Culture and Anarchy : Matthew Arnold

CULTURE AND ANARCHY

MATTHEW ARNOLD

Matthew Arnold was born at Laleham on the Thames on Dec. 24, 1822. His father, Dr. Thomas Arnold, one of the worthies whom Lytton Strachey was to portray somewhat critically in Eminent Victorians, became the celebrated master of Rugby School, and his ideals of Christian education were influential. As a young man, Matthew Arnold saw something of William Wordsworth, Robert Southey, and other veterans of English romanticism. Educated at Rugby and then at Balliol College, Oxford, he early began to write poetry. The closest friend of his youth was Arthur Hugh Clough, a poet and sometime disciple of Dr. Arnold, whose death Matthew Arnold would later mourn in his elegy "Thyrsis."

In 1844 Arnold took a second-class honors degree at Oxford, and the following year he was elected to a fellowship at Oriel College. After some teaching he became private secretary to Lord Lansdowne, who eventually had him appointed to an inspector ship of schools, a difficult, demanding job which required Arnold to do a good deal of traveling and which he held for most of his life.

CULTURE AND ANARCHY

Culture and Anarchy, major work of criticism by Matthew Arnold, published in 1869. In it Arnold contrasts culture, which he defines as “the study of perfection,” with anarchy, the prevalent mood of England’s then new democracy, which lacks standards and a sense of direction. Arnold classified English society into the Barbarians (with their lofty spirit, serenity, and distinguished manners and their inaccessibility to ideas), the Philistines (the stronghold of religious nonconformity, with plenty of energy and morality but insufficient “sweetness and light”), and the Populace (still raw and blind). He saw in the Philistines the key to culture; they were the most influential segment of society; their strength was the nation’s strength, their crudeness its crudeness; it therefore was necessary to educate and humanize the Philistines. Arnold saw in the idea of “the State,” and not in any one class of society, the true organ and repository of the nation’s collective “best self.” No summary can do justice to Culture and Anarchy, however; it is written with an inward poise, a serene detachment, and an infusion of subtle humour that make it a masterpiece of ridicule as well as a searching analysis of Victorian society. The same is true of its unduly neglected sequel, Friendship’s Garland (1871).

TOPIC	KEY POINTS	HOW DO I UNDERSTAND IT
Culture	Study of perfection .	Culture is the study of perfection, a harmonius perfection, developing all sides of our humanity and as a general perfection developing all parts of socirty.idea of knowning and becoming works here, not only having and resting but growing and becoming is the major goal of culture. It develops sense of beauty and light which leads to an unified socity.
Sweetness and Light	Sense of beauty Active intelligence	Through the sense of beauty,  and light, active intelligence on can create better society.To see everything with more than one side of a thing so that a person can know more about something clearly without any prejudices. Seeing the things as they are. For the perfection of culture both are necessary .
Doing as one likes –Anarchy	Chaos	Age of Arnold was becoming slave of machinery due to industrialism therefore he finds that a  most important thing for a man is to do as he likes. But the misinterpretation of liberty leads to chaos and amarchy .Doing as one likes may become an anti social activity, and in organised society anarchy breaks out. One ill calculated action brings chaos in society.anaarchy represents the absence of a guiding principle in one’s life which prevents one from striving to attain perfection.
Barberians ,Philistines ,  Populace	Privileged , aristocratic class, Materialistic , middle calss Poverty-stricken ,left down, lower class	Arnold calls the upper, aristocratic the barbarians ,they have personal liberty, money,maily involved in archaic traditions and gluttony ,irresponsible towards other class .FOR EXAMPLE: MISS HAVISHAM in Chrles Dickens Great Expectations. Arnold calls the philistines as materialistic, money minded . Populace are the disenfranchised, poverty- strikesn lower class who have been let down by the negligent Barberians and greedy philistines.
Hebranism and Hellenism	Resolute actions , Clear thinking	Hebraism subscribe to a strict, narrow-minded method of moral conduct and self –control which does not allow them to visualize Utopian future of belonging to an enlightened community.which we can say leads towards chaos and anarchy. Hellenism  signidies the open minded, spontaneous exploration of classical ideas and their application to contemrory society which leads to an ideal society.there must be a perfect balance of Hebranism and Hellenism in culture.
Porro Unum est Necessarium	One thing necessary	Middle class will be attracted towards Hebraism because of anarchy and to stop the anarchy they go to Hebraism , obedience.
Our Liberal Practitionaras	Close to the ground comman facts	One has to see both the sides of a thing to come to an conclusion  of any judgement.

TENNYSON AND BROWNING

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Robert Browning

Robert Browning and Alfred Tennyson were two main Victorian poets. They both were also famous in Dramatic monologue. Both the poets apply new techniques and styles in poetry writing. but both these poets adopt their own styles in their writing.

"How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use! As tho’ to breathe were life!"

Tennyson was the fourth of 12 children, born into an old Lincolnshire family, his father a rector. Alfred, with two of his brothers, Frederick and Charles, was sent in 1815 to Louth grammar school—where he was unhappy. He left in 1820, but, though home conditions were difficult, his father managed to give him a wide literary education. Alfred was precocious, and before his teens he had composed in the styles of Alexander Pope, Sir Walter Scott, and John Milton. To his youth also belongs The Devil and the Lady (a collection of previously unpublished poems published posthumously in 1930), which shows an astonishing understanding of Elizabethan dramatic verse. Lord Byron was a dominant influence on the young Tennyson.

NOTABLE WORKS :
Ulysses,
 Tithonus,
 The Eagle and In Memoriam
Break, Break, Break

"God’s in His heaven— All’s right with the world!"

Robert Browning 7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889 was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of the dramatic monologue made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. His poems are known for their irony, characterization, dark humor, social commentary, historical settings, and challenging vocabulary and syntax.

NOTABLE WORKS :

Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession (1833)
Paracelsus (1835)
Strafford (play) (1837)
Sordello (1840)
Bells and Pomegranates No. I: Pippa Passes (play) (1841) ...
Bells and Pomegranates No. II: King Victor and King Charles (play) (1842)

DIFFERANCE BETWEEN BROWNING AND TENNYSON:

👉Browning logically reveals the essence of a person whereas , Tennyson induce and plays a particular mood.

👉Browning in his poetry tries to realize human nature, society and religion. while Tennyson recalls the conscious mind an environment though ornate language.

👉Browning takes an immoral character and challenges us to find out the moral excellence while Tennyson as a source for his poetry , used many subjects from domestic conditions to observations of atmosphere .

👉Browning tries to understand human nature, religion and society properly.He studies the the innermost psychology of character. while Tennyson draws material from external specific realities, ideas and objects and tries to express it through ornamental language.

👉Browning's writings are always energetic but in Tennyson's the tone of expression is generally melancholic, where he tends to give touch of nostalgia.

👉Browning systematically depicts the essence of a character whereas Tennyson gives importance in inducing and endorsing  a particular mood.

👉Browning's poems reflects a wide range of emotional tones , Tennyson is best known for his evocation of melancholy .

👉Browning's poetic style is generally crisp and clinical while Tennyson's style is generally very lyrical and meditative .

👉Tennyson's poems featured spiritual lessons wrapped in Medieval traditions as in THE LADY OF SHALLOT. His symbolism led directly to picture of humankind's conditions.Browning's tales are related to common urban people who had uncommon psychological dilemmas, like in PORPHRIA'SLOVER they were resolved in uncommon ways not many people strangle their beloved with their own locks of hair.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ROMANTIC AND VICTORIAN ERA ?

Romantic period and Victorian period are two notable periods in literature. The romantic period was an artistic and literary movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. Victorian period is the period during the reign of Queen Victoria. 

Romantic Era	Victorian Era
Romantic Poetry predominantly used the theme of nature. In addition, themes of pastoral life, medievalism, Hellenism, supernaturalism can also be observed.	Victorian Poetry used medieval myths and legends as well as realistic issues such as the struggle between science and religion.
Romantic Poetry revered and admired nature.	Victorian Poetry treated nature in more realistic and less idealized view.
Romantic Poetry gave prominence to emotion, imagination and spontaneity.	Victorian Poetry gave more importance to intellect and realism.
Notable Romantic Poets include William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, P. B. Shelley and John Keats.	Notable Victorian Poets include Robert Browning, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Lord Tennyson.

Romantic Poetry predominantly used the theme of nature. In addition, themes of pastoral life, medievalism, Hellenism, supernaturalism can also be observed.

Victorian Poetry used medieval myths and legends as well as realistic issues such as the struggle between science and religion.

Romantic Poetry revered and admired nature.

Victorian Poetry treated nature in more realistic and less idealized view.

Romantic Poetry gave prominence to emotion, imagination and spontaneity.

Victorian Poetry gave more importance to intellect and realism.

Notable Romantic Poets include William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, P. B.Shelley and John Keats.

Notable Victorian Poets include Robert Browning, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Lord Tennyson.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHARLES DICKENS AND GEORGE ELIOT:

Documentary on  Charles Dickens

Documentary on George Eliot

Charles Dickens	George Eliot
Picaresque novels	She used third person narrative style in her works.
Writing style is marked by satire	Human perspective; she wrote with neither an exclusively male nor an exclusively female sensibility but from a well rounded human perspective.
Catchy names of the characters FOR EXAMPLE: PIP from Great Expectations Oliver from Oliver Twist	Eliot presented the cases of social outsiders and small-town persecution
Well panned plots	Depictions of rural society.
Mixture of fantacy with realism	Major works are : Silas Marner Romola Middlemarch The Mill on The Floss
Characters are from middle or lower class
Social peculiarity are ridiculed.

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Deconstruction and Derrida

DECONSTRUCTION AND DERRIDA

Deconstruction is an approach to understand the relationship between text and meaning .It is a method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language which emphasizes the internal working of language and conceptual systems , the relational quality of meaning meaning and the assumptions implicit in forms of expression.

JACQUES DERRIDA was an Anglerian born French philosopher best known for developing form of semiotic analysis known as deconstruction . he is one of the major figures associated with post structuralism and post modern philosophy.The term Deconstruction is very hard to define . As Derrida himself denies to define this term by saying that all other terms we use in philosophy or literary criticism even deconstruction can not be once and finally define.

"Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique. "

                                 He says that " Deconstruction is not destructive activity but an inquiry into the foundations, causes of intellectual system".in the concept of decentering  the center becomes important. Derrida tries to prove that one word leads us to another word rather than towards the meaning of word. It never allows to come at the center of meaning. We just assume that we understood the thing but actually it never happens , the meaning is always postponed . Derrida also discussed about binary oppositions ( good -evil, black -white, male -female, up -dawn, high - low,  ). It differentiate the meaning of one from the other in terms of one lacking something.

POST -STRUCTURALISM:

STRUCTURALISM AND POST- STRUCTURALISM:

HERE AS A POST STRUCTURALIST CRITIC I TRIED TO DECONSTRUCT A SONG :

हम देखेंगे

लाज़िम है कि हम भी देखेंगे

वो दिन कि जिसका वादा है

जो लोह-ए-अज़ल में लिखा है

जब ज़ुल्म-ओ-सितम के कोह-ए-गरां 

रुई की तरह उड़ जाएँगे

हम महकमों के पाँव तले

ये धरती धड़-धड़ धड़केगी

और अहल-ए-हकम के सर ऊपर

जब बिजली कड़-कड़ कड़केगी

जब अर्ज-ए-ख़ुदा के काबे से

सब बुत उठवाए जाएँगे

हम अहल-ए-सफ़ा, मरदूद-ए-हरम

मसनद पे बिठाए जाएँगे

सब ताज उछाले जाएँगे

सब तख़्त गिराए जाएँगे

बस नाम रहेगा अल्लाह का

जो ग़ायब भी है हाज़िर भी

जो मंज़र भी है नाज़िर भी

उट्ठेगा अन-अल-हक़ का नारा

जो मैं भी हूँ और तुम भी हो

और राज़ करेगी खुल्क-ए-ख़ुदा

जो मैं भी हूँ और तुम भी हो

 This song was written by a pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, against the pakistani ruler, but some people are considering it as anti hindu. But if we read it from a completely different perspective, we find it relevant to any nation, because many nations are suffering from poverty,  lack of Education, food, and health because of some selfish politicians, so it becomes difficult to understand if it is about Pakistan or all the nations?  बस नाम रहेगा अल्लाह का

जो ग़ायब भी है हाज़िर भी

जो मंज़र भी है नाज़िर भी in this line it is said that Allah ( God ) is present as well as absent , here a question of the existence of God arrives ,if he is present or not? we don't get the perfect answer of it. 

STRUCTURALISM

THINKING ACTIVITY

STRUCTURALISM

HELLO READERS,

                          Today's blog is about  Structuralism . Structuralism is a movement of thought in the humanities, widespread in anthropology, linguistics, and literary theory, and influential in the 1950s and ’60s. Based primarily on the linguistic theories of Ferdinand de Saussure, structuralism considered language as a system of signs and signification, the elements of which are understandable only in relation to each other and to the system. In literary theory, structuralism challenged the belief that a work of literature reflected a given reality; instead, a text was constituted of linguistic conventions and situated among other texts. Structuralist critics analyzed material by examining underlying structures, such as characterization or plot, and attempted to show how these patterns were universal and could thus be used to develop general conclusions about both individual works and the systems from which they emerged. The anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss was an important champion of structuralism, as was Roman Jakobsen. Northrop Frye’s attempts to categorize Western literature by archetype had some basis in structuralist thought. Structuralism regarded language as a closed, stable system, and by the late 1960s it had given way to Post-modernism.

In simple way language means the entire human potential for speech. Langue means the system that each of us uses to generate discourse which is intelligible to others, and the Parole is individual utterance.

SIGN=SIGNIFIER =SIGNIFIED 

Sign is anything that conveys the message .Singifier gives meaning in words or image and Signified is related with mental concept , what evokes in mind .

FOR EXAMPLE:

COW IS SIGN

SIGNIFIER IS FOUR LAGGED ANIMAL

RELIGIOUS BELIEF COW AS GAUMATA IS SIGNIFIED

                  Genette has given the concept of narratology. Mainly the five concepts were used by Genette  in NARRATIVE DISCOURSE : AN ESSAY IN METHOD.

                                  

                                              1] ORDER,

                                              2]FREQUENCY

                                              3] DURATION

                                              4] VOICE 

                                              5] MOOD 

1] ORDER :

Story arrangements are like this :

- murder occurs , event 1

- the circumstances of murder revealed to a detective ,event 2

-finally the murderer is caught , event 3

Example :

In this tv series first the murder happens Event -1 , then the detectives solves the case with the investigtion  finding out the reasons of the murder Event -2, then the murderer get caught that is Event -3.

2] FREQUENCY :

The separation between an event and its narration allows several possibilities .

Singular - An event can occur once and be narrated once ,

Iterative - An event can occur n times and be naratted once 

Repetitive - An event can occur once and be narrated n times 

Multiple - An event can occur  n times and be narated n times 

FOR EXAMPLE :

3] DURATION :

There are the two main elements of duration. first in ten years passed but in  a short narrative  time means the whole long story of ten or more years narrated in just few seconds or minutes .

FOR EXAMPLE :

In most of the Hindi tv serials we find the time leap. (i just took one examples coz the list is so long ).

4]VOICE 

SAMAY FROM THE TV SERIAL MAHABHARATA

Voice is concerned with who narrates and from where . it has four ways.

~Intra-diegetic , inside the text .

~Extra - diegetic , ouside the text 

~ Hetero - diegetic , narrator is not a character in the story .

5] MOOD 

 Genette said narrative mood is dependent on the distance and perspective of the narrator , and like music , narrative mood has predominant patterns. it is related to voice. Distance of the narrator changes with narrated speech , stransposed speech  and reported speech .

FOR EXAMPLE :

In the movie Sholay Suramabhopali  was narrating the different story rather than what actually happened .

[So here i tried to apply the theory of structuralism on some movies and tv serials , after reading my blog if you have any doubts or suggestion kindly write it down in the comment section.]

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