Abrams orientation of critical theories. Abrams orientation of critical theories 2022-10-12
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Abrams' Orientation of Critical Theories
Critical theories are a broad category of approaches to understanding and interpreting society, culture, and media. They are concerned with the power dynamics at play in social and cultural contexts, and often seek to uncover and challenge dominant narratives and ideologies.
M.H. Abrams, a literary critic and scholar, developed an influential orientation towards critical theories that focused on the role of interpretation in shaping our understanding of the world. According to Abrams, interpretation is a crucial aspect of how we make sense of the world around us, and it is influenced by a range of factors including our own experiences, cultural contexts, and the frameworks and theories that we bring to the table.
One key aspect of Abrams' orientation towards critical theories is his emphasis on the importance of historical context. He argued that it is impossible to fully understand a work of literature or cultural artifact without considering the time and place in which it was created. This means that to truly engage with a text or cultural phenomenon, we must also consider the social, political, and cultural forces that shaped it.
Another key aspect of Abrams' orientation is his focus on the role of the interpreter in shaping our understanding of the world. He argued that our interpretation of a text or cultural artifact is shaped by the frameworks and theories that we bring to the table, as well as by our own experiences and biases. This means that it is important to be self-aware and reflective in our interpretation of the world around us, and to be open to alternative perspectives and interpretations.
Overall, Abrams' orientation towards critical theories highlights the importance of interpretation and context in shaping our understanding of the world. It encourages us to consider the multiple factors that influence our interpretation of texts and cultural phenomena, and to be open to alternative perspectives and interpretations. This approach can help us to better understand the complexities and power dynamics at play in the world around us, and to work towards more nuanced and critical understandings of society, culture, and media.
Dr. Sreekumar's English Literature & Career Advancement: Orientation of Critical Theories
For one thing, these four co-ordinates rnr stantsf hut variables: they differ in significance according tothe theory in which they occur. They differ in their importance according to the theory in which they occur. She knows her prerogatives in life and is aware of the balance she has to maintain in life. Through most of the eighteenth century, the tenet that art is an imitation seemed almost too obvious to need any proof. II — Jul, 2006 M. .
ABRAMS Its subject-matter is such wavering and deceptive stuff a s dreamsare made of; its method is neither logical nor scientific, nor quitewhole-heartedly and empirically matter of fact. A good critical theory has scope, precision and coherence of insights and justify not one but a number of valid theories. John Ogilvie reconciles creative genius andoriginal invention with 'the great principle of poetic imitation' Philosoph-ical and Critical Observations on the Nature, Characters, and Various Spe-cies of Composition, London, 1774 , 1, 105-7. . These four co-ordinates are not constants but variables.
Almost all theories of criticism show an orientation towards one of these elements only. The central tendency of the pragmatic critic is to conceive a poem as something made in order to effect requiste responses in its readers; to consider the author from the point of view of the powers he must have in order to achieve this end. Yet, since its appearance in the dialogues of plato, mimesis was no more a simple concept. Crane The University of Chicago Press, Chi-cago, 1952. ABRAM S Orientation of Critical Theories excellent wor k of art, and when excerpted and codified these rules serveic artist in making and the critics in judging any future product. In so far as a literary product simply imitatesobjects, it is not poetry at all. He also distinguishes between different kinds of imitation based on the objects imitated, the manner of imitation, and the medium of imitation.
(PDF) M.H. ABRAMS' "ORIENTATION OF CRITICAL THEORIES": AN OUTLINE
Aristotle considered tragedy as the greatest form of poetry. ABRAMS of the 'causes' of the work. He wanted to reduce the rules of art to one single principle. Abrams says that today art is considered in relation to the artist. In any one theory, when the artist is said to imitate the aspects of nature then it would be only the beautiful or moral aspects of the world. The explanation of art as essentially an imitation of the aspects of the universe was probably the most primitive aesthetic theory.
M. H. Abrams Orientation of Critical Theories: an webapi.bu.edu
As Richard McKeon points out, 'Horace's criticism i sdirected in the main to instruct the poet how to keep his audience in theirseats until the end, how to induce cheer s and applause, how to please aRoman audience, and by the same token, how to please all audiences andwin immortality'32 In what became for later critics th e focal passage of the Ars Poetica,Horace advised that 'th e poet's aim i s either to profit o r to please, or toblend in one the delightful and the useful. Pragmatic TheoriesRichard Hurd's ' Dissertation of the idea of universal poetry ' is another critical text concerning pragmatic criticism. Margaret Alterton and Hardin Craig New York, 1935 , pp. Mill accepts the venerable assumptionthat a man's emotiona l susceptibilit y i s innate, bu t his knowledge andskillhis artare acquired. Henr y Home, Lord Kames, Elements of Criticism Boston, 1796 , 11,1 chap,xviii.
Shakespeare, whether life or nature be his subject, shews plainly, that hehas seen with hi s own eyes. A good deal of the confusion is caused because of the belief that criticism is a physical or psychological science. Edinburgh Review, VIII 1806 , 459-60. Traill London, 1905 ,XXVI, 20. Letters of William an d Dorothy Wordsworth: Th e Middle Years, ed. Birkbeck Hill Oxford, 1905 , 1 , 410.
I have chosen to discuss Aristotle's theory of art unde r the heading ofmimetic theories, because it sets out from, and makes frequent referenceback to the concept of imitation. ORIENTATION OF CRITICAL THEORIES M. But, today, she has opened her eyes wide enough to see the world through her own perspectives and raised her voice in the world to protest against the male dominant society. Smith London, 1905 , pp. As a result the audience gradually receded into the background, giving place to the poet himself, and his own mental powers and emotional needs and this led to the introduction of a new orientation into the theory of art. A poem is considered as a heterocosm, a world of its own, independent of the world into which we are born.
. To prove this Aristotle institutes a comparison between poetry and history. Se e Heroes, Hero-Worship, an d th e Heroic in History, in Works, v , esp. She is a symbol of roots which is nourished with traditional values to become a sacrificial daughter, a wife and a mother. In this attempt he again and again speaks of mimesis or imitation.
Forewor d to Philosophies o f Beauty, ed. The tragic pleasure is that o f pity and fear. ABRAMS ORIENTATION OF CRITICAL THEORIES AN OVERVIEW R. When he made a promise to someone, he kept it no matter what. The y differ , a s they imitate by differentmedia. The pictures of poetry therefore are not mere reproductions of facts but truths embedded in those facts that apply to all places and times. But although in many later mimetic theories every-thing is comprehended in two categories, the imitable and the imitation,the philosopher in the Platonic dialogues characteristically operates withthrge categories.
But during the Romantic period this idea changed and mind is considered as something that illuminates and gives a new appearance to external realities. Some critics tried to understand a poem as a 'heterocosm' i. These two essays show the changes that have taken place in expressive theories. II Jul, 2006 more forcefully to virtue since he couples the general notion of the philosopher with the particular example of the historian. Some Coordinates of Art Criticism. .
