Notes

 

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Willing Suspension of Disbelief

Among the most influential concepts in literary criticism is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s idea of the “willing suspension of disbelief”, first articulated in his Biographia Literaria (1817). As one of the central figures of English Romanticism, Coleridge believed that poetry had the power to evoke truth not by mimicking reality but by stirring the imagination. His

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Salient features of Keats’ poetry

Romanticism primarily was a revolt against the artificial, pseudo-classical poetry in 18th Century. Wordsworth was the founder of this movement. Romantic poets can be divided into two groups – Old Romantics and Young Romantics. In old Romantics there are Wordsworth, Coleridge and Scott. Wordsworth, Coleridge and Scott belong to Early Romantics, whereas Keats, Shelley, and

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Chaucer: “Nun’s Priest’s Tale” – Philosophy of Dreams

Dreams are the backbone of Chaucer‘s “Nun’s Priest’s Tale”. The story begins with a dream and ends up in a dream. Dreams were also present in the source fable but there the focus of attention was the fate of Chanticleer, whereas the dream had a secondary role to play. While, in “Nun’s Priest’s Tale” the

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Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer as a Humorist

Humour is an essential ingredient of Geoffrey Chaucer‘s poetry and the back-bone of “The Prologue and The Canterbury Tales”. All the characters in The Prologue have been humorously described. Humour, infact, makes Chaucer’s characterization distinct. A humorist is one who is quick to perceive the funny side of the things and who has the capacity

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Juno and the Paycock: Tragi-comedy Juno and the Paycock: Tragi-comedy

Tragi-comedy is a kind of writing in which comedy is hovering on the brinks of tragedy. O’Casey’s “Juno and the Paycock” is a tragi-comedy although, on the whole, it is a serious and somber play having much destruction and violence. But there are a number of comic elements in the play which would not fit

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