S5 Literary Criticism 03

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S5 Literary Criticism
What is literary criticism ?

• It is the art of interpreting art.
• It is the intermediary between the author and the reader by
explaining the one to the another.
• The functions of criticism are judgement and evaluation.
• Criticism according to Mathew Arnold, “criticism is a disinterested
endeavour to learn and propagate the best that is known and
thought in the world. The tendency of criticism is to make the best
ideas prevail. When these ideas reach society they set up growth
and from this growth come the creative epochs of literature.
• The Classical and Romantic Criticism are the two standpoints from
which the world has looked at criticism.
The Classical Criticism

• The Classical is the older view that began with the Renaissance.
• The Classical standpoint is also called Dogmatic.
• It insisted on a uniform standard which laid particular emphasis
on the judicial function of criticism, regulating it by the rules of
ancient classists like Aristotle.
• The Classical criticism advocated right judgment as a step
towards right enjoyment.
• It dominated European thought in the 16th,17th and 18th centuries.
• Thus Classical criticism stands for judgments based on absolute
standards and established conventions.
The Romantic Criticism

• Criticism together with literature began to shake off the shackles
of classical authority with the French Revolution.
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• The Romantic Criticism entered into the scenario.

• The Romantic criticism believes in the pure enjoyment of
literature as the highest exercise of the critical faculty.
• The Romantic criticism is highly subjective.
• The critic is concerned only with expressing what he himself has
felt in the presence of the work of art or literature that he is
discussing.
• He is not affected by what others have said about their own
response to the same work.
• He would tell us what sensations a new work had evoked in him
and try to communicate them to us.
• He would say what the artist had tried to do and how far he had
succeeded.
Plato as a Literary Critic

Introduction
• Plato was an immensely influential ancient Greek philosopher.
• He is a student of Socrates.
• Founder of Academy in Athens where Aristotle studied.
• Writer of philosophical dialogues which include Ion, Lysis, Gorgias,
Symposium, Phaedrus and Republic.
• Plato’s theory of art and literature are mostly contained in Ion and
Republic.
• Homer was a major influence on Plato.
Historical Context
• Plato lived at a time of political decline.
• Education was in a sorry state.
• Courage, heroism, magnificence were the highly prized virtues of
that time.
• Literature became immoral and corrupt.
• Philosophers and orators were regarded superior to poets and

artists.
Plato’s Critical Precepts

1. Poetic Inspiration
• Poet is divinely inspired like the prophets. Poetry is the result

of divine inspiration.
• It is not a craft that can be learned and practiced at will.
• Poetry is not rational.
• Poets write in a moment of frenzy, they do not often
understand what they are writing. Therefore poetry cannot be
relied upon.
• Poets may express divine truths but they are beyond the
comprehension of ordinary human beings.
2. Imitation (Mimesis)
• Ideas or heavenly archetypes alone are real. Earthly things are

mere copies of them.
Eg: Beauty we see here is only a copy of the ideal beauty
which exists in heavenly realm. Earthly beauty is only
an imitation of heavenly beauty.
• Thus imitation or mimesis is only a representation and is not
creative.
Eg: A chair : It is thrice removed from reality. It exists
first as idea. Second as object of representation. Third as
object of representation in art
Eg : Cave image
• The physical world is in the form of a cave.

• All the human beings are trapped inside it from the beginning
of life.
• Human beings are stationery, they cannot move their heads
and can perceive only shadows and sounds.
• Then suddenly one of the humans is released and is
encouraged to travel towards the entrance of the cave.
• Then he is pulled to the entrance of the cave.
• His eyes are accustomed to dark and so day light is hurting his
eyes.
• This world of daylight is the realm of Ideas.
• Gradually he looks up and understands the ultimate source of
light and life.
• This process is a metaphor of education and enlightenment.
• This enlightened person has the moral responsibility to bring
others also to the entrance of the cave and make them
enlightened.
Plato’s Attack on Poetry

• Plato attacks poetry on four grounds:
1. Moral
2. Intellectual
3. Emotional
4. Utilitarian.
Moral
• Poets cater to popular tastes and produce tales of man’s vices.
• Poetry do not promote social morality.
• Poets lie about gods and make them corrupt, immoral and dishonest
like human beings.
• Drama is more harmful than poetry. Judgement in dramatic matters
is left to many resulting in lawlessness.
Intellectual
• Poetry is thrice removed from reality. Poets have no knowledge of
truth. They imitate only appearances and not truths.
Emotional
• Poetic truths are full of contradictions. They lack moral restraints.
• Poetry is not a substitute for knowledge based on reason.
• Forms of poetry like epic, tragedy and comedy are imitative.
• The readers identify themselves with the fictitious characters in
such forms of poetry. This leads to the unhealthy weakening of
human characters.
Utilitarian
• Poetry serves no useful purpose because the poet merely imitates
the surface of things without knowing how to make use of them.
Plato’s achievements
• He introduced the concept of mimesis as an essential
characteristic of all art.
• He was the first to state the classical ideals of aesthetic
beauty to be incorporated in all artistic works.
Aristotle as a Literary Critic.

Aristotle
• He is the universally acknowledged master of critical thought in
Europe.
• He was the most distinguished Greek philosopher of fourth century

BC.
• Poetics and Rhetoric are his prominent critical works. Poetics is
about the art of poetry.Rhetorics is about the art of speaking.
Poetics
• It is a treatise about fifty pages.
• The main topic of discussion in this treatise is tragedy.
• It also deals with epic poetry, poetic diction and comedy.
Definition of Tragedy
• Aristotle gives definition of tragedy in Poetics.
• He says, “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious,
complete and of a certain magnitude in a language embellished with
each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in
separate parts of the play in the form of action, not of narrative
through pity and fear thereby effecting the proper purgation of these
emotions”.
• By Serious action: Aristotle means a tale of suffering exciting pity
and fear.
• Complete : a proper beginning, middle and end
• Certain magnitude: Plot should have a reasonable length to unfold
its sequence of events.
• Artistic ornament: Rhythm, harmony and song are artistic
ornaments that should be used to embellish language.
• Seperate parts of the play: Tragedy should not be in the form of a
tale described by the narrator, the tale should be unfolded in terms
of living and moving characters.
Mimesis
• Mimesis is Imitation.
• It is the principle of all arts.
• Human actions or human beings are the objects of imitation in art.
• Tragedy like the epic, imitates the noble actions of good men and
comedy imitates the actions of low men.
• Tragedy is superior to epic according to Aristotle. Tragedy
embodies all the epic elements in a compact design with music and
spectacular effects.
Parts of the Tragedy

• There are six constituent parts in tragedy.
1. Plot
2. Character
3. Thought
4. Diction
5. Spectacle
6. Song
Plot
• Plot is the structure of events. It is the soul of tragedy.
• Tragedy imitates not merely men but men in action.
• It is their deeds that matter more than their character.
Character
• Deeds issue from character. It is second in importance to plot
Thought
• What the character thinks or feels during the course of events. It
reveals itself in speech.
Plot imitates action. Character imitates men. Thought imitates man’s

mental and emotional responses. These three constitute objects of
imitation in tragedy.
Diction
• To accomplish objects of imitation the dramatist employs diction or
words including songs.
Spectacle
• It is the sixth element. It is the work of a stage mechanic.
Unities
• There are three unities
1. Unity of action
2. Unity of place
3. Unity of time
• Aristotle places emphasis on unity of action. The plot should have
beginning, middle and end.
• Tragedy should represent only those actions in the life of the hero
which are intimately connected with one another.
• They should appear together as one whole.
• The other unities do not find an important mention in Aristotle’s
concept of plot.
Simple Plot and Complex Plot

• Simple plot will have one story line that usually moves in a straight
forward manner towards resolution.
• Complex plot is accompanied by two features namely Perpeteia
and Anagnorisis.
• Perpeteia is reversal of fortune. Anagnorisis is discovery.
• Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex employs these two devices.
Tragic hero
• Tragedy aims at exciting pity and fear.

• Tragic hero should be one whose actions most produce this effect in
the spectators.
• He cannot be an eminently good man hurled from prosperity into
adversity.
• Similarly he cannot be a bad man raised from adversity to
prosperity.
• Nor can he be utter villain.
• The kind of character best suited to be a tragic hero is a man who is
not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about
not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty. This error or
frailty is hamartia.
Catharsis
• Tragedy arouses in the audience the feeling of pity and fear, pity at
the sufferings of the hero and fear of the worst that may befall him.
• Thus tragedy purifies the emotions by purging away the dross,
providing an outlet for strong or excessive feelings.
• It affects the emotional organism of the spectator.
• It gives satisfying release to the emotions and thus tragedy has great
moral value
Horace as a Literary Critic
Introduction
• The Augustan Age is known as the golden age of poetry and
criticism.
• Virgil, Ovid, Horace were the prominent writers during this time.
Why Augustan Age is known as golden age ?
• Augustus Caesar patronized art. This was the age of peace and not
of war. There was an upsurge of nationalism in Rome during this
time. So the Augustan age is known as the golden age of poetry and
criticism.
Horace
• Through his poetry Horace runs a criticism of contemporary
manners, morals, politics and thought.
• Ars Poetica or the Art of Poetry is his important work.
• The subject matter of Ars Poetica falls into three parts:
1. Poesis or subject matter
2. Poema or form
3. Poeta or the poet
Poesis
• Poetry is not imitation. It is a creative adaptation. Poem must have
an organic unity.
• Poets can indulge in his fancy but should not create monsters or
impossible figures.
• Purple patch is a term introduced by Horace. It is a brilliant or
ornate passage in a literary composition.
• Subject of poetry should be simple and consistent.
• Language of poetry should be of common man.
• A wise moderation can be exercised in the choice of words.
• A poet can coin new words and revive old once but only when it is
absolutely necessary.
• A particular genre should stick to the metre allotted by Greeks : epic
poetry should use iambic pentametre, elegiac verse should be used
for poems of complaint and iambic verse should be used for tragedy
and comedy.
Poema
• Drama is dealt here as a form of poetry.

• Plot : should be old and familiar story. New themes can be invented,
but for successful treatment poet requires great skills. Plot should
begin in medias res or middle of things.
• Comic themes should not be treated in the lofty vein of tragedy.
• Tragic themes should not be treated in the low vein of comedy.
• Characterization: Poet must be true to life. Characters must be
consistent. Quality of characters should fit to their respective ages.
Eg: Children are quick to anger and cool, boys are high spirited.
• Ugly and horrible incidents should happen off- stage.
• Play should not have more or less than five acts and should not
have more than three characters in any one scene.
• Gods can intervene in the actions only when it is absolutely
essential.
• Chorus is an integral part of the play.
Poeta
• Poetry is the outcome of the incessant toil.
• Poem should be revised and pruned several times.
• Poets should not be in a hurry to publish his works and should let it
stand for over a decade.
• Poet must be a keen observer of men and manners.
• Function of poetry should be to teach and delight with greater stress
on teaching.
• Poet should instruct or please.
• For the sake of pleasing, he should not indulge in romantic
extravagancies.
• Minor faults in poetry may be forgiven.
• He should try to avoid faults as much as he can.
• Great poets have been great prophets. So a poet should not feel
ashamed of his art. He must be proud of it.
• The idea of poetic madness or inspiration is absurd.
• Excess must be kept under restraint.
• The treatise ends with a satiric portrait of a mad poet.
Conclusion
• Horace asserts the supremacy of classical Greek art.
• He inaugurated a new phase in the history of literary criticism.
Longinus as a Literary Critic
Introduction
• Longinus was a Greek rhetorician.
• He had considerable influence on 18C critics.
• Alexander Pope was influenced by him.
• The concept of sublimity paved the way for Romanticism.
• On the Sublime is his famous work.
• The first English translation of Longinus’s On the Sublime by John
Hall appeared in 1652.
Definition of Sublimity
• Longinus defines sublimity as “a certain distinction and excellence
in expression. It flashes forth at the right moment, scatters
everything like a thunderbolt and at once displays the power of
orator in all its plenitude"
Faults that Spoil Sublimity

• Pedantry/ bombast
• Puerility/childishness
• Empty passions/ill –timed pathos
• Frigidity/lack of passions
• The true sublime arises from lofty ideas clothed in lofty language.
• It pleases all and pleases always.
Sources of Sublimity
• There are five sources of sublimity:
1. Grandeur of thought
2. Passion
3. Schemata
4. Phrasis
5. Composition
Grandeur of thought:
• Sublimity is the echo of a great soul. Great soul conceives great
thoughts.
• The earlier masterpieces reflect the poet’s great thoughts or lofty
standards of the ideal.
Passion:
• Inspired passions can contribute to sublimity
Schemata:
• Proper use of figures of speech and thought.
Phrasis:
• Noble language and diction. Language and diction must be
appropriate to grandeur of thought.
Composition :
• Harmony in composition gives definite shape to art.
Of these five sources first two are innate and the other three are
rhetorical features.
Conclusion
• Longinus says that pleasure is the immediate end of art.

• Scott James calls him the first romantic critic.
The Victorian Age
• The pages of history are replete with critical controversies. One of

the most significant and contradictory of them being the one
between the neoclassical school of the eighteenth century and the
Romantic school of the early nineteenth century.
• The rules of composition framed and followed by the former were
summarily dismissed by the latter.
• Old order, as always, changes yielding place to new.
• The age that followed the Romantic Age, the Age of Queen Victoria,
that spanned almost the whole of the nineteenth century, was an
age of consolidation in many respects.
• Increase of wealth, the general prosperity of England as a whole on
account of its colonial hold over other countries, immense growth in
scientific, and industrial development, are some of the clearly
noticeable characteristics of this age.
• The publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of the Species
(1859), with its theory of human evolution, was a major blow to
traditional religious orthodoxy, challenging the Biblical version of
creation, the very foundation of Christianity.
• On the other side, The Oxford Movement' that initiated a higher
conception of the institution of the Church as possessing the
privileges, and sacraments ordained by Christ attracted some of the
best intellectuals of the time such as Cardinal Newman, Keble and
Froude.
• Greater faith in the principles underlying democracy, opening up of
new universities, and introduction of free education widened the
scope of the reading public, and thereby changed the modes and
practices of the people.
• The Victorian novel-with all its abundance and variety-can be seen

as a product of this age, reflecting its values and its life.
Mathew Arnold as Literary Critic
Mathew Arnold
• Arnold is the most influential English critic of the Victorian age.
• His criticism is mainly contained in the Preface to the Poems of
1853 and Essays in Criticism in two series.
• The rest of his criticism appears in two other volumes- On
Translating Homer and The Study of Celtic Literature.
• He insists on the need for grand style in poetry and examines all
poetry as criticism of life.
Arnold’s Conception of Poetry
• Arnold thinks that poetry is a serious representation of an excellent
action.
• He states: “All depends upon the subject; choose a fitting action,
everything else will follow”.
• The most excellent actions are “those which most powerfully
appeal to the great primary affections”.
• The object of poetry is to provide pleasure or enjoyment.
• The ancients are superior to the English in this respect. “They
regarded the whole, we regard the parts”.
• Great poetry requires choice of an excellent action, unfolded by
appropriate treatment, so that it may afford pleasure.
• This pleasure consists in a total impression derived from the organic
unity of the parts within the whole.
Grand Style
• To Arnold the grand style of the Greeks is superior to the colourful
style of the English.
• Homer is the grand master of the grand style.

• According to Arnold there are only three masters of the grand style:
Homer, Dante and Milton.
• The English translations of Homer are highly unsatisfactory. So the
only way for English readers to form an idea of the power of Homer
is to read Milton.
• Thus the grand style is that which arises in poetry “when a noble
nature, poetically gifted, treats with simplicity or with severity a
serious subject”.
Criticism of life
• The end and aim of all literature is “a criticism of life”.
• In his famous essay ‘The Study of Poetry’ he defines poetry as “a
criticism of life under conditions fixed for such a criticism by the
laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty”.
• The term criticism of life means the noble and profound application
of ideas to life.
• Poetic truth indicates truth and seriousness of substance and
matter.
• Poetic beauty implies perfection of diction and manner.
• This means that the function of poetry is not to present life as it is.
• Great poetry has a characteristic moral profundity
Arnold’s Judgement of Poets.

• Arnold judges poets on the basis of moral profundity.
• Keats has an excess of natural magic, not enough moral profundity.
• Wordsworth has mainly moral profundity.
• Shakespeare has both qualities to the full.
• Shelley is “a beautiful ineffectual angel beating in the void his
luminous wings in vain”.
• Coleridge is “a poet and philosopher wrecked in a mist of opium”.
• Byron lacks matter or serious meaning.
• All this points to Arnold’s concern with the idea of moral grandeur
in poetry.
Judgement of Literature
• According to Arnold, judgement of literature is a basic function of
criticism.
• The value of literature lies not only in the matter and substance of
poetry but also in its manner and style.
• Neither the personal estimate nor the historical estimate is adequate
or reliable. What is required is a real estimate.
Touchstone Method
• The touchstone method helps in making real estimate.
• Short passages or even single lines from great masters like Homer,
Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare and Milton could serve as touchstones in
the estimate of other poetry.
• Arnold himself applies this method in his reading of English poetry.
• He thus shows that Chaucer is great but lacks high seriousness;
• Gray though scanty is, a classic;
• Pope and Dryden are masters of English prose only, they are not
great poets.
Three Fold Functions of Criticism

• Arnold argues that criticism is basically a disinterested endeavour
with a three fold function to perform.
• It endeavours “to learn the best that is known and thought in the
world”, thus promoting personal culture.
• Secondly, the critic propagates this fresh knowledge, thereby doing
service to the society.
• Thirdly, criticism seeks to establish a current of fresh and true

ideas. These new ideas reach society and there is a stir and growth
everywhere, thereby promoting literary culture.
Conclusion
• Mathew Arnold along with Taine believed that “for that creation of
a master work of literature, two powers must concur, the power of
the man and the power of the moment.
• Gray “fell upon an age of prose” and Dryden and Pope are only
great masters of prose.
• Arnold declares that in a world where philosophy and religion have
failed, the real solace and mainstay for mankind will be poetry.
• Thus Arnold proves himself to be a reliable voice of the Victorian
age and a classicist nonpareil.
Indian Aesthetics
• It is an Indian art evolved with an emphasis on inducing special

spiritual or philosophical states in the audience or with representing
them symbolically.
• Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy which deals with nature of art,
beauty and taste, creation and perception of beauty.
• Aesthetics is a discipline in which authors and philosophers try to
explain the concepts of beauty.
• Indian aesthetics is earlier than the western aesthetics.
• Before Italian philosopher Croce, there was no real aesthetics.
• In India, a lot of scholars were particularly interested in aesthetics.
their main aim was to understand and find out the meaning of
beauty.
Indian Literary Criticism

• Rasa, Dhwani and Alankara are three important concepts of Indian

literary criticism which is also called Sahitya sastra, Alankara sastra
and Kavya sastra.
• Indian literary criticism comprises poetry, dramaturgy, rhetoric’s
and literary criticism.
• Main topics dealt with are definition of poetry, classification of
poems, Riti(style), figures based on sound and sense, poetic merits,
poetics flaws, Sabdavritti (connotation of words), rasas (sentiments)
with their accessary emotions, varieties of hero and heroine,
dramatic compositions etc.
• Writers on literary criticism were confronted with the questions like,
what is poetry? What constitute its body? What is its soul? What is
the definition of poetry? What is the nature of the delight its parts?
What are the essential qualities of a poet?
• To arrive at the satisfactory questions various theories or vaadas
were formulated.
• Each theory or Vaada is said to be a school.
• There are 8 such vaadas or schools viz.
1. Rasa school
2. Alankara school
3. Guna school
4. Riti school
5. Dhwani school
6. Vakrokti school
7. Anumiti school
8. Auchitya school
• Of these Rasa, Dhwani and Auchitya go together.
• Alankara and Vakrokti are somewhat similar.
• Guna and Riti go together and Anumiti vaada cannot be called a
school as there were not much supporters of this view point, as it
was intent on negating dhwani.
Bharata
• Bharata was the first to write on aesthetics in Bharata's Natya
Shastra mainly in terms of Literature, Drama and Dance.
• Bharata’s Natya Shastra is the earliest available text on literary
criticism.
• The entire story is told in terms of music and dance and is not
written for the folk artists.
• Purely classical in form.
• Bharat Muni mentioned Indra the lord of heaven who had a lot of
dancers.
• Natyashastra according to scholars were written during 2nd century
B.C. or A.D. hence we can say that drama existed for a long time
before.
• Though Natyasastra mainly deals with dramaturgy, it is in this work
that the process of relish of the sentiment (rasanubhuti ) is dealt
with.
Rasa
• Bharata in search of true Beauty uses the word RASA (the essence
of life,juice, Amrit)
• Rasa is only to be felt, it is the source of all life.
• In the 7th century, Bhama and Dandin rejected the theory of rasa,
some said that beauty in the drama was sarcasm.
• In the 9th century, Anand Vardhan (Kashmiri Pandit) supported
Bharata's rasa theory and Natya shastra.
• He researched and explained the theory in terms of dhwani, in the
book called ddhvanyalok
• 10th century Abhinav Gupta wrote a book called Abhinav Bharti and
elaborated the theory of dhwani and rasa through sutra and
commentaries (eg. kali das).
• In Abhinav Bharti, he picks out few important shlokas from these

(maha kavyas) books and then category wise discussed them in his
book Rhetorical Parts.
• By his analysis, he proves that the most important element in
poetry is rasa.
Eight Sentiments of Rasa

• Bharta speaks of 8 sentiments RASA (to which a widely accepted
9th sentiment has been added by later writers):-
Rasa Meaning Deity Colour

Love,
Shringara Vishnu Green
Attractiveness
Laughter,
Hasya Mirth, Genesha White
Comedy
Rudra Fury Rudra Red
Compassion, Dove
Karuna Yama
Tragedy coloured
Disgust,
Bibhatsa Shiva Blue
Aversion
Horror,
Bhayanak Kala Black
Terror
Whitish
Vira Heroic Indra
brown
Wonder,
Adbhuta Brahma Yellow
Amazement
Peace or
Shant Vishnu White
tranquility
Vibhav, Anubhava and Vyabhichari Bhavas

• Rasa is born out of the union of “ Vibhav” “Anubhava” and
“Vyabhichari bhavas”.
• Vibhav (Determinants/causes): Physical conditions for aesthetics

reproduction, an Indication of time place and other ways.
a. Alambana Vibhav – Substantial Determination –

Shringara or Erotic rasa alambana Could be lover
and hero or heroine, nayak or nayika, without this
the erotic sentiments would be difficult to imagine.
b. Uddipina Vibhav – Excitant Determination – the

moon, the sandalwood, essence, ornaments,
perfume, clothing and jewellery or isolated space
in the garden.
• Anubhava - specify unconventional means of producing emotions
like gestures, holding hands, kissing, etc.
• Sanchari and Vyabhichari bhavas – Emotional status (Bharta
mentioned 33 of them). There range from agitation, depression,
tiredness, shame, joy, etc.
Rasa siddhanta
• The rasa siddhānta (theory of aesthetic experience) of Bharata (5th
century ) is based on the four kinds of abhinaya (acting/expression).
1. āngika abhinaya (voluntary non-verbal expression) to depict
emotions/feelings of a character being played by the actor.
2. vācika abhinaya (verbal expression) to express
emotions/feelings, tone, diction, the pitch of a particular
character.
3. āhārya abhinaya (costume and stage expression) to enhance
expression.
4. sāttvika abhinaya (involuntary non-verbal expression)
expressed by the presence of tears, a mark of horripilation,
change of facial colour, trembling of lips,enhancing of nostrils)
to express the deepest emotions of a character.
Alamkara siddhanta
• The alaṁkāra siddhānta (theory of figures) of Bhamah (6th century)

defines kāvya as togetherness of sound and meaning.
• According to Bhamah, alaṁakāra (poetic figure) is the essential
element of poetry and it consists in the striking manner of putting a
striking idea in an equally striking word.
• Anandavardhana view in Dhvanyāloka that “alaṁkārās (poetic
figures) are those elements which, depending upon word and
meaning, minister to the generation of poetic charm” also certifies
the creative use of language in literature.
• Alamkāra (figure) is used to underline an integral part of a literal
meaning; to nourish the literal meaning to its climax; to beautify the
expression and give a different meaning, to achieve excellence by
its own splendour; and to express some impossible meaning.
Riti siddhanta
• The rīti siddhānta (theory of style) of Vaman (8th century) is also
based on three types of styles of the creative use of language.
• To sumup, rīti (style) mainly depends upon the fact how the
meaning of kāvya (poetry) is imparted in consonance with
rasa(sentiment).
Dhwani Theory
• The dhvani siddhānta (theory of suggestion) Anandavardhana (9th
century)Dhwani was initially written for poetry but by time, it's
used in the art also for its suggestive meaning.
• (Rasa Dhwani) When listening to something gives you some feeling
of joy or sadness.
• Mahima Bhatta states, vyanjanā is always latent.
• As we delve deep into abhidhā (primary meaning), we get the
meaning of vyanjanā(tertiary or suggested meaning).
Vakrokti Siddhanta
• The vakrokti siddhānta( theory of oblique expression) of Kuntaka

(11th century)
• According to Bhâmaha, all poetic speech is marked by a
roundabout turn of expression or vakrokti as opposed to straight
forward expression of everyday language.
• It seems these theorists were obsessed with the problem of
differentiating poetic language from ordinary language.
• In the hands of Kuntaka, the term becomes enlarged in import.
Auchitya Siddhanta
• The aucitya siddhānta( Theory of Appropriety) propounded by
Ācãrya Kshemendra (11th century)
• Aucitya or appropriateness is another such concept which needs a
brief mention here.
• Bharata recognizes it in the context of performance(say, aptness of
acting to the context, social stature of the hero, etc).
• Ânanda discusses it and so does Kuntaka.
• But it gets central focus in the hands of Ksemendra who highlights
the fit among the elements, the subject,and the contexts and so on.
Rasa, Dhwani and Alankara

• The followers of Rasa school hold that rasa is the soul of poetry.
• The alankaravadins maintain that alankaras or figures of speech is
the main source of poetic relish.
• Later writers like Dandi held the view that alankara means that
which provides to poetry and Vamana opined that alankara is
nothing but beauty and had given a different connotation to the
word Alankara.
• Gunavadins maintained that poetic merits like slesha or
compactness, prasada or lucidity, sukumarata or absence of harsh
words etc cause poetic relish.
• Riti is defined as special arrangements of words.
• Riti school maintained that riti or style is the soul of poetry.
• The most important and widely acclaimed view was that dhvani or
suggestion caused the effective enjoyment of poetry.
• The followers of Auchitya School held that auchitya or
appropriateness is the most important factor that makes the relish
of the sentiment in poetry.
• Anumitivada maintained that there is no dhvani or suggestion.
Therefore it cannot be considered a proper school.
Natya Sastra of Bharata Muni

• The earliest available text on literary criticism is Natya Sastra of
Bharata Muni.
• Bharata was the predecessor of Kalidasa.
• Though Natya Sastra mainly deals with dramaturgy, it is in this
work that the process of relish of the sentiment or rasanubhuti is
dealt with.
• Poetry and poetic theory are discussed within the scope of verbal
acting or vachikabhinaya.
• About seven centuries after Bharata, no work is available in Sahitya
Sastra in Sanskrit.
• This does not mean that there was no literary activity in the field of
rhetoric’s during this period.
• The works written during this period might have been lost due to
some reason.
7th Century
Bhamaha
• In the seventh century AD lived Bhamaha, author of Kavyalankara
also called Bhamahalankara.
• Bhamaha’s was the first attempt to deal with poetics, different or
separate from dramaturgy.
• Bhamaha is the first exponent of Alankaravaada or Alankara school.
8th Century
Dandin
• He is the author of Kavyadarsa, a well known literary critic lived in
the 8th century AD.
• He is the earliest theorist of Guna-Riti aspect of poetry.
• He has also authored prose works like Dasakumaracharita and
Avantisundarikatha.
Udbhata
• He wrote Kavyalankarasarasangraha.
• He also lived in the 8thC AD.
• He has commented Kavyalankara of Bhamaha.The name of the
work is Bhamahavivaranam.
• Udbhata was the follower of Alankara School.
9th Century
Vamana
• He was the first to propound the concept of soul of poetry.
• He lived during the 9th C AD.
• He maintained that style or Riti is the soul of poetry.
• He explains the Ritis in terms of poetic excellence or gunas.
• He conceived that alankara is the beauty of poetry or saundaryam
alankarah.
Rudrata
• He was a follower of Alankara School.
• He lived during the 9th C AD.
• His work is also called Kavyalankara.
• 9th C AD was an outstanding period so far as Kavya sastra in
Sanskrit is concerned.
Anandavardhana
• While Vamana, the exponent of Riti School lived in the former half
of this century, Anandavardhana, author of Dhvanyāloka lived in
the latter half.
• He is the first exponent of Dhvani School.
• According to Anandavardhana, an indirect meaning is arrived at
dhvani through the vyapara or connotation of the word called
vyanjana or suggestion.
• According to him the best type of poetry is Dhanikavya in which the
dhvani element is predominant.
• He holds that in good poetry rasa should be suggested. It is called
rasadhvani.
• The dhwani theory had to face much opposition mainly from
Mahimabhatta, author of Vyakti Viveka and Bhattanayaka, author
of Hridayadarpana.
10th Century
Bhattanayaka
• Bhattanayaka (early 10thC AD) repudiates Dhvani theory and
upholds rasa theory in his work Hridayadarpana.
• Bhattalollata and Sri Sankuka of the 10th C AD made valuable
contribution to Sahityasastra in the form of commentaries to
Natyasastra but their works are not extant.
Dhananjaya
• Dhananjaya, author of Dasarupaka lived in the tenth century.
• This work deals with the different aspects of the ten varieties of
dramatic composition.
Rajasekhara
• Kavyamimasa of Rajasekhara who also belonged to the 10th C is a

work on the different factors of literary criticism including the
qualifications a poet should possess and even the daily routine of
the poet.
Abinavagupta
• Abhinavagupta who lived in the tenth century has made substantial
contribution to the field of Kavyasastra through the commentaries
of Natyasastra viz Abhinavabharati and Dhvanyaloka viz Lochana.
• It was Anandavardhana and
• Abhinavagupt who revolutionized Indian literary criticism.
11th Century
Kuntaka
• Kuntaka was the exponent of Vakrokti School.
• He lived during the 11thC.
• In his Vakroktijivitam, he extols vakrokti or indirect expression or
hyperbolic expression as the soul of poetry.
Mahimabhatta
• Mahimabhatta of 11th C in his Vyaktivivka repudiate the dhvani
theory.
• He opines that there is no need of accepting a vyapara called
vayanjana.
• Dhvani can be made out through inference or anumiti.
• So he is said to be the propounder of Anumiti School.
• But his argument could not get much currency.
Bhoja
• Bhoja of 11th century was the king of Dhara and is credited with
two works in Sahityasastra viz Sringaraprakasha and
Sarasvatikanthabharana which deal with all aspects of Sahitya
Sastra.
• He said that sringara or erotics is the main sentiment and he calls it
rasarajan
Kshemendra
• Kshemendra (11th century) is known for his concept of auchitya or
propriety.
• His work is Auchityavicharacharcha.
• He actually borrowed the concept from dhvani.
• Two other works by him include Kavikanthabharana and
Suvrittatilaka.
Mammatabhata
• Mammatabhata (end of 11th century) in his Kavyaprakasha deals
with almost all aspects of Sanskrit poetics.
12th Century
• Hemachandra’s (12th C) Kavyanusasana is a complete handbook of
Sahitya sastra.
• Vagbhata’s Vagbhatalankara (12thC) and Ruyyaka’s Alankara
Sarvasva (12thC) contain study of poetic figures.
13th Century
• Jayadeva’s Chandraloka(13th C) covers the entire field of sanskrit
poetics.
14th Century
• Viswanatha’s Sahityadarpanam (14th C) is a work on the lines of

Mammata’s Kavyaprakasa.
• He has contributed much to Dhwani theory.
• Ayappadikshita’s Sahityadarpana is the commentary on the
alankara chapter of Chandraloka.
• He deals with 125 figures of speech.
17th Century
• Jagannatha Panditha’s Rasagangadhara (17th C) covers the entire
field of Sanskrit poetics.
• A special feature of this work is the influence of logical reasoning.
• With Jagannatha, the line of eminent writers in Indian Poetics
draws a close.
Relationship of Indian Aesthetics with Classical and

Modern Criticism.
Aesthetics in Indian and Greek context

• The word “Aesthetics” is borrowed from Greek and originally meant
“of or pertaining to things perceptible by senses, things material, as
opposed to things thinkable or immaterial.”
• In the context of Indian aesthetics, the word “aesthetics” means the
“science and philosophy of fine art”.
Rasa and Catharsis

• There are distinct differences between the theories outlined within
Aristotle’s Poetics and Bharata’s The Nāṭyaśāstra which both
attempt to elaborate upon the audience relationship and the
phenomenon produced relating to the theatrical experience.
• However, despite the dissimilarities there are components of

catharsis and rasa that share common elements and ideas
surrounding the creation and the effects of these experiences.
• Aristotle contends the cathartic nature of tragedy aids in purgation
experiences however ultimately limiting it to the powers of tragedy
as only creating this, where, contrarily, The Nāṭyaśāstra outlines the
power any actor has in creating bhāva, leading to rasa.
• Whilst both theories do have common attributes in their aims of
heightening an audience experience, it is the differentiating that
outcomes that greatly affect their overall influence.
• As outlined within Aristotle’s Poetics, the role of catharsis is to
purify and purge the audience’s emotion through theatre, insisting
that emotional change is akin to restoration and renewal of balance
within the psyche.
• Differentiating from The Nāṭyaśāstra’s concept that rasas are only
generated by bhāvas, Aristotle states catharsis occurs only from
tragedies, which he contends, is its sole source.
• Aristotle frequently asserts that tragedies are the only form capable
of generating pity and fear, which, sequentially, is the only way the
purgation or catharsis, of an audience can manifest (The Poetics of
Aristotle 10).
• Contrasting to the states of rasa, which are said to be unlimitedly
generated from an actors bhāva, Aristotle insists that only tragedies
have the right elements to create an impactful catharsis, thus
limiting its occurrences.
• Ultimately, the audience experience of rasa is akin to catharsis of
ancient Greek theatre, but at the crux, rasa exceeds these core
similarities and extends into affecting not only the mind but the
overall psychological, physiological and spiritual states of the
audience experience.
Imitation and Anukarana

• The theory of imitation was propounded by Greek thinkers like
Aristotle.
• Bharata also speaks of drama as a mimetic reproduction

(anukarana): “Drama is a reproduction of the mental states, actions
and conduct of people.”
• Lollata and Śankuka, the commentators on Nātyāsāstra, also
consider aesthetic perception as mithyājnāna(illusory cognition).
Rasa and Objective Correlative

• Bharata’s rasa-sūtra corresponds to T. S.Eliot’s formula of objective
correlative.
• Both are concerned with the portrayal of emotion in poetry and its
transmission to the spectator / reader.
• According to Eliot, since the emotion of art is impersonal, it cannot
be transmitted directly to the reader. There has to be some medium,
which he calls “objective correlative”.
• In his essay on Hamlet he defines it as “a set of objects, a situation,
a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular
emotion.”
• He gives the example of sleepwalking of Lady Macbeth wherein the
unconscious repetition of her past acts serves as the objective
equivalent of her present trauma.
• The effect of this objectification is enhanced by her lack-lustre eyes
and the burning taper in her hand.
• Thus what Shakespeare has to convey gets objectified and the
interaction between the poet and the reader takes place.
• The reader/spectator can respond to the medium, and through that
to the character.
• Similarly, rasa-sūtra also stresses that the primary objective of
poetry is the arousal/awakening of emotion and its reception and
realization by the gifted reader or sahrdaya.
Dhvani and Implied meaning

• It would be interesting, however, to know that some western critics

perceive dhvani as being synonymous with the ‘implied’ or
‘figurative’ meaning.
• It has been argued that there is something in language, the surplus
or the residual which cannot be accounted for by the scientific study
of language. Similar is the case with Dhvani.
• As Isaeva points out, “In Western critical literature, vyanjanka and
dhvani are sometimes rendered as ‘suggestion’, the‘implied’,
figurative meaning, even the ‘symbolical’ meaning of utterance or a
single word"
Vakrokti and Poetic Language

• Kuntaka’s theory of Vakrokti is thus, a theory of poetic language – it
analyses and values poetry in terms of the language of its
expression.
• It considers certain obliqueness or indirection as the hallmark of
poetic language.
• It is this obliquity that sets poetry apart from the other discourses
and ensures special place for it among them.
• The theory has special relevance in the field of practical criticism,
as it provides us a comprehensive methodology for critically
appreciating literary works.
Alankara and Sublimity/Figures of Speech

• In western aesthetics, figures of speech are analyzed in Rhetoric,
which literary means,“the science of the orator"
• According to Jeremy Taylor “Rhetoric is nothing but reason well-
dressed, and argument put in order.”
• In simple terms, it means the art that helps to make language more
forceful, touching and moving, more readily comprehensible.
• Its function is to make language effective, be it spoken or written.
• Rhetoric deals with various figures of speech.
• A figure of speech has been defined as “a departure from the

simplest form of statement with a view to heightening or
specializing the effect.”
• It refers to the use of a word or phrase in a manner which
transcends its literal interpretation.
• In poetic language especially we have to take recourse to figures of
speech because simple words used in their literal sense may not
have the power to convey the idea clearly and forcefully.
• So literary writers often make use of rhetorical figures to achieve
special effects and convey meanings in fresh, unexpected ways.
• In literary language, any intentional deviation from literal statement
or common usage can be termed as a figure of speech.
• Figures of speech not only contribute to the embellishment and
persuasiveness of style, but they also throw fresh light upon a
subject by presenting it in a new and unexpected form.
• Longinus’s concept of sublimity identifies five sources that
contribute to sublimity.
• Schemata or the proper use of figures of speech and thought is one
of the five sources of sublimity.
• Relationship of Alankara with figures of speech leads to its
relationship with Longinus’s sublimity too.
Poetry and Synaesthesia

• Synaesthesia is a term taken from psychology.
• In psychology it signifies the experience of two or more modes of
sensation when only one sense is being stimulated.
• In literature it is applied to descriptions of one mode of sensation in
terms of another.
• Colour is attributed to sounds, odor to colour and sound to odors.
Eg: Loud colours', 'bright sounds', 'sweet music
• The technique is also called 'sense transference' or 'sense analogy'
• In Ode To A Nightingale', Keats calls for a draught of wine.
• Tasting of flora and the country green, Dance and Provencal song,
and sun burnt mirth, here the poet calls for a drink tasting of sight,
colour, motion, sound and heat.
• Synaesthesia has been made use of by poets ever since Homer.
• It is frequently used during the Romantic period.
• French symbolists also used it.
• Baudelaire and Rimband incorporated this technique of
synaesthesia in their writings.
I A Richards as a Literary Critic
• The book of Richards The Principles of Literary Criticism’(1924)and

‘Practical Criticism’(1929) have had a profound effect on teaching of
literature.
• His most influential contributions to criticism have been attempts to
define the validity of literary value judgements.
• He assessed the reading process itself in the semi-scientific terms of
Communication theory.
• He conducted “laboratory’ experiments on his students at
Cambridge.
• He gave them copies of unfamiliar poems on which he asked them
to comment freely.
• His analysis of their responses in ‘Practical Criticism’ revealed great
inadequacies.
• He listed them under ten heads, ranging from simple
incomprehension to inhibition and sentimentality.
• He concluded that the state of literacy is very low in England. He
was assuming of course that his Cambridge students to be among
the best readers.
• He held that the teaching of literature needed to be reformed to
encourage much more responses to texts.
Argument Against his Experiment

• It is questionable whether such a ‘laboratory’ experiment would
really test the normal reading process at all.
• We do not normally approach texts in a clinical vacuum.
• It is open to the doubt where the inadequacies described reflected
reading difficulties on the part of students be their inability to
express what they had made of the texts.
• Richard’s Practical Criticism set the norm for later New Critical
Thinking.
• The text in isolation was all that in mattered,and the role of the
critic was the detailed explanation of the words on the printed page.
IA. Richards -The Theory of Value in the Arts

• Richards says that the aesthetic state is not any different from the
ordinary state in our life.
• When we look at a picture, or read a poem, or listen to music , we
are not doing something quite unlike what we were doing on our
way to the Gallery, or when we dressed in the morning’.
• Aesthetic experience is not different from any other experience.
• It has nothing special to commend it: only in aesthetic experience
there are ‘a greater number of impulses which have to be brought
into coordination with one another.’
• In art experience, there is a resolution, an inter-animation and
balancing of impulses.
• 'Impulses' are those stimuli that motivates 'attitudes' in us and the
'attitudes' are the 'imaginable- and incipient activities or tendencies
of action.
• 'Poetry organises our impulse and attitudes.
• Poetry organises our mind, gives it certain order, renders us happy,
and makes our mind healthy.
• "The best life is that in which, as far as possible, our whole
personality is "engaged" without confusion.'
• Art in general is valuable for us in the sense that it integrates our

activities, resolves our mental conflicts and tension and liberates us
to a liberated state.
• Richards calls this harmonised state, the balancing of conflicting
impulses, synaesthesis.
• 'In the experience of synaesthesis, there is a sense of detachment
that is conducive to the formation of a completely coordinated
personality.
• A criticism against Richards, claim is that we cannot account for
madmen, criminals, suicides and wholly disorganized men among
poets.
• Richards is not concerned with the poetic object but only with our
responses to the object.
• The poem is located in the reader. The poem is the reader's
response to it.
• Such confessedly open subjectivism leads him to the conclusion
that poetic language is ambiguous, plurisignant, open to different
and diverse meanings.
• Similarly metre meanings in poetry is that which patterns us in
some way. The balance or organisation is not to be found out there
in the object, but in our response to it.
The Scientific and Emotive Uses of Language.

• Richards along with C.K Ogden expounded a theory of language.
• They distinguished between two uses of language-the referential
(scientific) and the emotive.
• In the two uses of Language, Richards makes the distinction: A
statement may be used for the sake of "reference", true or false,
which it causes. This is the scientific use of the language.
• But it may also be used for the sake of effects in emotion and
attitude produced by the reference it occasions. This is the emotive
use of language.
• We may either use words for the sake of the references they
promote, or we may use them for the sake of the attitudes and
emotions which ensue.
Four Different Kinds of Meaning

• Richards distinguishes four different kinds of meaning or rather the
four aspects of it.
• They are sense, feeling, tone and intention.
• When we make an utterance, we direct the attention of our hearer
to what we utter.
• We use language to convey the feelings thutter wish to convey in
our utterance.
• We arrange the tone depending on whom we are addressing.
• Finally, we have some intention, conscious or unconscious and this
modilies our utterance.
• There is an interplay of these functions in any communication,
written or spoken.
• Poetry is made of 'pseudo-statements' which cannot be empirically
tested and proved true or false.
• Poetry is emotive and cannot be expected to provide us with
knowledge.
• Poetry communicates feelings and emotions, and has nothing to do
with meaning or knowledge.
• Richards holds the view that there is no intellectual doctrine in the
poetry at all.
• Richards defines a poem as a class of experiences, composed by all
experiences, occasioned by the words' which do not differ within
certain limits from the original experience of the poet.
• The conclusion that Richards comes to is, "the critical reading of
poetry is an arduous discipline.
• The lesson of all criticism is that we have nothing to rely upon in
making our choices but ourselves.
• The lesson of good poetry seems to he thut, when we have

understood it, in the degree in which we can order ourselves, we
need nothing more.'
• So poetry,whether it is good or bad, is meant to organise our
impulses and that is about all there is to it.
• Eliot and Richards are jointly associated as pioneers of the
movement of New Criticism.
• Eliot was descriptive and Richards theoretical.
• Richards provided the foundations for verbal analysis of poetry.
• He seems to encourage unhistorical readings of poetry.
• This anti historical criticism became New Criticism.
T.S Eliot as a Literary Critic
• Eliot is one of the greatest literary critics of England from the point
of view of his critical writings.
• His five hundred essays occasionally published as reviews and
articles had a far-reaching influence on literary criticism in the
country.
• His criticism was revolutionary which inverted the critical tradition
of the whole English speaking world.
• Eliot devised numerous critical concepts that gained wide
popularity and has a broad influence on criticism.
• ‘Objective corelative’, ‘Dissociation of sensibility’, ‘Unification of
sensibility’ are few of Eliot works hotly debated by critics.
• His comments on the nature of Poetic Drama and the relation
between poetry and drama have done much to bring about a revival
of Poetic Drama in the modern age.
• Even if he had written no poetry, he would have made his mark as a
distinguished and subtle (shrewd) critic.
• Eliot’s views on the nature of poetic process are equally
revolutionary.
• According to him, poetry is not inspiration, it is organization.

• The poet’s mind is like a vessel in which are stored numerous
feelings, emotions and experiences.
• The poetic process fuses these distinct experiences and emotions
into new wholes.
• In his most famous critical essay "Tradition and the Individual
Talent", Eliot argues that art must be understood not in a vacuum,
but in the context of previous pieces of art.
• Eliot himself employed this concept on many of his works,
especially on his long-poem ‘The Waste Land’.
• As a critic Eliot has his faults.
• Often his criticism is spoiled by personal and religious prejudices,
blocking an honest and impartial estimate.
• Moreover, he does not judge all by the same standards.
• With the passing of time his critical faculties were increasingly
exercised on social problems.
• Critics have also found fault with his style as too full of doubts,
reservations and qualifications.
Objective Correlative
• The theory of the ‘objective correlative’ is one of the most
important critical concepts of T.S. Eliot.
• It exerted a tremendous influence on the critical temper of twentieth
century.
• In the concept of the ‘objective correlative’, Eliot’s doctrine of
poetic impersonality finds its most classic formulation.
• Eliot himself defines ‘objective correlative’ as “a set of objects, a
situation, a chain of events, which shall be the formula” for the
poet’s emotion so that “when the external facts are given the
emotion is at once evoked.”
• According to Eliot, the poet cannot communicate his emotions
directly to the readers.
• He has to find some object, suggestive of it and only then he can

evoke the same emotion in his readers.
• So this ‘objective correlative’ is “a set of objects, a situation, a chain
of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion; such
that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory
experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked.”
• Like Aristotle, Eliot is of the opinion that it is not the business of the
poet to ‘say’ but to ‘show’, not to present but to represent.
• In other words, Eliot’s concept of the objective correlative is based
on the notion that it is not the business of the poet to present his
emotions directly but rather to represent them indirectly through
the ‘objective correlative’ which become the formula for the poet’s
original emotions.
• One of the reasons why Eliot admires Dante’s poetry is that Dante’s
was ‘a visual imagination,’ because he attempted ‘to make us see
what he saw,’ because he did not lose his grasp over ‘the objective
correlative.’
• If writers or poets or playwrights want to create an emotional
reaction in the audience, they must find a combination of images,
objects, or description evoking the appropriate emotion.
• The source of the emotional reaction isn't in one particular object,
one particular image, or one particular word.
• Instead, the emotion originates in the combination of these
phenomena when they appear together.
Dissociation of Sensibility
• Dissociation of sensibility is a literary term first used by TS. Eliot in
his essay “The Metaphysical Poets”.
• It refers to the way in which intellectual thought was separated from
the experience of feeling in seventeenth century poetry.
• Eliot used the term to describe the manner by which the nature and
substance of English poetry changed “between the time of Donne or
Lord Herbert of Cherbury and the time of Tennyson and Browning.”
• In this essay, Eliot attempts to define the metaphysical poet and in

doing so to determine the metaphysical poet’s era as well as his
discernible qualities.
• Eliot claims that the earlier grouping of poets were “constantly
amalgamating disparate experience” and thus expressing their
thoughts through the experience of feeling, while the later poets did
not unite their thoughts with their emotive experiences and
therefore expressed thought separately from feeling.
• He explains that the dissociation of sensibility is the reason for the
“difference between the intellectual and the reflective poet.”
• The earlier intellectual poet, Eliot writes, “possessed a mechanism
of sensibility which could devour any kind of experience.”
• When the dissociation of sensibility occurred, “the poets revolted
against the ratiocinative, the descriptive; they thought and felt by
fits, unbalanced; they reflected.”
• Thus dissociation of sensibility is the point at which and the manner
by which this change in poetic method and style occurred; it is
defined by Eliot as the loss of sensation united with thought.
Impersonality Of Poetry
• ‘The Tradition and the Individual Talent’, of 1919 he explains about
this theory.
• Eliot's impersonal theory of poetry is that the poet, the man, and the
poet, the artist are two different entities'.
• The poet has no personality of his own. He submerges his own
personality, his own feeling, and experience into the personality and
feelings of the subject of his poetry.
• Eliot says that "poetry is not a turning loose of emotion but an
escape from emotion, it is not the expression of personality but an
escape from personality".
• He emphasises the same theory of impersonality in art.
• The emotion of art is impersonal.
• It has its life in the poem and not in the history of poets.
William Shakespeare as a Literary Critic

• During his own lifetime and shortly afterward, Shakespeare enjoyed
fame and considerable critical attention.
• The English writer Francis Meres, in 1598, declared him to be
England’s greatest writer in comedy and tragedy.
• Writer and poet John Weever lauded “honey-tongued
Shakespeare.”
• Ben Jonson, Shakespeare’s contemporary and a literary critic in his
own right, granted that Shakespeare had no rival in the writing of
comedy, even in the ancient Classical world, and that he equaled
the ancients in tragedy as well,
• But Jonson also faulted Shakespeare for having a mediocre
command of the Classical languages and for ignoring Classical rules.
• Jonson objected when Shakespeare dramatized history extending
over many years and moved his dramatic scene around from
country to country, rather than focusing on 24 hours or so in a
single location.
• Shakespeare wrote too glibly, in Jonson’s view, mixing kings and
clowns, lofty verse with vulgarity, mortals with fairies

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What is literary criticism ?

The Classical Criticism

The Romantic Criticism

• The Romantic Criticism entered into the scenario.

Plato as a Literary Critic

• Philosophers and orators were regarded superior to poets and

Plato’s Critical Precepts

• Poet is divinely inspired like the prophets. Poetry is the result

• Ideas or heavenly archetypes alone are real. Earthly things are

• The physical world is in the form of a cave.

Plato’s Attack on Poetry

Aristotle as a Literary Critic.

• He was the most distinguished Greek philosopher of fourth century

Parts of the Tragedy

Plot imitates action. Character imitates men. Thought imitates man’s

Simple Plot and Complex Plot

• Tragedy aims at exciting pity and fear.

Horace as a Literary Critic

• Drama is dealt here as a form of poetry.

• The treatise ends with a satiric portrait of a mad poet.

Longinus as a Literary Critic

Faults that Spoil Sublimity

• It pleases all and pleases always.

• Longinus says that pleasure is the immediate end of art.

The Victorian Age

• The pages of history are replete with critical controversies. One of

• The Victorian novel-with all its abundance and variety-can be seen

Mathew Arnold as Literary Critic

• Homer is the grand master of the grand style.

Arnold’s Judgement of Poets.

Three Fold Functions of Criticism

• Thirdly, criticism seeks to establish a current of fresh and true

• It is an Indian art evolved with an emphasis on inducing special

Indian Literary Criticism

• Rasa, Dhwani and Alankara are three important concepts of Indian

• In Abhinav Bharti, he picks out few important shlokas from these

Eight Sentiments of Rasa

Rasa Meaning Deity Colour

Vibhav, Anubhava and Vyabhichari Bhavas

• Vibhav (Determinants/causes): Physical conditions for aesthetics

a. Alambana Vibhav – Substantial Determination –

b. Uddipina Vibhav – Excitant Determination – the

• The alaṁkāra siddhānta (theory of figures) of Bhamah (6th century)

• The vakrokti siddhānta( theory of oblique expression) of Kuntaka

Rasa, Dhwani and Alankara

Natya Sastra of Bharata Muni

• Kavyamimasa of Rajasekhara who also belonged to the 10th C is a

• Viswanatha’s Sahityadarpanam (14th C) is a work on the lines of

Relationship of Indian Aesthetics with Classical and

Aesthetics in Indian and Greek context

Rasa and Catharsis

• However, despite the dissimilarities there are components of

Imitation and Anukarana

• Bharata also speaks of drama as a mimetic reproduction

Rasa and Objective Correlative

Dhvani and Implied meaning

• It would be interesting, however, to know that some western critics

Vakrokti and Poetic Language

Alankara and Sublimity/Figures of Speech