Theme and Myth of The waste Land

About the theme of The Waste Land, Various interpretation have been given. Here i have given 5 theme of the poem The Waste land....

The theme of the waste land:-

About the theme of the waste land, various interpretations have been given. Those interpretations are often conflicting and contradictory. Critics like F.R.Leavis feel that the theme of the poem is ‘ the disillusionment of a generation’. It merely presence “a vision of dissolution and spiritual drought”. But it is very doubtful whether te public fully realized the significance of the poem.

Theme of criticism of life:-

The waste land, like Matthew Arnold’s scholor gipsy, offers a criticism of life in the sence often interpretation of its problames. In both there is a painful consciousness of the sickness and the fever and the fret of contemparory civilisation but the wasteland goes beyond a mere diagnosis of the spiritual distempers of the age ; it is a lament over man’s fallen nature, a prophecy and promise. Unlike arnold, who suggest a cure of escape form the feverish contact Eliot vaguely hints at the possibility of rebarth oviously there is no assurances of this redemption, but there is atleast te awareness that it is the only way out the conclusion of the poem give no assurence of any sort but the basic symbol used in the poem is one of restoration in to life through after hazardous quests. The legend of holygril which organized in fertility cult tales how a questioning knight saved the wasteland from drought and barrenness. Occasioned by the old age of the ruler, known as the fisher king. The knight must restore the latter’s youth by riding to the chapel perilous and there questioning the Lance and the Grail, symbols of the male and female principles. Eliot’s poem is an allegorical application of this story to modern society and religion. Our civilization is the waste land; we can obtain condition and learning a hard lesson. To enforce his premise, eliot uses symbols drawn from kindred myths and religions. In the process what iroinic pictures of modern manneres, wat superb mingling of satiric vulgarity and sensuous delicacy what prophetic earnestness, and what variety of imagery and rhythm are revealed. 

Theme of contemporary disintegration :-

One of the important themes of the waste land is ‘a vision of dissolution and spiritual drought’. This spiritual drought arises from te degeneration, vulgarisation, and commercialisation of sex. Eliot’s study of te fertility myths of different people had convinced him that sex-act is the source of life and vitality, when it is exercised for te sake of the fertility myths of different people had convinced him that sex-act is the source of life and vitality, when it is exercised for te sake of procreation and when it is an expression of love. But when it is severed from its primary function, and is exercised for the sake of momentary pleasure or momentary benefit, it becomes a source of degeneration and corruption. It then represents the primacy of the flesh over the spirit and this results in spiritual decay and death. It was a women, and Adam’s concupiscence or obedience to the flesh, that led to the original sin and the Fall of Man, and it is this very obedience to the flesh which accounts for the spiritual and emotional barrenness of the modern age.

The poem, in its spirit, reflects te anxiety, despair, neurosis, boredom, and mental vacuity of the modern age. In the contemporary waste land there is corruption and sexual degeneration at all levels. The title, a game of chess suggest that sex has become a matter of intrigue, a matter of moves and countermoves, a source of momentary pleasure, a sordid game of seduction and exploitation of the innocent. There is the fashionable society women who, despite all her pomp and show, despite all the luxury with which she surrounded, is bored and fed up with the meaningless routine of her life, and is neurotic and hysterical as a consequence. Her love, too, suffers from mental vacuity and is unable to keep up even small conversation.

Theme of Sexual perversion:-

Another important theme of the waste land is sexual perversion among the middle-class people. This is seen in the mechanical relationship of the typist and clerk. The typist gives herself to the Clark with a sense of total indifference and apathy. There is neither repulsion nor any pleasure, and this absence of feeling is a measure of the sterility of the age. It is just animal-like copulation. As soon as the young man has departed, te typist rearranges her hair, and puts a record on the gramophone, “ with automatic hands”. This perversion of sex is also to be seen in the lower classes of society. The songs of three themes daughters clearly show that they have been sexually exploited, but they can do nothing about it. They and their people are too poor and too apathetic to make any effort for the betterment of their lot. Man has grown inhuman; humanity has lost its humanity. That sex is a matter of momentary pleasure or a business proposition is also suggested by the image of the deserted Thames, which in the summer was a favourite picnic spot for the nymphs and their rich friends. Further, the conversation of the ladies in some London pub also brings out the sordid nature of sex relationship in the contemporary waste land. Not only has sex been vulgarize and commercialism, there also prevail abnormal sex-practices of various kinds. Thus Mr. Eugenides is a homo-sexual and Hotel Metro pole is a hot-bed of homosexuality, a relationship which is essentially sterile. All Europe is burning with lust and sexuality. Eliot suggests that there is an emphasis on the sanctity of sex. There is decay and spiritual degeneracy whenever the sexual function is perverted. The purpose of the sexual function is procreation and it is sanctified only in marriage. When the sexual act is separated from procreation there is spiritual degeneracy. In modern society there is perversion of sex, hence its degeneracy. Sex has been separated from love, marriage and procreation; the sex-act has become beastly or mere animal copulation, and hence there is decay and spiritual barrenness.

Theme of Life-in-death:-

According to cleanth Brooks, the theme of The Waste Land is life-in-death. It suggests the living death of the inhabitants of The Waste Land. Throughout the poem, it is evident that man is shown to have lost his passion, i.e. His faith in god and religion,- his passional participation in religion- and this decay of faith has resulted in the loss of vitality, both spiritual and emotional. Consequently, the life in the modern waste land is a life-in-death, a living death, like that of the sibyl at cumse. According to Eliot’s philosophy, insofar as we are human beings we must act and do either evil or good, and it is better to do evil then to do nothing. Modern man has lost his sese of good and evil, and this keeps him from being alive, from acting. In the modern desolate land the people are dead, they merely exist like dead things. As Stephen spender has pointed out, they are to be compared to such dead things as a stick, a gutter, a pipe at the most, theirs is a life-in-death, a life of complete inactivity, listlessness and apathy. That is why winter is welcome to them, and April is the cruellest of momths, for it reminds them of the stirrings of life and, “they dislike to be roused from their death-in-life”.

Theme exemplified in various parts of the poem:- 

Part 1, entitled, ‘The Burial of the dead’, emphasizes the inevitable dissolution which must precede new life, and begins with a lament over the loss of fertility in what should be a spring season and illustrate this by reproducing typical chatter of cosmopolitan idlers, passing thence to symbols of our barrenness. The decay of love in the modern world is then suggested. The section ends with a vision of London as an unreal city, in a nightmare of memories. In the lines,

                “That corpse you planted last year in your garden

                 Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?”

The connection with the fertility cult is establish.

In Part 2, ‘A Game of Chess’,the title of which recalls the dramatic irony of Binaca and the fatal power of woman, he cleverly draws us to two types of modern women in contrasted literary styles. After picture of a luxurious boudoir which rivals Keats, he gives the petulant conversation of its occupant and her eternal question:

                 “What shall we do tomorrow?

                  What shall we ever do!”

In the next quest the tone of disgust deepens. The sordidness of urban pleasure suggests the flames of the poet has introduced into the boudior, touches of cleopatra and Dido, so now he recalls the rives of spenser’s prothalamion and with equally devastating irony, goes on to contrast the cynicism of the modern girl with the eighteenth century sentimental ideal. Similarly, He uses Wagner’s “Rhein-gold” melodies and a picture of Queen Elizabeth flirting with Leicester in her barge , to emphasize the permanence of human sensuality and the degradation to which it has now fallen. With intense agony of soul, he finally alludes to the repentance of saint Augustine and to the teaching of the Buddha.

After a short section, emphasizing the brevity of sensual life, the several themes are recapitulated in Part 5, and the way of escape vaguely hinted at. Our sterility is again asserted:

                   “Here os no water but only rock

                    Rock and no water and the sandy rode

                    The road winding above among the mountains

                    Which are mountains of rock without water.”

In this desert, we suffer illusion; where two walk there goes a shadowy third. There are murmurs and lamentation. When we reach the chapel perilous, it seems empty but as we doubt betraying rain. Self-surrender, Sympathy, Self-control-these three are the ways to salvation.

The poet speaks of setting his own house in order though London Bridge is falling down. He must pass through the fire of purification. He is hunted by images of desolation and a shower of literary allusion shows him slipping into frenzy. But like a charm of healing rain, he repeats the message of the thunder and ends with the blessing “Shantih, Shantih”.

What is Myth:-

Myths were the symbolic Presentation of primitive man’s instinct that his work-a-day world was interpenetrated with a super-rational or extra-rational activity. They were fabulous fictions which revealed physic facts. Modern anthropology sees all religion and all art springing and growing from this primitive root of symbolic transformation. By his symbol-making instinct man’s knowledge and experience of outer and inner world were projected into direct sensuous embodiment, giving them life and outline and meaning. In the juxtaposition of the ‘shape and significance’ of life, given expression in these symbolic terms with “the immense panorama of futility and anarchy” which is contemporary history, Eliot saw a hope for a new advance towards order and form.

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II. USE OF MYTH IN 'THE WASTE LAND'

T.S.Eliot's “The Waste Land” is the most sustained and complex use of the mythical method.Taking as its underlying pattern the great myth as interpreted by Jessie Weston,Sir James Frazer,and others, and weaving the theme of barrenness,decay and death, and the quest for life and ressurection which he found in these anthropological sources with the Christian story and with Buddhist and other oriental analogies,and incorporating into the poem both examples and symbols of the failure of modern civilization ,moral squalor and social vaccuam - which are inturn mythically and symbolically related to the anthropological and religious themes,Eliot endeavoured to project a complete view of civilization , of human history and human failure and of perennial quest for salvation . That the modern poet concerned with the complexities of his civilization can no longer count on any common body of knowledge in the light of which he can confidently use myth and symbol, is forced by the condition of his time to create or re-create his own myths and to draw on his own perhaps highly unusual reading for reference and allusion

is a commonplace.It is the comprehensive aim of “The Waste Land”to make necessary dependence on a synthetic myth.

In a review of James Joyce's Ulysses in 'The Dial ‘1923 , Eliot wrote -'' I hold this book to be the most important expression which the present age has found . ...In using myth , in manipulating a continuous parallel between contemporaneity and antiquity , Mr . Joyce is pursuing a method which others must pursue after him ... it is simply a way of controlling , of ordering , of giving a shape and a significance to the immense penorama of futility and anarchy which is contemporary history ... instead of narrative method , we may now use the mythical method ''. The mythical method of Eliot, however, is different that of Joyce in Ulysses.Joyce follows the technic of elaboration and expansion, but Eliot has adapted the technic of compression and telescoping, with a poetic shorthand. He has frankly acknowledged his debt to Jessie Weston's “From Ritual to Romance” and Frazer's “The Golden Bough”, specially the portion dealing with the fertility rituals.Frazer's work was significant for Eliot because it demonstrates the continuity between the primitive and the civilized and revealed the substratum of savagery and violence beneath the surface of civilization.When in 1921,Eliot saw a performance of Igor Stravinsky”s Le Sacre du

Printemps,in which the ballet was based upon vegetation rites,he missed 'the sense of present' in everything except in the music.In his music there was a continuity between the the primitive past and the civilized present which was later on reflection in “The Waste Land”too(That corpse you planted last yearin your garden) and the barbaric cries of modern life are heard in the 'sound of horns and motors which shall bring /Sweeny to Mrs porterin the spring. Eliot has used both Pagan and Christian myths. From Egypt, he borrowed of the fertility ritual myth. The effigy

English Skills

English Skills

When we think of English skills, the 'four skills' of listening, speaking, reading, and writing readily come to mind. Of course other skills such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and spelling all play a role in effective English communication. The amount of attention you give to each skill area will depend both the level of your learners as well as their situational needs. Generally beginners, especially those who are nonliterate, benefit most from listening and speaking instruction with relatively little work on reading and writing. As fluency increases, the amount of reading and writing in your lessons may also increase. With advanced learners, up to half of your lesson time can be spent on written skills, although your learners may wish to keep their focus weighted toward oral communication if that is a greater need.

Teaching Listening

Listening skills are vital for your learners. Of the 'four skills,' listening is by far the most frequently used. Listening and speaking are often taught together, but beginners, especially non-literate ones, should be given more listening than speaking practice. It's important to speak as close to natural speed as possible, although with beginners some slowing is usually necessary. Without reducing your speaking speed, you can make your language easier to comprehend by simplifying your vocabulary, using shorter sentences, and increasing the number and length of pauses in your speech.

There are many types of listening activities. Those that don't require learners to produce language in response are easier than those that do. Learners can be asked to physically respond to a command (for example, "please open the door"), select an appropriate picture or object, circle the correct letter or word on a worksheet, draw a route on a map, or fill in a chart as they listen. It's more difficult to repeat back what was heard, translate into the native language, take notes, make an outline, or answer comprehension questions. To add more challenge, learners can continue a story text, solve a problem, perform a similar task with a classmate after listening to a model (for example, order a cake from a bakery), or participate in real-time conversation.

Good listening lessons go beyond the listening task itself with related activities before and after the listening. Here is the basic structure:

Before Listening
Prepare your learners by introducing the topic and finding out what they already know about it. A good way to do this is to have a brainstorming session and some discussion questions related to the topic. Then provide any necessary background information and new vocabulary they will need for the listening activity.

During Listening
Be specific about what students need to listen for. They can listen for selective details or general content, or for an emotional tone such as happy, surprised, or angry. If they are not marking answers or otherwise responding while listening, tell them ahead of time what will be required afterward.

After Listening
Finish with an activity to extend the topic and help students remember new vocabulary. This could be a discussion group, craft project, writing task, game, etc.

The following ideas will help make your listening activities successful.

Noise
Reduce distractions and noise during the listening segment. You may need to close doors or windows or ask children in the room to be quiet for a few minutes.

Equipment
If you are using a cassette player, make sure it produces acceptable sound quality. A counter on the machine will aid tremendously in cueing up tapes. Bring extra batteries or an extension cord with you.

Repetition
Read or play the text a total of 2-3 times. Tell students in advance you will repeat it. This will reduce their anxiety about not catching it all the first time. You can also ask them to listen for different information each time through.

Content
Unless your text is merely a list of items, talk about the content as well as specific language used. The material should be interesting and appropriate for your class level in topic, speed, and vocabulary. You may need to explain reductions (like 'gonna' for 'going to') and fillers (like 'um' or 'uh-huh').

Recording Your Own Tape
Write appropriate text (or use something from your textbook) and have another English speaker read it onto tape. Copy the recording three times so you don't need to rewind. The reader should not simply read three times, because students want to hear exact repetition of the pronunciation, intonation, and pace, not just the words.

Video
You can play a video clip with the sound off and ask students to make predictions about what dialog is taking place. Then play it again with sound and discuss why they were right or wrong in their predictions. You can also play the sound without the video first, and show the video after students have guessed what is going on.

Homework
Give students a listening task to do between classes. Encourage them to listen to public announcements in airports, bus stations, supermarkets, etc. and try to write down what they heard. Tell them the telephone number of a cinema and ask them to write down the playing times of a specific movie. Give them a tape recording of yourself with questions, dictation, or a worksheet to complete.

Look for listening activities in the Activities and Lesson Materials sections of this guide. If your learners can use a computer with internet access and headphones or speakers, you may direct them toward the following listening practice sites. You could also assign specific activities from these sites as homework. Teach new vocabulary ahead of time if necessary.

Teaching Reading

We encounter a great variety of written language day to day -- articles, stories, poems, announcements, letters, labels, signs, bills, recipes, schedules, questionnaires, cartoons, the list is endless. Literate adults easily recognize the distinctions of various types of texts. This guide will not cover instruction for learners with little or no literacy in their native language; you will need to work intensively with them at the most basic level of letter recognition and phonics.

Finding authentic reading material may not be difficult, but finding materials appropriate for the level of your learners can be a challenge. Especially with beginners, you may need to significantly modify texts to simplify grammar and vocabulary. When choosing texts, consider what background knowledge may be necessary for full comprehension. Will students need to "read between the lines" for implied information? Are there cultural nuances you may need to explain? Does the text have any meaningful connection to the lives of your learners? Consider letting your students bring in their choice of texts they would like to study. This could be a telephone bill, letter, job memo, want ads, or the back of a cereal box. Motivation will be higher if you use materials of personal interest to your learners.

Your lesson should begin with a pre-reading activity to introduce the topic and make sure students have enough vocabulary, grammar, and background information to understand the text. Be careful not to introduce a lot of new vocabulary or grammar because you want your students to be able to respond to the content of the text and not expend too much effort analyzing the language. If you don't want to explain all of the potentially new material ahead of time, you can allow your learners to discuss the text with a partner and let them try to figure it out together with the help of a dictionary. After the reading activity, check comprehension and engage the learners with the text, soliciting their opinions and further ideas orally or with a writing task.

Consider the following when designing your reading lessons.

Purpose
Your students need to understand ahead of time why they are reading the material you have chosen.

Reading Strategies
When we read, our minds do more than recognize words on the page. For faster and better comprehension, choose activities before and during your reading task that practice the following strategies.

Prediction: This is perhaps the most important strategy. Give your students hints by asking them questions about the cover, pictures, headlines, or format of the text to help them predict what they will find when they read it.

Guessing From Context: Guide your students to look at contextual information outside or within the text. Outside context includes the source of the text, its format, and how old it is; inside context refers to topical information and the language used (vocabulary, grammar, tone, etc.) as well as illustrations. If students have trouble understanding a particular word or sentence, encourage them to look at the context to try to figure it out. Advanced students may also be able to guess cultural references and implied meanings by considering context.

Skimming: This will improve comprehension speed and is useful at the intermediate level and above. The idea of skimming is to look over the entire text quickly to get the basic idea. For example, you can give your students 30 seconds to skim the text and tell you the main topic, purpose, or idea. Then they will have a framework to understand the reading when they work through it more carefully.

Scanning: This is another speed strategy to use with intermediate level and above. Students must look through a text quickly, searching for specific information. This is often easier with non-continuous texts such as recipes, forms, or bills (look for an ingredient amount, account number, date of service, etc.) but scanning can also be used with continuous texts like newspaper articles, letters, or stories. Ask your students for a very specific piece of information and give them just enough time to find it without allowing so much time that they will simply read through the entire text.

Silent Reading vs. Reading Aloud
Reading aloud and reading silently are really two separate skills. Reading aloud may be useful for reporting information or improving pronunciation, but a reading lesson should focus on silent reading. When students read silently, they can vary their pace and concentrate on understanding more difficult portions of the text. They will generally think more deeply about the content and have greater comprehension when reading silently. Try extended silent reading (a few pages instead of a few paragraphs, or a short chapter or book for advanced students) and you may be surprised at how much your learners can absorb when they study the text uninterrupted at their own pace. When introducing extended texts, work with materials at or slightly below your students' level; a long text filled with new vocabulary or complex grammar is too cumbersome to understand globally and the students will get caught up in language details rather than comprehending the text as a whole.

Teaching Speaking

Speaking English is the main goal of many adult learners. Their personalities play a large role in determining how quickly and how correctly they will accomplish this goal. Those who are risk-takers unafraid of making mistakes will generally be more talkative, but with many errors that could become hard-to-break habits. Conservative, shy students may take a long time to speak confidently, but when they do, their English often contains fewer errors and they will be proud of their English ability. It's a matter of quantity vs. quality, and neither approach is wrong. However, if the aim of speaking is communication and that does not require perfect English, then it makes sense to encourage quantity in your classroom. Break the silence and get students communicating with whatever English they can use, correct or not, and selectively address errors that block communication.

Speaking lessons often tie in pronunciation and grammar (discussed elsewhere in this guide), which are necessary for effective oral communication. Or a grammar or reading lesson may incorporate a speaking activity. Either way, your students will need some preparation before the speaking task. This includes introducing the topic and providing a model of the speech they are to produce. A model may not apply to discussion-type activities, in which case students will need clear and specific instructions about the task to be accomplished. Then the students will practice with the actual speaking activity.

These activities may include imitating (repeating), answering verbal cues, interactive conversation, or an oral presentation. Most speaking activities inherently practice listening skills as well, such as when one student is given a simple drawing and sits behind another student, facing away. The first must give instructions to the second to reproduce the drawing. The second student asks questions to clarify unclear instructions, and neither can look at each other's page during the activity. Information gaps are also commonly used for speaking practice, as are surveys, discussions, and role-plays. Speaking activities abound; see the Activities and Further Resources sections of this guide for ideas.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind as you plan your speaking activities.

Content
As much as possible, the content should be practical and usable in real-life situations. Avoid too much new vocabulary or grammar, and focus on speaking with the language the students have.

Correcting Errors
You need to provide appropriate feedback and correction, but don't interrupt the flow of communication. Take notes while pairs or groups are talking and address problems to the class after the activity without embarrassing the student who made the error. You can write the error on the board and ask who can correct it.

Quantity vs. Quality
Address both interactive fluency and accuracy, striving foremost for communication. Get to know each learner's personality and encourage the quieter ones to take more risks.

Conversation Strategies
Encourage strategies like asking for clarification, paraphrasing, gestures, and initiating ('hey,' 'so,' 'by the way').

Teacher Intervention
If a speaking activity loses steam, you may need to jump into a role-play, ask more discussion questions, clarify your instructions, or stop an activity that is too difficult or boring.

Teaching Writing

Good writing conveys a meaningful message and uses English well, but the message is more important than correct presentation. If you can understand the message or even part of it, your student has succeeded in communicating on paper and should be praised for that. For many adult ESL learners, writing skills will not be used much outside your class. This doesn't mean that they shouldn't be challenged to write, but you should consider their needs and balance your class time appropriately. Many adults who do not need to write will enjoy it for the purpose of sharing their thoughts and personal stories, and they appreciate a format where they can revise their work into better English than if they shared the same information orally.

Two writing strategies you may want to use in your lessons are free writing and revised writing. Free writing directs students to simply get their ideas onto paper without worrying much about grammar, spelling, or other English mechanics. In fact, the teacher can choose not to even look at free writing pieces. To practice free writing, give students 5 minutes in class to write about a certain topic, or ask them to write weekly in a journal. You can try a dialog journal where students write a journal entry and then give the journal to a partner or the teacher, who writes another entry in response. The journals may be exchanged during class, but journal writing usually is done at home. The main characteristic of free writing is that few (if any) errors are corrected by the teacher, which relieves students of the pressure to perform and allows them to express themselves more freely.

Revised writing, also called extended or process writing, is a more formal activity in which students must write a first draft, then revise and edit it to a final polished version, and often the finished product is shared publicly. You may need several class sessions to accomplish this. Begin with a pre-writing task such as free writing, brainstorming, listing, discussion of a topic, making a timeline, or making an outline. Pairs or small groups often work well for pre-writing tasks. Then give the students clear instructions and ample time to write the assignment. In a class, you can circulate from person to person asking, "Do you have any questions?" Many students will ask a question when approached but otherwise would not have raised a hand to call your attention. Make yourself available during the writing activity; don't sit at a desk working on your next lesson plan. Once a rough draft is completed, the students can hand in their papers for written comment, discuss them with you face to face, or share them with a partner, all for the purpose of receiving constructive feedback. Make sure ideas and content are addressed first; correcting the English should be secondary. Finally, ask students to rewrite the piece. They should use the feedback they received to revise and edit it into a piece they feel good about. Such finished pieces are often shared with the class or posted publicly, and depending on the assignment, you may even choose to 'publish' everyone's writing into a class booklet.

Tactful correction of student writing is essential. Written correction is potentially damaging to confidence because it's very visible and permanent on the page. Always make positive comments and respond to the content, not just the language. Focus on helping the student clarify the meaning of the writing. Especially at lower levels, choose selectively what to correct and what to ignore. Spelling should be a low priority as long as words are recognizable. To reduce ink on the page, don't correct all errors or rewrite sentences for the student. Make a mark where the error is and let the student figure out what's wrong and how to fix it. At higher levels you can tell students ahead of time exactly what kinds of errors (verbs, punctuation, spelling, word choice) you will correct and ignore other errors. If possible, in addition to any written feedback you provide, try to respond orally to your student's writing, making comments on the introduction, overall clarity, organization, and any unnecessary information.

Consider the following ideas for your writing lessons.

Types of Tasks
Here are some ideas for the types of writing you can ask your students to do.

Copying text word for word

Writing what you dictate

Imitating a model

Filling in blanks in sentences or paragraphs

Taking a paragraph and transforming certain language, for example changing all verbs and time references to past tense

Summarizing a story text, video, or listening clip (you can guide with questions or keywords)

Making lists of items, ideas, reasons, etc. (words or sentences depending on level)

Writing what your students want to learn in English and why

Writing letters (complaint, friend, advice) - give blank post cards or note cards or stationery to add interest; you can also use this to teach how to address an envelope

Organizing information, for example making a grid of survey results or writing directions to a location using a map

Reacting to a text, object, picture, etc. - can be a word or whole written piece

Format
Clarify the format. For an essay, you may specify that you want an introduction, main ideas, support, and a conclusion. For a poem, story, list, etc., the format will vary accordingly, but make sure your students know what you expect.

Model
Provide a model of the type of writing you want your students to do, especially for beginners.

Editing
Consider giving students a checklist of points to look for when editing their own work. Include such things as clear topic sentences, introduction and conclusion, verb tenses, spelling, capitalization, etc.

Correction
Minimize the threatening appearance of correction. Instead of a red pen, use green or blue or even pencil, as long as it's different from what the student used. Explain to the students that you will use certain symbols such as VT for verb tense or WO for word order, and be very clear whether a mark (check mark, X, star, circle) means correct or incorrect as this varies among cultures.

Expressionism

EXPRESSIONISM

expressionism definition

An aesthetic style that leaves from the assemblies of authenticity and naturalism and looks to pass on inward encounter by misshaping instead of straightforwardly speaking to characteristic pictures. The profoundly particular dreams imparted in the artworks of Vincent van Gogh are punctual illustrations of expressionism. Edward Munch and Georges Rouault are acknowledged expressionist painters.
 

Characteristics of Expressionism Art

Expressionism art has existed long before the term was applied to art in the early 20th century. Nonetheless, Expressionism generally refers to a series of art movements that share a common interest in depicting emotions and emphasizing subjectivity, frequently through the use of vivid coloration and dynamic or distorted forms in paintings. Each movement pushed the art form in a slightly different direction but, on the whole, they all share these characteristics.

Emotions And Feelings: Expressionism's defining characteristic is its attempt to describe emotions and feelings visually. This might be through a portrait that exaggerates certain features of a face to make it seem more expressive, or it could be through vibrant and contrasting colors in a room to create an overall mood. In contrast, non-Expressionist art would avoid distorting shapes, colors and lines so that it could display physical reality more accurately.

Subjectivity: Some non-Expressionist art relies on color and shape distortion to create an enhanced sense of reality; the art of the New Objectivist painter is a prime example. However, their work is still intent on displaying the external or "objective" world as clearly as possible. Expressionistic art, on the other hand, tends to display an artist's internal, subjective experience to the world, whether it is a depiction of a dream, an improvised abstraction, or a highly stylized painting of a street scene that the artist has imbued with his own interpretation.

Vivid Coloration: In contrast to the Impressionists, who saw color as a reflection of light-and thus a representation of the physical world-Expressionists view color as an emotional device. Expressionistic paintings tend to employ vivid colors to elicit emotional reactions from the viewer or to relay the deep emotional state of the artist.

Dynamic And Distorted Forms: Most Expressionistic paintings, when depicting images of recognizable objects like humans or horses, render them in exaggerated forms, frequently with a sense of movement through blurred edges or curving brushstrokes. Even abstract paintings employ this kind of dynamism, showing a fluidity of line and movement throughout the painting.

Characteristics of Movements Within Expressionism: Each movement within Expressionism has had its own distinct style. Art of the Fauves (Wild Beasts), including that of Matisse, was intensely colored with distorted shapes balanced into compelling compositions, but they remained fairly representational. German Expressionism continued this highly stylized approach but delved strongly into abstraction and improvisational compositions, particularly in the work of Wassily Kandinsky. Abstract Expressionism expanded the canvas and employed an "all over" approach to creating large-scale, highly abstract paintings.
 

Different types of images on Expressionism:-

In Literature

In literature, expressionism is often considered a revolt against realism and naturalism, seeking to achieve a psychological or spiritual reality rather than record external events in logical sequence. In the novel, the term is closely allied to the writing of Franz Kafka and James. In the drama, Strindberg is considered the forefather of the expressionists, though the term is specifically applied to a group of early 20th-century German dramatists, including Kaiser, Toller, and Wed kind. Their work was often characterized by a bizarre distortion of reality. Playwrights not closely associated with the expressionists occasionally wrote expressionist drama, e.g., Karel Capek's R.U.R. (1921) and Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones (1921). The movement, though short-lived, gave impetus to a free form of writing and of production in modern theater.

The Beginnings so the Expressionistic Tendency

            Just when Europe was witnessing a birth of romanticism in the plays o Rostand, D’ Annunzio, Banally, Stephen Phillips, and Von Hosfmannsthal, the beginnings of the Expressionistic tendency were making themselves felt Strindberg, who had been a symbolist in Lucky peer was in the dream play, the spook sonata the two parts of the dance of life and the three parts of towards Damascus blazing new dramatic trails and the three parts of towards Damascus blazing new dramatic trails and abandoning naturalism. Furthermore and this was particularly important in the light of what followed he was turning to the dream as a theatrical device suited to his new aims. it was not, of course, the boary old dream trick which so many plays had made familiar. No longer did a leading character, who was sipping a whiskey and soda before a roaring fire in a wainscoted room, doze off, at the end of the first act, into a sleep which found him a knight at round table in the second, and awake in the third. The dream was now to be used not as means for such Connecticut Yankee characters but as a legitimate spring board to the unedited, uninhibited wanderings of the mind. It was now to become a psychological instead of fairytale device.

            Strindberg and Wedekind, the wedekind of Erdgeist, pandora’s Box and the awakening of spring, with his earth. spirit, his impatience with an over-literary world, and his frank delineation of passion and sex, were the precursors in Russia, Andreyv and evereinov followed, Andreyev with such a symbolic fable of the cycle of existence as the life of man, or, much later, such reaching for philosophical truth as he who gets Stapped or The Taltz of the Dogs : Everinov with the idea of momo-drama and such plays as the theatre of the sol, or such a masked comedy of appearances and illusion as the chief thing.

            German ontribution

            It was in Germany, however, and particularly in the Germany of war and postwar days that Expressionism assumed the staccato scene sequence which is usually associated with its name. associated with its name. The works of Kaiser, Toller, and haasenclever offered new examples of construction more marked in their temdencies and aggressive in their individuality than the first steps of the forerunners had been, definite enough in fact to warrant the tag which their common characteristics won for them. They came as dramas of disillusionment, of social unrest and tormented mortals. Depending as a rule on only a few indicative properties and

out-cuts picked out by sharp shafts of sight which stabbed the darkness of stages surrounded by black curtains, their simple production-demands were, no doubt, conveniently adapted to the financial capacities of an improverished Germany. But it must not be supposed that they were only the children of poverty. Instead, they were the offspring of human and artistic discontent, born of rich zest of adventure children of the purse. And in such a swift, concentrated biography as Kaiser's from mom to midnight: such dramas of rebellion as Toller’s man and the masses and the machine wreckers-so different as they are from the external approaches to class conflicts of an earlier day like Hauptman’s the weavers or Galsworthy's Strife.

Expressionism in France

            Postwar France also felt the tidal wave of protest, the reaction against the old clichés. To a theatre that was as dead and sterile as that to which Antoine had once brought the breath of life, came a new generation of playwrights, men like pellerin, Gantillon, and lenor mand, pelerine, who wrote tetes de rechanges in which a man leaves for dinner as one individual oly to find on reaching his destination theat he has been separated into six different and distinct persons; Gantillon, who in maya found a symbol of illusion in the person of a Marseilles prostiture because she was a different woman to each man who sought her out, fashioned in the image of his particular need or desire; and lenormand who in the failures told with an unswerving directness the poignan; story of the misfortunes which overtake a tenth rate actress and her authorhusband who follows her on the road, such in stances picked at random from a crowded list are typical, nothing more. nor were france and germany the only countries to react to the new tendencies.

Expressionism of America

America, too, the America of the skyscraper and the jazz age, the land of machinery, pf standardization and vaudelille, the saxophone and the blues, with a thousand native rhythms and a tempo of life peculiarly suited tosuch acceleration and distortion responded to the new impulse, so far, the most notable results have been seen in the vivid, simultanceous, ommiscient flashes of biography; hay which john howard lawsons roger bloomer realed, and in the strident, vaudeville insistency of that same mr. lawsons professional in the sordid tragedy of a Guy and a jane that francis Edwards faragoh set against the pushing, impersonal background of new York in pinwheel: in some of the fine, singing moments of hohn dos passes, the moon is a gong; in the earlier half of elmer rice’s stingingly satirical the adding machine; and in such familiar examples as Eugene o’Neill’s the Emperor jones and the hairy ape.
 

Conclusion

Regardless of the slim merits of many of the plays built in the image of Expressionism, and even of the faults of monotony and obscurity which often mar the best of them, these dramas come as tokens of revolt, they too are attempts to throw down the old plastering that as Hugo said, “conceals the façade of art “ and must always conceal it for each new generation until it has found a medium of expression true to itself and native to its own time, they are attempt to break from the “well made play” they speak from the mind of a new day, using its idiom, catching something of its rhythm, answering some of its needs, and following the pace it sets for them.

Comparison of Shakespeare's "The Tempest and Cesaire's A Tempest"

A Tempest

A Tempest by Aime Cesaire was originally published in 1969 in French by Editions du Seuil in Paris. Cesaire, a recognized poet, essayist, playwright, and politician, was born in Martinique in 1913 and, until his death in 2008, had been instrumental in voicing post-colonial concerns. In the 1930s, he, along with Leopold Senghor and Leon Gontian Damas, developed the negritude movement which endeavored to question French colonial rule and restore the cultural identity of blacks in the African diaspora. A Tempest is the third play in a trilogy aimed at advancing the tenets of the negritude movement. In 1985, the play was translated into English by Richard Miller and had its American premiere in 1991 at the Ubu Repertory Theater in New York after having been performed in France, the Middle East, Africa, and the West Indies.

A Tempest is a postcolonial revision of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and draws heavily on the original play—the cast of characters is, for the most part, the same, and the foundation of the plot follows the same basic premise. Prospero has been exiled and lives on a secluded island, and he drums up a violent storm to drive his daughter’s ship ashore. The island, however, is somewhere in the Caribbean, Ariel is a mulatto slave rather than a sprite, and Caliban is a black slave. A Tempest focuses on the plight of Ariel and Caliban—the never-ending quest to gain freedom from Prospero and his rule over the island. Ariel, dutiful to Prospero, follows all orders given to him and sincerely believes that Prospero will honor his promise of emancipation. Caliban, on the other hand, slights Prospero at every opportunity: upon entering the first act, Caliban greets Prospero by saying “Uhuru!”, the Swahili word for “freedom.” Prospero complains that Caliban often speaks in his native language which Prospero has forbidden. This prompts Caliban to attempt to claim birthrights to the island, angering Prospero who threatens to whip Caliban. During their argument, Caliban tells Prospero that he no longer wants to be called Caliban, “Call me X. That would be best. Like a man without a name. Or, to be more precise, a man whose name has been stolen.” The allusion to Malcolm X cements the aura of cultural reclamation that serves as the foundational element of A Tempest. Cesaire has also included the character Eshu who in the play is cast as a black devil-god. Calling on the Yoruba mythological traditions of West Africa, Eshu assumes the archetypal role of the trickster and thwarts Prospero’s power and authority during assemblies. Near the end of the play, Prospero sends all the lieutenants off the island to procure a place in Naples for his daughter Miranda and her husband Ferdinand. When the fleet begs him to leave, Prospero refuses and claims that the island cannot stand without him; in the end, only he and Caliban remain. As Prospero continues to assert his hold on the island, Caliban’s freedom song can be heard in the background. Thus, Cesaire leaves his audience to consider the lasting effects of colonialism.

The Tempest

Written between 1610 and 1611, The Tempest is William Shakespeare’s final play. (OK. If you're nitpicky, it's the last play he wrote entirely by himself.) In it, Shakespeare portrays an aging magician who has been living in exile with his young daughter on a remote island for the past twelve years. Over the course of a single day, Prospero uses his magic to whip up a tempest to shipwreck the men responsible for his banishment. He then proceeds to dazzle and dismay the survivors (and the audience) with his art as he orchestrates his triumphant return home where he plans to retire in peace.

For a lot of audiences and literary scholars, Prospero seems like a stand-in in for Shakespeare, who spent a lifetime dazzling audiences before retiring in 1611, shortly after The Tempest was completed. Not only is the play chock-full of self conscious references to the workings of the theater, its epilogue seems to be a final and fond farewell to the stage. When Prospero (after giving up the art of magic he's spent a lifetime perfecting) appears alone before the audience he confesses, "Now my charms are all o'erthrown, / And what strength I have's mine own," we can't help but wonder of Shakespeare is speaking through this character here.

Regardless of whether or not our boy Shakespeare intended for us to understand the epilogue as a big adios to his own art, the play does seem to be a nice capstone to a brilliant career because The Tempest revisits some of the most important issues and themes to have emerged from Shakespeare's previous plays. Literary scholar Stephen Greenblatt, who calls the play an "echo-chamber of Shakespearean motifs," points out that The Tempest resonates "with issues that haunted Shakespeare's imagination throughout his career." Of course, you'll be wanting some examples, so be sure to check out “Allusion” and “Themes”.

A Comparison of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Cesaire's "A Tempest"

The Tempest is one of William Shakespeare's final plays, written around the year 1610 and considered to represent the "culmination of his career". Centered around a deposed ruler, Prospero, the play takes place exclusively on a distant island after the ship carrying the King of Naples encounters a powerful storm and the crew is forced to abandon the vessel. We find out that this is caused by the spirit Ariel, a servant of Prospero's. This in fact marks the beginning of a series of actions by Prospero to manipulate the other characters in the play towards his own end.

After reassuring his daughter Miranda that no one on the ship was hurt, Prospero proceeds to inform her of how they ended up on the island, being betrayed by his brother Antonio who took his title as Duke of Milan. We then meet Caliban, a slave of Prospero's and the rightful owner of the island by his Mother Sycorax who owned it previously. Soon Ferdinand, the Kings son happens upon Miranda and the two instantly fall in love. Although this is just what Prospero expected and hoped to happen he plays the suspicious father and enslaves Ferdinand despite his daughters protest.

The next characters we come across are Alonso, the King of Naples and his party, including his scheming brother Sebastian, Antonio and the good hearted Gonzalo. We find Sebastian and Antonio both plotting against the king despite the dire situation they appear to be in. The next scene has the jester Trinculo and Stephano, a drunk, come across Caliban as he hides from what he takes to be an agent of Prospero's. By the end of this scene Caliban has decided to swear his loyalty to Stephano and secure his aid in killing Prospero.

In act 3, scene 3 Prospero finally confronts his enemies as he presents them with a banquet only to snatch it away at the last minute. Ariel echoes his feelings towards them when calling them "three men of sin". Towards the end of the play Prospero again meets with the kings party and a remorseful Alonso. This meeting however is meant to reconcile their differences and bring his plan to a close. Alonso restores Prospero's dukedom during there meeting and in turn learns of his son's survival and betrothal to Miranda. He more or less calls out Antonio for the traitor that he is but forgives him nonetheless. The play itself ends with Prospero appealing to the audience to release him from the island through applause .

Aime Cesaire's A Tempest is a politicized take on Shakespeare's play created during the late sixties, a time of great social change. It is really a "post-colonial response to The Tempest " and as such deals much more with the story from the point of view of Caliban and Ariel . In this version Caliban is a black slave and the spirit Ariel is represented as a mulatto slave.

This version more or less follows the same story however there are other differences from the play which influenced it. The dialogue on Caliban's part is much more harsh and more frequent. In saying "I'll impale you! And on a stake that you've sharpened yourself! You'll have impaled yourself!", Caliban's aggression and hate towards Prospero is a bit more evident .

There are clear lines drawn between characters based on race and even the formerly neutral Gonzalo is condescending towards what he views as a rebellious Caliban obviously in need of Christianity . Caliban's race and subsequent treatment as a result of is quite obvious and the same with Ariel in his role as the willing servant. Better treated but still a captive, Cesaire's decision to make him a mulatto slave was probably an obvious one as they are traditionally viewed as better treated.

In The Tempest there are quite a few characters that might be easily identifiable as villains but the main figure, Prospero seems to play many roles, good and bad. All of the events in the play are more or less orchestrated by him in his attempt to get justice and return to Milan. It can even be argued that he is largely at fault for his current situation by neglecting his duties as Duke and passing off responsibility to his brother. Whether Prospero is a villain or not is not so difficult to figure out in Cesaire's work as that is his purpose as a oppressive European colonist.

Prospero is also a good example of the role power plays in the story. He wields great magic and has the loyalty of a powerful spirit which he uses to exact his revenge and control all of the characters in the around him. Not least of all is his daughter Miranda whom he very much uses to reconcile with King Alonso by marrying her off to his son. As mentioned previously as King Alonso's party is wandering the island Prospero conjures up a feast using his magic only to snatch it away from them . In doing so he demonstrates his power over his enemies, whom flee in fear.

The character Stephano who happens upon Caliban as he's hiding gives us another example of power in the play and more specifically how the characters often abuse it towards their own ends. When Caliban swears his loyalty to him he readily agrees and takes advantage of this, more or less declaring himself king of the island . We see that Caliban has once again decided to trust an outsider to his detriment.

Miranda plays a unique role as she is really the only female character present on the island. She is also depicted as a helpless character whom was the focus of Caliban's unwanted attention thus resulting in his current situation. In this way his treatment is justified, he comes to represent "bestial desire", and Miranda establishes herself as an innocent in need of constant protection.

As to whether Shakespeare's play lends itself to an interpretation like Cesaires, I would have to say that it does. Caliban's character and the way Prospero treats him is a good representation of colonial attitudes towards indigenous peoples. His rebuke of the idea that Prospero did him a favor by teaching him English is synonymous with the view of many, especially during the late sixties when Cesaire wrote his version.

Use of Greek Myth in John Keats's Odes

       USE OF GREEK MYTH IN JOHN KEATS’S ODES

Introduction of John Keats:

John Keats was born on 31^st October 1795, and died in February 1821. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets. John Keats lived only twenty five years and four months, yet his poetic achievement is extraordinary. His writing career lasted a little more than five years (1814-1820), and two of his great odes- “Ode to Nightingale”, “Ode on a Grecian urn”.

In “Ode to Nightingale” and “Ode to a Grecian urn”, Keats tries to free himself from the world of change by identifying with the Nightingale representing nature, and the urn representing art. These odes, as well as “The ode to psyche”, present the poet as dreamer.

The deeper force of the Greek spirit led him from his early romantic formlessness to the achievement of the most exquisite classical perfection of form and finish. His Romantic glow and emotion never fade or cool, but such poems as the odes to the Nightingale and to a Grecian urn, and the fragment of ‘Hyperion’ are absolutely flawless and satisfying in structure and expression.

Here I define Greek myth in, Ode to Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian urn, and ode to psyche.

 

  ODE TO NIGHTINGALE:

The only place that the word “Nightingale” even appears is in the title, but the nightingale and its rich, intoxicating nighttime world are at the center of the poem. As Keats imagines it, this bird lives in its own reality within the enchanting forest. In poetic terms, the nightingale has important connection to mythology that we discuss below. But the most important thing to keep in mind is that it represents a kind of carefree existence that is free from the burdens of time, death, and human concerns. The importance of the nightingale stems from its appearance in Greek myth. Since this is a poem inspired by a Greek form, it is fitting that there are several other allusions to the mythology and culture of ancient Greece in this poem.

Title: -

 The nightingale is a symbol of beauty, immortality, and freedom from the world’s troubles. Nightingales are known for singing in the nighttime, hence the name. In Greek and Roman myth, the nightingale also alludes to the Philomel (Philomela).

The story of Philomela in myth:

Philomel (Philomela) is a minor figure in Greek mythology and is frequently invoked as a direct and figurative symbol in literary, artistic, and musical works in the Western canon. She is identified as being the “princess of Athens” and the younger of two daughters of Pandion 1, King of Athens and Zeuxippe. Her sister, Procne, was the wife of king Tereus of Thrace. While the myth has several variations, the general depiction is that Philomela, after being raped and mutilated by her sister’s husband, Tereus, obtains her revenge and is transformed into a nightingale (lusciniamegarhynchos), a migratorypasserinebird native to Europe and southwest Asia noted for its song.  According to Ovid, in the fifth year of Procne’s marriage to Tereus, King of Thrace and son of Ares, she asked her husband to “let me at Athens my dear sister see/ or let her come to Thrace, and visit me.” Indulging his wife’s request, Tereus agreed to travel to Athens and escort Philomela, his wife’s sister, to Thrace. King Pandion of Athens, the father of Philomela and Procne, was apprehensive about letting his only remaining daughter leave his home and protection and asks Tereus to protect her as if he were her father. Tereus agrees. However, Tereus lusted for Philomela when he first saw her, and that grew during the course of the return voyage to Thrace. Arriving in Thrace, he forced her to a cabin or lodges in the woods and raped her. After the assault, Tereus threatened her and advised her to keep silent. Philomela was defiant and angered Tereus. In his rage, he was incited to cut out her tongue. Whose tongue was cut out to prevent her from telling about her rape, and who was later turned into a nightingale by the gods to help her escape from death at the hands of her rapist.

Line: 4 – or emptied some dull opiate to the drains

               One minute past, and Lethe- words had sunk:

In the extended simile of lines 3-4, opium causes the speaker to lose memory and consciousness. “Lethe” alludes to a river in the Greek afterworld, Hades. Those who drank from it lost their memory.

Line: 7 – That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees

This line contains another allusion, or reference to another text. In Greek mythology, a “dryad” is a female spirit attached to a tree.

                                                                                                      

Line: 16 – Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,

In Greek myth, “Hippocrene,” was the name of a spring that the winged horse Pegasus created by stamping its hoof into the ground. Drinking from it was supposed to give poetic inspiration the drink is personified as “blushing” because of its red color.

Line: 32 – Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,

Bacchus is the Greek god of wine and drunkenness. In this allusive metaphor, the speaker claims that his escape into the nightingale’s world will not be due to drunkenness.

Line: 61 – Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!

Many readers have criticized the speaker for believing (mistakely, of course) that the nightingale is immortal. But we think this is just an example of hyperbole’ or intentional exaggeration to make a point. The point is that it is the nightingale’s song that echoes through history and outlives each individual bird.

ODE ON A GRECIAN URN

The poem consists of a person talking to kind of fancy Greek pot known as an “urn” that was made of marble. Keats would have been able to see many urns from Ancient Greece at the British Museum, the world’s biggest archeological treasure-trove. (The northern Europeans plundered the Greeks’ ancient artifacts, and some might joke that now the Greeks are taking revenge by blowing up the European economy…) Urns are known not only for their sleek, beautiful shape but also for the quality of the pictures that were often painted on their sides. Most of the poem centers on the story told in the images carved on the side of one particular urn. He wrote “Ode on a Grecian urn” about an imaginary urn and three images he sees on it. The scenes are about revelry and sex, a piper and a lover’s pursuit of a fair maid, and a sacrificial ritual. All the scenes depict some form of human emotion, particularly love and desire.

Keats uses a lot of imagery from Greek culture to illustrate the importance of beauty. In the first stanza, he speaks of the places in Greece known for their beauty and serenity.

ODE TO PSYCHE

The Myth of Psyche:-

In Greek myth, Psyche was a princess whom cupid, the son of Venus, Fell in love with. Fearing his mother’s jealousy of her beauty, he visited her only at night, in total darkness. In one version of the myth she was a snake; in any event, to discover who and what he was, she looked at him one night after he had fallen asleep. When oil dripping from her lamp awoke him, he fled. Psyche searched for him, enduring much suffering. As a reward for her devotion and the hardships she had undergone, she was made immortal and reunited with cupid.

Why did this myth attract Keats?

All classical allusions enabled Keats to universalize his poetry, connected the poet’s concerns with images and stories which had gathered in meaning over the centuries; classical tales represented their own kind of permanence; they were widely understood and seen to be symbolic by Keats’s readers. The classical age was also seen as a time of simplicity where feeling and thought, spirituality and sensuality were united.