Summary of literary texts and key concepts of literature

    Cleanth Brooks   (October 16, 1906 - May 10, 1994) was an influential American literary critic, professor, editor of the Southern Review, (in collaboration with Robert Penn Warren). He was one of the skilled and exemplary practitioners of the New Criticism. He is best known for his contributions to  New Criticism  during the 1920s and for revolutionizing the teaching of poetry in American higher education. His most characteristic book of close readings is, definitely, The Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry  (1947).  Modern Poetry and the Tradition  (1939), is another outstanding work that proclaims the centrality of ambiguity and paradox as a way of understanding poetry. His critical works helped to formulate formalist criticism, emphasizing “the interior life of a poem” and propounded the idea of close reading.   ‘The Language of Paradox’, is the first chapter of Cleanth Brooks’  Well-wrought Urn, (1947) starts with the author’s assertion: ‘...the language of p

  The poem, Small Towns and the River by Mamang Dai expresses the poet’s notion about the uncomplicated life   in the “Small Towns” of Arunachal Pradesh. The phrase “The River” refers to the river that flows through Pasighat, the hometown of the poet. The poet starts the poem in a pensive mood asserting the fact that the river always reminds her of death. Her hometown resides amid the serenity of nature surrounded by huge trees. The climate of the place remains almost the same during summer and winter. The dust hovers in the air and the wind resonates through the valley of the mountain. When someone died the other day, the community endured the pain and mourned the loss of a dear one in ‘dreadful silence.’ Life and death form the cycle of human life and death is inevitable. Only the rituals and customs of a community are permanent, like offering a wreath of tuberoses to honour the deceased.  The poet imagines that the river has a soul. In summer, it cuts through the dry chest of th

  About the poet: Mamang Dai(1957-present) is a poet and novelist writing in English from Arunachal Pradesh, India. She belongs to the Adi tribe, of Arunachal Pradesh. Her literary works include romantic poems and short stories along with provincial myths and folktales. She was  honoured with Padma Shri, in 2011.The prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award was conferred on her for her novel, The Black Hill, in 2017.Dai was corresponding with the  Hindustan Times ,  Telegraph  and  The Sentinel  newspapers and later became the President, Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working journalists. She is also actively engaged with World Wide Fund for nature in the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspots programme. Bipin Patsani once commented on her graceful, lyrical style of writing in River Poems, that dai writes with ‘rare passion and flow, fresh and full of the essence of tribal myths, mountains and an intense emotional involvement with her land.’ Y.D. Thongchi, the president of Arunachal Pradesh Liter