The satire is a literary technique that blends ironic humor and wit with criticism for the purpose of ridiculing folly, stupidity in individuals and institutions. It aims to correct or improve the society. Though writers of all ages use satire, it is the chief device practiced by the writers of the Neo-classical period. The tone of satire varies from light and witty chiding to passionate indignation to bitter denunciation. Its chief device is irony. Other satiric devices include sarcasm, innuendo, burlesque, prosody, and caricature.
Satire is sometimes divided into formal satire and indirect satire. In formal satire, the author, or a person speaks in the first person directly to the reader or, sometimes to a character who responds and leads the speaker on. In indirect satire, the satirist creates a story or play peopled with characters who speak and act in such a manner that they themselves are the targets of satire. One form of indirect satire is Menippean satire, which according to Northrop Frye, “deals less with people……….than with mental attitudes”. Satire may also be classified as Horatian satire and Juvenile satire. Horatian satire is gentle, amused and mild in nature. In contrast, Juvenile satire is harsh, amused, and bitter.
Pope’s Rape of the Lock and Swift’s Gulliver Travels are the most pungent satires ever written in English. Byron’s Don Juan is a satiric epic in which the poet makes a sever criticism of marriage without love.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Ode in English Literature
The ode is a long lyric poem, often in the form of an address, generally dignified and serious in subject and treatment, exalted in feelings, elevated in style and elaborate in its stanziac structure. It is often inspired by some great public occasion. In it the speaker addresses someone to express his inner grief. Its thought is developed in a somber atmosphere but it ends in hope and consolation.
Odes are of three kinds: the Pindaric or regular ode, the Horatian or private ode; and the irregular ode. The Pindaric ode is developed by the Greek poet, Pindar. It is modeled on the songs by the chorus in Greek dramas. Gray’s The Progress of Poesy is a Pindaric ode. The Horatian ode is modeled on the matter, tone, and form of the odes of the Roman Horace. It has regular stanzas. It deals with personal grief of the poet. Keats’ To Autumn is a Horatian ode. The odes which are not written in regular stanzas are called irregular odes. These were introduced in 1656 by Abraham Cowley. This kind of ode may deal with public or private issues. Wordsworth’s Ode: Intimation of Immortality is an irregular ode. Despite those difference, in all these types, music is created by the use of rhythm, rhyme, and musical words.
Odes are of three kinds: the Pindaric or regular ode, the Horatian or private ode; and the irregular ode. The Pindaric ode is developed by the Greek poet, Pindar. It is modeled on the songs by the chorus in Greek dramas. Gray’s The Progress of Poesy is a Pindaric ode. The Horatian ode is modeled on the matter, tone, and form of the odes of the Roman Horace. It has regular stanzas. It deals with personal grief of the poet. Keats’ To Autumn is a Horatian ode. The odes which are not written in regular stanzas are called irregular odes. These were introduced in 1656 by Abraham Cowley. This kind of ode may deal with public or private issues. Wordsworth’s Ode: Intimation of Immortality is an irregular ode. Despite those difference, in all these types, music is created by the use of rhythm, rhyme, and musical words.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
“Imperialism”or “the evil thing” in George Orwell’s Shootinjg an Elephant
Eric Arthur Blair who wrote under the pseudo name of George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist, and critic and famous for his political satires Animal Farm, an anti-Soviet tale; and Ninenteen Eighty-Four, which shows that the destruction of language is an essential part of oppression. Orwell was an uncompromising individualist and political idealist. V. S. Pritchett called him “the wintry conscience of a generation”. His political views were shaped by his experiences of Socialism, Totalitarianism, and Imperialism all over the world. In his essay Why I write, he admitted that “Every line of serious work that I’ve written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly against Totalitarianism and for Democratic Socialism, as I understand it”. Again his ambition as a political author was to “make political writing into an art”.
So according to his claim, the essay Shooting an Elephant published in 1950 conveys the political theme, “Imperialism and its effect” which is called by him as “an evil thing”. But before we advance to write on it, we should know about its political background which is mostly related to our topic.
In the 19th century some of the European countries like England, France, and Belgium occupied many nations of Asia and Africa. They imposed colonial rule in these countries. Normally by colonization we understand two sides- the oppressor and the oppressed. But we normally never think of people like Orwell who belong to the oppressor class but suffer for their involvement in imperialism. Among the English writers there have been two views on imperialism. There have been writers like Rudyard Kipling who supported colonization whole heartedly. They thought that Europe was highly civilized and it was the duty of the European people to civilize others. And on the other hand idealists like George Orwell hated imperialism as it is against humanity.
Orwell had written the essay Shooting an Elephant recording his personal experiences, in Moulmein, in lower Burma, while he was employed as a sub-divisional police officer under British rule. He was an anti-imperialist, but his service compelled him to act as “a conventionalized figure of a sahib”. At that time the power and influence of British imperialism were unchallenged all over the world. And because of its evil activities the Europeans who used to live in Burma were hated by the “natives”. The writer said that, “If a European woman went through the bazaars alone, somebody would probably spit betel juice over her dress”.
As a police officer he has an obvious target and was baited when ever it seemed safe to do so. The yellow faced young Burmans used to insult the author when he was at a safe distance. Moreover, he informed us that “the young Buddhists priests” were the worst of all. There were several thousands of them seemed to have nothing to do except stand on street corners and jeers at Europeans.
The writer was secretly for the Burmese and all against the oppressors, the British. Orwell did not like his job because the police were employed to torture the people to perpetuate the rule of the imperialist. In his job time, he had seen “the dirty work of Empire at close quarters; the wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups; the grey, cowed faces of long-term convicts”- that oppressed him with an intolerable sense of guilt.
Sometimes, Orwell thought that “the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into Buddhist Priest guts”. Then he mentioned that, “feelings like these are the normal by products of imperialism.
In the case of shooting the elephant, which had ravaged a bazaar and killed a coolie, we get the most evil effect of imperialism upon the writer.
So according to his claim, the essay Shooting an Elephant published in 1950 conveys the political theme, “Imperialism and its effect” which is called by him as “an evil thing”. But before we advance to write on it, we should know about its political background which is mostly related to our topic.
In the 19th century some of the European countries like England, France, and Belgium occupied many nations of Asia and Africa. They imposed colonial rule in these countries. Normally by colonization we understand two sides- the oppressor and the oppressed. But we normally never think of people like Orwell who belong to the oppressor class but suffer for their involvement in imperialism. Among the English writers there have been two views on imperialism. There have been writers like Rudyard Kipling who supported colonization whole heartedly. They thought that Europe was highly civilized and it was the duty of the European people to civilize others. And on the other hand idealists like George Orwell hated imperialism as it is against humanity.
Orwell had written the essay Shooting an Elephant recording his personal experiences, in Moulmein, in lower Burma, while he was employed as a sub-divisional police officer under British rule. He was an anti-imperialist, but his service compelled him to act as “a conventionalized figure of a sahib”. At that time the power and influence of British imperialism were unchallenged all over the world. And because of its evil activities the Europeans who used to live in Burma were hated by the “natives”. The writer said that, “If a European woman went through the bazaars alone, somebody would probably spit betel juice over her dress”.
As a police officer he has an obvious target and was baited when ever it seemed safe to do so. The yellow faced young Burmans used to insult the author when he was at a safe distance. Moreover, he informed us that “the young Buddhists priests” were the worst of all. There were several thousands of them seemed to have nothing to do except stand on street corners and jeers at Europeans.
The writer was secretly for the Burmese and all against the oppressors, the British. Orwell did not like his job because the police were employed to torture the people to perpetuate the rule of the imperialist. In his job time, he had seen “the dirty work of Empire at close quarters; the wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups; the grey, cowed faces of long-term convicts”- that oppressed him with an intolerable sense of guilt.
Sometimes, Orwell thought that “the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into Buddhist Priest guts”. Then he mentioned that, “feelings like these are the normal by products of imperialism.
In the case of shooting the elephant, which had ravaged a bazaar and killed a coolie, we get the most evil effect of imperialism upon the writer.
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