Flipped Learning : Metaphysical Poetry

This Blog-post is a response of  The Flipped Learning Task on Metaphysical Poetry which is given by Dr.Dilip.Barad Sir.


Read this Article to know about What is Flipped Learning.CLICK HERE to read.


What is Metaphysical Poetry: 

Of the context of this type of poetry is a high intellectualize in very simple way.According to Merriam  Webster dictionary, Metaphysical Poetry is a "highly intellectualized poetry marked by bold and ingenious conceits, incongruous imagery, complexity and subtlety of thought, frequent use of paradox, and often by deliberate harshness or rigidity of expression."

We had one Flipped Learning Task which given by our Professor Dr. Dilip Barad Sir. In this task, we saw six videos which were recorded by sir and uploaded on YouTube. R.K.Mandalia Sir who is the Head of the Department of English in Sardar Patel University Vallabh Vidyanagar,Gujarat. His six Expert Lectures are Nine hours long. His way of teaching and especially, his knowledge towards Hindi Cinemas is Admirable in top level.We learnt four poems through the recorded sessions. 


General Characteristics of Metaphysical Poetry :

Mandalia Sir first introduced us about what is Metaphysical Poetry. That, this poetry is not completely not in one Religious way or not in just this topic. The experts of Metaphysical poetry are choose the topic which is unique or different from Renaissance Literature. This Metaphysical word was already established in Transition's or in between the age of Shakespeare and the Jacobean Age. 

According to Dr.Mandalia Sir, In A of the group Poets emerged Second half of the 16th Centrony. Whose poetry is identified as The Metaphysical Poetry.It was Dr.Samueal Johnson-a classicist of the Neo- classical who named the poetry of Donne and his School (Followers) as The Metaphysical Poetry. Johnson used this term while writing about the life of Abraham Cowley, in his Biographical work with the title The Lives of the English Poets.(Click in this name to know about the work). 

In continuation, Mandalia Sir explain that Dr. Johnson wanted to criticized the poetry of Donne and his followers by using the term 'Metaphysical Poetry' but with the passing of time the same term became the term of appraisal  for their poetry. Dr.Johnson has passed one remarkable stating that the poetry of the Metaphysical poets stood a trial of their finger but failed in the trial of the ears. What Dr. Johnson Wants to states that there is no rhythm in their poetry.

To know more about John Donne's status as a Metaphysical Poet.



 Here are the Characteristics:

As per Mandalia Sir described about the features of Metaphysical Poetry that: 

  • Helen.C.White mentions that it was the demand of time for the Metaphysicals to differ from the poets of the previous age.
  • The best way for the Metaphysical ti differ from the previous poets and to be intellectual in the writing of their poetry was to use far fetched images and conceits.
  • They tried to avoid using images from those fields which thickly associated with the theme of their poetry.
  • In order to express either love or their faith in Christianity, they brought their images from different fields, just like Biology, Architecture,Engineering, Agriculture,Geometry,Geography and even Political Science.
  • One remarkable feature of the Metaphysical Poetry that Dr.Johnson states that their poetry stood a trial of their finger but not of the ear.That means there is no music in the poetry which they wrote or there is no rhythm to be found in the poetry of the Metaphysical Poets.

We had studied Five Poems in Metaphysical Poetry.

POEM.NO:1
Holy Sonnet No.X. "Death Be Not Proud"-By John Donne.


Structure and Style of the poem:
  •  follows the Elizabethan/Shakespearean sonnet.
  • made up of three quatrains and a concluding couplet.
  • Italian/Petrarchan sonnet rhyme scheme of abba for the first two quatrains, grouping them into an octet typical of the Petrarchan form. 
  • He switches rhyme scheme in the third quatrain to cddc, and then the couplet rhymes ee as usual.
Death to be not proud is a well known Holy Sonnet by John Donne.This poem is addressed by the poet to death itself. The aim of the poet behind writing this sonnet is to nullify the fear of death. The poet has presented altogether a different picture of death in the present sonnet.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men  

According to poet, death is a salve of four agency(elements). Those four elements are Fate, Chance, Kings and Men in distress.The meaning is death is comes to a person only when death is decided by fate or chance or a king or a men who in distress.

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell

There are three residential places are Poisson,War ans Sickness.The meaning is that who so ever invites sickness or any of these three, is always lives within in.

One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

Ultimately, John Donne believed in re-birth theory and he tries to convince to reader that there will be no fear of death and death itself will die because nobody will be afraid of death!
 


POEM NO:2
"The Flea"-By John Donne.

It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;   

Through this lines, poet tries to tell his beloved that our blood is mingled that why are you stopping me to having physical relation. The poet wants to convey that whatever was denied by his beloved that has already happened through this flea! In this entire poem, lover himself, tries to convince his beloved first to having advance. Then while she refusing and try to save her virtues, poets convince her that we are already meet through this Flea. First it suck my blood and then it stuck your blood. At the result we mate ultimately. After that his beloved tries to kill that flea but here, lover also tries to stop her.

Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,
Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.
 
At the last of the lines, poet here is the lost of honor by his beloved.If she were sleep with him she would not loss more honor than she lost when she killed the flea.

POEM NO:3
"The Sun Rising"- By John Donne.

This poem is representing an ideal example of the use of metaphysical image to deal with the theme of love. Generally, the rising sun is the symbol of something fresh or new or we can say that something amazing will going through this. But here in this poem Donne wrote it's in opposition, like the speaker of the poem is not happy to this rising sun. John Donne made this poem to universalized the noble emotion of love. There is everything is futile while there is no love. 


In a nutshell, Metaphysical poets came with their some new layers of thinking in different ways which were completely unique, innovative, and beyond the imagination of Elizabethan poets or others also.  

Words:1214
      

Thinking Activity : Absalom and Achitophel.

This Blog-post is a response of thinking activity which is given by Prof. Dilip Barad Sir. Absalom and Achitophel by John Dryden. 

About the poem: 

To read Original Poem,CLICK HERE.

 

Verse Satire

Political Satire

Written in heroic couplets

Biblical Representation

Based on the second chapter of Bible Named, Samuel. (13-19.)

First Published in 1681



John Dryden written this poem to keep with Biblical references. In this poem he changed the name or places as well. As Anne.K.Kroock said that,'Satire history is so called mixed genre, one that often incorporates a verity of diverse elements,within a single work.

Satire is categorized in three parts,
  • Horatian
  • Juvenalian
  • Menippean

Biblical Representation in the poem:

Major Characters:                        

Dryden’s character’s in Poem

Biblical Character’s

David  

King Charles-II

Absalom

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth

Achitophel

Antony Ashley Cooper

Saul

Oliver Cromwell

David’s Brother

James-II

Corah

Titus Oates

Shimei

Slingsby Bethel

Zimri

George Villiers

The Pharaoh

Louis -XIV of France

Ishbosheth

Richard Cromwell

Jonas

William Jones

Zadoc

William Sancroft

Barzillai

James Butler

Barzillai’s Eldest Son

Thomas Butler

Jotham

George Savile

Amiel

Edward Seymour

Sunday Reading Task "Post-Truth"

This Blog-post is a response of Sunday Reading Task, about  "Post-Truth" which given by Prof. Dilip Barad Sir.To know more about Post-truth, visit Barad sir's blog, to visit, CLICK HERE


                                                                    

"The Oxford Dictionary"declare the word of the year in every year.In 2016, the word was "Post-truth." They also given the shortlist of nominated words.However, of that time's circumstances and social or political environment, after a long discussion and debate, Post-truth word was chosen by them. To know about more of this word, just go through this link and CLICK HERE.


Definitions:

According to Oxford Dictionary, Post-truth is an adjective defined as 'relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’. 

While,Cambridge Dictionary defines that, 'relating to a situation in which people are more likely to accept an argument based on their emotions and beliefs, rather than one based on facts.'

In this both definitions, What I found, the central thing is that about people's beliefs, their personal concept regarding that particular situations. People's emotions also played very vital role of this Post-truth concept. 

If we see post truth in the term of'Post-truth politics,' In 2016, US had elected new Government. Donald Trump was the Prime Minister of the country. And after several analysis, that people came to know that Trump was what actually not able to take a leadership of their country. As usual, in every political party or leaders doing that about keep promising with people which about present situation and preserving to them for the particular situation.Thus, in general topic, one political leader's strategy to achieve people's beliefs. But on the other hand we must talk about that, Why people make them like this, for themselves? People when they came to know about that political leader who's some sign are not good to take a leadership of the Nation, and on that time, these people are raise up their voice against the same leader but the emotions are totally changed. They raised their voice from belief to angriness. And we finally called it Post-truth. 


Perspective is the chief object of the result and sometimes the main reason of the result also. It makes the result in truth way or in false way. It's depends on humans thinking activities or their role of playing in society. In this picture, if one see in one side, it's seems four and the another side it seems three. E.g. If I stand in right way, that time I am right for myself but not for the other who are stand the other side and they are not agree with my point. It happens exactly for them in opposition way. Basically, it's also happened in post-truth concept. 

Here, I would like to put some cartoon images and try to illustrate it:


This cartoon is created by Patrick Chappatte who is one famous Lebanese-Swiss cartoonist.

People believe on what they want to believe. If the truth is with full evidence then also not working. The reason is that people are make their sense on the basis of believing. In this cartoon, media says that some aspects helped to Trump to win election. But what actually people get that this truth looks like fake news! This is the side effect of post-truth which given by government. They don't go to search out what exactly the truth is. But in generally, they easily believe on what their leader said.

At our modern time, people uses social media as their own valley of dark side of untruth. In this cartoon, one person see on the way of Truth but another person says him that, 'ignore that- social media tells me that the truth is a conspiracy to keep us in our place.' Truth is the phenomenon of the situation. In post truth, truth is  reopened while at the first time people were not believed on that. But the truth is not opened in entirely. It's open in one by one layer. We go one layer to other layer through  some evidence. We are not store in one place! we just stored that what the thing we believe, we accept it as a reality whereas it's not truth.  

If we talk about "Modern Propaganda" which is our Social Media. Most of us read every posts and what our first reaction towards the particular post is that we easily believe on that and we also react in the same way. Most of us are not try to search out that Is it right or wrong?

In this video, Jonathan Henry Sacks introduced four books are related to post-truth. Which are,
  • First was 'Post Truth' by Matthew D'ancona​. 
  • The second one was 'Post Truth' by James Ball.
  • The third was 'Post Truth' by Evan Davis​. 

This word was very speedily spread on 2016 during Presidential Election in US. Donald Trump was the prim-minister. People who were already aware about what are bed signs of him despite of, people vote him and made him a prim-minister. There were lots of debate on this topic. Not only US,but India and many other country also. Perhaps it happens because it purely connected with politics. 
  
In this video, there are lots of things perhaps will clear likewise, 
Why it is too important in this contemporary time?
Who create this? people or politic leader? 
Is it fact, if yes then how much it valued? 
Who spread dirtiness in propaganda? 


Thank You.