Postcolonial literature.

Name              -           Bhaliya Uma H.

Roll no:          -           01

M.A.Part-ii    -           Sem-iii

Paper             -           05, EE-305.

Paper name   -           Postcolonial  

                                    literature.

Topic for assignment      -

                     “An introduction to orientalism”

Submitted To:            Dr. Dilipsir Barad

                               Department of English.

                               Bhavnagar university,

                         Bhavnagar.

Ø  EDWARD SAID

He is a scholar of postcolonial Studies and professor of comparative literature at Columbia University. He is also great activist in Middle Eastern politics.

He was born in Jerusalem, Palestine in 1935. His mother was of Lebanese descent and his father was a successful Palestinian book merchant. The family had homes in Palestine, Cairo, Egypt, and a vocation home in Lebanon. Said was a privileged child and had little interest in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. His educational life was one of private school wealth, but perhaps most importantly; it was in a multiethnic, multi-religious community.

During the 1970’s he was academic in the field of comparative literature began writing on contemporary Arab literature. And in 1975-1976 he was a fellow at the center for advanced study at Stanford University. While he was at Stanford that time he was at Stanford that time he wrote Orientalism. And next three years. He published covering Islam (1981)

And the question of Palestine (1979), which in conjunction with Orientalism.

Ø  INTRODUCTION

Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978) is the process by which Europe studied, disciplined, controlled and governed studied, disciplined, controlled and governed Non-European cultures. European scholars studied and represented the Non-European cultures in certain ways through stereotypes of the effeminate, weak. Vulnerable and primitive native. Orientalism produces literature, anthropological tracts, missionary narratives, histories and political documents on the Non-European worlds. Edward Said’s work had facilitated a deeper understanding of western literature and the relations between Europe and the rest of the world by locating culture within the power relations of colonialism. Edward said’s evaluation and critique of the set of beliefs known as Orientalism forms an important background for postcolonial studies. Edward said that has been highly influential and controversial in postcolonial studies and other fields.

·         THE ORIENT

The words Orient represent the orient into western learning, western consciousness, and western empire. It is a mirror image of what is inferior and other to the west.

·         ORIENTALISM

Orientalism is image of the ‘orient’ expressed as an entire system of thought and scholarship.

·         THE ORIENTAL

Is the person represented by such thinking. The oriental is a single image, a sweeping generalization, a stereotype that crosses countless cultural and national boundaries.

Edward said Orientalism published in 1978. In his work on the interplay between the “occident” and the “orient”. The occident is his term for the west (England, France, and the united states), and the orient is the term for the romantic and misunderstood middle east and far viewed with prejudice and racism. They are backward and unaware of their own history and culture. To fill this void, the west has created a culture, history, and future promise for them. On this framework rests not only the study of the orient, but also the political imperialism of Europe in the west.

Ø  AN INTRODUCTION TO EDWARD SAID’S ORIENTALISM.

Orientalism by Edward said is a cultural studies in which he has challenged the concept of Orientalism or the difference between east and west. When the start of European came in contact with the lesser developed countries of the east and found their civilization and culture very exotic, and established the science of Orientalism which was the study of the Orientals or the people from these exotic civilization.

The Europeans divided the world into two parts: the east and the west or the occident and the orient or the civilizes and the uncivilized. The Europeans used Orientalism to define themselves as the superior race compared to the Orientals; and they justified their colonization by this concept. But the main problem is that when the Europeans started generalizing the attributes they associated with Orientals, and started portraying these Artificial characteristics associated with Orientals in their  western world through their scientific reports, literary work, and other media sources. The Orientals can be seen even today, example for the Arabs are defined as uncivilized people; and Islam is seen as religion of the terrorist.

Orientalism is often classed with postmodernist and postcolonial works that share various Degrees of skepticism about representation itself. He considers the book to be in the tradition of “humanistic critique” and the enlightenment Michel Foucault said emphasized the relationship between power and knowledge in particular regarding European views of the Islamic Arab world. Said argued that orient and occident worked of the Islamic Arab world. Said argued that orient and occident worked as oppositional terms, so that’s why the “orient” was constructed as a negative inversion of western culture, and the work of another thinker Antonio Gramsci, was also important in shaping Edward said’s analysis in this area. African and Asian history and culture he said that Orientalism is and does not merely represent a significant dimension of modern political and intellectual culture. Histories of the Greco Persian wars may contrast the monarchical government of the Persian Empire with the democratic Tradition of Athens. And more general comparison between the Greeks and the Persians, and between “the west” and “the east” or “Europe” and “Asia”.

Ø  THREE CHAPTERS

(a) The scope of Orientalism

(b)  Orientalist Structures and Restructures

(c) Orientalism Now.

A.        THE SCOPE OF ORIENTALISM

Edward said present in this chapter that how the science of Orientalism developed and how the Orientals started considering the Orientals as non-human beings. The Orientals divided the world into two parts and than an imaginary geographical line was drawn between what was ours and what was theirs. All orients are uncivilized people and their duty to civilize these people and to achieve their goal. They said that the orients themselves were incapable of running their own government. Various teams have been sent to the east where the Orientalits silently observed the Orientals by living with them and every thing recorded that the Orientals said and projected to the civilized world of the west. This resulted in the generalization. But the Orientals was associated with the oriental culture. The most important use of orientalism to the Europeans was that they defined themselves by defining the orientals. Because in order to achieve this goal, it was very necessary for the orientalists to generalize the culture of the orients. European audience by linking them to the western culture. Islam was made into mohammadism because mohammad was the founder of this religion and since religion of Christ was called Christianity, so the Islam should be noted here is that no Muslim was aware of this terminology and this was a completely western created term, and to which the Muslims had no say at all said draws on written and spoken historical commentary by such western figures as Arthur James balfour, napoleon, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Byron, Henry Kissinger, Dante and others who all portray the “east” as being both “other” and “ inferior”. He also draws on several European studies of the region by orientalists including the bibliotheque orientale by French author barthelemy d’herbelot de molainville to illustrate in European society and in their academic, literary and political interiors.

B .ORIENTALIST STRUCTURES AND RESTRUCTURES

He presents in this chapter the attitude of the Europeans towards the Orientals. The orientals were really publicized in the European world especially poets and writers presented oriental land and behavior to the western world. The orientalists had create strictly stage for the European viewers, and also colour of the orientalist or other writers perception. The orient writers perception. The orient lands were so highly romanticized that western literary writers found it necessary to offer pilgrimage to these exotic lands of pure sun light and clean oceans in order to experience peace of mind, and inspiration for their writing. The east present the orientalist as a place of pure human culture with no necessary evil in the society. Orientals made them inferior to the clever, witty, diplomatic, far-sighted European. It was their right to rule and study such an innocent race. The Europeans said that these people to deal with cruel world and they needed to assist them and other thing is that the Europeans gave to their colonization. Because for they have developed the orientals as a nation. Which shows that they were biologically superior, and secondly it were the Europeans who discovered the orients not the orients who discovered the Europeans. Darwin’s theories were put forward to justify their superiority, biologically by the Europeans. Edward said also present that two orientalists of the 19^th century, Silvestre de sacy and Ernest Renan worked and gave orientalism a new dimension. In this field Edward also present sacy contribution and also he says that sacy organize the whole thing by arranging the information it helpful to the future orientalist. The prejudice that was inherited by every orientalist was considerably low in him. Renan took advantage of sacy work was as biased as any previous orientalist. He believed that the science of philology have a very important relation. And Renan give this idea a lot attention and many future orientalist worked of in its line in this chapter he also present that hoe orientalist was  transferred from country to country and from political leader to author. He states that the four elements. He have described that expansion, historical confrontation. The 19^th century European exploration by such historical figures as Sir Richard Francis Burton and chateaubriand, said suggests that this new discourse about the orient was situated within the old one. Famous authors and scholars Edward William lane spent his two or three year in Egypt. But he came back because of his entire book manners and customs of the modern Egyptians. Which was widely circulated in Europe. The east depended for their own education, that way orientalist discourse of the west over the east was passed down through European writers and politicians.

c.  ORIENTALISM NOW

In this chapter the colonization of the Europeans was shaped the geography of the world and that geographical knowledge is bases of orientalism. In the 20^th century the author talks some changes in the circumstances of the world politics and changing approach to orientalism. The earlier orientalist is more of silent observers and the new orientalists took a part in the every day life of the orients. And also one thing that they did not interact also with the orients. But another side is deferent that new orients lived with them as if they were one of them. This was not out of appreciation of their lifestyle but it was to know more about the orients in order to rule them properly. Lawrence of Arabia was one of such orientalists. In this chapter said present two scholars massignon and Gibb. Than massignon was a bit liberal with orientalists and often tried to protect their right. All those thing are seen in his work.

After World War 1 the world situation are changing. Orientalism took a more liberal about its subjects. But Islamic orientalism did not enjoy this status. There were constant attacks to shoe Islam as a weak religion, and a mixture of many religions and thoughts. Also when Gibb was the most famous Islamic orientalist of this time. After World War 1 the centre of orientalism moved from Europe to USA. During this time one important transformation is that to social science now. All the orientalists studied the Orientals to assist their government to come up with policies for dealing with orient countries. All the Europeans colonies were lost with the end of World War 2. And there is no more Orientals and occidents western prejudice towards eastern countries for example Arabs were often represented as cruel and violent people. Japanese were always associated with karate where as the Muslims were always considered to be terrorists. Increasing globalization and awareness, such bias was found in the people of the developed countries.

Ø  OTHER OBSERVATION

Thus, at last we can say that Edward said present orientalism with the postcolonial way’s of studies. He really present the long tradition of the French and British – less so the Germans, Russians, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, and Swiss.. And that’s why we can say orientalism. The terms orient is based on the orient’s special place in European western experience. It is the place of Europe’s greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the other. The orient has helped to define Europe and its image, idea, personality and experience. Orientalism expresses and represents the past culturally and even ideologically as a mode of discourse with supporting institutions, vocabulary, scholarship, imagery, doctrines, even colonial burequcracies and colonial styles.

Ø  CONCLUSION

At last we can says that in orientalism Edward said says that a rejection of biological generalizations, cultural constructions and racial and religious prejudices. The geographical landscape known as the orient, meaning that a historian and a scholar would turn not to a panoramic view of half of the globe, but rather to a focused and complex type of history that allow space for the dynamic variety of human experience rejection of orientalist thinking is not denial of the differences between ‘the west’ and ‘the orient’, but an evaluation of such difference in a more critical and objective fashion. ‘The orient’ cannot studied non-orientalist manner. But study focused and smaller culturally consistent regions. Those person known as the oriental he give a voice. Scholarship from afar and second hand representation must take a back seat to narrative and self-representation on the part of the ‘oriental’.  

Edward said conclude his book by saying that he is not saying that the orientalists should not make generalization, or they should include the orient perspective too, but creating a boundary at the first place is something which should not be done.

.

English Language Teaching.

Name              -           Bhaliya Uma H.

Roll no:          -           01

M.A.Part-ii    -           Sem-iii

Paper             -           04, Ec-304.

Paper name   -           English Language

                                                            Teaching.

Topic for assignment      -

“Communicative Language Teaching”

Submitted To:            Devarshisir mehta

                               Department of English.

                                     Bhavnagar university, 

                                     Bhavnagar.     

Ø  Communicative language teaching

                     Communicative language teaching is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign language that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language, it is also referred to as “communicative approach to the teaching of foreign language” or simply the “communicative approach”. Communicative language teaching has relationship with other methods and approaches. Historically, communicative language teaching has been seen as a response to the audio-lingual method (Alm), and as an extension or development of the national-functional syllabus. Task-based language learning a more recent refinement of communicative language teaching has gained considerably in popularity.

Ø  The Audio-Lingual method

                           The Audio-Lingual method arose as a direct result of the need for foreign language proficiency in listening and speaking skills during and after world war-II. It is closely tied to behaviorism, and thus made drilling, repletion, and habit-formation central elements of instruction in the classroom, lessons were often organized by grammatical structure and presented through short dialogues. Often, students listened repeatedly to recordings of conversations and focused on accurately mimicking the pronunciation and grammatical structure in these dialogs. Critical of audio – lingual method asserted that this over – emphasis on repetition and accuracy ultimately did not help students achieve communicative competence in the target language. Noam Chomsky argued that “Language is not a habit. Structure. Ordinary linguistic behavior characteristically involves innovation, formation of new sentences and patterns in according with rules of great abstractness and intricacy”. They looked for new ways to present and organize language instruction, and advocated the national functional syllabus and eventually communicative language teaching as the most effective way of to teach second and foreign language. Audio – lingual methodology is still prevalent in many text books and teaching materials. Advocates of audio – lingual method point to their success in improving aspects of language that are habit driven, most notably pronunciation.

Ø  Theory of language

                     The communicative approach in language teaching starts from a theory of language as communication. The goal of language teaching is to develop what Humes (1972) referred to as “communicative competence”. In this approach Humes to make contrast a communicative view of language and Chomsky’s theory of competence. Linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker – listener in a completely homogenous speech community. This theory give much more comprehensive view than Chomsky’s view of competence and it deals with primarily abstract dramatics knowledge. Another linguistic theory of communication favored in communicative language teaching is Holliday’s functional account of language use. Learning a second language was similarly viewed by proponents of communicative language teaching as acquiring the linguistic means to perform different kinds of functions. Widdowson presented a view of the relationship between linguistic systems and their communicative acts values in text and discourse to in his book teaching language as communication, grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and strategice competence are four dimensions of communicative competence by cancel and swain. Sociolinguistic competence refers to an understanding of the social context in which communication takes place, and also including role relationship’s the shared information of the participants and the communicative purpose for their interaction, discourse competence refers to the interpretation of individual message elements in terms of their interconnectedness and of how meaning is represented in relationship to the entire discourse or text. Strategic competence refers to the coping strategic that communicators employ to initiate terminate, maintain, repair and redirect communication.

Ø  Theory of Learning

                     Element of an underlying learning theory can be discorned in some communicative language teaching practices, one such element might be described as the communication principle activities that involve real communication promote learning. A second element is the task principle’s activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning. A third element is the meaning – fullness principle: language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process. Learning activities are consequently selected according to how, well they selected according to how well they engage the learner use. Communicative language teaching have attempted to describe theories of language learning process that are compatible with the communicative approach. Savighon surveys second language acquisition. So learning is the conscious representation of grammatical knowledge that has resulted from instruction. According to this theory the acquisition of communicative competence in a language is an example of skill development. This involves both a cognitive and a behavioral aspect. This theory thus encourages an emphasis on practice as a way of developing communicative skills.

Ø  The national – functional syllabus

                           National functional syllabus is way of organizing a language learning curriculum rather than a method or an approach to teaching. The national functional approach-based on speech at theory which categorizes the social purpose of utterances within given setting. In a national – functional syllabus, instruction is organized not in terms of grammatical structure as had often been done with the audio – lingual method. The two terms of “notions” and “functions”.

                     A “national” is a particular context in which people communicative.

                     A “function” is a specific purpose for a speaker in given context.

                     “Notions” are meaning element that may be expressed through nouns, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, conjunction, adjective or adverb.

                           A notion is a concept or idea. It may be quite specific, in which case it is virtually the same as vocabulary e.g. dog house___ or it may be very general e.g. time, size, emotion, movement etc…

                           A notion may be “time past”. This may include past tense, phrases like a month ago, in 1990, last week, and utterances usingtenporal clauses beginning with when…., before……, after……. And so on.

                     A “function” is some kind of communicative act. It is the use of language to achieve a purpose, usually involving interaction at last between two people. E.g.; would be suggesting, promising, apologizing, getting, inviting. And “inviting” may include phrase like “would you like to ___? I suggest ___, how about ____? And please ___.

                           A functional – national approach from theory to practice has placed the functional categories under five headings

·          Personal

·         Interpersonal

·         Directive

·          Referential

·          Imaginative.

Personal is clarifying or arranging one’s ideas or expressing one’s thought or feelings. And interpersonal enabling us to establish and maintain desirable social and working relationships and directive, attempting to influence the actions of others. Accepting or refusing direction. And referential, talking or reporting about things, actions, events or people in the environment in the past or in the future and last imaginative discussion involving elements of creativity and artistic expression.

Ø  Learning by teaching

      Learning by teaching is a widespread method in Germany. The students take the teacher role and teach their peers. Communicative language teaching is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching, rather than as a teaching method with a clearly defined set of classroom practices. And David nunan’s give five features of communicative language teaching.

1. An emphasis on learning to communicative through interaction in the target language.

2. The introduction of authentic text into the learning situation.

3. The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the learning management process.

4. An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences an important contributing elements to classroom learning.

5. An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom.

                     These five features are claimed by practitioners of communicative language teaching to show that they are very interested in the heeds and desires of their learners as well as the connection between the language as it is taught in their class and as it used outside the classroom.

Ø  Types of learning and teaching activities.

                     Communicative approach provide such exercise enable learners in communication, and require the use of such communicative process as information sharing. Negotiation of meaning and interaction. Classroom activities are often designed to focus on completing tasks and help to information sharing.

                     Functional communication activities include such tasks as learners comparing sets of pictures and noting similarities and differences and also working out a likely sequence of events in a set of pictures. So the discovering missing features in a map or picture. E.g. one learner communicating behind a screen to another learner and giving instruction on how to draw a picture or shape or how to complete a map and second is social interaction activities includes conversation and discussion sessions. Dialogues and role plays, simulations, shits, improvisations and debates.

Ø  Learner roles

                     The learner role is most importance in communicative language teaching on the processes of communication. Breen and candlin describe the learner’s role in communicative language teaching. The role of learner as negotiator between the self and the learning process and also the object of learning the interacts with the role of joint negotiator within the group and within the classroom procedures and within the classroom procedures and activities which the group undertakes. Communicative language teaching methodologists consequently recommend that learners learn to see that failed communication is a joint responsibility and not the fault of speaker or listener. Similarly successful communication is an accomplishment jointly achieved and acknowledged.

Ø  Teacher roles

                     The teacher roles also most important in communicative language teaching. The teacher has two main roles, the first role is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom and between these participants and the various activities and texts and the second role is to act as an independent participants within the learning – teaching group. And a third role for the teacher is that of researcher and learner, with much to contribute in terms of appropriate knowledge and abilities actual and observed experience of the nature of learning and organizational capacities.

                     Needs analyst also important for teacher roles. This may be done informally and personally through one-to-one sessions with students. In which the teacher talks through such issues as the student’s perception of his or her learning style. Learning assets, and learning goals, and the teachers are expected to plan group and individual instruction that responds to the learner needs.

                     The counselor role is also important for teacher roles in communicative language teaching. The teacher counselor is expected to exemplify an effective communicator seeking to maximize the meshing of speaker intention and hearer interpretation, through the use of paraphrase, confirmation, and feedback.

                     And at last group process manager is important for teacher roles in communicative language teaching. The teacher’s responsibility to organize the classroom as a setting for communication and communicative activities. Guidelines for classroom practice suggest that during an activity the teacher monitors, encourages, and suppresses the inclination to supply gaps in lexis, grammar and strategy but notes such gapes for later commentary and communicative practice. At the conclusion of group activities. The teacher leads briefing of the activity, and pointing out alternatives and extensions and assisting groups in self-correction discussion. Critics have pointed out that nonnative teachers may feel less than comfortable about such procedures without special training.

Ø  Syllabus

                A syllabus is an outline and summary of topics to be covered in an education or training course. It is descriptive. A syllabus is often either set out by an exam board, or prepared by the professor who supervises or controls. The course quality. A syllabus usually contains specific information about the course, such as information on how, where and when to contact the lecture and teaching assistants an outline of what will be covered in the course, a schedule of text dates and the due dates for assignments the grading policy for the course specific classroom rules etc. exams can only text knowledge based on information included in the syllabus.

                     The syllabus serves many purposes for the students and the teacher such as ensuring a fair and impartial understanding between the instructor and students such that there is minimal confusion on policies relating to the course, setting clear expectations of material to be learned, behaviors in the classroom and effort on student’s behalf to be put into the course, providing a roadmap of course organization or direction relaying the instructor’s teaching philosophy to the students and providing a marketing angle of the course such that students may choose early in the course whether the subject material in attractive many generalized items of a syllabus can be amplified in a specific curriculum to maximize efficient learning by clarifying student understanding of specified material such as grading policy, locations and times, other contact information for instructor and teaching assistant such as phone or email, materials required and/or recommended such as textbooks, assigned reading books, calculators, lab vouchers etc. outside resources for subject material assistance, important dates in course such as exams and paper due – dates. Tips for succeeding in mastering course content such as study habits and expected time allotment, suggested problem if applicable, necessary pre-requisites or co – requisites to current course, safety rules if appropriate, and objectives of the course.

Ø  The role of instructional materials.

                     Materials thus have the primary role of promoting communicative language use. We will consider three kinds of materials currently used in communicative language teaching and that are text-based, task-based, and realia.

                     There are numerous text books designed to direct and support communicative language teaching. Their tables of contents help to a kind of grading and sequencing of language practice not unlike those found is structural syllabus, with slight reformatting to justify their claims to be based on a communicative approach. Wateyn – Jones’s pair work (1981) consists of two different texts for pair work. Each containing different information needed to enact role plays and carry out other pair activities. Text written to support the Malaysian English language syllabus (1975) line wise represent a departure from tradition textbook modes.

                     A variety of games, role plays, simulations, and task – based communication activities have been prepared to support communicative language teaching. Classes these typically are in the form of one – of – a – kind items: exercise hand books, cue cards, activity cards, pair – communication practice materials, and student – interaction practice booklets.

                     Many proponents of communicative language teaching have advocated the use of “authentic” “from life” materials in the classroom. These might include language based realia. Such as sighs, magazines, advertisements and newspapers or graphic and visual sources around which communicative activates can be built, such as maps, pictures, symbols, graphs and charts.

                           Communicative principles can be applied to the teaching of any skill, at any level, and because of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise types description of typical classroom procedures used in a lesson based on communicative language teaching principle is not feasible.

Ø  Conclusion

                     So communicative language teaching has influenced many other language teaching approaches and methods that subscribe to a similar philosophy of language teaching. There are five characteristics of communicative methodology that give by Johnson and Johnson. Appropriateness, language use reflects the situations of its use and reflects the situation of its use and must be appropriate to that situation depending on the setting. The roles of the participants and the purpose of the communication, message focus, learners need to be able to create and understand message that is real meanings. Hence the focus on information sharing and information transfer in communicative language teaching activities. Psycholinguistic processing, communicative language teaching activates seek to engage learners in the use of cognitive and other process that are important factors in second language acquisition, risk taking, learners are encouraged to make guesses and learn from their errors. By going beyond what they have been taught they are encouraged to employ a variety of communication strategies. Free practice, communicative language teaching encouraged the use of “holistic practice” involving the simultaneous use of a variety of subs kills, rather than practicing individual skills one piece at a time.

                     Thus, communicative language teaching is best considered an approach rather than a method. It refers to a diverse set of principles that reflect a communicative view of language and language learning and that can be used to support a wide variety of classroom procedures.

                             

                  

         

American literature.

Name              -           Bhaliya Uma H.

Roll no:          -           01

M.A.Part-ii    -           Sem-iii

Paper             -           03, Ec-303.

Paper name   -           American literature.

Topic for assignment      -

               “Robert Frost as a Poet”

Submitted To:              Dr.Dilipsir Barad

                                     Department of English.

                                     Bhavnagar university, 

                                     Bhavnagar.     

Ø Robert Frost (1874-1963)

He was born in San Francisco, California, the son of William Prescott frost of Scotland. He was named after Robert E.lee, the commander of the confederate armies during the American civil war (1861-1865). So he was American poet. Frost’s poetry helped provide a link between the American poetry of the 19^th century and that of the 20^th century. Frost continued to write poetry, but he was unsuccessful at publishing his work. Frost achieved his first literary success to his book of poems a boy’s will (1913). This work established frost as an author and was representative of his lifelong poetic style. His second collection, north of Boston was published in 1914 and also won praise, he met many other American poets in England but he influence of the Georgian poets.

Ø Robert frost poetical work

In Robert frost poetry mainly reflects life in rural New England. His poetry is concerned with now people interact with their environment he saw the beauty of nature. He often wrote in the standard meter of blank verse. ‘Fire and ice’ and ‘stopping by woods on a showy evening’ is frost’s best known poem. In the title poem of New Hampshire, frost makes an explicit statement about his beliefs. He wrote two plays in blank verse. The first, a masque of reason (1945), received lukewarm praise from critics. The second, a masque of mercy (1947), which is a modern treatment of Christian biblical figures, was more successful.

Ø Robert frost as a poet

Robert frost is a great American poet of the 20^th century. He has been called “the voice of America”. He is honors than any other American poet of the century. He has won world-wide fame and recognition and has already established himself as a ‘classic’.

·        His simplicity

His poetry is very simply. He writes of the simplest subjects, and he says what he has to say in the most lucid and simple manner. Simplicity of his poem has endeared him to ordinary readers. Randall Jarrell says that a careful reading of his poem reveals that he is extraordinarily subtle, within layers of meaning. He use symbol for convey truths and that why he is modern poet as Eliot, Yeats.

“He writes of simple subject in a simple conversational style and so has endeared himself to the masses: but the learned few also find him such food for thought and so respect him and admire him. His poetry appeals to all classes of people. For one reason or the other”. A skillful combination of an outer lightness with an inner gravity is one of his major poetic achievements.

·        Robert frost as a poet of nature

Hear the question that frost is a great nature-poet or not. Who do not regard him as a nature -poet. But as a poet of country life he himself has said that this view. He said in a television interview in 1952.

“I guess I am not a nature-poet, I have written only two poems without being in them”.

Frost is a great lover of nature and his love too like that of wordsworth hills and dales, rivers and forests, trees, flowers and plants, animals, birds and insects, season and seasonal changes of his particular region, which have been described in one poem after another.

Frost’s love of nature is more comprehensive that of Wordsworth.  Wordsworth loved to paint only the spring-time beauty of nature. When Coleridge called “nature in the grove”. But while frost has an equally keen eye for the sensuoys and the beautiful in nature. Frost’s attitude or philosophy of nature it is quite different from that of Wordsworth and the other English romantic poets.

He writes of the natural scenes and sights, flora and fauna, hills and deals of the region which lies north of Boston. His love of nature is limited to nature in a particular district. But he loves both her pleasant and unpleasant aspects. He does not shut his eye to her harshness and cruelty. His approach is realistic. W.H.Auden has pointed out that frost’s…..

“Poems on natural objects are always concerned with them not as fact for mystical mediation or starting point for fantasy, but as thing with which, and on which, man acts in the course of the daily work of gaining a livelihood”.

·        Robert frost as a poet of regional

Frost is a great regional poet. The region north of Boston forms the background to his poetry New England. He knew every part of his limited world. His characters are all new Englanders, and he has succeeded in capturing the very tone, diction, idiom, and rhythm of Yankee speech. He writes of a particular region, but from the particular he constantly rises to the universal and the general. He writes and shows that such joys, sorrows, loves and hatreds are common to all humanity. Regionalism in his hands acquires a universal appeal.

·        Robert frost as a poet of man

Robert frost has written on every subject. He is a greater poet of man. As nature as a bird singing in its sleep and as mechanistic as the revolt of a factory worker. But his central subject is humanity. His poetry lives with a particular living people. Other poets have written about people. But Robert frost’s poems are the people and also they work and walk about and converse. And also he tells their stories with the landscapes are with human figures. Frost himself once remarked that he had hardly written two poems without a human being in them. As a poet of man he confines himself to a study of the new Englanders. He writes his range and its limitations. In his poem he displays a wide variety and vividness of characters. And also their reality and actuality.

·        Alienation, isolation and loneliness

His major themes of poem is alienation, isolation and loneliness and also boundaries and barriers his ‘book of people north of Boston is full of solitaries’ who are lonely and isolated for one reason or the other, he is great poet of boundaries and barriers which divide men from men and come in the way of communication. And result is that lack of understanding and friction. Man is not only isolated from other man. But frost pictures him as also alone and solitary in an impersonal and unfeeling environment. Man foolishly tries to bridge this gap, but all his efforts in this respect are of no avail. Such efforts only make him. More conscious of his own littleness.

·        Robert frost as a poet of rural life.

The passing of time pastoral poetry in England lost its naturalness and simplicity, and become artificial and conventional. Its use of the artificial convention of the pastoral. The unhappy shepherd, the fair shepherdess, the wandering flock, the daisies and violets, the dance on the village green, the flowery wreath, and the oaten pipe, all came to be regarded as the essential part of the pastoral and were used by one poet after another, as the conventional décor of their poems. The greatness of frost as a pastoral, poet has been universally recognized. The bulk of his poetry deals with rural life. And his pastoral poetry provides the centre, the basis from which to study even that part of his poetry which is not strictly pastoral. Frost’s collected poems to form an idea of the importance of rural life in the poetry of frost.

His approach to life and its problems is same and healthy his philosophy is ripe and mature. He is a traditionalist and a classicist. His conservatism is seen in his suspicion of new ideas and innovations. His pre-occupation with country scenes and sight and with simple rural folk links him up with the romantic Georgian tradition in poetry. Though frost has left behind him a number of excellent philosophical and narrative poems. His genius was essentially lyrical. He has left behind him many are not so good. He showed very beginning a tendency and it grew upon him with the passing of time. His range of characterization is limited to rural new Englanders. It does not include complex human types such as intellectuals. He displays mid-Victorian prudery in matters of sex. His poetry does not offer us any coherent message or vision of life. He treats serious subjects in a casual lighthearted fashion. And the result is comic and ridiculous, rather than serious. Frost’s “habit of instituting downward comparisons” is a degradation of the human race. He compares man to animal and trees and finds much that is animal and vegetable in human nature.

·        Modernity of frost

Frost is a modern in his attitudes towards nature. The 19^th century poets pictured nature as benevolent and kind with a “holy plan” and emphasized the harmony, the Qneness, of man and nature. His simple occupations carried on in their primitive setting, away from the haunts of modern civilization, and the concern of modern life. A frame of reference for studying and commenting on the facts of modern life. He studies life reduced to its elemental simplicity, and this elemental life is his norm with reference to which he judges urban life and even life in general. Life as it has been in all ages and countries. This same method used by such modern poets as T.s.Eliot.

Ø Selected poems of frost’s Art

(A)    Mending wall

Mending wall is one of the Quoted poems of frost. It is a dramatic lyric or monologue. The poet is the speaker in the poem. And his neighbor. Get together every spring to repair the stone wall between their respective properties. The neighbor and old New England farmer have deep value of walls and fences. He explains his belief and his father’s saying that “Good fences make good neighbours”.The speaker is of the opposite opinion. In this poem presents the speaker’s attitude more sympathetically than the neighbor’s. He present pictures of rural life and reveal its complex nature he develops it through the conflict of two opposed points of view in this poem. As a matter of fact, the real strength and effectiveness of the poem arises from this contradiction and clash of opposites. The poem represents two opposite attitudes towards life-the one is to surrender to the natural force which draw human being together. The other side the conservatism which persists in keeping up the distinctions separating them. Both are represented by two opposite types of characters one young, progressive and the other old and conservative.

   (B)     Stopping by woods on a showy Evening

It is a great master work of frost. This poem touch the heart of Pt.Jawahar Lal Nehru. He is greatest man of the world. And a devoted servant of humanity. He written four lines that.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promise to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.

In this lines is inspiration of Robert frost that to one of the greatest men of India. And remained him of the service of humanity and of people to whom he had dedicated himself. The poem is simplicity itself. In this poem the poet pause one evening along a country road to watch the show fall in the woods. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, and ad he sits in his horse. Driven carriage gazing into the soft. Silent whiteness. He is tempted to stay on and allowing his mind to lose itself in the charming woods. So few poems say so much in so little. Thus, this artistry of the poet is seen in the condensation and craftsmanship of meaning in the rich texture of the lyric and use of symbolist technique.

(C)    Moving

   It is most popular poem of frost moving is a sonnet which reads like a lyric. In this poem poet has already found his mature style and the spirit of the lyric is the spirit of his later work. The poet mover is at work in a field near a wood. In this poem he wonders that what is could possibly whisper. He present the various possibilities it was saying that something about the ‘heart of the sun’ or silence of the moment. A touch of humor is here imparted. It did not speak but also it did hot want to break the silence. He says that certainly the scuthe was not whispering about, its dreams of enjoyment which would come with leisure hours, after work. It whispering about wealth. All these possible alternatives are rejected one by one for the scuthe like the poet. Has a passion for truth hard reality and love the work it is doing. Its work of laying “the swale in rows”, and moving the grass. In this poem the poet has examined the various possibilities and rejected them one after another what the scuthe was actually scuthe whispering. The scuthe was saying “the fact is the sweetest dream that labour knows”. A Laborer does not escape that hard reality. But he finds the greatest pleasure in doing his work, honestly and sincerely. In this poem birches the poet assures us that “Earth is the right place for love”, But here he tells us that it is the right place for labor too.

(d) Fire and Ice

This poem fire and Ice present best metaphysical manner of Frost. The union of fire and ice is indeed remarkable. In this poem fire symbolizing the intensity of passion or desire, is as destructive as ice. Symbolizing the cold of hatred. The linking of desire to fire and hate to ice, human of emotions are transformed into vast. Impersonal forces. The poem is very rich and great complexity of meaning in the paradoxes it reveals. The intensity of man’s passions, the very thing which makes him human, creates the inhuman forces of cataclysm. Thus, the poem “fire and Ice” present destructive powers of “the heat of love or passion and the cold of hate” the poem has nine lines. In short form pf poem frost preseht distinction between the two extremes of love and hate. Thus, in this poem forost has enriched considerably the meaning of his brief lyric.

Design In this poem poet tries to upset the romantic, complacent and optimistic view of nature as kind and benevolent. In this poem poet comes across such a plant. He finds that on the white heal all there is a white spider. The use of the words ‘dim piled’, ‘fat’- words which we generally use for children brings out the poet’s sympathy for the spider. This spider holds in its mouth a white moth, white like “a piece of rigid satin cloth”. So it is a pattern of whiteness. The white spider the white flower. And the white moth with dead wings, carried like a paper like’, complete the design or pattern. In this poem he observes this design or pattern of whitness and reflects upon it. Such this poem design is a great work of frost. And he really preseht a design alone can account for the destructive pattern in white. His famous collection. So we can says that he is as a major American poet. His poetic treatment is unique and distinctive in many ways. He always writers from his own personal experience and observation.