Poetry

POETRY

Subjective & Objective

Types of poetry : (based on subject matter)

DIFFERENCES

Objective	Subjective
Subject Matter
Supplied by external objects (deeds, events, things that we see)	Supplied by poet’s own thoughts and feelings
Poets view
From ‘without’ to the externals confining himself	From ‘within’ to his own thoughts and feelings
Characteristic
Impersonal	Personal
Age
Older	Younger
Origin
Primitive people	Product of civilization
Involvement
Experiences of eye and ear which they see and hear	Experiences of mind and heart which is thought and felt
Requirement
Little mental effort	Deep thinking
Examples
Communal ballad, epic and drama	Lyric and elegy
Illustration
Youth and age by Shakespeare	Youth and age by Coleridge

Note : They are theoretically divided. Practical division is almost impossible.
Reasons :

The most impersonal of compositions may bear the characteristic indication of quality of its author. Example : Plays of Shakespeare.

The most personal of poems may make use of an objective figure to illustrate a deeply felt emotion. Example : Plays of Coleridge

(1) Lyric Origin Theme Characteristics Structure Types Melic Choric

1. Lyric

Lyric : it is a short poem which expresses any single thought or emotion. It appeals to the intellect through the heart.

Origin : Greek

Theme : Any single thought or emotion.

Characteristics:
1. Short poem (as a rule – Edgar Allan Poe)
2. Appeals to the intellect through the heart
3. Understood to be a song/ode/sonnet/any poem as defined by Palgrave in the preface to his ‘Golden Treasury’ as ‘turn on some single thought, feeling or emotion.’
4. Theme is subjective.
5. Verbal melody is practiced now (before, music was used)

Structure :
1. 3 parts (based on the poet’s different moods)
a. States the emotion/subject/cause. N. Hepple calls it ‘motive’.
b. Consists the thoughts suggested by the emotion. Expression reaches the highest pitch.
c. Marks the poets return to his initial mood
i. -some poems have intellectual conclusion. Ex: Herrick’s “To Blossoms”,
ii. -some do not.
2. A poets emotion is a law unto itself.

Types :
1. Melic: -Sung by a single voice with a lyre.-This is which in English verse.
2. Choric: Sung collectively with music and dance.

Example :
1. Herrick’s “To Blossoms”

(2) Ode Origin Theme Characteristics Types Dorian or Pindaric Characteristics Structure Ex Lesbian or Horation Characteristics Structure Ex (Special point) Ode of English Literature Characteristics Structure Ex

2. Ode

Ode : An ode is a poem which is longer than lyric, its parent form. It is often an address to someone and sometimes to commemorate an important public event.

Origin : Greek

Theme :
1) An address to someone or something
2) A commemoration to an imortant public event (national jubilee, death of a distinguished person, founding of a great University, etc)

Characteristics :
1) Parent form is lyric
2) Longer than lyric
3) Exalted in subject matter
4) Often used to address someone or something
5) Sometimes to commemorate an important public occasion

Types :

1) Dorian or Pindaric Ode:

Characteristics :
(1) Dorian - name from the district or dialect it arose.
(2) Pindaric - after great ancient Greek poet Pindar.
(3) Sung in chores with dance.

Structure :
(1) 3 stanza-forms which form a sequence.
(a) when recited, dancers turn from right to left.
(b) when recited, dancers turn from left to right.
(c) when recited, dancers stand still.
Note: First two stanza forms are similar while the third is different.
(2) This sequence can be repeated.

Examples
3 repitations in Grays
1) 'The Progress of Poesy'
2) 'The Bard'

2) Lesbian or Horation Ode:

Characteristics :
(1) Lesbian - from island of Lesbos
(2) Horation - for English Odes of Horace model

Structure :
(1) Simpler than Pindaric
(2) Stanzas are many and short, similar in length and arrangement
(3) Treatment is direct and dignified
(4) Thought is clearly developed

Example
Andrew Marwell's 'Upon Cromwell's return from Ireland'

Ode of English Literature :

Characteristics :
(1) Some are of Dorian or Horation form
(2) Others are of own form

Structure :
(1) Regular - Similar stanzas
Eg: Shelly's or Keat's Odes
(2) Irregular - different stanzas
Eg: Tennyson's or Robert Bridges' odes,
Wordsworth's Immortality Ode

3. Sonnet

Origin:
Not definite – Sicily & Provence suggested – first found in Italy – in the latter half of 13^th century

Theme:
1. Expression of one single thought or feeling
2. No set range of subjects

Examples:
a. Shakespeare - ‘love’ (following Elizabethans)
i. For his young friend, Mr. W. H.
ii. For his love, ‘dark lady’
b. Milton – ‘almost everything within the range of human feeling and experience.’

Characteristics:
1. Short poem + music
2. ‘Sonnet’ – from Italian ‘sonetto’ – meaning little sound or strain.

Areas of concern:
1. Italian sonnet
2. English sonnet

Itallian sonnet:

Characteristics:
1. Called often ‘Petrarchan’ by the use of Petrarch.
2. Called sometimes “Classical” as being model to other countries.
3. Short poem of 14 lines

Structure:
2 parts
1. Octave – 8 lines stanza – 2 quatrains – 4 lines each
a. Rhyming shceme – abba, abba
2. Sestet – 6 lines stanza – 2 tercets – 3 lines each
a. Rhyming scheme – cdc, dcd / cde, cde / cde, dce
3. At the end of Octave
a. ‘caesura’ – a well marked pause
b. ‘volta’ – a turn in thought
Ex. Milton’s “When the Assault was Intended to the City”
- Sometimes not found
Ex. Milton’s “On His Blindness”
English Sonnet (Shakespearean sonnet):

Characteristics:
1. In England in the former half of the 16^th century
2. By Sir Thomas Wyatt & Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, after their return from Italy
3. Surrey changed form
a. 3 quatrains & 1 couplet
b. Rhyming scheme – abab, cdcd, efef, gg
4. Named as Shakespearean sonnet after its use by Shakespeare
5. Caesura and Volta – not found
6. Ex: Shakespeare’s “Remembrance”
7. Spenserian type – differ in rhyming scheme – abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee