Epic - Explanation - BA

Epic

   

Introduction:

       According to R. J. Rees, the easiest answer of the question, “What is epic?” that is,

“It is a poem like Vergil’s ‘Aeneid’ or Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’”

But this definition is not appropriate as per the definition of form. The appropriate definition is,

“Epic is a long poem about the doings of one or more characters from history or legend”

       Epic is a long narrative poem recounting heroic deeds. The term includes both oral and written forms. Examples of oral epics are Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Best examples of written epics in English are, John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ and Edmund Spenser’s ‘Faerie Queene’. 

Origin and meaning:

       Epic is a lengthy narrative poem. It contains serious subjects and heroic deeds. It also contains significant events of a culture and nation. Homeric epics were the earliest works in western literature and were in oral form.

       The word ‘Epic’ originated from, Greek words ‘epos’ and ‘epikos’ which means “word or songs”. The general definition of the epic form is,

“A long poem, typically one, derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the past history of a nation.”

      These songs involve a large number of secondary characters as well as a background of gods and spirits who join in the action time to time. The epic contains the central character and the character’s actions depends the fate of a tribe, a nation or the human race.

   

      The traditional epics were shaped by a literary artist from historical and legendary materials which had developed in the oral traditions of his nation. Usually epic contains eternal human problems such as the conflict between GOOD and EVIL.

Types of Epic:

   There are two types of epic:

1. Folk Epic – It contains oral compositions passed on from storyteller to storyteller and has changed over time. For example – Beowulf, the Iliad, and the Odyssey

2. Literary Epic- written compositions

Homeric style – simile:

      The word Homeric is based on the name of Greek author Homer. Homer composed the two famous Greek epics, Odyssey and Iliad. Homeric style suggests enlarging comprehension so that it becomes “poem within poem”. For example,

1. An epic starts with a prayer or invocation in which poet asks some god or more to help him in his great work.

2. An ordinary simile might describe a young man as tall and dark and straight, but using Homeric simile the author would describe the same young man “Like a Cypress tree”.

3. A description of some kind of athletic contest or ‘games’. In the ‘Aeneid’ Virgil describes account of Achilles’ funeral games.

4. Along dangerous journey is made by the hero. In Aristotle’s ‘Orlando Furiose’ is made to the moon.

5. The poets begin their story in the middle of the action.

Characteristic of epic:

1. Hero a great figure:

        The hero is a great leader who is identified strongly with a particular people or society. Hero is great figure of national and cosmic importance. In 'Paradise Lost', Adam represents the entire human race and if we regard Christ as hero he is both man and God.

2. Wide scale:

       Epic is a long in its length. Poet has enough time for digression (giving details/parenthesis) and description. In the novel and plays, there is a limited time and on the other hand, epic has not any page-limits. Milton has spent enough time in describing the shield and spear of Satan.

3. High seriousness:

       The poets try to make their work great. According to them there should be a sense of real importance. Seriousness provides importance to the work and influences people in one or the other way.

4. Supernatural beings taken as an active part:

      In the great actions of epics, god, angels, and evil spirits take interest and active part. In "Paradise lost" there is Christ, Satan and angels.

5. Ceremonial performance:

       An epic is a ceremonial (traditional) performance and also narrated in a ceremonial style. This keeps it away from ordinary speech. Poets and writers use Latin addiction, stylized, syntax, allusion and Homer's epic similes and epithets.

6. Supernatural deeds:

       The action of the epic contains superhuman deeds in battle, such as 'Achiles' deeds in the Trojan War. There are some deeds which are opposed to God, for example in 'Paradise Lost', there is a war in heaven and Satan's journey to discover the newly created world.

7. Choric nature:

      According to Prof. Tillyard 'Choric' nature epic is in a sense public poetry - generally nationalistic or tribal. The writer is not only writing to express his own thoughts and feelings but the thoughts and feelings of some large group of community.

Listening - Introduction and definitions - BCA - SY

Listening: A COMMUNICATION TOOL

1. Introduction

“We are given two ears but only one mouth; this is because God knew that listening was twice as hard as talking”

     

          Expressing our wants, needs, thoughts and opinions clearly and effectively is only half of the communication process, the other half is listening and understanding what others communicate to us. People need to practice and acquire skills to be good listeners, because all the speakers do not have the same way of conveying the information. Information should be sent by the speaker and receives by the active listener. One of the major problems in the communication process is lack of or inactive or ineffective listening. Everyone is involved in listening, but everyone is not listening to as seriously as required. Very often when we are speaking to someone we notice that he is not really listening, but only hearing. He is just waiting for us to finish so that he can say his piece.

    

        By this, there is a complete breakdown happens in the communication process. A poor listener can destroy the speaker’s desire to talk and that affects his confidence and ability to communicate.

    

       Effective listening is actively absorbing the information given by a speaker. It shows that the listener is listening and interested, and should provide the feedback so the speaker comes to know that his message was received. Effective listeners show that they have heard and understood. 

What is listening?

       In day-to-day life most of us are involved in listening. We generally think of communication, particularly in the case of verbal communication, to transmit ideas, facts, opinions, exchange information etc.

Listening is the receiver’s activity in communication. As the speaker has the responsibility to make effort to be understood, the listener also has the responsibility to be attentive and to make effort to understand the meaning of the speaker.

Here are two definitions of the listening by scholars:

  “The skill of listening has four components: clarification, paraphrasing, reflecting, and summarizing.” – Cormier

“Listening is a process of receiving, interpreting, and reaching to the message received from the communication sender.” – M V Rodriques

       Listening during a speech is not enough; you have to remember, what you have heard. You have to think over the communication received and, sometimes, note it down immediately after the communication has been completed.

Real listening is an active process that has three basic steps to follow:

1. Hearing: hearing just means listening enough to catch what the speaker is saying. If a listener can repeat the fact which the speaker has said then only we can say that the listener has heard what has been said.

2. Understanding: The next part of listening happens when you take what you have heard and understand it in our own way. When a listener analyzes the heard sentences or message, we can say that the message has been understood.

3. Judging: After getting sure that whatever the listener has understood, is what the speaker said, think about whether it makes sense, Do the listener believe what the speaker has said? This is called judging the message passed by the speaker. 

Questions for students:

Explain: "What is listening?" - by giving at least one definition.

Reference book: - Business Communication. Sathya Swaroop Debasish & Bhagaban Das. PHI Learning Private Limited. New Delhi.  

Of Studies - Francis Bacon - BCA - 1

Of Studies - Francis Bacon

 

        Study as an activity provides joy, it enhances our thinking, speaking and writing ability. All these abilities can add charm in our personality. Study is a private activity in which people can engage themselves when they are alone. It helps them to relax and get freshness. It can help us to become more intellectual and judge other personalities. It is also important in decision making.

 

        Study allows the learned man to critically observe everything, by that a person can come to the right conclusion. Study can help in collecting data, facts, and arguments for any discussion. Study can help in improvement in the quality of our judgement.

         By studying different things, we can be capable enough to judge and learn other things. Sitting on a place and study for more hours can make a person lazy.  Studying too much and use our wisdom to explain everything around us can make us a subject of joke for other people. By studying we can learn many things but when we apply theories on each topic or subject, it can harm our intelligence.

         Study adds perfection in human nature. By studying we can get life experiences and we can be a mature person. Studies can make our senses more sharp but our studying and misuse of intelligence can mislead the conclusion of our judgement. People who are having good skills and abilities will not appreciate studies simple people will accept the importance of studies and wise people will practice and use their studies in their life.

        A person should not study to argue with others or accept other scholars point of views. Study should not be wasted in the pointless arguments and discussions. A study should make us capable to analyze and argue positively and rationally. There are different kinds of books, some are to be tasted - of different genres and content, some are to be chewed and digested - deep reading with understanding of the content and some are to be read in parts - quick reading, we can only read the summary of such books, some are to be read wholly and with attention, which helps in life.

       Discussing about the books provides various skills in human. Reading adds perfection in the personality of man. Writing helps to memorise. If the person do not discuss his readings he will forget his readings. Reading history makes a man wise. Poetry makes a man imaginative. Mathematics provides a sense of logic and philosophy makes a man morally perfect.

        A person can increase his/her skills by studying. Defects of human body can be cured by exercises. The same way study can help in the development of our skills.

        If a person is not able to concentrate, he should study maths. If a person is not able to differentiate things then he should study benefits of being a schoolman. Thus, every defects and inability of mind can be covered by studies and appropriate reading. 

Questions for students:

Explain any three ideas of this essay which you liked.