Introduction to Literary Criticism Brief Suggestion

1. What is criticism? 

Ans. The analysis and judgement of the merits and faults of a literary work for the purpose of proper evaluation. 

2. What is the function of the poet? 

Ans. To tell about what may happen according to the laws of probability or necessity. 

3. What are the six constituent or formative parts in tragedy? 

Ans. Plot, character, diction, thought, song and spectacle. 

4. What is catharsis? 

Ans. The term catharsis has three meanings such as purgation, purification or clarification. 

5. What is “The School of Abuse”? 

Ans. “The School of Abuse” is a book written by Stephen Gosson in which he rises objections against poetry. 

6. What do you mean by the term ‘vates’? 

Ans. A diviner, foreseer or prophet. 

7. What is “Preface to Shakespeare”? 

Ans. A critical work by Johnson on Shakespearean drama. 

8. What is “Lyrical Ballads”? 

Ans. A collection of poetry written jointly by William Wordsworth and S.T. Coleridge published in 1798. 

9. What was the real intention of writing Preface or “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” by Wordsworth? 

Ans. To familiarize the readers with romantic poems. 

10. What is metrical composition? 

Ans. The metrical composition means poetry as it is written in metre. 

11. What is metre? 

Ans. Metre is a pattern arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse. 

12. What is fancy according to Coleridge? 

Ans. Fancy is a faculty of human mind that brings images together to decorate imagination attractively. 

13. What is plot? 

Ans. Arrangement of incidents. 

14. Why did Sidney take initiative or step to defend poetry? 

Ans. Because of his love for poetry and universal function of poetry. 

15. Who was Dante? 

Ans. The great epic poet of Italy. 

16. What is “Divine Comedy”? 

Ans. An epic poem written by Dante to make a spiritual journey in heaven and hell. 

17. Who is Samuel Johnson? 

Ans. A famous critic, biographer, novelist and poet of eighteenth century or Neo-classical Age. 

18. What is meant by ‘filtering of feelings’? 

Ans. The most essential feelings to compose a poem. 

19. How does Coleridge distinguish between poetry and poem? 

Ans. Poetry is an activity of a poet’s mind and a poem is merely one of the verbal expressions of that activity. 

20. What is a ballad? 

Ans. A song or simple story presented orally. 

21. What is Hamartia? 

Ans. Error in judgement or miscalculation of a tragic character. 

22. Who is the word poet derived? 

Ans. From the Greek word ‘poiein’. 

23. Who does Sidney differentiate between laughter and delight? 

Ans. Laughter is just a part of delight. 

24. Who was Cato? 

Ans. A Roman statesman, orator and historic prose writer. 

25. How did Dryden defend Shakespeare from the charge of ignorance? 

Ans. Shakespeare did not require the bookish knowledge because he was naturally learned. 

26. How does Johnson advise to read Shakespeare? 

Ans. First from the beginning to the end without the help of notes and comments. 

27. What is the source of Shakespeare’s deep knowledge as found in his dramas? 

Ans. The deep insight into human mind and nature. 

28. What is diction? 

Ans. The individual style of writing in prose and poetry. 

29. What is meant by the expression, ‘gaudiness and inane phraseology? 

Ans. Lifeless and dull high-flown words and elaborate conceits. 

30. What is poetics? 

Ans. Poetics is a treatise on literature or art. 

31. What is comedy? 

Ans. Representation of worse type of people. 

32. what are dramatic unities? 

Ans. Time, place and action. 

33. What is imagination? 

Ans. Imagination is an act of human mind in which different images are fused and unified to create something new. 

34. Who is Homer? 

Ans. The great Greek epic poet. 

35. Who was Sir Philip Sidney? 

Ans. A critic and poet of Elizabethan Age. 

36. What was the name of the school founded by Aristotle? 

Ans. Lyceum. 

37. What is the meaning of the title “An Apology for Poetry”? 

Ans. Begging pardon for writing poetry. 

38. Who was Orpheus? 

Ans. Legendary pre-Homeric poet. 

39. What is the Greek word for ‘imitation’? 

Ans. Mimesis. 

40. What type of plots did Shakespeare borrow from other sources? 

Ans. The most popular stories to write his drams. 

41. What kind of language does Wordsworth for his new poetry? 

Ans. Common language or rustic language. 

42. How is poetry compared to human heart? 

Ans. Poetry is as immortal as the human heart. 

43. Who is the first critic to analyze fancy and imagination? 

Ans. S. T. Coleridge. 

44. What are the three wings of poetry in accordance with Sidney? 

Ans. Art, imitation and exercise. 

45. Why did Sidney express or write “An Apology for Poetry”? 

Ans. To defend poetry from the objections. 

46. Where does the word ‘poet’ come from? 

Ans. From the Greek word ‘poiein’. 

47. What are the four stages of poetic process by Wordsworth? 

Ans. Observation, recollection, contemplation and imagination. 

48. Why did Aristotle write poetics? 

Ans. As a reply to Plato’s attack on poetry and to set aright the and function of literature. 

49. What is pantheism? 

Ans. A literary doctrine which deals that God exists in nature. 

50. How does a poet re-create reality? 

Ans. By representing men either as better or worse than in real life.