On Reconsidering Poets in Relation to Poetic Movements: Gerard Manley Hopkins as an Example

Ahmad Mostafa Al-Leithy, Mohammad

doi:10.21608/aafu.2017.16437

On Reconsidering Poets in Relation to Poetic Movements: Gerard Manley Hopkins as an Example

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Mohammad Ahmad Mostafa Al-Leithy

10.21608/aafu.2017.16437

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the problems arising from categorising poets into poetic movements. The paper discusses ten problems resulting from such a deficient method of evaluating poets. These are generalisations, preconceptions and misconceptions, prejudices, scepticism as for the existence of a movement, the difficulty of drawing delineating lines between movements, the difficulty of giving dates for the beginning and end of a movement, using different terms to refer to the same group, the difficulty of defining a movement, ignoring the multifacetedness of poets and different categorising of poets by different critics. Gerard Manley Hopkins is studied as an example of how greatly critics’ views can differ as for the categorising and the evaluation of poets. The paper recommends reconsidering relating poets to poetic movements. One of the most important conclusions drawn from the research is that each poet should be studied individually and independently from the movement he or she is claimed to belong to to discover the poet’s individual talent and, hence, value.

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