Form 4 English - READING LITERARY WORKS [PDF] » Page 5 of 14

POETRY

Definition

Poetry refers to the literary genre that is presented in verses and stanzas as well as musical features.

Poetry is the way of expressing the feelings, emotions, ideas and other things that we experience
Or ideas with the special reference to emotional significance using language characterized by imagery and rhythmical sounds

Poems are meant to be a song or recited [read aloud] poetry deals with human experience in their respective societies.

It portrays the problems [tensions] of a particular society in poetry we study poems

COMMON TERMS USED IN POETRY

A poem

Is a piece of writing in verse form expressing deep feelings in an artistic [creative] language

A poem is a literacy composition characterized by strong imaginations, emotions, significant meaning and appropriate language

When written a poem is in form of lines which combine to produce stanzas which are block like paragraphs structures [units].

A POET

Is a person who composes a poem. A poem can be written or in oral form a poet can also be described as a person who spends most of his/her time to communicate with society through poems.

A VERSE

Is a single line in a poem.

Several lines form a stanza.

A STANZA

Is the arrangement of verses in a poem comprising a complete idea forms a stanza.

NB;

A verse of a stanza is based on a single unit [area].

FEATURES OF A POETRY

-Poetry is imaginative

-Poetry is rhythmical i.e. it has sound effects due to the fact that it is arranged in a partner of verses which forms a stanza this arrangement makes it possible to be a song.

-Poetry reflects experiences of people of a particular society.

-Poetry is rich in figures of speech which bring about images.

-Poetry arouses emotions.

-Poetry employs word economy i.e. a few words are used to mean much.

CHARACTERISTICS OF POETS

-Must have enough knowledge about human nature.

-Must know the experience problems of his/ her society.

-Must present strong feelings.

-Must educate [influence] the society.

-Must be well informed about poetry.

OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS IN POETRY

Poetic diction

Poetic diction means poetic language.

It refers to the choice and arrangements of words in a poem.Poets are very clever in the arrangement of words to make them suit what they want to convey.

Therefore they make a careful choice of words make word economy possible.

Poetic license

This privilege that poets are given to break grammatical rules of language pronunciation rules may also be broken in order to meet the rhythmical rules of the poem.

E.g. a poet may write ”out they go” instead of ”they go out ” this does not sound UN grammatical in poetry.

However if the poet does not have grammatical competence of a particular language he/ she cannot be said to be using poetic license.

Imagery

This is the use of language in such a way that it stimulates certain feelings that appeal to any of the five senses of

-Touch

-Smell

-Taste

-Hearing

And vision

All the senses in this case are stimulated by words as used in the poem

e.g.

· Sense of smell is evoked by the use of words such as ” stinking carcass” this makes the leader to smell/ listening to a poem

· Sense of touch may be evoked by means of words such as ”soft smooth” and ”rough ”

· Sense of hearing may be evoked by words which suggest the sounds of the thing they refer to e.g. ”jingling” ”popping ” ” dancing” creaking ” and ”hissing”

· Sense of taste may be evoked by words such as ”salty” ” bitter” ”sugary” and ” sour”

NB;

Imagery depends on experience- that means what evokes a certain feelings in one may not necessarily do the same to another e.g. words ”sugary” and ” sour”.

PERSONA

A poem does not have characters instead a person who speaks in a poem is called a persona in other words a persona is equivalent to the character in a prose.

Sometimes a poet may use a pronouns ”I” when that is the case the poet does not refer to himself or herself in the shoes of another person e.g. may be settled in his /her country and decide to compose a poem [speak for refugees].

In so doing he / she may look like one of the refugees, however in interpretation the reader or the listener may interpret the poem with the belief that it is a refugee speaking.

Rhyme

This is the similarity or identity of the sounds at the end of consecutive lines [verses] or at similar intervals in a stanza of a poem.

This similarity of the sounds is mainly centered on the vowed sounds

Consider the following verses

Today is May

We are on the way

Trees will sway

This way and that way

The above stanza has a rhyme pattern as each line ends with ”ay” to give/ell sound

Consider the following stanza again

Behold dear friend

Salvation is coming

The earth has come to an end

Jesus is coming

The above stanza also has similarities in sound endings that means it has rhyme pattern

However the rhyme pattern in the 1^st stanza is ‘aa” ”aa” while in the second stanza it is ”ab” ”ab”

Why is rhyme pattern used in poems?

To avoid boredom as the use of similar sound attracts attention of the reader / listeners

Rhyme pattern adds musical sounds to the poem

NB ;

In traditional poems rhyme is necessary feature while in modern poems it is optional

Rhythm

This is the pattern of the stressed and unstressed sounds in a poem.The rhythm may be regular or irregular.

When it is irregular stress occurs at interval [ the same interval ],when the rhythm is irregular stress does not occur at regular intervals.
Major classes of the words are the ones stressed while the minor ones are unstressed.

Refrain

A word/line that is repeated at the end of each stanza. It adds musical features and emphasizes a point.

Tone

This is a poet’s state of mind.
It is the attitude of the poet this statement of mind is expressed through the use of language [doctor] and how events are presented.

Tone is alternatively called mood.
The tone of a person may be ”serious” ”angry” ” happy ” ”sad” ”fearful” ”joke” etc e.g.
one speaking while beating his chest may be indicating a serious and angry mood

Knowing the poets mood is one of the interpretative strategies

This is because the ”tone” or ” mood” help the reader to know what the persona / poet wants to advocate to

IRONY

This is a figure of speech by which one says one thing and means the other,
or the opposite of what is being said one may say x while in the real sense means Y,
an irony can be identified by examining the attitude of the speaker contradicts with what is being said then there is irony.

I.e. one may be unkind and addressed to be very kind

Ellipsis

An act of learning out some words which the writer /speaker/ poet thinks are least important or understood by the reader/ listener in poetry ellipsis is mainly used to save space words which are likely to be ellipses are functional words such as preposition, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions and determiners e.g. Atieno’s fourteen instead of ”Atieno is 14 years old ”

Onomatopoeia

Usage of words which suggest the meaning of what they prefer to through their sounds.
It is one of the most common features in poetry.It is also very influential as it is part of imagery and music at the same time e.g.

The jingling of the bells

The hissing of the snake

Thudding of the feet

Hip hop of the feet

In general there are the words containing sounds similar to the noise they describe

TYPES OF POEMS /POETRY

Broadly speaking poems fall under two categories;-

· Traditional /old poems/ closed poems

· Modern /open poems

TRADITIONAL/ CLOSED POEMS

These poems refers to the poems which strictly follow poetic principles they abide by rules as

Balance in the number of words in each stanza

Rhyme pattern

Balance in rhythm

Having equal number of words for each line in every stanza

Traditional poems are also referred to as closed poems because they are bound by rules.
They are also called formal poems because of conforming to formalities or poetic standards.

MODERN POEMS

Are the ones which follow only some poetic principles they are not strict as traditional ones.
Some of the modern poems observe rhythm pattern while others do not rhyme are technologically called ”free poems”

NB;

It should be noted that being traditional does not have direct relationship with time,
a poem may be composed today and yet be regarded as traditional poems.

A poem becomes traditional because it follows formal poetic rules

OTHER WAYS OF CLASSIFYING POEMS

Lyric

Is the short poem which expresses strong and deep feelings.

Ballad

A poem in which there are two or more people speaking in turns,
it is a dramatic type of poem as it is presented like a drama in drama people talk to each other in turns e.g.

”land lord” by lung stun hinges

Epic

Is the poem that presents heroic characters. It is a long poem that deals with the actions of great people or history of a nation e.g.
If a long poem is composed pro sing the death of the soldiers to war and brought home victory then that is an epic

Narrative poem

Is a poem that tells a story. The persona in the story tells to stay on a certain event or issues that was happened e.g.
” the wonderful surgeon ” by Charles Mloka

Sonnet

A lyric poem that contains fourteen lines in two stanzas the first stanza is normally made of 8 lines called an ” octet”,
and the second stanza is made up of six lines and is called a ”sestet”

6. AN ELEGY

Is a lyric poem that expresses sadness about someone who has died.

7. AN – ODE

Is a poem that addresses a person or a thing or celebrates an event e.g. a poem composed on ones birthday.

8. DIDACTIC POEMS

These are poems designed to give instructions to readers.
They are mainly for political or social messages e.g. ”your pain” by Armando Guebuza

PROCEDURES OF ANALYSIS A POEM

1. Consider the title of the poem

The title of the poem gives a due to what the poem is about it can make the reader predict the content of the poem.
E.g. a poem however the reader should not over rely on title of poem. This is because some poems are ironical in their titles.
The poet’s history may also provide a due to the content of the poem. But the reader is again cautioned not to over rely on the history of the poet.

In general a title and a poet are the first thing to consider poem analyzing poem.
But it should also be borne in mind that poem analysis is done when the poet and the title are not known.
The important of the two lines in giving a due to what the poem is likely to the talking about

Consider the form and the type of a poem

Look at the type to which the poem belong we then judge whether the poem is lyric balled narrative etc.
The type of a poem is important in its interpretation e.g. lyric can be interpreted focusing on the persona’s feeling.

Consider the tone of the poet

The attitude/ mood of the poet have contribution to effective interpretation of the poem.
At this stage the reader determines whether the poet is angry, happily, sad, serious etc.
This can help the reader understand the message intended by the poet.
Tone of the poet is understood by examining choice of words. It may show whether the poet is joking serious ironical.

Consider the sound feature of a poem

Here attention is paid to such thing as rhyme alliteration of refrain.
These features entertain and add music to the sound/ musical features act as technique,
used by the poet to capture attention of the readers/ listeners. In so doing the intended message reaches the audience.

THINK ABOUT POSSIBLE THEMES

At this point we consider the poets central idea/ topic of discussion.
In a poem they may be one or move themes. Themes are what the poet wants to represent to the reader.
The reader’s life experience and understanding of the work are the tools that enable the reader to interpret a poem.
Thing like mood tone musical features and language use are important in determining the themes.

Whenever a claim is made on matter relating to themes a reader should support his/her claim with evidence from a poem,
e.g If reader claims that a poem is about corruption evidence from a poem must be given.
The reader gets them through words used in a poem. The poem may not state theme directly but through implication

Consider the relevance of a poem

Here the reading relative issue or theme in the poem to those found in his/her society.
A poem is relevant if it reflects the reader’s social reality.
A person may be relevant to one individual/ society and irrelevant to the other.

Consider the message of the poem

A message of a literacy work refer the literacy artist want the audience to do after going through such work it is a suggestion given as a lesson

Poets raise issues or problems such problem reach solutions. A message can be regarded as a solution.

Consider language use

Here the reader look at the way language has been used in molding the poem.
This is very important because in literature is very influential in molding the message that the artist want to convey.

At this stage a poetic analysis we look at the choice and arrangement of words (diction) symbols and symbolism and the use of figures of speech.
The use of figures of speech helps to add contour or cut poem. Figure of speech also makes a poem to be interesting and entertaining.

Therefore studying figures of speech in a poem is part of poetic.

COMMENT ON SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF THE POET

Here we examine the success of the poet in his/her poem.
The way a message has been presented to the reader and general creativity are the things to consider.
In this case we try to think of what the poet could do to make his/her poem better.

Form 4 English – READING LITERARY WORKS

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