Notes

 

Enjoy our online database of English literature notes, academic articles. New notes/articles are published every week. Some of these notes are exclusive to members only. When you become a member on site, you get unlimited access to these articles and notes. To support us and help bring more educational content to you, please support us on Patreon.

 

Sir Philip Sidney

Critically examine Sydney’s views on the antiquity and universality of poetry.

Sir Philip Sydney is regarded as the fore-father in the field of English literature. He is the first critic of English literature. In his time poetry faced a serious crisis because of the conflict of the puritans. Many of the churchmen were against of poetry. One of the puritans, Stephen Gosson, contempt poetry and describes..

Bosola in Duchess of Malfi

Character of Bosola

In the play the Duchess of Malfi, John Webster has shown his outstanding skill in characterization. He has created many significant characters in the play. The character of Bosola is essentially a remarkable character. At the very opening of the play, we come to know about Bosola. We see him a discontented person, a rebel,..

Wordsworth’s “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” is considered the manifesto to the romantic movement

Wordsworth’s Preface to Lyrical Ballads is the declaration of a movement against the neo-classical poetry dominated by the representative poets of the Neo-classical Age. It announced a new age that was so different from so called Neo-classical age. The Preface is considered a manifesto because it talks about the nature of romantic poetry and declares..

Why does Aristotle hold tragedy on a higher level than the epic?

Aristotle discusses tragedy, epic and comedy show elaborately in “Poetics”. Aristotle not only discusses  them but also makes differences among these arts in a logical manner. He draws some argument in favour of tragedy over epic poetry. Attention is called the main difference between epic and tragedy. 0 (0 ratings) You must sign in to..

Discuss Aristotle’s views on the ‘three unities’

Aristotle‘s three unities are the principles of grammatical structure relating to action, time and place. The unity of action demands that the action of a tragedy must be a complete whole. In an action there may be several incidents and events but together, they must constitute one action. The unity of time means that the..

Sir Philip Sidney

Sidney’s objections to Contemporary English drama in ‘Apology for Poetry’

Sir Philip Sidney, a well-known critic in English literature, makes some objection to contemporary English drama in his famous work ‘Apology for Poetry’. Though he was not a dramatist himself but he knew very well the construction theme and the rules of writing a drama. He does not allow a tragicomedy. According to him, a..

Sir Philip Sidney

How does Sidney prove the superiority of poetry over history and philosophy?

The moral philosopher, according to Sir Philip Sydney considers poetry to be the superior teacher because it denotes both vices and virtues. The historian takes the view that he is able to go back and use concrete examples from history examples from history, these examples are less true and the philosophers give only the theoretical..

William Shakespeare

How does Johnson defend Shakespeare’s mixing of comic and tragic elements?

According to the classical rules of criticism, the mingling of comic and tragic scenes in the same drama is an offensive practice. All the dramatists supported these rules, and they opposed the fusion of tragic elements with comic elements. Being an influential critic, Samuel Johnson fervently opposed the mingling of comic and tragic elements and..

William Shakespeare

How does Johnson defend Shakespeare’s non observance of three unities?

William Shakespeare, the greatest dramatist of the world is known for his superb plays. Though he wrote sonnets, poems but he is chiefly known for his 37 plays. But it is a matter of thinking that he does not follow the three classical unities. He mentions only the action in these plays. Though he violates..

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Elucidate Coleridge’s theory of poetry

Samuel Taylor Coleridge is one of the most complex and richly suggestive writers in English literature. He is a poet, philosopher, critic and a genuine observer, who has left an indelible mark on history of English poetry and criticism. His major critical work, Biographia Literaria, stands as the source of much modern critical theory. His..

Discuss Aristotle’s concept of a tragic hero

The ‘term’ hero is derived from a Greek word ‘heros’ that means a person who faces adversity or demonstrates courage in the face of danger. However, sometimes he faces downfall as well. When a hero confronts downfall, he is recognized` as a tragic hero or protagonist. Aristotle says, the tragic hero has some frailties or..