Negative Capability: by John Keats

Negative Capability:  

 Negative Capability is very important term which coined by very famous poet of Romantic Era, John Keats(1795-1821), he used it first time to write letter to his brother, George and Thomas. John Keats was the most influential literary figure of Romantic Era.  “Negative Capability”, it is  the willingness to embrace uncertainty, live with mystery, and make peace with ambiguity. Life is short lived it is ephemeral there is no specific determination what will tomorrow bring for us we do not know, to show the imperatives of life he has formulated the principles of life through this concept, therefore this concept has great importance in literary domain.

Negative capability describes the capacity of human beings to transcend and revise their contexts. The term has been used by poets and philosophers to describe the ability of the individual to perceive, think, and operate beyond any presupposition of a predetermined capacity of the human being. It further captures the rejection of the constraints of any context, and the ability to experience phenomena free from epistemological bounds, as well as to assert one's own will and individuality upon their activity. The term was first used by the Romantic poet John Keats to critique those who sought to categorize all experience and phenomena and turn them into a theory of knowledge. It has recently been appropriated by philosopher and social theorist Roberto Mangabeira Unger to comment on human nature and to explain how human beings innovate and resist within confining social contexts. The concept has also inspired psychoanalytic practices and twentieth-century art and literary criticism.

 This concept focuses the hidden quality of human being; human has the capacity to understand the unexpected problems of the life therefore any circumstance person should not lose the concentration he should think to overcome that obstacle by using the hidden capacity of human being.

·         (Negative Capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason……..By John Keats)

question paper on criticism,

Unit test Marks:20                                                                                                             Time: 30 Minutes

1)       Negative Capability means:-

a)       It is  the willingness to embrace uncertainty, live with mystery, and make peace with ambiguity

b)       It is the capability to discuss the negative points of the life

c)       Capability to neglect the positive points

d)       To enhance the willingness to adopt positive points.

2)       Read the following sentences and find the correct sentence

I)        The primary Imagination holds to be the living Power and prime Agent of all human Perception

II)     The secondary Imagination  consider as an echo of the former, co-existing with the conscious will

a)       I is correct   b) II is correct    c) Both are correct  d) Both are wrong

3)       Read the following sentences and find the correct sentence

I)                   objective correlative Popularized by T. S. Eliot

II)                in his essay "Macbeth and His Problems"

a)       I is correct   b) II is correct    c) Both are correct  d) Both are wrong

4)       Read the following sentences and find the correct sentence

I)                    Collective Unconscious has coined by Jung

II)                 Collective Unconscious can be acquired through experience

a)       I is correct   b) II is correct    c) Both are correct  d) Both are wrong

5)       Wordswoth’s Lyricall Ballad defines the subject of the poetry:-

a)       It should be related to aristocratic life

b)       It should  be related to human mind

c)       It should be related to common life

d)       It should be related to psychology

6)       Wordsworth defines poetry:-

a)       Adhoc overflow of  powerful feelings

b)       Superior flow of feelings and emotions

c)       Spontaneous overflow of  powerful feelings

d)       Spontaneous  suppression of  powerful feelings

7)       Read the following sentences and find the correct sentence

I)         Dissociation of sensibility is a literary term first used by T. S. Eliot

II)       He has written an essay “The Metaphysical Poets

III)      Amalgamating of disparate experience.

a)       I  & II are correct   b) II & III are correct    c) I & III are correct  d) All are wrong

8)       Which are the ways to express unfulfilled desires according to Fried

I)                    Tongue slip II) Sex III) writing IV) condensation

a)       I &II               b)           I, II & III                c) I, III & IV        d) All four

9)       Match the column

a)  Id b) Ego c) Superego

1)       Unconscious 2)       Sub conscious 3)       Conscious

a)       2,3,1               b)            2,1,3                       c) 1,2,3   d) 3,1,2

10)    “ Marriage has many pains , but celibacy has no pleasure” which is the figures of the speech

a)       Antithesis      b) Paradox            c) Epigram  d) Simile

11)   Arnold’s concept of poetry as…….

a)       Appreciation of life

b)       Reinforcement of life

c)       Positiveness of life

d)       Criticism of life

12)    Sigmund Fried , ‘Day dreaming and creative writer’ relates to:-

a)       Psychic pleasure and work

b)       Author and work

c)       Ego & Superego

d)       Fantasies and experience

13)   Which is  not characteristics of Metaphysical poetry.

a)       Concentrated complex and difficult thought

b)       Dramatic, with abrupt aggressive opening but modulating tones.

c)       Use of conceits

d)       Simple language

14)    Metaphysical Sensibility means:-

a)     Which enabled them to assimilate and fuse  most disparate and heterogeneous experiences

b)     Fused together homogenous experience

c)      To collect tranquillity

d)     Fusion of all confusion

15)   Personal Unconscious means….

a)       It is inherited and basic instincts of the human being

b)       It can be achieved through experience

c)       It can be achieved through education

d)       It can be achieved through collective efforts

16)   Matthew Arnold  a Literary Critic from which period:

a)       Victorian Period

b)       Romantic Period

c)       Modern Period

d)       Augustan Period

17)   Period of Romantic Era

a)       1798 to 1835

b)       1901 to 1945

c)       1835 to 1900

d)       1650 to 1798

18)   Read the following sentences and find the correct sentence

I)                   Lrical Ballads published in 1800

II)                It addresses to poetry

a)      I is correct   b) II is correct    c) Both are correct  d) Both are wrong

19)   Meta physical  means..

a)       Beyond the nature b) behind the life  C) up to the nature d) Amalgamation of the human life

20)   Negative capability used by John Keats in first time

a)       To address letter to his brother

b)       To address letter to his friend

c)       To address letter to his mother

d)       To address letter to his life