Thursday 27 October 2016

Representation of Nature in the Poetry of William Wordsworth and Robert Frost



Name: Hariyani Vaidehi C.

Roll no- 18

Year - 2015-17

M.A Semester - 3

Paper no.(10) The American Literature

Email Id: - vaidehi09hariyani@gmail.com


UNIT : - 1

Assignment topic:
 Representation of Nature in the Poetry of William Wordsworth and Robert Frost


Submitted to:
Smt.S.B.Gardi
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH,
MAHARAJA KRISHNAKUMARSINHJI  BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY,
Representation of Nature in the Poetry of William Wordsworth and Robert Frost




Nature is one of the favourite and very recurrently used themes in different arts like poetry, painting and movies. Artist or Writers are always fascinated with nature. All the writers are normally fascinated with nature. Some of them are also habituated to go for a walk in the company of nature and solitude. Nature has always been a part and parcel of literature.

Nature stands as source of inspiration for all the poets, but the poets have represented it differently. The poets of different Era have their own unique way of presenting art.

Here we are going to discuss how the romantic poet William Wordsworth and the American poet Robert Frost differ in representation of Nature in their poetry.

First let us see what is Romanticism?

Romanticism (also known as the romantic era or the romantic period) was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement. It originated in Europe towards the end of 18th century. (Wikipedia)

One of the characteristic of the romantic era was “a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature”. The Romantic Movement in English Literature is generally described as “Return to Nature”. Nature was idealised and there was an artistic freedom.

As it is mentioned in History of English Literature by W.J.Long,

“Find tongue in trees, books in the running brooks,
  Sermons in stones and good in everything.”

Nature was looked upon as mother. Nature is used by the poets to appreciate the beautiful powerful force in human world. Poets like Wordsworth, Shelley, Scout, Keats and many other poets beautify nature in one or the other way.

On one hand there is a romantic poet, William Wordsworth for whom “Poems begins in delight and ends in delight”. On the contrary there is Robert Frost who looks at the nature with different insight.

According to Robert Frost,
“The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom.”

Representation of Nature in the poetry of William Wordsworth:-

Romantic poets were always fascinated by nature’s power and wonder.
William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads (1798).

Nature was one of the great sources of inspiration for William Wordsworth. He was the high priest of Nature .He shows nature to be gentle nurturing force that teaches and soothes humanity.

In his he mentions in “LINES WRITTEN A FEW MILES ABOVE TINTERN ABBEY” from “Lyrical Ballads”,
“Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”

Throughout Wordsworth’s work, nature provides the ultimate good influence on the human mind. He lived amidst the lap of nature in the Lake District. Thus, nature had been a part of his everyday life. Wordsworth touches the development of his love for nature in “Tintern Abbey”. In his childhood, Nature was simply a playground for him. Then he began to love nature and gradually he realised Nature’s role as a teacher and educator.

I cannot paint
What then I was. The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colors and their forms, ere then to me
An appetite; a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
Un-borrowed from the eye [II. 75-83]

Wordsworth glorifies nature and also reveals inner soul of nature in his work.
“One impulse from the vernal wood
  May teach you more of man
  Of moral evil and of good
  I hand all the sages can.” – “The Tables Turned

In Wordsworth’s poetry we see a natural setting of green pastoral countryside, the simple lifestyle and the beautiful moments with nature “recollected in tranquillity”.  

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils. – “The Daffodils

He achieved morality from nature. Here he meant morality as positivity.

“The anchor of my purest thoughts
  The nurse, the guide, the guardians of my
   heart and soul
 And of all my moral beings.” 
-“Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.

Wordsworth believed that nature has object of soul and living spirit. His poetry has a touch of spirituality.

“In all things, in all natures, in the stars
 This active principle abides, from link to link
 It circulates the soul of all the worlds.”

Wordsworth loved nature but he did not fear nature. Thus, Wordsworth was a worshipper of nature. He did not recognize the ugly side of nature like Robert Frost.

Representation of Nature in Frost’s poetry:-

Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in America. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life.
Robert Frost has many themes in his poetry. One of the main themes is nature.

Frost is a great love of nature, and his love too, like that of Wordsworth is regional. He lived near north of Boston which forms background to his poetry. The poetry of Robert Frost contains two major themes of nature: the exploration of beauty and nature, and the interaction between man and nature.

Frost’s love for nature is more comprehensive, many-sided and all-inclusive than that of Wordsworth. Wordsworth loved to paint the beauty of nature, but Frost has a keen eye for the beauty of nature as well as the harsher and unpleasant side of nature.

“Spring Pools” for example, begins with a innocent description of the pools and flowers which one sees in the woodlands in the early spring. Then suddenly the tone becomes grave:-

“The trees that have it in their pent-up buds
To darken nature and be summer woods -
Let them think twice before they use their powers
To blot out and drink up and sweep away
These flowery waters and these watery flowers
From snow that melted only yesterday.”

Spring generally is the season of birth but ushers in darkness.
Frost paints nature as dangerous and sinister.

“Design” is a small example which asks who is the murderer???
Of course “Nature”.

“I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth --
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth --
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small.”

The flower hold the moth but nothing can stop the dark vigour of nature; the spider. Frost implies that darkness lurks everywhere. The nature is as dangerous as the spider.
May be that is what is law of nature and it has its own design.
Nature has an eco-cycle which works in its pattern. The law of nature operates and no idealism works in it.

We can see an example of eco-cycle:


One animal is a food of the other. That is how the cycle of nature works.
He speaks about the reality of nature, while Wordsworth idealises nature. 

Here we can compare both the poets with the characters from the film “Life of Pie”. Wordsworth can be compared with Pie Patel and Frost can be compared with Pie’s father.

Pie believed that all the soul in the nature is beautiful and loveable. He goes near the cage of lion and thinks that lion will behave like a friend. His father shows him the reality in a quite dangerous way. He keeps a goat in the cage and the lion eats it away.

 “Stopping by woods on a snowy evening” is another great example where we can see how Frost describes Nature:-
“Woods are lovely dark and deep
 But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep”

The “Woods” are “Lovely”. We all like to spend some time in lovely woods, but soon we find paradox here. Woods are lovely but they are dark and deep.
Frost’s poem also has deep philosophical and moral meaning hidden. At this point we can say he is similar to Wordsworth.
The last lines of the poem suggest that whatever might happen but we have to move on.

One can argue that Frost represents nature in a negative style. If we observe minutely, he is more practical than Wordsworth. Wordsworth was blindly in love with nature. Frost keeps a balance and highlights the positive and negatives both the aspects of nature.


William Wordsworth
Robert Frost
    1.) Idealistic
         1.) Realistic
    2.) Positive aspect of Nature
2.)Negative as well as positive aspect of Nature
    3.) Worshipper
3.)Observer

In the poems of William Wordsworth and Robert Frost there are lots of natural elements in their poems. It is right to say that the theme of these two poets is Nature. They have written all their poems based on nature where nature plays a great role in their works. But William Wordsworth and Robert Frost are different in their representation of nature. Binaries of nature can be observed in their poems.


"Same theme, different insights"

References
·       English Literature: Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English Speaking World:- William J. Long

·       Google Images




Sunday 23 October 2016

METHODS OF ELT (ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING)

Name: Hariyani Vaidehi C.

Roll no- 18

Year - 2015-17

M.A Semester - 3

Paper no.(12) English Language Teaching - 1

Email Id: - vaidehi09hariyani@gmail.com

UNIT : - 3

Assignment topic:
 Methods of ELT (English Language Teaching)


Submitted to:
Smt.S.B.Gardi
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH,
MAHARAJA KRISHNAKUMARSINHJI  BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY,
 BHAVNAGAR, GUJARAT.



METHODS OF ELT



English has a status of associate language, but in fact it is the most important language of India. After Hindi it is the most commonly spoken language in India and probably the most read and written language in India. English in India is used not only for communicating with the outside world, but also for inter-state and intrastate communication. Because of the great ethnic and linguistic diversity found within our nation, English acts as an indispensable ‘link’ language. Indians who know English often mingle it with Indian languages in their conversation. It is also usual among Indians to abruptly move to speak fluent English in the middle of their conversations. English also serves as the communicator among Indians who speak different languages. English is very important in some systems – legal, financial, educational and business in India. (Narayana, Nair and Mishra)

Teaching English has become equally important as the learning language.  In English language teaching pedagogy the three key terms - Method, Approach and technique are used frequently and interchangeably. The term ‘Method’ is very ambiguous, and refers to the overall plan for the orderly presentations of language material.

Let us first see the basic meaning of Method:-

 It is a generalized set of classroom specifications for accomplishing linguistic objectives.  Methods tend to be primarily concerned with teacher and student roles and behaviours and secondarily with such features as linguistic and subject-matter objectives, sequencing, and materials.  They are almost always thought of as being broadly applicable to a variety of audiences in a variety of contexts.

Basically methods refer to the technique used by the teachers to teach any particular language to students.

There are four methods of teaching English language which are discussed in this assignment. They are as follow:-

1.) The Grammar - Translation Method
2.) The Direct Method
3.) The Audio-Lingual Method

 Let us see the methods one by one:-

The Grammar – Translation Method:-

This is the oldest and traditional method of teaching English. Especially in India, this method is used as English is taught as Second language. In Europe, this method was used to teach Greek and Latin for several years. With the arrival of the Britishers this method was introduced in India. The emphasis in this method is mainly on translation of English words, phrases, and passages into and from the mother tongue of a learner.

 Thompson and Wyatt gave three principles on which this method is based:-
(1)Translation interprets foreign phraseology best.
(2) The foreign phraseology is best assimilated by the learners
      in the process of interpretation.
(3) The structure of a foreign language is best learnt when compared and contrasted with the mother tongue.

L1 helps a learner to learn L2.

Principles of this method:-
1.) Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active use of the target language. 
2.) Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words.
3.) Grammar provides the rules for putting words together, and instruction often focuses on the form and inflection of words.
4.) Reading of difficult classical texts is begun early. Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in in grammatical analysis. 
5.) Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue.

 Before moving further with the typical techniques, let us see the advantages and disadvantages of this method.




All the words and phrases cannot be translated and if it is done it might create a blunder. For example: there are some words like “Sindoor”, which cannot be translated due to cultural context. If it is translated it will lose the essence. When we translate sentences from our mother tongue into the target language, we unintentionally translate those structures which are untranslatable because they do not exist in the system of the target language.

There are different typical techniques of this method which enables learners to learn English language.
·       Translation of a passage
·       Antonyms/ Synonyms
·       Cognates
·       Fill in the blanks
·       Memorization
·       Make sentence
·       Composition
·       Reading comprehension questions
  
CLICK HERE to check the worksheet based on typical techniques of this Method.



THE DIRECT METHOD: -

Direct method is the method through which students learn to communicate in the target language and not involving L1 in the language learning process.

Learning L2 without taking help of L1.

This method is also known as Natural Method; because the characteristics we observe in language teaching is similar to acquisition of L1, but it was very difficult to bring exact environment in which L1 is acquired. So later, the same method became popular as the direct method.

This method was a reaction against the Grammar Translation Method. In Grammar Translation Method, the focus was mainly on grammar. The learners were acquiring the knowledge of the grammar instead of the language.

The method originated in France in 1901. The principles of this method came from Germany and were popularized by the international phonetic association of France.

According to H.Champion,
The direct method is a method of teaching English directly; is to establish a direct or immediate association between experience and expression, between English words, phrases or idioms and its meaning.”

Principles of this method: -
1.) Classroom instruction is conducted exclusively in the target language.
2.) Only everyday vocabulary and sentences are taught.
3.) Oral communication is built up in a carefully traded progression organized around question-and-answer exchanges between teachers and students in small intensive classes.
4.) Grammar is taught inductively.
5.) Vocabulary is taught through demonstration, objects and pictures.
6.) Both speech and listening comprehension are taught.
7.) Correct pronunciation and grammar are emphasised.

Let us see what are the merits and demerits of this method…



Typical techniques of the Direct method:-
·       Reading aloud
·       Question and answer exercise
·       Student self-correction
·       Conversation practice
·       Fill in the blanks
·       Dictation
·       Paragraph writing

CLICK HERE to see the worksheet of this method.


THE AUDIO- LINGUAL METHOD: -

The Audio-lingual method is used to improve communicative competence in learners. It is the most effective way for to learn language in an interesting way through different skills. This Method was initially called the Army Method, and was the first to be based on linguistic theory and behavioural psychology.

Based on Skinner’s Behaviourism theory, it assumed that a human being can be trained using a system of reinforcement. Correct behaviour receives positive feedback; while errors receive negative feedback. This approach to learning is similar to the Direct Method, in that the lesson takes place entirely in the target language.

Emphasis is on the acquisition of patterns in common everyday dialogue.

The Audio-lingual Method was widely used in the 1950s and 1960s, and the emphasis was not on the understanding of words, but rather on the acquisition of structures and patterns in common everyday dialogue.

These patterns are elicited, repeated and tested until the responses given by the student in the foreign language are automatic.

The Audio-lingual Method is still in use today in different ways through blogs, flipped learning, YouTube and much more. Nowadays many courses are available online also.

Principles of this method:-         
  1.) New material is presented in dialogue form.
  2.) There is dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases and over learning.
  3.) Structures are sequenced by means of contrastive analysis and  taught one at a time.
  4.) Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills.
  5.) There is little or no grammatical explanation. Grammar is    taught by inductive analogy rather than deductive explanation.
  6.) Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context.
  7.) There is much use of tapes, language labs and visual aids.
  8.) Great importance is attached to pronunciation.
  9.) Very little use of the mother tongue by teachers is permitted
10.) Successful responses are immediately reinforced.
11.) There is great effort to get students to produce error-free  utterances.
12.)  There is a tendency to manipulate language and disregard the content.

There are many merits and demerits of this method.




Typical techniques of the audio-lingual method: -
·       Dialogue memorization
·       Backward build-up
·       Repetition drill
·       Chain drill
·       Single slot substitution drill
·       Multiple slot substitution drill
·       Transformation drill
·       Q/A drill
·       Use of minimal pairs
·       Complete the dialogues
·       Grammar games


Thus, these are the three methods which are used for ELT (English Language Teaching)

Works Cited

  •          Narayana, Dr.R, Dr.N.Rajeshkharan Nair and Dr.Krushna Chandra Mishra. "ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN INDIA: A THEORETICAL STUDY." The modern journal of applied linguistics (2009): 1.
  • ·         Richards, Jack c. and Theodore s Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in Language teaching. Cambridge university press, 2001.