Grammar American & British

Sunday, July 12, 2020

American Division Literature [ 13 ]

13- ] American Division Literature .

Poetry .

Light Verse .

Poems intended to be humorous or witty . Types of light verse include :

1-] Vers de societe :  Those are characterized by :

Brief length , playful mood , social relationships as the subject , sophisticated style and terse tone [ brisk and generally rhymed rhythm ] .

2-] Parody :   A comic or satiric imitation of a more serious work that ridicules a work , an author or a style .

A parody can be fun to write , especially when the original poem has a very pronounced rhythm or mood . Edgar Allan Poe’s “ The Raven” has such a distinctive rhythm pattern that it works well in parody .

Ex . Here is the first stanza of the original poem :

Once upon a midnight dreamy , while I pondered , weak and weary .

Over many acquaint and curious volume of forgotten lore ,

While I nodded , nearly napping , suddenly there came a tapping .

As of some one gently rapping , rapping at my chamber door .

“Tis some visitor,” I muttered , “ tapping at my chamber door –

     Only this and nothing more .

Here is a parody of the preceding stanza .

Once upon a schoolday dreary , while I studied , weak and weary .

Over many acquaint and curious volume of literature .

Feeling grisly , grim and grumbling , suddenly there came a rumbling .

A gruesome gripping kind of rumbling , rumbling that was premature .

“Tiiiiis my stomach ,” then I muttered , “ rumbling here so premature –

           Candy bars will be the cure .

3-] Limerick :  A poem of five anapestic lines with an aabba rhyme scheme . Lines 1,2 and 5 are trimeter , lines 3 and 4 are dimeter . The limerick is a form of nonsense verse .

x  x     /        x   x       /         x   x    /

I sat next / to the Duch / ess at tea .                         a

 x  x        /      x x       /          x     x       /

It was just / as I thought / it would be .                   a

   X      /      x      x         x    x

Her rumblings ab / dominal .                                  b

   x         /    x    x        /   x  x

Were simply phe / nomenal .                                     b

   x     /     x     x          /          x  x      /

And ev / ery one thought / it was me .                         a

4-] Occasional Verse :  Genrally written for specific occasions , such as coronations , birthdays , and deaths . For official occasions , the English poet laureate is expected to write the occasional poem . An often cited occasional poem was written in 1681 by Andrew Marvell . The poem “ An Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell’s Return From Ireland ,” is based upon Cromwell’s return to England in 1650 , at which time he prepared to go to battle against the Scots .

5-] Epigrams :  They are short poems that are characteristically witty with a twist in the thought at the end . An epigram , however , can also be defined as simply a clever saying used for a variety of purposes including to eulogize , to compliment or to satirize .

This anonymous Latin epigram sums up the point .

6-] Epitaph :  Generally a short poem { an epigram ] intended for a tombstone [ or as if for carving on a tombstone . The epitaph may be comic .

My Own Epitaph . By : John Gay

Life is a jest ; and all things show it .

I thought so once ; but now I know it .

An Epitaph Upon A Young Married Couple .

Dead And Buried Together .  By : Richard Crashaw

To these , whom death again did wed ,

This grave is their second marriage-bed .

For thought the hand of fate could force

“ Twixt soul and body a divorce , It could not sunder man and wife

Cause they both livéd but one life .

Peace , good reader , Do not weep

Peace , the lovers are asleep

They sweet turtles , folded lie

In the last knot love could tie .

And though they lie as they were dead ,

Their pillow stone , their sheets of lead ,

( Pillow hard , and sheets not warm )

Love made the bed ; they’ll take no harm ;

Let them sleep , let them sleep on .

Till this stormy night be gone ,

Till th’eternal morrow dawn ;

Then the curtains will be drawn

And they wake into a light ,

Whose day shall never die in night .

7-] Epigraph [ motto ] :  The quotation or inscription on a statue , on a coin , before chapter headings , and on title pages of books .

8-] Clerihew  Named after the writer of detective fiction [ Edmund Clerihew Bentley ] .

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