Structuralism

 Structuralism
Simplified - Lecture Notes
By - Anil Awad

Structuralism denotes/asserts some structure. ‘Things cannot be understood in isolation, they should be understood in some context…in the larger structure as they are the part of some larger structure.’- This is the claim of structuralism. Now we have to prove it. Take any ‘thing’, or any ‘idea’ or any ‘concept’…while understanding it…you have to refer the other things/ideas/concept…so must see the other context also. Ok. Take example of a ‘Chair’. Chair is not chair because it says that ‘I am a chair’. We call it chair…so the meaning is associated to it (Chair) externally. But if the chair doesn’t say ‘I am Chair’, how to recognize it…that it is the chair. Simple…we have to distinguish the chair from Table, Sofa-set, Bed, Show-case and other pieces in the house. What are these pieces? They are the part of the structure called ‘Furniture’. What is furniture? It is made up of woods or metals or plastic. They are the part of larger structure called ‘Ecology’? What is‘Ecology’? It is related to the larger structures like Nature, Atmosphere, Spheres and to the Earth itself. What is an Earth? Earth itself is a structure but connected to the larger structure called ‘Solar System’. Solar System is connected to the Galaxies…we have millions of galaxies and they are the part of the larger structure called Universe. This is what structuralism in every respect.

Now come to literature. How literature and structuralism is interconnected? Take any piece of literature. Take the poem of Robert Burns ‘Red Red Rose’ which I have posted in the group. This is a poem…ok…what is a poem..? A poem is the part of literary genre called ‘Poetry’. Poetry is the part of the structure called Literary Genre – Poetry, Novel, Drama, Criticism etc. All of these Genre are related to the larger structure called ‘Literature’. There are different kinds of literature in different countries…say age wise. There is also Written Literature, Oral Literature, Folk Literature etc. So if you have to understand a poem called ‘A Red Red Rose’…you must see it in the larger Structures as above mentioned. It is not possible to understand the poem without the context (structure). 

Now come exclusively to the poem ‘A Red Red Rose’. It is a well-known ‘love poem’. There are many kinds of love poems…courtship, heart-breaking, optimistic, pessimistic, cynic etc. If a person wants to understand this poem thoroughly…obviously he must know such other love poems. Then again like love poems….there are war poems, poems of nature, poems related to persons/events/things/animals etc. One should be able to distinguish the ‘A Red Red Rose’ poem from other such poems. He must possess the knowledge of such structure. Then again it is a simple poem of 16 lines written in iambic pentameter written in four Quatrains (a Quatrain is four lines stanza). One must possess the knowledge of stanza forms (again structure) – Couplet, Terza Rima, Rime Royal, Ottava Rima, Spenserian stanza etc. He must understand the types of poems like elegy, ode, sonnet, epic etc. This is how structuralism works. 

Thanks.

ANIL S AWAD
ENGLISH NET AND SET CONSULTANT
9922113364 (WHATSAPP)
9423403368
anilawad123@gmail.com

(Inconveniences related to syntax, grammar, punctuation etc. are regretted.)

©ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TO MR. ANIL AWAD