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THE ELEVTENTS OF POETRY
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A.
Narrative: .a.recording.of events, someurnes bnef, somerimes long; is iughly
objecuve, rold by a speaker deuched from rhe achon.
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fusroncai hero or henres of high surJon.
Conventions of the epic:
a.
Poet begns by announcing the theme, invoking the aid of a muse, and
askrng her an epic quesrion, wirh rhe reply ro which the story begiru.
b. He iaunches his action in medias res, in the middle of rlLings.
c. The action concerns a hero, a man of smture and sigruficance, who
performs many notable deeds.
d. There are usually great battles in which the gods themselves rake perr.
e. The poet adopts a style, dignified, elaborate and exalted, suiuble ro his
theme.
Types
of
epics:
a. Classicgl$icr
has a dignified style, a background
of warfare and good,
nerolc events.
H ome
b.
r, f hcJJied,
Th e O dy s s qt
Literarv or AEiificial Fpic:
the epic sryle is used
*'irh later or different
materiais.
John Miltan, P_aradise Lnsr
c"
National, or Folk Eoic: expresses the ideals, characrer, and radicions of
a people.
Beowulf
d.
Mock F.pic: a trivial subject is made ridiculous by being neared wirh rhe
elaborate and dignified devices of the epic.
Alexander Pope,"Rape of the Lock"
2.
B.allad: a narrative poem, usually simple and fairly short, originally designed
ro be sungJohn Keau, "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
Characteristics of the ballad:
a.
BailaG ixg:n abnrptly, imply the prevrous action, utilize simpie language,
tell the storlv tersely through dialogue and described acnon, and make use of
refrains.
b.
The ballad sranza is tpicaltry a qrun-ain of alcrnaung tetrarneer and rrimeter
lines rhvmrne abcb.
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D.
Lvric;
a subjecrive, reflecrive poem expressrng the thoughrs and especially the
feeiings of a singie speaker. has a reguiar rhyme scheme.
Matthew Arrnld, "Dover Beach"
I
.
Song: a poem in a regular metrical pattern designed to be sung.
Shakespearc, "BIow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind"
Elerv: a dignified
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poem mourning rhe death of an indivrdual or of all men.
Thonas Groy, "Elegy Written in a Countrt- Churclryard"
C)de: a ly-ic poem of some iengrh, serious in subject and digniFred in sryle;
poem prarsing someone or something.
a
John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
a verse form containing fourteen iines, in English usually iambic
pentameter, md a complicated rhyme scheme.
Sonnet:
Types
a.
of
Petrarchan fltalian) Sonnetl an ocuve and sestet, beween which a
break in thought occurs. The tradirional rhyme scheme is abba abba cde
cde (or, in the sestet, cd cd cd or any vanarion of c, d, e). The ocuve
contains the problem, question, or theme, and the sestet presems ar answer,
a commenl, or a proposidon. An expression of indignation, desire, or
doubt may occur in the opening lines which will be resoived in the sestet.
John
b.
Sonnets:
Milan, "On His Blind,ess"
Shakespeafean fFnglish) So[nqt: *ree quatrains and concluding
coupiet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg or abba cddc effe gg. Each
quau-arn develops a differenr aspect of the subject, and *re coupiet makes
final comrrent,
a
Willil;,rn SWespeare, "Shall I Compare Thce?"
C
f)escriptive: an imper:onal word painring. A trrrly descripdve poem is objective;
rhar is, the poei is mre intercsted in depicdng a scene than in his own efirotions.
Scou. "A Sumner Storm"
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flramatic:
includes cornedies, tragedies, farces; narrative but tells a story by
Ineans of speech and acnon.
E.
Special Kinds of E$ems:
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.
a poem consrsting of the words of a single character,
who reveels in tus speech his own nanre and the dramaric siruanon. It
reveals place, dme, and idendties of the characters, and discloses the
psychology of the speaker at a significant moment. The speaker addresses a
lisrcner who does not engage in dialogue but who helps to develop the speech,
Dramatic Monologu.e:
Roben Browning, "My [.a,st Duchess"
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