Walter Pater

[Music] You. Welcome to EPG Pachala. I am Dr. Neera Tanden from the Department of English, VS St. College, Kanpur. We are discussing Paper 3rd, 19th Century English Literature. And this paper on Walter Pater has been written by Dr. Bina Agarwal.

Walter Pater is basically known for his concept of art for art's sake. His views on art, painting, his views on narration are important and guided many to work in this particular field. Walter Pater, who is acknowledged as a prominent art critic, was a fellow of Brasenose. His complete name was Walter Horatio Pater. He was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The grandparents of Pater migrated to America, where Richard Pater, father of Walter Pater, was born. Subsequently, Richard Pater returned to England and settled at Shedwell as a doctor of Shedwell, where Walter Pater was born in the year 1839.

In his school life, he earned the reputation of being a very coy and a sober boy. He was devoted towards his studies of art and religion. He studied German philosophy and literature. In 1865, when he visited Italy, Pisa and Florence opened the windows for Italian art and culture for himself. There he learned the great Italian artists of the Renaissance with serious speculations on art and literature. He started contributing to the Fortnightly Magazine, edited by John Morley. In 1873, came out his collective essays in one volume, titled Studies in the History of the Renaissance. As a literary artist, Pater got exceptional reputation as an art critic. Oliver Elton, in a celebrated study, A Survey of English Literature, comments, "In approaching the Renaissance, Pater does not claim to do the work of excavation or the professional expert. Some errors of detail in cognisance have been found in his book. Nor does he try, like the orderly historian, to show the whole story in perspective. However, in his absence of perfection lie the seeds of his originality and sensibility."

Peter, as a leader of the Aesthetic Movement, supported Flaubert's doctrine, art for art's sake. Before we continue with Pater and his theory of art, let us understand two things very clearly. The first is Renaissance, and the second is his concept of art for art's sake. When we talk about Renaissance in literature, we should take it for granted that Renaissance is the rebirth, Renaissance is the reawakening, Renaissance is the remodeling. So whenever in Pater's work you come across Renaissance in literature, try to take it from that angle. Then, just understand the concept of art for art's sake. You know that there are two dictums: art for art's sake and art for society's sake or art for morality's sake.

I will try to make you understand these two dictums by an example. For example, just take a rose. If you appreciate the rose for its beauty, just as a flower, it is art for art's sake. On the other hand, if you appreciate and desire the rose because you can have rose water, you can make Gulkand, or you can use it for various other purposes, then this is not art for art's sake. Rather, it is art for some other thing, some other value, and it is known as art for society's sake. Like Charles Dickens, he used this dictum. He never believed in art for art's sake. He used this as art for society's sake. For him, novel was just a vehicle to reform the society. He wanted to purge the evils of the society through his literature. So he always stood for art for morality's sake. He was a preacher and he used to tell things to readers through his literature.

Walter Pater, on the other hand, is just the opposite. He always believed in art for art's sake. He believed that art itself is sufficient if it conveys that beauty. Here you can compare him with John Keats, who said, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all you know and all you need to know." So Walter Pater also believed in this dictum. His well-known collection of critical essays, entitled Appreciations, came out in the year 1889. In the year 18095, Dr. Shadwell published certain scattered essays under the title Miscellaneous Studies. Besides his critical essays, Pater gave a new direction to English literary prose with the contents of Imaginary Portraits in 1893. Pater produced Plato and Platonism. Pater considers this volume as the greatest contribution to literature. He said, "If there is anything of mine which has a chance of surviving, I should say it was my Plato."

Pater composed an essay on the metaphysics of Coleridge, titled Coleridge's Writings, contributed to the Westminster Review in the year 1866. In the poems of William Morris, Walter Pater expresses his admiration for Romanticism. His well-known essays, Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, and Michelangelo, appeared in the Fortnightly Review. His other essays on art and literature came in the collected volume, Studies in the History of the Renaissance, and it subsequently came out in the form of The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry. The essay entitled "The School of Giorgione" appeared in the Fortnightly Review, contains Pater's well-known maxim, "All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music." The final paragraph of the 1868 William Morris essay was reworked as the book's conclusion.

Peter's style is highly polished and appropriate to express delicate meanings. Still, it has been criticized for being slow and over-effeminate. Sometimes the thoughts are so complex that they go beyond the power of comprehension. Peter's vision of beauty, that is an important aspect to understand Peter. As you know that when we just try to understand the writer's vision of beauty, like Wordsworth when he said, "Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder." It depends upon one, the way he wants to look at that particular thing, what are his expectations from that particular thing or person. Only then one can decide that whether that particular thing is beautiful or not, because beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. One thing that is beautiful for one person may not be that beautiful for the other person. So what was Walter Pater's concept of beauty?

There are various things to understand in this regard. Beauty is the gift of God. Art elates human spirit. Artists must capture the inner life of things. Intellectual Epicureanism. Artists must recommend beauty. Beauty is identical to truth. Consciousness of beauty in all things. Art must appeal to imagination. Two things are there to be noted. One, that beauty is identical to truth. Whatever Pater said, it is not that new, because already Keats has profounded that "Beauty is truth and truth beauty." So when Pater says this, how different he is from Keats, that is to be confirmed. Another thing, art must appeal to imagination. This point needs elaboration because this imagination portion has been discussed widely by Coleridge as well. When Coleridge talks about imagination and fancy in detail, then what new Pater has added to it, that is to be seen.

Peter's idea of intellectual Epicureanism admits the following facts: the real experience should be the end of art without caring for its fruits. It suggests that art is meant for pleasure and is beyond the domain of utility. The ecstasy of pleasure determines the greatness of art. Now, you just see Pater's point of view that art is there for art's sake. Art is not there for utility's sake. Art is not there for society's sake. Art is not there for morality's sake. The utility of art is art itself, because it is a thing of beauty, whether it is literature, whether it is painting, or any art form. So Pater's view is absolutely clear that we should not expect any purpose, any utility, anything to be solved through discussing work of art. It is the purpose and duty of an artist's life to test and to recommend what is most beautiful. The short span of time given by God must be devoted to accumulate art and literature. Art comes to us nothing but the highest quality to our commenced a path and simply for these moments' sake. They are individual differences in the spiritual experiences of every person. However, what is beautiful will appeal to us all. Only when beauty is identical with truth.

Here Pater tells you about a different kind of beauty and its concept. He says that beauty may appeal to different persons in different ways, but when beauty is truth, it will appeal to all without any difference. All instruments of life which quickens us with the consciousness of beauty in all things, the greatest and the most refined are art and literature. He admits, "To treat life in the spirit of art is to make life a thing in which means an end are identified. To encourage such treatment is the true and moral significance of art and poetry."

For Walter Pater, literature and art are not merely a part of life, but they seem to become the whole of life. He wanted to convey that there is no part in life which you can just stay away from literature or from art. One way or the other, art and literature are just admixed with your life. Pater, in elaborating the concept of art, emphasizes three qualities of literature: the matter, the manner, and the quality of giving pleasure. As per him, to test any piece of literature, these three things are very important. The manner in which it has been written, like the style; the matter, it means the content, what writer wants to convey; and the third thing is the pleasure it is attributed to the readers or to the onlookers. The term matter denotes the quality of containing thought. The manner refers to the quality of communicating thoughts. And the power of a work of art, it must appeal to our imagination to make the poetic truth more convincing.

Now, one essay by him, the book by him, Studies in the History of the Renaissance. There are certain important points: that the three essays, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Sandro Botticelli, came in History of Renaissance. Concept of intellectual excitement or desire for beauty is there. It reconstructs lives and works of French, Italian, and German painters. Emphasis on the impressions on the work of art was given. Reconciliation of Christianity with the religion of ancient Greek. Concept of women sentiments. The Renaissance considered as the monumental work of Pater's artistic vision, came out as a result of his wide study and teaching at Oxford, along with the formative visits to the continent. In the essay Leonardo da Vinci, he expresses his views on Leonardo's famous painting Mona Lisa. Through the essay, he tried to establish the elegance of the art of the painters in the Renaissance. Pater promotes impressionistic theory of art. He tries to establish that it is the responsibility of aesthetic critic to realize and to pour out the distinctive impressions of a work of art.

Now, what do we mean by impressionistic theory of art? Impressionistic theory creates a different impression. Art has got a vision, and that vision is being conveyed. Art is not an appreciation of the object only, but the realization of beauty, because appreciation can be biased, but realization of beauty is based on truth. He says, "The task of aesthetic critic is first to realize distinctly the exact impression that a work of art makes upon him, then to determine the source and conditions, the virtue of that impression, and finally express that virtue so that the impression it has made on him may be shared by others." That is the example of his impressionistic theory of art. In his another work, Preface, he has discussed realization of beauty is an absolute phenomenon. Beauty is related to human experiences.

Now, what he wants to say by this, that beauty is related to human experiences? That when we find anything beautiful, certainly it depends how we interacted with that particular thing. Whether our experience is good or bad. If anything that pains us, that gives us problems, the experience is bad, then that is not beautiful for us. The character of beauty is beyond theoretical framework. One can only feel it, cannot theorize it. Appreciate the various dimensions of beauty. Beauty is not just for your eyes. Beauty is to be felt. Beauty is to realize through all your senses. Reality depends not on the experiences, but on impressions. Once you experience something, then it leaves an impression upon your mind, and that impression decides whether it is beautiful or not. Like poetry, according to Wordsworth, is "emotions recollected in tranquility." What is it? It is the impression left on your mind that you just recollect when you are sitting quietly in tranquility. Same is the case with beauty, according to Walter Pater.

Let's discuss Walter's views on art. According to him, the major points are: estimate the effect of the work of art. Art is beyond the domain of logic, just like God. You cannot logically define God. You cannot just logically define his presence. You cannot see him, but you can realize, you can have faith in him. In the same way, art is beyond the domain of logic. Aesthetic criticism defines the sources and impressions of beauty. Artist is the track, the principle of beauty. Art and philosophy move in one circle. Art shares the totality of human experience. Fundamental unity in all forms of art are there. And most importantly, art generates human sympathy. Walter Pater wants to convey that this human sympathy means art should be for the welfare of the human being, human generation.

The key concepts are that critics have made efforts to find out a universal formula to define the nature of beauty in the abstract. The term beauty is a relative concept, related to the nature of human experiences. Beauty can be defined not in its abstract form, but in its concrete form. An aesthetic critic is expected to convey strong impressions instead of getting himself lost in the dilemma of the analysis and metaphysics. In aesthetic criticism, reality is estimated in terms of one's own impression. Now, the impressions created upon other people cannot make you feel that experience. In this case, everybody's experience is personal. The various objects that come under the canopy of the aesthetic criticism, including poetry, music, accomplished forms of human life, are the manifestations of various forces. All the works of art or the forces of nature producing pleasurable sensations are unique of its own kind. An art critic must be gifted by the power of being moved by the presence of beautiful objects. He wants to say that you must have got a heart to praise beauty. A hard-hearted man cannot claim that he is an art critic. A man of genius may produce a mass of verses, but it is not essential that every part might be beautiful. What he says that if you are witty enough, then you can create poems, you can create rhythmic lines, but it is not necessary that the real beauty lies in that academically intelligently conducted verses.

In the conclusion, he said, "The document exposes various dimensions of Pater's critical perceptions. Art moves in inconstant mode. In constant movement is the tradition of modern thoughts. Principles of physical life determines human will." Why this inconstancy? It's there. Inconstant again and again, Walter repeats, why? Because whatever is beautiful is going to be changed. That change is the eternal thing that is permanent. This thing is not constant because it is not designed or defined in a particular way. The conclusion of these Studies in the History of Renaissance is a significant document of Pater to expose the various dimensions of his critical perceptions. People are no longer moving in the direction of universal principles. To justify his points of view, he goes on illustrating the fundamental principles of physical life operating on human desires.

The main points of Pater's concept of physical life and art are that physical life is a combination of natural elements. Combination determines movement. Idea of coordination, like organic unity. Action also moves in a system. Isolation is restricted. No independent motion of elements is there. Constant motion of different elements can be seen. Senses are governed by elementary forces. Physical actions are a design in web. Inward thoughts are more rapid. Inward action moves with greater force. Inward actions seek outward expression. Internal actions are acute and intense. Inward thoughts are rays of mid-stream. So this differentiation between inward and outward expressions is to be considered.

Walter Pater continues that philosophy, religion, culture, and art, they perform identical functions in the life of human beings. These are the arenas of learning that enhances the capacity of sharp and unusual observations. However, there are widespread variations of the intensity of movement and sensation to determine the conditions of the experience. Peter's idea of experience takes in two different spheres. An observation draft to the narrow chamber of the individual mind. Impressions lead to strong reactions as well. Impressions are individual and unique, person to person, they are different. Impressions and conditions of time affect your concept. Flux of impressions share unexpressed imagination.

On the function of art, Peter spoke that art essentially influences human life. Art is compared with religion. Art is compared with philosophy. Art is compared with culture. Art enhances the capacity of unusual observations in the construction of experience. Is the end of process? Peter's idea of theory or canons is also important for considering his concept of art. He said that no space for canon formation in a state of excitement. Experience is the primal ground. Wise men past has free time in artistic activities. Artistic experience induces enthusiasm for humanity.

Now, it's a very beautiful concept. What Pater rightly defined intellectual excitement, how it helps in filling the intervals of human life. He said, "Experience leads to excitement, excitement leads to pleasure, and pleasure leads to response, and finally response shapes the creation and intervals filled with high passion." So experience, excitement, response, all are very connected. They are connected with pleasure, they are connected with creation. So experience, once again, I repeat, experience, it leads to excitement, and excitement just connects with pleasure, and pleasure determines the response, and response ultimately is responsible for creation. "Great passions may give us a quickened sense of life, ecstasy and sorrow of love, the various forms of enthusiastic activity, disinterested or otherwise, which comes naturally to many of us. Only be sure it is passion that does yield you the fruit of a quickened, multiplied consciousness of such wisdom. The poetic passion, the desire of beauty, the love of art for its own sake, has most for art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass and simply for those moments' sake."

To sum up, I will just say that understanding Walter Pater is understanding beauty. If you can understand Keats's concept of "truth is beauty, beauty's truth," in the same way, when Walter Pater expresses his point of view and says that the concept of beauty may be different for everyone, but the object of beauty, if it is imbibed with truth, if it is admixed with truth, then it is same for everyone, then this will appear beautiful to everyone. He also stressed on importance of expression and impression. He also told you about the work of art that will be beautiful and the concept of beauty should be art for art's sake, not for utility's sake, not for society's sake, not for morality's sake. To understand art for art's sake, it is essential that you should not have any kind of expectations either in the worldly sense or in any other way. Art itself is sufficient to give you pleasure, and that pleasure is the ultimate goal of art. I told you through the example of a rose that if you praise the rose just for its beauty, it is art for art's sake. If you praise the rose because you can get rose water or Gulkand out of it, then it is art for utility's sake. That is not at all advocated by Walter Pater. So read Walter Pater to enhance your concept of art and beauty. Thank you for visiting EPG Pata Shala.