Course Packet
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
California State University, Bakersfield
Department of English
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Group Discussion Questions for Plato’s Ion
· Explore the form of the “Socratic” dialogue. From the standpoint of logic and argumentation, how does it work? What advantages does it offer as a means of developing ideas and clarifying them?
· Discuss the persona of Socrates. He is an historical figure, but in the context of Plato’s dialogues he is largely an invention. Consider his personality, voice, manner, and habits of mind. How does he function to accomplish Plato’s purpose?
· Consider Ion’s claim about his understanding and interest in Homer and his disinterest and his lack of understanding in other poets. Think about the implications of his statements as they relate to the intellectual processes of poets, critics, actors, rhapsodes, etc.?
· Consider Plato’s claims about the nature of the poet and the rhapsode, as well as the nature and source of poetry itself? Think about the epistemological implications of his statements (the relationship of poetry to truth and wisdom, which are the goals of philosophy).
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Plato’s Aesthetics in Ion
Plato’s Dialogues
Period One: After 399 B.C.E.
Apology of Socrates
Crito
Gorgias
Ion
Middle Period: 380-367 B.C.E.
Symposium
Cratylus
Republic
The Late Period: 366-360 B.C.E.
Timaeus
Critias
Sophist
Phaedrus
The “Socratic” Dialogue Form
From the Norton Anthology: “Characteristic of these early dialogues is Socrates’ disarming claim of ignorance and a formal technique of cross-examination called elenchus, a method of questioning designed to lead the learner through stages of reasoning and to expose the contradictions in an opponent’s original statement” (34).
Plato’s “Idealism” and his Theory of Criterion Form (from the writings of the middle period)
There exists an immaterial realm of pure Forms or Ideas. In this realm of the Ideal pure Truth resides. All things in physical nature are the product of mimesis or imitation, and as such they are imperfect manifestations of ideal forms constituted eternally in the absolute. Thus all human creations, specifically art, architecture, music, poetry, and drama, are imperfect imitations of the Ideal, and are removed from pure truth. Since art is an imitation of Nature, and Nature is an imitation of the Ideal, art is an imitation of an imitation.
Ion
· Ion is a rhapsode, a reciter and an interpreter of poetry, by analogy a critic
· Homer and others are the poets
· Ion claims he cannot speak of other poets besides Homer, even those he has probably read
· Socrates claims, then, that his interpretation of Homer is a product of “divine madness,” irrationality, inspiration from the Gods, not rational judgment
· Poetry is the product of the irrational mind
· The relationship of poetry and truth, in Ion, appears to be an ambiguous one
“For the poet is an airy thing, winged and holy, and he is not able to make poetry until he becomes inspired and goes out of his mind and his intellect is no longer in him. As a human being has his intellect in his possession he will always lack the power to make poetry or sing prophesy” (Norton Critical Plato 41).
The Terms of the Debate as Established by Plato
Is poetry (or any art form for that matter) the product of inspiration, intuition, imagination, genius, generative irrationality, even divine madness, as is maintained by Plato (4th Century B.C.E. Greek), Longinus (1st century Roman), Friedrich Von Schiller (18th Century German), William Wordworth (18th and 19th Century Englishman), and Ralph Waldo Emerson (19th Century American)?
Or, is poetry (or any art form for that matter) the product of “art,” meaning artisanship or artistry: learning, craft, rational and systematic rules of constructions and critical judgment, as is maintained by Horace (1st Century B.C.E.), Geoffrey of Vinsauf (13th Century Englishman) and Alexander Pope (18th Century Englishman)?
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Discussion Questions for Aristotle’s Poetics
In your groups, discuss the following passage and be prepared to paraphrase it for the rest of the class.
1) Page 1, complete paragraphs 2 and 3, beginning “Epic poetry and tragedy”
2) Page 3, complete paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 4 beginning “Poetry in general”
3) Page 4, complete paragraphs 4 and 5, beginning “Epic poetry agrees”
4) Page 4, complete paragraph 6, beginning “Tragedy, then, is an imitation”
5) Page 5, complete paragraph 2, beginning “Again, Tragedy is an imitation”
6) Page 8, complete paragraphs 3 and 4, beginning “Reversal of the Situation”
7) Page 9, complete paragraph 2, beginning “A perfect tragedy should”
8) Page 11, complete paragraph 1, beginning “As in the structure of the plot”
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Aristotle’s Poetics
Methodology and Epistemology
Inductive (sense-based) Reasoning
Proto-empiricism
Pragmatism
Categorization, differentiation, and classification
The Parts of Tragedy
Plot
Character
Diction
Thought (Reasoning)
Spectacle
Song
Central Ideas and Terms
Imitation (mimesis)
Reversal (peripeteia)
Recognition (anagnorisis)
Unity of action
Tragic hero
Tragic flaw (hamartia)
Catharsis (to cleanse and/or purge the emotions of pity and fear)
God from the machine (dues ex machina)
Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy (Richard Janco translation): Tragedy is a representation of a serious, complete action which has magnitude, in embellished speech, with each of its elements [used] separately in the [various] parts [of the play]; [represented] by people acting and not by narration; accomplishing by means of pity and terror the catharsis of such emotions.
Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy (S. H. Butcher translation) Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in 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 effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Group Questions for Sophocles’s Oedipus the King
1) Explore Oedipus as a “tragic hero” as Aristotle defines him. Does he conform to Aristotle’s model? What characteristics does he possess that Aristotle identifies? Are there any ways that he does not conform to Aristotle’s idea?
2) Discuss the play in terms of Aristotelian “unities.” What evidence do you find from the plot that the tragedy is organized such that these unities are observed? Is there any deviation from Aristotle’s principles?
3) Identify and discuss the Recognition and Ironical Reversal of Intention/Ironic Reversal of Situation. How effectively and completely does it function to bring about catharsis?
4) Consider the tragedy in terms of Aristotle’s idea of catharsis. How does the creation of both plot and the character function in harmony to bring about this catharsis? Do they?
5) Consider the role of the chorus. How does it function to complement both plot and character?
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Discussion Question for Horace’s Ars Poetica
In your groups, discuss the following passage and be prepared to paraphrase it for the rest of the class.
1) Page 122, paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, beginning, “Imagine a painter”
2) Page 122, paragraphs 2, 3, and the first sentence of 4, beginning, “You writers must choose”
3) Page 124-125, last paragraph, beginning “either follow tradition” and ending “with the middle”
4) Page 126, section entitled “Some Rules for Dramatists.
5) Page 128, section entitled “The Need for Technical Perfection”
6) Page 130, paragraphs 5, 6, 7, 8 beginning “once this rust and care”
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Horace’s Ars Poetica
Didacticism – The Horatian Platitute: Poetry’s purpose is to “instruct and delight”
Systematic and practical approach to poetry as “craft” or “ars”
Poetry is not an inspired madness as previously in Plato or later in the Romantics
Poetry is an art (craft) with rules, conventions, structures, and forms that require learning and painstaking effort
Decorum – the intellectual quality possessed by the poet that allows him to exercise discernment in the selection of words, phrases, forms, and other medium. Decorum allows for appropriateness, proportion, propriety, and unity in the arts
The argument against the “purple patch,” what we call purple prose, which are overly ornate passages that are inappropriate and violate decorum.
All of these principles reflect many of the values we associate with Classicism, in Horace’s case the later Classicism of the Romans
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Discussion Questions for Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Criticism
As a group, read and discuss the following lines and be prepared to paraphrase and discuss them with the class.
1) Pages 349 and 350, lines 1-4, 11-18, 23-25, 46-51.
2) Pages 351, 443, 444, and 445, lines 68-73, 82-99.
3) Pages 352 and 353, lines 243-266.
4) Pages 353 and 354, lines 289-304, 315-319.
5) Page 355 and 356, lines 362-366, 374-383.
6) Page 359 and 360, lines 631-658.
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Criticism
The Era
The Neoclassical Period
The Age of Reason
The Enlightenment
Principles of the Era
Reason and Rationality are the highest order faculties of mind
Knowledge is achieved through Positivism, through the rational evaluation of the data of experience
Central Enlightenment Assumptions from Donald Meyer’s The Scientific Enlightenment
Nature’s workings are not unknowable or mysterious
Human beings possess mastery over matter
The political and social aspects of the universe are testable
Human behavior displays predictable traits and patterns
Rejection of a God-centered universe toward one created by God but centered on mankind
Pope’s Essay
Form: The Long Poem in Heroic Couplets
Central Expression of Neoclassical Aesthetics, which emphasize:
Models from the Greek and Roman Classical Period
Nature as a guide to artistic representation
Art as didactic and expressive of proper moral conduct
Balance, harmony, unity, simplicity, and proportion in art
Knowledge, Judgment, and Wit in the critic
“True Wit is Nature to Advantage drest
What oft was Thought, but ne’er so well Exprest
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Discussion Questions for Samuel Johnson’s “Preface to Shakespeare”
1) Discuss Johnson’s idea of canon formation (the process by which our pantheon of great works is formulated). Is this a reasonable and rational process that leads to legitimate conclusions? What various attitudes lead to a work being included?
2) For Johnson, what essential and basic characteristics typify the “great work” and the “great” author? In what sense does Shakespeare demonstrate these attributes?
3) What are some of Shakespeare’s inadequacies?
4) Discuss Johnson’s response to Shakespeare’s violation of the Aristotelian unities.
5) Consider Johnson’s mind. How does it work? What intellectual values does his thinking portray?
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Samuel Johnson’s “Preface to Shakespeare”
Neoclassicism and Augustan Humanism
Human beings are distinctive and unique creatures worthy of study and artistic exploration
Human beings possess predictable traits and characteristics. In other words, there is such a thing as a “human nature,” which transcends time, place, culture, social forces, and cultural norming
The role of art is to effectively and profoundly explore and portray human nature
Johnson’s “Preface”
Aesthetic Absolutism – There is such a thing as a “great work,” and greatness is not subject to the relative values of time, place, and culture
Canon formation, while subject to “prejudices” in the short term, occurs by comparison, examination, and evaluation over time. In this process, rational and legitimate consensus is achieved regarding a work’s value
The great works of antiquity are not great simply because they emerge from the classical age, but because they have emerged as great through this process of consensus
Didacticism, Universalism, and Moralism – What defines the great work is its capacity to teach us essential truths about human nature and moral issues. These truths are most effectively communicates by pleasing us
“Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of a general nature”
“Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful mirrour of manners and of life.”
In the writings of other poets a character is too often an individual; in those of Shakespeare it is commonly a species.”
“The end of writing is to instruct; the end of the poetry is to instruct by pleasing.”
English 300
Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Group Discussion Questions for Shakespeare’s Macbeth
Discuss all these questions with Johnson’s notions of “just representations of a general nature” and didacticism through pleasure in mind.
1) Consider Macbeth’s evolution from hero to villain.
· What motivates it?
· How is it brought to full fruition?
· To what extent, if any can we sympathize with him?
· How is the issue of evil configured in his character? (think about other
figurations of evil in Shakespeare, such as Iago in Othello and Richard
in Richard III)
2) Discuss Lady Macbeth, focusing both on her monologue on page 17 (Act 1, Scene 5, lines 37-51) and her interwoven speeches near the doctor and the gentlewoman on page 70 (Act 5, Scene 2, lines 27-59).
· How do these passages complicate her character? Or do they?
3) Scan Macbeth’s monologue on page 72 (Act 5, scene 3, lines 1-10), identifying stressed and unstressed syllables, line forms, etc.
· How would you describe the speech formally?
· What technical poetic terms would you use and how would you qualify them?
4) Discuss Macbeth’s final monologue on page 76-77 (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28).
· What is the worldview expressed?
· Is this Shakespeare’s worldview at this time, or is it the perspective of Macbeth, a character under duress?
English 300
Critical Approaches to Literature
Dr. Steven Frye
Discussion Questions for William Wordsworth’s Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
1) In what specific ways does Wordsworth respond to the classical and neo-classical aesthetics that we have explored thus far?