POETRY

In the literary development of man, poetry developed first, perhaps because emotions are more
elemental than reason, and man feels before he thinks.
Poetry is a literary form which comes in stanzas or groups of lines. These stanzas may be in groups
of two, three, or four. Here is a pattern set from the grouping of lines. This structure is called rhyme – a
more or less regularly-patterned flow of sound or movement.
A poem rhymes when the last syllables of lines in a stanza sound alike. Through rhyme and
rhythm, it is easy to remember poems. However, not all poems rhyme. They may also be written in free
verse. Words in a poem can have more than one dictionary meaning. Words can also have an implied
meaning through the images and figurative language used by the poet.
A poem may be described as rhythmic imaginative language expressing the invention, thought,
imagination, taste, passion, and insight of the human soul. Poetry does not often directly tell the poet’s
feelings, but instead feelings or emotions are evoked in the reader as he or she reads every word of the
poem from beginning to end.

DEFINITIONS OF POETRY
Allen Tate: “Poetry is the art of apprehending and concentrating one’s experiences in the mysterious
limitation of form.”
Arnold: “Poetry is the most perfect speech of man which comes nearest to uttering the truth.”
Carl Sandburg: “Poetry is the journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Poetry is a
search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable.
Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away.”
Edgar Allan Poe: “Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty.”
Emily Dickinson: “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I
know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I
know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?”
Gwendolyn Brooks: “Poetry is life distilled.”
Howard Nemerov: “Poetry is getting right in language, that this idea of right in language is in the first
place a feeling, which does not in the least prevent it from existing.”
Jose Garcia Villa: “Poetry is – first of all experiments in language and form, not in meaning and the
true meaning of poem is its expressive force rather than its content. The language
of poetry, being a mode of action, a transmitter of energy, rather than of
information … only when there is a fine language and commensurate craft can
there be the art of poetry.”
Manuel Viray: “Poetry is the union of thought and feeling.”
Plato: “Poetry is something that is nearer to vital truth than history.”
Robert Stallman: “Poetry has a rational structure, a core meaning, a scheme of objective reference
which orders and gives meanings to the meaningful organization of words.”
Robinson: “Poetry is a language that tells us through a more or less emotional reaction something that
cannot be said.”
Ruskin: “Poetry is the presentment in musical form to the imagination of noble grounds for noble
emotions.”
Shelley: “Poetry is the record of the happiest of the happiest and the best minds.”
T.S. Eliot: “Poetry is the fusion of two poles of mind: emotion and thought.”
Watts Dunton: “Poetry is the concrete and artistic expression of the human mind in emotional and
rhythmical language.”
William Empson: “Poetry holds that what makes a poem is the rich ambiguity to its diction.”
William Wordsworth: “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in
tranquility.”
 TYPES OF POETRY
1. narrative poetry / narrative poem
Narrative poetry is the type of poetry that tells a story. The story may be long, short,
thrilling, sad, or funny. Narrative poetry exists for the purpose of telling a story, and the story is
its chief and only purpose. Like a story, it contains elements of fiction such as character, setting,
plot, and dialogue. It also contains the elements of poetry.
Narrative poetry is usually a lengthy poem containing a story and it is also an expression of
an emotional state or philosophical reflection. It describes important events in life either real or
imaginary. Narrative poems have a special appeal. They present dramatic events in a vivid way,
using some of the same elements as short stories: plot, characters, and dialogue.
Types of Narrative Poetry:
a. epic
An epic is one of the most significant pieces of oral literature. It is a narrative
poem which tells of heroic deeds or adventures of great heroes who are often
supernatural.
Examples of Epic:
 Beowulf → epic of England
 Biag ni Lam-ang (Life of Lam-ang) → epic of the
Philippines
 Chanson of Roland (The Song of Roland) → epic of France
 El Cid Compeador → epic of Spain
 Iliad and Odyssey → epic of Greece
 Kalevala → epic of Finland
 Mahabharata and Ramayana → epic of India
 Nibelungenlied → epic of Germany
 The Song of Hiawatha → epic of the U.S.A.
b. ballad
This is the shortest and simplest narrative poem. It has a simple structure in
meter and stanzas and tells of a single incident. It is often meant for singing,
characterized by simplicity of language and usually dealing with subjects such as
love, honor, or death. In the early times, ballad referred to a song accompanying a
dance.
Ballad is a songlike poem that tells story, often dealing with adventure and
romance. Most ballads are written in four to six stanzas and have regular rhythms
and rhyme schemes. A ballad often features a refrain – a regularly repeated line or
group of lines.
c. metrical tale
Metrical tale is a term used in poetry to mean a long poem that normally tells a
particular developed story in verses. Most metrical tales normally deals with
emotions or phases of life and are normally told in the first person narrative point of
view.
d. metrical romance
Metrical romance is a form of poetry that was popular in the high renaissance. It
was a form of prose poetry that was popular among royals and the upper class. The
stories of metrical romance typically involved stories that included the adventures,
trials, and tribulations of knights as well as typically told stories of chivalrous feats
of said knights. Courtly love was a typical theme of metrical romance as well.
Metrical romance was typically written in the language of Old French but was later
re worked into German, and English.

2. lyric poetry / lyric poem

This is the most common type of poetry. Lyric poetry deals with strong emotions and the
appreciation of beauty and expresses the ardent personal feelings of the poet on a subject. It is a
poem which reveals the writer’s feelings about something. It is usually short, simple, and easy to
understand. It is a poet’s personal thoughts and feelings in vivid and musical language. Any
subject that calls up a poet’s thoughts and feelings is suitable for a lyric poem. It takes any forms
with different patterns of rhyme and rhythm. Poems in this group are subjective and intensely
emotional.
Originally, lyric poetry refers to that kind of poetry meant to be sung to the accompaniment
of a lyre, but now, this applies to any type of poetry that expresses emotions and feelings of the
poet. The word “lyric” itself comes from the Greek word for lyre. A lyre is a kind of stringed harp
on which the poets and singers of the classic age accompanied themselves when they sang. In this
sense, then, lyric poetry means “verse that is meant to be sung; song poetry.” Today, lyric poetry
refers to any poem that expresses a feeling, voices a mood, reveals a desire. The lyric is a little
window through which the poet lets us look into his heart and see whether he is sad or merry, and
why.
Types of Lyric Poetry:
a. sonnet
This is a 14 line lyric with a certain pattern of rhyme and rhythm. Its 14 iambic
pentameter lines are according to a traditional rhyme scheme. Sonnet deals with an
emotion, a feeling, or an idea.
Sonnet is one of the most enduring and influential poetic patterns in the English
language. The word sonnet is derived from the Italian word “sonneto” which means
“little song.” This lyric poem has 14 lines with a formal rhyme scheme or pattern.
Types of Sonnet:
a. English Sonnet / Shakespearean Sonnet
This sonnet was named after the English poet and dramatist
William Shakespeare. English sonnet contains 3 Sicilian quartrains
and one heroic couplet at the end, with an “abab cdcd efef gg” rhyme
scheme. The turn comes at or near line 13, making the ending couplet
quick and dramatic.
b. Italian Sonnet / Petrarchan Sonnet
This sonnet was named after Francesco Petrarch. Italian sonnet is
split into two parts, an octave and a sestet. The octave is composed of
two envelope quartrains rhyming “abba abba” (Italian octave). The
sestet’s rhyme pattern varies, though it is most often either “cde cde”
(Italian sestet) or “cdc dcd” (Sicilian sestet). The turn occurs at the end
of the octave and is developed and closed in the sestet.
c. Spenserian Sonnet
This lyric poem was named after the English poet Edmund
Spenser. It is divided into three quartrains and a closing couplet with
a rhyme scheme of “abab bcbc cdcd ee.”
b. ode
This poem is a serious, elaborate lyric full of high praise and noble feeling. Ode is
about a subject written when the poet is at the height of his emotion. Moreover, it is
a poem of a noble feeling, expressed with dignity, with no definite number of
syllables or definite number of lines in a stanza. It is addressed in an exalted
manner to an object or person.
Ode is a ceremonious poem on an occasion of public or private dignity in which
personal emotion and general meditation are united.
Examples of Ode:
 “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats
 “Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
c. elegy
This is a poem that meditates on life and death. It is a poetic lament for the
dead. Elegy is a lyric poem which expresses feelings of grief and melancholy, and has
death and mourning for its theme.
Examples of Elegy:
 “Break! Break! Break!” by Alfred Lord Tennyson
 “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray
d. song
This is a lyric poem set to music and is intended to be sung. It has measures of
twelve syllables (dodecasyllabic) and slowly sung to the accompaniment of a guitar
or banduria.
Examples of Song:
 “Auld Lang Syne”, a Scottish song
 “Florante at Laura” by Francisco Balagtas Baltazar
 “Song to Celia” by Ben Jonson
e. corrido
This lyric poem has measures of eight syllables (octosyllabic) and recited to a
marital beat.
Examples of Song:
 “Ibong Adarna”
f. folk song
 This is a short poem intended to be sung. The common theme is love, despair,
grief, doubt, joy, hope, and sorrow. People were able to preserve their traditions,
beliefs, and customs through folk songs.
Folk songs often accompany activities such as religious ceremonies, dancing,
labor, or courting. Other folk songs tell stories; chief among these are narrative
ballads and lyrics. Anglo-American ballads are action-oriented, often dealing with a
tragic episode. Lyric songs are more emotion-oriented, more sentimental. Both types
display relatively simple melodies, usually with only one or a few notes per syllable.
The language tends to follow certain conventions and is often repetitive. Music and
words are easily understandable.
g. psalm
This is a lyric poem intended to be sung in praise of God or the Virgin Mary and
containing a philosophy of life.
h. idyll
This is a descriptive poem of rural or pastoral character that expresses the poet’s
feeling for his immediate landscape. It is a short poem in which something of the
element of landscape is depicted or suggested.
3. dramatic poetry / dramatic poem / poetic drama
This type of poetry is designed to be spoken and acted on stage. It has elements that are
closely related to the drama. It uses a dramatic technique and may unfold a story. Its emphasis is
more on the character rather than the narrative.
Dramatic poetry or poetic drama also tells a story like the narrative poetry. But unlike the
latter, it is spoken and acted out on the stage. Stage play, a term familiar to Shakespeare himself,
exactly describes it. However, within less than a hundred years after Shakespeare’s death, prose
took the place of poetry in the drama. Ever since then, with a few exceptions here and there, plays
have been written in prose.
Types of Lyric Poetry:
1. dramatic monologue
This is a combination of drama and poetry. It presents some lines or speech of a
single character in a particular but complicated situation and sometimes in a
dilemma.
2. soliloquy
This is like the monologue. The speaker in the poem or the character in a play
delivers a passage. His thoughts and emotions are heard by him and by the
audience.
3. character sketch
This is a poem in which the writer is concerned less with the elements of the
story. He presents his observations and comments to a particular individual.
 PROSE

Prose is written in the ordinary spoken or written language of man. The message of the prose is
often conveyed without acting. A prose work may be fiction or non-fiction.

TYPES AND FORMS OF PROSE

1. fiction
Fiction is known as the “Literature of Power” (Imaginative) because it is based on the
writer’s creative imagination in which the characters, setting, or events are imaginatively created
in the story. In addition, fiction refers to prose narratives containing setting, characters, plot,
conflict, climax, and resolution. As one critic has said, “fiction is a lie told in a manner as to make
it seem true.”
Fiction is a collective term for literary narratives that portray imaginary people caught in
imaginary situations usually read for pleasure and intended to expand or refine our life and
quicken our senses. It is the most flexible of all literary forms which offers writers maximum
freedom with respect to choice of subject, length of composition, and style of expression. Some
writers base their fiction on actual events and people, to which they add invented characters,
dialogue, settings, and plots. Other writers of fiction rely on imagination alone to provide their
materials.
The word fiction comes from the Latin word “fictio” meaning to invent or make up.
Types of Fiction:
a. short story
This is a brief prose narrative that concentrates on one situation, one plot, and
one single impression and involves two or three characters. Short story usually aims
at unity of effect and often concentrating on the creation of mode rather than plot.
Short story is a fictitious narrative compressed into one unit of time, place and
action. It deals with a single character interest, a single emotion or series of
emotions called forth by a single situation. It is distinguished from the novel by its
compression.
b. novel
A novel is an extended narrative that includes more characters and complicated
plot. It can also be described as an “invented prose narrative of great length and a
certain complexity that deals imaginatively with human experience usually through
a connected sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting”.
The novel shows life through plot, story, characters, conflict and realism. The plot of
a short story or novelette is simple and straightforward. While that of a novel is
complex and always include sub-plots.
c. fable
A fable is a prose narrative written briefly with animals or inanimate objects
which is devised to teach a lesson or to embody morals. It is a short, imaginary
narrative that teaches a useful lesson and how to live it out in life. It deals with
animals and inanimate things that speak and act like people and their purpose is to
enlighten the minds of children or the readers to events that can mold their ways
and attitudes. In addition, the purpose of fables is to show clearly the rewards of
virtue and the punishments of folly and vice. Fables are intended to enforce a useful
truth or moral, or comment on how people behave.
Examples:
 “The Jackal and the Partridge”
 “The Monkey and the Jellyfish”
 “The Lion and the Rat”
d. parable
Parable is a short prose narrative that teaches a spiritual truth or lesson.
Examples:
 “The Parable of the Prodigal Son”
 “The Parable of Talents”
e. fairy tale
Fairy tale is a narrative adventure involving fantastic forces and beings too good
to be true and almost always has a happy ending. It is often about characters such
 as princes and princesses, wicked stepmothers, fairy godmothers, witches, dwarfs,
magical creatures, and talking animals.
Examples:
 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”
 “Sleeping Beauty”
 “Cinderella”
f. folk tale
Folktale is characteristically anonymous, timeless and placeless tale circulated
orally among a group of people. It is a story that reflects the life of the people of a
particular region or place. Folktales often deal with ordinary persons with
extraordinary experiences (typical human situations). They are stories about life,
supernatural beings, love, horror and humor, which usually project lessons. These
folktales are useful to us because they help us appreciate our environment, evaluate
our personalities, and improve our perspective in life.
g. legend
Legend tells the origin of a thing, a place, location, or a name of a certain place or
thing. The story explains how things came to be and why things are as they are. A
legend explains the origin of all kinds of things: geographical features like
mountains, volcanoes, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, caves, and rock formation. It also
explains how animals like monkey, rice bird, or plants, flowers, and fruits came to
be. The purpose of a legend is to entertain the listeners and to make idle hours
amusing by providing them with humor and fantasy. In fact, legend is usually about
origins. The events are imaginary, devoid of truth and unbelievable.
Examples:
 “The Story of Mayon Volcano”
 “The Milkman of Makiling”
 “The Origin of the Banana”
 “King Arthur and the Roundtable”
h. myth
A myth is a prose narrative which relates to the beginning of the world and of
things, how the heavenly bodies came into being, how gods and goddesses, humans,
animals, and plants were brought into existence. It explains the creation of the
universe, the origin of the sun, the moon, and the stars, the creation of the first man
and woman, and the origin of social classes.
Myth embodies the convictions of a people as their gods and other personages,
their own origin, or to explain a natural phenomenon. It explains the beginning of a
practice, belief, or other natural phenomenon like how the world began, how humans
and animals were created, and how certain customs, gestures, or forms of human
activities originated.
i. anecdote
The anecdote is a much-used narrative form. The joke related by an after-dinner
speaker to set the audience laughing is a form of anecdote. An anecdote may be
imbedded in a speech, an essay, or a biography, but it can be a unit in itself and
stand alone as an interesting story.
Anecdote is merely a product of the writer’s imagination and the main aim is to
bring out lessons to the reader. It can be stories about animals or children.
The action in an anecdote is brief. The setting is presented with few details and
the emphasis is generally on a climacteric remark, a brief conversation, or an
unexpected action which reveals character. The main purpose of an anecdote is to
entertain or arouse interest by giving an unusual happening, to give an intimate
glimpse of a famous person, or to bring to light something typical of a race, region, or
country.
The qualities of a good anecdote are:
 It is brief.
 It includes only details absolutely necessary to the story.
 It contains an element of suspense which reaches a climax near the end, often
in the final line.
 An anecdote follows a definite pattern. First, it gives the setting and the
character or characters. Second, it creates suspense by means of
complication. Third, it interposes a sentence or two to increase the suspense.
And fourth, it gives the point of the anecdote and then promptly stops.
2. non-fiction
 Non-fiction is known as the “Literature of Knowledge” because it is based on facts,
reasons, and logic and not from imagination. It is a prose writing that presents and explains ideas
or that tells about real people, objects, or events.
Non-fiction is an account or representation of a subject which is presented as fact. This
presentation may be accurate or not; that is it can give either a true or false account of the subject
in question.
Types of Non-fiction:
a. essay
This is a short literary composition in prose dealing with a single matter usually
from a personal point of view.
b. biography
This is a form of non-fiction in which a writer tells the story of another person. In
other words, biography is an account of a person’s life written by another who knows
him (the former) well.
Example:
 “Life of Dr. Jose P. Rizal”
c. autobiography
This is a form of non-fiction in which a person tells his or her own life story. In
other words, autobiography is an account of a person’s life written by himself /
herself.
People like to talk about themselves. It is said that there are only three
interesting subjects in the world: I, you, and the other fellow. What happens to me is
the most interesting to me. What has happened to you as you tell me about it is the
second most interesting subject. What happens to someone we know is the third
most interesting subject.
Example:
 “Bill Peet: An Autobiography”
d. letter
This is a written message which displays aspects of an author’s physiological
make-up not immediately apparent in his more public writings.
e. diary
This is a daily written record of account of the writer’s own experiences,
thoughts, activities or observations.
f. speech
This is the general word for discourse delivered to an audience, whether
prepared or impromptu.
3. other prose forms / special types
a. prose drama
This is a literary work written in dialogues and intended for presentation by
actors.
This is a drama in prose form. It consists entirely of dialogues in prose, and is
meant to be acted on stage.
b. prose poem
Though the name of the form may appear to be a contradiction, the prose poem
essentially appears as prose, but reads like poetry.
While it lacks the line breaks associated with poetry, the prose poem maintains a
poetic quality, often utilizing techniques common to poetry, such as fragmentation,
compression, repetition, and rhyme. The prose poem can range in length from a few
lines to several pages long, and it may explore a limitless array of styles and
subjects.
Example:
 “Fish Out of Water” by Louis Jenkins