Far from the Madding Crowd

 Q. 1 Discuss the significance of the title far from the Madding Crowd.

Elegy in a country churchyard is a poem written by Thomas Gray in 1750. It is from this poem Thomas Hardy took his title "Far from the Medding Crowd". The words of his title literary mean far from the town life, which described as a maddening crowd. With the knowledge that the book is set in the countryside, we are given the impression that the characters will lead problem-free and peaceful lifestyles. However, the actual situation is very different. All the characters are living with the problems of their life and driven by infatuation and lust. Not any character is living life with peace. Thus, title can be identified with an ironic meaning.

The story is set in the countryside, this does not mean that the characters have calm lives. The plot is mainly based on three men's love for the beautiful yet hopeless Bathsheba Everdene. The first character to fall in love with Bathsheba is Gabriel Oak. He is a humble, courageous, and even with Bathsheba's rejection to his proposal of marriage- which he accepts- he is true and loyal to Bathsheba throughout the novel.

 Although Oak is upset in love, he is not dishearten and continues to adore her. He is willing to risk his becouse he knows the importance of doing his job well for his mistress, as well as for the woman he loves. The first in incident in which Gabriel helps Bathsheba is when her farm catches fire. Gabriel is merely passing by her home when he sees it going in flames. " Oak suddenly ceased from being a spectator." He takes charge, and succeeds in controlling the fire. Everyone at the farm is very impressed with Gabriel's skills and it is this event that brings Bathsheba, and Gabriel together again. 

Here she employs him as her shepherd. Gabriel has also helped Bathsheba again when her sheep have broken into a clover field and he saves the entire flock from dying of colic by Swift action. Even in the relationship with Troy, she was not able to survive without love. Oak has always supported her with all his heart. He was there in all the problems of Bathsheba.

The title represents the peace of mind and calmness in the character of life, but the reality represents the chaos in the life of all the characters. Firstly, Bathsheba is frustrated with all her love relationship. She was not able to accept the love of Gabriel Oak, and in fun, she has proposed Boldwood, after that she got married with Troy. Even her marriage was also unsuccessful. At the end of the novel, she married Oak. 

The next important character is Oak. He was living peacefully, but at the very stating of the novel, he met a terrible tragedy. He lost his everything and he has to leave the town. He also lost his love Bathsheba and she has rejected her. He has witnessed her love Bathsheba's love affairs. Finally, he got peace at the end of the novel. 

Another important character is Boldwood. He was middle - aged man and was in love with a woman. She betrayed him and left him. Bathsheba has proposed him to satisfy her ego and denied to marry him. His mental condition got worst becouse of his passion for Bathsheba. He suffered a lot and murdered Troy. He went in jail and suffered a lot. His life become miserable because of the emotion of love.

Troy is third lover of Bathsheba, whom she married. The marriage was not successful. The reason of love was attraction, lust, and infatuation. He was not able to come out of the passion of his ex- girlfriend fanny and she betrayed Bathsheba and left her. After the death of fanny, he realised the actual meaning of love and sacrifice. He also lost his baby, girlfriend and wife. His life become full of tragic incidents. He has left his town and spend his days in working USA with a circus group. At the end of the novel, he was shot dead by Boldwood and he lost his life too. The minor but significant character is fanny Robbin. She has suffered a lot during the journey of her life. She was the servant of Bathsheba and was girlfriend of Troy. She wanted to marry Troy and was pregnant. She has lost her and her baby's life.

Thus, we can say that title signifies madness in within, which can be related with the outer world. Crowd is not mad, but people in the crowd are. The chaos of world is only because of the chaos within. In this novel, characters have chaos within their self, and that's why they can live peacefully though they are "far from the Madding Crowd".

 Preface:                                                                                                                                                                literary criticism has found itself as an important and independent branch. In established new horizons a numbers of scholars have emerged as critics and interpreted literature in order to help a common reader.                                                                                                                                                  I.A. richards and T.S. Eliot's are considered as the father of new criticism. I.A. Richards has contributed in the development of literary criticism by his  distinctive essays like his practical criticism, four types of meaning imagination and many other. At present we are concerned with his views on the imagination.                                                                                                       About writer:-.                                                                                                                                        " poetry is capable of saving us".                                                  - i.a. Richards.                    

Born: 26 February, 1893    

Died: 7 September, 1979.                                      Occupation: educator.                                          Nationality: English.                                              Place of birth: England.                                        Period: 20th century.                                            Awards: 1. Benjamin Franklin medal                His notable works:                                                - speculative instrument.            

                          - the philosophy of rhetoric.                                - Coleridge on imagination.                                                                                                                                                                   Ivor Armstrong Richards known as I.A. richards was an English educator, literary critic and rhetorician.  According to I.A. richards there are six different and distinct sense of the word 'imagination'.                                                                                                                              Six sense of Imagination :                                                                                                                      1. Production of imagination                              2. The use of figurative language                        3. The nerrower  sense                                          4. Inventiveness on imagination                        5. The sense of musical delight                            6. The scientific Imagination                                                                                                                1. Production of image:                                                                                                                                                                    The first concept of imagination is production of image. It is the basic as well as the most difficult part of the process of imagination. It has a sense of novelty and a sense of freshness with,                                                                                                1. Old and familiar object                                    2. More than usual state of emotion                  3. More than usual order ( not in usual presentation )                                                          4. It has power to delight                                                                                                                                                                The production of image of these four parts which can make it more effective and magical but actually it has production from the pure emotional state of our mind and heart.                                                                                                                  2. The use of figurative language                                                                                                                                                       people who naturally employ metaphor and simile in their speech especially when it is unusual kind are same to have imagination. This may or may not be accompanied by imagination in other senses. Metaphor and simile the two may be considered together have a great variety of functions of speech for example,                                   Shelley's " like a dome of many coloured glass, stains the white radiance of eternity".                                                                               He has awakened from the dream of life - shelley is only figurative language as the tool which leads to the imagination.                                                                                                                                              3. The nerrower sense                                                                                                                                                                   A narrower sense is that in which sympathetic reproduction of other people's state of mind, particularly their emotional state, is what is meant. You haven't enough imagination the dramatist says to the critic who thinks that his persons behave unnaturally. This kind of imagination is plainly a necessity for communication.                                                                                                                                      4. Inventiveness on imagination                                                                                                                                                Inventiveness , the bringing together of elements which are not ordinary connected in another sense.                                                      It has the power to modify a series of thoughts by and predominant thoughts and feeling talking into consideration Coleridge he considers poetics as essentail amongst all of other valuable characteristic poet is poet becouse of ,                                                                              1. The availability of experience                        2. Width of the field of reproduction                3. Completeness of unique response ( it should be naturally different )                                                                                                                                                      A poet unlike and ordinary person looks at the things with a different perspective poet has the terfere emotions combined into a stable dignity for a poet suppression are carried out beautifully and as a result the thought process is different.                                                                                         The selection of the topic by the poet should be out of the box, sometimes extreamly different from what a poet habitually do everything that a poet sees has that a poet sees has different perspective to it.                                                                                                                                       5. The scientific Imagination                                                                                                                                                 we have that kind of relevant connection of things ordinary thought of a different which is exemplified in scientific Imagination. This is an ordinary of experience in definite ways and for a definite end or purpose.                                                                                                                         6. The sense of musical delight                                                                                                                                                      He original formulation was Coleridge's greatest contribution to critical theory.                                                                        " The sense of novelty and freshness , with old and familiar object; a more than usual state of emotion, with than usual order."                                                                                                The sense of musical delight... With the power of reducing multitude into unity of effect , and modifying a series of thoughts by someone predominant thought or feeling'- this are the gifts of imagination.                                                                                                             A poet is not nearly looking at the beauty , it's all about organizing them into a heighten experience. According to Coleridge,                   " The sense of musical delight is a gift of the imagination"                                                                                                                                                Impulses in poetry:                                                                                                                                  There are two ways in which impulses maybe organized.                                                                                                                                       1. By exclusion and inclusion                             2. By synthesis and elimination                                                                                                                                        A very great deal of poetry and art is content with organized development of comparatively special and limited experience with a definite emotion or emotions. For example emotions are  joy, pride, love, admiration and hope.                      There are three different modes,.                                    1. Melancholy ( tragic ).                                        2. Optimism ( positivity ).                                     3. Longing ( desiring ).                                                                                                              Structuring in terms of experience,.                          " Break, break, break"                                                          And                                                             " Ode to nightangle"                                                        Both the poetry is the different not because of subject but the difference is the relation of several impulses. In the first poem the set of impulse run parallel where as in the second poem there is extraordinary. It is believed that irony more often than not is a constant experience in poetry. It brings out much more facts of the personality than through any other defined emotion has to see all around in imagination. Some interesting is required, but the more you are impersonal the more you are completely involved.                                                                                                                                                    Tragedy and imagination:                                                                                                                       Pity- the impulse to approach ( method ).         Terror - the impulse to retreat                                                                                                                                          Combination of both pity and terror leads us to catharsis through which we recognize tragedy. Suppression is important for awakening of sense. The balance of tragedy is not in the structure but in response. It is not an indication that all's right with the world or that somewhere , somehow, there is justice, it is an indication that all is right here and now in the nervous system.                                                      

Anglo - sexon period

 Preface :

According to the historians of English language, history of English language can be divided into three main stages in its development.

1. Old English period (Anglo-Saxon) ( A.D. 600 to 1100)
2. Middle English period (1100 to 1500)
3. Modern English period (1500 onwards)

                         It's must not imagined that in any of these years there was a complete or sudden change. During this period a person would quite unaware of any differences. Himmat denied to agree with these changes. The reason of all these things are that language is evolutionary not static. But in some pages the development is more rapid than others. For the sake of convenience, the historians of the language has to it at landmark somewhere and the dates chosen are all together arbitrary. According to this concept.,

• By 600, the invading tribes Angles and Saxons had succeeded to establish power and implanting their language in Britain. For that reason this former suitable starting point.
• In 1066, there was Norman invasion and conquest. By 1100 the normans had strengthen their power and their language was beginning to influence the native Saxon tongue.
• 1500 marks a similar turning point because of Renaissance. It alters the character of English Church and the establishment of Tudor dynasty which made England a nation in a real sense.

  All these things had their influence on the language. And it becomes clear justification for selecting these years as the great landmarks in the development of our language. 

 

                   Earlier in habitants of this islands were Britain's and their tongue was Celtic, that had relation with Norman France which now called Brittany. This was in Roman occupation from 55 BC to AD 410. Therefore it mixed with latin elements. Afterwards Angles, Saxons and Jutes came from North Germany and the language of this invaders become the language of Britain which is now called England.

Anglo-Saxon language:-

                   Old English or Anglo Saxon was not a single homogeneous language, but it had many dialects, like modern time, which differs from different areas but was 100 West section dialect become the most important for two main reasons.,

1. It was the highly civilized Kingdom and was the first that attained political unity with a fairly ordered system of government.
2. Most of the literature of the period was written in the wessex dialect. The main works with survives today are Beowulf, translation of religious books and anglo-saxon chronicles.

                 But the English of today is descended the language of Wessex. It also traces other dialects. Their chief legacy to us is the existence of doublets, means two words that differs in meaning but has same origin. For instance,

# Whole and Hale both have same origin of the word hal. 

Anglo-Saxon grammar:-

                     Anglo Saxon head very complicated grammar. By AD. 1000, considerable simplification took please and many inflections disappeared. There were a number of different declensions of noun and adjectives. In noun for example the nominative and accusative plural ended in -as and genitive singular in -es. But majority modern words from the plural by adding -s and generator with an apostrophe -s.

                     We can also see two other characteristics which affect present day speech. which are., 

 

1. Gradation:-

   

                   The graduation is a scale of changes in parts of verbs according to stressed and an unstressed syllable, that change vowel sound. In the same way, the addition of a suffix lead to the root of a verb, which shifting accent and lead to modified in the root of syllable. For example.,

• drifan - drove - driven
• ridan - rode- ridden

                  A shifting of stress cause verbal changes in some of these verbs, which is inherited by anglo-saxon ancestors, which still persist in our language.

 

               In modern English a list of verbs which show gradation would be extensive but It wouldn't include every one of those which appeared in Anglo Saxon. Today some words dispense with the gradation by the addition of the syllable -ed, like, to jump, to lock... In short form, graduation is simplification of verbs rather than complex system.

2. Mutation:-

  

                 Mutation simply means change. There is a change in vowel. The modification in vowel take place like.,

ā, æ, ō, ū, â, â, īō,...

By the modification to back vowels word fronted.

ā > ē, ā > æ, ō > æ, ō > ē

There are many anomatals in plural forms, like, foot-feet, goose-geese, but not foots or gooses. So, there are five main heads to justify this.

1. Mutated plurals
2. Mutated abstract nouns derived from adjectives
3. Verbs derived by mutation from cognate nouns
4. Verbs derived from adjectives by mutation
5. Mutated comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives.     

Dictionary:-

              In anglo-saxon dictionary contains about twenty thousand words while our modern English recorded by the Oxford dictionary is over 400,000 words. But it might belong to the Angle and Saxon's dictionary. There was a foreign influence in it. Majority of this words may noticed and named by primitive tribes.

For example.,

»The name of common animals because Nomadic tribes would have an association with these animals in the daily lives.

»Indo European tribes knew little about agriculture so that the world like to play love can be traced back to the parent tongue.

»Indo European have given us the words for red and yellow, but they hadn't described green. Red of the sunset and yellow of the autumn leaves.

                 Original language of Britain was Celtic but it is neglected because of the invaders in 5th or 6th century but a few survivors persisted mainly refer to natural features of the landscape.

★Danish and Norse elements:-

               The Danish and the Norse element in old English is also very important to the future development of English language. The invasion of the Danes started towards the end of the 8th century, when Norse invaders attacked and plundered the east coast and established a few settlement there. As a result of irregular attacks, these settlement become more numerous. They also carry out the Southern and Northern part of England. Due to the Treaty of Wedmore in 878, England divided into two parts. Southern part is of Danes territory, and Northern part was left under Saxons jurisdiction. In 1017 to 1035, a Danish king sat on the English throne.

The influence of these events upon Anglo-Saxon language present three directions.,

1. Place names in the territory settled by the Norsemen

2. The introduction of new words of Danish or Norse origin

3. Modification of existing language

                      According to Skeat's Etymological Dictionary, five hundred words are still in usage, which have Norse origin or it's influence. But comparatively, small part of it still existed, so Danish influence was fairly whispered and went deep.

Representative words of Danish and Norse origin or influence.

★ Danish influence in place names:-. This is to be found mainly in the termination -by, - toft, -thwaite, and -thrope. For example, Whitby, Selby, Grimsby, Lowestoft, Slaithwaite, Mablethorpe, Nortgorpe, etc. 

★ Danes got some words which were adopted into English language like, flit which is used for to move once is residence or place of business, it it is of Norse origin. The two most common and most frequently used verbs are get and take are introduced by Danish and of Norse origin. 

★ Husband is of a Norse origin. Modern sister is taken from norse syster. Knife, Big and most of the names of the days and of the week enshrine remnants of Norse mythology and folk-lore. 

★ We we can see the Norse influence upon the native tongue in the direction of a modification of pronunciation. Like c and k, g, y etc.

              But in spite of this foreign influence English as it is spoken and written today is still for the most part a Saxon tongue. According to "The history of the English language" by professor immersion the great English writers humanely written his works in language of native origin. The following table gives result of his investigations.,

     

                     He further analyses that probably the English language despite of all its borrowings and all the foreign influence, is predominantly Anglo-Saxon in character. Generally the section words in a language come very near to our daily life and concern some of the most common and essential things of existence as well as the most elementary occupation and the more obvious natural phenomena. Like the closer family relationship like, father, mother, brother, etc. existed in old English and have handed down to the present day.  the names of most of our staple food like, bread, butter, milk, meat etc. House and home are of native origin. 

Conclusion:-

                   After analysing a brief history of the old English (Anglo-saxon) period, we come to know that old English or the Anglo-saxon language is still in existence, it's also true that some modifications came due to foreign invasions and their influence upon the language, but the native tongue still persisted and preserved in one way or the other. Our Anglo-saxon ancestors have left a huge legacy of language for us.