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SUMMARY:Shelley’s Sonnet ‘Ozymandias’:   An Exercise in Reading a Po
 em - Kathleen Wheeler
DTSTART:20131015T121000Z
DTEND:20131015T130000Z
UID:TALK48260@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Katherine Bowers
DESCRIPTION:Literary critics engage in a wide range of approaches to texts
 . One approach – made famous in Cambridge in the early 20th I.A. Richard
 s – showed how a text functions in the actual reading experience. Close 
 examination of a text\, and our response to it\, aims to increase our unde
 rstanding about several literary/ linguistic matters. For example\, we gai
 n a better sense of a text’s complexities and richnesses – and  conseq
 uently\, why the text is valued highly in the literary tradition as an imp
 ortant contribution. Such a close reading must\, to be effective\, rely up
 on a critic’s wide knowledge of the literary tradition within which the 
 chosen text is a part. And it relies on the critic’s knowledge of a vari
 ety of literary theories (the consciously-articulated principles of litera
 ry criticism). Literary theory also involves a knowledge of central charac
 teristics of language\, often drawn from poets and other artists\, as well
  as from philosophers. Language is\, after all\, the medium in which liter
 ature occurs. Hence\, a familiarity with sophisticated and often not well-
 understood qualities of language is important for criticism as much as for
  poetry. Poets often know more about language than almost anyone else\, in
 cluding philosophers of language\, because they get to know the subtleties
  of language well in the course of working closely with its most sophistic
 ated forms. Therefore\, when we focus upon a single poem\, such as a short
  sonnet\, we must expect\, in seeking to identify its more important detai
 ls\, for the critic to draw upon other poems of a similar kind or in a sim
 ilar period. And critics will also refer to notable remarks poets have mad
 e in their prose writings about poetry. In addition\, aspects of literary 
 theory\, particularly those that tell us about language itself\, will be b
 rought to bear. Finally\, drawing upon conventions well-established in the
  relevant literary tradition will help to shed light on the chosen poem. B
 y these means\, we gain a better sense of why reading literature intellige
 ntly – with sophisticated literary tools – can be invaluable for shedd
 ing light on the human mind itself and how its creative faculties function
  in experience\, in perception\, and in artistic creation. ‘Ozymandias
 ’ is an ideal choice\, since its extreme compression\, when unpacked\, t
 ells us much about art\, language\, and how the human mind can interact wi
 th the world more imaginatively and more effectively.
LOCATION:The Richard King Room\, Darwin College
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