Literary Criticism 3

Flashcards covering Victorian Criticism, Aestheticism, Decadence, Realism, Formalism, New Criticism, Structuralism, and Poststructuralism based on Dr. Kalyani Vallath's lecture notes.

Who is described by Matthew Arnold as the first modern critic and the "critics' critic"?

Matthew Arnold

Through which work did Matthew Arnold introduce a methodology of objective literary criticism?

Essays in Criticism

How did Matthew Arnold categorize the social classes of Victorian society?

Aristocracy as Barbarians, Middle class as Philistines, and Working class as Populace.

What did Matthew Arnold critique in Victorian bourgeois society while stressing spiritual and moral values?

Utilitarianism, scientism, positivism, and rationalism.

Where was Matthew Arnold's essay "The Study of Poetry" originally published?

As the introduction to T. H. Ward's anthology, The English Poets (1880).

In which later collection did Matthew Arnold's "The Study of Poetry" appear?

Essays in Criticism, Second Series.

Who is the intended target audience for Matthew Arnold's "The Study of Poetry"?

The general middle class reader with an interest in poetry.

Why does Matthew Arnold claim in "The Study of Poetry" that "The Future of poetry is immense"?

Because in poetry, humanity will find an ever surer stay as creeds and religions are shaken.

According to Matthew Arnold, what happens to science without poetry?

Science will appear incomplete.

According to Matthew Arnold, what will replace most of what passes for religion and philosophy?

Poetry.

What famous concise definition does Matthew Arnold give for poetry in relation to life?

Poetry is the criticism of life.

What standard must be set for poetry if it is to fulfill higher spiritual and emotional destinies?

A high standard / high order of excellence.

What three abuses or fallacies does Matthew Arnold warn against in "The Study of Poetry"?

Charlatanism, Historical Fallacy, and Personal Fallacy.

Which early French epic poem did M. Vitet estimate highly, but Arnold considers a false classic compared to Homer?

Chanson de Roland.

Which Anglo-Saxon poet did critics inappropriately compare to Milton, cited by Arnold as an abuse of historical estimation?

Caedmon.

What is Matthew Arnold's Touchstone Method?

A comparative method to assess the relative merit of a work by comparing short passages or single lines from it against excerpts from classical writers like Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and Milton.

What passage from Dante's Paradiso does Matthew Arnold cite as a touchstone?

"In His will is our peace."

From which work is the touchstone passage "I wailed not, so of stone grew I within; / they wailed." taken?

Dante's Inferno (Ugolino's words).

From which classical work is the touchstone passage beginning "So said she; they long since in Earth's soft arms were reposing…" taken?

Homer's Iliad (Helen mentioning her brothers).

Guided by Aristotle's observation on history versus poetry, what two qualities must the substance and matter of best poetry possess?

High truth and high seriousness.

According to Arnold, what two main dimensions of best poetry must carry a mark of high beauty, worth, and power?

Matter and substance (on one hand) and style and manner (on the other).

Why does Matthew Arnold evaluate Geoffrey Chaucer as not being among the supreme classics?

Because Chaucer lacks spoudaiotes (high and excellent seriousness).

What Aristotelian term does Matthew Arnold use to describe the high seriousness missing in Chaucer's poetry?

Spoudaiotes.

Which phrase from Edmund Spenser does Arnold quote to describe Geoffrey Chaucer?

"well of English undefiled"

Which three poets does Arnold explicitly list as possessing the high seriousness that Chaucer lacks?

Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare.

How does Matthew Arnold categorize John Dryden and Alexander Pope?

As classics of our prose, not poetical classics.

Where is genuine poetry composed according to Matthew Arnold, in contrast to the poetry of Dryden and Pope?

Genuine poetry is conceived and composed in the soul, whereas Dryden and Pope's poetry is conceived and composed in their wits.

Whom does Arnold call the "puissant and glorious founder" and

John Dryden is the founder, and Alexander Pope is the high priest.

Whom does Matthew Arnold designate as the single poetical classic of the 18th century age of prose and reason?

Thomas Gray.

How does Robert Burns's poetic manner differ from Geoffrey Chaucer's according to Arnold?

Burns has a fiery, reckless energy and a manner with spring and boundless swiftness, whereas Chaucer has fluidity and charm.

In which two productions does Matthew Arnold state that Robert Burns's poetic genius triumphs completely over his world?

Tam o' Shanter and The Jolly Beggars.

According to Matthew Arnold, what deep human instinct ensures that good literature will never lose currency or supremacy?

The instinct of self-preservation in humanity.

During which decade was William Wordsworth at the height of his popularity at Cambridge according to Arnold?

Between 1830 and 1840.

Complete Arnold's evaluation of Wordsworth: "His poetry is the __________, his philosophy … is the __________."

reality; illusion.

Which group of William Wordsworth's poems does Arnold consider his absolute best?

His dozen short poems.

Beside which supreme English poet does Matthew Arnold place John Keats, asserting "He is, he is, with…"?

Shakespeare.

Which two major poems by John Keats does Arnold identify as a failure and an incomplete success due to a lack of architectonics?

Endymion (failure) and Hyperion (not a success).

What power did John Keats lack in his longer poems when compared to Shakespeare?

The power of moral interpretation and the architectonics of poetry.

In "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time," what two powers must concur for great creation to occur?

The power of the man and the power of the moment.

What is the core function of criticism according to Matthew Arnold?

To make the best ideas prevail and to learn and propagate the best that is known and thought in the world.

What quality must criticism maintain to avoid being stifled by practical considerations in England?

It must be disinterested (disinterested curiosity).

What cultural setup does Arnold advocate for critics to create a common intellectual foundation?

A European confederation bound to joint action and equipped with knowledge of Greek, Roman, and Eastern antiquity.

Why did Matthew Arnold exclude his poem Empedocles on Etna from his collection Poems 1853?

Because he found it too depressing and not leading to suitable action or imparting high pleasure.

Where does Matthew Arnold advise modern poets to turn for themes and subjects in his Preface to Poems (1853)?

To the ancients (classical literature).

Who is Matthew Arnold's primary model of a simple grand style?

Homer.

Who is Matthew Arnold's primary model of a severe grand style?

Milton.

Which classic author serves as Matthew Arnold's example of both simple and severe grand style?

Dante.

How does Matthew Arnold define "Culture" in Culture and Anarchy?

High Culture, as "the study of perfection".

What distinction does Arnold make between Hellenism and Hebraism in Culture and Anarchy?

Hellenism represents spontaneity of consciousness (paganism, beauty, freedom), while Hebraism represents strictness of consciousness (austere monotheism, conforming to rules).

Which critical approach and doctrine are associated with Walter Pater?

Subjectivist/impressionistic criticism, Aestheticism, and the doctrine of "art for art's sake".

What is the main conclusion of Walter Pater's Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873)?

Art exists for the sake of its beauty alone, enhancing sensuous apprehension without needing moral standards or utilitarian functions.

In which 1885 novel does Walter Pater elaborately discuss his ideal of an aesthetic and religious life?

Marius the Epicurean.

What short story genre did Walter Pater invent, featured in his 1887 publication?

Imaginary Portraits.

Which 1889 collection of critical essays by Pater contains his famous "Essay on Style"?

Appreciations.

How does Walter Pater define the "Romantic" spirit in his Postscript?

As the addition of strangeness to beauty in art.

How does Pater distinguish "Classic" from "Romantic" in his Postscript?

Classic gives the tranquil charm of familiarity and convention, while Romantic represents liberty, innovation, and strangeness added to beauty.

What unique physical writing process did Walter Pater use when composing his essays?

He filled little squares of paper with ideas, shuffled them to form patterns, and wrote on ruled paper keeping alternate lines blank.

According to Pater's essay "Style" (1888), what three elements must a writer present in their subject?

Diction, Design, and Personality (soul in style).

Which work serves as Oscar Wilde's manifesto of aestheticism?

The Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray.

What two famous assertions about art appear in Oscar Wilde's Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray?

"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book" and "Art is quite useless".

Who are the two speakers in Oscar Wilde's dialogue "The Critic as Artist"?

Ernest and Gilbert.

According to Gilbert in Wilde's "The Critic as Artist", what is the nature of highest criticism?

Criticism is itself an art, self-conscious and deliberate, and more creative than creation.

What term describes John Ruskin's social writing persona as a polemical prose writer seeking cultural change?

Victorian Sage writer, or Prophet.

Which English painter did John Ruskin defend against Neoclassical critics in Modern Painters (1843)?

J.M.W. Turner.

What literary term was coined by John Ruskin to describe attributing human emotions to inanimate things?

Pathetic fallacy.

What ethical concept of art did John Ruskin advocate in contrast to "art for art's sake"?

Art for Life's Sake.

Which moral principle from Ruskin's The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849) inspired William Morris and the conservation movement?

The Lamp of Memory.

What two works on political economy did John Ruskin write attacking classical economics?

Unto This Last (1862) and Munera Pulveris (1872).

What are the titles of the two parts of John Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies (1865)?

"Of Kings' Treasuries" and "Of Queens' Gardens".

What was the title of John Ruskin's one-man monthly magazine addressed to British workers?

Fors Clavigera.

What is the title of John Ruskin's autobiography written between 1885 and 1889?

Praeterita.

In response to whose lecture did Henry James write "The Art of Fiction" (1884)?

Walter Besant (lecture titled "Fiction as One of the Fine Arts").

In which publication was Henry James's "The Art of Fiction" published in 1884?

Longman's Magazine.

How does Henry James define the novel in "The Art of Fiction"?

A personal, direct impression of life that produces the complex illusion of life.

To whose work does Henry James compare the novelist's task in "The Art of Fiction"?

The painter (and philosophy/history).

How does Henry James metaphorically define human experience in "The Art of Fiction"?

An immense sensibility, a huge spiderweb of the finest silken threads suspended in the chamber of consciousness.

What two narrative techniques did Henry James famously employ in his novels?

Unreliable narrator and narrator as centre-of-consciousness.

What two types of vision does Percy Lubbock analyze in The Craft of Fiction (1921)?

Panoramic vision and Scenic vision.

Which authors are cited by Percy Lubbock as primary examples of panoramic vision?

Fielding, Balzac, George Eliot, and Thackeray.

Which novel is used by Percy Lubbock to illustrate the scenic vision focused on one character's consciousness?

Jane Austen's Emma.

What two uses of language does I.A. Richards distinguish in Principles of Literary Criticism (1924)?

The scientific use and the emotive use.

What four kinds of meaning are identified by I.A. Richards in Practical Criticism (1929)?

Sense, feeling, tone, and intention.

What international auxiliary language system was developed by C.K. Ogden and I.A. Richards in 1930?

Basic English (British American Scientific International and Commercial English).

What landmark 1930 work on literary analysis was written by William Empson?

The Seven Types of Ambiguity.

Name two critical works by William Empson published posthumously in 1986 and 1987.

Essays on Shakespeare (1986) and Faustus and the Censor (1987).

Which two critical textbooks were co-authored by Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren?

Understanding Poetry (1936) and Understanding Fiction (1943).

What famous 1947 work by Cleanth Brooks examines paradox and the "Heresy of Paraphrase"?

The Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry.

What journal did F.R. Leavis edit to promote practical and collaborative criticism?

Scrutiny.

What term refers to F.R. Leavis's ideology that culture belongs to the minority of the educated elite?

Leavisism.

Name two major books written by F.R. Leavis in 1932 and 1948.

New Bearings in English Poetry (1932) and The Great Tradition (1948).

What critical term did John Crowe Ransom propose in The World's Body (1938)?

Ontological criticism.

Which 1941 book by John Crowe Ransom named the dominant formalist movement in American critical theory?

The New Criticism.

Which school of critical thought included R.S. Crane, Elder Olson, Richard McKeon, Norman McLean, and Bernard Weinberg?

The Chicago School (Neo-Aristotelians).

Which posthumously published 1913 work established Ferdinand de Saussure's foundation of semiology?

Course in General Linguistics.

What key distinction in linguistics did Saussure establish between language system and speech performance?

Langue (language system) and Parole (speech performance).

What three trichotomies of signs were formulated by Charles Sanders Peirce?

1. Icon, index, symbol; 2. Qualisign, sinsign, legisign; 3. Rheme, dicisign, argument.

In The Savage Mind (1962), what contrast does Claude Lévi-Strauss establish between two modes of problem-solving/creation?

The comparison of the Bricoleur and the Engineer.

What five codes did Roland Barthes establish in S/Z (1970)?

Hermeneutic, Proairetic, Semic, Symbolic, and Cultural codes.

What famous 1968 essay by Roland Barthes marked a shift from authorial intention to reader-centered meaning?

Death of the Author.

What analytical narrative framework was introduced by A.J. Greimas in Structural Semantics (1966)?

The Actantial Model.