Poetry has a regular rhythm that can be measured and
a rhyme scheme .
A poem is
written in lines and stanzas . When the subdivision is irregular and unrhymed
they may call it not as a stanza but a “ strophe” .
Prose
poetry . The prose poem would seem to be an oxymoron .
Poetry written in paragraphs [ with left and right margin justification ] ,
without the line breaks of regular verse , the prose poem relies on its compact
intensity and repetition of rhyme and figurative elements .
Ex . ‘
Bell-Tones” by L . E . Myers .
Bell-Tones
.
Bells have
been ringing and marking time in my life Bells to
Come for and
bells to go by . Bells to ring and bells to hear .
Easy
bell-tones turn to clattering bells , ringing , finally
becoming muted
into man soft death knells .
Although
visually made to look like prose , this prose poem contains such major poetic
elements as personification , onomatopoeia and alliteration and the intensity
of meaning [ symbolism ] etc.
Free Verse
. Free verse is just that – free of a regular
meter . Also called “ open form” or “
verse libre” , free verse is characterized by short , irregular lines , no rhyme
pattern and a dependence on the effective and more intense use of pauses –
words selected not only for meaning but for how that meaning is intensified by
their position in the poem .
Notice the use
of free verse in “ Know Yourself “ by L. E. Myers .
There is a
truth
with us
and in us
Is this the
truth ?
There is a
lie
with us
but not in us
.
Is this the
truth ?
Blank
Verse : It is written
in iambic pentameter , but with no rhyme pattern . It is the major verse form
used by Shakespeare in his plays . In blank verse , divisions are referred to
as verse , paragraphs [ although the verse paragraph can also be in free verse
] . Blank verse made its appearance in English literature first in drama , then
epics and since has been used frequently in a wide variety of long poems .
An example is
William Wordsworth’s lengthy poem “ Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern
Abbey on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye During A Tour, July 13 , 1798 .”
Five years have
passed , five summers , with the length
Of five long winters ! and again
I hear
These waters rolling from their
mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur , Once
again
Do I behold these steep and
lofty cliffs ,
That on a mild secluded scene
impress
Thoughts of more deep seckusion
; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of
the sky .
Qualitative Verse : This verse has a
measurable rhythm with an identifiable rhyme scheme . The poem is presented in
a known stanza . The verse is accentual-syllabic : it depends on [1] how many
syllables are in each line and [2] the accented and unaccented syllables
forming patterns . [ Do not confuse this with quantitive verse that imitates
Greek and Latin versification , depending on the duration od sound ] .
A significant aspect of
form in poetry is the form of stanza .
|
Stanza |
No. of Lines |
Meter |
Rhyme Scheme |
|
Ballad |
four lines |
Lines 1 and
3 iambic tetrameter Lines 2 and 4
iambic trimeter |
a b c b |
|
Elegiac |
four lines |
iambic
pentameter |
a b a b |
|
Terza Rima |
three lines |
iambic
pentameter |
a b a , b c
b / c d c , e d |
|
Rhyme Royal |
seven lines |
iambic pentameter |
a b a b b c
c |
|
Ottava Rima |
eight lines |
iambic
pentameter |
a b a b a b
c c |
|
Spenserian |
nine lines |
lines 1 -8
iambic pentameter line 9
iambic hexameter [ an Alexandrine ] |
a b a b b c
b c c |
Other terms
referring to the number of lines in a stanza include :
Tristich [
triplet ] = three lines
Quatrain =
four lines
Quintain [
quintet ] = five lines
Sextain [
sestet ] = six lines
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment