3.2.6 : Function of Poetry
3.0 Objectives
3.1. Introduction
3.1.1. The Romantic Revival
3.1.2. Impact of French Revolution
Self Check Questions for 3.1.1. and 3.1.2.
3.2.1 The Genesis of Preface
3.2.2 Aims of the Preface
3.2.3 Definition of Poetry
Self Check Questions for 3.2.1., 3.2.2., 3.2.3.
3.2.4 Concept of Imagination
3.2.5 Themes and Subject Matter of Poetry
3.2.6 Function of Poetry
3.2.7 Diction of Poetry
Self Check Questions for 3.2.4., 3.2.5., 3.2.6., 3.2.7.
3.3 Summing up
3.4 Reading List
There are two schools of thought holding opposite views with regard to the function of Literature or Art in general. The view of the moralists is that the writer can and does influence the lives and characters of his readers; and therefore it should try to be a good influence. For them art is food or poison. This view is called ‘art for Life’s sake’. The view of the aesthetes is that the function of poetry is to give pleasure to its reader irrespective of the moral ideas. For them art is wine. Only its pleasure-value matters. Among the classicists, Plato hardly falls under the category of ‘Art for Art’ssake’ and believed that the art should be bound to the moral values. Dryden believes, “Delight is the chief, if not the only end of poesy”. Dr. Johnson remarks, “The end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or to endure it”.
For most of the Romantics, life was sacred and valued it.For instance Shelly remarked: “Shakespeare, Dante and Milton are philosophers of the very loftiest power”. Keats, the worshipper of beauty, believes that the function of poetry is “that it should be a friend to soothe the cares, and lift the thoughts of men”. Wordsworth too favours the view of Arts for Life’s sake. He emphasized the didactic view of literature when he said, “I am nothing if not a teacher”. Poetry, in the words of Wordsworth, “is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge, the impassioned expression that is in the countenance of all science”. The analysis of this definition gives us the sense that the function of poetry is to ennoble the reader. It is like the torch that leads its readers on the dark path. Poetry is the moral guide that imparts moral lessons but in sugar-coated form so that the learning becomes implied and plausible. Wordsworth’s poems confirm here his own concept of the function of poetry. His poems are full of moral lessons, philosophical truths about life and religion packaged with delight. In Wordsworth’s own words:
“… a poetry of revolt against the moral ideas is a poetry of revolt against life; A poetry of indifference towards moral ideas is a poetry of indifference towards life”.