I. A. Richards : The Figurative Language

                       Thinking Activity 
                                        

    His works :

        The Meaning of Meaning -1923

       The Principle of Literary Criticism -1924

        The Practical Criticism- 1929

     

     He mainly talks about four kinds of misunderstanding :

1- Misunderstanding of the sense of poetry : Careless, intuitive reading (rhyme or irregular syntax) 

2- Over -Literal reading - prosaic reading

3- Defective scholarship ; inappropriate metaphor 

4- Difference in meaning of words in poetry and prose ( Personification, Metaphors, etc) 

      According to him the relevance of a poem lies in the reactions and attitudes it creates. For him the value of a work if art lies in its power to harmonize and organize complex and warring human impulse into patterns that are lasting and pleasurable. 

     He gives the example of the poetry :

                         Solemn and Gray 

                                     

                                   

                  A Health, a ringing health 

                                         

                             Climb Cloud 

                                         

Here I am analyzing the poem :

      In this poem we finds paradoxical language ,Metaphors etc.

                           તવંગર ભિખારી…!!!

                                       

મુજ દિલની પ્યાસ ને હું આંસુઓ પી ને બુજવતો આવ્યો છુ…

ને…જીંદગી ભરથી ગમ ખાઈ ને..ગુજારો કરતો આવ્યો છુ…

ના આંસુઓ વહેવડાવજો મુજ આ એકલતાભરી દશા પર
છેક…..જન્મ થી જ બસ એકલો જ ચાલતો આવ્યો છુ…!!!

આંસુઓ ખુટ્યા છે આજ નયન ભંડારના એટલે… જ…
ઝાંઝવાના નીર કાજ – આજ અંહિ ભટકતો આવ્યો છુ…

તદ્દ્દન ખરું છે કે પ્રેમ એ આંધળો છે…
માટે જ છતી આંખો એ બસ હું અથડાતો આવ્યો છુ…

નથી રહી જ્ગ્યા દિલમાં હવે વધુ વેદનાને સંઘરવા..
છતાં યે બસ એ જ મંઝિલોને હું ચાહતો આવ્યો છુ…

આમ તો છુ હું બેતાજ બાદશાહ શબ્દો નો ‘અંકુર’
પણ તુજ દ્વારે આજ ભિખારી બનીને દિલ માંગવા આવ્યો છુ…!!!

– હસમુખ ધરોડ ‘અંકુર’

           By this poem we finds that there is contradiction in the use of imaginary words. The title it self is showing the paradoxical meaning. Because we all knows that a Beggar has no money that is why he is called Beggar, but here poet uses the word Rich Beggar. So it becomes paradoxical. 

            The first stanza says that the poet has drinked his tears for his thirst and he has eaten sorrow for survival. So we find that tears can't be drink or sorrow can't be eaten. But it means he suffered a lot, or we can say that his love is not accepted by his beloved. So he cried a lot. He becomes habitual to live alone life .

            In the fourth stanza he says that love is blind.There he makes use of personification for love by giving life to the word . Than he says that he has a eyes yet he Impinged ,so there we find that by having eyes we can not impinge. 

              By this poem we can say that the poem is about losing the love of poet but by seeing the title we may consider the Poem about a beggar, but it is not so. But it is about how poet feels after loosing his love and still he tries to convince his love to her beloved. 

              In the end again  we find two paradoxical word one means king and another is beggar. So this all things creates misunderstanding and contradiction in reading poem but after understanding of the poem it fits in it. For the understanding of the poem one should have literally sense. 

          Here I am giving the example of the use of figure :

Champion

Dwayne Bravo

LYRICS

DJ Bravo DJ Bravo
DJ Bravo DJ Bravo

Champion champion
Champion champion
Champion champion
Everybody know say Bravo a champion
Champion champion
Champion champion
Champion champion
Everybody know Chris Gayle is a champion

Beenie a champion
Bounty a champion
Machel is a champion
Bunji is a champion
Pollard is a champion
Lara is a champion
Gayle is a champion
Don't forget
Michel Jordan, Obama a champion
Mandela a champion, Serena a champion
Wendy a champion, Shelly-Ann a champion
958 BOLT a champion
Champion champion
Champion champion
Champion champion
Everybody know say Bravo a champion
Champion champion
Champion champion
Champion champion
Everybody knows Chris Gayle is a champion

                  The song  released by Caribbean  (West Indies) cricketer Dwayne Bravo. Who are familiar with the cricket they can understand the song or name which are used in the song as a figure. 

                The another thing about this song is there he uses other Political figures ,Sports person, and Cricketers. For the understanding of the song one must should  have knowledge of this all fogures.

              This all persons became champion in their field. 

So we can say it is good example of the figurative poetry. 

Here I am giving another example of how language creats paradox. 

                                                  

                                         

       By this line we can say that how a person can see someone with closed eyes. 

The another example is :

We can say that how an eye can be pink ?

By this line we can say that how can we convert soil into sky? 

    This film's title looks positive but it is about drug abuse by the youth population in the state. 

      So here I am concluding my topic, we can find metaphor, personification, symbol, figure, myth in songs and poems.

         This all things used to create emotions and attitudes. 

                                                          Thanks....