i , called “the paradise lost Of critical cessful portrayal a VOL. XLVI-NO. 8 ARDMORE and BRYN MAWR, PA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1960 © Trustees of Bryn Mawr College, 1960 PRICE 20 CENTS “Abrams Details Advocates “Dogged Literalism” The irony of Mr, A. H. Abrams’ Ann Elizabeth Sheble Memorial Lecture, Wednesday, November 31, in Goodhart, was that while differ- entiating “Five Types of ‘Lycidas” he added a sixth—his own explan- ation of Milton’s poem. The ques- tion is, is a poem one or many, and if one, how can you tell which one? Critics of the past and present of- fer at least five separate “Lyci- das’” to choose from. Hanford, im what Mr. Abrams innocence,” maintained that “Lyci- das” was exactly what it purport- ed to be, an elegiac poem about the poet’s friend Edward King. It is drawn on the models of the past, but the critic was forced to ac- knowledge two “digressions”: the poet’s fear that death will take him ‘before he~has—aceomplished | his fame, and his warning to the corrupt English church. Tillyard, who presents the sec- ond type of “‘Lycidas”, first made the familiar critical differentiation between the nominal and real sub- ject of a poem, thus splitting it into two levels of meaning. Mr. Abrams admitted that this is a “handy gadget to replace what the poet said with what the critic wishes he’d said.” The real sub- ject of “Lycidas”, says Tillyard, is Milton himself. The poem is one of the greatest personal expres- sions, and its value lies in its suc- ‘of a state of} mind. Though Tillyard found the poem’s value in the power of its personal revelation, John Crowe Ransom says that anonymity is a condi- tion of poetry and that there is no passion im “Lycidas.” Milton “mourns with technical piety,” and the poem is an “exercise in pure linguistic technique”. Ransom finds Milton breaking out of this per- fect impersonality in three indi- cations: the liberty he took with the stanzas, St, Peter’s satirical speech and the shift from first person to dialogue to third person. (Mr. Abrams pointed out that free- dom of verse form, rough satire, Five Lycidas’ and shifts of speaker are all con- ventions of the elegy form as -Mil- ton knew it.) In this “virtuoso ex- ercise im point of view”, as Mr. Abrams phrased it, Ransom turns Tillyard inside out and feels “dis- turbingly conscious of the* man behind the poem.” The fourth type of “Lycidas” is that of Brooks and Hardy, who maintain that the poem is_ not really about King or Milton but about water, Imagery is the key to the meaning, an abstract sub- stance, and Milton is a symbolist poet who is deeply concerned with a theme: the place of poetry in a world seemingly inimical to it. To prove this thesis, however, Brooks and Hardy begin by main- taining that to Milton nature seems neutral, while the poet actually |. says_that_nature_mourns_iLycidas. || The archetypal version is the fifth type of “Lycidas”, -This theory isolates images which reflect agents of myth, especially of death and rebirth. The poem is not about King but about his archetype, iAd- onis, the rising and dying god. Mr. Abrams commented that. it’s rath- er a shock to discover that the poem is about someone who is not even mentioned in it, These five interpretations differ in essentials, and to combine them all would be incoherent. Mr. Ab- rams suggested going back to the text and reading with dogged lit- “eralism except where the—poem—is} obviously allegorical. His type of “Lycidas” is a dra- matic lyric, written for the public ceremonial on the occasion of King’s death, Milton’s attempt to Continued on Page 5, Col. 1 PIANO RECITAL A recital for two pianos will be given by Horace Alwyne, Professor Emeritus of Music, and Agi Jambor, Professor of Music, Friday, January 6, at 8:30 in Goodhart. Tickets may be secured from the Office of Pub- lic Information. Mrs. Pat Nicholson, “Shakespeare’s Women” In Life, Plays. “Shakespeare is a household word,” begam Mrs. Pat Nicholson, speaking on “Shakespeare’s Wom- en,” “yet how much do any of us really know about his life and his| work?” Mrs. Nicholson, a Shakespear- ean actress, who hails from Edin- burgh, addressed. an. appreciative: audience at» the Deanery, Decem- ber 2. Her talk, sponsored by the Friends of the Library, included background and comments on the bard and short readings from sev- eral of his plays. 2 “Today,” said Mrs, Nicholson, “women dominate the theatre from _ both sides of the footlights, but in the Elizabethan period no woman ever took a part in a» draina. Shakespeare had to depend on young boys to portray his women. Actress, Recreates could memorize them. She also spoke of the necessity of avoid- ing physical passion which might prove ludicrous or offensive. As an example of Shakespeare’s success with the latter problem, Mrs. (Nicholson. read the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, in which. the lovers never touch, but in which “the magic of the poetry is enough to.convince the audi- ence.” She also noted the small number of scenes in Antony and Cleopatra which the two lovers actually meet. ; Turning from the poet’s work to his personal life, Mrs. Nichol- son described the women who were closest to him and their possible effect upon his writing. She sug- gested that (Mary Arden Shakes- peare, his mother, who had never) | one.” Dramas by Brecht Force Re-evaluation Of Modern Society The “vigorous, enterprising, juicy” Berthold Brecht and his de- tached, cynical drama were the topics of Victor Lange’s lecture in Goodhart Common Room, Tuesday, November 29. Mr. Lange has stud- ied at Leipzig and Cornell and is now head of Princeton’s German Department, Brecht 1s currently one of Ger- many’s most popular playwrights, second only to Shakespeare, Schil- ler, and Goethe. (“No lecture on German literature can proceed for more than four minutes without mention of Goethe-’’) Anti-Aristotelian Creator of a “fresh idiom in drama” Brecht is the most influ- ential figure in the history of con- temporary literature. Best-describ- ed as anti-Aristotelian, Brecht aimed to detach audience and act- or from character by the use of a deliberately impersonal, blasé, didactic narrative. Brecht at- tempted to use the dramatic form to force the audience to re-evalu- ate itself in relation to society as a whole. In conventional dramatic thea- ter the audience reacts: “I’m just like this. This human’s suffering moves me.” Brecht’s audience should respond: “This is most sur- prising. This will have to stop. Nothing here seems inevitable. I’m laughing about those who weep, and—weeping—about—those—who laugh.” He sought to show the pa- thos of people in a mutable social situation, rather than the pathos of people as such, Political Dramatist Convinced of the mutability of society and disgusted with the evils of capitalism, Brecht used his didactic drama to advance Marxist socialism. What had once been Brecht’s “epic” style, now be- came his “dialectic.” “T address you like reality it- self,” he said, ‘tired of your diffi- culties, which you seem to be dis- regarding.” In his zeal use the drama as a scientific : od of effecting social change, Brecht even attempted to turn the Com- munist Manifesto into hexameter. De-romanticizing the theatre was Brecht’s first aim. In his “desire to chill”, Brecht decorated his theatre with anti-romantic slo- gans and posters which stated “we zannot help you, ourselves, or any- His love songs always are used for shock. In Jungle of Cit- ies, a grotesque series of tussles, two men fight to show how inter- esting a fight cam be. ot Audience -Deprivation Playwriting became for Brecht a form of demonstration. He de- liberately deprived the audience of the suspense of seeing how. the play would end by stating, the course the action would take at the beginning of each scene. The audience was thus free to concen- trate on the developing action. The plots and scenes themselves were not to be® complete, but should Russian Chorus Entertains As Highlight Of Weekend by Janice Copen The class of 1963 has been gaining a reputation for breaking tradi- tion. at Bryn Mawr. Last weekend the sophomores Proved “that innovations can work wre Having unsuccessfully attempted to put together a Maids’ and Porters’ Show, the class imported the Yale Russian Chorus to provide the main entertainment Saturday night, and to set the tone for the weekend, Friday evening began with enthusiastic support at a square dance in the gym. Traditional American dances were followed by folk dances from other nations. A group from Hillel Organization at Brooklyn College taught some Israeli dances. The international atmosphere was maintained at the Hoot in ‘Applebee Barn which followed the square dance. The high point of the weekend was, of course, the Yale Russian Chorus which performed Saturday evening in Goodhart. They’ sang a - Cochran Lectures On Culture’s Role In Economic Rates. “The fundamental problems of economic development are not economic,” Thomas ~C:~-Cochran; Professor of History at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, said in the Mallory ‘Whiting Webster Lec- ture on Monday evening, Novem- ber 28. Im his lecture entitled “Cultural Factors in Economic Growth,” Mr. Cochran proceeded to prove that cultural character- istics play an important role in the economic development of a nation. An example of the effect on ec- onomic growth of cultural factors is the importance of the family unit in Latin America. The fath- er generally takes his domestic ‘Tesponsibilities seriously, and often sacrifices his busifess to his fam- ily. There is also the Latin Amer- ican concept of individualism as “a unique inner quality, divorced from all exterior motives.” A United States entrepreneur usually has an impersonal confi- dence in his employees; a Latin American, however, finds it diffi- cult to view his staff objectively: He feels he cannot trust a man unless he knows -him personally. In addition, Latin Americans stress | _ the importance of personal dig- nity, and often avoid risky ven- tures for fear of personal humili- ation. Many Latim American business- es are managed inefficiently. The chief fails to delegate authority to his subordinates, and conse- quently has to make all the deci- sions himself, Mr. Cochran de- scribed the futile attempt of a United States efficiency expert to renovate the administrative system in a Buenos Aires factory. At the end of a year, the plant was in chaos. No one knew what to do with his newly delegated author- ity. “Engineers are doing shop work ... ” wrote the harassed efficiency expert. Latin American entrepreneurs often are not receptive to advanced technology. United States busi- nessmen, on the other hand, a quick to absorb new technique; Communication of ideas has\been an important .cause of economic growth in the United States. In concluding, (Mr. Cochran re- minded the audience that the pur- pose of his lecture was not to crit- icize Latim American business, but rather to show the influence of variety of Russian songs including the powerful hymn, “Praise the Name of the Lord,” the sweet and gently flowing “It is not the Wind that Bows the Branch,” and the quick and tongue-tripping ‘“Kal- inka.” Although many people: in the audience could not understand much more than the words to the ‘well known, “Song of the Volga Boatmen,” everyone appreciated the magnificent voices in the cho- rus and the enthusiasm with which the men sang. A special tribute should be given to the conductor who did an excellent job. Besides giving four encores at the performance, the chorus sang again at the dance, Tansoolka, which was held in the gym follow- ing the concert, The Brym Mawr Octangle and the Haverford Octet also performed. The River Road Seven from Bard College provided the dance music. pig. Rachel Brown and Angel Shrode, -sophomore—representatives—to—Un-— ae dergrad, organized the weekend. Judy Deutsch was in charge of tickets; Julie Heilman and Margie Hibberd did the publicity. Choruses to Sing, Do Carol Service; Minister to Speak ‘Members of the Bryn Mawr Col- lege Chorus and the Haverford College Glee Club and Instru- mental Ensemble will appear in a traditional pre-Christmas service sponsored by the Interfaith Asso- ciation, December 11 on Goodhart stage, The program will feature the Reverend Andrew Mutch, D.D., Minister Emeritus of the Brym Mawr Presbyterian Church, who will read the Christmas story. Led by Robert” Suderberg and William Reese, the musical groups will perform a number of selec- tions among which, according to Mr. Suderberg, the Ceremony of Carols is particularly worthy of attention. . The order of the service is: Brass Music Haverford Brass Ensemble A Ceremony of Carols s Benjamin Britten Members of Bryn Mawr College Chorus Soloists: Marian Willner, Contralto Anne Witman, Soprano Susan Goodman, Harp Brass Music Haverford Brass iii Christmas Cantata: In dulci jubilo Thus very. few of Shakespeare’s plays are carried by female char- acters.” The actress explained that fe- male roles had to be limited in length so that boys under fourteen | ® been very dear to him, appeared in the person of Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. She saw allusions to Shakespeare’s marriage with Ann Hathaway in the. sonnet “Let Me ‘Continued on Page 6, Col. 3- challenge the. saudience, In The Good Woman of S the end is not certain. The character challenges the audience, “There must be some good end that would fit. Good friends, let us look for $2”. . 2 ‘eultural characteristics on econ- omic growth. Mr, Cochran said that in recent years economists have done a great deal of research on the interrelation of cultural and Continued on Page 5, Col. 3 B. Ph. Telemann : Mixed Chorus, instruments Soloists: Shirley Van Cleef, Soprano Marian Willner, Contralto _. Mare Briod, Bass aR REEREEEE EER