"Narrative & Descriptive Poetry"

Topic:
"Narrative & Descriptive Poetry"
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(1) Narrative Poetry
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*Narrative poetry gives a verbal
representation, in verse, of a sequence of
connected events, it propels characters
through a plot. It is always told by a
narrator. Narrative poems might tell of a
love story (like Tennyson's Maud), the
story of a father and son (like
Wordsworth 's Michael ) or the deeds of a
hero or heroine (like Walter Scott 's Lay of
the Last Minstrel ).
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*Sub-categories of narrative poetry:
Epics usually operate on a large scale,
both in length and topic, such as the
founding of a nation ( Virgil ’s Aeneid ) or
the beginning of world history ( Milton's
Paradise Lost), they tend to use an
elevated style of language and
supernatural beings take part in the
action.
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*The mock-epic makes use of epic
conventions, like the elevated style and
the assumption that the topic is of great
importance, to deal with completely
insignificant occurrences. A famous
example is Pope's The Rape of the Lock ,
which tells the story of a young beauty
whose suitor secretly cuts off a lock of
her hair.
A ballad is a song, originally transmitted
orally, which tells a story. It is an
important form of folk poetry which was
adapted for literary uses from the
sixteenth century onwards. The ballad
stanza is usually a four-line stanza,
alternating tetrameter and trimeter.
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(2) Descriptive & Didactic Poetry
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*Descriptive and Didactic Poetry
Both lyric and narrative poetry can
contain lengthy and detailed descriptions
( descriptive poetry ) or scenes in direct
speech (dramatic poetry ).
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*The purpose of a didactic poem is
primarily to teach something. This can
take the form of very specific instructions,
such as how to catch a fish, as in James
Thomson ’s The Seasons (Spring 379-442)
or how to write good poetry as in
Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism .But
it can also be meant as instructive in a
general way. Until the twentieth century
all literature was expected to have a
didactic purpose in a general sense, that
is, to impart moral, theoretical or even
practical knowledge; Horace famously
demanded that poetry should combine
prodesse (learning) and delectare
(pleasure). The twentieth century was
more reluctant to proclaim literature
openly as a teaching tool.