Active reading, Lakshyartha and metaphor (A Study on the Poetry of Anuradha Nilmini, Nadun Yasitha Dasanayake and Lakshantha Athukorala)

Abstract

The relationship between the writer and the reader, is formed through the creation of meaning in a literary work. Criticizing poetic creations with special attention to the creation of meaning is a special feature of both Eastern and Western literary criticism. Wijayawardena (1967) who is engaged in an analysis of the various criticisms used for the criticism of Sanskrit literature, based on the ideas of Anandawardena's Dhvanyaloka, affirms the importance of the generation of meaning in the generation of rasa, which is the ultimate result of a literary work. Wijayawardena, who further shows the relationship between rasa and dhvani, also commented on the emergence of the meanings of Vachya, Lakshya and Vyangya respectively from the association of Abhidha, Lakshya and Vyanjana, which are the means of creating meaning. Citing the views of modern critics such as Stephen Dobbins, Ted Cohen and Edward Hirsch in his new work, Amarakirti (2016), highlights the importance of metaphor in modern Western literary criticism, emphasizing how much it influences the reader for active reading. It is the acceptance of Sanskrit poetic criticism that metaphor is an outgrowth of meaning. Accordingly, it is allowed to construct the hypothesis that the literary work user or friend is also used in building a relationship with the poetry. In a quantitative study of modern Sinhala literary criticism, this birth is more important because it appears that the modern Sinhala literary critic is motivated to consider the metaphor as a mere poetic expression, even if he only focuses on the literal and figurative meaning, but does not pay attention to the purpose. In this study, this hypothesis is researched through the poetic works of Lakshantha Athukorala, Nadun Yasitha Dasanayake and Anuradha Nilmini, who are notable poets of modern Sinhala literature. In selecting these poets the researcher was influenced with his personal preference as well as the fact that their work have been awarded during last decade. The research problem was to investigate how these writers have used metaphors to bring out the meaning in order to encourage the readership to actively enjoy the poetry, and the aim of the research was to confirm that modern poets not only use metaphors but also the creation of meaning through active readership. To collect data, the library and the internet were used through the qualitative research method and it was analyzed using the descriptive method.