Which of the following are applicable to the term ‘Carnival’?
[A] It became important through the work of the Russian theorist Mikhail Bakhtin.
[B] It means the way in which popular humour subverts official authority in classical, medieval and renaissance texts and culture.
[C] It overturns the established hierarchy and sets up a popular and democratic counterculture.
[D] It brings out the serious elements in literature.
[E] It is used as a critical tool for interpretation of poetry.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

The correct answer is A, B and C only.

To understand why these statements are applicable to the term 'Carnival' (often referred to as the carnivalesque in literary theory), let us break down each statement step-by-step:

Statement [A]: It became important through the work of the Russian theorist Mikhail Bakhtin.
This statement is correct. The concept of the carnivalesque was systematically developed and popularized by the prominent Russian literary theorist and philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin, most notably in his landmark 1965 book, Rabelais and His World. Bakhtin used the cultural tradition of the carnival as a framework to analyze literature and social discourse.

Statement [B]: It means the way in which popular humour subverts official authority in classical, medieval and renaissance texts and culture.
This statement is correct. Bakhtin defined carnival as a social institution and a literary mode where popular humor, folk culture, and laughter act as powerful tools to mock, challenge, and subvert the serious, dogmatic, and rigid structures of official religious and feudal authority during the medieval and Renaissance periods.

Statement [C]: It overturns the established hierarchy and sets up a popular and democratic counterculture.
This statement is correct. During the carnival, normal social rules, hierarchies, and ranks are temporarily suspended. Peasants could mock kings, and the sacred was profaned. This suspension creates a temporary, liberating, and democratic counterculture where all individuals participate on an equal footing, defying traditional class divisions.

Why Statements [D] and [E] are incorrect:
- Statement [D] is incorrect because carnival focuses primarily on liberating laughter, bodily excesses, parody, and the comic subversion of authority, rather than emphasizing or bringing out the serious elements of literature.
- Statement [E] is incorrect because, while the concept can be applied broadly, it is not specifically defined as or limited to a critical tool for the interpretation of poetry; instead, Bakhtin formulated it primarily in relation to prose, culture, and the development of the novel (such as the works of François Rabelais).