Poetry

Poetry is a very comprehensive term, and its definition must be considered in light of
particular examples.
In a general sense, poetry is the elevated expression of elevated thoughts or feelings
in metrical or rhythmical form.

The definition of poetry is inherently vague and, like all definitions, cannot be final or
all-encompassing. Other attempts to define poetry include:
1. Sir Philip Sidney: Poetry is an art of imitation, a “speaking picture” that aims
to both teach and delight.
2. Christopher Fry: Poetry is the language in which man explores his own
amazement.
3. Clive Sansom: Poetry is a rhythmical form of words that expresses the
writer’s imaginative, emotional, and intellectual experience, and aims to create
a similar experience in the reader or listener.
4. William Wordsworth: Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings;
it originates from emotion recollected in tranquility.
5. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The purpose of poetry is to communicate pleasure.
Prose has words in their best order; poetry has the best words in their best
order.
6. Percy Bysshe Shelley: Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments
of the happiest and best minds.
7. Emily Dickinson: If a book makes me feel physically affected—like my body
being cold or the top of my head being taken off—I know it is poetry.
8. E. A. Robinson: Poetry is language that tells us something indescribable
through emotional reaction.
The concept of “poetry” is ultimately multi-faceted and definable only through
established practices, which continue to evolve.!
Three Main meanings of the term may be distinguished
1. A line of metrical writing or a poem.
2. A stanza.
3. Metrical composition in general.

In contrast to verse in its third sense, poetry is considered a superior form of creation.
Verse may be one of the tools used by poetry, but some poems are written in prose,
and some prose can be considered poetic. Verse can also be defined as the rhythmic
use of language.

The following composition could be classified as verse rather than poetry, though
this distinction is often a matter of individual judgment:
LYRİC:

Ode: A ceremonious poem written for public or private occasions, blending personal
emotion and general meditation. It is often accompanied by a song or dance in Greek
tradition.

Two types of odes:

Public Ode: Written for ceremonial occasions like funerals, birthdays, and state
events (e.g., Tennyson’s Ode on the Death of Duke of Wellington).

Private Ode: Written for personal and subjective occasions. It is intense and reflective
(e.g., Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale).

Ancient Practitioners:
Pindar (c. 518–c. 438 B.C., Greek lyric poet): The Pindaric Ode honors a winner in
athletic competitions. It refers to the victor and the nature of the victory, sometimes
mentioning family members or the trainer. It includes reflections on life but does not
go into detail about the contest itself.

Horace (1st c. B.C., Roman lyric poet and satirist): Known for writing personal,
reflective odes that focus on themes of life, nature, and the passage of time.

Horace’s Odes: Horace’s odes were his most ambitious and lasting contribution to
literature.
The dominant theme in over a third of his odes is friendship.
Another third deals with love.
The remaining odes focus on the practice of poetry and other miscellaneous topics,
including short hymns to gods and goddesses.
Modern Ode: In contemporary use, an ode is a rhymed lyric poem, typically in the
form of an address, with a dignified or exalted subject, feeling, and style. It is usually
not more than 150 lines in length.

Famous Odes in English Literature:

Marvell’s Horatian Ode

Keats’s Ode on a Grecian Urn and Ode to a Nightingale
Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind
Wordsworth’s Ode on the Intimations of Immortality
Tennyson’s Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington
Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale: This stanza from Ode to a Nightingale reflects Keats’s
poetic feelings on the song of a nightingale.

Elegy: A poem expressing sorrow for an individual or lamenting a tragic event. It often
contemplates the tragic aspects of life.
Common Theme: Many elegies are songs of lament for specific people.
Famous Elegies:
W. H. Auden’s In Memory of W. B. Yeats
Thomas Carew’s elegy on John Donne

Greatest Elegies in English Literature:

Milton’s Lycidas
Shelley’s Adonais
Tennyson’s In Memoriam
Matthew Arnold’s Thyrsis all poems of mourning

Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard: Written in a more plaintive

style, expressing sorrow.
The elegy reflects on death and the lives of ordinary people, emphasizing the
inevitability of mortality.
Three stanzas from Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard are provided below (not
included in the summary).

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751) is one of the most popular and widely
regarded poems of the 18th century. It reflects on rural life and the inherent dignity in
human existence, often blending idealized pastoral themes with meditation on death.

Ballad :A ballad is a folk song, typically short and simple, that usually narrates a
story. The subjects of these stories often involve violent or tragic events.
There are two types of ballads: folk or popular ballads and literary ballads.
Folk ballads are part of oral tradition, anonymous, and passed down orally among
illiterate or semi-literate people.
Literary ballads, written by poets, may imitate folk ballads but are not anonymous.
Examples include Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Keats’s La Belle Dame
sans Merci, and Wilde’s Ballad of Reading Gaol. These ballads often draw on
community life, history, and folklore, and focus on themes of adventure, war, love,
death, and the supernatural.
Despite differences, both folk and literary ballads share common characteristics:
1. The narrator is impersonal.
2. The beginning is often abrupt.
3. The language is simple.
4. The story is told through dialogue and action.
5. The theme is usually tragic.
6. There is often a refrain and repetition.
SONNET:
A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines with a set rhyme scheme.
It is usually written in iambic pentameter.
The earliest form of the sonnet is the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet, named after its
major early practitioner, Petrarch.
The Italian sonnet was introduced to England in the 16th century by Wyatt and
Surrey. Sonnets, often about love, became a literary trend.
The English or Shakespearean sonnet, developed by English poets, became popular,
with Shakespeare being the most notable user.
Spenser created a variation of the English sonnet, seen in his Amoretti (1595), which
used linked rhymes.

Three basic sonnet forms:

1. Petrarchan: Composed of an octave (8 lines, rhyming abba abba) and a

sestet (6 lines, rhyming cdecde or cdcdcd).
2. Spenserian: Three quatrains and a couplet (rhyme scheme: abab bcbc cdcd
ee).
3. Shakespearean: Three quatrains and a couplet (rhyme scheme: abab cdcd
efef gg).

In the Petrarchan sonnet, the octave often develops an idea, and the sestet provides a
conclusion or counter-statement.
In the Spenserian sonnet, each quatrain expresses a different idea, with a linking
rhyme between the 4th and 5th lines and the 8th and 9th lines.
The English sonnet, with its final couplet, offers flexibility and often serves as a witty
or summarizing conclusion.
A sonnet cycle is a series of sonnets centered around a particular theme or individual,
with love being the most common theme.
The first major sonnet cycle in English literature was Astrophel and Stella by Sir
Philip Sidney (1591), followed by Spenser’s Amoretti (1595) and Shakespeare’s
Sonnets (1609).
Notable sonnet sequences were also written by Milton, Wordsworth, Keats, Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, and Christina Rossetti, in both English and Italian forms.

In the 20th century, sonnets were written by E.A. Robinson, E.E. Cummings, and W.H.
Auden, among others.

EPİC:
An epic is a long narrative poem about the achievements of heroic individuals or
warriors from history or tradition.
Early epics, like The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Beowulf, are anonymous legends passed
down orally and later written down.
Literary epics, such as Virgil’s Aeneid and Milton’s Paradise Lost, are sophisticated
written works that imitate the style of early epics.
Epics, both primary (folk) and literary, share common characteristics:

1. The hero is of great stature and national or international importance.

2. The setting is vast, covering nations, the world, or the universe.
 3. The action involves great deeds requiring superhuman courage.
4. Supernatural forces (gods, angels, demons) are often involved.
5. The style is elevated and formal.

Common conventions in epics include:

1. The poet begins by stating the theme and calling on a muse for inspiration.
2. The narrative starts “in medias res” (in the middle of the action), with
exposition provided later.
3. Catalogues of warriors, ships, and armies are included.
4. Extended formal speeches by the main characters.
5. Frequent use of epic similes (elaborate comparisons).

1. The Epic of Gilgamesh is an early primary epic from around 300 B.C.
2. It tells the story of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian king, and his adventures with
Enkidu, a wild man.
3. After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh seeks Utnapishtim, who knows the secret to
immortality.
4. Utnapishtim reveals the plant of life to Gilgamesh, but a snake steals it on his
return journey.
5. Despite losing the plant, Gilgamesh takes pride in the fame he gained from
building the walls of Erech.
6. The epic consists of twelve books and focuses on a man’s search for glory
and eternal life.
7. Other important primary epics include the Mahabharata and Ramayana from
India, the Cid from Spain, the Kalevala from Finland, and the Nibelungenlied
from Germany.

MOCK EPİC :
A mock epic treats a trivial subject with elaborate and dignified epic conventions.
The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope (1714) is the masterpiece of the mock
epic in English.

The poem treats the theft of an elegant lady’s lock of hair by one of her admirers
as an event of extraordinary importance.

Pope uses typical epic devices, such as epic similes, a voyage to the underworld,
impressive speeches, and mighty battles.

These devices are used to describe trivial events, like the heroine’s victory in a card
game, portrayed as a Homeric battle.