Poetry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the art form. For other uses, see Poetry (disambiguation).
Literature
Major forms
Novel Poem Drama Short story Novella
Genres
Comedy Drama Epic Erotic Nonsense Lyric Mythopoeia Romance Satire Tragedy Tragicomedy
Media
Performance play Book
Techniques
Prose Poetry
History and lists
History modern
Outline Glossary of terms
Books Writers Literary awards poetry
Discussion
Criticism Theory Sociology Magazines
Literature portal
v t e
"Poem", "Poems", and "Poetic" redirect here. For other uses, see Poem
(disambiguation), Poems (disambiguation), and Poetic (disambiguation).
Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic[1][2][3]
qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and
metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic
ostensible meaning.
Poetry has a long history, dating back to the Sumerian Epic of
Gilgamesh. Early poems evolved from folk songs such as the Chinese
Shijing, or from a need to retell oral epics, as with the Sanskrit
Vedas, Zoroastrian Gathas, and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the
Odyssey. Ancient attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotle's Poetics,
focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy.
Later attempts concentrated on features such as repetition, verse form
and rhyme, and emphasized the aesthetics which distinguish poetry from
more objectively informative, prosaic forms of writing. From the
mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a
fundamental creative act employing language.
Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation
to words, or to evoke emotive responses. Devices such as assonance,
alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve
musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony
and other stylistic elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open
to multiple interpretations. Similarly figures of speech such as
metaphor, simile and metonymy[4] create a resonance between otherwise
disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously
not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between individual
verses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm.
Some poetry types are specific to particular cultures and genres and
respond to characteristics of the language in which the poet writes.
Readers accustomed to identifying poetry with Dante, Goethe, Mickiewicz
and Rumi may think of it as written in lines based on rhyme and regular
meter; there are, however, traditions, such as Biblical poetry, that use
other means to create rhythm and euphony. Much modern poetry reflects a
critique of poetic tradition,[5] playing with and testing, among other
things, the principle of euphony itself, sometimes altogether forgoing
rhyme or set rhythm.[6][7] In today's increasingly globalized world,
poets often adapt forms, styles and techniques from diverse cultures and
languages.
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Western traditions
1.2 20th-century and 21st-century disputes
2 Elements
2.1 Prosody
2.1.1 Rhythm
2.1.2 Meter
2.1.3 Metrical patterns
2.2 Rhyme, alliteration, assonance
2.2.1 Rhyming schemes
2.3 Form
2.3.1 Lines and stanzas
2.3.2 Visual presentation
2.4 Diction
3 Forms
3.1 Sonnet
3.2 Shi
3.3 Villanelle
3.4 Tanka
3.5 Haiku
3.6 Ode
3.7 Ghazal
4 Genres
4.1 Narrative poetry
4.2 Epic poetry
4.3 Dramatic poetry
4.4 Satirical poetry
4.5 Light poetry
4.6 Lyric poetry
4.7 Elegy
4.8 Verse fable
4.9 Prose poetry
4.10 Speculative poetry
5 See also
6 Notes
7 Further reading
7.1 Anthologies
History[edit]
Aristotle
Main articles: History of poetry and Literary theory
Poetry as an art form may predate literacy.[8] Epic poetry, from the
Indian Vedas (1700–1200 BC) and Zoroaster's Gathas to the Odyssey
(800–675 BC), appears to have been composed in poetic form to aid
memorization and oral transmission, in prehistoric and ancient
societies.[9] Other forms of poetry developed directly from folk songs.
The earliest entries in the ancient compilation Shijing, were initially
lyrics, preceding later entries intended to be read.[10]
The oldest surviving epic poem is the Epic of Gilgamesh, from the 3rd
millennium BC in Sumer (in Mesopotamia, now Iraq), which was written in
cuneiform script on clay tablets and, later, papyrus.[11] Other ancient
epic poetry includes the Greek epics Iliad and Odyssey, the Old Iranian
books the Gathic Avesta and Yasna, the Roman national epic, Virgil's
Aeneid, and the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.
The efforts of ancient thinkers to determine what makes poetry
distinctive as a form, and what distinguishes good poetry from bad,
resulted in "poetics"—the study of the aesthetics of poetry.[12] Some
ancient poetic traditions; such as, contextually, Classical Chinese
poetry in the case of the Shijing (Classic of Poetry), which records the
development of poetic canons with ritual and aesthetic importance.[13]
More recently, thinkers have struggled to find a definition that could
encompass formal differences as great as those between Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales and Matsuo Bashō's Oku no Hosomichi, as well as
differences in context spanning Tanakh religious poetry, love poetry,
and rap.[14]
Western traditions[edit]
John Keats
Classical thinkers employed classification as a way to define and assess
the quality of poetry. Notably, the existing fragments of Aristotle's
Poetics describe 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.[15] Later
aestheticians identified three major genres: epic poetry, lyric poetry,
and dramatic poetry, treating comedy and tragedy as subgenres of
dramatic poetry.[16]
Aristotle's work was influential throughout the Middle East during the
Islamic Golden Age,[17] as well as in Europe during the Renaissance.[18]
Later poets and aestheticians often distinguished poetry from, and
defined it in opposition to prose, which was generally understood as
writing with a proclivity to logical explication and a linear narrative
structure.[19]
This does not imply that poetry is illogical or lacks narration, but
rather that poetry is an attempt to render the beautiful or sublime
without the burden of engaging the logical or narrative thought process.
English Romantic poet John Keats termed this escape from logic
"Negative Capability".[20] This "romantic" approach views form as a key
element of successful poetry because form is abstract and distinct from
the underlying notional logic. This approach remained influential into
the 20th century.[21]
During this period, there was also substantially more interaction among
the various poetic traditions, in part due to the spread of European
colonialism and the attendant rise in global trade.[22] In addition to a
boom in translation, during the Romantic period numerous ancient works
were rediscovered.[23]
20th-century and 21st-century disputes[edit]
Archibald MacLeish
Some 20th-century literary theorists, relying less on the opposition of
prose and poetry, focused on the poet as simply one who creates using
language, and poetry as what the poet creates.[24] The underlying
concept of the poet as creator is not uncommon, and some modernist poets
essentially do not distinguish between the creation of a poem with
words, and creative acts in other media. Yet other modernists challenge
the very attempt to define poetry as misguided.[25]
The rejection of traditional forms and structures for poetry that began
in the first half of the 20th century coincided with a questioning of
the purpose and meaning of traditional definitions of poetry and of
distinctions between poetry and prose, particularly given examples of
poetic prose and prosaic poetry. Numerous modernist poets have written
in non-traditional forms or in what traditionally would have been
considered prose, although their writing was generally infused with
poetic diction and often with rhythm and tone established by
non-metrical means. While there was a substantial formalist reaction
within the modernist schools to the breakdown of structure, this
reaction focused as much on the development of new formal structures and
syntheses as on the revival of older forms and structures.[26]
Recently, postmodernism has come to convey more completely prose and
poetry as distinct entities, and also among genres of poetry, as having
meaning only as cultural artifacts. Postmodernism goes beyond
modernism's emphasis on the creative role of the poet, to emphasize the
role of the reader of a text (Hermeneutics), and to highlight the
complex cultural web within which a poem is read.[27] Today, throughout
the world, poetry often incorporates poetic form and diction from other
cultures and from the past, further confounding attempts at definition
and classification that were once sensible within a tradition such as
the Western canon.[28]
The early 21st century poetic tradition appears to continue to strongly
orient itself to earlier precursor poetic traditions such as those
initiated by Whitman, Emerson, and Wordsworth. The literary critic
Geoffrey Hartman has used the phrase "the anxiety of demand" to describe
contemporary response to older poetic traditions as "being fearful that
the fact no longer has a form", building on a trope introduced by
Emerson. Emerson had maintained that in the debate concerning poetic
structure where either "form" or "fact" could predominate, that one need
simply "Ask the fact for the form." This has been challenged at various
levels by other literary scholars such as Bloom who has stated in
summary form concerning the early 21st century that: "The generation of
poets who stand together now, mature and ready to write the major
American verse of the twenty-first century, may yet be seen as what
Stevens called 'a great shadow's last embellishment,' the shadow being
Emerson's."[29]
Elements[edit]
Prosody[edit]
Main article: Meter (poetry)
Prosody is the study of the meter, rhythm, and intonation of a poem.
Rhythm and meter are different, although closely related.[30] Meter is
the definitive pattern established for a verse (such as iambic
pentameter), while rhythm is the actual sound that results from a line
of poetry. Prosody also may be used more specifically to refer to the
scanning of poetic lines to show meter.[31]
Rhythm[edit]
Main articles: Timing (linguistics), tone (linguistics) and Pitch accent
Robinson Jeffers
The methods for creating poetic rhythm vary across languages and between
poetic traditions. Languages are often described as having timing set
primarily by accents, syllables, or moras, depending on how rhythm is
established, though a language can be influenced by multiple approaches.
Japanese is a mora-timed language. Syllable-timed languages include
Latin, Catalan, French, Leonese, Galician and Spanish. English, Russian
and, generally, German are stress-timed languages.[32] Varying
intonation also affects how rhythm is perceived. Languages can rely on
either pitch, such as in Vedic Sanskrit or Ancient Greek, or tone. Tonal
languages include Chinese, Vietnamese and most Subsaharan
languages.[33]
Metrical rhythm generally involves precise arrangements of stresses or
syllables into repeated patterns called feet within a line. In Modern
English verse the pattern of stresses primarily differentiate feet, so
rhythm based on meter in Modern English is most often founded on the
pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (alone or elided).[34] In
the classical languages, on the other hand, while the metrical units are
similar, vowel length rather than stresses define the meter.[35] Old
English poetry used a metrical pattern involving varied numbers of
syllables but a fixed number of strong stresses in each line.[36]
The chief device of ancient Hebrew Biblical poetry, including many of
the psalms, was parallelism, a rhetorical structure in which successive
lines reflected each other in grammatical structure, sound structure,
notional content, or all three. Parallelism lent itself to antiphonal or
call-and-response performance, which could also be reinforced by
intonation. Thus, Biblical poetry relies much less on metrical feet to
create rhythm, but instead creates rhythm based on much larger sound
units of lines, phrases and sentences.[37] Some classical poetry forms,
such as Venpa of the Tamil language, had rigid grammars (to the point
that they could be expressed as a context-free grammar) which ensured a
rhythm.[38] In Chinese poetry, tones as well as stresses create rhythm.
Classical Chinese poetics identifies four tones: the level tone, rising
tone, departing tone, and entering tone.[39]
The formal patterns of meter used in Modern English verse to create
rhythm no longer dominate contemporary English poetry. In the case of
free verse, rhythm is often organized based on looser units of cadence
rather than a regular meter. Robinson Jeffers, Marianne Moore, and
William Carlos Williams are three notable poets who reject the idea that
regular accentual meter is critical to English poetry.[40] Jeffers
experimented with sprung rhythm as an alternative to accentual
rhythm.[41]
Meter[edit]
Main article: Systems of scansion
In the Western poetic tradition, meters are customarily grouped
according to a characteristic metrical foot and the number of feet per
line.[42] The number of metrical feet in a line are described using
Greek terminology: tetrameter for four feet and hexameter for six feet,
for example.[43] Thus, "iambic pentameter" is a meter comprising five
feet per line, in which the predominant kind of foot is the "iamb". This
metric system originated in ancient Greek poetry, and was used by poets
such as Pindar and Sappho, and by the great tragedians of Athens.
Similarly, "dactylic hexameter", comprises six feet per line, of which
the dominant kind of foot is the "dactyl". Dactylic hexameter was the
traditional meter of Greek epic poetry, the earliest extant examples of
which are the works of Homer and Hesiod.[44] Iambic pentameter and
dactylic hexameter were later used by a number of poets, including
William Shakespeare and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, respectively.[45]
The most common metrical feet in English are:[46]
Homer
iamb – one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (e.g. describe, Include, retract)
trochee – one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (e.g. picture, flower)
dactyl – one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables (e.g.annotate an-no-tate)
anapest – two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable (e.g. comprehend com-pre-hend)
spondee – two stressed syllables together (e.g. e-nough)
pyrrhic – two unstressed syllables together (rare, usually used to end dactylic hexameter)
There are a wide range of names for other types of feet, right up to a
choriamb, a four syllable metric foot with a stressed syllable followed
by two unstressed syllables and closing with a stressed syllable. The
choriamb is derived from some ancient Greek and Latin poetry.[44]
Languages which utilize vowel length or intonation rather than or in
addition to syllabic accents in determining meter, such as Ottoman
Turkish or Vedic, often have concepts similar to the iamb and dactyl to
describe common combinations of long and short sounds.[47]
Each of these types of feet has a certain "feel," whether alone or in
combination with other feet. The iamb, for example, is the most natural
form of rhythm in the English language, and generally produces a subtle
but stable verse.[48] Scanning meter can often show the basic or
fundamental pattern underlying a verse, but does not show the varying
degrees of stress, as well as the differing pitches and lengths of
syllables.[49]
Illustration by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark", which is written mainly in anapestic tetrameter.
There is debate over how useful a multiplicity of different "feet" is in
describing meter. For example, Robert Pinsky has argued that while
dactyls are important in classical verse, English dactylic verse uses
dactyls very irregularly and can be better described based on patterns
of iambs and anapests, feet which he considers natural to the
language.[50] Actual rhythm is significantly more complex than the basic
scanned meter described above, and many scholars have sought to develop
systems that would scan such complexity. Vladimir Nabokov noted that
overlaid on top of the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables in a line of verse was a separate pattern of accents resulting
from the natural pitch of the spoken words, and suggested that the term
"scud" be used to distinguish an unaccented stress from an accented
stress.[51]
Metrical patterns[edit]
Main article: Meter (poetry)
Different traditions and genres of poetry tend to use different meters,
ranging from the Shakespearean iambic pentameter and the Homeric
dactylic hexameter to the anapestic tetrameter used in many nursery
rhymes. However, a number of variations to the established meter are
common, both to provide emphasis or attention to a given foot or line
and to avoid boring repetition. For example, the stress in a foot may be
inverted, a caesura (or pause) may be added (sometimes in place of a
foot or stress), or the final foot in a line may be given a feminine
ending to soften it or be replaced by a spondee to emphasize it and
create a hard stop. Some patterns (such as iambic pentameter) tend to be
fairly regular, while other patterns, such as dactylic hexameter, tend
to be highly irregular.[52] Regularity can vary between language. In
addition, different patterns often develop distinctively in different
languages, so that, for example, iambic tetrameter in Russian will
generally reflect a regularity in the use of accents to reinforce the
meter, which does not occur, or occurs to a much lesser extent, in
English.[53]
Alexander Pushkin
Some common metrical patterns, with notable examples of poets and poems who use them, include:
Iambic pentameter (John Milton in Paradise Lost, William Shakespeare in his Sonnets)[54]
Dactylic hexameter (Homer, Iliad; Virgil, Aeneid)[55]
Iambic tetrameter (Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress"; Aleksandr
Pushkin, Eugene Onegin, Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening)[56]
Trochaic octameter (Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven")[57]
Alexandrine (Jean Racine, Phèdre)[58]
Rhyme, alliteration, assonance[edit]
Main articles: Rhyme, Alliterative verse and Assonance
The Old English epic poem Beowulf is written in alliterative verse.
Rhyme, alliteration, assonance and consonance are ways of creating
repetitive patterns of sound. They may be used as an independent
structural element in a poem, to reinforce rhythmic patterns, or as an
ornamental element.[59] They can also carry a meaning separate from the
repetitive sound patterns created. For example, Chaucer used heavy
alliteration to mock Old English verse and to paint a character as
archaic.[60]
Rhyme consists of identical ("hard-rhyme") or similar ("soft-rhyme")
sounds placed at the ends of lines or at predictable locations within
lines ("internal rhyme"). Languages vary in the richness of their
rhyming structures; Italian, for example, has a rich rhyming structure
permitting maintenance of a limited set of rhymes throughout a lengthy
poem. The richness results from word endings that follow regular forms.
English, with its irregular word endings adopted from other languages,
is less rich in rhyme.[61] The degree of richness of a language's
rhyming structures plays a substantial role in determining what poetic
forms are commonly used in that language.[62]
Alliteration is the repetition of letters or letter-sounds at the
beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at
short intervals; or the recurrence of the same letter in accented parts
of words. Alliteration and assonance played a key role in structuring
early Germanic, Norse and Old English forms of poetry. The alliterative
patterns of early Germanic poetry interweave meter and alliteration as a
key part of their structure, so that the metrical pattern determines
when the listener expects instances of alliteration to occur. This can
be compared to an ornamental use of alliteration in most Modern European
poetry, where alliterative patterns are not formal or carried through
full stanzas. Alliteration is particularly useful in languages with less
rich rhyming structures. Assonance, where the use of similar vowel
sounds within a word rather than similar sounds at the beginning or end
of a word, was widely used in skaldic poetry, but goes back to the
Homeric epic.[63] Because verbs carry much of the pitch in the English
language, assonance can loosely evoke the tonal elements of Chinese
poetry and so is useful in translating Chinese poetry.[64] Consonance
occurs where a consonant sound is repeated throughout a sentence without
putting the sound only at the front of a word. Consonance provokes a
more subtle effect than alliteration and so is less useful as a
structural element.[62]
Rhyming schemes[edit]
Main article: Rhyme scheme
Dante and Beatrice see God as a point of light surrounded by angels. A
Doré illustration to the Divine Comedy, Paradiso, Canto 28.
In many languages, including modern European languages and Arabic, poets
use rhyme in set patterns as a structural element for specific poetic
forms, such as ballads, sonnets and rhyming couplets. However, the use
of structural rhyme is not universal even within the European tradition.
Much modern poetry avoids traditional rhyme schemes. Classical Greek
and Latin poetry did not use rhyme.[65] Rhyme entered European poetry in
the High Middle Ages, in part under the influence of the Arabic
language in Al Andalus (modern Spain).[66] Arabic language poets used
rhyme extensively from the first development of literary Arabic in the
sixth century, as in their long, rhyming qasidas.[67] Some rhyming
schemes have become associated with a specific language, culture or
period, while other rhyming schemes have achieved use across languages,
cultures or time periods. Some forms of poetry carry a consistent and
well-defined rhyming scheme, such as the chant royal or the rubaiyat,
while other poetic forms have variable rhyme schemes.[68]
Most rhyme schemes are described using letters that correspond to sets
of rhymes, so if the first, second and fourth lines of a quatrain rhyme
with each other and the third line does not rhyme, the quatrain is said
to have an "a-a-b-a" rhyme scheme. This rhyme scheme is the one used,
for example, in the rubaiyat form.[69] Similarly, an "a-b-b-a" quatrain
(what is known as "enclosed rhyme") is used in such forms as the
Petrarchan sonnet.[70] Some types of more complicated rhyming schemes
have developed names of their own, separate from the "a-b-c" convention,
such as the ottava rima and terza rima.[71] The types and use of
differing rhyming schemes is discussed further in the main article.
Form[edit]
Poetic form is more flexible in modernist and post-modernist poetry, and
continues to be less structured than in previous literary eras. Many
modern poets eschew recognisable structures or forms, and write in free
verse. But poetry remains distinguished from prose by its form; some
regard for basic formal structures of poetry will be found in even the
best free verse, however much such structures may appear to have been
ignored.[72] Similarly, in the best poetry written in classic styles
there will be departures from strict form for emphasis or effect.[73]
Among major structural elements used in poetry are the line, the stanza
or verse paragraph, and larger combinations of stanzas or lines such as
cantos. Also sometimes used are broader visual presentations of words
and calligraphy. These basic units of poetic form are often combined
into larger structures, called poetic forms or poetic modes (see
following section), as in the sonnet or haiku.
Lines and stanzas[edit]
Poetry is often separated into lines on a page. These lines may be based
on the number of metrical feet, or may emphasize a rhyming pattern at
the ends of lines. Lines may serve other functions, particularly where
the poem is not written in a formal metrical pattern. Lines can
separate, compare or contrast thoughts expressed in different units, or
can highlight a change in tone.[74] See the article on line breaks for
information about the division between lines.
Lines of poems are often organized into stanzas, which are denominated
by the number of lines included. Thus a collection of two lines is a
couplet (or distich), three lines a triplet (or tercet), four lines a
quatrain, and so on. These lines may or may not relate to each other by
rhyme or rhythm. For example, a couplet may be two lines with identical
meters which rhyme or two lines held together by a common meter
alone.[75]
Alexander Blok's poem, "Noch, ulitsa, fonar, apteka" ("Night, street, lamp, drugstore"), on a wall in Leiden
Other poems may be organized into verse paragraphs, in which regular
rhymes with established rhythms are not used, but the poetic tone is
instead established by a collection of rhythms, alliterations, and
rhymes established in paragraph form.[76] Many medieval poems were
written in verse paragraphs, even where regular rhymes and rhythms were
used.[77]
In many forms of poetry, stanzas are interlocking, so that the rhyming
scheme or other structural elements of one stanza determine those of
succeeding stanzas. Examples of such interlocking stanzas include, for
example, the ghazal and the villanelle, where a refrain (or, in the case
of the villanelle, refrains) is established in the first stanza which
then repeats in subsequent stanzas. Related to the use of interlocking
stanzas is their use to separate thematic parts of a poem. For example,
the strophe, antistrophe and epode of the ode form are often separated
into one or more stanzas.[78]
In some cases, particularly lengthier formal poetry such as some forms
of epic poetry, stanzas themselves are constructed according to strict
rules and then combined. In skaldic poetry, the dróttkvætt stanza had
eight lines, each having three "lifts" produced with alliteration or
assonance. In addition to two or three alliterations, the odd numbered
lines had partial rhyme of consonants with dissimilar vowels, not
necessarily at the beginning of the word; the even lines contained
internal rhyme in set syllables (not necessarily at the end of the
word). Each half-line had exactly six syllables, and each line ended in a
trochee. The arrangement of dróttkvætts followed far less rigid rules
than the construction of the individual dróttkvætts.[79]
Visual presentation[edit]
Visual poetry
Main article: Visual poetry
Even before the advent of printing, the visual appearance of poetry
often added meaning or depth. Acrostic poems conveyed meanings in the
initial letters of lines or in letters at other specific places in a
poem.[80] In Arabic, Hebrew and Chinese poetry, the visual presentation
of finely calligraphed poems has played an important part in the overall
effect of many poems.[81]
With the advent of printing, poets gained greater control over the
mass-produced visual presentations of their work. Visual elements have
become an important part of the poet's toolbox, and many poets have
sought to use visual presentation for a wide range of purposes. Some
Modernist poets have made the placement of individual lines or groups of
lines on the page an integral part of the poem's composition. At times,
this complements the poem's rhythm through visual caesuras of various
lengths, or creates juxtapositions so as to accentuate meaning,
ambiguity or irony, or simply to create an aesthetically pleasing form.
In its most extreme form, this can lead to concrete poetry or asemic
writing.[82][83]
Diction[edit]
Main article: Poetic diction
Poetic diction treats the manner in which language is used, and refers
not only to the sound but also to the underlying meaning and its
interaction with sound and form.[84] Many languages and poetic forms
have very specific poetic dictions, to the point where distinct grammars
and dialects are used specifically for poetry.[85][86] Registers in
poetry can range from strict employment of ordinary speech patterns, as
favoured in much late-20th-century prosody,[87] through to highly ornate
uses of language, as in medieval and Renaissance poetry.[88]
Poetic diction can include rhetorical devices such as simile and
metaphor, as well as tones of voice, such as irony. Aristotle wrote in
the Poetics that "the greatest thing by far is to be a master of
metaphor."[89] Since the rise of Modernism, some poets have opted for a
poetic diction that de-emphasizes rhetorical devices, attempting instead
the direct presentation of things and experiences and the exploration
of tone.[90] On the other hand, Surrealists have pushed rhetorical
devices to their limits, making frequent use of catachresis.[91]
Allegorical stories are central to the poetic diction of many cultures,
and were prominent in the West during classical times, the late Middle
Ages and the Renaissance. Aesop's Fables, repeatedly rendered in both
verse and prose since first being recorded about 500 B.C., are perhaps
the richest single source of allegorical poetry through the ages.[92]
Other notables examples include the Roman de la Rose, a 13th-century
French poem, William Langland's Piers Ploughman in the 14th century, and
Jean de la Fontaine's Fables (influenced by Aesop's) in the 17th
century. Rather than being fully allegorical, however, a poem may
contain symbols or allusions that deepen the meaning or effect of its
words without constructing a full allegory.[93]
Another element of poetic diction can be the use of vivid imagery for
effect. The juxtaposition of unexpected or impossible images is, for
example, a particularly strong element in surrealist poetry and
haiku.[94] Vivid images are often endowed with symbolism or metaphor.
Many poetic dictions use repetitive phrases for effect, either a short
phrase (such as Homer's "rosy-fingered dawn" or "the wine-dark sea") or a
longer refrain. Such repetition can add a sombre tone to a poem, or can
be laced with irony as the context of the words changes.[95]
Forms[edit]
See also: Category:Poetic form
Specific poetic forms have been developed by many cultures. In more
developed, closed or "received" poetic forms, the rhyming scheme, meter
and other elements of a poem are based on sets of rules, ranging from
the relatively loose rules that govern the construction of an elegy to
the highly formalized structure of the ghazal or villanelle.[96]
Described below are some common forms of poetry widely used across a
number of languages. Additional forms of poetry may be found in the
discussions of poetry of particular cultures or periods and in the
glossary.
Sonnet[edit]
Main article: Sonnet
Shakespeare
Among the most common forms of poetry through the ages is the sonnet,
which by the 13th century was a poem of fourteen lines following a set
rhyme scheme and logical structure. By the 14th century, the form
further crystallized under the pen of Petrarch, whose sonnets were later
translated in the 16th century by Sir Thomas Wyatt, who is credited
with introducing the sonnet form into English literature.[97] A sonnet's
first four lines typically introduce the topic, the second elaborates
and the third posits a problem - the couplet usually, but not always,
includes a twist, or an afterthought. A sonnet usually follows an
a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d-e-f-e-f-gg rhyme pattern. The sonnet's conventions have
changed over its history, and so there are several different sonnet
forms. Traditionally, in sonnets English poets use iambic pentameter,
the Spenserian and Shakespearean sonnets being especially notable.[98]
In the Romance languages, the hendecasyllable and Alexandrine are the
most widely used meters, though the Petrarchan sonnet has been used in
Italy since the 14th century.[99]
Sonnets are particularly associated with love poetry, and often use a
poetic diction heavily based on vivid imagery, but the twists and turns
associated with the move from octave to sestet and to final couplet make
them a useful and dynamic form for many subjects.[100] Shakespeare's
sonnets are among the most famous in English poetry, with 20 being
included in the Oxford Book of English Verse.[101]
Shi[edit]
Main article: Shi (poetry)
Shi (simplified Chinese: 诗; traditional Chinese: 詩; pinyin: shī;
Wade–Giles: shih) Is the main type of Classical Chinese poetry.[102]
Within this form of poetry the most important variations are "folk song"
styled verse (yuefu), "old style" verse (gushi), "modern style" verse
(jintishi). In all cases, rhyming is obligatory. The Yuefu is a folk
ballad or a poem written in the folk ballad style, and the number of
lines and the length of the lines could be irregular. For the other
variations of shi poetry, generally either a four line (quatrain, or
jueju) or else an eight line poem is normal; either way with the even
numbered lines rhyming. The line length is scanned by according number
of characters (according to the convention that one character equals one
syllable), and are predominantly either five or seven characters long,
with a caesura before the final three syllables. The lines are generally
end-stopped, considered as a series of couplets, and exhibit verbal
parallelism as a key poetic device.[103] The "old style" verse (gushi)
is less formally strict than the jintishi, or regulated verse, which,
despite the name "new style" verse actually had its theoretical basis
laid as far back to Shen Yue, in the 5th or 6th century, although not
considered to have reached its full development until the time of Chen
Zi'ang (661-702)[104] A good example of a poet known for his gushi poems
is Li Bai. Among its other rules, the jintishi rules regulate the tonal
variations within a poem, including the use of set patterns of the four
tones of Middle Chinese The basic form of jintishi (lushi) has eight
lines in four couplets, with parallelism between the lines in the second
and third couplets. The couplets with parallel lines contain
contrasting content but an identical grammatical relationship between
words. Jintishi often have a rich poetic diction, full of allusion, and
can have a wide range of subject, including history and
politics.[105][106] One of the masters of the form was Du Fu, who wrote
during the Tang Dynasty (8th century).[107]
Villanelle[edit]
Main article: Villanelle
W. H. Auden
The villanelle is a nineteen-line poem made up of five triplets with a
closing quatrain; the poem is characterized by having two refrains,
initially used in the first and third lines of the first stanza, and
then alternately used at the close of each subsequent stanza until the
final quatrain, which is concluded by the two refrains. The remaining
lines of the poem have an a-b alternating rhyme.[108] The villanelle has
been used regularly in the English language since the late 19th century
by such poets as Dylan Thomas,[109] W. H. Auden,[110] and Elizabeth
Bishop.[111]
Tanka[edit]
Main article: Tanka
Tanka is a form of unrhymed Japanese poetry, with five sections
totalling 31 onji (phonological units identical to morae), structured in
a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern.[112] There is generally a shift in tone and
subject matter between the upper 5-7-5 phrase and the lower 7-7 phrase.
Tanka were written as early as the Asuka period by such poets as
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, at a time when Japan was emerging from a period
where much of its poetry followed Chinese form.[113] Tanka was
originally the shorter form of Japanese formal poetry (which was
generally referred to as "waka"), and was used more heavily to explore
personal rather than public themes. By the tenth century, tanka had
become the dominant form of Japanese poetry, to the point where the
originally general term waka ("Japanese poetry") came to be used
exclusively for tanka. Tanka are still widely written today.[114]
Haiku[edit]
Main article: Haiku
Haiku is a popular form of unrhymed Japanese poetry, which evolved in
the 17th century from the hokku, or opening verse of a renku.[115]
Generally written in a single vertical line, the haiku contains three
sections totalling 17 onji, structured in a 5-7-5 pattern.
Traditionally, haiku contain a kireji, or cutting word, usually placed
at the end of one of the poem's three sections, and a kigo, or
season-word.[116] The most famous exponent of the haiku was Matsuo Bashō
(1644–1694). An example of his writing:[117]
富士の風や扇にのせて江戸土産
fuji no kaze ya oogi ni nosete Edo miyage
the wind of Mt. Fuji
I've brought on my fan!
a gift from Edo
Ode[edit]
Main article: Ode
Horace
Odes were first developed by poets writing in ancient Greek, such as
Pindar, and Latin, such as Horace. Forms of odes appear in many of the
cultures that were influenced by the Greeks and Latins.[118] The ode
generally has three parts: a strophe, an antistrophe, and an epode. The
antistrophes of the ode possess similar metrical structures and,
depending on the tradition, similar rhyme structures. In contrast, the
epode is written with a different scheme and structure. Odes have a
formal poetic diction, and generally deal with a serious subject. The
strophe and antistrophe look at the subject from different, often
conflicting, perspectives, with the epode moving to a higher level to
either view or resolve the underlying issues. Odes are often intended to
be recited or sung by two choruses (or individuals), with the first
reciting the strophe, the second the antistrophe, and both together the
epode.[119] Over time, differing forms for odes have developed with
considerable variations in form and structure, but generally showing the
original influence of the Pindaric or Horatian ode. One non-Western
form which resembles the ode is the qasida in Persian poetry.[120]
Ghazal[edit]
Rumi
Main article: Ghazal
The ghazal (also ghazel, gazel, gazal, or gozol) is a form of poetry
common in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Urdu and Bengali
poetry. In classic form, the ghazal has from five to fifteen rhyming
couplets that share a refrain at the end of the second line. This
refrain may be of one or several syllables, and is preceded by a rhyme.
Each line has an identical meter. The ghazal often reflects on a theme
of unattainable love or divinity.[121]
As with other forms with a long history in many languages, many
variations have been developed, including forms with a quasi-musical
poetic diction in Urdu.[122] Ghazals have a classical affinity with
Sufism, and a number of major Sufi religious works are written in ghazal
form. The relatively steady meter and the use of the refrain produce an
incantatory effect, which complements Sufi mystical themes well.[123]
Among the masters of the form is Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet.[124]
One of the most famous poet in this type of poetry is Hafez. Themes of
his Ghazal is exposing hypocrisy. His life and poems have been the
subject of much analysis, commentary and interpretation, influencing
post-fourteenth century Persian writing more than any other
author.[125][126] West-östlicher Diwan of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
that is a collection of lyrical poems, has been inspired by the Persian
poet Hafez.[127][128][129]
Genres[edit]
In addition to specific forms of poems, poetry is often thought of in
terms of different genres and subgenres. A poetic genre is generally a
tradition or classification of poetry based on the subject matter,
style, or other broader literary characteristics.[130] Some commentators
view genres as natural forms of literature. Others view the study of
genres as the study of how different works relate and refer to other
works.[131]
Narrative poetry[edit]
Main article: Narrative poetry
Geoffrey Chaucer
Narrative poetry is a genre of poetry that tells a story. Broadly it
subsumes epic poetry, but the term "narrative poetry" is often reserved
for smaller works, generally with more appeal to human interest.
Narrative poetry may be the oldest type of poetry. Many scholars of
Homer have concluded that his Iliad and Odyssey were composed from
compilations of shorter narrative poems that related individual
episodes. Much narrative poetry—such as Scottish and English ballads,
and Baltic and Slavic heroic poems—is performance poetry with roots in a
preliterate oral tradition. It has been speculated that some features
that distinguish poetry from prose, such as meter, alliteration and
kennings, once served as memory aids for bards who recited traditional
tales.[132]
Notable narrative poets have included Ovid, Dante, Juan Ruiz, Chaucer,
William Langland, Luís de Camões, Shakespeare, Alexander Pope, Robert
Burns, Fernando de Rojas, Adam Mickiewicz, Alexander Pushkin, Edgar
Allan Poe and Alfred Tennyson.
Epic poetry[edit]
Main article: Epic poetry
Epic poetry is a genre of poetry, and a major form of narrative
literature. This genre is often defined as lengthy poems concerning
events of a heroic or important nature to the culture of the time. It
recounts, in a continuous narrative, the life and works of a heroic or
mythological person or group of persons.[133] Examples of epic poems are
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, the Nibelungenlied, Luís de
Camões' Os Lusíadas, the Cantar de Mio Cid, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the
Mahabharata, Valmiki's Ramayana, Ferdowsi's Shahnama, Nizami (or
Nezami)'s Khamse (Five Books), and the Epic of King Gesar. While the
composition of epic poetry, and of long poems generally, became less
common in the west after the early 20th century, some notable epics have
continued to be written. Derek Walcott won a Nobel prize to a great
extent on the basis of his epic, Omeros.[134]
Dramatic poetry[edit]
Goethe
Main articles: Verse drama and dramatic verse, Theatre of ancient Greece, Sanskrit drama, Chinese Opera and Noh
Dramatic poetry is drama written in verse to be spoken or sung, and
appears in varying, sometimes related forms in many cultures. Greek
tragedy in verse dates to the 6th century B.C., and may have been an
influence on the development of Sanskrit drama,[135] just as Indian
drama in turn appears to have influenced the development of the bianwen
verse dramas in China, forerunners of Chinese Opera.[136] East Asian
verse dramas also include Japanese Noh. Examples of dramatic poetry in
Persian literature include Nizami's two famous dramatic works, Layla and
Majnun and Khosrow and Shirin, Ferdowsi's tragedies such as Rostam and
Sohrab, Rumi's Masnavi, Gorgani's tragedy of Vis and Ramin, and Vahshi's
tragedy of Farhad.
Satirical poetry[edit]
John Wilmot
Poetry can be a powerful vehicle for satire. The Romans had a strong
tradition of satirical poetry, often written for political purposes. A
notable example is the Roman poet Juvenal's satires.[137]
The same is true of the English satirical tradition. John Dryden (a
Tory), the first Poet Laureate, produced in 1682 Mac Flecknoe, subtitled
"A Satire on the True Blue Protestant Poet, T.S." (a reference to
Thomas Shadwell).[138] Another master of 17th-century English satirical
poetry was John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester.[139] Satirical poets
outside England include Poland's Ignacy Krasicki, Azerbaijan's Sabir and
Portugal's Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage.
Light poetry[edit]
Main article: Light poetry
Lewis Carroll
Light poetry, or light verse, is poetry that attempts to be humorous.
Poems considered "light" are usually brief, and can be on a frivolous or
serious subject, and often feature word play, including puns,
adventurous rhyme and heavy alliteration. Although a few free verse
poets have excelled at light verse outside the formal verse tradition,
light verse in English is usually formal. Common forms include the
limerick, the clerihew, and the double dactyl.
While light poetry is sometimes condemned as doggerel, or thought of as
poetry composed casually, humor often makes a serious point in a subtle
or subversive way. Many of the most renowned "serious" poets have also
excelled at light verse. Notable writers of light poetry include Lewis
Carroll, Ogden Nash, X. J. Kennedy, Willard R. Espy, and Wendy Cope.
Lyric poetry[edit]
Main article: Lyric poetry
Christine de Pizan
Lyric poetry is a genre that, unlike epic and dramatic poetry, does not
attempt to tell a story but instead is of a more personal nature. Poems
in this genre tend to be shorter, melodic, and contemplative. Rather
than depicting characters and actions, it portrays the poet's own
feelings, states of mind, and perceptions.[140] Notable poets in this
genre include John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Antonio Machado.
Elegy[edit]
Main article: Elegy
An elegy is a mournful, melancholy or plaintive poem, especially a
lament for the dead or a funeral song. The term "elegy," which
originally denoted a type of poetic meter (elegiac meter), commonly
describes a poem of mourning. An elegy may also reflect something that
seems to the author to be strange or mysterious. The elegy, as a
reflection on a death, on a sorrow more generally, or on something
mysterious, may be classified as a form of lyric poetry.[141][142]
Notable practitioners of elegiac poetry have included Propertius, Jorge
Manrique, Jan Kochanowski, Chidiock Tichborne, Edmund Spenser, Ben
Jonson, John Milton, Thomas Gray, Charlotte Turner Smith, William Cullen
Bryant, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Evgeny
Baratynsky, Alfred Tennyson, Walt Whitman, Louis Gallet, Antonio
Machado, Juan Ramón Jiménez, William Butler Yeats, Rainer Maria Rilke,
and Virginia Woolf.
Verse fable[edit]
Ignacy Krasicki
Main article: Fable
The fable is an ancient literary genre, often (though not invariably)
set in verse. It is a succinct story that features anthropomorphized
animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that illustrate a
moral lesson (a "moral"). Verse fables have used a variety of meter and
rhyme patterns.[143]
Notable verse fabulists have included Aesop, Vishnu Sarma, Phaedrus,
Marie de France, Robert Henryson, Biernat of Lublin, Jean de La
Fontaine, Ignacy Krasicki, Félix María de Samaniego, Tomás de Iriarte,
Ivan Krylov and Ambrose Bierce.
Prose poetry[edit]
Main article: Prose poetry
Charles Baudelaire, by Gustave Courbet
Prose poetry is a hybrid genre that shows attributes of both prose and
poetry. It may be indistinguishable from the micro-story (a.k.a. the
"short short story", "flash fiction"). While some examples of earlier
prose strike modern readers as poetic, prose poetry is commonly regarded
as having originated in 19th-century France, where its practitioners
included Aloysius Bertrand, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud and
Stéphane Mallarmé.[144] Since the late 1980s especially, prose poetry
has gained increasing popularity, with entire journals, such as The
Prose Poem: An International Journal,[145] Contemporary Haibun
Online[146] devoted to that genre.
Speculative poetry[edit]
Main article: Speculative poetry
Speculative poetry, also known as fantastic poetry, (of which weird or
macabre poetry is a major subclassification), is a poetic genre which
deals thematically with subjects which are 'beyond reality', whether via
extrapolation as in science fiction or via weird and horrific themes as
in horror fiction. Such poetry appears regularly in modern science
fiction and horror fiction magazines. Edgar Allan Poe is sometimes seen
as the "father of speculative poetry".[147]
See also[edit]
Poetry portal
Glossary of poetry terms
List of poetry groups and movements
Outline of poetry
Poetry reading
Rhapsode
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ "Poetry". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. 2013.
Jump up ^ "Poetry". Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Inc. 2013.
Jump up ^ "Poetry". Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC. 2013—Based on the Random House Dictionary
Jump up ^ Strachan, John R; Terry, Richard, G (2000). Poetry: an
introduction. Edinburgh University Press. p. 119. ISBN
978-0-8147-9797-6.
Jump up ^ Eliot, TS (1999). "The Function of Criticism". Selected Essays. Faber & Faber. pp. 13–34. ISBN 978-0-15-180387-3.
Jump up ^ Longenbach, James (1997). Modern Poetry After Modernism. Oxford University Press. pp. 9, 103. ISBN 0-19-510178-2.
Jump up ^ Schmidt, Michael, ed. (1999). The Harvill Book of
Twentieth-Century Poetry in English. Harvill Press. pp. xxvii–xxxiii.
ISBN 1-86046-735-0.
Jump up ^ Hoivik, S; Luger, K (3 June 2009). "Folk Media for
Biodiversity Conservation: A Pilot Project from the Himalaya-Hindu
Kush". International Communication Gazette 71 (4): 321–346.
doi:10.1177/1748048509102184.
Jump up ^ Ahl, Frederick; Roisman, Hannah M (1996). The Odyssey
Re-Formed. Cornell University Press. pp. 1–26. ISBN 0-8014-8335-2..
Others suggest that poetry did not necessarily predate writing. Goody,
Jack (1987). The Interface Between the Written and the Oral. Cambridge
University Press. p. 98. ISBN 0-521-33794-1.
Jump up ^ Ebrey, Patricia (1993). Chinese Civilisation: A Sourcebook
(2nd ed.). The Free Press. pp. 11–13. ISBN 978-0-02-908752-7.
Jump up ^ Sanders, NK (trans.) (1972). The Epic of Gilgamesh (Revised ed.). Penguin Books. pp. 7–8.
Jump up ^ Abondolo, Daniel (2001). A poetics handbook: verbal art in the
European tradition. Curzon. pp. 52–53. ISBN 978-0-7007-1223-6.
Jump up ^ Gentz, Joachim (2008). "Ritual Meaning of Textual Form:
Evidence from Early Commentaries of the Historiographic and Ritual
Traditions". In Kern, Martin. Text and Ritual in Early China. University
of Washington Press. pp. 124–148. ISBN 978-0-295-98787-3.
Jump up ^ Habib, Rafey (2005). A history of literary criticism. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 607–609, 620. ISBN 978-0-631-23200-1.
Jump up ^ Heath, Malcolm, ed. (1997). Aristotle's Poetics. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-044636-2.
Jump up ^ Frow, John (2007). Genre (Reprint ed.). Routledge. pp. 57–59. ISBN 978-0-415-28063-1.
Jump up ^ Bogges, WF (1968). "'Hermannus Alemannus' Latin Anthology of
Arabic Poetry". Journal of the American Oriental Society 88 (4): 657–70.
doi:10.2307/598112. JSTOR 598112. Burnett, Charles (2001). "Learned
Knowledge of Arabic Poetry, Rhymed Prose, and Didactic Verse from Petrus
Alfonsi to Petrarch". Poetry and Philosophy in the Middle Ages: A
Festschrift for Peter Dronke. Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 29–62. ISBN
90-04-11964-7.
Jump up ^ Grendler, Paul F (2004). The Universities of the Italian
Renaissance. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 239. ISBN 0-8018-8055-6.
Jump up ^ Kant, Immanuel; Bernard, JH (trans.) (1914). Critique of
Judgment. Macmillan. p. 131. Kant argues that the nature of poetry as a
self-consciously abstract and beautiful form raises it to the highest
level among the verbal arts, with tone or music following it, and only
after that the more logical and narrative prose.
Jump up ^ Ou, Li (2009). Keats and negative capability. Continuum. pp. 1–3. ISBN 978-1-4411-4724-0.
Jump up ^ Watten, Barrett (2003). The constructivist moment: from
material text to cultural poetics. Wesleyan University Press. pp. 17–19.
ISBN 978-0-8195-6610-2.
Jump up ^ Abu-Mahfouz, Ahmad (2008). "Translation as a Blending of Cultures". Journal of Translation 4 (1).
Jump up ^ Highet, Gilbert (1985). The classical tradition: Greek and
Roman influences on western literature (Reissued ed.). Oxford University
Press. pp. 355, 360, 479. ISBN 978-0-19-500206-5.
Jump up ^ Wimsatt, William K, Jr; Brooks, Cleanth (1957). Literary Criticism: A Short History. Vintage Books. p. 374.
Jump up ^ Johnson, Jeannine (2007). Why write poetry?: modern poets
defending their art. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 148. ISBN
978-0-8386-4105-7.
Jump up ^ Jenkins, Lee M; Davis, Alex, ed. (2007). The Cambridge
companion to modernist poetry. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–7, 38,
156. ISBN 978-0-521-61815-1.
Jump up ^ Barthes, Roland (1978). "Death of the Author". Image-Music-Text. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. pp. 142–148.
Jump up ^ Connor, Steven (1997). Postmodernist culture: an introduction
to theories of the contemporary (2nd ed.). Blackwell. pp. 123–128. ISBN
978-0-631-20052-9.
Jump up ^ Bloom, Harold (2006). Bloom's Modern Critical Views:
Contemporary Poets. Bloom's Literary Criticism, Infobase Publishing,
p.7.
Jump up ^ Pinsky 1998, p. 52
Jump up ^ Fussell 1965, pp. 20–21
Jump up ^ Schülter, Julia (2005). Rhythmic Grammar. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 24, 304, 332.
Jump up ^ Yip, Moira (2002). Tone. Cambridge textbooks in linguistics.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–4, 130. ISBN 0-521-77314-8.
Jump up ^ Fussell 1965, p. 12
Jump up ^ Jorgens, Elise Bickford (1982). The well-tun'd word : musical
interpretations of English poetry, 1597–1651. University of Minnesota
Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-8166-1029-7.
Jump up ^ Fussell 1965, pp. 75–76
Jump up ^ Walker-Jones, Arthur (2003). Hebrew for biblical
interpretation. Society of Biblical Literature. pp. 211–213. ISBN
978-1-58983-086-8.
Jump up ^ Bala Sundara Raman, L; Ishwar, S; Kumar Ravindranath, Sanjeeth
(2003). "Context Free Grammar for Natural Language Constructs: An
implementation for Venpa Class of Tamil Poetry". Tamil Internet:
128–136.
Jump up ^ Brogan, TVF, ed. (1995). The Princeton handbook of
multicultural poetries. Princeton University Press. p. 86. ISBN
978-0-691-00168-5.
Jump up ^ Hartman, Charles O (1980). Free Verse An Essay on Prosody.
Northwestern University Press. pp. 24, 44, 47. ISBN 978-0-8101-1316-9.
Jump up ^ Hollander 1981, p. 22
Jump up ^ Corn 1997, p. 24
Jump up ^ Corn 1997, pp. 25, 34
^ Jump up to: a b Annis, William S (January 2006). "Introduction to Greek Meter". Aoidoi. pp. 1–15.
Jump up ^ "Examples of English metrical systems". Fondazione Universitaria in provincia di Belluno. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Fussell 1965, pp. 23–24
Jump up ^ Kiparsky, Paul (September 1975). "Stress, Syntax, and Meter".
Language 51 (3): 576–616. doi:10.2307/412889. JSTOR 412889.
Jump up ^ Thompson, John (1961). The Founding of English Meter. Columbia University Press. p. 36.
Jump up ^ Pinsky 1998, pp. 11–24
Jump up ^ Pinsky 1998, p. 66
Jump up ^ Nabokov, Vladimir (1964). Notes on Prosody. Bollingen Foundation. pp. 9–13. ISBN 0-691-01760-3.
Jump up ^ Fussell 1965, pp. 36–71
Jump up ^ Nabokov, Vladimir (1964). Notes on Prosody. Bollingen Foundation. pp. 46–47. ISBN 0-691-01760-3.
Jump up ^ Adams 1997, p. 206
Jump up ^ Adams 1997, p. 63
Jump up ^ "What is Tetrameter?". tetrameter.com. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Adams 1997, p. 60
Jump up ^ James, ED; Jondorf, G (1994). Racine: Phèdre. Cambridge University Press. pp. 32–34. ISBN 978-0-521-39721-6.
Jump up ^ Corn 1997, p. 65
Jump up ^ Osberg, Richard H (2001). "'I kan nat geeste': Chaucer's
Artful Alliteration". In Gaylord, Alan T. Essays on the art of Chaucer's
verse. Routledge. pp. 195–228. ISBN 978-0-8153-2951-0.
Jump up ^ Alighieri, Dante; Pinsky Robert (trans.) (1994).
"Introduction". The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation. Farrar,
Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0-374-17674-4.
^ Jump up to: a b Kiparsky, Paul (Summer 1973). "The Role of Linguistics in a Theory of Poetry". Daedalus 102 (3): 231–244.
Jump up ^ Russom, Geoffrey (1998). Beowulf and old Germanic metre.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 64–86. ISBN 978-0-521-59340-3.
Jump up ^ Liu, James JY (1990). Art of Chinese Poetry. University Of Chicago Press. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-0-226-48687-1.
Jump up ^ Wesling, Donald (1980). The chances of rhyme. University of California Press. pp. x–xi, 38–42. ISBN 978-0-520-03861-5.
Jump up ^ Menocal, Maria Rosa (2003). The Arabic Role in Medieval
Literary History. University of Pennsylvania. p. 88. ISBN 0-8122-1324-6.
Jump up ^ Sperl, Stefan, ed. (1996). Qasida poetry in Islamic Asia and Africa. Brill. p. 49. ISBN 978-90-04-10387-0.
Jump up ^ Adams 1997, pp. 71–104
Jump up ^ Fussell 1965, p. 27
Jump up ^ Adams 1997, pp. 88–91
Jump up ^ Corn 1997, pp. 81–82, 85
Jump up ^ Whitworth, Michael H (2010). Reading modernist poetry. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-4051-6731-4.
Jump up ^ Hollander 1981, pp. 50–51
Jump up ^ Corn 1997, pp. 7–13
Jump up ^ Corn 1997, pp. 78–82
Jump up ^ Corn 1997, p. 78
Jump up ^ Dalrymple, Roger, ed. (2004). Middle English Literature: a
guide to criticism. Blackwell Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-631-23290-2.
Jump up ^ Corn 1997, pp. 78–79
Jump up ^ McTurk, Rory, ed. (2004). Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic
Literature and Culture. Blackwell. pp. 269–280. ISBN 978-1-4051-3738-6.
Jump up ^ Freedman, David Noel (July 1972). "Acrostics and Metrics in
Hebrew Poetry". Harvard Theological Review 65 (3): 367–392.
doi:10.1017/s0017816000001620.
Jump up ^ Kampf, Robert (2010). Reading the Visual – 17th century poetry
and visual culture. GRIN Verlag. pp. 4–6. ISBN 978-3-640-60011-3.
Jump up ^ Bohn, Willard (1993). The aesthetics of visual poetry. University of Chicago Press. pp. 1–8. ISBN 978-0-226-06325-6.
Jump up ^ Sterling, Bruce (13 July 2009). "Web Semantics: Asemic writing". Wired. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Barfield, Owen (1987). Poetic diction: a study in meaning (2nd
ed.). Wesleyan University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-8195-6026-1.
Jump up ^ Sheets, George A (Spring 1981). "The Dialect Gloss,
Hellenistic Poetics and Livius Andronicus". American Journal of
Philology 102 (1): 58–78. doi:10.2307/294154. JSTOR 294154.
Jump up ^ Blank, Paula (1996). Broken English: dialects and the politics
of language in Renaissance writings. Routledge. pp. 29–31. ISBN
978-0-415-13779-9.
Jump up ^ Perloff, Marjorie (2002). 21st-century modernism: the new poetics. Blackwell Publishers. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-631-21970-5.
Jump up ^ Paden, William D, ed. (2000). Medieval lyric: genres in
historical context. University of Illinois Press. p. 193. ISBN
978-0-252-02536-5.
Jump up ^
The Poetics of Aristotle at Project Gutenberg, p. 22.
Jump up ^ Davis, Alex; Jenkins, Lee M, ed. (2007). The Cambridge
companion to modernist poetry. Cambridge University Press. pp. 90–96.
ISBN 978-0-521-61815-1.
Jump up ^ San Juan, E, Jr (2004). Working through the contradictions
from cultural theory to critical practice. Bucknell University Press.
pp. 124–125. ISBN 978-0-8387-5570-9.
Jump up ^ Treip, Mindele Anne (1994). Allegorical poetics and the epic:
the Renaissance tradition to Paradise Lost. University Press of
Kentucky. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-8131-1831-4.
Jump up ^ Crisp, P (1 November 2005). "Allegory and symbol – a
fundamental opposition?". Language and Literature 14 (4): 323–338.
doi:10.1177/0963947005051287.
Jump up ^ Gilbert, Richard (2004). "The Disjunctive Dragonfly". Modern Haiku 35 (2): 21–44.
Jump up ^ Hollander 1981, pp. 37–46
Jump up ^ Fussell 1965, pp. 160–165
Jump up ^ Corn 1997, p. 94
Jump up ^ Fussell 1965, pp. 119–129
Jump up ^ Minta, Stephen (1980). Petrarch and Petrarchism. Manchester University Press. pp. 15–17. ISBN 0-7190-0748-8.
Jump up ^ Fussell 1965, pp. 119–133
Jump up ^ Quiller-Couch, Arthur, ed. (1900). Oxford Book of English Verse. Oxford University Press.
Jump up ^ Watson, Burton (1971). CHINESE LYRICISM: Shih Poetry from the
Second to the Twelfth Century. (New York: Columbia University Press).
ISBN 0-231-03464-4, 1
Jump up ^ Watson, Burton (1971). CHINESE LYRICISM: Shih Poetry from the
Second to the Twelfth Century. (New York: Columbia University Press).
ISBN 0-231-03464-4, 1-2 and 15-18
Jump up ^ Watson, Burton (1971). CHINESE LYRICISM: Shih Poetry from the
Second to the Twelfth Century. (New York: Columbia University Press).
ISBN 0-231-03464-4, 111 and 115
Jump up ^ Faurot, Jeannette L (1998). Drinking with the moon. China Books & Periodicals. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-8351-2639-7.
Jump up ^ Wang, Yugen (1 June 2004). "Shige: The Popular Poetics of
Regulated Verse". T'ang Studies 2004 (22): 81–125.
doi:10.1179/073750304788913221.
Jump up ^ Schirokauer, Conrad (1989). A brief history of Chinese and
Japanese civilizations (2nd ed.). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p. 119.
ISBN 978-0-15-505569-8.
Jump up ^ Kumin, Maxine (2002). "Gymnastics: The Villanelle". In Varnes,
Kathrine. An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the
Diversity of Their Art. University of Michigan Press. p. 314. ISBN
978-0-472-06725-1.
Jump up ^ "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" in Thomas, Dylan
(1952). In Country Sleep and Other Poems. New Directions Publications.
p. 18.
Jump up ^ "Villanelle", in Auden, WH (1945). Collected Poems. Random House.
Jump up ^ "One Art", in Bishop, Elizabeth (1976). Geography III. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Jump up ^ Samy Alim, H; Ibrahim, Awad; Pennycook, Alastair, ed. (2009).
Global linguistic flows. Taylor & Francis. p. 181. ISBN
978-0-8058-6283-6.
Jump up ^ Brower, Robert H; Miner, Earl (1988). Japanese court poetry.
Stanford University Press. pp. 86–92. ISBN 978-0-8047-1524-9.
Jump up ^ McCllintock, Michael; Ness, Pamela Miller; Kacian, Jim, ed.
(2003). The tanka anthology: tanka in English from around the world. Red
Moon Press. pp. xxx–xlviii. ISBN 978-1-893959-40-8.
Jump up ^ Corn 1997, p. 117
Jump up ^ Ross, Bruce, ed. (1993). Haiku moment: an anthology of
contemporary North American haiku. Charles E. Tuttle Co. p. xiii. ISBN
978-0-8048-1820-9.
Jump up ^ Etsuko Yanagibori. "Basho's Haiku on the theme of Mt. Fuji".
The personal notebook of Etsuko Yanagibori. Archived from the original
on 3 August 2007.
Jump up ^ Gray, Thomas (2000). English lyrics from Dryden to Burns. Elibron. pp. 155–156. ISBN 978-1-4021-0064-2.
Jump up ^ Gayley, Charles Mills; Young, Clement C (2005). English Poetry
(Reprint ed.). Kessinger Publishing. p. lxxxv. ISBN 978-1-4179-0086-2.
Jump up ^ Kuiper, edited by Kathleen (2011). Poetry and drama literary
terms and concepts. Britannica Educational Pub. in association with
Rosen Educational Services. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-61530-539-1.
Jump up ^ Campo, Juan E (2009). Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase. p. 260. ISBN 978-0-8160-5454-1.
Jump up ^ Qureshi, Regula Burckhardt (Autumn 1990). "Musical Gesture and
Extra-Musical Meaning: Words and Music in the Urdu Ghazal". Journal of
the American Musicological Society 43 (3): 457–497.
doi:10.1525/jams.1990.43.3.03a00040.
Jump up ^ Sequeira, Isaac (1 June 1981). "The Mystique of the Mushaira".
The Journal of Popular Culture 15 (1): 1–8.
doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1981.4745121.x.
Jump up ^ Schimmel, Annemarie (Spring 1988). "Mystical Poetry in Islam:
The Case of Maulana Jalaladdin Rumi". Religion & Literature 20 (1):
67–80.
Jump up ^ Yarshater. Accessed 25 July 2010.
Jump up ^ Hafiz and the Place of Iranian Culture in the World by Aga Khan III, November 9, 1936 London.
Jump up ^ Shamel, Shafiq (2013). Goethe and Hafiz. ISBN 9783034308816. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
Jump up ^ "Goethe and Hafiz". Retrieved 29 October 2014.
Jump up ^ "GOETHE". Retrieved 29 October 2014.
Jump up ^ Chandler, Daniel. "Introduction to Genre Theory". Aberystwyth University. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Schafer, Jorgen; Gendolla, Peter, ed. (2010). Beyond the
screen: transformations of literary structures, interfaces and genres.
Verlag. pp. 16, 391–402. ISBN 978-3-8376-1258-5.
Jump up ^ Kirk, GS (2010). Homer and the Oral Tradition (reprint ed.).
Cambridge University Press. pp. 22–45. ISBN 978-0-521-13671-6.
Jump up ^ Hainsworth, JB (1989). Traditions of heroic and epic poetry.
Modern Humanities Research Association. pp. 171–175. ISBN
978-0-947623-19-7.
Jump up ^ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1992: Derek Walcott". Swedish Academy. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Keith, Arthur Berriedale Keith (1992). Sanskrit Drama in its
origin, development, theory and practice. Motilal Banarsidass. pp.
57–58. ISBN 978-81-208-0977-2.
Jump up ^ Dolby, William (1983). "Early Chinese Plays and Theatre". In
Mackerras, Colin. Chinese Theater: From Its Origins to the Present Day.
University of Hawaii Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-8248-1220-1.
Jump up ^ Dominik, William J; Wehrle, T (1999). Roman verse satire:
Lucilius to Juvenal. Bolchazy-Carducci. pp. 1–3. ISBN 978-0-86516-442-0.
Jump up ^ Black, Joseph, ed. (2011). Broadview Anthology of British
Literature 1. Broadview Press. p. 1056. ISBN 978-1-55481-048-2.
Jump up ^ Treglown, Jeremy (1973). "Satirical Inversion of Some English
Sources in Rochester's Poetry". Review of English Studies 24 (93):
42–48. doi:10.1093/res/xxiv.93.42.
Jump up ^ Blasing, Mutlu Konuk (2006). Lyric poetry : the pain and the
pleasure of words. Princeton University Press. pp. 1–22. ISBN
978-0-691-12682-1.
Jump up ^ Pigman, GW (1985). Grief and English Renaissance elegy. Cambridge University Press. pp. 40–47. ISBN 978-0-521-26871-4.
Jump up ^ Kennedy, David (2007). Elegy. Routledge. pp. 10–34. ISBN 978-1-134-20906-4.
Jump up ^ Harpham, Geoffrey Galt; Abrams, MH. A glossary of literary
terms (10th ed.). Wadsworth Cengage Learning. p. 9. ISBN
978-0-495-89802-3.
Jump up ^ Monte, Steven (2000). Invisible fences: prose poetry as a
genre in French and American literature. University of Nebraska Press.
pp. 4–9. ISBN 978-0-8032-3211-2.
Jump up ^ "The Prose Poem: An International Journal". Providence College. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
Jump up ^ "Contemporary Haibun Online". Retrieved 10 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Allen, Mike (2005). Dutcher, Roger, ed. The alchemy of stars.
Science Fiction Poetry Association. pp. 11–17. ISBN 978-0-8095-1162-4.
