LITERARY FORMS

 Ballad

Ballad is one of the oldest hymns in English. Originally it was sung to the accompaniment of a harp or a fiddle by a strolling singer or bands of singers.  They earned a living in this way.  The minstrel usually sung in a farm house or in the village green where many listeners would assemble and listen.  In Scott’s “Lay of the Last Minstrel”, we see him welcomed to the castle wall.  In its early stage, the sing was accompanied by a crude tribal dance.  The word ‘Ballad” means dancing sing.  Before printing was invented, it was handed down by oral tradition.  Most of the ancient English ballads were collected by Bishop Percy in the book “Reliques of Ancient English Poetry”. 

The Ballad is a short story in verse.  It was intended to be sung to audience. As it was developed at an early stage in Man’s cultural evolution, its themes are actions rather than thoughts. They are of the simplest kind, such as a memorable feud, a thrilling adventure, a family disaster, love and war.  The tale is usually fierce and tragic.  It often introduces the supernatural. 

The poem is written in the Ballad measures a quatrain in which the first and third lines are four foot iambic and the second and fourth, three foot iambic.  Often variations in the number of syllables and lines are introduced to suit the requirements of the thought. 

The table opens abruptly without any attempt at a systematic introduction.  Sometimes it begins with question and answer which do not suite who are the speakers.  

But it makes the situation quite clear as in “The Ship of the Fiend”. 

 ‘O where have you been, my long – lost love 

This long seven years and mair?’ 

‘O I’m come again to seek your love And the vows that you did swear.’  

 

It is impersonal in tone and treatment. The writer’s identity is not revealed anywhere. The epic has personal touches, but the Ballad never. 

Often the same lines are repeated from stanza to stanza as a refrain.  Some stock phrases are used.  In “Douglas Tragedy” the refrain is used.  The following are stock phrases used in the Ballads: merry men, milk-white hand, yellow hair, daughter dear, pretty babe.  

There is no attempt at detail of time or place. 

Ballads are the two kinds:  1) The Ballad of Growth or if unknown authorship, and 2)Literary Ballad.  W.H Hudson describes the literary ballad as a literary development of the traditional form.  The one is genuine, having grown up naturally among a primitive race, and the other imitative. Some of the best known authentic ballads are: “Chevy Chase,” “The wife of Usher’s well”, and Sir Patrick Spens”. Among the literary ones, Scott’s “Eve of St.John” Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Keats’s “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” 

A minor form of the Ballad of Art is the Mock-Ballad, in which a comic theme is treated with seriousness.  Cowper’s “John Gilpin” is a famous example of mock-Ballad.

 THE ODE 

The Ode is a very popular form of lyrical poetry.  It is of Greet Origin.  It is a serious and dignified composition and is longer than the lyric. Ode is often in the form of an address and is sometimes used to celebrate an important public occasion. 

The Ode is exalted in subject matter and elevated in tone and style.  It’s theme is sublime and noble and its treatment is grand and dignified.   

The poet is serious both in the choice of his subject and in the manner of its presentation.  He shows himself at the height of his power.  It is longer than the lyric and it has no fixed length.  It expresses a deep and sincere emotion of the poet.  But its expression is expected to be much more elaborate and impressive and diffuse.  The Ode is often addressed directly to the person or the subject it treats..  The opening lines contain an appeal, which is the characteristic of the whole treatment of the poem. 

The following are few popular Odes.  They are Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind”,  Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, Tennyson’s  “ To Virgil”, and Collins’ “Ode on Evening”. 

The Ode is remarkable for its wide scope in the choice of themes.  Sometimes, the Ode celebrates and important public event like a national Jubilee, the death of a great person and the commemoration of a great University. 

The Greek Ode has two forms, such as the Dorian Ode and Lesbian Ode.  The Dorian Ode was choric and was sung to the accompaniment of a dance.  Its structure was borrowed from the movement of the dances.  It consisted of three parts.  They were Strophe, Anti- Strophe and Epode.  The sequence of a Strophe, Anti- Strophe and Epode could be repeated any number of times in an Ode.  It was repeated thrice in Gray’s Odes. “The Progress of the Poesy” and “The Bard”.. Pindar, the ancient Greek poet used this form brilliantly and hence it is usually known as the Pindaric Ode. 

The Lesbian Ode was simpler in form than that Pindaric and was easier for poets to imitate.  It consisted of a number of short stanzas,  similar in length and arrangement.  The treatment was direct and dignified; and the thought clearly developed.  It was popularized in Latin by two great Roman writers Horace and Catullus.  The works of Horace served as a model to English poets.  They imitated the method of Horace and hence this type of the Ode was known as Horatian Odes.  Andrew Marvell, Keats, Shelley, Robert Bridges and Wordsworth are the successful imitators of this kind of Odes.  These writers do not follow the classical traditions strictly with regard to subject, treatment, style and outlook.  They differ from person to person. 

THE SONNET 

The word ‘Sonnet’ was derived from the Italian “ Sonetto”.  It was a short poem recited to a musical accompaniment.  The word “Sonnet means a little sound or strain.  Like the Lyric, it was a single emotion expressed in rhythmic melody.  It came into existence in the latter half of thirteenth century.  It was associated with the name of a great Italian poet Petrarch.  The Italian Sonnet is often known as Petrarchan because Petrarch crowned it with beauty and power. 

The Sonnet is a short poem of fourteen lines expressing one single thought or feeling.  It is composed of two parts, the Octave and Sestet.  The first eight lines of the poem is called Octave. And the second six lines is called Sestet. Its rhyme pattern is ABBA.ABBA. CDC.DCD. The Octave is divided into two stanzas of four lines each, called Quartrains and Sestet into two stanzas of three lines each called Tercets. 

The Sonnet was introduced in England in the first half of 16th Century by Sir. Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey.  In their hands the form of Sonnet underwent a change.  Surrey adopted a rhyme-scheme widely different from that of his Italian model.  He wrote his Sonnets in three quartrains in alternative rhyme followed by a concluding couplet: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.  Later the Sonnet from was improved and perfected by Shakespeare.  

Its pattern is three quatrains followed by rhyming couplet: 

ABAB, CDCD, EFEF - GG 

Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. It is believed that they have auto-biographical value.  The handsome noble man to whom the poet addressed his praise is identified as the Earl of Southampton and the Dark Lady in the later Sonnets, is a mysterious woman.  After Shakespeare, Milton composed a few Sonnets in the Petrarchan form.  Then the romantic poets came on the stage to revive the Sonnet and put it on a strong basis.  Wordsworth, Keats and Blanco White have composed a few Sonnets. 

TRAGEDY

Drama  has been divided into two types 1) Tragedy and 2) Comedy. 

Tragedy deals with the dark side of life and aims of evoking pity and awe.  Comedy deals with light side of life aims at evoking laughter.  In tragedy the characters are impelled towards an unhappy fate.  In comedy everything ends well. 

Tragedy in the Greek drama, deals with people of high birth: kings, princess and their householders. The tragic actor wears a high-heeled boot called the buskin to make him appear majestic. Comedy deals with people of less importance. The comic actor wore a light shoe called the sock, to show his lower degree.  The old dramatist felt that the lives of famous and powerful persons to be the fitting subjects, only their fall evokes pity and fear. 

In later literature, there were many tragedies of low life.  The most poignant of 

Hardy’s Tragic novel “Tess of the Durbervilles” deals with a dairymaid.  “Falstaff” and “Sir Toby Belch” belong to high rank.  This led to the rise of new tragedy called “The domestic tragedy” in the 18th century.  The incidents and characters were taken from ordinary life. George Lillo’s  London Merchant” is a famous example.  Everyone praised it.  Masefield and Galsworthy are the most important writers of our age. 

TRAGIC AND COMIC ATMOSPHERE 

The Atmosphere of Tragedy is sad and serious. It “purges the emotion through pity and terror” said Aristotle. 

The Atmosphere of comedy is happy and light.  It moves us to laughter.  In classical plays there was ‘pure’ tragedy and pure comedy.  In English Literature tragedy and comedy are found to be intermingled.  There are comic interludes in tragedies and a background of tragic possibilities in many of the comedies.  This plot suits the English minds and it was in accordance with the realities of life. 

Both comedy and tragedy aim at giving pleasure.  Tragedy gives pleasure but of a very lofty order.  Tragedy and comedy served to importance purposes.  The purpose of tragedy  was to effect  catharsis that is purgation of the twin emotions.  It purified the feeling.  The purpose of comedy was to correct manners.  It refined the conduct.  It corrected the social failings. 

The story in tragedy conveys in moral at the end of the play by one of the characters.  Wrong doers do not triumph and sometimes good comes out of evil.  As in the reconciliation of the Montague and Capulet’s at the end of the Romeo and Juliet. 

Verse is the medium for both comedy and Tragedy Shakespeare’s comedy are written in blank verse.  There are of course prose passages in both.  The playwright move from one to other, as the medium of tragedy and comedy confined itself to prose.  Modern drama in general is a prose form.  Example: Galsworthy’s Justice. 

TYPES OF TRAGEDY 

Tragedy is classified  into two ways: 

1. With reference to its form and structure. 

2. With reference to its matter or theme.  Broadly speaking, Tragedy has two forms a) Classical  and b) Romantic. 

The main feature of the classical type are the observance of the three unities and the use of chorus.  The theory of three units unity of time, place and action is based on the writings of Aristotle. 

According to Aristotle, unit of time means that the plot should take place within 24 hours.  In unity of place the incident must take place in one place.  In unity of action, the play must deal with one single plot, there is no subplot and the plot should either be purely tragic or purely comic.  The incidents must all be logically connected. 

The chorus is an important element in a Greek tragedy.  It consisted of a group of actors, their main function is to report what happed behind the stage and to make moral comments so that it brings the desired effort.  It is an integral part of the plot.  They represented violent physical actions.  Its main aim was to send  the audience, away with a strengthened conviction of the might of Gods. 

The romantic Tragedy does not follow the three unities.  It does not employ the chorus.  The scene of action changes according to the plot.  It is not written to a set pattern.  

Shakespeare is one of the great writers of the romantic tragedy.  It was popularised by Marlowe in England. 

The following are the divisions of Tragedy. 

1. The Horror tragedy was popularised by Webster and Ford. 

2. The Heroic tragedy Dryden was popularised and Otway. 

3. In the She-tragedy, the female figure plays a vital role. 

4. The Domestic tragedy in the eighteenth century.  It portrays the middle class life   The heroic tragedy deals with scenes of violence and cruelty.  The heroic tragedy deals with the exploits of sublime hero. 

STYLE AND TREATMENT 

The Idyll is not a mere description of person, places or thing.  It is the poets’ own version of what he has seen or felt.  The mere description of facts could not constitute a successful Idyll.  It is the poetic colouring.  The language is carefully chosen to give the desired pictorial impression It may be direct and straight forward. 

THE SUBJECT OF THE IDYLL 

The earliest Idylls were written by the Greek poet Theocritus. Its themes are very varied town and country life, mythology and poets own experience and Impressions. In English the scope of the Idyll is about the lovely life in town or village. The Roman poet Vergil adopted the pastoral form in his Eclogues are vucolucs. These writings were models for later European writers. Tennyson has described chivalric life in a simpler age in his Idyll of the king.  This work is a novel combination of Idyll & Epic. 

NOVEL

The term ‘novel’ originally meant a ‘fresh story’.  It gradually came to signify a story in prose.  Marion Crawford described Novel as a ‘pocket theatre’.  It is defined as ‘a long narrative in prose detailing the actions of fictitious people’ 

A novel has a plot and the characters reveal themselves and their intensions in dialogue.  The Novelist represents life in fullness.  Every novel must present a certain new of life and some of the problems of life.  The novel can have its background in any part of the world.  Hardy’s novels are located in Wessex and Bronte’s novels have the countryside of Sussex serves as the background in the novels of Rudyard kipling. 

Charles Dickens has used the novels to reform his contemporary society.  His “Bleak house” points out the costs and delay of the law.  In “Oliver Twist” he speaks about the abuse of the workhouse system and the poor law.  Charles Reade’s “Its Never Too Late.” reveal the horrible conditions in persons and lunatic asylums.  Novel starts with John Lyly’s “Euphues” and “ The Anatomy of wit”.  John Bunyan’s novel “The Pilgrim’s Progress” is famous.  “Robinson Crusoe” is a first English novel written by Daniel Defoe. Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” is a work of fiction. 

Only in the 18th century, Samuel Richardson gave a modern form to novel.  His novel “Pamela” a lengthy story told in the form of letters.  Fielding is another reputed novelist.  He wrote four novels: “Joseph Andrews”, Jonathan Wild”, Tom Jones”, and  “ Amelia”.  Smollett has written five picaresque novels.  Goldsmith’s “ The vicar of Wakefield” is a domestic fiction. 

During the 19th century, Jane Austen emerged as the popular novelist.  She wrote ‘Pride and Prejudices’ “Emma”, “Sense and sensibility” and “Mansfield Park”. Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” and Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights” are novels are terror..  Sir Walter Scott inaugurated the historical novel. His famous novels are “Waverley” , “Ivanhoe”, “Kenilworth” and “The Talisman”.  R.D.Blackmore’s“ LornaDoone” and Charles Reade’s “ The Cloister and the Hearth” are established classics. 

Charles Dickens has written novels with aim to reform the corrupt inhuman society.  His “Davidcopperfield”, “Nicholas Nickleby” “Oliver Twist” are expressions of his childhoodmiseries.  Thackeray, who was Dickens’ great rival has written novels of ideas.  His “Vanity Fair” is his masterpiece.  He is a novelist, who attacks the follies of society.  George Eliot is a novelist who included current topics like religion and politics in his novels.  Her famous novels are: “Adam Bede”, “The Mill on the Floss”, “Silas Marner” and “Middle March”. 

During the later 19th century two novelists emerged.  They are, Thomas Hardy and George Meredith.  Meredith teaches that spiritual growth comes with the help of courage and self-restraint.  Hardy’s characters are chiefly farmers from Wessex.  His novels reveal the innermost soul of his characters.  His four tragic novels are:  “The return of Native” “The Mayor of Casterbridge”, Tess of the D’urbervilles” and “Jude the obscure”.  

Wilkie Collins has been described as the father of the modern detective story.  Novels of adventure and exploration have been written by R.L. Stevenson and Haggard.  Henry James is a unique novelist who portrays the sensitive adjustment between individuals and classes. His famous novels are: “The Portrait of a Lady”, “The Golden Bowe”, and “The wings of the Dove”.  His short story “ The turn of the screw” heralds the arrivals of modern psychological novel. 

Novelists like D.H.Lawrence, Virginia woolf and James Joyce have done so much to change the content and style of the novel.  The world is revolutionised by the new discoveries of science and social changes.  The new novelists are interested in exploring the subconscious recesses of the human mind.  Thus they determine their influence on the conduct of the character. 

The modern context of fiction is difference due to the changes in people’s faith and values.  The coherence in the early novels has disappeared in the modern novels.  The dislocation caused by the social upheavals led to the questioning of hierarchies and authority.  

James Joyce and Virginia Woolf have contributed to the stream of consciousness novel.  Virginia has written famous psychological novels like “Mrs.Dallaway”  and “ To the Lighthouse” Freud’s psychological  theories from the basis of D.H.Lawrence’s novels like “sons and lovers”, “The Railbow” “Women in Love”.  Henry James is a pioneer in establishing the limited point of view by selecting a character to be a mirror.  His famous novels are “Lord Jim”, “Heart of Darkness” and “Youth” 

The feminist theme is central to the fiction of Margaret Drabble.  In the novels like “The Millstone” and “The Waterfall”.  She explores the dilemma of the modern women to whom freedom is denied in practice but in theories. 

SHORT STORY

Short Story is a comparatively recent development in English Literature.  Chaucer”s “Canterbury Tale” are stories narrated by travelling pilgrims.  Chaucer’s “Parson’s Tale” and “The Tale of Melibee” one attempt at prose stories.  Boccaccio had written a collection of short stories under the title “Decameron”. Under Italian influence prose romances were written in English.  In the 18th Century, Addison and Steele evolved a tale with a purpose.  They teach a moral to the readers.  Scott’s “ Wandering Willie’s Tale” is the first English short story.  It was written in 1824.  The step was followed by Nathaniel  Hawthorne and Edgar Allan  Poe in America.  They formulated the modern theory of short story writing.  

They give importance to the final impression in the story. 

A Short story contains a plot, character and setting.  All these  take the short route towards the pre-conceived effect.  Sometimes, one of the three elements may dominate over the other two.  Sometimes, a story has a good plot along with minimum development of character and settings.  R.L.Stevenson”s“ The Bottle Imp” is a story of plot, Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hycle is a story of character. “The Merry men” is a story of setting.   

The language of the short story should be model of economy.  Every word in it should contribute to its effect.  It needs suitable word and the telling phrase. 

The short story is a favourite form of present day writing.  Many novelists like Arnold Bennett and Hugh Walpole has written short stories also.  Elizabeth Bowen has described it as a medium for unsuccessful poet.  Its popularity has spread from England, France and America.  As a youth, Kipling got success as a short story writer from India.  Russian author Chekhow is a famous short story writer.  Ernest Hemingway is a popular short story writer. 

Kipling s a pioneer in describing life  overseas.  H.G.Wells has written science fiction.  Oscar wilde has written beautiful stories with elaborate prose style.  The world famous detective stores by Arthur Conan Doyle are memorable work of this age.  In the 19thcentury, Galsworthy, Conrad, D.H.Lawrence and James Joyce have written memorable short stores.

ESSAY

The Word ‘Essay’ means attempt.  According to Dr.Johnson“ Essay is a loose sally of the mind, an irregular, indigested piece, not a regular and ordinary performance.”  The Oxford Dictionary describes it as a composition of moderate length on any particular subject.  There are 2 types of Essays.  They are 

a) objective Essays like scientific or historical event. 

b) personal Essays 

Personal Essay 

Treatise and dissertation may be objective essays and the true essay is essentially personal. Master of such literary device are: Charles Lamb, R.L.Stevenson, Chesterton, Goldsmith, E.V. Lucas and A.G.Gardiner. 

Origin 

The origin of the essay is identified as Roman Period.  Roman writers like “CICERO and SENECA” have produced essays rather than letters.  Hence Bacon says that the word “Essay” is late but the thing is ancient. 

Plutarch’s “Moralia” a collection of essays on moral subjects belongs to this category. Montaigne, a French writer of the 16th century produced a volume of “Essais” and employed the term “Essay” for the first time. 

The Aphoristic Essay 

It is Bacon who introduced essay into England.  According to Montaigue “I am myself the subject of my book”.  Then his aim is self- revelation.  Thus montaigue is the father of subjective or personal essay.  Bacon gave it an objective turn and his writings do not reflect the man himself.   

They are “Counsels, Civil and Moral”.  These counsels are conveyed in short, crisp sentences.  Hence Bacon’s essay are called aphoristic essays.  They say what they have to say without preface. 

The Character writers: 

In the earlier part of the 17th century the essay took the form of character- sketches.  

Writers like Hall, Overburyand  Earl contributed essays of this type.  Sir Thomas Browne and 

Abraham Cowley were influenced by this type of essay.  In cowley’s essay “Of myself” we see the beginning of the development of the modern essay form.  During the restoration era, John Dryden introduced a new variety called critical essays.  Dryden’s prose “The Preface”.  Essays are:”Essay of Dramatic Poetry and to his “Fables”. 

The Periodical and social Essay: 

With the rise of journalism in the 18th century, the essay began to appear in periodicals.  Its material is taken from the manners of the time. Addison and Steele and acknowledged masters of the form following Defoe’s “Review”. Steele started the journal “Tatler” in 1704.  Its objective is to expose the false are of literature and recommending a general simplicity in dress and discourse and behaviour.  “The Spectator” intended to teach morality and brought philosophy out of library to coffee houses and assemblies. Thus essays are first used to serve public purpose.  Roger de coverley, a fictitious character was made and popularized by Steele and Addison through the journal ‘Tatler’ and ‘Spectator’. 

Jonathan Swift is known for his satirical essays  Dr. Johnson’s essay exhibit his manly good sense and command of majestic language.  He lectures us, whereas Steele and Addison speak to the reader in a friendly manner.  Oliver Goldsmith’s series of letters on 

English life by an imaginary Chinese visitor were published in his “ Citizen of the World” 

The Reviewers  

During the 19th century there appeared a critical Journal called “Review”.  The best known review were the Edinburg and quarterly. The Edinburgh was supported by wings and the quarterly was patronised by Tories. 

The two periodicals represented the two great political parties of the time.  

Following this, there are magazines.  It carries a miscellaneous compositions.  Lamb wrote “Essays of Elia”.  They are autobiographical essays.  E.V.Lucas, Hazlitt, and  Thackeray are modern subjective essayists 

BIOGRAPHY

Biography has developed comparatively recently.  In classical times Suetonius wrote “Lives of Caesars” and Plutarch wrote “Lives”. But modern Biography has no close resemblance to these works. 

In 1683, Dryden first used the term “Biography”, defining the term as the history of particular men’s lives.  For a long time, it continued to be a collection of varied details, not governed by any principle.  Lytton Strachey  wrote the biography of “Queen Victoria”.  The Oxford Dictionary defines Biography as “history of the lives of individual men” as a branch of literature. 

Biography differs from history is being a record of the life of an individual.  It is about one figure and other characters are subsidiary to the central hero.  It is an account of his achievements and personality.  Biography should be a faithful picture of its subject with both virtues and faults.  It is a dispassionate study of a subject.  Finally, it should be a work of art, not a mere collection of details.  According to Sir Sidney Lee, its function is to transmit personality, to rebuild living man from dead bones.  The ideal biography would be a novel of character with verifiable facts.  A good biography is of immense value to the historian.  A biographer must strive for truth.  Without truth, it is a mere fiction, without beauty, it degenerates into a mere recited of facts. A pure biography would give us a perfect picture of  the external and internal development of its subject.  Unfortunately, several factors may intervene to make it impure.  The biographer is likely to honour the dead, and to conceal the evil.  Recent biographers like to emphasise his mistakes.  The imposition of the author’s views and prejudices make for the impurity in the biography.  It is necessary that the biographer should stand away from his subject in order to form a dispassionate view.  If the author thrusts too much of himself with this work, hedigresses  into autobiographical.  A biography should not be written with the intention of teaching some moral. 

All works of art are shorn of their power when men attempt to reduce them to slavery.  The biographer instinctively aims at a revelation which will both capture the individuality of his subject and also show the common truth of humanity. 

Difficulties of the biographer. 

It is extremely difficult for a man who has not lived constantly with his subject to present an accurate image of his subject. Boswell, the biographer of Dr.Johnson was his intimate friend, Lockhart was Scott’s son-in-law.  Forster was closely associated with Dickens.  They have written masterly “Lives” of their heroes.  But biographers are not always contemporaries. Often biographers who live away from their heroes’ time, may imagine a background to their subject in terms of their own time.  Thus it leads to anachronisms. It is not possible to contain a whole of a man within the covers of a book.  He may generalise from words and deeds but these might have been hasty.  Yet in English literature we have fine biographies like Boswell’s “Johnson” Southey”s “Nelson”, Carlyle’s “Sterling”, Churchill’s “Marlborough”  and Arthur Bryant’s “Pepys”. 

The modern tendency in biography is to dissert its subject.  In Lytton Strakhey’s “Eminent Victorious”, this process was carried to an extreme level It insists in the human weakness of famous people.