THE BREAD OF THE PEOPLE

THE BREAD OF THE PEOPLE 

Bertolt Brecht

Justice is the bread of the people

Sometimes is plentiful, sometimes it is scarce

Sometimes it tastes good, sometimes it tastes bad.

When the bread is scarce, there is hunger.

When the bread is bad, there is discontent.

Throw away the bad justice

Baked without love, kneaded without knowledge!

Justice without flavour, with a grey crust

The stale justice which comes too late!

If the bread is good and plentiful

The rest of the meal can be excused.

One cannot have plenty of everything all at once.

Nourished by the bread of justice

The work can be achieved

From which plenty comes.

As daily bread is necessary

So is daily justice.

It is even necessary several times a day.

From morning till night, at work, enjoying oneself.

At work which is an enjoyment.

In hard times and in happy times

The people requires the plentiful, wholesome

Daily bread of justice.

Since the bread of justice, then, is so important

Who, friends, shall bake it?

Who bakes the other bread?

Like the other bread

The bread of justice must be baked

By the people.

Plentiful, wholesome, daily

Explanation 

In this poem bread is used as the metaphor of justice. Poor people get proper food to eat and if not it's injustice. 

Their should be equal justice among people. 

Their should not be unequal mean injustice .

For example we can see case running in court are long lasting when everything is forgotten the final hearing is done. It lastes for many years.

vita and Virginia by Chanya Button

                Virginia Woolf

Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. 

Vita and Virginia movie 

Virginia Woolf meets fellow author Vita Sackville-West in London in the 1920s. Despite both women being married, they embark on a love affair that later inspires one of Virginia's most famous novels, Orlando.8

Orlando 

The protagonist, Orlando, ages only thirty-six years and changes gender from man to woman. Orlando lives for 400 years. 

Thinking Activity  

  

  1.How far do you feel that Orlando is influenced by Vita and Virginia’s love affair? Does it talk only about that or do you find anything else too?

Vita is in love with Virginia and same way we can see in novel Orlando was first a man and after one week of sleep he became a woman and he falls in love with Sasha and same way vita was in love with Virginia. So Orlando is influenced by Vita and Virginia. 

2.Who do you think is confused about their identity Vita or Virginia? Explain with illustrations.

Virginia's mental health struggles Vita's recklessness . Their romance overcomes all social boundaries.

vita was getting easily getting attracted towards people. In movie also we can see firstly vita was attracted towards Virginia Woolf.  Virginia was loyal towards his  Partner. while vita was having affairs with many of them. Vita is confused about her identity. She is not focusing on one . vita was having many affair even after Virginia Woolf death. she was having affair with male as well with female.

3.What is society’s thought about women and identity? Do you agree with them? If Yes then why? If no then why?

Society's thought on women

As a daughter a woman traditionally responsible for taking care of her parents. As a wife, she is expected to serve her husband, preparing food, clothing and other personal needs. As a mother, she has to take care of the children and their needs, including education. 

Our society has a set of ideas about how we expect women to dress, behave, and present  For example, girls and women are generally expected to dress in typically feminine ways and be polite, accommodating, and nurturing. Men are generally expected to be strong, aggressive, and bold.

They can also change in the same society over time.

 4.What are your views on Gender Identity? Will you like to give any message to society?

What is Gender Identity?

Our gender identity is how you feel inside and how you express those feelings.  Clothing, appearance, and behaviors can all be ways to express your gender identity.

Most people feel that they’re either male or female.  Some people feel like a masculine female, or a feminine male. Some people feel neither male nor female. These people may choose labels such as “genderqueer,” “gender variant,” or “gender fluid.”  

Some people’s assigned sex and gender identity are pretty much the same, or in line with each other. These people are called cisgender. Other people feel that their assigned sex is of the other gender from their gender identity (i.e., assigned sex is female, but gender identity is male). These people are called transgender or trans. Not all transgender people share the same exact identity.

Views on Gender Role

Gender identity is each person’s internal and individual experience of gender. It is a person’s sense of being a woman, a man, both, neither, or anywhere along the gender spectrum. A person’s gender identity may be the same as or different from their birth-assigned sex. 

Message for society 

 "Awareness raising is a process which helps to facilitate the exchange of ideas, improve mutual understanding and develop competencies and skills necessary for societal change."

5.Write a note on the direction of the movie. Which symbols and space caught your attention while watching the movie?

This image shows  that how the Virginia husband  helped her during  mental health.  Virginia was happy with Vita so her husband let her go with Vita. Because he was very much caring about her mental health . He was taking good care of Virginia. 

6.Vita and Virginia" had to be made into Bollywood Adaptation, who do you think would be fit for the role of Vita and Virginia?

So according to me Sara would be Virginia Woolf and Bipasha would be Vita Sackville .

Fantasy literature , Science fiction

                   1.Fantasy literature

 

Definition of Fantasy 

Fantasy is a form of literary genre in which a plot cannot occur in the real world. Its plot usually involves witchcraft or magic, taking place on an undiscovered planet of an unknown world. Its overall theme and setting involve a combination of technology, architecture, and language, which sometimes resemble European medieval ages. The most interesting thing about fantasies is that their plot involves witches, mythical and animal creatures talking like humans, and other things that never happen in real life.

What does fantasy mean in literature?

Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fantasy literature may be directed at both children and adults.

Types of Fantasy 

Modern Folk tales 

Magical Fantasy

Alternative Worlds & Enchanted Journeys

Quest or Heroic Fantasy (High Fantasy)

Mystery and Supernatural Fantasy

1) Heroic Fantasy (High Fantasy)

These fantasies involve adventures with a search, quest, and motif. While this quest could be a pursuit for a higher purpose, like justice and love, or for getting a reward like hidden treasure, or a magical power; the conflict of heroic fantasies focuses on struggle between evil and good. The protagonist struggles with internal weakness and temptations.

Examples 

The Lord of the Rings trilogy / Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien The Hero and the Crown, by Robin Mc Kinley The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander.

2)Alternative Worlds & Enchanted Journeys

In these fantasies, you see leading character undertaking a journey to an alternative world, or a fantasy world. Though realistic tales also employ journeys, you would only see magical things happen in fantasy journeys.

  Examples 

Alice Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by K. Rowling Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift.

3)Mystery and Supernatural Fantasy 

One of the most common forms of supernatural fantasy is known as a “ghost story.” Ghosts could be either helpful protectors, or fearsome adversaries. However, in a mystery, the solution is always a supernatural one, or through supernatural assistance such as witchcraft.  

Example

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving

Modern Folktales

Modern folktales are types of fantasy that narrators tell in a traditional tale accompanying some typical elements, such as strong conflict, little description of characters, fast-moving plot with a quick resolution, and sometimes magical elements and vague settings. However, these tales are popular, as authors throughout history have written them. Hans Christian Andersen has written several fairly tales. 

Examples 

The Nightingale 

The Emperor’s New Clothes 

Thumbelina

The Ugly Duckling

                2.Science fiction 

Science fiction is a type of imaginative literature. It provides a mental picture of something that may happen on realistic scientific principles and facts. This fiction might portray, for instance, a world where young people are living on Mars. Hence, it is known as “futuristic fiction.” It dramatizes the wonders of technology, and resembles heroic fantasy where magic is substituted with technology. 

Examples 

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

Rocket Ship Galileo, by Robert Heinlein

The White Mountains, by John Christopher

Wordsworth's preface

                 William Wordsworth 

William Wordsworth was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads.

                  Thinking Activity 

                Wordsworth’s Preface 

The Preface to Lyrical Ballads is an essay, composed by William Wordsworth, for the second edition of the poetry collection Lyrical Ballads, and then greatly expanded in the third edition of 1802. It has come to be seen as a de facto manifesto of the Romantic movement. 

Wordsworth explains that the first edition of Lyrical Ballads was published as a sort of experiment to test the public reception of poems that use “the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation.” The experiment was successful, better than Wordsworth was expecting, and many were pleased with the poems.

Wordsworth acknowledge that his friend (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) supplied several poems in the collection, including Rime of the Ancient Mariner. He then relates that he and his friends wish to start a new type of poetry, poetry of the sort seen in Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth notes that he was initially unwilling to write the preface as

 some sort of systemic defense of this new genre, because he doesn’t want to reason anyone into liking these poems. He also says the motives behind starting this new genre of poetry are too complex to fully articulate in so few words. Still, he has decided to furnish a preface: his poems are so different from the poems of his age that they require at least a brief explanation as to their conception.

Wordsworth claims that just as authors have a right to use certain ideas and techniques, they also have a right to exclude other ideas and techniques. In every age, different styles of poetry arise, and people expect different things from poetry. He goes on to cite many great yet different poets of old, from Catullus Terence to Alexander Pope. Wordsworth wants to use the preface to explain why he writes poetry the way he does, so that people don’t see his nonconformity as laziness.

Wordsworth asks readers to form their own feelings and opinions, and not go by what others think, when judging his poetry. Wordsworth also tells readers that if they thought one poem was good and others were bad, they should go back and review those they thought were bad. Reading and judging poetry is an acquired talent, and a review would only be just to the poet. Wordsworth doesn’t want readers to make quick judgments about his poetry, as such judgments are often wrong.

Wordsworth declares that there is nothing more he can do but let the reader read his ballads and experience the pleasure they offer firsthand. He realizes that asking readers to try his experimental ballads means that they must “give up much of what [they] ordinarily enjoy” in poetry. Wordsworth wants to show that his poetry is better and offers pleasure “of a purer, more lasting, and more exquisite nature.” It is not his intention to denounce other forms of poetry; rather, Wordsworth wishes to promote a new genre of poetry that he feels will help keep humans human. He awaits to hear from readers whether they think he has achieved his purpose, and whether that purpose was worth achieving.

T.S Eliot's Tradition and Individual Talent

                             T.S Eliot 

Thomas Stearns Eliot OM was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor. Considered one of the 20th century's major poets, he is a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry.

                Thinking Activity 

"Tradition and the Individual Talent" is an essay written by poet and literary critic T. S. Eliot. The essay was first published in The Egoist and later in Eliot's first book of criticism, "The Sacred Wood". The essay is also available in Eliot's "Selected Prose" and "Selected Essays".

In “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” Eliot advocates for the separation of art from artist and argues that tradition has less to do with imitation and more to do with understanding and expanding upon the intellectual and literary context in which one is writing.

The essay is divided into three parts.

1. The first part gives us Eliot's concept of tradition.

2. The second part is developed his theory of the impersonality of poetry. 

3. Third part is in the nature of a conclusion, or summing up of the whole discussion.

Tradition and the Individual Talent’ (1919) sees Eliot defending the role of tradition in helping new writers to be modern. This is one of the central paradoxes of Eliot’s writing – indeed, of much modernism – that in order to move forward it often looks to the past, even more directly and more pointedly than previous poets had.

This theory of tradition also highlights Eliot’s anti-Romanticism. Unlike the Romantics’ idea of original creation and inspiration, Eliot’s concept of tradition foregrounds how important older writers are to contemporary writers: Homer and Dante are Eliot’s contemporaries because they inform his work as much as those alive in the twentieth century do.

James Joyce looked back to ancient Greek myth (the story of Odysseus) for his novel set in modern Dublin, Ulysses (1922). Ezra Pound often looked back to the troubadours and poets of the Middle Ages. H. D.’s Imagist poetry was steeped in Greek references and ideas. As Eliot puts it, ‘Some one said: “The dead writers are remote from us because we know so much more than they did.” Precisely, and they are that which we know.’

He goes on to argue that a modern poet should write with the literature of all previous ages ‘in his bones’, as though Homer and Shakespeare were his (or her) contemporaries: ‘This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional. And it is at the same time what makes a writer most acutely conscious of his place in time, of his contemporaneity.’

In short, knowledge of writers of the past makes contemporary writers both part of that tradition and part of the contemporary scene. Eliot’s own poetry, for instance, is simultaneously in the tradition of Homer and Dante and the work of a modern poet, and it is because of his debt to Homer and Dante that he is both modern and traditional.

If this sounds like a paradox, consider how Shakespeare is often considered both a ‘timeless’ poet (‘Not of an age, but for all time’, as his friend Ben Jonson said) whose work is constantly being reinvented, but is also understood in the context of Elizabethan and Jacobean social and political attitudes.

Similarly, in using Dante in his own poetry, Eliot at once makes Dante ‘modern’ and contemporary, and himself – by association part of the wider poetic tradition.

Eliot’s essay goes on to champion impersonality over personality. That is, the poet’s personality does not matter, as it’s the poetry that she/he produces that is important. Famously, he observes: ‘Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.’

 William Wordsworth’s statement (in the ‘Preface’ to Lyrical Ballads in 1800) that ‘poetry the spontaneous overflow of powerful  feelings  .Once again, Eliot sets himself apart from such a Romantic notion of poetry. This is in keeping with his earlier argument about the importance of tradition: the poet’s personality does not matter, only how their work responds to, and fits into, the poetic tradition.

John Dryden's Essay Dramatic Poesy

                  John Dryden 

John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was appointed England's first Poet Laureate in 1668. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. 

John Dryden is rightly considered as “the father of English Criticism”. He was the first to teach the English people to determine the merit of composition upon principles. With Dryden, a new era of criticism began.

Thinking Activity of John Dryden Essay Dramatic Poesie 

Essay of Dramatic Poesie is a work by John Dryden, England's first Poet Laureate, in which Dryden attempts to justify drama as a legitimate form of "poetry" comparable to the epic, as well as defend English drama against that of the ancients and the French.

The three “persons of Wit and Quality” are Sir Robert Howard (Crites), Charles Sackville, Lord Buckhurst (Eugenius), and Sir Charles Sedley (Lisideius), while the fourth character, Neander, has been identified as Dryden himself.

The beginning of the narrative An Essay of Dramatic Poesy or Of Dramatic Poesie is as follows. A battle is going on between England and the Netherlands.

Four gentlemen namely Crites, Eugenius, Lisideius and Neander are travelling by boat to see the battle and start a discussion on modern literature. Crites opens the discussion by saying that none of his contemporaries (i.e. moderns) can equal the standards and the rules set by ancient Greeks and Romans.

Views of Crites 

Crites favours classical drama i.e. the drama of Aristotle who believed that drama is “imitation of life”. Crites holds that drama of such ancients is successful because it depicts life. He says that both classical and neoclassical favour rules and unities (time, place and action). 

According to Crites, modern dramatists are shadows of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Seneca and Terence. E.g. Elizabethan dramatist Ben Jonson borrowed from Classics and felt proud to call himself modern Horace.  The classical is more skilful in language than their successors. At this, he ends up his conversation.

Views of Eugenius 

Eugenius favours modern dramatists. However, instead of telling about the virtues of moderns, he criticises the faults of Classical playwrights. According to him, the Classical drama is not divided into acts and also lacks originality. 

Their tragedies are based on worn-out myths that are already known to the audience and their comedies are based o overused curiosity of stolen heiresses and miraculous restorations.

There disregard poetic justice. Instead of punishing the vice and rewarding the virtue, they have often shown prosperous wickedness and an unhappy devotion.  The classical drama also lacks affection.

The Heroes of Homer were lovers of appetite, food etc, while the modern characters of French drama gave up everything (sleep, water and food) for the sake of love.

Views of Lisideius 

Lisideius favours French drama of earlier 17th century. French drama led by Pierre Corneille strictly followed unities of time, pace and action.  The French dramatists never mix tragedy and comedy.

They strictly adhere to the poetic justice i.e. reward the virtue and punishment the vice. For this, they even alter the original situation.

The French dramatists interweave truth with fiction to make it interesting bringing elements that lead to fate and borrow from history to reward the virtuous which he was earlier deprived of.  

They prefer emotions over plots. Violent actions take place off stage and are told by messengers rather than showing them in real.

Views of Neander 

Neander contradicts Lisideius’ arguments favouring the superiority of French drama. He talks about the greatness of Elizabethans. For him, Elizabethans fulfil the drama’s requirement i.e. imitation of life.

French drama raises perfection but has no soul or emotions as it primarily focuses on the plot.  For Neander, tragicomedy is the best form of drama. Both sadness as well as joy are heightened and are set side by side. Hence it is closest to life.

He believes that subplots enrich the drama. This French drama having a single plot lacks this vividness.  Further Samuel Johnson (who defended Shakespeare’s disregard of unities), he believes that adherence to unities prevents depth.

According to him, deviation from set rules and unities gives diverse themes to drama.  Neander rejects the argument that change of place and time diminishes dramatic credibility in drama.

For him, human actions will seem more natural if they get enough time to develop. He also argues that Shakespeare is “the man who of all the modern and perhaps ancient poets, and largest and most comprehensive soul”. 

Francis Beaumont and John Fletchers’ dramas are rich in wit and have smoothness and polish in their language.

Neander says, “I am apt to believe the English language in them arrived at its highest perfection”. If Ben Jonson is a genius for correctness, Shakespeare excels him in wit.  

His arguments end with the familiar comparison, “Shakespeare was the Homer, or father of our dramatic poets; Jonson was the Virgil, the pattern of elaborate writing; I admire him, but I love Shakespeare.”  

Thus for him, Elizabethans are superior because they have a variety of themes, emotions, deviations, wit. They do not adhere to rules as well. Thus their drama is really an imitation of life.

Views on Rhyme in Drama 

At the end of the discussion, there is an argument between Crites and Neander over rhyme in plays. Crites believes that Blank Verse as the poetic form nearest to prose is most suitable for drama.  

On the other hand, Neander defends rhyme as it briefly and clearly explains everything.  The boat on which they all were riding reaches its destination, the stairs at Somerset House and the discussion ends without any conclusion being made.

Aristotle's Poetics

                         Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Lyceum, the Peripatetic school of philosophy, and the Aristotelian tradition.

                 Aristotle's Poetics 

Aristotle's Poetics is the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory and first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory. In this text Aristotle offers an account of , which refers to poetry or more literally "the poetic art," deriving from the term for "poet; author; maker".

Aristotle divides the art of poetry into verse drama (to include comedy, tragedy, and the satyr play), lyric poetry, and epic. The genres all share the function of mimesis, or imitation of life, but differ in three ways that Aristotle describes:

Differences in music rhythm, harmony, meter and melody.

Difference of goodness in the characters.

Difference in how the narrative is presented: telling a story or acting it out.

Aristotle proposes to discuss poetry, which he defines as a means of mimesis, or imitation, by means of language, rhythm, and harmony. As creatures who thrive on imitation, we are naturally drawn to poetry.

Aristotle focuses  on tragedy, which uses dramatic, rather than narrative, form, and deals with agents who are better than us ourselves. Tragedy serves to arouse the emotions of pity and fear and to effect a katharsis (catharsis) of these emotions. 

Aristotle divides tragedy into six different parts, ranking them in order from most important to least important as follows: (1) Mythos or plot

 (2) Character

(3) Thought 

(4) Diction

(5) Melody

(6) Spectacle

  The first essential to creating a good tragedy is that it should maintain unity of plot. This means that the plot must move from beginning to end according to a tightly organized sequence of necessary or probable events. The beginning should not necessarily follow from any earlier events, and the end should tie up all loose ends and not produce any necessary consequences. The plot can also be enhanced by an intelligent use of peripeteia(especially in reference to fictional narrative), or reversal, and anagnorisis(the point in a play, novel, etc., in which a principal character recognizes or discovers another character's true identity or the true nature of their own circumstances), or recognition. These elements work best when they are made an integral part of the plot.     

    A plot should consist of a hero going from happiness to misery. The hero should be portrayed consistently and in a good light, though the poet should also remain true to what we know of the character. The misery should be the result of some hamartia, or error, on the part of the hero. A tragic plot must always involve some sort of tragic deed, which can be done or left undone, and this deed can be approached either with full knowledge or in ignorance.

  Aristotle discusses thought and diction and then moves on to address epic poetry. Epic poetry is similar to tragedy in many ways, though it is generally longer, more fantastic, and deals with a greater scope of action. After addressing some problems of criticism, Aristotle argues that tragedy is superior to epic poetry