PRESENTATION:CONTRIBUTION OF M. H. ABRAMS TO LITERARY

CRITICISMPresented To: MS SHUMAILA NOREEN

Presented By:

ALI AFZAL

SHADAB SHABBIR

Presentation is divided in following parts:

• Introduction

• "Orientation of Critical

Theories"

• Mimetic Theories

• Pragmatic

Theories

• Expressive

Theories

• Objective

Theories

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION OF M.H. ABRAMS• Meyer (Mike) Howard Abrams (born July 23,

1912, Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.—died April 21,

2015, Ithaca, New York)

• American literary critic known for works

on romanticism

• transformed the study of Romanticism with “The

Mirror and the Lamp” and “Natural Supernaturalism”

INTRODUCTION OF M.H. ABRAMS• Under Abrams's editorship, The Norton

Anthology of English Literature became the

standard text for undergraduate survey courses

across the U.S. and a major trendsetter in

literary canon formation.  

•  The son of a house painter and the first in his

family to go to college

INTRODUCTION OF M.H. ABRAMS•  He entered Harvard University as student in 1930 and

graduated in 1934

• He went into English because, he says, "there weren't jobs in any

other profession..., so I thought I might as well enjoy starving,

instead of starving while doing something I didn't enjoy.“

• Abrams won a Henry fellowship to Magdalene

College, Cambridge, where his tutor was I. A. Richards.

• He returned to Harvard for graduate school in 1935 and received

a master's degree in 1937 and a Ph.D. in 1940.

INTRODUCTION OF M.H. ABRAMS• In 1945 he joined the faculty of Cornell University and

taught for nearly 40 years

• In all of his works, Abrams was consistently concerned

with analyzing literary theory and criticism

• first book :The Milk of Paradise: The Effects of Opium

Visions on the Works of De Quincey, Crabbe, Francis

Thompson, and Coleridge (1934)

INTRODUCTION OF M.H. ABRAMS• Second work, The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic

Theory and the Critical Tradition (1953).

• Natural Supernaturalism (1971) explores a broader

reach of the Romantic sensibility

(religious implications and its influence on

modern literature)

• Critical essays by Abrams on Romantic topics were

collected in The Correspondent Breeze (1984)

INTRODUCTION OF M.H. ABRAMS• The Poetry of Pope: A selection (1954) 

• Literature and Belief: English Institute essays

(1957)

• A Glossary of Literary Terms (1957; 9th ed. 2009)

• English Romantic Poets: modern essays in

criticism (1960)

• Doing Things with Texts: essays in criticism and

critical theory (1989)

• The Fourth Dimension of a Poem and Other

Essays (2012)

"ORIENTATION OF CRITICAL THEORIES"

"ORIENTATION OF CRITICAL THEORIES"

• "Orientation of Critical

Theories”, chapter of his

book “The Mirror and

the Lamp: Romantic

theory and the Critical

Tradition” (1953)

"ORIENTATION OF CRITICAL THEORIES"• From Plato until the late 18th century the artist was thought

no more than "a mirror," reflecting nature either as it exists

or as it is perfected or enhanced through the mirror.

• This conception remained dominant until the advent of the

Romantic era (Abrams sets the date around 1800)

• The artist began to make his transformation from “mirror”

to “lamp”

• A lamp that actively participates in the object it illuminates.

"ORIENTATION OF CRITICAL THEORIES"• Abrams says that any critical theory consists of four

elements with the help of which they comprehend

art:

• The first element is the work of art

• The second element is the artist

• The third element is the source of the work, the

objects or situations that the work describes or

reflects or has some relation to, The ‘universe’.

• The fourth element is the audience

"ORIENTATION OF CRITICAL THEORIES"• Abrams arranges these four elements in a triangular

diagram:

• He says that any critical theory while dealing with all the

four elements shows a significant orientation towards

only one of these elements and judges the value of the

work by focusing on one element as its principal criteria

FOUR CATEGORIES OF LITERARY THEORIES• Abrams stands unique because of his four

oriental critical theories which cover up entire

history of English literary theories and criticism.

• All critical theories can be divided into four

broad categories depending upon their

orientation towards the elements.

FOUR CATEGORIES OF LITERARY THEORIES• The first (Mimetic) category deals with the

importance of the universe in the work of art.

• The second (Pragmatic) category deals with the

influence of the work on its audience.

• The third (Expressive) orients towards the artist’s

role in the process of creation of the work of art

• The fourth (Objective) category deals with the

work as a singular entity.

MIMETIC THEORIES

MIMETIC THEORIES• The oldest and the “most primitive” of the four

categories

• The critical theories that deal with mimesis are oriented

towards the universe and its role in the work of art.

• This theory first appeared in Plato’s Republic.

• Plato’s theory of mimesis operates upon three

categories :

• The ideal world

• The physical world

• The world of art

MIMETIC THEORIES• This theory holds that the physical world is an imitation

of the Ideal world and art is an imitation of the physical

world. Thus art is twice removed from reality.

• This idea is famously explained by Socrates in the tenth

book of the Republic where he says that there are three

beds :

• one the idea of the bed

• Second a physical bed made by the carpenter who

imitates the ideal bed

• Third is the bed painted by the artist.

• The bed of the artist is twice removed from the idea of

the bed

MIMETIC THEORIES• According to this theory all works of judged on the

basis of their relation to Ideas. Since ideas are

considered true and beautiful the distance of art

from ideas emphasizes its distance from beauty

and truth.

• Aristotle’s Poetics is the next great work of criticism

with a mimetic orientation. Aristotle defines poetry

as imitation. He also distinguishes between

different kinds of imitation based on the objects

imitated, the manner of imitation, and the medium

of imitation.

MIMETIC THEORIES• According to this theory all works of judged on the

basis of their relation to Ideas. Since ideas are

considered true and beautiful the distance of art

from ideas emphasizes its distance from beauty

and truth.

• Aristotle’s Poetics is the next great work of criticism

with a mimetic orientation. Aristotle defines poetry

as imitation. He also distinguishes between

different kinds of imitation based on the objects

imitated, the manner of imitation, and the medium

of imitation.

MIMETIC THEORIES• His criticism does not pay much attention to the role

of the poet's individual feelings or emotions in the

creation of a work of art.

• A slight orientation towards the work itself.

• Evaluates art (specifically tragedy) based on its

effect upon the audience. 

• Aristotle's criticism is very flexible and cannot be

easily classified into one form of orientation.

Nevertheless the mimetic orientation remains the

most prominent in Aristotle's criticism.

MIMETIC THEORIES• Some examples of 18th century discussions of

imitation

• Charles Batteux, book name “The Arts Reduced to a

Single Principle”, wanted to reduce the rules of art to

one single principle. He said that imitation is not that

of crude everyday reality, but of ‘la belle nature’, that

is a model having all perfections.

• Lessing, book “Laokoon” (1776), concluded that

poetry, like painting, is imitation. Poetry consists of a

number of sounds articulated in time whereas

painting is forms and colours fixed in space.

PRAGMATIC THEORIES

PRAGMATIC THEORIES• Theories that display an orientation towards the

relationship of the work of art to its audience

•  Pragmatic theories view the arts as a means of

achieving an end and judges the value of art

based upon its success in achieving that end.

• For pragmatic critics poetry is a means to

achieve certain responses from its readers.

PRAGMATIC THEORIES•  Sir Philip Sidney's ‘An Apology for Poetry’ is the

first text that displays pragmatic criticism

• According to Sidney the purpose of poetry is to

teach and delight.

• Sidney judges the value of poetry by analyzing

its effect upon its audience.

• The classical theory of rhetoric can be viewed

as the origin of pragmatic theories 

PRAGMATIC THEORIES

•  Horace discusses this theory in his

work ”Ars Poetica”

• Horace advises poets to write poetry with

the aim to blend usefulness with

pleasure.

• To teach, to please and to move are the

three aesthetic effects to be achieved

upon a reader.

PRAGMATIC THEORIES

• For a number of critics of the

Renaissance, the moral effect was the

terminal aim, to which delight and

emotion were added.

• Dryden considered the imitation of nature

as the means for pleasure. He also

stressed the importance of rules.

PRAGMATIC THEORIES• Pragmatic criticism is mostly concerned with

formulating rules, guidelines and methods for

achieving the desired effects upon the audience

• The rules are often derived from the qualities

present in classical literary works. These rules help

the artist in the process of creation and the critic in

the process of evaluation.

PRAGMATIC THEORIES

• Richard Hurd's ' Dissertation of the idea

of universal poetry ' is another critical

text concerning pragmatic criticism.

• According to Hurd universal poetry is the

art whose purpose is to provide the

maximum amount of pleasure possible.

PRAGMATIC THEORIES

• In order to achieve this effect Hurd

proposes three properties: figurative

language, fiction and versification.

• According to Hurd, since the aim of

poetry is to gratify the mind of the

reader, knowledge of the mind is

important while establishing these rules.

PRAGMATIC THEORIES• Johnson’s preface to Shakespeare is one of the

most important texts dealing with pragmatic

criticism

• Johnson combines the mimetic criteria of

evaluation with the aesthetic effects upon the

audience in order to judge works of art.

• Johnson says that Shakespeare holds before his

readers a faithful mirror of manner and life. But

Johnson also states that the aim of poetry is to

instruct as well as please.

PRAGMATIC THEORIES• The fact that Shakespeare has survived the test

of time as a poet whose works are read for little

reason other than pleasure is proof that a work

of art that truly imitates nature will continue to

please its audience for a long time.

• Shakespeare's ability to hold up a mirror of life

to his audience is the major criteria upon which

Johnson judges the effect of his works on the

audience. 

PRAGMATIC THEORIES• Pragmatic orientation has been the principal

aesthetic attitude of western criticism

beginning from Horace up to the 18th century

• The development of science and increased

knowledge of psychology , the influence of the

works of Hobbes and Locke in the seventeen

century

• the poet and his mental capacities gradually

became the focal point of criticism 

EXPRESSIVE THEORIES

EXPRESSIVE THEORIES• Critical theories oriented towards the relation

between the work and the artist 

• The expressive orientation is found in the works of

Longinus in his discussions of the sublime which

according to Longinus has its sources in the poet's

thoughts and emotions

• However Abrams considers the year 1800 marked by

the publication of Wordsworth's Preface to

the Lyrical Ballads as the date when the expressive

orientation begins to surface in English literary

criticism.

EXPRESSIVE THEORIES• The expressive theories are a product of the

Romantic Movement which emphasized on the

power of the poet's mind

• According to the expressive theory: A work of art is

an external manifestation of internal thoughts and

feelings and the creative process is a result of the

impulses of feeling combined with the poet's

thoughts and perceptions

• The poet’s mind therefore is the central point of

attention

EXPRESSIVE THEORIES• The expressive theories evaluate poetry by trying to

figure out whether the diction and figures of speech

are a natural outcome of the poet's emotions or a

deliberate effort.

• The expressive theory tries to answer the questions

of sincerity and authenticity of poetry along with the

poem's correspondence to the actual feeling and

state of the poet's mind.

• The work of art is no longer viewed as a mirror of the

universe but as an insight to the poet's mind.

OBJECTIVE THEORIES

OBJECTIVE THEORIES• The orientation of objective theories is towards the

work of art alone irrespective of its source, artist or

audience

• Objective theories of criticism isolate a work of art

and evaluate it as an independent entity

• One of the early attempts at objective criticism is

seen in Aristotle's Poetics. Aristotle tries to analyze

tragedy by considering it as an individual whole

consisting of parts such as plot and characters.

OBJECTIVE THEORIES• The objective orientation begins to emerge

significantly in the late eighteenth and early

nineteenth centuries.

• Some critics tried to understand a poem as a

'heterocosm' i.e. a whole, independent world

complete in itself.

• This is termed by historians as ' art for art's sake'.

OBJECTIVE THEORIES• A poem, as Poe expressed it, is ‘a poem ‘per se’…

written solely for the poem’s sake’

• T.S.Eliot wrote, “When we are considering poetry

we must consider it primarily as poetry and not

another thing”.

• MacLeish’s aphorism “A poem should not mean But

be.”

• J.C. Ransom called for recognition of ‘the autonomy

of the work itself as existing for its own sake”.

THANK YOU

ANY QUESTION?