres of black music.

Although the creative works of the movement were often profound and innovative, they also often alienated both black and white mainstream culture with their raw shock value which often embraced violence. Some of the most prominent works were also seen as racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, and sexist.  Many works put forth a black hyper masculinity in response to historical humiliation and degradation of African American men but usually at the expense of some black female voices.

The movement began to fade when Baraka and other leading members shifted from Black Nationalism to Marxism in the mid-1970s, a shift that alienated many who had previously identified with the movement. Additionally Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Gil Scott-Heron, Maya Angelou, and James Baldwin achieved cultural recognition and economic success as their works began to be celebrated by the white mainstream.

The Black Arts Movement left behind many timeless and stirring pieces of literature, poetry, and theater. Ironically despite the male-dominated nature of the movement, several black female writers rose to lasting fame including Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Ntozake Shange, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, among others.  Additionally, the Black Arts Movement helped lay the foundation for modern-day spoken word and hip-hop.

Leading theorists of the Black Arts movement included Houston A. Baker, Jr.; Carolyn M. Rodgers; Addison Gayle, Jr., editor of the anthology The Black Aesthetic (1971); Hoyt W. Fuller, editor of the journal Negro Digest (which became Black World in 1970); and LeRoi Jones and Larry Neal, editors of Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing (1968). Jones, later known as Amiri Baraka, wrote the critically acclaimed play Dutchman (1964) and founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre in Harlem (1965). Haki R. Madhubuti, known as Don L. Lee until 1973, became one of the movement’s most popular writers with the publication of Think Black (1967) and Black Pride (1968). Among other writers who engaged with the movement were Toni Morrison, Ishmael Reed, Ntozake Shange, Sonia Sanchez, Alice Walker, and June Jordan.