In part 1 we looked at such things as Figurative Speech such as Imagery, Figures of Speech, Metaphor, and Simile. We also encountered Metonymy, Allegory, Personification and Pathetic Fallacy. There was much more so please refer to part 1 in my blog archives.
Now we will take a walk down the enchanting path of Poetry, Drama and Narrative. Through the linguistic lakes of Lyric, Epic, Narrative, Dramatic, Ballads, and Patterns of Rhyme.
We will celebrate the language of Odes and share in the sadness of Elegy.
This post will take a brief and rythmic look at Metre, Prosody and Lambic Pentameter. After this we will pair up with couplets. Sonnets and Blank Verse. Then move with the times to the more modern Free Verse.
Drama will deliver to us Genres, Catharsis, Deux ex Machina, Dramatic Irony, Hubris, Nemesis and will speak aloud and alone the thoughts of Soliloquy.
Finally we shall let our ears and attention rest upon the realm of the Narrative.
Poetry:
Lyric poetry is usually fairly short and expresses thoughts and feelings. Examples are Wordsworth’s Daffodils and Dylan Thomas’s Fern Hill.
Epic poetry can be much longer and deals with the actions of great men and women or the history of nations. Examples are Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid.
Narrative poetry tells a story , like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, or Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner,
Dramatic poetry takes the form of a play, and includes the plays of Shakespeare (which also contain scenes in prose).
A Ballad is a traditional type of narrative poem with short verses or stanzas and a simple ryhme scheme(=pattern of rhymes).
An Elegy is a type of lyric poem that expresses sadness for someone who died. Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard mourns all who lived and died quietly and never had the chance to be great.
An Ode is a lyric poem that addresses a person or thing or celebrates an event. John Keats wrote five great odes, including Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn and To Autumn.
Metre is the rythm of poetry determined by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed , or long and short , syllables in each line of the poem.
And lastly for this post : Prosody is the theory and study of metre.
Ok so more to follow in part 3.
Good luck with your English Language Learning and Literary Critisism.
Simon
Ok English
