Introduction to Mac Flecknoe

 

Literary trends of neoclassicism

Neoclassical writers were against the views of romantic lyricism of the Elizabethans. The spirit of the age was embodied the following trends.

1- Rise of rationality.

 Reason became the predominant factor. Imagination was often equated with madness. The  'Reason' and 'Good Sense' were the zeitgeist of the age. As a consequence, some kinds of poetry became difficult to write. The establishment of the Royal Society to encourage scientific study was one factor in the growth of reason. Thus, all their thoughts were logically mediated.

2 - Imitation of the ancients

The great classical writers of antiquity were the models to be imitated. The ultimate form of excellence according to pope was : " Learn for the ancient rules a just esteem. To copy nature is to copy them". Hence, the second coming of classicism is discernible in their works.

3- Realism and Insistence on Rigid Poetic Style.

The reaction against the imaginative exuberance of the Elizabethans and the Metaphysicals, resulted in a strict adherence to realism. The royal life of the elites was the subject matter for poetry.

There was also a tendency to adhere to rigid rules and metrical forms in poetry. intellectual display was more important than feelings. They developed a complete artificial style far removed from nature and emotions.

 4-  Growth of Satires.

The poetic form best suited to the age was the satire, which gained immense development. The purpose of poetry became to convince, not to inspire. Wit was inherent in satire.

DRYDEN: A VERSATILE GENIUS

 Dryden was the greatest poet of the Restoration period(The Restoration of Charles II brought about a revolutionary change in life and literature). Besides poetry, he showed his talent in a variety of other literary forms. Versatility marked his genius - he was a playwright, a critic, a prose writer and a poet. He ushered the literature of "reason and order." He stressed on clarity, precision and balance. He showed great "architectural instinct, a rare gift of logic, and a passion for symmetrical and distinct cadence (rhythmic flow of sounds)." He made the heroic couplet the staple verse-form of his time, to replace the previous era's blank verse. As a craftsman, he showed unmitigated excellence. He brought to the English language a flexibility and fluency which gave it a modern flavour.

DRYDEN'S THEORY OF POETRY

The aim of poetry, according to Dryden, was delight as well as instruction. But Dryden assigned first position to delight, and second place to instruction. The delight, however, was not to be hedonistic pleasure, but the delight of the soul. But both ends of poetry are important. Dryden merely means that poetry instructs through delight.

DRYDEN AS A DIDACTIC POET

 Dryden is well known as a satiric poet. He was also a didactic poet, ie, a poet whose aim was to propound some kind of instruction, moral or political. His didactic poems are unique in their own way. The didactic tone in his poetry is directly related to the theological controversies of the day. Religio Laici and The Hind and the Panther are Dryden's didactic poems. According to Dryden, a didactic poem should be plain, natural and majestic. In it, the poet is presumed to be kind of Law-giver. People are to be reasoned into Truth by didactic poems.

 
DRYDEN AS A SATIRIST

 Satire is a literary form which searches out the faults of men or institutions in order to hold them up to ridicule. Dryden was  considered as the final word  of satire. Dryden was a master of the classical form of satire. He shows the influence of classical writers of Rome like Horace and Juvenal. Dryden combines the urbane laughter of Horace with the vigorous contempt of Juvenal in his satire. A characteristic example of this combination is in the portrait of Zimri in Absalom and Achitophel: "It is not bloody, but it's ridiculous enough."

The important satirical works of Dryden are "Absalom and Achitophel", "The Medal", "Mac Flecknoe" and a contribution of 200 lines to Nahum Tate's "Absalom and Achitophel" Part II.

Political Satire

Dryden's political satire is manifested in Absalom and Achitophel, a brilliant piece of satirical allegory in which the cause of King Charles II is championed. It satirizes the attempt of Shaftesbury to overrule the succession of the Duke of York and set the Duke of Monmouth in his place. An allegorical version of a story from the Bible suits the purpose. Charles II is David and the Duke of Monmouth is Absalom, while Shaftesbury is the satanic, cunning and dangerous Achitophel. The series of satirical portraits in the poem is its chief attraction and strength. Careful selection of details, moderation and tolerance mark of satire.

Personal Satires

 Juvenalian vigour marks his personal satires. The supporters of Shaftesbury provoked Dryden to write The Medal, which is marked for bitter invective against Shaftesbury. As a result of The Medal, several hostile satiric works sprang up, one of which was Shadwell's The Medal of John Bayes. Dryden's reply was the severe personal satire of Mac Fleckne Flecknoe, whose successor is Shadwell, rules over an empire of dullness. He rules "through all the realms of Nonsense, absolute." Dryden's power at contemptuous humour is evident in his portraiture of Shadwell. Personal and witty attacks on Shadwell's corpulence (fat) and literary weaknesses are, however, combined with humour. Sharp wit and humour mingle in Mac Flecknoe.  Mac Flecknoe is a mock- heroic satire.

 
Mac Flecknoe's circumstances of composition

Mac Flecknoe is a highly entertaining satire on Thomas Shadwell. The historical background to Mac Flecknoe goes back to the publication of Absalom and Achitophel in which Dryden had attacked  Earl of Shaftesbury as an enemy and traitor to the nation. Shaftesbury though arrested and sent to the Tower, was later acquitted of treasonous charges, and his supporters struck a medal in his honour. Dryden now wrote the satire, The Medal, against Shaftesbury. It provoked a reply. The Medal of John Bayes, by Thomas Shadwell. Dryden was not a man to meekly accept the insult and he published Mac Flecknoe as a retaliation. Dryden and Shadwell had once been on friendly terms though they had argued with each other on literary matters.  It is not only a satire on Shadwell but also ridicules all literary dunces.

Significance of the Title

 Mac Flecknoe means 'the son of Flecknoe'. The choice of the name is not very difficult to understand. Richard Flecknoe, Shadwell's literary father in the poem, was in real life a Catholic priest and a versifier. Andrew Marvell had satirized him, playfully in Flecknoe, an English Priest in Rome. The wits of the day generally regarded Flecknoe as an object of ridicule. By the time Dryden chose him to be  the Prince of Dullness.  But in the context of Mac Flecknoe, the father's talents in dullness, though great, are not to be unique: the son is greater in the field of dullness than the father.

 
"Mac Flecknoe": A Personal Satire against Shadwell

Shadwell is attacked in Mac Flecknoe for being a literary dunce- indeed, the perfection of stupidity He is represented as a dull poetaster who lacks wit, sense and intelligence. Others might allow a dim ray of intelligence into the darkness of nonsense, but not so Shadwell.

Shadwell is a "grand failure" in poetry and drama. He is the master of 'tautology'. His tragedies evoke laughter, his comedies are soporific ( causing sleep ) and his satires are flat and devoid of any sting. He is thus fit to rule over the realm of Nonsense. Shadwell, in fact, was not a bad writer or even a poetaster as Dryden makes him out to be. In truth, we cannot deny that personal motives underlie the satire in Mac Flecknoe.

"Mac Flecknoe": Not Merely a Personal Lampoon, but also General Satire against Bad Art and Poetasters

While it is true that personal antipathy probably led Dryden to castigate Shadwell so mercilessly in Mac Flecknoe, we also note that he satirises only the literary qualities of his rival. The sub-title of the poem says: "A Satire upon the True-Blue Protestant Poet." It misleads one into thinking that Shadwell's religious opinions may be attacked. But the poem, however, deals exclusively with Shadwell as a master of dull writing. It does not make any reference to Shadwell's personal life or morals. Thus, though personal motives are not to be completely overruled, the poem is also to be seen in a wider context rather than as a vindictive personal lampoon. It certainly involves personal satire, but through the personal element, Dryden moves to the general sphere. This movement from particular to general and vice versa gives to the poem a quality of universal significance.

 The general theme of the satire is bad writing and low literary taste and standards. It is evoked through the particular satire against Shadwell. Shadwell is the representative of all poetasters, who lack genius and skill and are fit only for acrostics and the realm of Nonsense. The general aspect of the satire is closely intermingled with the personal element. The site of Shadwell's coronation is described not merely to ridicule Shadwell particulary, but also in order to expose the literary standards and the debased values of the society of those times. Dryden thus managed to kill two birds with one stone in Mac Flecknoe. He retaliated so successfully against a literary rival on personal grounds that now we remember Shadwell merely as the Prince of Fools in Mac Flecknoe. But at the same time, Dryden also satirised contemporary deterioration of literary taste. Through Shadwell, Dryden attacks all the would-be poets who lacked real talent.

 

The Canonization by John Donne detailed explanation

For God’s sake hold your tongue, and let me love,

         Or chide my palsy, or my gout,

My five gray hairs, or ruined fortune flout,

         With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,

                Take you a course, get you a place,

                Observe his honor, or his grace,

Or the king's real, or his stampèd face

         Contemplate; what you will, approve,

         So you will let me love.

Alas, alas, who’s injured by my love?

         What merchant’s ships have my sighs drowned?

Who says my tears have overflowed his ground?

         When did my colds a forward spring remove?

                When did the heats which my veins fill

                Add one more to the plaguy bill?

Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still

         Litigious men, which quarrels move,

         Though she and I do love.

Call us what you will, we are made such by love;

         Call her one, me another fly,

We're tapers too, and at our own cost die,

         And we in us find the eagle and the dove.

                The phoenix riddle hath more wit

                By us; we two being one, are it.

So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit.

         We die and rise the same, and prove

         Mysterious by this love.

We can die by it, if not live by love,

         And if unfit for tombs and hearse

Our legend be, it will be fit for verse;

         And if no piece of chronicle we prove,

                We’ll build in sonnets pretty rooms;

                As well a well-wrought urn becomes

The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs,

         And by these hymns, all shall approve

         Us canonized for Love.

And thus invoke us: “You, whom reverend love

         Made one another’s hermitage;

You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage;

         Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove

                Into the glasses of your eyes

                (So made such mirrors, and such spies,

That they did all to you epitomize)

         Countries, towns, courts: beg from above

         A pattern of your love!”

 

Stanza 1

The poem begins with an explicit dramatic scene in which the speaker expresses his frustration or rather dissatisfaction, because he can not freely engage in love. He pleads to those who never let him love. The poet remarkably deconstructs the notion of a lover. The lover presented here is not at all handsome and undergoes several health issues like paralysis and joint pain, due to his old age. Surprisingly, he still talks about romance.

The people may be his own friends do not allow him to love. Hence, he raises his voice of frustration against them and give some suggestions. Those who mocks at the speaker can either criticize his ill health and even his ruined financial state.  Speaker reacts the fact that, it is better to improve themselves by focusing on their own wealth or concentrate to come up with a perfect work of art. It is also possible for them to join for a course/ programme and get themselves settled. They can also observe the king’s real face or illustrated one, then contemplate about it to produce something noble and worthy. After giving these suggestions, the speaker pleads others to permit him to love.  

Stanza 2

The speaker goes on with his dramatic expression by implementing hyperboles. He wants to know that if anyone affected negatively because of his love. Does it cause the drowning of the ships? And do his tears create any troubles in the ground ?

The hot and cold of his love (two states/ moods) do not create any problem for others. The cold of his love does not extend the arrival of spring season, and the heat of his love does not add a figure in the list of death due to plague. His love is completely harmless for others. Soldiers are busy and lawyers are engaged because of their dispute settlement with litigious men. The life goes smoothly despite of their romance.

 

Stanza 3

Poet gathers strength and states that others can call them anything as they are so special and powerful. Love is the motivating force behind their life. Speaker suggests that others can call them as fly (can be butterfly, housefly, firefly). Butterfly is the most romantic symbol. Lovers also ramble around just like houseflies.

They are like tapers (candles) as they are ready to sacrifice anything for love. Just like the candles burn too bright for the light. Speaker also presents the contrasting imagery of eagle and dove. The eagle represents all the masculine qualities while the dove stands for the feminine.

Speaker makes use of a battalion of metaphysical conceits, such as fly, candles, eagle, dove and most strikingly the image of phoenix bird. The myth of phoenix can powerfully reflect their love. Love has the capacity to raise from the ashes of destruction. The feeling of love is delphic and mysterious as it fades and rises right away.

 

Stanza 4

The speaker is even ready to forsake his life if he is incapable of going on with his love. After his death, the speaker may not fit for the great tombs and royal funeral carriages (hearse). But, he perfectly fits for poetry. He can not record his name in the historical chronicles. Still, his platonic love is the fittest subject matter for sonnets. Their love can no longer create history but beautiful verses. The well made urn and the huge mighty tombs are the right place for the ashes of heroes. For them, a single piece of poetry itself is a perfect monument. Gradually people shall accept them as saints in the religion of love. The speaker wanted to explore the spiritual side of the love.

 

Stanza 5

Since they are the mediators of love, others shall pray to them. Their special love provides a spiritual sanctuary (hermitage) for each other. Their platonic love proved the spiritual aspects in it. Love can also offer immense peace but they are highly frustrated. They captured the attention of the whole world and move on with it by reflecting the true and genuine love in their eyes. Their love epitomizes the real and universal spirit. The entire world (countries, towns and courts) ask heaven to provide this supreme pattern of their love.

     

Thought Fox by Ted Hughes summary and analysis

 

About the author :

Ted Hughes was the most influential modern poet in England. He had a deep insight on animals. Hence, plenty of animal imageries come in his poetic circle. He is popularly known as an animal poet. 

 

About the poem:

‘Thought Fox’ is a significant piece of metapoem, as it exceptionally explains the process of poetic composition or creativity. The speaker interestingly illustrates that, how does a poem originate in the mind of the poet.

When the poem begins, the speaker was sitting in front of a blank paper and imagining the dark forest. His mind was sharp and active like a lonely clock in the midnight. His fingers move through the blank page.

There was not even a single star in the distance, nothing to inspire and no scope for any spark of ideas. But, something gradually appears through the deep and within the darkness. That stops by the woods in a snowy darkness. A fox’s nose touches the twig and leaf. Only its eyes are visible in the darkness. Fox places its footprints slowly, patiently and boldly into the snow. With intense care, it moves slowly among the trees. Through the deep and wide greenness fox engages in its own business ‘brilliantly and concentratedly’.

Which enters into the empty dark space of the poet’s mind. The window is still starless and clock ticks. The page is finally printed.

 

Analysis:

The poem ‘Thought Fox’ is obviously about the art of creative writing. The dark night and the starless sky indicate the uninspired mind of the poet. Because, there was nothing to evoke the poetic mind of the speaker. Afterwards he slowly formulates a thought regarding the fox. The brilliant movement of the fox with utmost concentration symbolises the formulation of poetic thought. Hence, fox is the powerful metaphor for poetic creation. Fox is indeed an intelligent creature, who prefers silence and solitude just like an intelligent poet is deeply in love with solitude.

Memoirs of a Madman by Gustave Flaubert summary

 

About the Author

 Gustave Flaubert  is regarded as one of the most influential French writers of the nineteenth century. He is known for his novels, short stories and plays. His narratives are known for the realistic depiction of the nineteenth century lower middle-class life in France. The novel, Madame Bovary published in 1857 is often regarded his masterpiece.

 Memoirs of a Madman is one of Flaubert's earliest writings. He was sixteen when he wrote Memoirs, It is one of his rare first person narratives. These memoirs form the Reflections of a young man.

Summary of the text

At the outset he states that there is a soul in the memoir, it may be his own soul or someone else's.   In fact he wanted to write an introspective( self examining) novel but due to his doubtfulness he could not accomplish it. Whenever he started writing the personal feelings took over the story.

The soul (his own or someone else's) managed his pen and took a complete control over his writing.  He wanted to leave everything about writing in the area of mystery and speculation. Readers can never formulate a definite conclusion. In many places readers may believe that writer has used an elevated language and deliberately used certain unclear imageries. But remember one thing, it is the mad man who has written all these pages. There should be a frequent feeling that the words go beyond the boundaries of feelings (exaggeration). It is simply because they were overburdened by the weight of the heart.

Farewell,  may your thoughts be with me.

 
But, he thinks it is foolish to go asking people the reason for their actions or their writings.  Do you know why did you open these miserable pages that are to be covered with the scribblings of a mad man. A mad man how horrifying.
And what kind of a reader are you fool or madmen. Your vanity would prefer the second one. So, yes let me ask you once again that why do you read or what is the use of a book which  is not at all instructive, nor amusing, nor chemical, nor philosophical, nor agricultural, nor elegiac, a book which gives no formula for sheep or for fleas, which does not speak of the railways, of the stock exchange, of the intimate recesses of the human heart, of dress in the Middle Ages, of God or of the Devil. But, which speaks of a Madman. In other words it's book by a fool who has been turning around in space for so many years without physically moving an inch, who cries by shedding tears and tear himself apart.

I know more than you what are you going to read . This is not a novel or drama with a fixed plan or single idea. All that he did is converted his thoughts into words.  His ideas and his memories. His impressions,  dreams, follies, everything that may pass through his thoughts and through his soul, from laughter to tears and from white to black, the sobbing that begins in the heart and is spread like paste through loud  sentences, the tears that are diluted into romantic metaphors. It weighs on him, however, to think that he shall wear out a whole packet of quills(feather used for writing in ancient times), use an entire bottle of ink. bore the reader and bore myself.

He has the habit of mocking and being in doubtfulness in his writing. There is also a sense of irony. Those who like to laugh can find out the moments of laughter or sometimes author himself brings it.

In this book you will see how we have to believe in the order of the universe, in the moral duties of man, and in the ideas of virtue and philanthropy (generosity/ humanitarianism)-the latter being a word I should like to have inscribed on my boots (when I get some) so that all people may read and learn it by heart, even those with the lowliest vision, the smallest and most crawling of bodies, the nearest to the gutter. It would, then, be wrong to see in this anything other than the distractions of a poor madman! A madman!