Chapter II: Poetry and its Elements

• Chapter II discusses general types of literature
• The chapter aims to define literature types by genre and distinguish prose from poetry

Poetry Defined

• Poetry is literature intended to evoke focused, imaginative awareness of an experience
• This is done through specific emotional response using language
• The language is arranged for its meaning, sound, and rhythm

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

• "I wandered lonely as a cloud" is used as an example of poetry
• The poem speaks of floating over valleys and hills, then seeing golden daffodils by a lake, beneath trees, dancing in the breeze.

Stanza

• The basic building block of a poem is a verse called a stanza
• A stanza is a group of lines related to a single idea or topic
• It is similar to a paragraph in prose

Elements of Poetry

Poetic Line

• The poetic line is the basic unit of composition in poems
• This expresses the idea or feeling

The Sounds of Words

• The Sounds of Words refers to how an author organizes words into patterns to intensify meaning
• Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds in a scheme
• End rhyme is when "The cat sat on the mat. A furry and sleepy old brat"
• Internal rhyme is when "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary"
• Rhythm results from systematic stressing of sounds
• Assonance refers to the correspondence of vowel sounds
• Alliteration is the repeating of initial consonant sounds for effect

Onomatopoeia

• Onomatopoeia is the imitation of natural sounds

Meter

• Meter is a regularized and patterned rhythm

Imagery

• Imagery refers to visual details, sounds, texture, feelings, odor, and taste

Tone

• Tone refers to the persona or speaker's attitude toward the subject
• Examples include sad, joyful, reflective, serious, etc.

Types of Poetry

Narrative Poetry

• Narrative poetry describes personal experiences and feelings
• It describes important details in life
• It can be fiction or nonfiction
• Examples of narrative poetry include:
  • Epic which is a long narrative poem about heroic deeds from a writer's imagination
  • Metrical Tales which are a narrative written in verse
  • Metrical Romance which are a type of metrical tale that compose a long love story in verse
  • Ballad which is a simple narrative form dealing with emotional events

Lyric Poetry

• Lyric poetry is a short poem similar to a song

• Examples include:

  • Elegy is a lyric poem about life and death
  • Haiku is a Japanese poem having 17 syllables in 3 lines (5-7-5)
  • Ode is a lyric poem that may or may not rhyme, usually addresses a person or thing, and is characterized by lofty feelings
  • Sonnet has 14 lines with rhyme and rhythm

Dramatic Poetry

• Dramatic poetry intends to involve the reader in an experience or situation
• Its goal is to create tension, immediacy, expectation, and conflict

Poetic Devices

Simile

• Simile compares two things using "like" or "as"
• An example is "She shone as bright as the sun."

Metaphor

• Metaphor compares two things sharing a common element
• An example is "The eyes are the window to the soul."

Hyperbole

• Hyperbole exaggerates to convey deeper meaning
  • An example is "I have a thousand things to do this morning."

Personification

• Personification assigns human attributes to inanimate objects or concepts
  • An example is "The bamboo is dancing with the wind."

Oxymoron

• Oxymoron uses a two-word phrase with contradictory terms to create a positive meaning
  • An example is "She is pretty ugly."

Irony

• Irony uses language opposite of intended meaning
  • An example is "I love it when I drop my phone, how wonderful."

Prose Defined

• Prose is a language form without formal metrical structure
• It utilizes a natural speech flow and normal grammatical construction, not the rhythmic structures found in traditional poetry

Identifying Prose

• A piece of writing qualifies as prose if it is written in a typical, straightforward manner
• Prose follows grammatical structures rather than meter or verse patterns

Fiction Defined

• Fiction comes from the Latin word fictiō, meaning "the act of making, fashioning, or molding"
• It is literature from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it can be based on true events

Types of Fiction

• Novel is a long fictional prose narrative divided into chapters
• Short Story is a prose fiction about a single main incident made to leave a dominant impression
• Play is a literary work divided into acts for stage presentation
• Fable is a fictitious story that teaches moral lessons, and has animal characters
• Legend is a collection of traditional stories, usually about religions, people, or events passed down between generations

Elements of Fiction

Setting

• Setting refers to the story's time and place, including physical location (real or invented) and social environment (chronology, culture, institutions, etc.)

Character

• Character refers to the people, animals, or imaginary creatures in a fictional literary work
• A character can be a hero/protagonist, or an antagonist/villain
• The good character is called the protagonist or hero and their adversary, the villain

Plot

• Plot is the sequence of events in the story, showing development from start to end

• Elements include:

  • Exposition/Introduction establishes characters and setting
  • Rising action reveals the conflict, problems, and struggles of the main character leading to the crisis
  • Climax is the turning point and moment of highest tension in the story, where everything is very critical, with peaked emotion and interest
  • Falling action shows things winding down, tension being resolved
  • Conclusion/End contains the last statements in the story

Conflict

• Conflict is the opposition of persons or forces that add interest
• Examples include:
  • Man vs Himself which features struggle between two opposite desires within a single person.
  • Man vs Man which features struggle between a person and another person
  • Man vs Nature which features struggle between a man and the physical world.

Point of View

• Point of view is used to show how the story is told

• Different types include:

  • First person - where narrator may be the writer or one of the characters in it
  • Third person - where the narrator is not a participant and is just an observer
  • Omniscient - where the writer is the narrator that knows the thoughts of all characters

Theme and Symbol

• Theme is the central idea
• Symbol is a tangible thing symbolizing something abstract for depth

Types of Non-Fiction

• Anecdote is a very short story significant to the topic at hand, which adds personal knowledge or experience
• Essay is a short composition on a single subject with a personal point of view
• Biography is an account of someone’s life story
• News is information about anything, often broadcast on the radio or printed in newspapers
• Oration is a formal public speech given at a ceremony, which aims to arouse listener emotion