Imagery, Figures of Speech, Style and Criticism in Mac Flecknoe

P r e s e n t a t i o n b y P E M A C H O G Y E L ( B )

E N R O L L M E N T N O . 0 7 1 3 0 2 7 0

S E C O N D Y E A R : 2 0 / 8 / 2 0 1 4

-John Dryden

Mac-Flecknoe

PRESENTATION POINTS

Imagery

Figures of Speech

Style

Criticism

Image and Imagery Image

a picture that you have in your mind, especially about what someone or something is like or the way they look.

old man with the blue guitar.

Imagery

bright descriptive language that appeals to one or more of the senses.

‘the old man firmly placed the white boiled potato, steaming still on a green banana leaf and wrapped with a creeping sound to plant as per the monkey’.

“The train moved away so slowly, butterflies blew in and out of the windows.“

Types of Imagery

1. Visual imagery .

Pertains to sight and helps the reader to picture events and objects.

It was dark and dim in the tall thick forest.

The word ‘dark’ and ‘dim’ are visual image.

2. Olfactory imagery .

Describes odors and evokes the sense of smell.

“My sisters shoe smells like a rotten cheese”

The word rotten cheese evoke our sense of smell.

3. Auditory imagery.

Relates to sound.

The children were screaming and shouting in the class.

‘Screaming’ and ‘shouting’ appeal to our sense of hearing or auditory sense.

4. Tactile imagery.

Pertains to the sensation of touch and texture.

The girl ran her hand on the soft woolen yathra Jacket. The idea of ‘soft’ in this example appeals to our sense of touch.

5. Organic imagery.

Focuses on bodily feelings such as exhaustion, hunger, thirst, fatigue fear and sickness.

"He was completely drained of energy, his knees buckling from carrying his own weight and eyes drooping from exhaustion."

6. Gustatory imagery

Refers to a taste.

Dorji was picking lemon and ate lemon right from the tree, the sour juice filling his mouth and running down his chin.

7. Kinesthetic imagery

Describes movement.

"His body moved fluidly throughout the obstacle course”.

Why do writers use Image and Imagery in their writings?

to convey a sense of scenes and characters.

as a support tool to enhance description.

to engage the reader on a deeper level with their writing.

to involve the reader to the kind of level where they imagine themselves right there within the scene.

to make the work more enjoyable and interesting to read.

Imagery used in Mac-flecknoe

All human things are subject to decay (line 1) Olfactory imagery (Smell)

Thoughtless as monarch oaks, that shade the plain. (line 27) Visual

imagery The treble squeaks for fear, the basses roar- Auditory imagery (Sound) Where unfledg’d actors learn to laugh and cry- (line. 76) ………….. On his left hand twelve reverend owls did fly. (line 129) Kinesthetic

imagery (Movement) and ………….. The sire then shook the honours of his head (line 134) Kinesthetic

imagery (Movement) Like mine thy gentle numbers feebly creep (line 197) Kinesthetic

imagery (Movement)

ACTIVITY I– Identify the imagery used in the poem

Nature's Way

Upon a nice mid-spring day,

Let's take a look at Nature's way,

Breathe the scent of nice fresh air,

Feel the breeze within your hair.

The grass will poke between your toes,

Smell the flowers with your nose,

Clouds form shapes within the skies,

And light will glisten from your eyes.

Hear the buzzing of the bees,

Climb the tallest willow trees,

Look across the meadow way,

And you shall see a young deer play.

Pick the daisies as they grow,

Watch a gentle cold stream flow,

Know the sounds of water splash,

Catch its glimmer in a flash.

When altogether all seems sound,

Lay yourself upon the ground,

Take a moment to inhale,

And listen to Nature tell her tale.

Olfactory : the scent of nice fresh airTactile: the breeze within your hairOlfactory: the flowers with your noseAuditory: the buzzing of the beesVisual: a gentle cold stream flow

1. Visual Imagery (sight)

2. Olfactory Imagery (Smell)

3. Auditory Imagery (Sound)

4. Tactile Imagery (Touch)

5. Gustatory Imagery (Taste)

6. Organic Imagery (Bodily Feelings)

7. Kinesthetic Imagery (Movement)

Figures of Speech

Expression in which the words are not used in their literal meaning.

designated to portray an idea more clearly or more interestingly.

Figures of SpeechAlliteration: The use of the same consonant or of a Vowel at the beginning of each

word or each stressed syllable in a line of verse.

Consonance: repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase.

-Fair is foul, and foul is fair, Hover through the fog and filthy air. –Macbeth

Assonance : two or more words close to one another repeat the same vowel sound but start with different consonant sounds.

-The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain.

Anaphora: In writing or speech, the deliberate repetition of the words at the beginning of two or more successive verse, clause or sentences in order to achieve an artistic effect.

-Every day, every night, in every way, I am getting better and better”Euphemism: word or phrase that replaces a word or phrase to make it more polite or

pleasant.

-Passed away instead of died.

Hyperbole: uses exaggeration for emphasis or effect.

-Ages have passed since I last saw you. Irony: using words where the meaning is opposite of their usual meaning.

-The Titanic was said to be unsinkable.

Metaphor: compares two unlike things or ideas.

-"life is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"-Macbeth

Onomatopoeia: The use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

-"Bang! went the pistol,

Oxymoron: a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

-Parting is such sweet sorrow- Shakespeare

Personification: giving human qualities to non-living things or ideas.

-the flowers danced in a gentle breeze.

Simile: comparing two unlike things by using words such as , ‘as’ or ‘like’.

-Dorji is as funny as a monkey. My love is like a red, red rose.

Understatement: said to make something appear less important or less serious.

I won’t say it was delicious - referring to terrible food

Figures of speech used in Mac-Flecknoe.

Alliteration

Worn out with business, did at length debate (line 9)

To settle the succession of the State (line 10)

Anaphora

Shadewell alone my perfect image bears, (line 15)

Mature in dullness from his tender years. (line 16)

Shadewell alone, of all my sons, is he (line 17)

Hyperbole

And torture one poor word ten thousand ways (line 208)

Metaphor

But Shadwell’s genuine night admits no ray, (line 23)

Personification

The treble squeaks for fear, the basses roar (line 32)

Simile

Thoughtless as monarch oaks, that shade the plain (line 27)

ACTIVITY –II Identify the Figures of speech used in the poem

Love is a dream

Love is a dreamIts gone as we wake upLeaving some momentsTo be cherishedLove is like a windIt embraces us with passionleaving the scent of fresh flowerstingling our mindLove is like a water bubbleBeautiful to see from farEven rainbows are visibleBut a tender touch will break itLeaving a refreshing sprinkle….

Writing style used Mock-Epic /Comic-Epic

Mock.

Slightly formal to laugh at someone,

often by copying them in a funny but unkind way.

Moc-Epic/Comic Epic.

Form of satire that adapts the elevated heroic style of the classical epic poem to a trivial subject.

Satire. technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society by using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule.

It intends to improve humanity by criticizing its follies and foibles.

Epic

-Long narrative poem on great and serious subject, related in an

elevated style.

-Centered on a heroic figure on whose actions depends the fate of a

tribe, a nation, or the human race.

-Gods and demons often intervene in the action, either by helping or

hindering the hero.

-The poem begins in the middle of the action.

-The poet states his theme early in the poem.

-A muse is invoked to provide inspiration.

-Epic always provides a moral.

CriticismCritics like J.C. Collins and George Thorn Drury are of the view that much of the satire in Mac Flecknoe is undoubtedly unjust. Dryden has become in presenting Shadwell in Mac Flecknoe. He was not a confirmed dullard as Dryden says him; though he was not a great poet, he was the comic dramatist of some repute.

But for a student of literature, poem is a perfect piece in the pile of English literature for its uniformity, precision, regularity artistic and literariness.

Sure (Dryden) goes a little too far in calling me the dullest, and has no more reason for that than for giving me the Irish name of Mack, when he knows I never saw Ireland till I was three and twenty years old, and was there but for four months. –Shadewell’s reaction to MacFlecknoe.

Ian Jack said that MacFlecknoe is not only a satire, its also a comedy.

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