Stream Of Consciousness

Stream Of Consciousness

Stream of Consciousness was a phrase used by William James in his Principles Of Psychology (1819) to characterise the unbroken law of thought and awareness in the waking minds; it has now been adopted to describe and narrative method in modern fiction Long passage of introspection are found in novelist George Meredith and Henry James and some minor French writers like Edward Dujardin in 1888 who attempted to represent all the scenes and events as they impinge upon the consciousness of the central character. The Stream of Consciousness, as it was refined after World War I, is a model of narration that undertakes to capture the full spectrum and flow of character's mental process in which, sense, perception mingle with conscious and half conscious thoughts, memories, feelings and random associations.

Some critics use interchangeably with the term interior monologue. It is useful, however to employ the former as the inclusive term, denoting all the diverse technics, employee by authors to describe or represent the overall state and process of consciousness in a character. James Joyce perfected various technics of Stream Of Consciousness narration in Ulysses (1922). Dorothy Richardson sustains a Stream of Consciousness narrative, focused exclusively on the mind of her heroine, throughout 12 volumes of her novels Pilgrims (1915-1938). Virginia Woolf employs Tue procedure as the chief narrative mode in several novels, including Miss Dalloway (1925) and To The Light House (1927) and William Faulkner exploits it brilliantly in the first three of four parts of his novel The Sound And The Fury (1929).

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Tottel's Miscellany

Tottel's Miscellany

A number of early Elizabethan poems and sings were printed and published together by Mr. Richard Tottel, under the title song and sonnets written by the honorable Lord Henry Howard also known as Earl Of Surrey. These volume is popularly known as Tottel's Miscellany which was found to certain poems mainly from Wyatt and Surrey. The first 32 pages of the Miscellany contains 36 poems by Surrey were followed by Wyatt's poem. The sonnets of of Wyatt and Surrey seems to go together in Tottel's Miscellany. Apart from them,the other contributors were Nicholas Grinald, Thomas Lord Vaux and others. One hundred and thirty (130) poems which were included in the Miscellany were by anonymous poet and some of whom might have been identified as William Thynne, Sir Thomas Bryama and Thomas Churchyard.

There were love poems, sonnets in the Petrarchan convention of Wyatt and Surrey as also the songs of complaints about feminist fickleness and fraility. Tottle's Miscellany was the first surviving printed communication of poetry to a great variety of readers. It presents different types of works and there by indicates different poetical influence and inclinations at work in the early days of the Renaissance. Tottel's Miscellany helped by the process of printing , at least managed to preserve the works that had to create their remarkable tradition in English Poetry.

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The Little Magazine

The Little Magazine

Little Magazine made their entry in 1880 and have been received by selected audiences ever since. Technically, a Little Magazine refers to any of the periodical publications devoted to serious literary writings. Often , Avant - Garde these magazines were not driven by commercial motives. One of the principles behind the publication of the Little Magazine involves the objective of providing a platform to writer and Artist who were not otherwise granted the opportunity to have their composition printed in the mainstream journals. Little Magazines have provided great scope for experimentation and launched new style ms and modes in 20th century literature. Another characteristic of little magazine was that the production, editorial policy and financial management were not handled within the conventional paradigm of commercial structure tat distinguish mainstream magazines.

The first little magazine was Poetry : A Poetry Of verse (1912) which was edited by Harriet Monroe and Ezra Pound who were the foreign editors. Many other magazines appeared during the first World War. This included Others (1915-1919) edited by Margaret Anderson and The Egoist (1914-1919) edited Dora Marston. Many writers of 20th century made their first appearance through Little Magazine. TS Eliot, Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, Edgard Lee Masters, Hart Crane, Wallet Stevens and James Joyce published important work in some Little Magazine of the time.

During the first decade itself other Little Magazine specially with the leftist stands, appeared of which The Masses (1911-1917) was the most influential. The Literary journals that
 made their mark in the 1920s - Modern Review (1920-24) edited by F Tarleton, The Fugitive (1920-25) edited at different stages by JC Rensom, Allen Tate and Donald Davidson, Voices (1921-65) edited by Harold Vinal, Secession (1922-24) edited by Graham Munson, Vroom (1921-24) edited by Harold Loeb, This Quarter (1925-32) edited by Ernest Walsh and The Enemy (1927-29) edited by Wyndham Lewis provided for an unprecedented intellectual climate in the 20th century.

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What Is Black Death

Black Death

An attack of Bubonic and Pneumonic Plague,the Black Death affected major parts of Europe in the middle of the 24th century. The Plague first attacked in English soil was recorded in June 1348 at Melcombe Ragis in Dorset. A general estimate about the number of death brought by the Plague suggest that ⅓ of the English population was decimated by it. About 20% of the villages were either abandoned or completely depopulated in the 14th century. The places most affected by the Plague were the cities, primarily because of over crowding and lack of proper sanitation facilities. The first attack in London was recorded on 1st November 1348. It is estimated that almost 30000of the 70000 contemporary Londoners perished with attack. One of the factor which made it impossible to set. the root in the first burst of attack was the lack of proper medical facilities.

Black death produced different symptoms in its three variations. The most common form was Bubonic, second was  Pneumonic and the third one was Septicemic Plague. The immediate consequence of the Black death was depopulation. There was an overall change in the demographic pattern of England following the plague. Many of the survivers were compelled to desert the professions in fear of contagion. Since the town and the cities were the worst affected, many of its inhabitants fled to the urban areas. Agriculture was greatly affected by the loss of labour. Lands lay untilled as people fled and pushed dramatically filled up the plantation strips over crowding, which was a major problem in many European cities in Middle Age including England, was negated to some extend by the Plague. The Urban centres became more developed and gained from the Newer Economic Circumstances.

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What Is Ballad

The Ballad

The word Ballad derived from Latin and Italian"Ballara" which means to dance. Fundamentally, a Ballad is a song that tells a story and originally was a musical accompaniment to dance. some of the characteristics of Ballad are :

•The beginning is often abrupt.
•The language is simple
•The story is told through dialogue and action.
•The theme is often tragic.

Apart from these characteristics, a Ballad usually deals with a single episode, the events leading to the crisis are related swiftly. There is minimal detail of surroundings. There's a strong dramatic element,there's considerable intensity, the narrator is impersonal. There's frequently incremental repetition, the single tone of action and the speed of the story preclude much attempt at delineation , imagery is simple.

There are two kinds of Ballads :

•The Folk or Traditional Ballad 
•Literary Ballad

The former is anonymous and is transmitted from singer to singer by word of mouth. It belongs to oral tradition, the Folk Ballad has tended to flourish among semi literate people in rural environment.
The later kind of Ballad is not anonymous and written down by a poet as he composes it. This consideration apart Ballads of both tradition have distinct similarity.

Many historians and critics distinguished a third kind of Ballad - The Popular Ballad. This kind of Ballad tends to be associated with semi literate or literate urban rather than rural communities and is often very realistic, unheroic, comic or satirical. It's sometimes called a Roadside Ballad or Street Ballad.

The Ballad Poet drew his materials from community life,from local and national history, from legend and folklore. These tales are usually of adventure,war,love,death and the supernatural. Important sources of Ballads are in England were the stories and legend of Robin Hood. Since early in the eighteen century,  there had been several important collection of Ballad literature namely Allan Ramsay's "The Tea Table Miscellany". Among Ballads in the literary tradition, there are several distinguished works specially S.T Coleridge's" Ancient Mariner", John Keats's "La Belle Dam Sans Mercy" etc.

• Tips : Understand the substance of the paragraphs and write it down in your own language. 

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