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IGNOU MEG 05 Solved Assignment 2025-2026 (Free PDF) | Literary Theory & Criticism
Q 1. Why is Plato hostile to mimetic arts and poetry and how does Aristotle counter Plato's arguments? Discuss?
Introduction
The debate between Plato and Aristotle forms the foundation of Western literary criticism. Plato, a strict philosopher, saw poetry as a distraction from truth and banned poets from his ideal society. On the other hand, his brilliant student Aristotle defended poetry, showing that it is a natural and healthy part of human life.
"Poetry is a mirror walked down a high road." — This ancient idea of art being a mirror to life is where the whole clash between Plato and Aristotle begins.
Why is Plato Hostile to Poetry and Mimetic Arts?
Plato’s main problem with poetry was that he believed it deals with illusions, not reality. To explain this, he gave his famous Theory of Forms (Ideas). According to him, everything in this world is just a copy of an ideal form that exists in heaven.
Plato attacked poetry on three main grounds:
1. Philosophical Ground (Twice Removed from Reality)
Plato argued that art is a copy of a copy. He explained this with the example of a bed:
First, God creates the absolute "Idea" of a bed.
Second, a carpenter looks at that idea and makes a physical wooden bed.
Third, a painter or a poet looks at that wooden bed and imitates it in a picture or words.
Therefore, the poet's work is three steps away from the truth. As Plato famously wrote in The Republic:
"The imitative art is an imitation of an illusion, and a long way off the truth." — Plato
2. Moral Ground (Feeds Emotional Weakness)
Plato believed that humans should always be guided by reason, not raw emotions. He complained that poetry makes people weak because it waters and feeds our passions instead of controlling them. When a poem shows a great hero weeping or losing control, it sets a bad moral example for the youth.
3. Theological Ground (Wrong Representation of Gods)
Plato was angry at poets like Homer because they showed gods as liars, cheaters, and fighters. Plato believed that gods should only be shown as good and perfect.
How Does Aristotle Counter Plato's Arguments?
Aristotle completely disagreed with his teacher. In his book The Poetics, he defended poetry using scientific logic and psychology.
1. Mimesis is Creative Learning, Not Copying
Aristotle said that imitation (Mimesis) is not just a blind, photographic copy of nature. It is a creative process where the poet recreates reality. Learning through imitation is a natural human instinct that brings joy. Aristotle beautifully noted:
"To imitate is instinctive in man from childhood... and man learns first through imitation." — Aristotle
2. Poetry is Better Than History
To answer Plato’s charge that poetry is useless, Aristotle made a famous comparison:
History only tells us what actually happened (particular facts).
Poetry tells us what can happen according to probability and human nature (universal truths). Therefore, poetry is much deeper and more philosophical than history because it teaches us how humans behave in general.
3. The Concept of Catharsis (Emotional Cleansing)
Conclusion
In short, Plato looked at art through the eyes of a moral judge and a politician, wanting it to be useful for the state. Aristotle looked at art as a critic and a psychologist, celebrating its beauty and emotional value. By redefining imitation, Aristotle saved poetry from Plato's ban and proved its permanent worth to humanity.
Q 2. How does Coleridge deal with the distinction between Fancy and Imagination?
IGNOU - MEG-05: Assignment Solved Question 2
Introduction
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a great Romantic poet and critic. In his famous book Biographia Literaria (Chapter 13), he introduced a path-breaking theory that separated Fancy from Imagination. Before Coleridge, people thought both words meant the same thing. But Coleridge proved that Imagination is a deeply creative power, while Fancy is just a mechanical tool.
"Imagination is the living Power and prime Agent of all human Perception." — S.T. Coleridge
The Two Types of Imagination
Coleridge divided Imagination into two parts: Primary Imagination and Secondary Imagination.
1. Primary Imagination (Universal Power)
This is a basic power that every human being possesses. It helps us perceive and make sense of the world around us. For example, when we see a tree, our mind automatically recognizes its color, shape, and structure. It works unconsciously and is essential for human survival.
2. Secondary Imagination (The Artistic Power)
This is a special, superior power that only creative individuals, like poets and artists, have. It co-exists with the Primary Imagination, but it works consciously. It breaks down the real world, melts it, and shapes it into a completely new artistic creation. As Coleridge wrote:
"It dissolves, diffuses, dissipates, in order to re-create." — S.T. Coleridge
The Distinction: Fancy vs. Imagination
To make this answer crystal clear for the examiner, Coleridge’s distinction can be explained through three main differences:
1. Creative vs. Mechanical
Imagination is like a chemical reaction. It takes different experiences, melts them together, and creates something entirely new. It has a soul or a "living" power.
Fancy, on the other hand, is a mechanical process. It is like a memory box or a warehouse. It collects dead facts, images, and words from our memory and pastes them together without changing their original nature.
2. Choice and Arrangement (The Mosaic Example)
Fancy only plays with fixed things. It arranges words or thoughts like tiles in a mosaic. The tiles look pretty together, but they remain separate tiles.
Imagination blends things together like colors in a beautiful painting. Once the colors blend, you cannot separate them; they become a fresh piece of art.
3. Emotional Depth vs. Superficial Play
Imagination is driven by deep passion and emotion. It brings harmony and unity between the human mind and nature.
Fancy is driven by wit, cleverness, and superficial choice. It doesn't create deep poetry; it just creates witty rhymes or clever metaphors.
Conclusion
In short, Coleridge elevated the status of a poet. He proved that a poet is not just a clever writer who uses Fancy to arrange beautiful words. A true poet uses Secondary Imagination to give a new soul to the world, transforming regular experiences into eternal truth and beauty.
Q 3. Write short notes on the following: (4 x 5 = 20)
(a) Sphota
(b) Rasa
(c) Deconstruction
(d) Gender
IGNOU - MEG-05: Assignment Solved Question 3 (Short Notes)
(a) Sphota
The concept of Sphota is a foundational theory in Indian philosophy of language, majorly developed by the great grammarian Bhartrihari in his work Vakyapadiya. The word Sphota comes from the root sphut, which means "to burst forth" or "to blossom."
In simple terms, Sphota is the sudden burst of meaning that happens in a listener's mind. When we speak, we utter individual sounds (phonemes) one after the other. These separate sounds alone do not carry the complete meaning. However, as soon as the last sound is heard, all previous sounds combine, and the complete meaning flashes or bursts into the mind of the listener as a single, unified idea. Bhartrihari argued that language is not just a collection of broken letters, but an indivisible, eternal mental entity that reveals ultimate truth.
(b) Rasa
The Rasa theory is the soul of Indian aesthetics and literary criticism, first introduced by Bharata Muni in his ancient text, the Natyashastra. The literal meaning of Rasa is "juice," "flavor," or "taste." In literature and drama, it refers to the emotional experience or aesthetic joy that a reader or viewer feels.
Bharata Muni famously gave the Rasa Sutra, explaining that Rasa is created when permanent emotions (Sthayi Bhavas) present inside the human heart are triggered by combining external factors like characters, situations, and physical gestures. There are 8 original Rasas (later expanded to 9, including Shanta Rasa), such as Shringara (Love), Karuna (Pathos), and Veera (Heroism). It teaches that the ultimate goal of any art or poem is to elevate a regular emotion into a divine, blissful experience for the audience.
(c) Deconstruction
Deconstruction is a major school of 20th-century Western literary theory founded by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida in the late 1960s. It completely changed how we look at text and meaning. Before Derrida, critics believed that a text had a fixed, stable meaning hidden inside it.
Derrida challenged this by arguing that "there is nothing outside the text." Deconstruction proves that language is unstable and full of contradictions. Words only get meaning by standing in contrast to other words, which creates an endless chain of meanings. When we deconstruct a piece of literature, we do not destroy it; instead, we show how the text actively refutes its own logic, opening the door to multiple, endless interpretations rather than just one single, absolute "correct" answer.
(d) Gender
In modern literary theory and cultural studies, especially within Feminist Criticism, a sharp distinction is made between the concepts of Sex and Gender. While 'Sex' refers to the biological and anatomical differences between a male and a female, 'Gender' is a psychological and cultural construct.
As the famous feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir famously wrote:
"One is not born, but rather becomes a woman."
This means society decides what it means to be masculine or feminine—dictating how men and women should behave, dress, and think. In literary criticism, studying gender helps us analyze how texts reinforce or challenge these patriarchal stereotypes, and how women writers have historically fought against being silenced or marginalized by male-dominated literary traditions.
Q 4. Write a critical note on 'The Death of the Author'.
IGNOU - MEG-05: Assignment Solved Question 4
Introduction
"The Death of the Author" is a highly influential essay written by the French literary critic and theorist Roland Barthes in 1967. This essay serves as a major turning point in modern literary criticism, shifting the focus completely from the creator of the text (the author) to the interpreter of the text (the reader). Barthes argues that once a text is written, the author’s intentions or personal life no longer control its meaning.
"The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author."— Roland Barthes
The Traditional View vs. Barthes’ View
To understand this concept, we must look at how criticism changed after Barthes’ essay:
1. The Traditional View (Author-Centric)
Before this theory, critics believed that to understand a book, poem, or story, one must study the author’s life, biography, political views, and psychology. The author was treated as a "God" or a "Father" who gave a single, ultimate meaning to the text. If a reader wanted to know what a poem meant, they had to discover what the author intended to say.
2. Barthes’ Critique (The Author is a Scriptcriptor)
Barthes completely rejects this idea. He states that an author does not create something out of nothing. Instead, an author is merely a "Scriptor" (a writer) who mixes existing languages, cultures, ideas, and traditions that have already been written before. A text is not a line of sacred words releasing a single theological meaning; it is a space where many different writings blend and clash.
Key Arguments in a Critical Analysis
1. Liberation of the Text
By declaring the "death" of the author, Barthes liberates the text from the prison of a single interpretation. A book can mean different things to different people across generations, regardless of what the author originally thought. For example, Shakespeare wrote his plays in the 16th century, but modern readers interpret his works through today's psychological and social issues.
2. The Ultimate Power of the Reader
Barthes argues that the true destination of a text is the reader. A text consists of multiple threads, but it is the reader who brings those threads together to form a meaning. The author writes, but it is the reader who gives life and multiple layers of meaning to those words.
Conclusion
In short, "The Death of the Author" is not about a literal death. It is a metaphorical statement meant to break tyranny in literary analysis. Roland Barthes successfully proved that literature is an open field where meaning is never fixed or stable. By taking away the ultimate power from the author, this theory celebrates the freedom, creativity, and perspective of the reader.
Q 5.Comment on the significance of the title The Second Sex.
IGNOU - MEG-05: Assignment Solved Question 5
Introduction
The Second Sex (Le Deuxième Sexe) is a groundbreaking feminist book written by the French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir in 1949. It is widely considered one of the most important texts in the history of modern feminism. The significance of the title lies in how it perfectly captures the secondary, unequal, and marginalized position that women have been forced into by a patriarchal society throughout history.
"One is not born, but rather becomes a woman." — Simone de Beauvoir
The Concept of the "Other" (The Core Meaning of the Title)
To explain why she chose the title The Second Sex, Beauvoir introduces a very powerful philosophical concept: The Subject and the Other.
1. Man as the Subject (The First Sex)
Beauvoir argues that in a male-dominated society, man defines himself as the absolute "Subject" or the master. He represents humanity in general—he is the default, the norm, and the standard. He is the "First Sex" who creates laws, writes history, and defines culture.
2. Woman as the Object (The Second Sex)
Because man is the Subject, woman is defined only in relation to him. She is not seen as an independent human being with her own identity. Instead, she is treated as the "Other" or the "Object."
If a man is strong, a woman is defined as weak.
If a man is rational, a woman is defined as emotional. She is always secondary, an afterthought, making her literally The Second Sex.
Why the Title is Highly Significant
1. It Exposes Biological vs. Social Reality
The title directly attacks the idea that women are naturally or biologically inferior to men. Beauvoir proves that society uses biology as an excuse to keep women down. From childhood, girls are taught by culture, family, and religion to behave passively and accept their secondary status.
2. It Highlights the Lack of Unity Among Women
Beauvoir notes a sad truth in her book: unlike other marginalized groups (like a specific race or class), women do not historically unite as a single front against their oppressors. Why? Because women live scattered among men. A woman is often more attached to her husband or father than to other women, which keeps her trapped in her position as the second sex.
3. A Call for Liberation
By naming her book The Second Sex, Beauvoir does not just complain; she challenges women to break this label. She argues that women must gain economic independence, work outside the house, and reject patriarchal myths to transform themselves from being the "Second Sex" into independent, equal human subjects.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the title The Second Sex is highly significant because it is both a critique and a mirror to the world. It perfectly summarizes how patriarchy defines womanhood not as a human identity, but as a secondary, dependent status. Simone de Beauvoir's title remains a powerful symbol for the feminist struggle to achieve absolute equality and destroy the concept of the "Other."
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