American Division Literature [ 11 ]

11- ] American Division Literature .

Poetry .

Ode :  A complex , serious long lyric poem modeled after Pindar [ the Grteek poet ] whose complex songs [ originally used in dramatic poetry ] were divided into numerous three-part-units consisting of the strophe , antistrophe and epode .

The English ode has three forms :

1-] Regular  or Pindaric ode  includes one stanza pattern for strophe and antistrophe , whereas epode is another stanza pattern .

2-] Irregular ode  Each stanza has its own pattern – the most common ode form in English since it was first done in 1656 by Abraham Cowley .

3-] Horatian [ homostrophic ] ode ; One repeated stanza type that may vary within the established pattern . These odes are calmer, less passionate than Pindar’s odes .

Odes are very unified with just one theme handled in an extremely dignified manner . The purpose of many odes is to eulogize someone or something such as Alexander Pope’s “ Ode on Solitude” .

Sonnet .

A fourteen-line iambic pentameter poem . There are three main types of sonnet :

1-] The Italian [ Petrarchan ] sonnet  consists of an octave [ eight lines ] or a set of two quatrains [ four lines each ] in an abbaabba rhyme scheme that asks  a question or presents a statement that is answered or somehow addressed by the concluding sestet [ six lines ] or set of two tercets [ three lines each ] . Notice Wordsworth’s use of the sonnet form in “ Nuns Fret Not” [ abbaabba / cddccd ] .                                  

2-] The English [ Shakespearean ] sonnet  consists of three quatrains [ four lines each ] concluding with couplet in an / abab  cdcd  efef  gg / rhyme scheme. You can expect the final couplete either to summarize the theme variations in the first three quatrains or to be epigrammatic .                                                                                    

3-] The Spenserian sonnet consists of the three quatrains being linked by a             continuing rhyme scheme , namely abab / bcbc / cdcd / ee / .                                          

  Like As A Huntsman After Weary Chase . [ Edmund Spenser ]                                           Once again , the concluding couplet summarizes the speaker’s point . In your study of the sonnet be aware of the sonnet cycle  ] a device used by Shakespeare and Spenser . These cycles consist of a series of sonnets that are related by theme or some other means .                                                                                                          

Here is a brief overview of the more common genres of poetry . Most are lyric ; however  , some include elements of the epic [ narrative mode and drama                  [ dramatic mode ] .                                                                                                            

Haiku  A single-stanza , three-line [ originally Japanese ] lyric poem of 17 syllables . The subject is generally impressionistic of a scene in nature or a natural object . Line 1 with five syllables . Line 2 with seven syllables . Line 3 with five syllables .

Haike.  By : C. Myers Shaffer

Hear their sad refrain

       To capture sense with a sound .

            Doves before the rain .