2. Poetry is a form of literature that
uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities
of language such as phonaesthetics, sound
symbolism, and metre to evoke meanings
in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic
ostensible meaning.
3. Poetry has a long history, dating back to the Sumerian Epic
of Gilgamesh. Early poems evolved from folk songs such as
the Chinese Shijing, or from a need to retell oral epics, as with
the Sanskrit Vedas, ZoroastrianGathas, and the Homeric epics,
the Iliad and the Odyssey. Ancient attempts to define poetry,
such as Aristotle's Poetics, focused on the uses
of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts
concentrated on features such as repetition, verse
form and rhyme, and emphasized the aesthetics which
distinguish poetry from more objectively
informative, prosaic forms of writing. From the mid-20th
century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as
a fundamental creative act employing language.
4. • Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential
interpretation to words, or to evoke emotive 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 figures of
speech such as 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.
6. LYRIC POETRY
a comparatively short, non-narrative poem in which a
single speaker presents a state of mind or an
emotional state. Lyric poetry retains some of the
elements of song which is said to be its origin:
For Greek writers the lyric was a song accompanied
by the lyre.
7. NARRATIVE POETRY
gives a verbal representation, in verse, of a
sequence of connected events, it propels
characters through a plot. It is always told by a
narrator. Narrative poems might tell of a love
story (like Tennyson's Maud), the story of a father
and son (like Wordsworth's Michael) or the
deeds of a hero or heroine (like Walter
Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel).
8. DESCRIPTIVE AND DIDACTIC
POETRY
Both lyric and narrative poetry can contain lengthy and
detailed descriptions (descriptive poetry) or scenes in direct
speech (dramatic poetry).
The purpose of a didactic poem is primarily to teach
something. This can take the form of very specific instructions,
such as how to catch a fish, as in James Thomson’s The
Seasons (Spring 379-442) or how to write good poetry as in
Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism. But it can also be meant
as instructive in a general way. Until the twentieth century all
literature was expected to have a didactic purpose in a
general sense, that is, to impart moral, theoretical or even
practical knowledge; Horace famously demanded that poetry
should combineprodesse (learning)
and delectare (pleasure). The twentieth century was more
reluctant to proclaim literature openly as a teaching tool.
9. Dramatic poetry
drama written in verse to be spoken or sung, and appears in varying,
sometimes related forms in many cultures. Greek tragedy in verse
dates to the 6th century B.C., and may have been an influence on the
development of Sanskrit drama, just as Indian drama in turn appears
to have influenced the development of the bianwen verse dramas in
China, forerunners of Chinese Opera. East Asian verse dramas also
include JapaneseNoh. Examples of dramatic poetry in Persian
literature include Nizami's two famous dramatic works, Layla and
Majnun and Khosrow and Shirin, Ferdowsi's tragedies such
as Rostam and Sohrab, Rumi's Masnavi, Gorgani's tragedy of Vis
and Ramin, and Vahshi's tragedy of Farhad.
10. Satirical poetry
Poetry can be a powerful vehicle for satire. The Romans had a strong
tradition of satirical poetry, often written for political purposes. A
notable example is the Roman poet Juvenal's satires.
The same is true of the English satirical tradition. John
Dryden (a Tory), the first Poet Laureate, produced in 1682 Ma
Flecknoe, subtitled "A Satire on the True Blue Protestant Poet, T.S."
(a reference to Thomas Shadwell).Another master of 17th-century
English satirical poetry was John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
. Satirical poets outside England include Poland's Ignacy
Krasicki, Azerbaijan's Sabir and Portugal's Manuel Maria Barbosa du
Bocage.
11. Light poetry
Light poetry, or light verse, is poetry that attempts to be humorous.
Poems considered "light" are usually brief, and can be on a frivolous
or serious subject, and often feature word play, including puns,
adventurous rhyme and heavy alliteration. Although a few free verse
poets have excelled at light verse outside the formal verse tradition,
light verse in English is usually formal. Common forms include
the limerick, the clerihew, and the double dactyl.
While light poetry is sometimes condemned as doggerel, or thought
of as poetry composed casually, humor often makes a serious point in
a subtle or subversive way. Many of the most renowned "serious"
poets have also excelled at light verse. Notable writers of light poetry
include Lewis Carroll, Ogden Nash, X. J. Kennedy, Willard R. Espy,
and Wendy Cope.
13. Maya Angelou
(born Marguerite Johnson April 4, 1928) is an
American poet, memoirist, actress and an
important figure in the American Civil Rights
Movement. Angelou is known for the
autobiographical writings I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings (1969) and All God's
Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986). Her
volume of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink
of Water 'Fore I Die (1971) was nominated for
the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1993, Angelou read
her poem On the Pulse of Morning written for
Bill Clinton's Presidential inauguration at his
request. It was only the second time in U.S.
history that a poet had been asked to read at an
inauguration, the first being Robert Frost at the
inauguration of John F. Kennedy.
14. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
(December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an
American poet. Though virtually unknown in
her lifetime, Dickinson has come to be
regarded, along with Walt Whitman, as one of
the two quintessential American poets of the
19th century. In fact, it is commonly
conjectured that Contemporary North
American Poetry extends outward along two
principal currents, that which flows from
Whitman and that which flows from
Dickinson. Curiously enough, the two poets
are almost opposite in personality, prosody,
poetic manifesto and style
15. Sheldon Alan "Shel" Silverstein
(September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American
poet, songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist,
screenwriter, and author of children's books. He was also
known as "Uncle Shelby." Silverstein claimed he never
studied the poetry of others, and therefore developed his
own style. His style was laid-back and conversational,
occasionally employing profanity and recent slang. He
wrote with an unaffected, un-self-conscious manner that
kept attention focused on the subject matter, not the
language. Silverstein believed that written works needed
to be read on paper, and with the correct paper for the
work. He usually would not allow his poems or stories to
be published unless he could choose the type, size, shape,
and color of the paper himself. Being himself a book
collector, he took the feel and look - the paper, the type,
the binding - of his titles very seriously. He did not allow
his books to be published in paperback, but this doesn't
seem to have affected his popularity: his books sold at
least 14 million copies.
16. Benjamin Jonson
(circa June 11, 1572 – August 6, 1637)
was an English Renaissance dramatist,
poet and actor. He is best known for his
plays Volpone and The Alchemist and his
lyric poems. A man of vast reading and a
seemingly insatiable appetite for
controversy, Jonson had an unparalleled
breadth of influence on Jacobean and
Caroline playwrights and poets.
17. Edgar Allan Poe
(January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an
American poet, short story writer, editor, critic
and one of the leaders of the American Romantic
Movement. Best known for his tales of the
macabre, Poe was one of the early American
practitioners of the short story and a progenitor of
detective fiction and crime fiction. He is also
credited with contributing to narrative forms of
the emergent science fiction genre. Poe died at the
age of 40. The cause of his death is undetermined
and has been attributed to alcohol, drugs, cholera,
rabies, and other agents.
