Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Primary education

Balto-Slavic Languages

This branch contains two sub-branches: Baltic and Slavic.

The Slavic Branch

These languages are primarily confined to Eastern Europe. In general, Catholic populations use the Latin alphabet, while Orthodox populations use the Cyrillic alphabet, which is derived from Greek. Indeed, some of these languages are very similar, differing only in the script used (for example, Croatian and Serbian are virtually the same language).

Key languages include:

• Bulgarian: One of the oldest Slavic languages.
• Russian: The most widely spoken Slavic language.
• Others: Polish, Kashubian (spoken in parts of Poland), Sorbian (spoken in parts of eastern Germany), Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Macedonian, Bosnian, Ukrainian, and Byelorussian.

Slavic languages... Continue reading "Balto-Slavic and Indo-Iranian Language Families Explained" »

The Germanic Language Branch

The Germanic branch is divided into three sub-branches: East Germanic (currently extinct); North Germanic, containing Old Norse, the ancestor of all modern Scandinavian languages; and West Germanic, containing Old English, Old Saxon, and Old High German.

The Germanic language group can be traced back to the region between the Elbe River in modern Germany and Southern Sweden some 3,000 years ago.

The Germanic group itself also split over time as the people migrated into other parts of Continental Europe:

• North Germanic: This evolved into Old Norse and then into the various Scandinavian languages, including Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic.
• East Germanic: Spoken by peoples who migrated back to Eastern and Southeastern

Features of English Practical Criticism

The origins were a desire to rescue literary studies from historicism and contextualism, and proponents wanted to turn literary study into a scientific method — to give seriousness and a true methodology to the analysis of literature. Richards thought that the only way to do that was to restrict the study to the text alone.

Richards gave his students sheets of paper on which literary fragments had been printed: short poems or fragments of longer works. He did not print the name of the author, the title, or the date, in order to decontextualize the text for study. He told the students to work with the text with no additional information. From these studies, he wrote Practical Criticism in 1929, from which... Continue reading "Practical Criticism and New Criticism: Principles & Fallacies" »

The Rise of New Criticism

The New Critical method was rapidly adopted, particularly in the North, due to its inexpensive and easily transferable characteristics. Prominent scholars in the North included Austin Warren, W.K. Wimsatt, and Cleanth Brooks. Brooks, in particular, emerged as the most influential New Critic.

Transforming Literary Study

Traditionally, English literature was taught as the History of English Literature, an extrinsic method. New Critics sought to transform these departments into centers of Literary Criticism. They achieved this through three key methods that fundamentally changed the organization of the teaching profession:

• Staffing University Departments

  Gradually, New Critics began to occupy chairs of literature previously

The Genesis of New Criticism

English Foundations: I.A. Richards' Influence

The roots of New Criticism were initially in England, specifically at the University of Cambridge, championed by I.A. Richards. A lecturer, Richards linked New Criticism to the USA by moving to Harvard in 1939. He found in America a very suitable ground to develop his theory of criticism, as Americans sought new methods for literary study without relying on external context. Richards' seminal work, Practical Criticism, explains his method in detail.

René Wellek and Cosmopolitanism

René Wellek contributed significantly to the cosmopolitan component of New Criticism, ensuring it was not an exclusively Anglo-American method of criticism.

American Roots: The Southern Literary

Understanding New Criticism

New Criticism is a significant critical movement characterized by renewal and innovation. It has two main branches:

• The British branch, known as Practical Criticism.
• The American branch, called New Criticism.

Originating in England in the 1920s, New Criticism reached America, where it found fertile ground for growth. It significantly influenced the study of literature and poetry in Western countries.

At the beginning of the 20th century, American critics were captivated by European, particularly British, art and culture. They experienced a sense of cultural inferiority, feeling limited to European or Native American traditions.

New Criticism's influence is undeniable; one must either oppose it or align with it. It is impossible... Continue reading "Understanding New Criticism: Origins and Impact" »

Victorianism: A Period of Transition (1840–1880)

The Victorian era (1840–1880) was characterized by profound doubts, significant changes, and hesitation. It was a period of great movement, connecting the old world with the new, the ancien régime with modernity, serving as a crucial transition toward the modernity of the 20th century.

Key Features Shaping Victorian Criticism

1. Growth of Literacy

   A large segment of the population gained the ability to read and write English. In 1807, a bill providing universal education was defeated by the British Parliament because the Napoleonic Wars introduced revolutionary ideas, and Parliament feared the English populace reading them. The bill was eventually passed in 1877.

2. Weakening of Religious Dogma

   Religious

Ezra Pound's Indifference to Traditional Criticism

Pound remains entirely indifferent to three specific areas of literary study:

• History of criticism: He rejects traditional historical frameworks.
• Biographical approaches: He criticizes what he terms "washlist criticism," which places excessive importance on biographical data.
• Ahistorical analysis: His method judges a poem according to intrinsic qualities rather than the period in which it was written. He does not believe the passage of time affects the quality or consideration of a literary work.

The Timeless Nature of Poetry

Pound argues that poetry is "always the same; the changes are superficial." While styles, feelings, topics, and vocabulary evolve, the core remains constant.

"What we need is... Continue reading "Ezra Pound: Universal Literary Theory and Criticism" »

Imagism, Vorticism, and the Modernist Movement

The differences between Imagism and Vorticism lie in their status as concrete, specific artistic movements in early 20th-century England. Modernism, by contrast, is a broad umbrella term. It refers to the collective movements—such as Vorticism, Imagism, and Cubism—that sought to dismantle Victorian and 19th-century modes of thought.

To differentiate these concepts:

• Ad Hoc Nature: Imagism and Vorticism were created for specific purposes with defined rules.
• Individualism: The authors involved possessed strong, often arrogant personalities and would have rejected the collective label of "Modernist."
• Retrospective Labeling: The term "Modernism" is only applicable when viewed retrospectively.

Ezra Pound:

Modernism's Literary Revolution: Key Movements

The early 20th century marked a transformative era in literature, often referred to as Modernism, with Ezra Pound as a central figure.

Periods of Modernist Development

Modernism can be broadly divided into two significant periods:

• 1910-1914: The Period of Aggressive Dismantling of Victorianism. This initial phase saw a deliberate break from the conventions and sentiments of the Victorian era.
• 1920-1930: The Period of Fulfillment and Artistic Fruits. This decade witnessed the maturation of Modernist art, yielding some of the greatest contributions to English criticism.

Pioneering Critics of the Modernist Era

The latter period produced influential English critics such as T.S. Eliot, I.A. Richards, F.R.... Continue reading "Modernism's Dawn: Imagism and Vorticism's Impact" »