Lane341 4

Course Title: Introduction to Literature
Course Code & NO.: LANE 341
Course Credit Hrs.: 3 per week
Level: 5th Level

Part One
Poetry Selections
September, 30th , 2013
8-9: 20 AM

Instructor: Dr. Noora Al-Malki
Credits of images and online content are to their original owners.

Session Content
-

Unit Learning Outcomes
Poetry: definitions
Poetry vs Prose
Poetic structure
Poetic Forms
Poetic Genres
Reading Selection:
Night Wind by Emily Bronte
Next lecture

Dr. Noora Al-Malki 2013
eaglenoora@yahoo.com

2

Unit Objective:
In this lecture, we are going to discuss some concepts related to poetry with reference
to some selected readings in English poetry.
Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:
-Discuss the meaning of poetry as a literary genre
-Reflect on what distinguishes particular poetic sub-genres.
-Analyze selected readings in English poetry.


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Definitions of Poetry
Wordsworth defined
poetry as:
“the spontaneous
overflow of powerful
feelings…”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordsworth


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Emily Dickinson said,
"If I read a book and it
makes my body so cold
no fire ever can warm
me, I know that is
poetry".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson

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Dylan Thomas defines it:
"Poetry is what makes me
laugh or cry or yawn,
what makes my toenails
twinkle, what makes me
want to do this or that or
nothing."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas


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Carl Sandburg (American poet 20 C)
“Poetry is an echo, asking a
shadow to dance.”
th

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sandburg


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Isaac Newton (English Scientist 17-18 Cs.):

“(Poetry is) a kind of
ingenious nonsense.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton


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Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is an art form in
which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in
addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. It
consists largely of oral or literary works in which language is
used in a manner that is felt by its user and audience to differ
from ordinary prose.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry


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Poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed
through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices so as to
evoke an emotional response. Poetry has been known to employ
meter and rhyme, but this is by no means necessary. Poetry is an
ancient form that has gone through numerous and drastic
reinvention over time. The very nature of poetry as an authentic
and individual mode of expression makes it nearly impossible to
define.
http://contemporarylit.about.com/

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Just check the titles of poetry collections published everywhere
and you will notice that every and each poet understands
poetry in a certain way that differs from other poets.

Check also these images …

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For more on the Poetry Definitions check these
websites:
http://poetinthecity.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/what-is-poetry-50-definitions-andcounting/
http://www.poetry-online.org/poetry-quotes.htm


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Poetry VS. Prose
Overall, prose and poetry differ in the
following aspects:
1. Poetry is more rhythmical, formal and
metered in terms of structure compared to
the more ordinary prose.
2. Poetry is more expressive and attractive
as opposed to the usual dull quality of
prose.
3. Lines are considered to be the basic
units of poetry, whereas sentences fill the
exact same role in the case of prose.
4. Generally, poetry often has some
rhymes and relationships between its
words as opposed to their absence in
prose.
http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-poetry-and-prose/

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Poetic Structure
The main structural elements in
a poem include: the line,
couplet, strophe and stanza.
Poets combine the use of
language
and
a
specific
structure to create imaginative
and expressive works.

Abondolo, Daniel (2001). A poetics handbook: verbal art in the European tradition. Curzon. pp. 52–53.


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Poetic Forms
Poetry as Form:
Ancient philosophers tried to
decide on what makes poetry
distinctive as a form, and what
distinguishes good poetry from
bad. This led to the emergence
of "poetics"—the study of the
aesthetics of poetry.


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Poetic Forms



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Poetic Forms
The Bedford Online Glossary defines
closed form, or "fixed form" poetry as
follows:
[Closed or fixed form poems are those] that
may be categorized by the pattern of its
lines, meter, rhythm, or stanzas. A sonnet
is a fixed form of poetry because by
definition it must have fourteen lines. Other
fixed forms include limerick, sestina, and
villanelle. However, poems written in a
fixed form may not always fit into
categories precisely, because writers
sometimes vary traditional forms to create
innovative effects.

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Poetic Forms
What distinguishes closed form poems is
that they develop regular patterns with
regard to lines, meter, rhythm and stanza.
When we discuss a poem's structure, we're
observing its pattern of lines and stanzas.
Examples of Fixed Verse Forms can be
found here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_verse


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Poetic Forms
A stanza consists of a grouping of two or
more lines, set off by a space, that usually
has a set pattern of meter and rhyme. The
stanza in poetry is synonymous with the
paragraph that is seen in prose, related
thoughts are grouped into units.
Kirszner & Mandell. Literature Reading, Writing, Reacting. Ch. 18,pg. 716.


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Poetic Forms
In traditional English-language poems,
stanzas can be identified and grouped
together because they share a rhyme
scheme or a fixed number of lines (as in
distich/couplet,
tercet,
quatrain,
cinquain/quintain, sestet). In much modern
poetry, stanzas may be arbitrarily
presented on the printed page because of
publishing conventions that employ such
features as white space or punctuation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanza


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Poetic Forms
The Bedford Online Glossary defines
"free verse" poetry as follows:
“Sometimes called "free verse," open form
poetry does not conform to established
patterns of meter, rhyme, and stanza. Such
poetry derives its rhythmic qualities from
the repetition of words, phrases, or
grammatical structures, the arrangement of
words on the printed page, or by some
other means. The poet E. E. Cummings
wrote open form poetry; his poems do not
have measurable meters, but they do have
rhythm.”


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Poetic Forms
What distinguishes open form poems “free
Verse” is that they do not develop regular
patterns with regard to lines, meter, rhythm
and stanza. Their structure is more
"organic" instead of being predetermined,
following its own inner logic according to
the emotion or thought expressed.


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Poetic Genres
Poetry uses forms and
conventions to suggest
differential interpretation to
words, or to evoke emotive
responses (mode). The
result is distinct genres or
sub-genres of poetry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry

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Poetic Genres
Aristotle's Poetics describes
three genres of poetry—the
epic, the comic, and the tragic
—and
develop
rules
to
distinguish the highest-quality
poetry in each genre, based on
the underlying purposes of the
genre.
Heath, Malcolm, ed. (1997). Aristotle's Poetics. Penguin Books


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Poetic Genres
Mainly, there are three major types of
poetry:
1-Dramatic poetry
2-Lyric poetry
3-Narrative poetry
However, each of these major types
includes various poetic forms.


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Poetic Genres
Dramatic poetry uses the elements of
drama. One or more characters speak
to other characters, to themselves, or
directly address the reader. This type
of poetry often includes emotional
conflict.



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Poetic Genres
Lyric poetry expresses the thoughts
and emotions of a single speaker.
Usually short, a lyric poem creates a
single, unified impression.

Lyric poetry, on the other hand, may
tell about events, but the focus is on
creating a mood or recalling a feeling.
Lyric poems express the character,
impressions and emotions of the poet,
and are usually short.

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Poetic Genres
Narrative poetry tells a story in verse
form. A narrative poem has a
beginning, a middle, and an ending,
just like a prose story. Unlike prose,
however, a narrative poem is much
more concentrated.

Narrative poetry tells a story. It combines
poetic techniques, such as rhyme and
alliteration, with the elements of fiction,
such as characters and a recognizable
plot.

.


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The Night Wind
In summer's mellow midnight,
A cloudless moon shone through
Our open parlour window,
And rose-trees wet with dew.
I sat in silent musing;
The soft wind waved my hair;
It told me heaven was glorious,
And sleeping earth was fair.
I needed not its breathing
To bring such thoughts to me;
But still it whispered lowly,
How dark the woods will be!.

Emily Bronte
.Early 19th C

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The Night Wind
"The thick leaves in my murmur
Are rustling like a dream,
And all their myriad voices
Instinct with spirit seem."
I said, "Go, gentle singer,
Thy wooing voice is kind:
But do not think its music
Has power to reach my mind.
"Play with the scented flower,
The young tree's supple bough,
And leave my human feelings
In their own course to flow."

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The Night Wind
The wanderer would not heed me;
Its kiss grew warmer still.
"O come!" it sighed so sweetly;
"I'll win thee 'gainst thy will.
"Were we not friends from childhood?
Have I not loved thee long?
As long as thou, the solemn night,
Whose silence wakes my song.
"And when thy heart is resting
Beneath the church-aisle stone,
I shall have time for mourning,
And THOU for being alone."

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The Night Wind:
Points
This poem is rich in allusion to the semi-supernatural, or perhaps more accurately natural, world evoked in
much of her work.
Emily Bronte frequently used the 'life-giving wind' as a metaphor for the being she communed with on a daily
basis, the 'soul' of nature.
In this poem, as in many others, Emily Bronte is visited by a spiritual manifestation of nature. After setting
the scene briefly and efficiently: an open window, midnight, a cloudless moon (another recurring image in her
poetry, cf. 'How Clear she Shines'), we are introduced directly to the quasi-mystical concept of the night wind
entering through the open window and addressing her in human terms. This is remarkable. We are invited to
share this moment with the writer, not in the sense that 'a very strange thing happened..', but that it is perfectly
natural, right and ordinary for the night wind to interact and communicate in this way.
It is impossible not to see parallels between the persuasive language of the night wind and the allegorical
serpent of Genesis, "O come', it sighed so sweetly/I'll win thee 'gainst thy will...", as the zephyr spirit attempts
to persuade the writer to go out into the night with him. As her denial becomes stronger, the wind's language
becomes more persuasive, more beguiling. "Have we not been from childhood friends/Have I not loved thee
long.". There is a darkness here, which attracts us, yet scares us


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The Night Wind:
Explication
For a concise explication of the poem, check this website
http://courses.wcupa.edu/fletcher/britlitweb/lweavera.htm


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