Lit-in-English

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WEEK 1

 

POETRY:

 

TYPES AND ELEMENTS

  

Poetry is the use of words and language to evoke a writer’s feelings and thoughts. It is also a writer’s work in which the expression of feelings and idea is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm. A poem is the arrangement of these words.

 

TYPES OF POEM

 There are various types of poem. The difference between each type of poem is based on format, rhyme scheme and subject matter.

 

 1.     Ballad: A ballad is a folk or traditional poem that is meant to be sung. It has to do with events of great occurrence like love, adventure, legend, war etc.

Example:

 

                         … As you came from a Holy land,

 

                             Met you not with my true love,

 

                             By the way as you came?

 

 

                             How shall I know your true love?

 

                             That has met many one,

 

                             As I went to the Holy Land,

 

                             That has come that has gone.....?

 

 

 2.     Elegy: This is a poem that expresses lament or grief, often over the death of a loved one. This makes it popular for funerals. Some elegies are not only to be read out aloud; they can be put to music and be sung.

 Example:

 

 

 

                   Strong son of God, immortal love,

 

                   Whom we that have not seen thy face,

 

                   By faith and faith alone embrace,

 

                   Believing where we cannot prove

 

 

 

                  

 

                   Thine are these orbs of light and shade

 

                   Thou maddest life in man and brute

 

                   Thou maddest death and lo, thy foot

 

                   Is on the skull which thou have made...

 

 

 3.     Epic: Epic poem is one of the longest types of poem. It is a narrative poem which tells a story of a mythical warrior and great things that he accomplished in his journey.

 

Example:

 

 

                   He who has seen everything,

 

                   I will make known to the lands

 

                   I will teach about him who experienced all things alike

 

                   The gods granted him the totality of knowledge of all.

 

                  

 

                   He saw the secret, discovered the hidden.

 

                   He brought information about the flood.

 

                   He went on a distance journey, pushing himself to exhaustion,

 

                   But then was brought to peace.

 

                   He carved on a stone

 

                   He built the walls of Uruk-Haven…..

  4.     Sonnet: Sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines. It is arrange in iambic pentameter, that is five foot lines. A sonnet is known for its special rhyme scheme. There are two types of sonnet:

 

a.      Italian or Petrarchan sonnet- The Italian sonnet contains fourteen lines that are divided into two groups of eight and six lines. The rhyme scheme for octave is abba abba, whereas sestet has cde cde.

  

b.     Shakespearean sonnet- The Shakespearean sonnet can be referred to as English sonnet. It has three quatrains and one couplet with a rhyme scheme of ab ab, cd cd, ef ef, gg.

 

 

 5.     Romance:  This is a kind of poem that is imbued with sense of love, sentiment and excitement. The essence of romance poem for entertainment.

 

 6.     Satire: This type of poem ridicules the foolish action of a person, society or even an institution. It is didactic in nature in that it is only designed                                              to teach and correct but in a mocking process.

 

 

 

ELEMENTS OF POETRY

 

 1. Diction: This refers to the choice of words of the poet to convey his ideas. The poet should use imagery to convey ideas.

 

2. Rhyme: Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds. In poetry, the most common kind of rhyme is the end rhyme, which occurs at the end of two or more lines.

 

Example:

 

                             I saw a fairy in the wood   (a)

 

                                        He was dressed all in green (b)

 

                              He drew his sword while I just stood (a)

 

                              And realized I’d been seen. (b)

 

The rhyming scheme of the poem is abab.

 

 

 

3.     Rhythm / Meter:  Rhythm refers to the overall tempo or pace, at which the poem unfold while meter refers to the measured beat established by patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.

 

4.     Theme: This is the subject matter of the poem. It could be seen as the underlying message which the poet wants everyone to know.

 

5.     Tone: This is what the poet expresses his attitude towards the subject matter and his audience. Tone can be high, low or moderate.

 

6.     Mood: It is the mindset of the poet .The poet can be in a happy, angry, or bad mood depending on the nature of the poem he is writing.

 

 

 

  

WEEK 2

 

POETIC DEVICES

 There are tons of poetic devices in Literature, it would be nearly impossible to list all of them. The frequently used poetic devices are:

 

1.     Alliteration: This is the repetition of a sound at the end of multiple words in a series. Eg. Flourishing Flower...Grace to grace…

 

2.     Allusion: It is an indirect reference to something else different from what you are saying.

 

3.     Apostrophe: It is a poetic device where the writer addresses a person or thing that is not present using the exclamation mark.

 

To a Stranger Born in Some Distance Country

 

O stranger of the future!

 

O inconceivable being,

 

Whatever the shape of your house,

 

No matter how strange or colorless the clothes you may wear,

 

I bet no body there likes a wet dog,

 

Bet I everybody in your pub,

 

Even the children pushes her away…by Billy Collins.

 

4.     Assonance: This is the repetition of vowel or diphthong sound in one or more words found close together. E.g. I saw a dead devil …(e) sound is significant.

 

5.     Enjambment: an enjambment is the continuation of a sentence beyond a line break, couplet or stanza without an expected pause.

 

What happen to a dream deferred?

 

Does it dry up

 

Like a rising in the sun?

 

Or fester like a sore

 

And then run

 

Maybe it just sags

 

Like a heavy load.

 

6.     Metaphor: A metaphor is when a writer compares one thing to another.    E.g. she has a heart of stone.

 

7.     Repetition: The process of repeating certain words or phrases in a line of poem.

 

E.g…Do not go gentle into the good night,

 

         Old age should burn and rave at close of day?

 

         Rage, rage against the dying of the light,

 

         Do not go gentle into the good night.

 

8.     Rhetorical Question:  rhetorical question is a question asked to make a point rather than in expectation of an answer. E.g. Oh! death why?

 

9.     Personification :Endowing inanimate objects with human traits. E.g. the sky is pregnant…

 

10.  Simile: the comparison of two words with ‘like and as.’ E.g. she is as beautiful as a queen.