Introduction to Poetry
Poetry: is a literary work in
metrical form or patterned language. It is the art or rhythmical composition,
written or spoken. It is designed to produce pleasure. Poetry is felt then to
be produced.
Types of
Poetry
1. Narrative
poetry.
2. Descriptive
poetry.
3. Reflective
poetry.
4. Lyric.
5. Sonnet.
The
Sonnet: is
a poem of fourteen (14) lines. It is divided in to two parts; the first part is
the first eight lines called octave, where as the second part is the last six
lines called the sestet.
e.g.: “Death be not proud”
by: John
Donne.
Type of Sonnets:
1. The
Petrarchain Sonnet.
2. The
Shakespearean Sonnet.
3. The Miltonic Sonnet.
Poetic Devices
Poetic devices can be classified into two types: meaning
devices and sound devices.
1. Meaning devices:
It can also be subdivided in
to the following:
1.
Simile: A
direct comparison of two completely different objects, using like or as but
there is one common aspect between them.
2.
Metaphor:
An implied comparison between two totally different objects, yet there is an
aspect of similarity between them.
3.
Extended metaphor: a metaphor which covers a whole poem or a great part of it. Sir.
Thomas Waytt's "Hind" contain an extended metaphor, with the hunter
representing the passionate poet and the deer representing his beloved.
4.
Conceit: a
far-fetched comparison between very dissimilar things. It usually involves
intellectual cleverness. In "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"
Donne compares his soul and that of his love to the two legs of a compass used
to make a circle.
5.
Synecdoche:
a figure of speech in which part of something is used to signify the whole and
it refers to the whole used to signify the part. As in "hired hands"
6.
Personification: to give animals, ideas and inanimate object human quality. In
"The Chariot" Emily Dickenson compares death to a groom who comes to
take her on her wedding night.
Because I could not stop for death
He kindly stopped for me
7.
Apostrophe:
an address to an absent person, an abstract concept, or an inanimate object
directly. In "Go Lovely Rose" Edmund Waller talks directly to a rose
and asks it to be his messenger to his lady.
8.
Paradox: a
metaphorical statement of seeming self-contradiction. Yet it implies a logical
meaning. In "Althea From Prison" Richard Lovelace challenges
authority with his own concept of freedom.
Stone walls do not a prison
make,
Nor iron bars a cage
9.
Oxymoron: a
paradoxical statement that combines two terms that are normally opposite.
Surrey describes beauty of a lady as a "bitter sweet".
10.
pun: a play
in words which suggest more than possible meaning. "Shake, thou shake the
world" the first "shake" refers to Shakespeare in brief, while
the second hold is dictionary meaning.
11.
Irony: the
term used to describe a contrast between what appears to be and what really is.
Andrew Marvell ironies his lady's stubborn attitude in the following way:
The grave's fin private
place,
But none. I think, do there
embrace
12.
Symbol:
something relatively concrete, such as object, action, character, or scene
which refers to something relatively abstract. A word "flag" refers
sovereignty, all colors signify symbolic implications.
13.
Image: an
idea, a concept, or experience is presented concretely in a series of lines of
verse.
Drink to me only with thine
eyes
And I will pledge with mine
Or leave a kiss but in the
cup
And I'll not look for wine
Ben Jonson has embodies his concept of
spiritual in his concrete image which uses looks into eyes and kisses through a
cup.
14.
Hyperbole:
a metaphorical statement which involves great exaggeration, whose effect may be
serious or comic. Andrew Marvel's description of his "vegetable love"
in "To His Coy Mistress".
15.
Allusion: a
brief indirect reference to a person, event, or place, real or fictitious, or
to a work of art. Seal of Prophets refers to prophets Muhammad, the shepherd
signals to prophet Moses. Mother of battles (war in the Gulf against U.S.A),
the crucified prophet Jesus Christ.
16.
Antithesis:
a contrast or opposition in meaning, emphasized by a parallel in grammatical
structure.
A
tongue of honey, a heart of gall
There is honey in the tongue, but bitterness of heart.
17.
Zeugma: a
verb which has a grammatical connection with more than one object, each of
which suggest a different meaning
"Go Lovely
Rose"
Tell her that wastes her
time and me
V. O.1 O.2
Edmund Waller starts a
grammatical with two object. In each, the verb "wastes" suggests a
different meaning. In the first, it means spends her time foolishly, while in
the second, it gives the meaning of "torture me".
2. Sound Devices
1.
Alliteration:
the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or within words,
particularly in accented syllables. It can be used to reinforce meaning. Unity
thought or simply for musical effect.
2.
Assonance:
the repetition of similar vowel sound followed by different consonant sound in
stressed syllables or words. It is often used instead of rhyme.
3.
Repetition:
to repeat a word or phrase in a line of verse or a line is repeated in a poem
in order to achieve emphasis or musical effect or merely wordiness.
4.
Onomatopoeia:
Imitation of the sound of words spoken. Some single words in which sound
suggests meaning.
5.
Caesura: a
pause usually near the middle in a line of verse. It can be indicated by a
punctuation mark.
6. Refrain: the repetition of one or more lines in each
stanza of a poem.
Sixteenth Century of Poetry 1558-1603
This period covers many men of letter and especially in poetry; there
are some poets who are well known, some of them are
1.
Sir. Thomas Wyatt
2.
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
3.
Edmund Spenser.
4.
Sir. Philip Sidney.
5.
Sir Walter Ralegh.
6.
William Shakespeare.
7.
Christopher Marlowe.
8.
Thomas Campion.
1.
Thomas Wyatt was the first one who introduced
the sonnet to England from Petrarch (Italy). Its main structural division is
(octave and sestet), (abba, abba, cde, cde).
2.
Eral of Surrey modified the Italian scheme as
(abab, cdcd, efef, gg). It is also called Shakespearian.
3.
Sir. Philip Sidney: he is also experimenter
in the English sonnet, he was famous (Terza Rima), (abba, abba, cdc, dee).
4.
Spenser: used the modified English form
following the division (abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee).
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