POETRY

Poetry has always been a spontaneous expression of ideas, emotions, feelings

etc. It has been a form that has been in use from ancient times. Poetry in its
rudimentary objective form has been in use much before the onset of
civilisation. Objects of nature viewed, provided the subject matter for a poem.
In this form deeds, events and things happening around provided the subject
matter without any sort of mental effort from the composers. The other form of
poetry diversified involved the thoughts, ideas and, later on, emotions into
rendering the poems. This made poetry more subjective in appearance.
Sometimes subject chosen from outside was provided with a touch from within.
In a nutshell, Objective form may be referred to as impersonal; and Subjective
form, personal. We owe the communal ballad to the people of ancient times
where poetry of action which afforded very little personal reflection, emerged.
The epic and drama are two other forms of Objective poetry, wherein the
personality of the writer remains in the background. The lyric and elegy, on the
other hand, represent Subjective Poetry.

The division between Subjective and Objective Poetry is more theoretical than
practical. In Objective poetry, the personality of the poet is to be seen Eg.
Shakespeare’s and Milton’s dramas and epic respectively; and similarly, in
Subjective poetry, there is an element of aloofness by the poet can be visible
Eg: poems of Shelley. The fact that scientific accuracy is impossible to find in
literature is to be remembered.

LYRIC
ORIGIN: Greek song was divided into two classes – melic or lyric song, sung
by a single voice to the accompaniment of a lyre; and choric song, which was
intended for collective singing to the accompaniment of instrumental music,
sometimes supplemented by a dance. The first of the above mentioned is the
origin of Lyric in English verse; and its two main characteristics are:
(a) It is an expression of a single emotion;
(b) It is a musical composition.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF MUSIC IN THE LYRIC: Music provided by the harp or lyre
formed an external accompaniment to the lyric in ancient times. The voice of the
singer in tune with the musical instrument was expected to provide the emotional
effect. Little importance was given to the subject matter of the lyric. As times
passed, it was realised that words possessed musical quality even without the
help of any musical instrument. The vowels and consonants set in an artistic
arrangement gave rise to a melody even without an external musical instrument.
Once this fact dawned on the literary arena, poets like Keats, Shelley, Tennyson
and Swinburne experimented and developed it. An example from Tennyson’s
poem praised for its word-music is herein quoted for study:

O hark, O hear! How thin and clear,

And thinner, clearer, farther going!
O sweet and far from cliff and scar
The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!
Once the music prevalent in the words was discerned, the lyric
became independent of the lyre.

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE LYRIC: A lyric, as discussed above, gives

expression to just one single emotion. It appeals to the heart rather than the
intellect. Or to put it in a better way, it appeals to the intellect through the heart.
Another important feature of a song which can be applied to a lyric is the length
of the song. A song which expresses strong emotion has to be precise and
concise; so that, the intensity of the emotion is not lost. If the song becomes
too lengthy, the intensity is lost. Hence a song, and thereby a lyric, has to be
precise as well as concise. Edgar Allan Poe, the American poet, in this regard
says “that degree of excitement which would entitle a poem to be so called at
all, cannot be sustained through a composition of any great length.” Thus, the
term ‘lyric’ covers ‘ode’, ‘sonnet’ and other such poems that are able to ‘turn on
a single thought, feeling or situation’. (Palgrave in his Preface to his Golden
Treasury). Hence a lyric is a subjective poem and intensely personal.

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STRUCTURE OF THE LYRIC: The lyric may be divided into three distinct
parts. These parts correspond to the three distinctive moods the poet
undergoes. The first part which comprises just a few lines or maybe utmost a
single verse, expresses the motive of the poet. The emotion which has set the
thought rolling in the poet is what the lines are about! The second part of the
poem which forms the bulk of the poem is wherein the thoughts are well-
advanced in intensity and emotion. The expression reaches the highest pitch
of eloquence and passion herein. The third and the last, which is almost as
brief as the first part, is the mood of reason. By this time the intense passion
which has found expression in fitting words and images, subsides and slowly
the poet ends the poem on an intellectual note comprising judgement or a
summary ending with a smile or a sigh.

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ODE

ORIGIN: Very similar to its parent form, the lyric, the Ode is of Greek origin. It
is a solemn and impressive composition; longer than the lyric and almost
always in rhyme. It is usually in the form of an address; and maybe sometimes
used to pay tribute to an important public occasion.

IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES:

(a) Exalted in subject-matter and elevated in tone and style. There is nothing
trivial or undignified about its theme or treatment. The poet is both serious
in the choice of a subject and also in the manner or presentation. Example:
the difference in the style of Wordsworth’s poems on simple country scenes
and incidents, and his sublime Ode to Intimations of Immortality.
(b) It is longer than a proper lyric. It is full of deep and sincere emotion but
expression is expected to be much more consciously elaborate, impressive
and diffused.
(c) Unlike any other form of verse, it is often addressed directly. The opening
lines sometimes contain an apostrophe or appeal. Ex: Shelley’s Ode to the

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 West Wind begins with “O Wild West Wind”; Keats’ Ode on a Grecian Urn,
“Thou still unravished bride of quietness”; Tennyson’s Virgil, “Roman, Virgil,
thou that singest”.
(d) Sometimes for its theme, an Ode has an important public event like a
national jubilee, the death of a distinguished personage etc.

DORIAN ODE OR PINDARIC ODE: Dorian Ode is called so from the district and
dialect in which it arose. This ode was a choric and was sung to the
accompaniment of dance. The structure of the Dorian Ode is built on the
movements of the dancers. It consists of three parts in the stanza form – the first
is the Strophe, where the dancers turn from the right to the left. The second
stanza Antistrophe is where the dancers turn from left to right. The third stanza
is different in structure from the precious two, known as Epode, wherein the
dancers stand still. The sequence of a Strophe, Antistrophe and Epode could be
repeated any number of times in an Ode of this type. Example: It is repeated
thrice in Gray’s odes. It is also known as Pindaric Ode because of its brilliant use
by the ancient Greek poet, Pindar.

LESBIAN ODE OR HORATIAN ODE: Simpler in form and easy to imitate.

Consists of a number of short stanzas, identical in length and arrangement. The
handling of the ode is direct and dignified. The thought is clearly developed. It
was popularised in Latin by two Roman writers, Horace and Catullus. Horatian
Odes served as models to English imitators. Example: Marvell’s Upon Cromwell’s
Return from Ireland.

ODE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE: There have been a few attempts of imitation,

but the English Ode managed to pursue its own course regarding subject-matter
and style, treatment and outlook. It did not and does not follow the classic
traditions strictly. It is either Regular Ode consisting of a series of exactly similar
stanzas like the Odes of Shelley and Keats; or Irregular, wherein each stanza
follows a different arrangement as in the odes of Wordsworth, Tennyson and
Bridges.

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 SONNET

ORIGIN: The origin of the Sonnet hasn’t been definitely determined. Must have
been either Sicily or Provence. However, it was first heard of in 13th century, in
association with the name of the great Italian poet, Petrarch. In actuality, this
form had been used previously by no less a genius than Dante. Originally a
short poem, recited to the accompaniment of music, the term ‘sonnet’ was
derived from “sonetto” meaning a little sound or strain.

THE ITALIAN SONNET: This is also known as the Petrarchan Sonnet from
the brilliant use by Petrarch. It is also called the classic sonnet because of the
imitations by other poets. It is a short poem of fourteen lines, wherein the
fourteen lines are divided into an octave and sestet. The former is a stanza of
eight line and the latter, six lines. The octave has two rhyme schemes a and b,
arranged as a b b a, a b b a. The sestet has either two or three c d e, c d e.
The octave may be divided into two stanzas or four lines each called quatrains;
and the sestet into two or three lines each called tercets. At the end of the
eighth line there is a well-marked pause caesura, indicated by punctuation and
emphasised by a space. This is followed by a volta (usually represented by the
words ‘but, yet, ‘and yet’) or a turn in thought, wherein the thought takes a
different route, wherein a summary is provided or disputed. This break in
thought is not to be found in either the Italian Sonnet or in Milton, who revived
the Italian Sonnet. For example, there is no division between the octave and
sestet in Milton’s famous sonnet On His Blindness. But he follows all the
characteristics in his other sonnet, When the Assault was Intended to the City.
THE ENGLISH SONNET: The Sonnet was introduced into England in the first
half of the 16th century by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, the Earl of
Surrey. They wrote verses for their pleasure, based on the Italian Sonnet after
their return from Italy on a diplomatic tour. Henry in particular adopted a
different rhyme scheme with three quatrains in alternate rhyme followed by a
couplet – a b a b, c d c d, e f e f, g g, This form was later on splendidly used
by Shakespeare, that it is now known as the Shakespearean Sonnet rather
than by the name of its real originator. Example: Remembrance by William
Shakespeare.

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THE SPENSERIAN SONNET: It may be noticed that the quatrains in
Shakespearean Sonnet are not connected to one another. They may be united
by their subject-matter, but structurally they remain unconnected. A little earlier,
Spenser had evolved a new variety by linking each of the quatrain to another
through inter-mixture, a b a b, b c b c, c d c d, e e. The couplet stands alone
as in the Shakespearean Sonnet. Example Spenser’s Amoretti.

SUBJECT-MATTER FOR THE SONNET: With Shakespeare and other

Elizabethans, it was love. But in Milton’s hands the scope of sonnet widened
and it came to include almost everything within the range of human feelings
and experience.

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ELEGY

ORIGINAL SCOPE: In Greece, its place of origin, Elegy meant war songs, love
poems, political verses, lamentations for the dead covering almost all subjects,
both grave and gay. The most important aspect of the Elegy is that it is judged
by its form, not subject-matter. Elegiac Measure is a couplet composed of a
dactylic hexameter followed by a dactylic pentameter (one long syllable and
two short syllables repeated six times in the first line and five times in the
second line). Any poem composed in the following metre was ranked as Elegy,
irrespective of the theme.
MODERN CONNOTATION: The modern usage does not follow the elegiac
measure for an elegy. What matters in modern usage is the subject-matter and
not the metre. There are no strict rules laid down for the metre, but an elegy is
supposed to be sadly reflective, mournful, sombre portraying unrequited love,
fall of cities etc. It is written as a tribute to something loved and lost. It is less
spontaneous than a lyric. It is elaborate in style like the Ode. Writing an elegy
does not constrain the English poet to any single form. Though the most
touching poems have been written in very simple language, Elegy aims at an
effect of dignity and solemnity without any strain of artificiality. An excellent

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example of this is Thomas Gray’s An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.
The metre he adopted was quatrains in iambic pentameter (lines of ten
syllables, alternately short and long). It has to be reckoned as a conscious
piece of art rather than spontaneous expression of sorrow.

OTHER FEATURES: Compared to other forms of poetry, Elegy is one form

that provides an opportunity for the poet to harbour diverse thoughts. For
example the concept of Death is so vast and suggestive of numerous ideas,
many unexplored but very inspirational for the poet to pursue. Death,
sometimes is the initiating point of discussion like speculations on the nature
of death, tributes to friends etc.; sometimes it is the sole theme. Eg: Milton’s
Lycidas, Shelley’s Adonais, Tennyson’s In Memoriam, Mathew Arnold’s
Rugby Chapel. Milton’s Lycidas would appear insubstantial without his
passage on Fame and his offensive criticism on the corruption of the clergy.
The diversions or digressions become a part of the main theme and lend a sort
of completeness to the poem.

Another important feature of an Elegy is that – Though grief is the dominant

emotion in the writing of an Elegy, there is an abrupt change to either that of
acceptance or even delight towards the end of the poem. The poet is shown to
reconcile himself to the inevitable gracefully. Eg: Lycidas closes on a note of
optimism, Adonais, on a note of triumph etc.

PASTORAL ELEGY: This is a form wherein the convention of a poet

portraying himself as a shepherd and bewailing the loss of his companion, is
followed. The manner of speech and the setting were borrowed from rustic life;
and whatever the poet had to say was phrased accordingly. The same
convention was handed down through generations and Milton’s Lycidas and
Mathew Arnold’s Thyrsis are both pastoral elegies.

This form of elegy first originated among Sicilian Greeks; and Theocrites’ Idylls
and Epigrams are the earliest known poems written in pastoral elegy form. This
form was perfected by the Latin poet, Virgil; whose pastoral elegies, Eclogues

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and Georgics are famous for their vivid representation of the countryside. Later
on, it fell out of use. During the 15th and 16th centuries it was slowly revived.
Imitators like Spenser in England brought it back to its fully glory.

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MOCK EPIC

If you have to understand what a mock epic is, you should first have an idea of
what a real epic is. An Epic is a long tale is verse, having famous heroes as its
main characters; with their heroic exploits woven into an artistic form and
handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth in song and
story. The events of an Epic may have been magnified by either tradition or by
the poet’s imagination; or both. But, some of the stories belong to actual
history. The characters are given superhuman dimensions and their actions
are influenced by the intervention of gods, who preside over their destiny. The
language used by the poet in an Epic is noble and exalted as it represents the
words and deeds of gods and heroes. Grand style is adopted and there is no
effort made to bear semblance to ordinary oration.

In an Epic, the theme of the poem is stated in the first few lines. The reciting of
the theme is technically called the ‘proposition’ and the prayer the ‘invocation’.
Milton’s Paradise Lost has both of these –
Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the world, and all our woe,
With the loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing, Heavenly Muse……..
There is a moral purpose to the Epic. Milton states that “to justify the ways of
God to men” is the moral purpose in Paradise Lost.

There are two types of Epic: (i) Epic of Growth or Authentic Epic (ii) Literary
Epic or the Epic of Art.

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Now what is Mock Epic?
‘Mock’ is to ridicule or speak contemptuously about someone. So Mock Epic is
written to ridicule someone or something in a grand way. Italy and France set
the trend for a parody of the Epic form, which very soon found imitators in
England.

In a Mock Epic, a theme which is unworthy of a serious epic and is very trivial
or insignificant is enshrouded in all the traditional paraphernalia or accessories
and the solemn dignity of an Epic. The Battle of the Frogs and Mice, a Greek
parody of the Iliad is a classical precedent of a Mock Epic. The finest example
in English poetry is Alexander Pope’s Rape of the Lock. This poem celebrates
the theft of a lock of hair from a girl’s head, in the manner of an Epic. The jest
lies in the disparity between the theme and its treatment; wherein the small
piece of mischief attains proportions of a family feud. Pope begins his poem
with the proposal and invocation on a grand scale.
What dire offence from amorous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing.
This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due:
This ev’n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
If She inspire, and He approve my lays.

As Hazlitt remarks, “the little has been made great; the great, little”.

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BALLAD

ORIGIN: The origin of a ballad, just like that of an Epic, can be traced back
to folk literature. It is one of the oldest forms of poetry in English, and also one
of the few that grew indigenously. Originally it was sung from village to village
with bands of singers singing on a harp or fiddle to the accompaniment of tribal
dance in the corner of a farmhouse or a village junction where people gathered
to hear. The etymological meaning of the word ballad is dancing-song. The

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 compositions were orally handed down, with each successive generation or
location making alterations that suited the contemporary and local conditions.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES:
1. The Ballad is a short story in verse, intended to be sung to an audience.
Since it developed prior to human’s cultural evolution, the subjects adopted
for the ballad were deeds rather than thoughts. The deeds were of the
simplest kind such as a memorable feud, a thrilling adventure, a family
disaster, love and war and the like. The tale is usually fierce and tragic and
many-a-time introduces the supernatural.

2. The Ballad is written in the Ballad Measure – a quatrain in which the first
and third lines are four-foot iambic ( a short and a long syllable); and the
second and the third lines in three foot iambic. Rhyme is to be found only
in the second and fourth lines. (a b c b)

3. The story opens abruptly without any systematic introduction. Sometimes it

begins with a question and answer which do not state who the speakers
are but make the situation very clear.

4. It is impersonal in treatment showing no traces of the poet’s identity or

personality. Sometimes, even the Epic has personal touch but the Ballad
doesn’t have any.

5. Often the same lines are repeated from stanza to stanza as a refrain and
stock phrases freely used.

6. There is no attempt at detail of time or place, where both can be ignored in

the interest of the story.

KINDS OF BALLAD: Ballads are of two types – Ballad of Growth or Authentic

Ballad and Ballad of Art or Literary Ballad. The former is the genuine having
evolved naturally among the primitive race; and the latter, imitative; being a
conscious effort. Examples of Authentic Ballads are Cherry Chase, The Wife of
the Usher’s Well, Sir Patrick Spens. Examples of the Literary Ballad are Scotts’

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Eve of St. John, Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Keats’ “La Belle
Dame Sans Merci”.

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SATIRE
ORIGIN: Satire is of classical origin. Etymologically it means ‘unpolished verse’.
A Satire may be defined as a literary composition whose principal aim is to ridicule
folly or vice. Even at the peak of its causticity, a satire keeps the reader in good
humour. Dryden maintains that the true end of a satire is the amendment of vices
by correction. The plays of Greek Aristophanes are exemplary paragons of
satirical writings. Horace, Persius and Juvenal, who were imitated all over Europe
were its chief exponents in Latin literature.

RANGE OF USAGE: A satire is a light composition, found both in prose and

poetry. There are no restrictions in the usage of a satire to any particular literary
form. In poetry a satire may be written as an ode, an elegy, a ballad etc. An entire
novel may be written more as a satire than as a story. Examples are Cervantes’
Don Quixote and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. The irony is that over time,
the satire is forgotten but the stories are remembered. Some of the notable
satires in English poetry are Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel, and Mac
Flecknoe Butler’s Hudibras, Pope’s Dunciad and Byron’s Vision of Judgement.
The first two poems were written in the heroic couplet, a metre that was in wide
use in those days for providing great concentration and force.

ESSENTIAL FEATURES: (i) It is primarily light literature.

(ii) It is inspired either by personal grievance or a passion for reform.
(iii) It is an attack on a person or a group of persons or on a social evil or folly.
(iv) It is intended to ridicule not abuse.
(v) It addresses itself to the sin rather than the sinner; it is playful rather than
hurtful. Alexander Pope was an exception in this regard. He was waspish,
venomous and malignant.

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(vi) It has to be forceful and outspoken. Shelley, in this regard says, Byron takes
an aim that tempts no second blow; Dryden, hits the hardest, without
degenerating into coarseness and violence.
(vi) It has to be terse and concise i.e. it should be able to say a great deal in a
brief space. Prolixity destroys its effect. Heroic couplet has amply proved to be
an admirable medium of expression. Dryden and Pope used it with amazing skill.
Byron handled it vigorously.

SUBJECTS THAT CAN BE CHOSEN FOR A SATIRE:

(i) Since the satirist’s work is to censure, he condemns everything he
does not approve. Every age has its own set of vices to ridicule.
(ii) Very similar to drama, a satire reflects qualities of nature; and strikes
hard against the contemporaneous follies and foibles. (foolishness and
weaknesses)
(iii) Chaucer and Langland attacked corruption in the Church and other
vices like dishonesty in certain professions like trade and law.
(iv) Elizabethans had innumerable topics like the courtier, the Puritan, the
woman, the affected traveller, the dishonest tailor etc.
(v) Though Dryden and Pope were more personal in their attacks,
targeting men rather than manners. Pope’s Rape of the Lock reflects
the foibles of his age; so do the works of Swift and Addison. Their age
was an age of bitter political rivalry, privilege, ceremony, artificiality and
controversy. Nothing was spared.
(vi) Byron in the nineteenth century targeted everything that he rebelled
against – the Lake poets, the waltz, the king, the society and its
conventions.

It may be noted that nothing is exempted from a satire. Personal attacks have
gone out of fashion. Societal conditions, problems and every aspect of modern
civilisation offer countless subjects to the satirist. George Bernard Shaw’s plays
provide an excellent example of how widely and effectively a gifted writer can use
this tool!!

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 DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE
The Dramatic Monologue is partly drama and partly poetry. It is a speech in the
poetic medium with a dominant dramatic note. The very fact of its being a speech
with someone to hear it, lends it a dramatic colour. But it is dramatic in other ways
too. It could be recited on the stage before an audience, with or without costume
and scenic background. Moreover, it is a study in character, which is one of the
main functions of drama. But it differs from the drama in its complete lack of action
and interchange of speech. It courts comparison with the soliloquy, in which an
actor on the stage similarly unburdens his soul, but it is actually quite different
because it is addressed to a passive listener, whose reaction to what is being
said is hinted at, now and then, by the speaker. A soliloquy is an actor’s private
thoughts uttered aloud in order to acquaint the audience with what is passing in
his mind. They would not be translated into speech if the dramatist had some
other method of communicating them to the audience. The soliloquy is not
supposed to be heard, the Dramatic Monologue is.

The Dramatic Monologue is not strictly a dramatic art form, for it is not, as a rule,
intended for presentation to an audience. It is a poetic form, called ‘dramatic’ for
its dramatic affinities. It found particular favour with Browning, who may be called
its chief exponent, though Tennyson also used it with masterly skill, as in Ulysses
and Tithonus. It is cast in the form of a speech addressed to a silent listener. Its
aim is character-study or ‘psycho-analysis’, without the other drama adjuncts of
incident and dialogue. The person who speaks is made to reveal himself and the
motives that impelled him at some crisis in his life or throughout its course. He
may speak in self-justification or in a mood of detached self-explanation,
contented, resigned, impenitent (unrepentant), or remorseful. What the author is
intent on showing us is the inner man. Saintsbury defines Dramatic Monologue
as, “The poet takes a character, an anecdote, sometimes little more than a name;
and instead of focussing it from the outside, or making it peak in simple dramatic
fashion, with such passages of ornament as he can give, he shakes it about,
dissecting, or trying to dissect, its ‘soul’, analysing its constituents, folding or
unfolding it to get different lights and aspects, but never exactly summing it up or
giving us the whole.”

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BROWNING’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE FORM: Browning showed an amazing
skill in this form of poetry. Occasionally it was Browning who uttered his own
thoughts through the mask, but more often it was his imagination capturing entire
mentalities of people and their outlook. This form afforded scope to Browning’s
interest in character without requiring him to introduce action, for which he had
little aptitude. He raised it to the rank of a major poetic form by making it the
repository of his ripest experience and profoundest reflection. It embodied not
only striking revelations of human passions and aspirations, but also valuable
passages of ethical teaching, which still make him, for many readers, a potent
and inspiring force. No other form could serve quite the same purpose. It is
drama, poetry and philosophy, all combined into one.

ANOTHER WAY OF USING DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE: Dramatic Monologue

is sometimes used to describe the performance of a scene from a famous novel
by an actor dressed as one of the characters in the book. Or for the recitation of
a stirring or amusing narrative in verse. These are also called Dramatic
Monologues.

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COUPLET

A couplet is one of the simplest examples of poetic form: a pair of lines with end
rhymes and same metre. Rhyming couplets can be found everywhere from the lyrical
English poetry of Shakespeare to simple schoolyard nursery rhymes. A heroic couplet
is a form of the couplet often found within epic or narrative poetry.

A heroic couplet is a rhyming couplet, or two lines of poetry, written in iambic

pentameter. That poetic meter, iambic pentameter, is what distinguishes a heroic
couplet from a regular couplet. Each line in iambic pentameter consists of 5 iambs and
totals 10 syllables.

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It is called ‘heroic’ because it is used for epic verse in English to celebrate heroic
exploits. Its standard form involves a pause at the end of every line and the completion
of the sense at the end of the couplet. The continuation of the sense without pause
from one line to another or one couplet to another is avoided. This is technically called
enjambment. The couplet is not split to link its meaning to either the preceding or
succeeding couplets. It is always closed or complete in itself. The rhyme is single.
Double rhyme like bright-ly and light-ly are rarely found.

Summing up –
(i) There is a pause at the end of the first line, indicated by a comma, signifying
partial completion of the sense.
(ii) There is a pause at the end of the couplet, indicated by a full stop, signifying
full completion of the sense.
(iii) The couplet is closed, not requiring the aid of either a predecessor or a
successor to complete its meaning.
(iv) The rhyming is usually single.
(v) The number of syllables is ten, the odd ones unaccented or short; the even,
accented or long.
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The rest of the forms can be read from the text book.

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