Download The Genre of Poetry

The Genre of Poetry
Introduction to Literature
Poetry vs. Prose
• What distinguishes poetry from prose?
– It’s rhymed? Only sometimes…
– It’s about love? Only sometimes…
– It’s difficult to understand? Usually (but, then again, prose can be, too…)
• While there are many ways that poetry and prose can differ, these are the
major ones:
– Poetry places as much importance on the sound, style, and shape of the message as
the message itself.
– Poetry is less concerned with creating a story, defining characters, or establishing a
setting than creating a mood or leaving an impression.
– Because poetry is often shorter and more condensed than prose, interpreting it
requires the audience to “read between the lines” and consider multiple meanings.
Meter
• In poetry, meter refers to how we measure a line or lines of poetry. It can be:
– Syllabic: Measured according to the number of syllables per word
– Accentual: Measured according to the number of accented, or stressed, syllables
– Accentual-syllabic: Measured according to the combination of stressed and
unstressed syllables
• Most common in traditional, form poetry
• When we are measuring the length and rhythm of a poem’s line(s), we are
engaging in a process called scansion.
• Knowledge of poetic forms, rhythms, and scansion is called prosody.
Sometimes we refer to a particular poet’s “style” with this term.
– Ex. Robert Frost’s prosody
Scansion
• Stressed Syllable:
• Unstressed Syllable:
́ or ̄
˘́
• Feet Break:
/
• Caesura:
//
– A mid-line pause
Types of Feet
• In accentual-syllabic verse…
– Each unit of stressed and unstressed syllables is known as a foot
– Different combinations of stresses create different feet—the building blocks of
poetry
TWO SYLLABLES
THREE SYLLABLES
˘¯
IAMB: a-live
¯˘˘
DACTYL: mur-mur-ing
¯˘
TROCHEE: dou-ble
˘˘¯
¯¯
SPONDEE: ra-pid
˘¯˘
˘˘
PYRRHUS: and the
¯˘¯
ANAPEST: ‘Twas the night
AMPHIBRACH: e-nor-mous
AMPHIMACER: La-di-dah
Number of Feet
• In accentual-syllabic verse…
– Along with the type of foot, the number of feet per line dictates the
name of the structure in which the poem is written
Number of Feet per Line
Name of Foot
1
Monometer
2
Dimeter
3
Trimeter
4*
Tetrameter
5*
Pentameter
6*
Hexameter
7
Heptameter
8
Octameter
*Indicates most
common
Examples
• Trochaic Trimeter
– Like a high-born maiden
In a palace-tower,
• Percy Shelley, “To a Skylark”
• Anapestic Tetrameter
– And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
• Lord Byron, “The Destruction of Sennacherib”
• Iambic Pentameter
– Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
• William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 18”
Stanza
• In prose, we call groups of
related/nearby sentences
paragraphs.
• In poetry, we call groups of
related/nearby lines stanzas.
– Formal poetry will contain stanzas,
often with the same number of
lines in each.
– Free verse poetry may not use
stanzas, and, if it does, the stanzas
may not be of uniform length.
Number of
Lines
Stanza Name
2
Couplet
3
4
5
6
Tercet
Quatrain
Cinquain
Sestet
7
8
Septet
Octave
Types of Rhyme
• End Rhyme: The sounds of final vowels and consonants are identical
• Ex. Gig/big
– Masculine Rhyme: The final syllables of an end rhyme are stressed and identical (most end rhymes
are masculine)
• Ex. Long/song
– Feminine Rhyme: Of an end rhyme that is identical, the penultimate syllable is stressed and the final
syllable is unstressed
• Ex. Satin/Latin
– Triple Rhyme: The final three syllables of an end rhyme are all identical
• Ex. Deporting/resorting
– Half Rhyme: Only the final consonant—but not the final vowel—rhymes exactly.
• Ex. Card/word
• Eye Rhyme: Two words that look as if they rhyme but are pronounced differently
– Ex. Cough/bough
• Internal Rhyme: An exact end rhyme within (in the middle of) a line of poetry
– Ex. The goose on the loose is wild.
Rhyme Scheme
• In formal (rhymed) poetry, the
rhyme scheme is the pattern of
end rhymes for each line
• Different poetical forms—
especially traditional ones—will
have consistent, expected
rhyme schemes
• Rhyme schemes are portrayed
with letters
– Ex. AABB, ABAB, ABCABC,
etc.
•
They flee from me that sometime did me seek A
With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
B
I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek,
A
That now are wild and do not remember
B
That sometime they put themself in danger
B
To take bread at my hand; and now they range, C
Busily seeking with a continual change.
C
•
Sir Thomas Wyatt, “They Flee From Me”
Rhymed Forms
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Terza Rima
Sonnet
Villanelle
Sestina
Ballad
Ode
Elegy
Unrhymed Forms
•
•
•
•
Blank verse
Haiku
Free verse
Prose poem
Diction
• High (Golden) Style
– More complicated, fancy, or multi-syllabic words
– Unusual stresses or syntax
– Does not necessarily mean older
• Low (Plain) Style
– Common, simple, shorter words
– Natural syntax that mimics speech
– Does not necessarily mean more contemporary
Additional Terms
• Elision: Dropping a syllable or letter to fit in poetic meter
– Ex. O’er the ramparts we watched…
• Accented Grave: Marking a normally unaccented end syllable (almost always
an –ed) to indicate that it should be pronounced
– Ex. Belovèd
• Enjambment: Breaking up a clause over multiple poetic lines.
– Ex. A farmer was ploughing
his field
• End-stopped: Ending a clause or sentence at the end of a poetic line.
– Ex. Humpty dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty dumpty had a great fall.
Activity
• In groups of 3-4:
– Scan:
• “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”
• “They Flee From Me”
–
–
–
–
–
–
Identify the type and number of feet
Note whether lines are primarily enjambed or end-stopped
Are there stanzas? If so, what type?
Identify the form and rhyme scheme
What imagery or metaphors do you see?
Does the structure of the poem seem to fit the message? Why or why not?