The Wasteland by T S Eliot

 Hello Friends !

               Once again warmly welcome to my blog. So, this blog is the part of my thinking activity task. 

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💠 "The Wasteland" by T S Eliot :-

                       T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land exhibits the sordid reality of the crisis of western civilization in the aftermath of World War I (1914-1918), which was the most destructive war in human history to that point. Many people saw the poem as an indictment of the postwar European culture and as an expression of disillusionment with contemporary society, which Eliot believed was culturally barren.

              In modern era epic poem was very famous. During that time T.S.Eliot written one of the modern epic poem " The Waste Land". This epic poem divided into different five parts like as,

1) The Burial Of the Dead ( 76 Lines )

2) A game of Chess ( 96 Lines )

3) The Fire Sermon ( 139 Lines )

4) Death by Water ( 10 lines )

5) What the thunder Said ( 113 Lines ) 

 

                         " The Waste land " also represented the sexual perversion and spiritual degradation. This poem also difficult to understand because in the poem T.S.Eliot used various myths and references with symbolic way. This poem presented writers stream of consciousness, first world war, industrialization, worried of atmosphere, globalization with Indian mythical ways.

💠 (1) What are your views on the following image after reading 'The Waste Land'? Do you think that Eliot is regressive as compared to Nietzche's views? or Has Eliot achieved universality of thought by recalling mytho-historical answer to the contemporary malaise?

             Here we can find the conflict of different views between Eliot and Nietzsche. Eliot believe in supernatural power whereas Nietzsche like an atheist, but both are right in their own way. Through the mythical views like Upnishada ,logic, supernatural power and various cultures, Eliot wants to evoke the people that past is very good lesson to make better future, people can learn through past and from supernatural things.

While Nietzsche believe in human power as 'superman', he is not believe in supernatural things and tradition, for him The God is dead and he says that man can survive and make better future himself.                      

💠(2) Prior to the speech, Gustaf Hellström of the Swedish Academy made these remarks:

What are your views regarding these comments? Is it true that giving free vent to the repressed 'primitive instinct' lead us to happy and satisfied life? or do you agree with Eliot's view that 'salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition'?

                            According to my opinion Free vent to the repressed primitive instinct will automatically leads towards anarchy. We don't create disorganization in the community and world. Here in the epic poem I think Eliot has powerful ideas rather than Sigmund Freud. Another thing is that We all are lives our lives with specific perspective, with discipline and with moral rituals. Although life became more appropriate and enjoyable. Thus here i don't agree with idea of Freud.

💠(3) Write about allusions to the Indian thoughts in 'The Waste Land'. (Where, How and Why are the Indian thoughts referred?

(1) The Fire Sermon :-

              “The Fire Sermon” is also the name of one of a sermon given by Buddha. The whole poem describe the theme of sexual perversion and by referring to this sermon of Buddha because he also wants to convey a message to stay detached from all the senses. 

(2) Three 'DA' :-

                 The Waste Land reiterates the three cardinal virtues of Damyata (Restraint), Datta (Charity) and Dayadhvam (Compassion).

• Datta- to give sacrifice for others and help to others.

• Dayadhvam- Sympathies yourself with the sorrows and suffering of others, come out of your isolation and love into others. 

• Damyata- Self control, control over one's passion and desire.

💠 "Shantih" mantra :-

                 The Shantih mantra is for inner peace. Eliot ends his poem with this mantra and with hope. The hope of re-birth, end of modern malaises, and growth of spirituality.

Thank you........

💠 Reference :-

Mcleod, Saul. Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development. www.simplypsychology.org/psychosexual.html

      

General Characteristics of the Modern Age

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              Literary modernism, or modernist literature, has its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction. Modernists experimented with literary form and expression, as exemplified by Ezra Pound's maxim to "Make it new." This literary movement was driven by a conscious desire to overturn traditional modes of representation and express the new sensibilities of their time. The horrors of the First World War saw the prevailing assumptions about society reassessed, and much modernist writing engages with the technological advances and societal changes of modernity moving into the 20th century.

So, in this blog I have discussed about various characteristics of the modern age. This particular blog is part of my thinking activity task wich was assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir.

👉 General Characteristics of the Modern Age :-

• Industrialization
• Liberty
• Enlightenment
• Science And Technology
• Impact of Socio-economic conditions on literature
• The influence of radio and cinema

💠 Industrialization :-

The era known as the industrial revolution is a period in which fundamental changes occurred in agriculture, textile and metal manufacture, transportation and communication, as well as economic policy. Factories and industries were incorporated into daily life and cities across the world. This time period left many positive and negative lasting effects on the modern world, some of which are still seen today, as well as the advances of different inventions from the era. . During the industrial revolution, the first commerce to make sufficient progress was called the textile Industry. This consumer based industry started this advances when the agricultural revolution, a period of time in which changes in the production of food and the tools used during the time, caused many men to move to the cities in search for Job's. Without earning money by farming or working in a family business, many made the choice to work in factories.

💠 Enlightenment :-

Enlightenment was an explosion of popular idea that occurred in the 18th century that would go on to define the modern age. These served to undermine the existing order with idea of Liberty , materialism, scepticism, progress, toleration , fraternity, rationality, constitutional Government and separation of Church and state.

💠 Liberty :-

The modern era saw the rise of democracy is a dominant political system in the introduction of Liberty, rights and freedom. The American revolutionary war and French revolution of the late eighteenth century shook the world with new possibilities were overthrown or reformed to become constitutional monarchies. The American abolished slavery in 1863. In 1920, the nineteenth Amendment to the United States constitutional granted the right to vote to all women.

💠 Science and Technology :-

Progress and regress both are fruits of the scientific revolution. Which has been the outstanding feature of this century. The perfecting of the internal combustion engine made possible the aeroplane and other means of mass slaughter in the two world wars. In peacetime the motor car and motorcycle gave almost unlimited mobility to millions, medical science and genetic engineering break new ground and explore the basis of human behaviour and diseases. Controversial technologies from organ transplantation to cloning become standard subjects of debate. The increased use of psychotropic drugs and the quest for " Spiritual " peace by any means through the 1970s produced some excellent literature on either side of the Atlantic. Man's growing mastery of the physical world and its material resources is a story of ever accelerating progress accompanied in its later phases by an unprecedented moral and spiritual relapse.

💠 Impact of Socioeconomic conditions on literature:

The economic and social changes influenced the 20'Th century literature. The rapid industrial development changed social and economic scenario. The landed aristocracy and agricultural labourer were in great trouble. Young villagers began to migrate to industrial towns. There was complete break up of rural way of life. The urbanization changed the pattern of social relationship. Money became a key factor in all-human relationship. Economists raised their voice against poverty. The changed pattern of social behaviour influenced literature. Marxism and socialism came into existence and they influenced the authors of the period.

💠The influence of radio and cinema:

In the modern age radio and cinema showed great impact on literature. The radio brought literature into the home. It opened an entirely new field for authors. Cinema also played an important role. The invention of locomotive and telegraph, rapid and cheap intercommunication resulted in an intellectual revolution. Printing was multiplied and cheapened.

Thank you.........

Modernism & modernist poems

 Hello friends !

         Warmly welcome you to my blog.This is my thinking activity task given by Dilip Barad sir. In this blog I have discussed about the modernism and various modernist poems. In this  I have to identify modern metaphors in these short poems. Before starting this, it is necessary to understand about Modernism.

👉 CLICK HERE to view about this task.

💠 Modernism :-

"Perpetual modernism

 is the measure of merit in 

every work of art."     

                                                             ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

             The term modernism is also used to refer to literary movements other than the European and American movement of the early to mid-20th century. This movement rejected traditional values and techniques, and emphasized the importance of individual experience. Modernism, in general, includes the activities and creations of those who felt the traditional forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, philosophy, social organization, activities of daily life, and sciences, were becoming ill-fitted to their tasks and outdated in the new economic, social, and political environment of an emerging fully industrialized world.

   👉 Some features of modernism :-

• High degree of complexity in structure.
• Rework tradition
• Works are intensity self -reflexive exploring the process their own compositions.
• A great deal of experimentation with language and form.
• An interest in subjectivity and the working of the human consciousness.
• Often rejects realism and the idea that art has to capture really.

👉  While reading this modern poems it takes too much thinking and sometimes we can not get the core meaning of the poems. This poems are very short but meanings are difficult to get. So, these ten modern poems are below.  let's try find out the it's meaning.

💠 "The Embankment" by T. E. Hulme :-

                    T. E. Hulme (1883-1917) was an influential poet and thinker in the first few years of the twentieth century. He revolutionized the way English poetry approached issues of rhyme,meter and imagery. So, in this poem poet used many modern metaphors like ‘fallen gentleman’, ‘Finesse of fiddles’, ‘Flash of gold hills’, ‘Star eaten blanket’. And also through this metaphor poet described the poverty of people. It may be related with sexual temptation. 

💠"Darkness" by Joseph Campbell :-

Darkness.

I stop to watch a star shine in the boghole –

A star no longer, but a silver ribbon of light.

I look at it, and pass on.

                     Joseph Campbell  (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American Professor of Literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the human experience. This poem completed into only 4 lines .  In this poem we find that the title of the poem " Darkness" itself connected with death or negativity. And also we find the contradictions between dark and shiny star, by using this it may tell about the illusion of life. Star in boghole may be symbolize as modern civilization.

💠"Image" by Edward Storer :-

Forsaken lovers,

Burning to a chaste white moon,

Upon strange pyres of loneliness and drought.

In this poem the poet uses white moon as a symbol. To connect hearts of two lovers used white moon. opposite side they can't cheat each other but something burn lovers. We also find loneliness in it. This poem also reflects the disillusionment and the brokenness of civilization especially after the World war

💠 "In a Station of the Metro‘" by Ezra Pound :-

THE apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

This is very short modern poem written by Ezra pound. It is considered as a first haiku written in English. Petals on wet black bought" is a very good metaphor used by poet. Through this metaphor poet tells about the faces of individual in the metro. we also find loneliness of the people. Lifelessness of the people of city is reflected in this poem.

💠 "The Pool‘" by H. D. (Hilda Doolittle) :-

Are you alive?

I touch you.

You quiver like a sea-fish.

I cover you with my net.

What are you—banded one?

Here we find that the poem start with a question which is related existentialism and it is considered as a one of the important aspect of modern literature. The metaphor "sea-fish" seems to suggest that the life of modern people is controlled by authority.

💠 "Insouciance‘" by Richard Aldington :-

IN and out of the dreary trenches,

Trudging cheerily under the stars,

I make for myself little poems

Delicate as a flock of doves.

They fly away like white-winged doves.

Aldington was known best for his First World War poetry, the 1929 novel, Death of a Hero, and the controversy resulting from his 1955 Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Inquiry. This poem speaks about how people were living in modern age. The word dreary trenches presents the loneliness in the life of modern people. In that isolation they try to relief themselves by writing down their feelings in a words. As poet says that, ‘I make for myself little poems’ through this poet express his feeling in isolation.

💠 "Morning at the Window" by T S Eliot :-

They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,

And along the trampled edges of the street

I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids

Sprouting despondently at area gates.

The brown waves of fog toss up to me

Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,

And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts

An aimless smile that hovers in the air

And vanishes along the level of the roofs.

This poem written in London, Shortly after the outbreak WWI. We can find modern metaphors like , ‘brown waves’, ‘twisted faces’, ‘aimless smile’ and ‘muddy skirt’ – it also gives an idea about the poverty. This poem gives images and symbols of the dead spirit in people, doing everything aimlessly.

💠 "The Red Wheelbarrow‘s" by William Carlos Williams :-

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

               

                            This poem very difficult to understand and find modern metaphors. The words 'rain' and 'water' also symbolises positive and negative. The colours 'red' and 'white' are also used in dual way. 

💠 "Anecdote of the Jar" by Wallace Stevens :-

I placed a jar in Tennessee,   

And round it was, upon a hill.   

It made the slovenly wilderness   

Surround that hill.

The wilderness rose up to it,

And sprawled around, no longer wild.   

The jar was round upon the ground   

And tall and of a port in air.

It took dominion everywhere.   

The jar was gray and bare.

It did not give of bird or bush,   

Like nothing else in Tennessee.

                           This  is  a imaginative poem which exaggerate the picture of jar. Poet placed that jar upon hill, jar reminds us the "Grecian Urn" by Keats.  Poets sing the glory of the jar and also ask the question that which is superior 'a work of art or nature?' 

💠" l(a" by E. E. Cummings :-

l(a... (a leaf falls on loneliness)

                 This poem is to short. In this poem we find only few lines but it's gives the feeling of loneliness.  The leaf is fallen because of loneliness that’s why we can connect this idea with the idea of death. 

Thank you..........

Charlie Chaplin The Modern Time

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                Warmly welcome you to my blog. This is my new task on the study of various frames in Charlie Chaplin's two mejor movies "The Modern Time" and "The Great Dictator". This task was given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. We all know that these both Film Played a vital role in the modernist literature. So, let's discuss.

💠 Charlie Chaplin The Modern Time  :-

“As for politics, I’m an anarchist.

 I hate governments and rules and fetters. Can’t stand caged animals. 

People must be free.”

~ Charlie Chaplin

                      ( Full movie of The modern time)
 

                     Modern Times is a 1936 American silent comedy film written and directed by Charlie Chaplin in which his iconic Little Tramp character struggles to survive in the modern, industrialized world. The film is a comment on the desperate employment and financial conditions many people faced during the Great Depression-conditions created, in Chaplin's view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialization.

                            Charlie Chaplin's The modern time shaws the struggle  to survive in the modern, industrialized world. We continue to look at the impact of the Industrial Revolution as we see the growth of Industrialization through Mass production & the factory system. 

                        In this frame we find that the human are slaves of industry, machine and also modern system. This frame we find that industrialists control over workers indirectly present the human liberty and also capitalist.And also the film progress the one great metaphor is used by Charlie Chaplin's The modern time is "Sheeple mentality " in modern days presenting the frame of flock of sheep. And also it comparing with the people of modern time.

Virtual Teacher's Day 2020

 Hello friends !

                   Warmly welcome to my blog. In COVID-19 we the students of Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University  had celebrated this "Teacher's Day 2020" virtually. In this virtual teacher's day celebration all students came with their new and innovative ideas. And we made promotional video for this. So, the promotional video of Virtual Teacher's day is below, 

                     So,  in this virtual teacher's day celebration I have presented the topic " Overview of "To The Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf ". So this video is available on YouTube. View this video and give you valuable likes and comments. Feel free to give any suggestions. The video of my presentation is given below,

After watching the video you can give the online test on the basis of your understanding. I have put my online quiz link below. So, click on this link and appear the test.

Quiz link ..........

So, after apear the online quiz you will get this type of auto generated e-certificate. Like this

👉 Now, here you can see the one video viewers chart of You Tube , Facebook and also online Test . How many viewers I had  on 7th September.

YouTube	117
Facebook	292
Online Test	23

Thank you.......