The
difficulty of a critical study of English literature, and for that matter of
any living literature, is that it is constantly growing. In this process of
growth, new dimensions are covered as the society grows and becomes more
complicated. The Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, the scientific and
technological researches and in this nuclear age the landing of man on the
moon, have affected the approach of thinking of every man and specially the poets and writers who are
more sensitive than the common man. Literature is the mirror of the society in
which it is produced and as such the student of literature must also be a
student of society – its social, economic and political problems – otherwise it
would be too difficult to understand any poet or writer. This is true not for
the complex social structure of the day but it was true in all ages and in all
countries.
The
study of classical literature like the greek or sanskrit is a bit easier
because one can have a detached and impersonal critical study of the writings
of a particular age and country. This is not so for English literature because
we have not only to cover from Yeats and
Eliot to Beowulf but have to study even American Poets who have written in a
different step-up with quite a different back-ground and purpose, if we are
allowed to say that all literature is or should be purposeful. Despite the fact
that shakespeare had no political views and his like Milton and Dyden, we find
him “deeply interested in the nature of kingship and authority, in statecraft
and in men’s relation’s with each other in the sphere of public life….”.
“It
takes two to understand a word, “goes the saying and it is very true for us
while studying the English literature. The use of ‘winter’, ‘spring’ and
‘summer’ in English poems may not give as a proper idea because in indian
conditions we may not like to condemn winter or appreciate summer as the two
seasons bring quite different feelings for us. While the flowers bloom at noon
in England, they die out here at that time and one can easily jeer at a poet
who writes about the blessings of noon. Sun-shine may be blessing for an
Englishman but for most part of the year it is a curse for us. Thus, one has to
be constantly at guard that he is studying the literature of a country which
has different climatic and geographical conditions.
Again
, we have to be alert all the time about the meaning of terms like culture,
love, progress and politics. They may mean something to the poet writing in
England but may appear to be quit another to us sitting in India having quit a different culture and hence different views
and values regarding love, progress and politics. Thus, to be a student of
English literature, one has to be a student of British ways of life and must
have a knowledge of their interests and values of life not only of today but of
the Victorian and Elizabethan days as well. He must also appreciate the change
in interest and values with the changing times.
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