Theory of Poetry Review of the Related Theories

f Enjoyment of Poetry Max Eastman Rhythm performs two functions in poetry. By producing a mild hypnosis, it silences the practical self, and at the same time stimulates and heightens imaginative realization. p.65 g The Sacred Wood. Essays on Poetry and Criticism T. S. Eliot Poetry does not express personal emotion. Emotions, feelings, impressions, experiences, are its materials; but poetry, combining these materials in new and unexpected ways, transmutes them into unique poetic experience. The creative mind is not a personality expressing itself, but a medium in which experiences come together in poetic fusion. Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but the escape from personality. Of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from the “things”. p.66 h The Making of Poetry. A Critical Study of Its Nature and Value ARTHUR H. R. Fairchild An adequate definition of poetry is impossible because the beginning and the end of poetry is feeling, and feeling cannot be defined. The poet deals only with images. But the images represent things that are real in life. Regrouped, they signify a new order; an order where men are or may be what they ideally wish themselves to be; an order where some goal of consciousness is won, some dominant interest achieved. The need for poetry is a “biological necessity” for some assurance of the possibility of human hopes and ideals. p.67 i On Poetry in General and On Familiar Style William Hazlitt Poetry is strictly the language of the imagination; and the imagination is that faculty which represents object, not as they are in themselves, but as they are molded by other thoughts and feelings, into an infinite variety of shapes and combinations of power. In another passage Hazlitt says that poetry “is not a branch of authorship,” but “the stuff of which our life is made.” p.68 j The Name and Nature of Poetry A.E. Housman I think that to transfuse emotion – not to transmit thought but to set up in the reader’s sense a vibration corresponding to what was felt by the writer – is the peculiar function of poetry.” “Poetry is not the thing said but a way of saying it.” p.68 k Poetry and Poets Amy Lowell Miss Lowell answers the question “Why We Should Read Poetry”: We should read poetry because only in that way can we know man in all his moods – in most beautiful thoughts of his heart, in his farthest reaches of imagination, in the tenderness of his live, in the nakedness and awe of his soul confronted with the terror and wonder of the Universe.” p.70 l Lectures on Poetry J.W. Mackail Technically and formally poetry is patterned language. The essence of pattern is repeat. Pattern in language is verse. Patterned language has its own excellence and beauty, but it is not the whole of poetry. In substance, poetry is a function of life. The vital function of poetry is to make patterns out of life. Poetry performs this function through the shaping power of imagination. Imagination is “the likeness or echo of the divine creative power.” Its integrations of life are not inventions but flashes of insight into the hidden beauty and perfection of life. p.71 m An Approach to Poetry Phospor Mallam Poetry is primarily the expression of feeling. The poet strives to express poetical ideas in “minutely appropriate” language, language that: 1 conveys the logical content of the idea, 2 suggests the emotional and imaginative associations to which the idea owes its poetic potentialities, and 3 is itself beautiful and appropriate, as sound. p.72 n Thoughts on Poetry and Its Varieties in Dissertations and Discussions John Stuart Mill Mill defines poetry as the spontaneous expression of emotion. The poet may be aware that he will have an audience, but he must not betray the fact in his poem, must not let the audience influence his emotion or his expression. Mill finds an analogous distinction in music and the other arts, between signs of feeling which escape us when we are unconscious of being seen or heard, and signs we use for the purpose of voluntary communication. p.72 o The Appreciation of Poetry Ernest G. Moll The central aim of poetry is to communicate experience. To appreciate poetry, the reader must rise above the stereotyped reactions of commonplace practical life and share the poet’s interest in objects, emotions, ideas, fancies, foe their own sake as experience. The poet does not, however, copy experience in its actual confusion. But the poet also creates new experience. Poetic imagination builds new entities, creates new patterns, imposes form and order upon the chaos of sensations, feelings, ideas which collectively we may call life. A successful poem is a world by itself, a self-contained whole of experience, in which every word and every image contributes to the total effect. p.73 p Essentials of Poetry William Allan Neilson The roots of poetic value are: imagination, reason, and sense of fact. Imagination is creative activity of the mind, enriching concrete experience by the revelation of hidden meanings and implications. Reason embraces whatever rational, theoretical content a poem may have; but, more important, it embraces the whole aspect of form and technique. Realism and sense of fact occupy a peculiar position in the world of poetry. Rhythm and meter have the important poetic function of reinforcing and heightening intensity, including a general excitement that results in a high state of receptiveness to emotional suggestion. p.73 q A Study of Poetry Bliss Perry Poetry is the verbal embodiment of emotion. Perry conceives poetic creation as a threefold process: 1 impression; 2 transformation of impression, through vital contact with the poet’s personality and previous experience, into emotionally loaded imaginative experience; 3 expression of imaginative experience, and the emotion connected with it, in rhythmic language. The main principles of poetry have, according to Perry, a natural connection with strong emotional experience. Although rhythm and order are emotionally expressive, the emotional tone of every poem is unique, and every poem has therefore its own order and rhythmic pattern. p.75 r A Defence of Poetry in The Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley Reason is the analytic principle; imagination is the synthetic principle of the mind. Poetry, as the expression of the imagination. Literary poetry, as an expression of the general expansive, sympathetic, generous character of the imagination, relatively free from the prejudices and interests of particular times and places, Shelley believes to be a great moral teacher, and a real factor social progress. But it owes its didactic powers to the generality of its imaginative appeal, and would lose its power if it sought deliberately to teach the morals of its generation. p.83 s Preface to Lyrical Ballads in The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth William Wordsworth Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. It takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility. The emotion is contemplated by a species of reaction, the tranquility gradually disappears, and an emotion; kindred to what which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind. p.85

2. Theory of Symbol

Symbol has meaning. According to Roberts and Jacobs 1987, Symbolism is designed to extend meaning. Symbol comes in direct relationship and describes together a specific thing with idea, values, persons or way of life. However, it is not easy to understand. It may be despotic because sometimes it has no any connection or relationship with the object which is proposed. A symbol can appear in the form of thing, person, place, action, situation, or even the way of thinking 1987. To understand the meaning of the symbol needs high level of imagination. In the book “An Introduction to Literature: FictionPoetryDrama” 1961, Lawrence says that understanding a meaning of symbol is a work which needs imagination and emotion, not intellectual. On the other hand, Roberts and Jacobs believe that the object and description can be developed as symbol only within an individual work. It names private symbol. Private symbol is more difficult than universal symbol. Universal symbol uses the well-known thing, which people are familiar with that to find the meaning, e.g. culture or religion. Meanwhile, the meaning of private symbol can be found in the context of the specific work of fiction 1987.

3. Theory of Psychology

a Theories of Character and Characterization According to Stanton, the term character refers to two meanings. It points toward the individuals who appear in the story. In addition, it refers to mixture of interests, desire, emotions, and moral principles that make up each of these individuals. Most stories contain a central character which is relevant to every event in the story. Generally, the events cause some changes toward him or our attitude toward him. Therefore, the meaning of character can be both the actoractress in the story and the characterization of the character. There must be a relationship between an actor and the characteristics shehe has as cited in An Introduction to Fiction, 1965. Henkle 1977 divides the term character into two categories. The first is major character and the second is minor character or secondary character. The major character deserves our full attention in the song. It also performs the key structural function in the song. Therefore, the effectiveness of most songs depends on the ability of major character to express and dramatize the human issue of the song. While the secondary character performs more limited function and less complex than the major character p.80. Abrams mentions two types of character; they are simple or flat character and round or complex character. He proposes that flat character is easily recognized and remembered by readers. It describes in a single phrase or sentence. Complex character is lifelike because the writer may see all sides of the character. This character is difficult to describe with any adequacy as somebody in real life as cited in A Glossary of Literary Term, 1981. M.J Murphy 1972: 161-173, in his book Understanding Unseen, gives more detailed explanation on how characters are presented by an author. He mentions nine ways of how an author reveals the character’s personalities and traits to the readers, like as follows: i. Personal Description The author explains directly to the readers the physical appearance of the characters. ii. Character as Seen by Another The Author mentions his or her characters though the eyes of other characters in the story so that the readers can catch a reflected image of them through the other ch aracters’ eyes. iii. Speech The author gives the clues of the character’s personalities to the readers through what the characters say. iv. Past Life By letting the readers know something about the characters’ past lives, the author gives them some clues to his or her characters’ personalities. v. Conversation of Others The author makes dialogues about a character in the story which is spoken by some characters in it. The readers can refer to the conversations to know something about the character. vi. Reactions The aut hor mentions indirectly a character’s personality by letting the readers know how the character reacts to various events or situations. vii. Direct Comment The author uses a direct comment to describe the characters. He or she seems to judge them, directly, whether they are good or bad, beautiful or ugly and the like. viii. Thoughts The author gives the readers direct knowledge of what a character is thinking about. So that they can get knowledge of the personality of the character when they read the description of what he or she is thinking about. ix. Mannerism The author describes a character’s mannerism, habits, or idiosyncrasies which may tell the readers something about the character. b Theory of Personality The word “personality” originated from the Latin “persona”, which referred to a theatrical mask worn by Roman Actors in Greek dramas Hill, 2006. According to Allport 1937, personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment. Hill 2006 argues that personality is both physical and psychological; it includes both overt behaviors and covert thoughts; it not only is something, but