Studying poetry

People don’t usually speak or write like in a poem so whenever you open a book of poetry you may be struck by the words and their organisation into fixed lines. Indeed, the word “poetry” comes from a Greek verb meaning “to make”.

A poem speaks to one’s sensibility and it conveys a message to the reader, it should be read aloud to listen to its sounds as well as its words. In order to study poetry it is crucial to understand that a poem is a form of communication with codes that need deciphering.

Among the most common types of poetry there is the ballad, which was meant to be sung, it tells a story through several stanzas. An ode was a long lyric poem often praising someone or something. The sonnet became famous thanks to Shakespeare in England and it has remained successful for five centuries. This short lyric poem consists of fourteen lines made up of two quatrains and a stanza of six lines following a set rhyme scheme (a/b / a/b / c/d / c/d / e/f / e/f / g/g). It mainly uses iambic pentameters (five feet per line and rhythmed with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one). An epic (or heroic) poem was a long narrative poem dealing with a serious subject. An elegy was often written for someone’s death whereas an epithalamion celebrated a marriage.

What sounds can be heard?

The alliteration, that is to say the repetition of initial consonants, was often compulsory in Old English verse (ex: “Full fathom five thy father lies…” – Shakespeare).

The consonance is the repetition of consonants within words (ex: “Alone, alone, all, all alone” – Coleridge) and the assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within a line (ex: “A host, of golden daffodils” – William Wordsworth).

As for rhyme, it is possible to distinguish end rhyme (at the end of lines), initial rhyme (at the beginning of lines), internal rhyme (inside a line) or slant rhyme which is imperfect rhyme mostly used in the 20^th century poetry as a reaction against the regularity of classic poetry.

Rhythm is essential in English poetry, it consists in the succession of stressed (or strong) and unstressed (or weak) syllables, each line is divided into a number of feet and each foot is made up of 2 or 3 syllables and it contains at least one stressed syllable. Rhythm is all about musicality which is why poetry must be read aloud!

Vocabulary

To convey : transmettre, communiquer
A stanza : une strophe
Rhyme scheme : disposition des rimes
Compulsory : obligatoire
Slant rhyme : rime défectueuse

Among the most common forms of poetry, the most famous is the sonnet which was adopted and personalised by William Shakespeare; its form is developed in another course.

An epic poem is a lengthy, narrative work of poetry which describes extraordinary adventures of characters from the past. The word “epic” comes from the ancient Greek term “epos”, which means “story, word, poem.” It is written in a formal style and it contains third-person narration and an omniscient narrator.

A pastoral poem, whatever its form, focuses on idyllic country life. It originated in the Greek period. The poet Theocritus wrote about shepherds living rich and fulfilled lives in rural settings as in a bucolic utopia. As a whole, rural life is seen as superior to urban life but it doesn’t focus on reality.

An ode is a short lyric poem written as a tribute to praise someone’s quality, or even an idea or an event. It expresses strong emotions and uses rich descriptive language. Its structure is divided into three stanzas: the strophe, the anti-strophe and the epode.

A ballad is a melodious form of storytelling, it can be poetic or musical. Its form varies according to its topic but it is usually made up of a pattern of rhymed quatrains following the scheme ABCB.

A limerick is a short five-line poem with the following rhyme scheme: AABBA. Its subject consists in a short tale or description. Its topics are generally trivial and are aimed at having fun, yet some can be rather crude in tone. Edward Lear (1812-1888) is a famous composer of limericks; he published A book of Nonsense in 1848.

An elegy is a poem of lament for someone’s death or a poem of meditation about death and the passing of time. Its main themes are loss, mourning and reflection. It dates back to an ancient Greek tradition. The English poets of the Renaissance revived this type of poetry.

As for lyric poetry, it deals with feelings and emotions and opposes epic and dramatic poetry.

Vocabulary

Lengthy : long
A shepherd : un berger
Fulfilled : rempli, épanoui
A tribute : un hommage
Crude : cru, grossier
Mourning : le deuil

First of all, let’s see what a sonnet looks like. The sonnet, or literally “little song” in Italian, has taken the strict form of a 14-line poem with a standardized rhyme scheme, a consistent meter, and a “turn” that marks a tonal or thematic shift in the two concluding lines. Yet there have been different types of sonnets over the centuries as some poets have taken liberties by altering some of the main components.

Its country of origin is Italy but it seemed to have been brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, earl of Surrey in the 16^th century. Tottel’s Miscellany was the first printed anthology of English poetry (published in 1557); it means that the “English sonnet” had been established by Wyatt and Surrey well before Shakespeare’s birth! Its main characteristics are the rhyme scheme (abab cdcd efef gg) and the breaking up of the last six lines into a quatrain and a couplet and a “turn” before the last couplet; whereas the “Petrarchan sonnet” consisted of an octave and a sestet (or two tercets).

We may wonder why the sonnet became so popular in the world of poetry. During Elizabeth I’s reign, Sir Philip Sidney wrote a sonnet sequence titled Astrophil and Stella in English in the 1580s and after him many poets chose to compose “English sonnets”, their short form made it easier to write in a short period of time.

As for Shakespeare, he became famous first as a poet. His Sonnets are considered to be the most influential poems written in English. They were first published in 1609 and have been reprinted ever since that time. They have been a great source of inspiration for his fellow poets. The sonnets named after him feature recurrent elements such as fourteen lines divided into three quatrains with the second and fourth lines containing rhyming words and the last two lines rhyme with each other and all the lines are phrased in iambic pentameter.

As a conclusion, we can say that the sonnet form was typical of the Renaissance period but it has remained a much-appreciated form of poetry along the centuries. William Shakespeare was a great contributor to its success, though its form has changed along the centuries.

Vocabulary

A line : un vers
The rhyme scheme : la disposition des rimes
A shift : un changement
To alter : changer, modifier
A fellow : un confrère
An iambic pentameter : un pentamètre iambique