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INTRODUCTION
POETRY AND POETIC LANGUAGE.
(POETIC LANGUAGE SEEN AS A CLASS WITHIN THE WIDE FRAME WORK
OF LINGUISTIC REGISTERS AND ITS GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS)
" Idamandam tama: kfitsnam jaayeeta bhuvanatrayam
Yadi dabdaahwayam jyootiraa samsaaram na diipyate"
[ It is the word that enlightens the whole world. But for the
word, all the three worlds would have been in total darkness ]
Dandin 1
In a letter to Richard West in April 1742. Thomas Gray wrote
thua:
"The language of the age is never the language of
2 poetry"
Well after another century .ie, on August 14, 1879 , Gerard
Manly Hopkina wrote to'Robert Bridges :
"Poetic language should be the current language
heightened and unlike itself, but not an obsolete onem3
Defending the language of the Lyrical Ballads, William
Wordsworth wrote in the Preface :
"The principal object, then, proposed in these
poems was to choose incidents and eituations from
common life and to relate or describe them, throughout,
Dandin, Kaavyaadarsam. 1 : 4.
As quoted in Geoffrey N. Leech , A_ Linguistic Guide to
English Poetry. London : Longman. 1969) 8.
Leech, p. 8.
Page 2
as far as was puusible in a selection of language
really uaed by men . . . , 4
No sooner does one enter into the precincts of the poetic
langut,e than one realises that one has been caught up in a
labryr'thlne world. It may seem to be a forlorn hope when
the '!ngul#t trlre to aatiert that he, of all specialists, is
best qualified to ahow a way out and reveal t!.e quintessence of
the language of poetry. Yet it cannot be overlooked that the
study of the verbal art le intimately connected wlt11, and must
be based on the study of the language under the linguist's
discipline.
Curtis W. Hayea speaks of a kind of tension that prevails in
the relationship between critic, and llnguiats and states
that both critics and linguists can contribute a great deal to
literary analysis and criticism. 5
a William 'Wordsworth, "Preface to lyrical Ballads", D. J.
Enright and Ernst De Chikera (ed).English Critical Texts.
(London : Oxford University Press. 1962 ) 164 . Curtis W. Hayes, "Linpuiatics." Archibald A . Rill (ed).
Essays on Linguistics and Literature. ( Voice of America
Forum Lectures, 1968) 197.
"Some literary critics have been disturbed by tho application of recent llnpuistic technics to the study of literature, and it is true that since linguists appear to have believed that the age old problems of literary crlticiem could be solved in a aummary fashion by the application of these methods. It is clear today, however, that the apparent conflict between the critic and the linguist is almost always the result of a misunderstanding . . . . "
Page 3
Despite ttia enormous ef forte of botr~ critics. and linguiats.
the question. of poetic language atll? continues as ~ v a e i v e or
fl!~:~lve as a mLrage in a wi22erneas.
h poet in the procese of transporting or elevating the
reaC;ra to a different plane of experience .may certainly have to
uee a epeclal klnd 06 I~nguage. He may have to take his readere
beyond the dictionary ~ e a n i n g of worda.
The followln~ Sanskrit sloka or verse e p a ~ k a of the benefits
o t poetry :
"Dharma artha kaama mokgefu
Valcakganyan kalaaeuca
Ka doti prlitlm klirtlm ca
Saadhu kaavya niqeevave". 6
[ Poets get waalth, love, mokea or salvation and every
other thing. if he la able to write good poetry. ]
He can never scale such heights with the use of everyday
language.
POETIC LANGUAGE A S A_ LINGUISTIC REGISTER.
Segistsr is "Language according to use" wbtch complements
dialect which is "Laqguage according to ueer."7. And as
argued Qy Raymond Chapman, w+$q a ueer directe his performance
towards a particular style, he le adopting a reglater.
Shamahan ! Kaavyaalamkaaram. 1 : 2.
I¶. A. # Halliday, A. EcIntoah and P. Stevens. The
Linguistic Sciences & Laneuaee Teaching ( London :
Legpman, 1964 ) . 87.
adds
"The common adoption of a register by a number of
people in a certain recurring slruation creates a
utylew8
I a it possible then to ir~clcc* Poetic language under the
wide spactrcs of linyuistlc reyisters ? There 1s no reason why it
should slot be. Geoffrey N. Leech. Raymond Chapman, Edward
Stan Lewics and numerous o;bera have written much ~n this issue.
Poetic Laz~guage forms a claas in itself. This leads to
another qt.*ation. Does this speclally devised language follow the
e61t&~!'ahed rulen of the language 7
" The Great Poet", as suagested by Stanki~wics ,
"is the man who possesses an intuitive mastery of the
rules that are obliyatory within hie own poetic
tradition and lanquaae . . . . However, poetic works are
unthinkabla outside the rules of the language and of a
given tradition. " 9
Leech speaks of a certain freedom on the part of the poets
to violate the llngulstlc rules, if neceesary :
"Poetfc language may violate or deviate from the
a Raymond Chapman, Lirruuldtics and Literature L An
Intsoduction to Literary Stylistice (London :Edward
Arnold, 1973) 9 - 19.
Edward Stankiewics. **Linauletica and the Study of Poetic
Language", Thomas A. Sebeok (ed), Style in Language
<New York : The Technology Press of nassachusette
lnetltute of Technology ,1960) 81.
Page 5
generaliy observed rules of the language in many ways,
nome obvious, some subtle". I 11
But Stankiewrcs questions this kind of a special privilege
allowed to poets. 3e statea :
iuet!c language need not violate any rules of the
language and still remains what it is, that is, a
hl,qhly vattrt . ,e i+ and ~rganised mode of verbal
expression. . . Poetic language takes full cognizance
of the rules of the l!ngulstic systems, and i f it
aJn11ts "devlatlons", they themselves are condltloned by
the language or by the given poetic tradition. 11
Any inquiry into poetlc language must begln with the basic
question what poetry itself is. But it la quite evident that
even Dr. Johnson fumbled at this point. There have been a
plethora of deflnltions for poetry, but even after ~ 1 1 these, the
rlddlr remalna unresolved.
William Peterfield Trent haa tried to picture the
strange nature of poetlc experience in the following manner :
A fine frenzy eiezee the poet's heart and brain,
transmits itself to his verse, passes through that
medlum into me, and losing for the time being its . I
creative quality, 1s transformed into that more or lees
....................................... L O Geoffiey N. Leech. p.5.
Edward Stankiewico. p. 70.
Page 6
p.~seive state we call rapture. T ~ l s is to me the
supr Be valae or eat poetry . . . . It lifts me hipher
towards heaven, opens my eyes more surely to the
b"autlfu1 vision, wraps me out of space, out of time.
tranemlte me and transforms me more compietely and
ecstatically than any other tranaformlng aaent of whlch
I hdve know: edge. 12
To contain t!l's kind of a thaumaturgical experience into the
capaule of a definition eeeud :a be a futile exercise. Even
T.S.Eliot was flffbbergasted by the elusive nature of this fins
art called poetry. In 'Edst Cocker' he writes as follows:
So here am I , in the middle way
havind had twenty years -
Twenty years laryely wasted. the years
of L'entre deux guerres - Trylnp to use words, and every attempt
Is a wholly new start, and a different
kind of failure
And so each venture or effort at wrltlng
Is a new begining, a raid on the
inartlcualte with
Shabby equlpmenta alwaye deteriorating
In the general mass of impressions of feelin*
Undeqciplined squade of emotions.
Y!iia crisis can be resolved by asking a nlstple question. lo
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A -
l2 William Peterfield Trent, Greatntr~~s & Litreature. (New
York : Columbia University Prese.1905) 228 .
Page 7
poetry merely a verbal art ? F. R Leav!s in his New Bearinge of - English Poetry_ tried to establish thht poetry is primarily a
verbal art. In his well known book Enalish Poetry & Engliah
language, F. W Batason also podtulates that poetry is above
everything a verbal exercise. The writing of poetry according to
thi, theory consiete in the conscious and deliberate co~~ictruction
of a musical ;,attern of words w.~ich glvcii tiome kind of delight.
and the theme is not of much importance.
J. Middleton Murry eaye of poetry that its purity "lies in
its abeoluLe lnda?endence of the subject."13. Herbert Read is
perhapa the foremoet English exponent of this kind of a verbal
music thoery. In Poetry and Anarchism, he saye of Enalish poetry
that its gra&test beauty " is lnherent in its sound; it too is a
kind of ausic. " 1 4
When the bietory of Setnekrlt poetics 1s examined, it is
found that there were eome scholare like Vamana. wkro
~holehea~tedly held thla view.
Vamana ( A . D 770 - 840) , the proponent of the 'Rliti School'
in his Kavyaalamkaac~ Suutravrltti has stated thus:
15 " Riitiraatmaa kaavyaeya" . [ Style is the soul of Poetry ]
-..------------------------------------
l 3 Riddleton Kurry,"Pure Poetry", Countried of the Hind. 2nd
aeries (London : Oxford University P r e ~ e , 1931) 19.
Herbert Read. Poetry and Anarchism (Faber a Faber 1938) . P. 37
l5 Riiri School of thouyht upholda the view that style is
the soul of poetry. They defined 'riiti' as "vi8iqta
padaracanaa rliti" (Combination of excellent words constitute
But it would be a mietake to assert 'hat poetry is nothing
but a wordy exercise . With what purpose do poets employ words ?
The verbal medium is used to convey some kind of meaning. There
will alwdys te some s e n s ~ within the verae structure . An
electrlcil wire is h carrler of power energy. If there is no
elrcrrlclty, there arisen no need for the conductor.
Bere one be tempted to aaaert that the essence of poetry
lles in the semantic ehadea of the words employed. In other words,
meanLng is extolled ae the life of poetry. When melopoeia - mutrical property 06 the wordn - in refurred to be accepted aa the
'! a,lmary end of poetry, many are a ~ d e to believe that meaning is
the be-all and end-all of poetry.
In English, Ben Joneon, Carlyle, Arnold and others followed
this line of arqument whereaa in India celebrated echolare
like Bharara supported this view. Deliberating on ~aavyahareera
(body of poetry) Bharata says that the theme consitutee the body
of poetry - "Itlvrittam tu kaavyaaya Qarliram
parikalpltamW
[ Itlvrittam or theme makea the body of poetry ]
Dandin'a statameht "Sariiram taavadiqtaarthaa vyavachinna
paiaevalii"'' also etreeses the importance of meaning in
poetry, as it cays that the group of words that bring in the
deaired meaning makes the body of poetry.
But most of tne other ancient Indian poeticiana were of the
opinion that both sound and mapnine constituted the inevitable
....................................... l6
Dai.uin. Kaavyaadarbam, 1 : 10.
Page 9
i n g r e d i e n t s o f p o e t r y . Whlle Bhamaha w r i t e s of pov r y u s
[ P > . t r y I Y c o n s ? l t u e d of sound and me-irlng. ]
VagLklhdan ,:. d e f i n e s ;. ..*try a8 t h e i o l l o v i n g : ./
"pri .,.:irrapt-;aa n a v y a e r t h a yuktyudboodha
e p b a r a n t L r a a t k a v e r r b u d h l l : p r a t L b h a a
sar vatoomukh i .,la
A p o e t who l a a g e n l u a g l v e s u s p1ea;x'ng v o r d e and r.=u
u ~ e a n i t l ~ ~ 1
Anandavardhanan vho was one of t h e c e l e b r a t e d I n d l a n
Poe : . i c l ans , t r l e d t o e s t a b l l e h t h a t i t wan l i e l t h e r sound no r
mean!ng b u t 'Dhwani ' , t h a t constituted t h e s o u l o f p o e t r y . 19
But do we t u r n t o p o e t r y f o r i t n meaning 7 Do we a d m i r e
S h a k e s p e a r e and K a l l d a e a f o r t h e l r p h l l o e o p h y ? I f o u r
i n f a t u a t i o n f o r V a l m i k l , G o e t h e , K a l l d a e a and ~ l i ' a k e a ~ e a t - e l e n o t
f o r t h e dc :*~th o f t h e i r thousk i te o r f o r t h e eoundneee o f t h e l r
c o g l t a t l o n n , t h e n what l a t h a t f a v o u r s r : , e l r b e i n g p e r p e t u a l
foul . i .a l t~s of i : i e p ? r a t i o n f o r a g e s ?
We a r e compe l l ed a y a l n t o f u r t h e r o u r s e a r c h f o r t h e e o u l of
p o e t r y . I t haa been g e n e r a l l y h e l d t h a t t h e i n t r i n s i c t ~ ~ c l t
I ' Bh,..:ahau. Kaavyalamkaram. 1 : 16
Dhwanr S c h o o l a r g u e s t h u t i t i a n o t d i r e c t meaning b u t
s ~ , r e a t e d a:e&nlng o r t h e i m p l i e d meaning t h a t g i v e s l i f e
t o p o r t l c ld t lguage .
Page 10
of poetry doesn't re-t vlth eound nor is its qulnteeeence
equated wlth the thoughts ew'edded in it. The appeal of povtry 1s
nelther to the eare nor to the intellect but to the heart. Hence
It can be stated that poetry la the lanpuage of the he* t.
No one wlll deny that poetry is the expression of
" powerful feellnge*. Uhen feelings become intenaifled, the
language also becomes intense. I f one accepts this, one vill
have to accept that emotlonal and lmaglnatlve expreeelon, at lta
best', ie poeelblu only through figurative language. Hence poetic
, language becomes essentially flgucatlve language.
In the famoue Llnee of Kalldaea, quoted below he describes the
beauty of a lady :
uduraaJa mukhil mrgaraaJa afil . -4 .,"-- gajaraaJa vlraajlta mandagatll.
yatleaa vanitee manaeee vaeltee
kwaJapo kvatapa kwaeomaadhLgot1 7
[Her face la like the moon, her walst slender ae that of the
llon and her movements ae slov and elegant as that of tho
elephant. Uhen ruch a lady ie in my mind vhere else le the Japa
(prayer), where else la the aamadhi (comfort) ? ]
These lines wc ld mean nothing without the three elmiles
employed. When love, anger and other similar paeelona are
expreaaed, language tends to become flguratlve. Thls can be
proved by any number of exanplea from everyday conversation
and from literature.
Wllllam Uordevorth seems to iave committed a o~rlous mistake
vhile propounding his theory of Odetic Language. In the Preface
to the Lyrlcal pal -de he vrote: --
7 d S I
Page 11
I k:*ve s..ld that ,..:etry is the syantaneoua overflow of
pcirrful feelings. I t takes its oryin fro:^, emotions
recollected in tranqu!l?ity : the rmotion is comtemplated
till by species of reaction, the tranquillity
grad~ally dia~ppears, and an emotion kindred to that
wi~lch uas before tht subject of contempIaL'-Lon, iY
6cadually produced, aud CL,es itarlt actua?ly rxlsts in . --
the mind. In thls mood succesefu: composition
generally begins . . . 2 0
Whlle formulating hls views on poetic languaae he st~tes
that a'l ,-..re war taken to avoid the figurea of speech in order to
bridue the gap between poetic dictlon and everyday language:
r, My purpose was to in~ltate, a~rd aa far as ijl
\ 1 .I
possible. to adopt the very lan&uagt, of me)'- and
assuredly uuch personifications do not make any natural
or regular part of that languase. They are, indeed, a
flgure of speech occasionally prompted by passion, and
! have made use of thrui as such, but have endeavoured
utterly to reject them as a ~+chanical device of dtyle.
or as a family of language which writers in metre seem
to lay claim by proacriptiorl. 2 1
20 Wllliam Wordaworth. p. 180.
21 Uilliam Wordworth. p . 167.
Page 12
Even when Wordsworth says that he had conaciouely tried to
avoid f aurative language, he admit* tihat he had occaeiona-ly
accepted eome figures "prompted by passion". Thie is where he
contradictv himself. Figures are prompted by paeslon. Then how is
it possible - i f Beetry ia the eponturreoutr overfd ,w of powerful
fpelinge - to @vioQ figurative language ? Suffice it to say
that kordaworth's mind was not that eharp us that of Coleridge'e,
whg l ~ t e r e-~al$enged many of +he concepts of his friend in his
In The Anatomx of Prase Merj~urie Boulfon writes of the -
rp$@tionship of pmation and language :
It is almost impossible to diecues emotions for
any length of time without figurative lan~uage - anything other than figurative language could be vary
little more than a ecLentific acco&.,t of our
secretion* and the changee in the brain celle . 2 2
Anyone who ssrioualy etudiee Kalida~a or Shakeepeare will
agree that the gharm of their poetry rests with their imagery.
The well known atatement 'Upamaa Kaalidaasaeya " - Kalidaasa
in essence is elmile - epeake volumes about thie aspect. Imagery, ae the word sugpeete, is an outgrovth of
imagination, which ie the paaence of creative personality. And
since the cfeat've pereonality is shared by the reader also, he
rggponds to the imagery and ahares likewise the emotional
effectlvs~eqs of the poem.
...................................... 7 2 Marjourie Qoulton. Sb. enaton= of Praae (London :
--
Rqutledge and Keprn Paul, 1957) 1 4 9 .
A few examples from both English and Kalayalam Poetry are
cited here in order to clarify the statement that genuine poetic
language is truly figurative language. Without a proper study qf
the numerous (lgurea of speech employed by poets. poetry will
rrmain unlntelllgible even to the most enthusiastic readers. It
1s aurprislng to note that all the important books in Englleh
whlch make references to the figures of apeech mention qnly a few
of the two hundred odd rhetoric figures.
All the five poems of T. E. Hulme, lncluded in the Faber
Book of Modern Verme (3rd Editlon) are reproduced here. A 1 1 the
'notable figures of speech employed by the poet are aleo
underlined.
1. AUTUMN
& touch of cold in the autumn night
I walked abroad,
And saw the ruddy moon lean over hedge
Like a red faced farmer. - I did not stop to speak, but i~odded
And round about were the wistful etars
Uith white faces like town c' lldren.
2. KANA ABOD4 -- -- tlana Aboda, whose bd:r form
The sky'e in rch'd circle k, - Seem eve, Eor an unknown grief t, mourn.
Yet one day I heard her cry :
' I weary qf the roses and the e!%uinu poets - Joaephs g, not tall enough to try ' .
3 . -- AROVE - TIIE - DOCK
Above the quite dock is midnight,
Tangled in the mast's corded hrlght
Hangs the moon. What seemed so far away
Is but a child's balloon forgotten after p x -- 4. TPE - EMBANKMENT
Once, in finesse of fields found I ecstasy,
In a flash of gold heels on the hard pavement, - Now see I
That warmth's the very stuff of poetry,
Oh, God, make emall
The old star-eaten blanket of the sky,
That 1 map fold it round me and in comfort lie. -
5. CONVERSION
L1g:rt hearted I walked into the valley wood
In the time of hyacinths
TI11 beauty llke a scented cloth - -- Cast over, Stifled me. I was bound - motlonlasm and faint of breath
% loneliness that is her own eunuch. ---- Now pass I to the final river
Ignominiously, in a eack, without sound.
As any peepirig Turk to the Bosphorne. /--
Any casual reader cf theee poeme will teotify to the f a ~ ~
that the irresistible charm of theae pleces 1s ingrafted in the
figurative language. Remove the figures used, these poeme will be
nothing but dry apeciflchtions of facts.
Page 15
Another poem wrlt'en by Philip Larkin, which ie also
included in the same edition of the Faber Book, is gi9e below.
DAYS -.-
What are days for ?
Days are where we live.
They come, they wake us
Time and time over.
They are to be happy in
Where can we live but day8 ?
Ah aolving that questlon
Brings the priest and the doctor
In their long coats
Running over the fields.
It is difficult Lo find anything poetical in these lines
which can render the 'rasa' or aestheic pleasure, which is the
ultimate end of poetry .
The first few linee of the Ealayalam poem ~ u ~ a t t i ~ ~
which is acclaimed as one of the best creations of Kadammanitta
Ramakriahnan, a contemporary poet, are reproduced here. He is
introducing Kurattl, the protagonist :
malaficuura-mafayil ninnum u~attiyettunnu
Vilafina cuura panambupoole kurattfyrttunnu. -- - [ Ku~atti ( a working claaa wonian) is arriving from
the valley of chuura plant*. She comes like a panambu,(a - mat made of chuura plants, used for drying food
23 Xadammanitta Ramakri~hnd~~, "Ku~att in, Kadarnai,~nittay..&
Xrltikal. ( Kottayam : D. C Cooka, 1 9 8 0 ) 2 1 9 .
grains and other objects), which can bu ;-sily folded with
hands. I
karii?aaEci kaaffil ninnum kurattiyettunnu
k a r c a poole kurattiyettuz. - [ She arrives from the Karillaffchi (another kind of plant)
woods where she works all day long cutting and collectlng
the same. And she comes llke a lorig thread of long
karillanchl plant.]
ceetru paafakkarayillifappo;iyll nlnnum
kuratt 1 yettunnu
iiracilntl erl%iakarlpool kurattlyettunnu. I C - - - - r -
[ She arrived from the place where aha has been workit *
with bamboo and she looks as black as the bamboo powder.]
kugattlyettunnu
rnalakalatifil varurlna nadipool kurattlyettunnt. - [ Kurattl arrives wlth brulaed breasts, freeing herself from
the clutches of hunting dogs. And she comea llke a violent
rlvrr that shakes the mountains. ]
muufuporflya mapkufuttin murlvll nlnnum psrlvumaayl
:<.ura+tlyrttu.nnu
venta mannin viiruooole kurattiyettunnu - - - [ She comes wlth many wour~ds and coatas with the
pangs of hot earth ]
u!iyulukklya kaa$rukal?~n ka??ll ninnum kurattiyettunr*~ >. - kaattutilyas p~tarnnaporipool kurattiyettunnu . . -
Page 17
[ She comes from the rock ao a spark that spreads like wild
fire ]
In theee first twelve lines, the poet uses six highly
suaaestive sim!lee portraying his heroine, which arrest the
attention of the readers and elovly transport them into unknown
realma of sublimity and to an inde~cribable senee of rapture.
The poet would have drawn a blank without theee llterazy flaures.
The first poem in 'Q N - yude Kaavya ~ a m ~ h a a r ~ f i a l ' ~ ~ 1s
named 'Slmhaasanattileekku Viinfum'. The first eection of this poem
conslate of twenty two lines and the poet uses ~ o t less than
fourteen fiaures of apeech in these twefitytwo lines . I f this is
the case of areat poets and good poetry, then wh-t is poetry
without figurative languape ?
That ia why rne ancient Indian potaticlana asserted that poetry
muat be 'alamkaarabhuu?ltam'. ie, fully adorned with alamkaaras :
saadhu iabdaartha sandarbham
pu?aalankaara ?huu?itam
aphu)aritirrsoopanam
kaavyam kurvita kiirttaye . 25
[ Poetry muat be compoeed of excellent words and meaning ,ad it
must be adorned with 'gr-:ae1 (qualities) and alamkaacau ]
Edward P.J.Corbet ln hle 'Classical Rhetoric for Modern
Student' writes about the flguree as follove :
..................................... 2 4 0 . N . V Kurup is one of tho most prominent contempb .ary
Malayalam p ~ a t a . Vaabhadan. Vapbhadaalamkaara 1 : 2.
Page 18
"Figures can render our thou,zits vivldly concrete, they
hele ua to communlcate wlrh our audletice clearly etrd
effectively, beacause they stir 'emotional response;
they convey truth, in Wordsworth'a phrase "alive into
the heart by passion", and beacauae they ellclt
admiration for the eloquences of the speaker or writer.
they car1 exert a powerful ethical appeal". 2 6
I n thelr Jolnt work 'Poetrx +LJ Experience' Norman C . Stageberg and Uallace L. Anderson speak of rhetoric figures as "an
integral part of what the poet has to nay". 2 7
26 Edward P.J iorbet, Cloeaical Rhetoric for Modern
Student (London : Oxford University Press, 1965) 245.
2 7 Norman C. Sta~oberq and Wallace L. Anderson, Poetrx as an Experience ( New York : American Book Company. 1952) 66. -
Poetry is vrltten in a language which makes ampl- use
of figures of speech, such figures, however, are seldom
merely ornamental llke gargoyles on a Gothlc Cathedral,
but instead forms an integral part of what t h e puet has
to eay. They are more llka the arched vlndows encased
in stone. glving essential supflort to tha structure and
illumlnatlng the lnterloc with light and colour. In
otherwurds, fiqurea of speech, serve a structural
purpose in poetry and make posbibla a richness and
complexlty unattainable throu~h literal statement. To
understand poetry then, i t 1s imperative one learns how
to interoret f iaurarive las,guaae.
Page 19
In the fifteenth chapter of 'On the gt;!l& ' ,Longinus
speaks expll~itly on the rhetorical functions of the flqures:
" What t?,en can oratorlal imagary effect ? "
" Well, .it 1s able in many ways to infuse vehemence and
passlon ltlto spoken wards, whlle mure particulrrrly whtn
It is combined vLth the argumetatlve passages, it not
only persuades the hearer, but actually m a ~ e s hlm it6
slave" .
Srownln& calls portn the "makers see" and Carlyle writes of
them an "glfteii to dlscern the God-like myarerlea of God's
universe". Arnold once described Wordaworrh an "a prieet to us
all of tha wonder and bloom of the world". "\is can be said of
all other yenuine poets also. In whatever role a poet may
appear, there can be no doubt to the fact that the most
effective tool that he can make the most of, is the imagery.
In the Uest it was Quintilllaa~ who most emphatically related
the flgurea to the logos, pathoa and ethos of argument. He looked
upon the flgurrs' as another means of "lendlng credibility to our
arguments", "of egltlng emotionan, and of vinnir~g approval for
our characters as pleaders. "28
And it la very interestin8 and important to remember that in
ancient Tqdla, the very name for what is called, 'Literary Crltlci. . I
today , was 'Alamkaara Saastra' ("the oclence of rhetoric
flgures" ) . Thle was the term populariaed by
Bhauaaham, Vamanan, Rudi dan, Vagbhdan arid others. Later i t was
BhoJan, who in h l s 'Saraswathli - =A<-eabharenam' uaed I-'$ ....................................
28 Quintillian, Inetitutio Oratoria, trane. H. E. Butler,
4 Voln (Camsridge : Loeb Claesical Llbrary, 1920) 2 .
Page 20
the term 'Poetics' (Xaavya 6aastra) for the flrst timu. 2 9
A historical overview of rhetoric figures in both Indlai
and gentern traditions, is reserved Lor the ensuing chapters. 111 4-
cont?us:on a btatement by Robert Hlllar and Ian Currie, where
they pointed out how hriatotle reckot.,-d the lmporta~~ri- of the
rhrtorlc figures is cited below :
It was Aristotle, the ancient Greek critic, who
was of the oplnlon that the quality of a poet, and
hence poetry, coulc! be established by the orglnality
and fltnesa of the metaphors and almiles employed. It
was perhapa not too fanciful to assert that tile
'discovery' of metaphor and almile were t o
clvlllz~tion, Just as important as the discovery of
fire or the wheel, or to say that a metaphor or simlle
was the first encyclopaedla, because in ualna one, man
took the flrat etep towards creatlna order out of the
dlverslty of objects around him, by seeing some
identity in two of them. 30
2 9 Sukuaar Azhikode. "Indian Lltarary Criticism".
Bhaak~~,~oahinl, Book 2, Vol. I (Kottayam : "alayala
Hanorama . 1978) 5 .
30 Robert Blllar and Ian Currie, l,le Lanizuape of Poetry
(London : Heinemann Educational Books, 1971) 61.