Introduction to Literature

A Guidance for the Understanding of Basic Literature

COURSE INFORMATION
Introduction to Literature
Degree in English Education
 PREFACE

Introduction to Literature course aims to invite you to think more about what is
beyond the language of the text. It is not only to understand the textual meaning but also
contextual meaning.
This course also wants to invite you to write from your deepest concept, which
never been explored before. You are allowed to be an author, critic, or commentator. You
are not allowed to be a save students (be quite until the end of the semester).
You are expected to be a student who dares to write, criticize, and give comments
of everything presented by lecturer or your friends. It is the Literary Studies class, a

1
chance for you to be creative, to pass the structural limitations of literature itself. You can
deconstruct any kinds of written text as long as in scientific ways.
As Shakespeare said TO BE OR NOT TO BE. So, take the risk!!....

M. Syaifuddin S.S., M.A

Your Partner of Discussion

TABLE OF CONTENT

Course Information___________________________________________________1
Preface______________________________________________________________2
Table of Content ______________________________________________________3
CHAPTER I
Introductory Information________________________________________________4
CHAPTER II
The Understanding of Literature__________________________________________5
What is Literature? ______________________________________________5
2
 Loose Definition and Its Implication_________________________________6
Literary Genre __________________________________________________7
List of Literary Genre_____________________________________________8
CHAPTER III
Fiction ______________________________________________________________12
Element of Fiction_______________________________________________12
CHAPTER IV
Drama_______________________________________________________________21
Element of Drama _______________________________________________22
Further Considerations of the Playwright: Genre/Form __________________24
Style/Mode/Ism _________________________________________________27
Dramatic Structure_______________________________________________27
CHAPTER V
Poetry_______________________________________________________________30
Element of Poetry _______________________________________________31
Form of Poetry__________________________________________________37
Genre of Poetry _________________________________________________41

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION

Course Description:
The course will be around the understanding of English Literature and its history.
Those will be explained along the semester in twelve until fourteen meetings. Beside this
module, students are expected to read some novels, short story, poems, and other literary
works as a way to enrich the references concerning to Literature. By reading those, it is

3
hoped for the students to be able to think wider than before. The critical thinking is more
important here.
The understanding of English Literary Studies will be discussed in every meeting
before middle test. The history of English Literature will be discussed after it. This class
is not based on lecturer explanations only, but students are expected to deconstruct and
finding something new to discuss related with Literature. Afterward, students are also
challenged to write some simple literary works as a way to exercise the skill of writing.
Some video files will also be shown to you as a means to understand some texts
required to be discussed. Comparing between video file and the text will be the best way
to enlarge our understanding.

Requirements:
Other than learning Literature, this course also intends to forge students’ reading,
writing, and critical vision through some references provided in our shared email
([email protected]) Password: stikipjombang. References will also
become our sources of discussion besides discussing main topics. Those also will guide
you to be able write paper on your own perspective. Student, who never visits our shared
email, possibly will lose him/herself in every discussion.
Assignment will be divided into three terms: Intellectual diary is a kind of simple
daily assignment where students must record (in the form of simple paper consists of not
more than one page) the discussion done every meeting before middle test. Pre-final
paper is required to train students to face final paper. Final paper is forbidden to be
submitted together with final test. It must be submitted on final meeting of the semester.

CHAPTER II
THE UNDERSTANDING OF LITERATURE

What is Literature?

Fathoming the complexity of critical theory cannot be separated from the

problematical definition of literature which it theorizes. Unfortunately, the definition of

literature is not as simple as it initially seems. Terry Eagleton in Literary Theory, an

4
Introduction and Jonathan Culler in Literary Theory, a Very Short Introduction elaborate

the complexity and problems of defining literature. Eagleton, for instance, questions the

once widely accepted definition of literature: literature is the kind of writing that uses

language in a special way1. In technical terms, it is called estranging or defamiliarizing as

opposed to day-to-day or ordinary use of language. Although this definition, which is

derived from Viktor Shklovsky’s survey on the possible scientific facets of literary

analysis, matches the characteristics of poetry, Eagleton objects to this definition for two

reasons. First of all, not all literary works, a novel or a drama for example, use language

with this estranging effect. Yet, they are still characterized as literature. Secondly,

Eagleton adds, given a certain context all language is estranging. As an example,

Eagleton quotes a sign post in an England subway which reads “Dogs must be carried on

the escalator” (6). Unambiguous it may seem at first, this seemingly plain announcement

might be estranging: does this mean that people are not allowed to use the escalator

unless they carry a dog?

Other definitions of literature, namely literature as fictional writing and literature as

belles lettres are easier to refute. The inadequacy of the first definition is that not all

fictional writings, such as Gundala Putra Petir or even Wiro Sableng for that matter is

considered as literature. The later definition is usually taught to Indonesian high school

students: etymologically, susastra (literature) is derived from Sanskrit i.e. su meaning

good and sastra meaning writing so that susastra means good writing which is

synonymous with belles lettres. For Eagleton, this definition leads to the impossibility of

defining literature objectively because the next question would be who has the right to set

the standard. A work considered literary by certain community might be ordinary for

another. Since the definition of literature then depends on the “who” rather than the
1
Literary Theory: An Introduction, 2nd edition. (Massachusetts: Blackwell Publisher, 1996)
5
“what,” both Eagleton and Culler agree that literature and weeds are similar in the sense

that ontological definition of them is beyond objective formulation. The closest definition

we might come to is that literature is some kind of writing which for certain reasons

people value highly. Fictionality and language estrangement function as non-defining

features of literature rather than as the defining characteristics of literature.

Loose Definition and Its Implication

As a definition, Eagleton’s does not fulfill the criteria of not too narrow as to

exclude a whole lot of things and not too broad as to include anything possible, however

this seems the closest possible Eagleton can get to the definition. To include what is and

what is not literature then depends on an agreement between members of a certain

community, be it an academic community or a community of another sort. At most, as

Culler has suggested, they come up with some features of literature that are non-defining

in nature. It means that a work of literature may or may not embody one or several of

those features. Being a loose entity, literature has naturally invited theory as diverse as it

can be. Many believe that formulating a compact literary theory as well as a definition of

literature is a chimera. Literary theory, according to Eagleton, is

really no more than a branch of social ideologies, utterly without any unity
or identity which would adequately distinguish it from philosophy,
linguistics, psychology, cultural and sociolinguistical thought” (1998: 178)2.

This is what he means when Eagleton says that literary theory is an illusion. The

problem with literary theory is that it comprises of a lot of theories that often mention

literature, as if, by accident or that initially do not relate to literature but whose

relationship is established later after witnessing a similarity of process such as in the

2
Terry Engleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction, 2nd edition. (Massachusetts: Blackwell
Publisher, 1996)
6
Freudian and Lacanian theory of the unconscious and the use of symbol in literary

writing.

The efforts to make literary study more academic goes back as early as the 1880s

when literary study was still a branch of Linguistics in Oxford University. However, it did

not get serious attention until literary theory was presented more academically for the first
th
time by the New Critics in the US at the beginning of the 20 century. Since then, literary

study has been showered with tons of theories that do not always speak the same

language such as, Structuralism, Post-structuralism, Deconstruction, Postmodernism,

Lesbian/gay criticism, Cultural Materialism, New historicism, Postcolonial criticism,

Narratology, Ecocriticism and many others3.

Literary Genre

A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined

by literary technique, tone, content, or even (as in the case of fiction) length. Genre

should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either

adult, young-adult, or children's. They also must not be confused with format, such as

graphic novel or picture book. The distinctions between genres and categories are flexible

and loosely defined, often with subgroups.

The most general genres in literature are (in loose chronological order) epic,

tragedy4, comedy, novel, short story, and creative nonfiction. They can all be in the

genres prose or poetry, which shows best how loosely genres are defined. Additionally, a

genre such as satire, allegory or pastoral might appear in any of the above, not only as a

3 Paulus Sarwoto, Critical Theory for Undergraduates: How Much is enough? Vol 10 No. 1 June
2006
4
Bakhtin M. M. (1981) The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Ed. Michael Holquist. Trans.
Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin and London: University of Texas Press. 1981, p.3
7
sub-genre (see below), but as a mixture of genres. Finally, they are defined by the general

cultural movement of the historical period in which they were composed. The concept of

"genre" has been criticized by Jacques Derrida56.

Sub-genres

Genres are often divided into sub-genres. Literature, for instance, is divided into

three basic kinds of literature, the classic genres of Ancient Greece, poetry, drama, and

prose. Poetry may then be subdivided into epic, lyric, and dramatic. Subdivisions of

drama include foremost comedy and tragedy, while eg. Comedy itself has sub-genres,

including farce, comedy of manners, burlesque, satire, and so on. However, any of these

terms would be called "genre", and its possible more general terms implied.

Dramatic poetry, for instance, might include comedy, tragedy, melodrama, and

mixtures like tragicomedy. This parsing into sub-genres can continue: "comedy" has its

own genres, including, for example, comedy of manners, sentimental comedy, burlesque

comedy, and satirical comedy.

Creative non fiction can cross many genres but is typically expressed in essays,

memoir, and other forms that may or may not be narrative but share the characteristics of

being fact-based, artistically-rendered prose.

Often, the criteria used to divide up works into genres are not consistent, and may

change constantly, and be subject of argument, change and challenge by both authors and

critics. However, even a very loose term like fiction ("literature created from the

imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation") is

5
Derrida, Jacques The Law of Genre [Critical Inquiry] Vol. 7, No. 1, On Narrative. (Autumn,
1980), pp. 55–81. essay contained in On Narrative W.J.T. Mitchell, ed. Chicago and London: University of
Chicago Press. 1981
6
Michael Herzfeld, review of On Narrative, American Anthropologist 1983, p.195
8
not universally applied to all fictitious literature, but instead is typically restricted to the

use for novel, short story, and novella, but not fables, and is also usually a prose text.

Semi-fiction spans stories that include a substantial amount of non-fiction. It may

be the retelling of a true story with only the names changed. The other way around, semi-

fiction may also involve fictional events with a semi-fictional character, such as Jerry

Seinfeld.

Genres may easily be confused with literary techniques, but, though only loosely

defined, they are not the same; examples are parody, Frame story, constrained writing,

stream of consciousness.

List of Literary Genres

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. Some important part of the
following genres will be discussed through the following chapter.

• Fable, Fairy tale, Folklore

• Fiction
o Adventure novel
o Comic novel
o Crime fiction
▪ Detective fiction
o Fantasy
▪ Bangsian fantasy
▪ Comic fantasy
▪ Contemporary fantasy
▪ Urban fantasy
▪ Fairytale fantasy
▪ Heroic fantasy
▪ High fantasy
▪ Historical fantasy
▪ Celtic fantasy
▪ Steampunk
▪ Wuxia
▪ Medieval fantasy
▪ Prehistoric fantasy
▪ Juvenile fantasy
▪ Low fantasy
▪ Fantasy of manners

9
 ▪ Mythic fiction
▪ Romantic fantasy
▪ Science fantasy
▪ Planetary romance
▪ Sword and Planet
▪ Superhero fantasy
▪ Sword and sorcery
o Gawęda
o Gothic fiction
▪ Southern Gothic
o Historical fiction
o Holocaust
o Horror
▪ Splatterpunk
o Medical novel
o Microfiction
▪ 55 Fiction
▪ Drabble
▪ Nanofiction
o Metafiction
o Musical fiction
o Mystery fiction
o Philosophical novel
o Political fiction
o Quest
o Religious fiction
▪ Christian novel
o Romance novel
▪ Historical romance
o Saga, Family Saga
o Satire
o Short story
o Slave narrative
o Speculative fiction
▪ Alternative history
▪ Science fiction (for more details see Science fiction genre)
▪ Cyberpunk
▪ Nanopunk
▪ Soft science fiction
▪ Hard science fiction
▪ Weird fiction
o Surrealist novel
o Thriller
▪ Conspiracy fiction
▪ Legal thriller
▪ Psychological thriller
▪ Spy fiction/Political thriller
▪ Medical thriller

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 o Tragedy
o Urban fiction
o Westerns
• Nonfiction
o Biography
▪ Autobiography, Memoir
▪ Spiritual autobiography
o Diaries and Journals
o Erotic literature
o Essay, Treatise
o History
o Religious texts
▪ Apologetics
▪ Proverbs
▪ Scripture
▪ Christian literature

CHAPTER III
FICTION

Fiction (Latin: fictum, "created") is a branch of literature which deals, in part or in

whole, with temporally contrafactual events (events that are not true at the time of
writing). In contrast to this is non-fiction, which deals exclusively in factual events (e.g.:
biographies, histories).

History of fiction

The history of fiction coincides with much of the history of literature, with each

genre of fiction having its own origins and development.

• By form: legends, comics, fables, fairy tales, film, folklore, novels, plays, poetry,

serials, short stories, situation comedies, and video games.

• By length: flash fiction, short stories, novelettes, novellas, novels, and epic

poetry.

• By content: pseudohistory, genre fiction, detective fiction, fantasy fiction,

mystery fiction, and science fiction.

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Elements of fiction

A. Character (arts)

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art

(such as a novel, play, or film)7. Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr

(χαρακτήρ) through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this

sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in

Tom Jones in 17498. Character, particularly when enacted by an actor in the theatre or

cinema, involves "the illusion of being a human person9. Since the end of the 18th

century, the phrase "in character" has been used to describe an effective impersonation by

an actor10. Since the 19th century, the art of creating characters, as practised by actors or

writers, has been called characterization11.

A character, which stands as a representative of a particular class or group of

people is known as a type12. Types include both stock characters and those that are more

fully individualized13. The characters in Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (1891) and August

Strindberg's Miss Julie (1888), for example, are representative of specific positions in the

social relations of class and gender, such that the conflicts between the characters reveal

ideological conflicts14.

7
Baldick (2001, 37) and Childs and Fowler (2006, 23). See also "character, 10b" in Trumble and
Stevenson (2003, 381): "A person portrayed in a novel, a drama, etc; a part played by an actor".
8
Aston and Savona (1991, 34) and Harrison (1998, 51); see also: OED "character" sense 17.a
citing, inter alia, Dryden's 1679 preface to Troilus and Cressida: "The chief character or Hero in a Tragedy
... ought in prudence to be such a man, who has so much more in him of Virtue than of Vice... If Creon had
been the chief character in Œdipus..."
9
Pavis, Patrice (1998.47) Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts, and Analysis. Trans.
Christine Shantz. Toronto and Buffalo: U of Toronto P. ISBN 0802081630.
10
Harrison (1998, 51).
11
Harrison (1998, 51-52).
12
Baldick (2001, 265).
13
Ibid
14
Aston, Elaine; George Savona (1991). Theatre as Sign-System: A Semiotics of Text and
Performance. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415049326.
12
B. Plot

In fiction, the plot is a sequence of interrelated events arranged to form a logical

pattern and achieve an intended effect15. Along with character, setting, theme, and style,

plot is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction16. Aristotle wrote in

Poetics that mythos is the most important element of storytelling.

1. Plot Structure

Plot is often designed with a narrative structure, storyline or story arc, which

includes exposition, conflict, rising action and climax, followed by a falling action

and a dénouement. The term storyline also refers to the plot or subplot of a story.

a. Exposition is the beginning of the plot usually concerned with introducing

characters and setting.

b. Conflict is actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests. A

conflict may be internal (within oneself) or external (between two or more

individuals). It may also be both internal and external.

c. The rising action in a work of fiction builds suspense and leads to the climax.

d. The high point, a moment most intense, a turning point, a major culmination

of events. The climax isn't always the first important scene in a story. In many

stories, it is the last sentence.

15
Polking, K (1990. p.328-9). Writing A to Z. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. ISBN
0898794358.
16
Obstfeld, Raymond (2002. p.1,65,115,171. ). Fiction First Aid: Instant Remedies for Novels,
Stories and Scripts. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. ISBN 158297117x.
13
 e. The falling action is the part of a story following the climax and shows the

effects of the climax. It leads up to the dénouement (or catastrophe)17

f. Dénouement (Resolution), Etymologically, the French word dénouement is

derived from the Old French word denoer, "to untie", and from nodus, Latin

for "knot". In fiction, a dénouement consists of a series of events that follow

the climax, and thus serves as the conclusion of the story. Conflicts are

resolved, creating normality for the characters and a sense of catharsis, or

release of tension and anxiety, for the reader. Simply put, dénouement is the

unraveling or untying of the complexities of a plot. Be aware that not all

stories have a resolution.

C. Setting

In fiction, setting includes the time, location, circumstances, and characters,

everything in which a story takes place, and provides the main backdrop and mood for a

story. Setting has been referred to as story world18 or milieu to include a context

(especially society) beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. Elements of setting

17
Greenville College (2006). Plot A: The Pattern of the Action
18
Truby, John (2007, p. 145 ). Anatomy of a Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller.
New York, NY: Faber and Faber, Inc. ISBN 9780865479517.
14
may include culture, historical period, geography, and hour. Along with plot, character,

theme, and style, setting is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction19.

1. Role of setting

Setting may take a key role in plot, as in man vs. nature or man vs. society

stories. In some stories the setting becomes a character itself20. In such roles setting

may be considered a plot device or literary device.

2. Types of setting

Settings may take various forms:

• Alternate history
• Campaign setting
• Constructed world
• Dystopia
• Fantasy world
• Fictional country
• Fictional location
• Fictional universe
• Future history
• Imaginary world
• Mythical place
• Parallel universe
• Planets in science fiction
• Simulated reality
• Virtual reality
• Utopia

D. Theme

A broad idea, message, or lesson that is conveyed by a work. The message may be

about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas

and may be implied rather than stated explicitly. Along with plot, character, setting, and

style, theme is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction21.

19
Obstfeld, Raymond (2002, p. 1, 65, 115, 171. )………………
20
Rozelle, Ron (2005, p. 2.). Write Great Fiction: Description & Setting. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's
Digest Books. ISBN 158297327x
21
Obstfeld, 2002, p. 1, 65, 115, 171.
15
 1. Techniques

Leitwortstil is the purposeful repetition of words in a literary piece that usually

expresses a motif or theme important to the story. This device dates back to the

One Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights, which connects

several tales together in a story cycle. The storytellers of the tales relied on this

technique "to shape the constituent members of their story cycles into a coherent

whole."22

Thematic patterning is "the distribution of recurrent thematic concepts and

moralistic motifs among the various incidents and frames of a story. Thematic

patterning may be arranged so as to emphasize the unifying argument or salient

idea which disparate events and disparate frames have in common". This

technique also dates back to the One Thousand and One Nights23.

E. Style

In fiction, style is the manner in which the author tells the story. Along with plot,

character, theme, and setting, style is considered one of the fundamental components of

fiction24. Some components of style in fiction includes the use of various literary

techniques. They are:

1. Fiction-writing modes

Fiction is a form of narrative, one of the four rhetorical modes of discourse.

Fiction-writing also has distinct forms of expression, or modes, each with its own

purposes and conventions. Agent and author Evan Marshall identifies five fiction-writing

22
Heath, Peter (May 1994), "Reviewed work(s) Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights by
David Pinault", International Journal of Middle East Studies (Cambridge University Press)
23
Heath, Peter (May 1994), "Reviewed work(s): Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights
by David Pinault", International Journal of Middle East Studies (Cambridge University Press)
24
Obstfeld, 2002, p. 1, 65, 115, 171.
16
modes: action, summary, dialogue, feelings/thoughts, and background25. Author and

writing-instructor Jessica Page Morrell lists six delivery modes for fiction-writing: action,

exposition, description, dialogue, summary, and transition26. Author Peter Selgin refers to

methods, including action, dialogue, thoughts, summary, scene, and description27.

Currently, there is no consensus within the writing community regarding the number and

composition of fiction-writing modes and their uses.

2. Narrator

The narrator is the teller of the story, the orator, doing the mouthwork, or its in-

print equivalent. A writer is faced with many choices regarding the narrator of a story:

first-person narrative, third-person narrative, unreliable narrator, stream-of-consciousness

writing. A narrator may be either obtrusive or unobtrusive, depending on the author's

intended relationship between himself, the narrator, the point-of-view character, and the

reader28.

3. Point of View

Point of view is from whose consciousness the reader hears, sees, and feels the

story.

4. Allegory

Allegory is a work of fiction in which the symbols, characters, and events come to

represent, in somewhat point-by-point fashion, a different metaphysical, political, or

social situation.

25
Marshall, Evan (1998, pp. 143-165). The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing. Cincinnati, OH:
Writer's Digest Books.
26
Morrell, Jessica Page (2006, p. 127). Between the Lines: Master the Subtle Elements of Fiction
Writing. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books
27
Selgin, Peter (2007, p. 38 ). By Cunning & Craft: Sound Advice and Practical Wisdom for
fiction writers. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books.
28
Todd, Loreto (2000). The Cassell Guide to Punctuation. Cassell,
17
5. Symbolism

Symbolism refers to any object or person which represents something else.

Allegory is the representation of ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in a

story.

6. Tone

Tone refers to the attitude that a story creates toward its subject matter. Tone may

be formal, informal, intimate, solemn, somber, playful, serious, ironic, condescending, or

many other possible attitudes. Tone is sometimes referred to as the mood that the author

establishes within the story.

7. Imagery

Imagery is used in fiction to refer to descriptive language that evokes sensory

experience. Imagery may be in many forms, such as metaphors and similes.

8. Punctuation

Punctuation is everything in written language other than the actual letters or

numbers, including punctuation marks, inter-word spaces, and indentation29.

9. Word choice

Diction, in its original, primary meaning, refers to the writer's or the speaker's

distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression. Literary diction analysis reveals

how a passage establishes tone and characterization; for example, a preponderance of

verbs relating physical movement suggests an active character, while a preponderance of

verbs relating states of mind portrays an introspective character.

10. Grammar

In linguistics, grammar refers to the logical and structural rules that govern the

composition of sentences, phrases, and words in any given natural language. Grammar
29
Ibid
18
also refers to the study of such rules. This field includes morphology and syntax, often

complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics.

11. Imagination

Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability to form mental

images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight,

hearing or other senses.

12. Cohesion

Cohesion is the grammatical and lexical relationship within a text or sentence.

Cohesion can be defined as the links that hold a text together and give it meaning.

13. Suspension of Disbelief

Suspension of disbelief is the reader's temporary acceptance of story elements as

believable, regardless of how implausible they may seem in real life.

14. Voice

In grammar, the voice (also called diathesis) of a verb describes the relationship

between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its

arguments (subject, object, etc.). When the subject is the agent or actor of the verb, the

verb is in the active voice. When the subject is the patient, target or undergoer of the

action, it is said to be in the passive voice.

15. Show, Don't Tell

Show; don't tell is an admonition to fiction writers to write in a manner that allows the

reader to experience the story through a character's action, words, thoughts, senses, and

feelings rather than through the narrator's exposition, summarization, and description.

19
 CHAPTER IV
DRAMA

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance30. The term

comes from a Greek word meaning "action" (Classical Greek: δράμα, dráma), which is

derived from "to do" (Classical Greek: δράω, dráō). The enactment of drama in theatre,

performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of

production and a collective form of reception. The structure of dramatic texts, unlike

other forms of literature, is directly influenced by this collaborative production and

collective reception31. The early modern tragedy Hamlet (1601) by Shakespeare and the

30
Elam, Keir. (1980, 98). The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama. New Accents Ser. London and
New York: Methuen.
31
Pfister, Manfred. (1977, 11). The Theory and Analysis of Drama. Trans. John Halliday.
European Studies in English Literature Ser. Cambridige: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
20
classical Athenian tragedy Oedipus the King (c. 429 BCE) by Sophocles are among the

supreme masterpieces of the art of drama32.

The two masks associated with drama represent the traditional generic division

between comedy and tragedy. They are symbols of the ancient Greek Muses, Thalia and

Melpomene. Thalia was the Muse of comedy (the laughing face), while Melpomene was

the Muse of tragedy (the weeping face). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the

dramatic mode has been contrasted with the epic and the lyrical modes ever since

Aristotle's Poetics (c. 335 BCE)—the earliest work of dramatic theory33.

The use of "drama" in the narrow sense to designate a specific type of play dates

from the 19th century. Drama in this sense refers to a play that is neither a comedy nor a

tragedy--for example, Zola's Thérèse Raquin (1873) or Chekhov's Ivanov (1887). It is this

narrow sense that the film and television industry and film studies adopted to describe

"drama" as a genre within their respective media. "Radio drama" has been used in both

senses--originally transmitted in a live performance, it has also been used to describe the

more high-brow and serious end of the dramatic output of radio34.

Drama is often combined with music and dance: the drama in opera is sung

throughout; musicals include spoken dialogue and songs; and some forms of drama have

regular musical accompaniment (melodrama and Japanese Nō, for example)35. In certain

periods of history (the ancient Roman and modern Romantic) dramas have been written

32
Fergusson Francis (1949, 2-3). The Idea of a Theater: A Study of Ten Plays, The Art of Drama in
a Changing Perspective. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1968.
33
Ibid, writes that "a drama, as distinguished from a lyric, is not primarily a composition in the
verbal medium; the words result, as one might put it, from the underlying structure of incident and
character. As Aristotle remarks, 'the poet, or "maker" should be the maker of plots rather than of verses;
since he is a poet because he imiates, and what he imitates are actions'" (1949, 8).
34
Banham, Martin, ed. (1998, 894-900). The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
35
See the entries for "opera", "musical theatre, American", "melodrama" and "Nō" in Banham
(1998).
21
to be read rather than performed36. In improvisation, the drama does not pre-exist the

moment of performance; performers devise a dramatic script spontaneously before an

audience37.

The Element of Drama

Most successful playwrights follow the theories of playwriting and drama that

were established over two thousand years ago by a man named Aristotle. In his works the

Poetics Aristotle outlined the six elements of drama in his critical analysis of the classical

Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex written by the Greek playwright, Sophocles, in the fifth

century B.C. The six elements as they are outlined involve: Thought, Theme, Ideas;

Action or Plot; Characters; Language; Music; and Spectacle.

A. Thought/Theme/Ideas

What the play means as opposed to what happens (the plot). Sometimes the

theme is clearly stated in the title. It may be stated through dialogue by a character acting

as the playwright’s voice. Or it may be the theme is less obvious and emerges only after

some study or thought. The abstract issues and feelings that grow out of the dramatic

action.

B. Action/Plot

The events of a play; the story as opposed to the theme; what happens rather than what it

means. The plot must have some sort of unity and clarity by setting up a pattern by which

36
While there is some dispute among theatre historians, it is probable that the plays by the Roman
Seneca were not intended to be performed. Manfred by Byron is a good example of a "dramatic poem." See
the entries on "Seneca" and "Byron (George George)" in Banham (1998).
37
Some forms of improvisation, notably the Commedia dell'arte, improvise on the basis of 'lazzi'
or rough outlines of scenic action (see Gordon (1983) and Duchartre (1929)). All forms of improvisation
take their cue from their immediate response to one another, their characters' situations (which are
sometimes established in advance), and, often, their interaction with the audience. The classic formulations
of improvisation in the theatre originated with Joan Littlewood and Keith Johnstone in the UK and Viola
Spolin in the USA. See Johnstone (1981) and Spolin (1963).
22
each action initiating the next rather than standing alone without connection to what came

before it or what follows. In the plot of a play, characters are involved in conflict that has

a pattern of movement. The action and movement in the play begins from the initial

entanglement, through rising action, climax, and falling action to resolution.

C. Characters

These are the people presented in the play that are involved in the perusing plot.

Each character should have their own distinct personality, age, appearance, beliefs, socio

economic background, and language.

D. Language

The word choices made by the playwright and the enunciation of the actors of the

language. Language and dialog delivered by the characters moves the plot and action

along, provides exposition, defines the distinct characters. Each playwright can create

their own specific style in relationship to language choices they use in establishing

character and dialogue.

E. Music

Music can encompass the rhythm of dialogue and speeches in a play or can also

mean the aspects of the melody and music compositions as with musical theatre. Each

theatrical presentation delivers music, rhythm and melody in its own distinctive manner.

Music is not a part of every play. But, music can be included to mean all sounds in a

production. Music can expand to all sound effects, the actor’s voices, songs, and

instrumental music played as underscore in a play. Music creates patterns and establishes

tempo in theatre. In the aspects of the musical the songs are used to push the plot forward

and move the story to a higher level of intensity. Composers and lyricist work together

23
with playwrights to strengthen the themes and ideas of the play. Character’s wants and

desires can be strengthened for the audience through lyrics and music.

F. Spectacle

The spectacle in the theatre can involve all of the aspects of scenery, costumes,

and special effects in a production. The visual elements of the play created for theatrical

event. The qualities determined by the playwright that create the world and atmosphere

of the play for the audience’s eye.

Further Considerations of the Playwright: Genre/Form

Above and beyond the elements outlined above the playwright has other major

considerations to take into account when writing. The Genre and Form of the play is an

important aspect. Some playwrights are pure in the choice of genre for a play. They

write strictly tragedy or comedy. Other playwrights tend to mix genre, combining both

comedy and tragedy in one piece of dramatic work. Based on the Genre/Form, drama is

divided into the categories of tragedy, comedy, melodrama, and tragicomedy. Each of

these genre/forms can be further subdivide by style and content.

A. Tragedy

Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain

magnitude. The tragedy is presented in the form of action, not narrative. It will arouse

pity and fear in the audience as it witnesses the action. It allows for an arousal of this pity

and fear and creates an affect of purgation or catharsis of these strong emotions by the

audience. Tragedy is serious by nature in its theme and deals with profound problems.

These profound problems are universal when applied to the human experience. In

classical tragedy we find a protagonist at the center of the drama that is a great person,

24
usually of upper class birth. He is a good man that can be admired, but he has a tragic

flaw, a hamartia, that will be the ultimate cause of his down fall. This tragic flaw can

take on many characteristics but it is most often too much pride or hubris. The

protagonist always learns, usually too late, the nature of his flaw and his mistakes that

have caused his downfall. He becomes self-aware and accepts the inevitability of his fate

and takes full responsibility for his actions. We must have this element of inevitability in

tragedy. There must be a cause and effect relationship from the beginning through the

middle to the end or final catastrophe. It must be logical in the conclusion of the

necessary outcome. Tragedy will involve the audience in the action and create tension

and expectation. With the climax and final end the audience will have learned a lesson

and will leave the theatre not depressed or sullen, but uplifted and enlightened.

B. Comedy

Comedy should have the view of a “comic spirit” and is physical and energetic. It

is tied up in rebirth and renewal, this is the reason most comedy end in weddings, which

suggest a union of a couple and the expected birth of children. In comedy there is

absence of pain and emotional reactions, as with tragedy, and a replaced use of mans

intellect. The behavior of the characters presented in comedy is ludicrous and sometimes

absurd and the result in the audience is one of correction of behaviors. This correction of

behaviors is the didactic element of comedy that acts as a mirror for society , by which

the audience learns “don’t behave in ludicrous and absurd ways.” The types of comedies

can vary greatly; there are situation comedies, romantic comedies, sentimental comedies,

dark comedies, comedy of manners, and pure farce. The comic devices used by

playwrights of comedy are: exaggeration, incongruity, surprise, repetition, wisecracks,

and sarcasm.

25
C. Melodrama

Melodrama is drama of disaster and differs from tragedy significantly, in that;

forces outside of the protagonist cause all of the significant events of the plot. All of the

aspects of related guilt or responsibility of the protagonist are removed. The protagonist

is usually a victim of circumstance. He is acted upon by the antagonist or anti-hero and

suffers without having to accept responsibility and inevitability of fate. In melodrama we

have clearly defined character types with good guys and bad guys identified. Melodrama

has a sense of strict moral judgment. All issues presented in the plays are resolved in a

well-defined way. The good characters are rewarded and the bad characters are punished

in a means that fits the crime.

D. Tragicomedy

Tragicomedy is the most life like of all of the genres. It is non-judgmental and

ends with no absolutes. It focuses on character relationships and shows society in a state

of continuous flux. There is a mix of comedy and tragedy side by side in these types of

plays.

Style/Mode/ “ism’

The shaping of dramatic material, setting, or costumes in a specific manner. Each

play will have its own unique and distinctive behaviors, dress, and language of the

characters. The style of a playwright is shown in the choices made in the world of the

play: the kinds of characters, time periods, settings, language, methods of

characterization, use of symbols, and themes.

Dramatic Structure

26
 Dramatic structure involves the overall framework or method by which the

playwright uses to organize the dramatic material and or action. It is important for

playwrights to establish themes but the challenge comes in applying structure to the ideas

and inspirations. Understanding basic principals of dramatic structure can be invaluable

to the playwright. Most modern plays are structured into acts that can be further divided

into scenes. The pattern most often used is a method by where the playwright sets up

early on in the beginning scenes all of the necessary conditions and situations out of

which the later conditions will develop. Generally the wants and desires of one character

will conflict with another character. With this method the playwright establishes a pattern

of complication, rising action, climax, and resolution. This is commonly known as cause

to effect arrangement of incidents.

A. The basic Characteristics of the cause to effect arrangement are:

▪ Clear exposition of situation

▪ Careful preparation for future events
▪ Unexpected but logical reversals
▪ Continuous mounting suspense
▪ An obligatory scene
▪ Logical resolution

1. Point of Attack

The moment of the play at which the main action of the plot begins. This may

occur in the first scene, or it may occur after several scenes of exposition. The point of

attack is the main action by which all others will arise. It is the point at which the main

complication is introduced. Point of attack can sometimes work hand in hand with a

play’s inciting incident, which is the first incident leading to the rising action of the play.

27
Sometimes the inciting incident is an event that occurred somewhere in the character’s

past and is revealed to the audience through exposition.

2. Exposition

Exposition is important information that the audience needs to know in order to

follow the main story line of the play. It is the aspects of the story that the audience may

hear about but that they will not witness in actual scenes. It encompasses the past actions

of the characters before the play’s opening scenes progress.

3. Rising Action

Rising action is the section of the plot beginning with the point of attack and/or

inciting incident and proceeding forward to the crisis onto the climax. The action of the

play will rise as it set up a situation of increasing intensity and anticipation. These scenes

make up the body of the play and usually create a sense of continuous mounting suspense

in the audience.

4. The Climax/Crisis

All of the earlier scenes and actions in a play will build technically to the highest

level of dramatic intensity. This section of the play is generally referred to as the moment

of the plays climax. This is the moment where the major dramatic questions rise to the

highest level, the mystery hits the unraveling point, and the culprits are revealed. This

should be the point of the highest stage of dramatic intensity in the action of the play.

The whole combined actions of the play generally lead up to this moment.

5. Resolution/Obligatory Scene

The resolution is the moment of the play in which the conflicts are resolved. It is

the solution to the conflict in the play, the answer to the mystery, and the clearing up of

28
the final details. This is the scene that answers the questions raised earlier in the play. In

this scene the methods and motives are revealed to the audience.

CHAPTER V
POETRY

Poetry (from the Greek "ποίησις", poiesis, a "making") is a form of literary art in

which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of,

its apparent meaning. Poetry may be written independently, as discrete poems, or may

occur in conjunction with other arts, as in poetic drama, hymns or lyrics. Aristotle divided

poetry into three genres which have each spawned other genres:

1. Epic, which included narratives of heroic action and events of more than

personal significance

2. Lyric, which was originally meant to be sung

29
 3. Satire, which was the moral censure of evil, pretension, or anti-social behavior

Poetry, and discussions of it, has a long history. Early attempts to define poetry,

such as Aristotle's Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and

comedy38. Later attempts concentrated on features such as repetition, verse form and

rhyme, and emphasized the aesthetics which distinguish poetry from prose39. From the

mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more loosely defined as a fundamental

creative act using language40.

Poetry often uses particular forms and conventions to suggest alternative

meanings in the words, or to evoke emotional or sensual responses. Devices such as

assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical

or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other stylistic

elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly,

metaphor, simile and metonymy create a resonance between otherwise disparate

images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred

forms of resonance may exist, between individual verses, in their patterns of rhyme or

rhythm.

Some forms of poetry are specific to particular cultures and genres, responding to

the characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. While readers accustomed to

identifying poetry with Dante, Goethe, Mickiewicz and Rumi may think of it as being

written in rhyming lines and regular meter, there are traditions, such as those of Du Fu

and Beowulf, that use other approaches to achieve rhythm and euphony. Much of modern

38
Heath, Malcolm (ed). Aristotle's Poetics. London, England: Penguin Books, (1997), ISBN
0140446362.
39
See, for example, Immanuel Kant (J.H. Bernhard, Trans). Critique of Judgment. Dover (2005).
40
Dylan Thomas. Quite Early One Morning. New York, New York: New Direction Books, reset
edition (1968).
30
British and American poetry is to some extent a critique of poetic tradition41, playing with

and testing (among other things) the principle of euphony itself, to the extent that

sometimes it deliberately does not rhyme or keep to set rhythms at all.

In today's globalized world, poets often borrow styles, techniques and forms from

diverse cultures and languages.

Elements of Poetry

Prosody is the study of the meter, rhythm, and intonation of a poem. Rhythm and

meter, although closely related, should be distinguished42. Meter is the definitive pattern

established for a verse (such as iambic pentameter), while rhythm is the actual sound that

results from a line of poetry. Thus, the meter of a line may be described as being

"iambic", but a full description of the rhythm would require noting where the language

causes one to pause or accelerate and how the meter interacts with other elements of the

language. Prosody also may be used more specifically to refer to the scanning of poetic

lines to show meter.

Rhythm, the methods for creating poetic rhythm vary across languages and

between poetic traditions. Languages are often described as having timing set primarily

by accents, syllables, or morals, depending on how rhythm is established, though a

language can be influenced by multiple approaches. Metrical rhythm generally involves

precise arrangements of stresses or syllables into repeated patterns called feet within a

line.

41
As a contemporary example of that ethos, see T.S. Eliot, "The Function of Criticism" in Selected
Essays. Paperback Edition (Faber & Faber, 1999). pp13-34.
42
Robert Pinsky, The Sounds of Poetry at 52
31
 In Modern English verse the pattern of stresses primarily differentiate feet, so

rhythm based on meter in Modern English is most often founded on the pattern of

stressed and unstressed syllables (alone or elided). In the classical languages, on the other

hand, while the metrical units are similar, vowel length rather than stresses define the

meter. Old English poetry used a metrical pattern involving varied numbers of syllables

but a fixed number of strong stresses in each line43.

Meter, In the Western poetic tradition, meters are customarily grouped according

to a characteristic metrical foot and the number of feet per line. Thus, "iambic

pentameter" is a meter comprising five feet per line, in which the predominant kind of

foot is the "iamb." This metric system originated in ancient Greek poetry, and was used

by poets such as Pindar and Sappho, and by the great tragedians of Athens. Similarly,

"dactylic hexameter," comprises six feet per line, of which the dominant kind of foot is

the "dactyl." Dactylic hexameter was the traditional meter of Greek epic poetry, the

earliest extant examples of which are the works of Homer and Hesiod. More recently,

iambic pentameter and dactylic hexameter have been used by William Shakespeare and

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, respectively.

Meter is often scanned based on the arrangement of "poetic feet" into lines44. In

English, each foot usually includes one syllable with a stress and one or two without a

stress. In other languages, it may be a combination of the number of syllables and the

length of the vowel that determines how the foot is parsed, where one syllable with a long

vowel may be treated as the equivalent of two syllables with short vowels. For example,

in ancient Greek poetry, meter is based solely on syllable duration rather than stress. In

some languages, such as English, stressed syllables are typically pronounced with greater

43
Howell D. Chickering. Beowulf: a Dual-language Edition. Garden City, New York: Anchor (1977),
44
Howell D. Chickering. Beowulf: a Dual-language Edition. Garden City, New York: Anchor (1977),
32
volume, greater length, and higher pitch, and are the basis for poetic meter. In ancient

Greek, these attributes were independent of each other; long vowels and syllables

including a vowel plus more than one consonant actually had longer duration,

approximately double that of a short vowel, while pitch and stress (dictated by the accent)

were not associated with duration and played no role in the meter. Thus, a dactylic

hexameter line could be envisioned as a musical phrase with six measures, each of which

contained either a half note followed by two quarter notes (i.e. a long syllable followed by

two short syllables), or two half notes (i.e. two long syllables); thus, the substitution of

two short syllables for one long syllable resulted in a measure of the same length. Such

substitution in a stress language, such as English, would not result in the same rhythmic

regularity. In Anglo-Saxon meter, the unit on which lines are built is a half-line

containing two stresses rather than a foot45. Scanning meter can often show the basic or

fundamental pattern underlying a verse, but does not show the varying degrees of stress,

as well as the differing pitches and lengths of syllables46.

As an example of how a line of meter is defined, in English-language iambic

pentameter, each line has five metrical feet, and each foot is an iamb, or an unstressed

syllable followed by a stressed syllable. When a particular line is scanned, there may be

variations upon the basic pattern of the meter; for example, the first foot of English

iambic pentameters is quite often inverted, meaning that the stress falls on the first

syllable47. The generally accepted names for some of the most commonly used kinds of

feet include:

• iamb – one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

• trochee – one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable

45
Christine Brooke-Rose. A ZBC of Ezra Pound. Faber and Faber, (1971)
46
Robert Pinsky. The Sounds of Poetry. New York, New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, (1998)
47
Robert Pinsky, The Sounds of Poetry.
33
 • dactyl – one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables
• anapest – two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable
• spondee – two stressed syllables together
• pyrrhic – two unstressed syllables together (rare, usually used to end dactylic
hexameter)

The number of metrical feet in a line are described in Greek terminology as follows:

• dimeter – two feet

• trimeter – three feet
• tetrameter – four feet
• pentameter – five feet
• hexameter – six feet
• heptameter – seven feet
• octameter – eight feet

Metrical patterns

Different traditions and genres of poetry tend to use different meters, ranging from

the Shakespearian iambic pentameter and the Homeric dactylic hexameter to the

Anapestic tetrameter used in many nursery rhymes. However, a number of variations to

the established meter are common, both to provide emphasis or attention to a given foot

or line and to avoid boring repetition. For example, the stress in a foot may be inverted, a

caesura (or pause) may be added (sometimes in place of a foot or stress), or the final foot

in a line may be given a feminine ending to soften it or be replaced by a spondee to

emphasize it and create a hard stop. Some patterns (such as iambic pentameter) tend to be

fairly regular, while other patterns, such as dactylic hexameter, tend to be highly

irregular. Regularity can vary between language. In addition, different patterns often

develop distinctively in different languages, so that, for example, iambic tetrameter in

Russian will generally reflect a regularity in the use of accents to reinforce the meter,

which does not occur or occurs to a much lesser extent in English.

Some common metrical patterns, with notable examples of poets and poems who use

them, include:

34
 • Iambic pentameter (John Milton, Paradise Lost)

• Dactylic hexameter (Homer, Iliad;, Virgil, Aeneid; Ovid, Metamorphoses)

• Iambic tetrameter (Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress"; Aleksandr Pushkin,

Eugene Onegin)

• Trochaic octameter (Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven")

• Anapestic tetrameter (Lewis Carroll, "The Hunting of the Snark";[48] Lord Byron,

Don Juan)

• Alexandrine (Jean Racine, Phèdre)

Rhyme, alliteration, assonance

Rhyme, alliteration, assonance and consonance are ways of creating repetitive

patterns of sound. They may be used as an independent structural element in a poem, to

reinforce rhythmic patterns, or as an ornamental element48.

Rhyme consists of identical ("hard-rhyme") or similar ("soft-rhyme") sounds

placed at the ends of lines or at predictable locations within lines ("internal rhyme")49.

Languages vary in the richness of their rhyming structures; Italian, for example, has a rich

rhyming structure permitting maintenance of a limited set of rhymes throughout a lengthy

poem. The richness results from word endings that follow regular forms. English, with its

irregular word endings adopted from other languages, is less rich in rhyme. The degree of

richness of a language's rhyming structures plays a substantial role in determining what

poetic forms are commonly used in that language.

48
Rhyme, alliteration, assonance or consonance can also carry a meaning separate from the
repetitive sound patterns created. For example, Chaucer used heavy alliteration to mock Old English verse
and to paint a character as archaic, and Christopher Marlowe used interlocking alliteration and consonance
of "th", "f" and "s" sounds to force a lisp on a character he wanted to paint as effeminate. See, for example,
the opening speech in Tamburlaine the Great available online at Project Gutenberg
49
For a good discussion of hard and soft rhyme see Robert Pinsky's introduction to Dante
Alighieri, Robert Pinsky (Trans.). The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation. New York, New York:
Farar Straus & Giroux, (1994), ISBN 0374176744; the Pinsky translation includes many demonstrations of
the use of soft rhyme.
35
 Alliteration and assonance played a key role in structuring early Germanic, Norse

and Old English forms of poetry. The alliterative patterns of early Germanic poetry

interweave meter and alliteration as a key part of their structure, so that the metrical

pattern determines when the listener expects instances of alliteration to occur. This can be

compared to an ornamental use of alliteration in most Modern European poetry, where

alliterative patterns are not formal or carried through full stanzas50. Alliteration is

particularly useful in languages with less rich rhyming structures. Assonance, where the

use of similar vowel sounds within a word rather than similar sounds at the beginning or

end of a word, was widely used in skaldic poetry, but goes back to the Homeric epic.

Because verbs carry much of the pitch in the English language, assonance can loosely

evoke the tonal elements of Chinese poetry and so is useful in translating Chinese poetry.

Consonance occurs where a consonant sound is repeated throughout a sentence without

putting the sound only at the front of a word. Consonance provokes a more subtle effect

than alliteration and so is less useful as a structural element.

In 'A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry' (Longmans, 1969) Geoffrey Leech

identified six different types of sound patterns or rhyme forms. These are defined as six

possible ways in which either one or two of the structural parts of the related words can

vary. The unvarying parts are in upper case/bold. C symbolises a consonant cluster, not a

single consonant, V a vowel:

1) Alliteration: C v c great/grow send/sit

2) Assonance: c V c great/fail send/bell

3) Consonance: c v C great/meat send/hand

4) Reverse Rhyme: C V c great/grazed send/sell

50
See the introduction to Burton Raffel. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. New York, New York:
Signet Books, (1984), ISBN 0451628233.
36
5) Pararhyme: C v C great/groat send/sound

6) Rhyme: c V C great/bait send/end

Form

Poetic form is more flexible in modernist and post-modernist poetry, and

continues to be less structured than in previous literary eras. Many modern poets eschew

recognisable structures or forms, and write in free verse. But poetry remains distinguished

from prose by its form; some regard for basic formal structures of poetry will be found in

even the best free verse, however much it may appear to have been ignored. Similarly, in

the best poetry written in the classical style there will be departures from strict form for

emphasis or effect. Among the major structural elements often used in poetry are the line,

the stanza or verse paragraph, and larger combinations of stanzas or lines such as cantos.

The broader visual presentation of words and calligraphy can also be utilized. These basic

units of poetic form are often combined into larger structures, called poetic forms or

poetic modes (see following section), such as in the sonnet or haiku.

Lines and stanzas

Poetry is often separated into lines on a page. These lines may be based on the

number of metrical feet, or may emphasize a rhyming pattern at the ends of lines. Lines

may serve other functions, particularly where the poem is not written in a formal metrical

pattern. Lines can separate, compare or contrast thoughts expressed in different units, or

can highlight a change in tone. See the article on line breaks for information about the

division between lines.

Lines of poems are often organized into stanzas, which are denominated by the

number of lines included. Thus a collection of two lines is a couplet (or distich), three

37
lines a triplet (or tercet), four lines a quatrain, five lines a quintain (or cinquain), six lines

a sestet, and eight lines an octet. These lines may or may not relate to each other by

rhyme or rhythm. For example, a couplet may be two lines with identical meters which

rhyme or two lines held together by a common meter alone. Stanzas often have related

couplets or triplets within them.

Other poems may be organized into verse paragraphs, in which regular rhymes

with established rhythms are not used, but the poetic tone is instead established by a

collection of rhythms, alliterations, and rhymes established in paragraph form. Many

medieval poems were written in verse paragraphs, even where regular rhymes and

rhythms were used.

In many forms of poetry, stanzas are interlocking, so that the rhyming scheme or

other structural elements of one stanza determine those of succeeding stanzas. Examples

of such interlocking stanzas include, for example, the ghazal and the villanelle, where a

refrain (or, in the case of the villanelle, refrains) is established in the first stanza which

then repeats in subsequent stanzas. Related to the use of interlocking stanzas is their use

to separate thematic parts of a poem. For example, the strophe, antistrophe and epode of

the ode form are often separated into one or more stanzas. In such cases, or where

structures are meant to be highly formal, a stanza will usually form a complete thought,

consisting of full sentences and cohesive thoughts.

In some cases, particularly lengthier formal poetry such as some forms of epic

poetry, stanzas themselves are constructed according to strict rules and then combined. In

skaldic poetry, the dróttkvætt stanza had eight lines, each having three "lifts" produced

with alliteration or assonance. In addition to two or three alliterations, the odd numbered

lines had partial rhyme of consonants with dissimilar vowels, not necessarily at the

38
beginning of the word; the even lines contained internal rhyme in set syllables (not

necessarily at the end of the word). Each half-line had exactly six syllables, and each line

ended in a trochee. The arrangement of dróttkvætts followed far less rigid rules than the

construction of the individual dróttkvætts.

Visual presentation

Even before the advent of printing, the visual appearance of poetry often added

meaning or depth. Acrostic poems conveyed meanings in the initial letters of lines or in

letters at other specific places in a poem. In Arabic, Hebrew and Chinese poetry, the

visual presentation of finely calligraphed poems has played an important part in the

overall effect of many poems.

With the advent of printing, poets gained greater control over the mass-produced

visual presentations of their work. Visual elements have become an important part of the

poet's toolbox, and many poets have sought to use visual presentation for a wide range of

purposes. Some Modernist poetry takes this to an extreme, with the placement of

individual lines or groups of lines on the page forming an integral part of the poem's

composition, whether to complement the poem's rhythm through visual caesuras of

various lengths, or to create juxtapositions so as to accentuate meaning, ambiguity or

irony, or simply to create an aesthetically pleasing form.[60] In its most extreme form, this

can lead to concrete poetry or asemic writing51.

Diction

Illustration for the cover of Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market and Other Poems

(1862), by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Goblin Market used complex poetic diction in nursery

51
A good pre-modernist example of concrete poetry is the poem about the mouse's tale in the
shape of a long tail in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, available in Wikisource.
39
rhyme form: "We must not look at goblin men, / We must not buy their fruits: / Who

knows upon what soil they fed / Their hungry thirsty roots?"

Poetic diction treats of the manner in which language is used, and refers not only

to the sound but also to the underlying meaning and its interaction with sound and form.

Many languages and poetic forms have very specific poetic dictions, to the point where

distinct grammars and dialects are used specifically for poetry. Registers in poetry can

range from strict employment of ordinary speech patterns, as favoured in much late 20th

century prosody, through to highly ornate and aureate uses of language by such as the

medieval and renaissance makars.

Poetic diction can include rhetorical devices such as simile and metaphor, as well

as tones of voice, such as irony52. Aristotle wrote in the Poetics that "the greatest thing by

far is to be a master of metaphor." Since the rise of Modernism, some poets have opted

for a poetic diction that deemphasizes rhetorical devices, attempting instead the direct

presentation of things and experiences and the exploration of tone. On the other hand,

Surrealists have pushed rhetorical devices to their limits, making frequent use of

catachresis.

Allegorical stories are central to the poetic diction of many cultures, and were

prominent in the west during classical times, the late Middle Ages and the

Renaissance.[64] Rather than being fully allegorical, however, a poem may contain

symbols or allusions that deepen the meaning or effect of its words without constructing a

full allegory.

Another strong element of poetic diction can be the use of vivid imagery for

effect. The juxtaposition of unexpected or impossible images is, for example, a

52
See The Poetics of Aristotle at Project Gutenberg at 22.
40
particularly strong element in surrealist poetry and haiku. Vivid images are often, as well,

endowed with symbolism.

Many poetic dictions use repetitive phrases for effect, either a short phrase (such

as Homer's "rosy-fingered dawn" or "the wine-dark sea") or a longer refrain. Such

repetition can add a somber tone to a poem, as in many odes, or can be laced with irony

as the context of the words changes. For example, in Antony's famous eulogy of Caesar in

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Antony's repetition of the words, "For Brutus is an

honorable man," moves from a sincere tone to one that exudes irony.

Genre of Poetry

In addition to specific forms of poems, poetry is often thought of in terms of

different genres and subgenres. A poetic genre is generally a tradition or classification of

poetry based on the subject matter, style, or other broader literary characteristics53. Some

commentators view genres as natural forms of literature54. Others view the study of

genres as the study of how different works relate and refer to other works55.

Epic poetry is one commonly identified genre, often defined as lengthy poems concerning

events of a heroic or important nature to the culture of the time56. Lyric poetry, which

tends to be shorter, melodic, and contemplative, is another commonly identified genre.

Some commentators may organize bodies of poetry into further subgenres, and individual

53
For a general discussion of genre theory on the internet, see Daniel Chandler's Introduction to
Genre Theory
54
See, for example, Northrup Frye. Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, (1957).
55
Jacques Derrida, Beverly Bie Brahic (Trans.). Geneses, Genealogies, Genres, And Genius: The
Secrets of the Archive. New York, New York: Columbia University Press(2006), ISBN 0231139780.
56
Hatto, A. T.. Traditions of Heroic and Epic Poetry (Vol. I: The Traditions ed.). Maney
Publishing.
41
poems may be seen as a part of many different genres 57. In many cases, poetic genres

show common features as a result of a common tradition, even across cultures.

Described below are some common genres, but the classification of genres, the

description of their characteristics, and even the reasons for undertaking a classification

into genres can take many forms.

Narrative poetry

Narrative poetry is a genre of poetry that tells a story. Broadly it subsumes epic

poetry, but the term "narrative poetry" is often reserved for smaller works, generally with

more appeal to human interest.

Narrative poetry may be the oldest type of poetry. Many scholars of Homer have

concluded that his Iliad and Odyssey were composed from compilations of shorter

narrative poems that related individual episodes and were more suitable for an evening's

entertainment. Much narrative poetry—such as Scots and English ballads, and Baltic and

Slavic heroic poems—is performance poetry with roots in a preliterate oral tradition. It

has been speculated that some features that distinguish poetry from prose, such as meter,

alliteration and kennings, once served as memory aids for bards who recited traditional

tales.

Notable narrative poets have included Ovid, Dante, Juan Ruiz, Chaucer, William

Langland, Luís de Camões, Shakespeare, Alexander Pope, Robert Burns, Fernando de

Rojas, Adam Mickiewicz, Alexander Pushkin, Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Tennyson.

Epic poetry

57
Shakespeare parodied such analysis in Hamlet, describing the genres as consisting of "tragedy,
comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-
historical-pastoral..."
42
 Epic poetry is a genre of poetry, and a major form of narrative literature. It

recounts, in a continuous narrative, the life and works of a heroic or mythological person

or group of persons. Examples of epic poems are Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil's

Aeneid, the Nibelungenlied, Luís de Camões' Os Lusíadas, the Cantar de Mio Cid, the

Epic of Gilgamesh, the Mahabharata, Valmiki's Ramayana, Ferdowsi's Shahnama,

Nizami (or Nezami)'s Khamse (Five Books), and the Epic of King Gesar.

While the composition of epic poetry, and of long poems generally, became less

common in the west after the early 20th century, some notable epics have continued to be

written. Derek Walcott won a Nobel prize to a great extent on the basis of his epic,

Omeros58.

Dramatic poetry

Dramatic poetry is drama written in verse to be spoken or sung, and appears in

varying, sometimes related forms in many cultures. Verse drama may have developed out

of earlier oral epics, such as the Sanskrit and Greek epics59.

Greek tragedy in verse dates to the sixth century B.C., and may have been an

influence on the development of Sanskrit drama60, just as Indian drama in turn appears to

have influenced the development of the bainwen verse dramas in China, forerunners of

Chinese Opera61. East Asian verse dramas also include Japanese Noh.

Examples of dramatic poetry in Persian literature include Nezami's two famous

dramatic works, Layla and Majnun and Khosrow and Shirin62, Ferdowsi's tragedies such

58
See Press Release from the Nobel Committee, [10], accessed January 20, 2008.
59
A. Berriedale Keith, Sanskrit Drama, Motilal Banarsidass Publ (1998).
60
Ibid, 57-58
61
William Dolby, "Early Chinese Plays and Theatre," in Colin Mackerras, Chinese Theatre,
University of Hawaii Press, 1983, p. 17.
62
The Story of Layla and Majnun, by Nizami, translated Dr. Rudolf Gelpke in collaboration with
E. Mattin and G. Hill, Omega Publications, 1966, ISBN 0-930872-52-5.
43
as Rostam and Sohrab, Rumi's Masnavi, Gorgani's tragedy of Vis and Ramin63, and

Vahshi's tragedy of Farhad.

Satirical poetry

Poetry can be a powerful vehicle for satire. The punch of an insult delivered in

verse can be many times more powerful and memorable than that of the same insult,

spoken or written in prose. The Romans had a strong tradition of satirical poetry, often

written for political purposes. A notable example is the Roman poet Juvenal's satires,

whose insults stung the entire spectrum of society.

The same is true of the English satirical tradition. Embroiled in the feverish

politics of the time and stung by an attack on him by his former friend, Thomas Shadwell

(a Whig), John Dryden (a Tory), the first Poet Laureate, produced in 1682 Mac Flecknoe,

one of the greatest pieces of sustained invective in the English language, subtitled "A

Satire on the True Blue Protestant Poet, T.S." In this, the late, notably mediocre poet,

Richard Flecknoe, was imagined to be contemplating who should succeed him as ruler

"of all the realms of Nonsense absolute" to "reign and wage immortal war on wit."

Another master of 17th-century English satirical poetry was John Wilmot, 2nd

Earl of Rochester. He was known for ruthless satires such as "A Satyr Against Mankind"

(1675) and a "A Satyr on Charles II."

Another exemplar of English satirical poetry was Alexander Pope, who famously

chided critics in his Essay on Criticism (1709). Dryden and Pope were writers of epic

poetry, and their satirical style was accordingly epic; but there is no prescribed form for

satirical poetry. The greatest satirical poets outside England include Poland's Ignacy

63
Dick Davis (January 6, 2005), "Vis o Rāmin," in Encyclopaedia Iranica Online Edition.
Accessed on April 25, 2008.
44
Krasicki, Azerbaijan's Sabir and Portugal's Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage, commonly

known as Bocage.

Lyric poetry

Lyric poetry is a genre that, unlike epic poetry and dramatic poetry, does not

attempt to tell a story but instead is of a more personal nature. Rather than depicting

characters and actions, it portrays the poet's own feelings, states of mind, and perceptions.

While the genre's name, derived from "lyre," implies that it is intended to be sung, much

lyric poetry is meant purely for reading.

Though lyric poetry has long celebrated love, many courtly-love poets also wrote

lyric poems about war and peace, nature and nostalgia, grief and loss. Notable among

these are the 15th century French lyric poets, Christine de Pizan and Charles, Duke of

Orléans. Spiritual and religious themes were addressed by such mystic lyric poets as St.

John of the Cross and Teresa of Ávila. The tradition of lyric poetry based on spiritual

experience was continued by later poets such as John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins,

Antonio Machado and T. S. Eliot.

Though the most popular form for western lyric poetry to take may be the 14-line

sonnet, as practiced by Petrarch and Shakespeare, lyric poetry shows a bewildering

variety of forms, including increasingly, in the 20th century, unrhymed ones. Lyric poetry

is the most common type of poetry, as it deals intricately with an author's own emotions

and views.

Elegy

An elegy is a mournful, melancholy or plaintive poem, especially a lament for the

dead or a funeral song. The term "elegy," which originally denoted a type of poetic meter

(elegiac meter), commonly describes a poem of mourning. An elegy may also reflect

45
something that seems to the author to be strange or mysterious. The elegy, as a reflection

on a death, on a sorrow more generally, or on something mysterious, may be classified as

a form of lyric poetry. In a related sense that harks back to ancient poetic traditions of

sung poetry, the word "elegy" may also denote a type of musical work, usually of a sad or

somber nature.

Elegiac poetry has been written since antiquity. Notable practitioners have

included Propertius (lived ca. 50 BCE – ca. 15 BCE), Jorge Manrique (1476), Jan

Kochanowski (1580), Chidiock Tichborne (1586), Edmund Spenser (1595), Ben Jonson

(1616), John Milton (1637), Thomas Gray (1750), Charlotte Turner Smith (1784),

William Cullen Bryant (1817), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1821), Johann Wolfgang von

Goethe (1823), Evgeny Baratynsky (1837), Alfred Tennyson (1849), Walt Whitman

(1865), Louis Gallet (lived 1835–98), Antonio Machado (1903), Juan Ramón Jiménez

(1914), William Butler Yeats (1916), Rainer Maria Rilke (1922), Virginia Woolf (1927),

Federico García Lorca (1935), Kamau Brathwaite (born 1930).

Verse fable

The fable is an ancient, near-ubiquitous literary genre, often (though not

invariably) set in verse. It is a succinct story that features anthropomorphized animals,

plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that illustrate a moral lesson (a "moral").

Verse fables have used a variety of meter and rhyme patterns; Ignacy Krasicki, for

example, in his Fables and Parables, used 13-syllable lines in rhyming couplets.

Notable verse fabulists have included Aesop (mid-6th century BCE), Vishnu Sarma (ca.

200 BCE), Phaedrus (15 BCE–50 CE), Marie de France (12th century), Robert Henryson

(fl.1470-1500), Biernat of Lublin (1465?–after 1529), Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95),

Ignacy Krasicki (1735–1801), Félix María de Samaniego (1745 – 1801), Tomás de Iriarte

46
(1750 – 1791), Ivan Krylov (1769–1844) and Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914). All of

Aesop's translators and successors owe a debt to that semi-legendary fabulist.

An example of a verse fable is Krasicki's "The Lamb and the Wolves":

Aggression ever finds cause if sufficiently pressed.

Two wolves on the prowl had trapped a lamb in the forest

And were about to pounce. Quoth the lamb: "What right have you?"

"You're toothsome, weak, in the wood." — The wolves dined sans ado.

Prose poetry

Prose poetry is a hybrid genre that shows attributes of both prose and poetry. It

may be indistinguishable from the micro-story (aka the "short short story," "flash

fiction"). It qualifies as poetry because of its conciseness, use of metaphor, and special

attention to language.

While some examples of earlier prose strike modern readers as poetic, prose

poetry is commonly regarded as having originated in 19th-century France, where its

practitioners included Aloysius Bertrand, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud and

Stéphane Mallarmé.

The genre has subsequently found notable exemplars in different languages:

• English: Oscar Wilde, T. S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, Sherwood Anderson, Allen

Ginsberg, Giannina Braschi, Seamus Heaney, Russell Edson, Robert Bly, Charles

Simic, Joseph Conrad

• French: Francis Ponge

• Greek: Andreas Embirikos, Nikos Engonopoulos

• Italian: Eugenio Montale, Salvatore Quasimodo, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Umberto

Saba

47
 • Polish: Bolesław Prus, Zbigniew Herbert

• Portuguese: Fernando Pessoa, Mário Cesariny, Mário de Sá-Carneiro, Walter

Solon, Eugénio de Andrade, Al Berto, Alexandre O'Neill, José Saramago, António

Lobo Antunes

• Russian: Ivan Turgenev, Regina Derieva, Anatoly Kudryavitsky

• Spanish: Octavio Paz, Giannina Braschi, Ángel Crespo, Julio Cortázar, Ruben

Dario, Oliverio Girondo

• Swedish: Tomas Tranströmer

• Sindhi language: Narin Shiam: Hari Dilgeer Tanyir Abasi: Saikh AyazMukhtiar

Malik: Taj Joyo

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