Triple Stream

Editorial

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF LITERATURE

When Alexander conquered Persia, his soldiers collected lot of booty which included very precious articles. Among them was a golden casket studded with diamonds and other precious stones. When his soldiers suggested that it could be used to carry his wine, he turned down the proposal and said that such a valuable possession should be respectfully used as container for Homer’s ‘Iliad’ and for no other purpose. Such was Alexander’s respect for literature. We hear it said that several men wept because there were no more books of their favourite authors to read. R. L. Stevenson mentions a gentleman who had read all the works of Carlyle winding up with the ten volumes of ‘Frederick the Great’. “What”, cried the gentleman in despair, “Is there no more Carlyle? Am I left to the daily news papers?” We do sympathise with the reader who really reached the end of his pleasure.

The same disappointment is expressed by the authors in similar circumstances. When Gibbon had finished writing ‘the History of the Roman Empire’ he felt a “sober melancholy” that he had to part from his literary labours. Like the qucility of mercy literature is a two-fold blessing and it blesses the producer and the consumer.

General Foxe, the hero of Quebec, appreciated Gray’s poem ‘ELEGY’ so much that he said “I am prepared to exchange my glory as the conqueror of Quebec with the authorship of Gray’s ‘Elegy’”. In the words of Mathew Arnold “Gray walked into the Walhalla of Immortals with his slender volume of poems”. Duke of Marlborough, the hero of the Battle of Blenhiem paid a rich compliment while acknowledging his debt to Shakespeare. He said “My knowledge of English History is derived form Shakespeare’s Historical plays.”

At the end of his synoptic survey and penetrating analysis of Shakespeare’s plays, GuyBoas, the literary critic, says. “The glories of the Armada and Waterloo may be repeated, but the marvels of ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Othello’, can never be repeated” Macaulay who used to speak “quite printed words” even as a child, committed to memory John Bunyon’s ‘Pilgrim’s progress’ and all the books of Milton’s Paradise lost and undertook to reproduce them if they were destroyed by any act of vandalism!

Such instances are galore in the case of our own Indian literature. Poets and writers in all ages and languages were held in high esteem in our own country. Kalidasa is the crown-jewel in the diadem of Indian literature.

Books are keys to wisdom’s treasure
Books are gates to lands of pleasure
Books are paths that upward lead
Books are friends - Come let us read.
- EMILE PAULSON

Obviously, this is a reference to the books of literature and a poetic statement of the benefits of reading them. A library is not only a treasure house of ideas but a power house of knowledge. It is said that a public library is a people’s university in the sense that one could get a lot of information and knowledge by reading the right kind of books. Norman K. Henderson, the renowned educationist, said “students come to a college to read for a degree but not to be lectured into one”. What he meant by this comment was that education should not be merely lecture-based and teacher-­paced. It should encourage extensive and intensive reading. All the education commissions appointed by the Government have pointed out that reading is neglected in all stages of education and the products of our centres of learning are deficient in practical and productive skills of ‘thinking’ and ‘communication’. These skills are largely promoted by the reading of good literature - prose and poetry.

A library may be a collection of books but reading requires a selection. All books of literature are not equally good. Some are like chocolates, peppermints and pastries which please the palate and titillate the senses. Some are like whole-some meals containing vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, minerals etc., in proper calories. They nourish the mind and invigorate the intellect. No human being can subsist on a continuous diet of confectionery. They may be all-right for momentary pleasure but health demands a balanced diet provided by eating nutritious food. Good literature provides such nutritious food to the mind, the intellect and the soul.

Literature is the mother of fine arts because it paints a landscape in a few words, carves a statue in a phrase, moulds a melody on a single page and builds character in all its architectural beauty. The literary artist’s workmanship in prose depends on the choice of words, sentence construction and paragraph development. Somebody humorously called literature “a trick of words”. It is what is “oft thought but never so-well expressed”. That is why, Carlyle defined prose as “Words in their best order” and poetry as “the best words in their best order”. Jonathan Swift defined style as preper words in proper places. I. Brown would like to add to it “proper thoughts in proper order. While ‘grammar’ is concerned with the grammatical rules and syntax, ‘usage’ is concerned with the language practices approved by the educated people.

Often, literature and vocabulary go hand in hand. The author skillfully select, from his armoury of words and structures them elegantly. It is only by words we impart ideas to others. Dr. John Dewey said “Thought is impossible without words”. Disraeli, the famous Prime Minister of Great Britain said, “With words we govern men”, “Words are the dress of thoughts” said Lord Chesterfield, “Words are the voice of the heart” said, Confucius. “Words are the soul’s ambassadors” said Howel. Verbs are the locomotives of action. Nouns are the bricks of thoughts. Adjectives and adverbs throw colouring on our sentences. Thus, words are the literary artist’s stock-in-trade and literature is manipulation of words which are linked to the subtleties and nuances of thought and ideas. Outstanding writers are wordsmiths, phrase-makers, and sentence-spinners.

There are several uses of literature:

Literature is a means of living communication. The style with its literary flavour infuses life into the dry bones of factual information. When we read the novels and essays of the authors of good standing, we find that what is true and important is also made clear and delightful. Every-day experiences and matter-of-fact events are invested with a beauty all their own. In English literature novelists like Goldsmith, Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, Hardy, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Meredith, Faulkner, Saul Bellow, Somerset Maugham (not to speak of more modern writers) each of them has a style of his or her own.            One is struck with a bewildering diversity of prose-styles. The reader goes through the book with absorbing interest. He acquires a wide vocabulary which improves his communication skills.

There are standard writers like Bacon, Johnson, Goldsmith, R. L. Stevenson, Hazlitt, Lamb, Lucas, Hillaire Belloc, A. L. Gardiner, Stephen Leacock, Chesterfield, O’Henry, whose essays and vocabulary, style and usage, one should carefully study. By means of extensive reading of standard works, one arrives at one’s own technique and command over language.

As a vehicle of pleasure literature has its wonderful use. In moments of gloom and depression we obtain relief and comfort by reading Shakespeare’s Comedies, Moliere’s plays, books of Wodehouse, Leacock, Northcote, Parkinson, Bernard Shaw and such entertaining authors. One can forget one’s cares and sorrows and relax in the company of authors of light literature and poetry. Even light literature gives light.

As a tool for value orientation and culture transmission, literature has immense usefulness. Good books make good men and great books produce great men. Wisdom cannot be told, values cannot be taught and culture cannot be created and spread by an Act of Parliament. Values like truth, honesty, justice, generosity, sacrifice etc., cannot be promoted by precepts. By exemplary, lives of noble characters ordinary men are influenced and inspired. Certain situations, conduct and heroic behaviour of characters in drama and fiction make a lasting impact on the lives of readers. There is great truth in what Gandhiji said, “My life is my message”. Gandhiji confessed that he was greatly influenced by the books of Tolstoy, Thoreau and the scriptures of all religions. As Milton said books of literature are certainly “the precious life blood of the master’s spirit”. They are not merely “machines to think with” or pegs to hang one’s thoughts upon.

As a medium of education, literature is indispensable. We cannot teach language without literature being its content. If advanced language teaching is to be effective, there must be content of relevant literature.

Besides, literature opens a social world and serves as a window to the study of modern life as well as the thought and habits of our fore-fathers. It leads to national integration and international understanding. To-day the nations of the world are brought closer through their literature. He is a poor writer who writes only for one country.

Poetry is the top fruit in the colourful basket of literature and culture is the test of a nation’s civilisation and the poets like Homer, Virgil, Shakespeare, Milton, and Kalidasa are considered to be the standard-bearers of their country’s culture. Of course, poetic diction is not intended for our daily use, business deals and social transactions, because the language of poetry is the organised violation of the rules of grammar. Its expression is off the beaten track and the established grooves. Careful study and scholarly guidance are prerequisites for understanding the complexity and sophistication of the language of higher poetry. Abbot wrote a special grammar and Cunliffe wrote a special dictionary for Shakespeare. That is why T.S. Eliot called poetry a “superior amusement.” It is the most prestigious form of literature for promoting higher sensibility, aesthetic sense and ethical values. Poetry makes statements memorable and quotable.

All things considered, literature is not merely an escape from life but a voyage into life in all its rhythms. It is often a mirror of life and at times develops into a critical explanation of ‘living’ involving extent, possibilities and quality of life as well as depth of experience. If a poet describes a mountain, he must have seen atleast hillock. If he describes an ocean he must have seen atleast a pond! Without poetry life is drab and lack-lustre. As such, true education may be defined as what happens to a person (after graduating) when he is alone with a book interacting with the author.

Finally, literature opens the golden gates of spiritual realisation. Higher literature shepherds us into the joyous regions of serenity and the fourth state of consciousness which is physiologically different from the three known major states of consciousness ­wakefulness, sleep and dreaming. It is a fusion of the alertness of the wakeful state and the restfulness of sleep. It is akin to the state of meditation which facilitates a free and fictionless flow of creative intelligence and infinite joy ­the fulfilment of a divine mission.

I. V. CHALAPATI RAO
Editor.