I.A. Richards: Figurative Language

I.A. Richards, along with T.S. Eliot, may be called the founding father of the New Criticism.

 A study of his practical criticism together with his work ‘The Meaning of meaning reveals his interest in verbal and textual analysis. According to him a poet writes to communicate and language is the means of that communication. Language consists words so study of study of words so study of words is significant to understand the meaning. The meaning depends on.

 A far more serious cause of misunderstanding is the failure to realize that the poetic use of words is different from their use in prose. Complaints may rest upon an assumption about language that can be fatal to poetry. Literary is one serious obstacle in the way of a right understanding of the poetic words. According to Richards-‘poetry is different from prose and needs a different attitude for right understanding.’According to I.A. Richard, four type of Misunderstanding.
1.Careless reading  2.prosaic reading  3.inappropriate metaphor  4.difference in meaning

Analysis of the poem with the help of “figurative language of poetry”  by I.A.Richard

Here I am going to talk about one of the famous poem which I studied in B.A level and the difficulty which I faced when I read that poem.

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine,
Under every grief and pine,
Runs a joy with silken twine.

It is right it should be so,
We were made for joy and woe,
And when this we rightly know,
Through the world we safely go.

                      

                    -  by William Blake

In this poem poet William Black uses some figures of language like Paradox, personification, exaggeration or Hyperbole. So let’s discuss it. 

  

In this short poem William Blake wants to give message that joy and grief, both are part of life and both are good.

He says joy and woe are woven fine. Woven means things which are attached to each other. Both happiness and grief are fine. They are cloths of our soul. In every grief, there are also joy we need to find it. We are not here for only happiness or for only pain. But we are made for both. And when we know that joy and woe both are part of our life, we can live happily in grief also.

So, in this poem poet wants to tell that accept both joy and pain. Do not become unhappy when sad moments come, there are always happy moments also. Know that both are part of everyone's life and live happily. That is all poet wants to say in the poem.

Metaphor in poem

Joy and woe. We know that Joy means Happiness and woe means sadness and this both are together in very first line of this poem. So, we can say that here poet used paradox in first line of this poem. 

Problem in understanding the poem 

clothing for the soul divine Personification gives human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, or ideas. And here poet says that clothing for the soul divine. We all know that soul can’t  wear  clothes but here poet used personification in this line.

Runs a joy it is also personification because we all know that joy can’t run.

So, we can say that here poet William Black uses so many figures of language for his poem

‘ Joy and woe are woven fine’.