MaraBarreiro

"The idea that there is a single 'normal' language, a common currency shared equally by members of a society, is an illusion. Any actual language consists of a highly complex range of discourses, differentiated according to class, region, gender, status and so on, which can by no means be neatly unified into a single homogeneous linguistic community." Terry Eagleton say in "What is Literature?." (4)

What is "normal"? I have always felt that "normal" is a relative term. I like how Eagleton forms the question of normality in language by using the different aspects of speech throughout a society. But, we have to look at all the aspects of the usage of language, not only is the "norm" different within the same country, but it alters throughout all English speaking countries. We in America use different terms when speaking of the bathroom, an elevator, even cigerattes; while in England they say the loo, the lift, and call cigerattes fags. So, even among the same language there are barriers which cancel out what some of the Formalists would call the normal discourse of language.

When we include class, region, gendeer, and status, among many other differences, the uses in poetry are transformed beyond what society or critics would call 'normal.' There is no such thing as true normality in language, nor in other aspects of our world. This, for me, is what makes literature so appealing; the different range of ideas that can be gleaned from every walk of life through the power of language.
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL312/2009/01/eagleton_introduction_what_is_1/

"The imagination creates what is most beautiful and its creations are a reflection of eternity: 'What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth.' The Ode as a whole is more concerned with eternity than with art, itself a symbol of eternity." Allen C. Austin "Toward Resolving Keats's Grecian Urn Ode" (56)

What struck me about Austin's essay was his focus on the eternal aspects of Keats's language and the art depicted on the Urn itself. I think that the title of the poem itself leads to this concept of a reflection of eternity. The poem is titled "Ode on a Grecian Urn," not "Ode to." The ode could be the pictures themselves and their relation to the eternity that the poet is speaking. This is the reflection which the poet is looking into as he examines the beauty of the still life forever etched upon the urn.

Austin's careful examination of the approaches to the processes and judgements of criticism that has been given to this poem form a convincing arguement to his last interpretation that the "urn is a symbol of eternity." He effectively uses Keats's letters to Bailey to support this interpretation. Both the poem and the art painted on the urn are products of imagination and they both symbolize an eternal stillness within their beauty.

"the mind of the mature poet differs from that of the immature one not precisely in any valuation of "personality," not being necessarily more interesting, or having "more to say," but rather by being a more finely perfected medium in which special, or very varied, feelings are at liberty to enter into new combinations." (Eliot Part II 1st paragraph)

I found this enlightening, because as a writer I try to think outside of my own feelings so that I can convey emotions or situations in a way that others can identify. There are many times a writer develops an idea, but has not necessarily been through the ordeal or emotions that he/she is writing about. When something like this occurs, and it does quite frequently, a writer has to have the maturity to look beyond himself to grasp new and interesting concepts.

I like how Eliot use the analogy of the two gases to show how a writer sometimes must distance himself from his art to have a clear and true perception of what he is writing.

I hate to admit it, but the word synecdoche always stumps me. Everytime I see it I say to myself "I know this word." I can even pronounce it correctly, but its meaning slips my mind. So if you're like me I will refresh your memory like I had to refresh mine.

It is derived from the Greek word for "to take up together." It is a figure of thought in which the term for part of something is used to represent the whole. (Hamilton 41)

Examples: calling someone "big mouth" or "the brain," The saying "all hands on deck" refering to the sailors