Just Read ...CBSE CLASS 12 READING COMPREHENSION 7

 2. Read the passage and answer the questions given below: (10)

1. There is a clear dichotomy between Jayashankar Prasad’s daily life and the one that found expression in his literature. In his literary formulations, Prasad advocated an escape- from personality ideal and categorically stated: “An artist‟s art, and not his person, is the touchstone to assess his work . . . it is only after losing his personality that he emerges in his art as an artist”.

2. In Prasad‟s works – his poems, short stories, novels, dramas etc. – what emerges is life as shaped in the writer‟s inner self by his emotions, fancies, dreams, reveries . . . His writings are a record not of outer reality, but of the artist‟s inner world. As such, of a proper appreciation and understanding of his works more emphasis needs to be placed on the working of his mind, than the events of his dayto-day life.

3. Prasad was born in a renowned family of Varansi. His grand-father Shiv RatanSahu, a dealer in high-quality perfumed tobacco (snuff). Besides being an astute businessman, he was endowed with a marked cultural taste. His home was the meeting place of the local poets, singers, artists, scholars and men of religion. Prasad‟s father Devi Prasad Sahu carried forward this high tradition of family. Prasad, therefore, had a chance to study the various phases of human nature in the light of the business traditions, artistic taste and religious background of his family.

4. When the business had somewhat recovered, Prasad planned the publication of a literary journal. Prasad started the “Indu”. The inaugural number appeared in July 1909. By this time Prasad‟s notions of literature had crystalized into a credo. In the first issue of Indu, he proclaimed, Literature has no fixed aim; it is not slave to rules; it is free and all-embracing genius, gives birth to genuine literature which is subservient to none. Whatever in the world is true and beautiful is its subject matter. By dealing with the True and Beautiful it establishes the one and affects the full flowering of the others. Its force can be measured by the degree of pleasure it gives to the reader‟s mind as also by criticism which is free of all prejudice”. The words sound like the manifesto of romanticism in literature.

5. Even while recognizing the social relevance of literature, Prasad insisted, “The poet is a creator he is not conditioned by his milieu; rather it is he who moulds it and gives it a new shape; he conjures up a new world of beauty where the reader for the time being, becomes oblivious of the outer world and passes his time in an eternal spring garden where golden lotuses blossom and the air is thick and pollen”. Thus, the chief aim of literature according to Prasad is to give joy to the reader and to create a state of bliss in him. Later under the impact of Shaivadvaitism, this faith of Prasad got further strengthened. (word length- 490)

 (Extract from ‘Jayashankar Prasad- His mind and Art’ by Dr. Nagendra)

2.1 On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, make notes on it using headings and subheadings. Use recognizable abbreviations (wherever necessary-minimum four) and a format you consider suitable. Also supply an appropriate title to it. (5)

 2.2 Write a summary of the passage in about 100 words. (5)

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