AESTHETIC LITERATURE

WHAT IS AESTHETICS?
The name “Aesthetics” came from a minor German philosopher going by the name Alexander Baumgarten.
Baumgarten derived the term from the Greek “aesthesis” which means “sense perception”. Baumgarten
employed the term to allude to what philosophers had labeled either the “theory of  beauty” or the “philosophy
of taste”. Baumgarten preferred “aesthetics” because he desired to underline the experience of art as a mode of
gaining knowledge.

Aesthetics is a division of philosophy, and like philosophy by and large it is, more than anything else, a
competitive exchange of ideas. As Socrates conceived of the term, aesthetics is purely a dialogue among earnest
minds. Hence, aesthetics is a process and does not constitute a body of conclusions on conventions of nature or
functions of things. Deriving from a viable exchange of ideas, then aesthetics is not considered an end product
or almanac but an analysis; an inquiry of the concepts used by critics (in that competitive exchange of ideas)
when they make pronouncements about the arts. This process of scrutinizing critical statements made on the arts
is called “Metacriticism”. Metacriticism is concerned with the description, interpretation and evaluation of the
arts. Subsequently, metacriticism interrogates critical pronouncements that describe, interpret and evaluate
particular creative works. In the exchange of ideas, critics make statements that describe, from their perception,
the distinctive features of particular artistic genres. For instance, Aristotle‟s Poetics is considered the most
important book ever written on the distinguishing attributes of the tragic form. Veritably, for many centuries all
the way up to the 18th century, dramatists crafted their plays according to Aristotle‟s prescriptions. Indeed, the
authority of Poetics was held by many leading dramatists and critics to be beyond question yet Poetics is the
sustained intellectual attempt of a person who was striving to get clear about questions emerging naturally from
the collective experience of his period. But this does not mean that Poetics is limited in its authority to the
theater of its own time. If it were, it would be of little importance to us. Most noteworthy, we could not then
explain why Serious and ratiocinative humans throughout the contemporary epoch have linked their
comprehension of Literature to Aristotle‟s. Even when 20th century play wrights like Arthur Miller sought to
reject him, they thereby acknowledged him. Throughout the centuries, the running debate between those who
have espoused and those who have rebelled against Aristotle has hinged on whether, as  perceived by some
critics, the elements of tragedy enumerated by Aristotle constituted a stiff network of criteria for evaluation
rather than simply expressions of personal preference. Indeed, metacriticism appreciates that greatness of
critical pronouncements is not in their claim to rightness‟  or in their  attempts at setting  to provide models of
the „best kind‟. Rather,   the integrity of a critic in isetting inquiry going in everything he says as a whole.
Indeed as Jerome Stolnitz rightly asserts: Greatness in philosophy is not in telling thee right answers but in
asking the right questions, though what the questions are can only be learned by seeing how they are unfolded
in the course of the answering. (Stolnitz, 1965)

Aesthetics, in literature, is the inclusion of references to artistic elements or expressions within a textual work.
It's a method used to promote or educate readers about important artistic expression in society.
For example, if you read 'The Flapper' by Dorothy Parker, you can identify the aesthetic of flapper culture. In
the 1920s flappers were women who chose to rebel against social norms by wearing shorter skirts, heavy
makeup, and being flirtatious. Dorothy Parker wrote this poem to share her views on a woman's right to be more
free. Authors, like Parker, will use a variety of literary devices to achieve this.
Aesthetic concepts in literature are known to be very influential. Let's take a look at some examples.

Harlem Renaissance in ''Weary Blues''

Have you ever heard of the popular artistic movement called the Harlem Renaissance? It was a cultural
movement of African Americans during the early 20th century until the late 1930s. African Americans were
able to express their emotions and internal struggles by creating works of art, literature, and music.
There are aesthetic concepts within the poem ''Weary Blues'' by Langston Hughes. Hughes was a figurehead
for the Harlem Renaissance and his work illustrates the characteristics of a generation attempting to break free
of the shackles of the past. Take a close look at the first few lines of the poem.
''Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway...
He did a lazy sway...
To the tune o' those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!''

Literary Devices in ''Weary Blues''

In these first few lines, Hughes is using somber, melancholy imagery to provide the tone of the African
American generation. Lenox Avenue is the setting, which has been closely associated with the renaissance -
even called Harlem's ''heartbeat'' by many artists. This allows us to understand that the events in the poem
reflect not just the writer's feelings, but the people collectively taking part in the Harlem Renaissance.
In another line, we see 'ebony hands' on 'ivory keys'. This is a very important detail as it highlights the man in
the poem's necessity to make the 'poor piano moan with melody'.
The repetition of ''he did a lazy sway...'' followed by ''to the tune o' those Weary Blues'' can be interpreted as
the emotional and psychological turmoil experienced by oppressed African Americans during this time period.
Could you imagine getting up day after day with little hope of a happy future? The man in this poem 'sways'
lazily, saddened about his state in life.
Symbolism, or the use of objects or people or places to stand in for bigger ideas is one of the most important
devices used in this poem. In this poem, the sorrow of the man who is bound by his role in life at the fate of the
''ivory key''can only make the best of things. The Harlem Renaissance often showcased jazz music as an artistic
outlet to find freedom and escape. The poem reminds us of the symbolism of music but again capitalizes on the
feeling of hopelessness and inevitability with the image of the 'ivory keys'.
Ramayana
Background

The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic which follows Prince Rama's quest to rescue his
beloved wife Sita from the clutches of Ravana with the help of an army of monkeys. It is
traditionally attributed to the authorship of the sage Valmiki and dated to around 500 BCE to 100
BCE.

Comprising 24,000 verses in seven cantos, the epic contains the teachings of the very ancient
Hindu sages. One of the most important literary works of ancient India, it has greatly influenced
art and culture in the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia, with versions of the story also
appearing in the Buddhist canon from a very early date. The story of Rama has constantly been
retold in poetic and dramatic versions by some of India's greatest writers and also in narrative
sculptures on temple walls. It is one of the staples of later dramatic traditions, re-enacted in
dance-dramas, village theatre, shadow-puppet theatre and the annual Ram-lila (Rama-play).

Origins

The original five books of an oral epic of local northern significance dealing with a hero and his
exile, the abduction of his wife by a rival king and her rescue became conflated into seven books
in which the hero Rama became an avatar of the god Vishnu, the scene shifted to encompass
the whole of India, and the struggle to recover his wife became a metaphor for the final triumph
of the righteous.

A brief summary of the Ramayana

Rama, prince of Ayodhya, won the hand of the beautiful princess Sita (seen here), but was
exiled with her and his brother Laksmana for 14 years through the plotting of his stepmother. In
the forest Sita was abducted by Ravana, and Rama gathered an army of monkeys and bears to
search for her. The allies attacked Lanka, killed Ravana, and rescued Sita. In order to prove her
chastity, Sita entered fire, but was vindicated by the gods and restored to her husband. After the
couple's triumphant return to Ayodhya, Rama's righteous rule (Ram-raj) inaugurated a golden
age for all mankind.

Characters of the Ramayana

Rama is the hero of the Ramayana epic, an incarnation of the God Vishnu. The eldest and
favourite son of Dasaratha, King of Ayodhya, he is a virtuous prince and is much loved by the
people. He is exiled from Ayodhya due to the plotting of his stepmother, Kaikeyi.

Sita is Rama's wife and daughter of King Janaka of Mithila. Sita is the epitome of womanly
purity and virtue.

Laksmana (seen here) is Rama's younger brother. Completely loyal to Rama, he chooses to
go with Rama and Sita when they are exiled from Ayodhya.

Ravana is the king of Lanka and has 10 heads and 20 arms. He received a boon from the God
Brahma that he cannot be killed by gods, demons or by spirits, after performing a severe
penance for 10,000 years. After receiving his reward from Brahma, Ravana began to lay waste
to the earth and disturbed the deeds of the good Hindu sages. Vishnu incarnates as the human
Rama to defeat him, assisted by an army of monkeys and bears, thus circumventing the boon
given by Brahma.

Dasaratha is the King of Ayodhya, Rama's father.

Kausalya is Rama's mother, Dasaratha's chief wife.

Kaikeyi is Dasaratha's wife and Rama's stepmother. She demands that Rama be banished to
the forest and that her son Bharata be awarded the kingdom instead.
Bharata is the second son of Dasaratha. When he learns that his mother Kaikeyi had forced
Rama into exile, causing Dasaratha to die broken hearted, he storms out of the palace and goes
in search of Rama. When Rama refuses to return from his exile to assume the throne, Bharata
obtains Rama's sandals and places them on the throne as a gesture that Rama is the true king.

Sumitra is Dasharatha's wife and mother of the twins Lakshmana and Satrughna.

Hanuman is the wise and resourceful monkey who helps Rama in his quest to defeat Ravana
and rescue Sita.

Sugriva is the ruler of the monkey kingdom. His throne was taken by his brother Bali, but Rama
helps him to defeat the usurper in return for his assistance in finding Sita.

Mahābhārata

The innermost narrative kernel of the Mahābhārata tells the story of two sets of paternal first
cousins—the five sons of the deceased king Pāṇḍu [pronounced PAAN-doo] (the five Pāṇḍavas
[said as PAAN-da-va-s]) and the one hundred sons of blind King Dhṛtarāṣṭra [Dhri-ta-RAASH-
tra] (the 100 hundred Dhārtarāṣṭras [Dhaar-ta-RAASH-tras])—who became bitter rivals, and
opposed each other in war for possession of the ancestral Bharata [BHAR-a-ta] kingdom with its
capital in the "City of the Elephant," Hāstinapura [HAAS-ti-na-pu-ra], on the Gaṅgā river in north
central India. What is dramatically interesting within this simple opposition is the large number of
individual agendas the many characters pursue, and the numerous personal conflicts, ethical
puzzles, subplots, and plot twists that give the story a strikingly powerful development.

The five sons of Pāṇḍu were actually fathered by five Gods (sex was mortally dangerous for
Pāṇḍu, because of a curse) and these heroes were assisted throughout the story by various
Gods, seers, and brahmins, including the seer Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa [VYAA-sa] (who later
became the author of the epic poem telling the whole of this story), who was also their actual
grandfather (he had engendered Pāṇḍu and the blind Dhṛtarāṣṭra upon their nominal father's
widows in order to preserve the lineage). The one hundred Dhārtarāṣṭras, on the other hand,
had a grotesque, demonic birth, and are said more than once in the text to be human
incarnations of the demons who are the perpetual enemies of the Gods. The most dramatic
figure of the entire Mahābhārata, however, is Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva of the tribe of Andhaka
Vṛṣṇis, located in the city of Dvārakā in the far west, near the ocean. His name is, thus Kṛṣṇa
Vāsudeva [Vaa-su-DAY-va]. But he also a human instantiation of the supreme God Vāsudeva-
Nārāyaṇa-Viṣṇu descended to earth in human form to rescue Law, Good Deeds, Right, Virtue
and Justice (all of these words refer to different facets of "dharma," the “firm-holding” between
the ethical quality of an action and the quality of its future fruits for the doer). Kṛṣṇa Vāsudeva
was also a cousin to both Bhārata phratries, but he was a friend and advisor to the Pāṇḍavas,
became the brother-in-law of Arjuna [AR-ju-na] Pāṇḍava, and served as Arjuna's mentor and
charioteer in the great war. Kṛṣṇa Vāsudeva is portrayed several times as eager to see the
purgative war occur, and in many ways the Pāṇḍavas were his human instruments for fulfilling
that end.

The Dhārtarāṣṭra party behaved viciously and brutally toward the Pāṇḍavas in many ways, from
the time of their early youth onward. Their malice displayed itself most dramatically when they
took advantage of the eldest Pāṇḍava, Yudhiṣṭhira [Yu-DHISH-thir-a] (who had by now become
the universal ruler of the land) in a game of dice: The Dhārtarāṣṭras 'won' all his brothers,
himself, and even the Pāṇḍavas' common wife Draupadī [DRAO-pa-dee] (who was an
incarnation of the richness and productivity of the Goddess "Earthly-and-Royal Splendor," Śrī
[Shree]); they humiliated all the Pāṇḍavas and physically abused Draupadī; they drove the
Pāṇḍava party into the wilderness for twelve years, and the twelve years had to be followed by
the Pāṇḍavas' living somewhere in society, in disguise, without being discovered, for one more
year.

The Pāṇḍavas fulfilled their part of that bargain, but the villainous leader of the Dhārtarāṣṭra
party, Duryodhana [Dur-YODH-ana], was unwilling to restore the Pāṇḍavas to their half of the
kingdom when the thirteen years had expired. Both sides then called upon their many allies and
two large armies arrayed themselves on 'Kuru's Field' (Kuru was one of the eponymous
ancestors of the clan), eleven divisions in the army of Duryodhana against seven divisions for
Yudhiṣṭhira. Much of the action in the Mahābhārata is accompanied by discussion and debate
among various interested parties, and the most famous sermon of all time, Kṛṣṇa Vāsudeva's
ethical lecture accompanied by a demonstration of his divinity to his charge Arjuna (the justly
famous Bhagavad Gītā [BHU-gu-vud GEE-taa]) occurred in the Mahābhārata just prior to the
commencement of the hostilities of the war. Several of the important ethical and theological
themes of the Mahābhārata are tied together in this sermon, and this "Song of the Blessed One"
has exerted much the same sort of powerful and far-reaching influence in Indian Civilization that
the New Testament has in Christendom. The Pāṇḍavas won the eighteen day battle, but it was
a victory that deeply troubled all except those who were able to understand things on the divine
level (chiefly Kṛṣṇa, Vyāsa, and Bhīṣma [BHEESH-ma], the Bharata patriarch who was
emblematic of the virtues of the era now passing away). The Pāṇḍavas' five sons by Draupadī,
as well as Bhīmasena [BHEE-ma-SAY-na] Pāṇḍava's and Arjuna Pāṇḍava's two sons by two
other mothers (respectively, the young warriors Ghaṭotkaca [Ghat-OT-ka-cha] and Abhimanyu
[Uh-bhi-MUN-you ("mun" rhymes with "nun")]), were all tragic victims in the war. Worse perhaps,
the Pāṇḍava victory was won by the Pāṇḍavas slaying, in succession, four men who were
quasi-fathers to them: Bhīṣma, their teacher Droṇa [DROE-na], Karṇa [KAR-na] (who was,
though none of the Pāṇḍavas knew it, the first born, pre-marital, son of their mother), and their
maternal uncle Śalya (all four of these men were, in succession, 'supreme commander' of
Duryodhana's army during the war). Equally troubling was the fact that the killing of the first
three of these 'fathers,' and of some other enemy warriors as well, was accomplished only
through 'crooked stratagems' (jihmopāyas), most of which were suggested by Kṛṣṇa Vāsudeva
as absolutely required by the circumstances.

The ethical gaps were not resolved to anyone's satisfaction on the surface of the narrative and
the aftermath of the war was dominated by a sense of horror and malaise. Yudhiṣṭhira alone
was terribly troubled, but his sense of the war's wrongfulness persisted to the end of the text, in
spite of the fact that everyone else, from his wife to Kṛṣṇa Vāsudeva, told him the war was right
and good; in spite of the fact that the dying patriarch Bhīṣma lectured him at length on all
aspects of the Good Law (the Duties and Responsibilities of Kings, which have rightful violence
at their center; the ambiguities of Righteousness in abnormal circumstances; and the absolute
perspective of a beatitude that ultimately transcends the oppositions of good versus bad, right
versus wrong, pleasant versus unpleasant, etc.); in spite of the fact that he performed a grand
Horse Sacrifice as expiation for the putative wrong of the war. These debates and instructions
and the account of this Horse Sacrifice are told at some length after the massive and grotesque
narrative of the battle; they form a deliberate tale of pacification (praśamana, śānti) that aims to
neutralize the inevitable miasma of the war.

In the years that follow the war Dhṛtarāṣṭra and his queen Gāndhārī [Gaan-DHAAR-ee], and
Kuntī [Koon-tee], the mother of the Pāṇḍavas, lived a life of asceticism in a forest retreat and
died with yogic calm in a forest fire. Kṛṣṇa Vāsudeva and his always unruly clan slaughtered
each other in a drunken brawl thirty-six years after the war, and Kṛṣṇa's soul dissolved back into
the Supreme God Viṣṇu (Kṛṣṇa had been born when a part of Nārāyaṇa-Viṣṇu took birth in the
womb of Kṛṣṇa's mother). When they learned of this, the Pāṇḍavas believed it time for them to
leave this world too and they embarked upon the 'Great Journey,' which involved walking north
toward the polar mountain, that is toward the heavenly worlds, until one's body dropped dead.
One by one Draupadī and the younger Pāṇḍavas died along the way until Yudhiṣṭhira was left
alone with a dog that had followed him all the way. Yudhiṣṭhira made it to the gate of heaven
and there refused the order to drive the dog back, at which point the dog was revealed to be an
incarnate form of the God Dharma (also known as Yama, the Lord of the Dead, the God who
was Yudhiṣṭhira's actual, physical father), who was there to test the quality of Yudhiṣṭhira's
virtue before admitting him to heaven. Once in heaven Yudhiṣṭhira faced one final test of his
virtue: He saw only the Dhārtarāṣṭras in heaven, and he was told that his brothers were in hell.
He insisted on joining his brothers in hell, if that be the case. It was then revealed that they were
really in heaven, that this illusion had been one final test for him. So ends the Mahābhārata!