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Chapter 3 Poetry

Intended Learning Outcomes: At the end of this chapter, the students are expected
to:
1. Categorize literary pieces according to (genre): poetry, to intensify the relevance
of fiction and non-fiction to the present time.

Poetry
Poetry is an artistic expression of an idea in a rhythmical pattern. It appeals to the
emotion through metrical rhythm, musical lines, sense impressions and language.
According to Robert Frost, “there are three things after all that a poem must reach: the
eyes, the ear, and what we may call the heart or the mind.” It is most important of all to
reach the heart of the reader.

Poetry is a literary work in metrical form; verse

A. Narrative Poetry B. Lyric Poetry C. Poetic Play/Dramatic Poetry

1. Epic 1. Sonnet 1. Dramatic monologue

2. Metrical Tale 2. Ode Soliloquy

3. Ballad 3. Psalms Character sketch

4.Metrical Romance 4. Elegy Tragedy

5. Simple Lyric Comedy

6. Song Farce

a. Secular Songs Melodrama

b. Sacred songs Tragicomedy

Social Poems

3.1 Narrative Poetry

Narrative Poetry tells a story in rich imaginative and rhythmical language
1. Epic
Epic is a long narrative poem recounting heroic deeds, although the term has also been
loosely used to describe novels, such as Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, and motion
pictures, such as Sergey Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible. In literary usage, the term
encompasses both oral and written compositions. This is about heroic exploits often
under supernatural control.

Filipino epic poetry is the highest point of development for Philippine folk literature,
encompassing narratives that recount the adventures of tribal heroes. These epics are
transmitted through oral tradition using a select group of singers and chanters.
Characteristics of epic:

a. Broad in scope and theme; its subject matter is often a mixture of legend, history,
myth, religion and tradition, the action is grand and in a huge scale,
b. The supernatural element is highly pronounced,
c. The characters are larger than life (god, demi-gods, and highborn mortals) if the
source of conflict involves elemental passions.
d. The events centers on a prodigious struggle or effort to achieve a great purpose or
carry out a great task against powerful forces.
e. The plot consists of numerous episodes and sub-plots people by numerous
characters, each with his own adventure and story; but all these are held together
by a unifying theme.
f. The plot often begins in medias res (in the middle or near the end of the action) the
story is completed by a series of flashbacks.
g. This plot is recounted in the epic poem is often just a portion of a much larger story
which is found in the mythology of the nation.
h. The style is solemn and majestic in keeping with the grandeur of the subject matter.

Famous examples of epic poetry include:

Epic poems of the modern era include:
- Giannina Braschi’s Empire of
Dreams,
- Derek Walcott’s Omeros,
- and Adam Mickiewicz’s Pan
Tadeusz.
- Paterson by William Carlos Williams
published in five volumes from 1946
to 1958, was inspired in part by
another modern epic, The Cantos by
Ezra Pound.
Beowulf:
Lo! The Spear-Danes’ glory through splendid
achievements
The folk-kings’ former fame we have heard of,
How princes displayed then their prowess-in-battle.
Oft Scyld the Scefing from scathers in numbers
From many a people their mead-benches tore.
Since first he found him friendless and wretched,

The earl had had terror: comfort he got for it,

Main Types of Epic:
Waxed ’neath the welkin, world-honor gained,
Folk epic is an old form of epic poem that
was originally told in oral form. It is based Till all his neighbors o’er sea were compelled to
on a particular mythology of the locality, Bow to his bidding and bring him their tribute:
like folklore for example, is basically in
An excellent atheling! After was borne him
oral form, the author of the folk epic
could be anyone. A son and heir, young in his dwelling,

“The epic of growth is fresh, Whom God-Father sent to solace the people.
spontaneous, racy, the epic of art is
learned, antiquarian, bookish, imitative. (example of Folk Epic…. Few lines of Beowulf)
Its specifically ‘literary’ qualities-its
erudition, its echoes, reminiscences, and borrowings- are indeed, as the Aeneid and
Paradise Lost will suffice to prove, among its most interesting characteristics for a
cultured reader.” - William Henry Hudson –

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Literary epic is usually known as art epic. It is an epic, which imitates the conventions of
the folk epic, but it is in a written shape. It is based on the ideas of the author, the poet
invents the story and the author is a well-known personality.
“The literary epic naturally resembles the primitive epic, on which it is ultimately based, in
various fundamental characteristics. Its subject-matter is of the old heroic and mythical kind; it
makes free use of supernatural; it follows the same structural plan and reproduces many
traditional details of composition; while, greatly it necessarily differs in style, it often adopts the
formulas, fixed epithets, and stereo typed phrases and locutions, which are among the marked
feature of the early type.” - William Henry Hudson –

Paradise Lost: (by John Milton)

OF MAN’S first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste

Brought death into the World, and all our woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,

Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

That Shepherd who first taught the chosen seed

In the beginning how the heavens and earth

Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill

Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flowed

Fast by the oracle of God, I thence

Invoke thy aid to my adventrous song,

That with no middle flight intends to soar

Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues

Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

(example of Literary Epic…)

E. Arsenio Manuel defines heroic narratives in verse as "folk epics" or "ethnographics"

and describes their common characteristics:
- Narratives of sustained length
- Based on oral tradition
- Revolving around supernatural events or heroic deeds
- In the form of verse
- Either chanted or sung
- With a certain seriousness of purpose, embodying or validating the beliefs,
customs, ideas, or values of the people
- Within folk epic poems, common themes can be observed.
There are multiple epic texts that can be found in the Philippines, owing to its diverse
cultural background.
Epics from Luzon

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 - From Christian Filipinos:
Biag ni Lam-Ang from the Ilocos region
Ibalon, from the Bicol region
- From non-Christian groups:
Hudhud and Alim of the Ifugao people
The Ulalim cycle of the Kalinga people
The Epic of Lumalindaw of the Gaddang people

Epics from Visayas

- The Hinilawod of the Suludnon in Panay
Hinilawod I: The Epic of Labaw Donggon
Hinilawod II: Epic of Humadapnen
The Kudaman of Palawan

Epics from Mindanao

- The Maiden of the Buhong Sky
- Tuwaang Attends a Wedding
- The Agyu Cycle:
Agyu: The Ilianon Epic of Mindanao
Ulahigan
The Capture of Nalandangan
The Epic of Nalandangan
Olaging: The Battle of Nalandangan
- The Tulelangan of the Ilianon Manobos
- The Darangen of the Maranao people
- Gumao of Dumalinao
- Ag Tubig Nog Keboklagan (The Kingdom of Keboklagan)
- Keg Sumba Neg Sandayo (The Tale of Sandayo)
- The Tudbulul of the Tboli people

Example: THE HARVEST SONG OF ALIGUYON translated in English by Amador T. Daguio

Hudhud ni Aliguyon is a famous epic that came from the Ifugao province of Luzon in the
Philippines. It narrates events about the culture and traditions of the Ifugao and their
hero, Aliguyon. Belonging in the genre of Hudhud di Ani for harvesting in the fields, this
heroic epic has three functions.
ALIGUYON
Once upon a time, in a village called Hannanga, a boy was born to the couple named
Amtalao and Dumulao. He was named Aliguyon. He was an intelligent, eager young
man who wanted to learn many things, and indeed, he learned many useful things,
from the stories and teachings of his father. He learned how to fight well and chant a
few magic spells. Even as a child, he was a leader, for the other children of his village
looked up to him with awe.

Upon leaving childhood, Aliguyon betook himself to gather forces to fight against his father’s enemy, who
was Pangaiwan of the village of Daligdigan. But his challenge was not answered personally by Pangaiwan.
Instead, he faced Pangaiwan’s fierce son, Pumbakhayon. Pumbakhayon was just as skilled in the arts of
war and magic as Aliguyon. The two of them battled each other for three years, and neither of them
showed signs of defeat.

Their battle was a tedious one, and it has been said that they both used only one spear! Aliguyon had
thrown a spear to his opponent at the start of their match, but the fair Pumbakhayon had caught it deftly
with one hand. And then Pumbakhayon threw the spear back to Aliguyon, who picked it just as neatly
from the air.

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 At length Aliguyon and Pumbakhayon came to respect each other, and then eventually they came to
admire each other’s talents. Their fighting stopped suddenly. Between the two of them they drafted a
peace treaty between Hannanga and Daligdigan, which their peoples readily agreed to. It was fine to
behold two majestic warriors finally side by side.
Aliguyon and Pumbakhayon became good friends, as peace between their villages flourished. When the
time came for Aliguyon to choose a mate, he chose Pumbakhayon’s youngest sister, Bugan, who was little
more than a baby. He took Bugan into his household and cared for her until she grew to be most
beautiful. Pumbakhayon, in his turn, took for his wife Aliguyon’s younger sister, Aginaya. The two couples
became wealthy and respected in all Ifugao.

2. Metrical Tale
Metrical Tale is a phase of life and told in a
simple, straightforward, and realistic manner.
- It is a narrative poem which is written in
verse that relates to real or imaginary
events in simple, straight forward language,
from a wide range of subjects, characters,
life experiences, and emotional situations.
- Examples of these are simple idylls or home tales, love tales, tales of the
supernatural or tales written for a strong moral purpose in verse form and can be the
length of a short story or of a complete novel.k
Examples of metric tales include :

• "The Lady of the Lake" by Sir Walter Scott.

• “The Lady of Shallot” written by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

In Tennyson's poem 'The Lady of Shalott,' we see a mysterious maiden who is

imprisoned by the fear of a curse in the days of King Arthur.

3. Ballad - any light, simple song, especially one of sentimental or romantic character,
having two or more stanzas all sung to the same melody. a simple narrative poem of folk
origin, composed in short stanzas and adapted for singing. any poem written in similar
style. the music for a ballad.
• There are also variations of these: love ballads, war ballads, and sea ballads,
humorous, moral, and historical or mythical ballads. In the early time, this referred
to a song accompanying a dance.
• They may eventually be set to music, or they remain in their original forms.
• However, in general, whether a ballad is a song or a story, it tends to have some sort
of musical quality to it. One example of a ballad is Samuel Taylor Coleridge's
famous… The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."
Three main types of ballad
a. the traditional ballads,
b. the broadside ballad
c. the literary ballad.

The traditional ballad stanza consists of four lines, rhymed

abcb (or sometimes abab--the key is that the second- and fourth-lines rhyme).

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Broadside ballad -written form of a ballad - Murder ballads are a broadside ballad, told
from the killers point of view.
Simple language Ballads tend to be narrative poems, poems that tell stories, as
opposed to lyric poems, which emphasize the emotions of the speaker. ...

“Sana Maulit Muli” –Lea Salonga (1995)

Sana maulit muli Kung kaya kong iwanan ka

Ang mga oras nating nakaraan 'Di na sana aasa pa

Bakit nagkaganito? Kung kaya kong umiwas na

Naglaho na ba ang pag-ibig mo? 'Di na sana lalapit pa

… Kung kaya ko sana…Ito ang tanging…

The two versions must not be compared, but the temptation is just too hard to resist.
Released in 1987, the original recording of “Sana Maulit Muli,” sung by Gary Valenciano,
is saccharine to the core, not because of the words but because of the music that
accompanies them, ambitious in its arrangement but rather conspicuous in how it
drowns the nuances of his singing.
Lea Salonga’s version, released in 1995 as soundtrack to her movie of the same title, is
not without its mush, but her theatrical interpretation — the dramatic pauses, the
striking way she enunciates the lyrics, the consciously controlled vocals — allows the
yearning being told to come to the center.

4. Metrical Romance
Metrical romance was, in some respect, formalized as a
movement by the joint publication of Lyrical Ballads, by
Wordsworth and Coleridge in 1798. It is deeply rooted
within the traditions as established by John Milton and
Edmund Spenser. They, in agreement with John Keats,
William Blake, Lord Byron and Percy B. Shelley, believed that by
pursuing the sublime and the romance, they were reviving and
upholding English poetry's true spirit.
Some of the finest examples among metrical romance are; The Rhyme
of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Coleridge; Sonnets From the
Portuguese, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning; The Emigrants, by Charlotte Turner Smith;
The Corsair, by George Gordon Byron (or Lord Byron); Lady of Shallot, by Alfred Lord
Tennyson;
Paradise Lost, by John Milton. Paradise Lost is an epic poem by John Milton about the fall of Adam
and Eve. Satan sets his sights upon the world of Man after being cast out of Heaven. He comes down to
Earth, disguises himself as a serpent, and convinces Eve to eat the fruit of knowledge—an act that results
in her and Adam being banished from paradise. God identifies Satan to the Son and explains that Satan
will lead Man to Sin. The Son volunteers to sacrifice himself in return for God’s divine grace for Man.

3.2 Lyric Poetry

Lyric Poetry originally meant to be sung, occurred in varied rhythms and often
expressed personal emotions and experience

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1. Sonnet
Sonnet is short poem of 14 iambic Sonnet 18
by William Shakespeare
pentameter lines grouped into:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
• Shakespearean and Italian sonnets; Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
• Italian/Petrarchan sonnet; Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
• English/ Elizabethan/ Shakespearean Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
sonnet; And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
• Spenserian sonnet By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d

To The Philippines
Rizal wrote the original sonnet in Spanish
Aglowing and fair like a houri on high, And the frosty Pole her flow'red attire.

Full of grace and pure like the Morn that peeps With tenderness, stammering, my Muse

When in the sky the clouds are tinted blue, To her 'midst undines and naiads does sing;

Of th' Indian land, a goddess sleeps. I offer her my fortune and bliss:

Oh, artists! her brow chaste ring

With myrtle green and roses red

The light foam of the son'rous sea And lilies, and extol the Philippines!

Doth kiss her feet with loving desire;

The cultured West adores her smile

Sonnet I

by Jose Garcia Villa

First, a poem must be magical, And it must kneel like a rose.

Then musical as sea gull. It must be able to hear

It must be a brightness moving The luminance of dove and deer.

And hold secret a bird’s flowering. It must be able to hide

It must be slender as a bell, What it seeks, like a bride.

And it must hold fire as well. And over all I would like to hover

It must have the wisdom of bows God, smiling from the poem’s cover.

2. Ode poem
Ode poem of noble feeling towards some person or thing worthy of praise and adulation
most splendid type of lyric. It is often about positive topics, such as truth, love, art,
freedom and justice.
- There is no strict structure or format for an ode. It is common for many odes to have
refrains, or repeated lines or stanza, but that is not a requirement.
- Odes are often longer than other types of lyric poetry.
- An ode is a lyrical stanza written in praise for a person, event, or thing.

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- The form developed in Ancient Greece and had a very specific and elaborate
structure involving three parts known as the strophe, antistrophe, and epode.
Originally, Greek odes were set to music.
An ode is a classical poem that has a specific structure and is aimed at an object or
person. In this sense, odes usually express elevated emotion, and are often used to
praise a leader or a work of art.
Characteristics: Excerpt To A Nightingale
by John Keats
- It is highly solemn and serious in its
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
tone and subject matter, and My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
- usually is used with elaborate patterns Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
of stanzas. However, the tone is often One-minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
formal.
- A salient feature of ode is its uniform metrical feet, but poets generally do not strictly
follow this rule though use highly elevated theme.

Most famous historical odes describe traditionally romantic things and ideas:
• William Wordsworth's "Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of
Early Childhood" is an ode to the Platonic doctrine of "recollection";
• John Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" describes the timelessness of art; and
• Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" addresses the strength of nature.

However, Contemporary odes, draw their power from unexpected celebration.

• Pablo Neruda's Elemental Odes, including poems like "Ode to My Socks," were
written in celebration of common objects;
• Lucille Clifton's "homage to my hips,"
• Bernadette Mayer's "Ode on Periods," and
• Sharon Olds's "Ode to the Hymen" sing praise for traditionally unsung aspects of the
female body.

Ode To My Pearl Of The Orient Seas (Philippines)

Traveling miles to the desert coast-
free golden Arabia.
I felt the snowy humid air,
her dusty wind.
Encircled with her thousand luxury cars,
I begun to miss thee;
motherland.
O thy palms so sturdy and luster green
That smiled at me,
sited in a warm cushioned floor.
Let thy beauties drive me home,
To the breeze of summer wind
and her marvelous rains.
To thy tallest structures of concrete sandstone
That keep the dust
out my breathe.
Let me sleep unconsciously and free,
…
(an excerpt)

3. Psalms/Sacred Songs.
The Psalms are very poetic. The Psalms were the hymnbook of the Old Testament Jews.
Most of them were written by King David of Israel.

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Psalms 1:41

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the
way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law
day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit
in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the
assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the
wicked leads to destruction.

• Other people who wrote Psalms were Moses, Solomon, etc.

• The Psalms give us the means to come to prayer in a fresh state of mind.
• They enable us to see that we're not the first to feel God is silent when we pray, nor
are we the first to feel immense anguish and bewilderment while praying.
• kind of psalms: praise, wisdom, royal, thanksgiving, lament.
• kinds of prayer: adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, supplication

4. Elegy
Elegy is the type of poem lamenting the death of a person, and which expresses feelings
of grief and melancholy a poem expressing lament or grief for the dead. It had a strict
structure dealing with meter alternating between six foot and five-foot lines.
Nowadays, elegies don't follow a specific format, but always have the same mood.
Elegies commemorate the dead and are melancholy, mournful and contemplative.

Written in a Country Churchyard

Elegy Excerpt by Thomas Gray
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,

The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,

The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,

And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

5. Simple Lyric
Simple Lyric is any short poem where the verse is especially musical or where there is
marked subjective or emotional tone.
Song – short lyric poem which has a specific melodious quality and is intended to be
sung: a. Secular Songs – nonreligious
b. Sacred songs – religious

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 IMAGINE by John Lennon

Nothing to kill or die for

"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try And no religion too
No hell below us
Imagine all the people
Above us only sky
Living life in peace...
Imagine all the people
You may say I'm a dreamer
Living for today...
But I'm not the only one
Imagine there's no countries I hope someday you'll join us
It isn't hard to do And the world will be as one…

6. Epigram:
- A very short, satirical and witty poem A Lame Beggar (By John Donne)
usually written as a brief couplet or I am unable, yonder beggar cries,
quatrain. To stand, or move; if he say true, he lies.
- It derives from the Greek 'epigramma'
meaning an inscription.
- It was cultivated in the late 16th and 17th centuries by poets like Ben Jonson and John
Donne who wrote twenty-one English epigrams.

7. Epithalamium - From the Greek 'epi' meaning 'upon' and

'thalamium' meaning 'nuptial chamber'.
- It is a wedding poem in honor of a bride and bridegroom.
- The best example of Epithalamium in Greek literature is the
‘18th Idyll of Theocritus’, that celebrates the marriage of
Menelaus and Helen.
- The famous work "Epithalamium" was written by Edmund
Spenser in honor of his marriage in 1594.
- Dryden`s “Annus Mirabilis” and R. Graves` “A Slice of Wedding Cake” are other
examples of this form

A Slice of Wedding Cake (by Robert Graves)

Why have such scores of lovely, gifted girls Impossible men: idle, illiterate,

Married impossible men? Self-pitying, dirty, sly,

Simple self-sacrifice may be ruled out, For whose appearance even in City parks

And missionary endeavour, nine times out of ten. Excuses must be made to casual passers-by.

Repeat 'impossible men': not merely rustic, Has God's supply of tolerable husbands

Foul-tempered or depraved Fallen, in fact, so low?

(Dramatic foils chosen to show the world Or do I always over-value woman

How well women behave, and always have behaved). At the expense of man?

Do I? It might be so.

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8. Song - is a musical composition intended to be
performed by the human voice. This is often done at
distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of
sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such
as those including the repetition and variation
of sections.

Folk songs - are songs of often anonymous origin (or are

public domain) that are transmitted orally. They are
frequently a major aspect of national or cultural identity.
- Folk songs are also frequently transmitted non-orally
(that is, as sheet music), especially in the modern era.
- Folk songs exist in almost every culture. The German term
Volkslied was coined in the late 18th century, in the process of collecting older songs
and writing new ones.
- Folk songs include ballads, lullabies, love songs, mourning songs, dance songs, work
songs, ritual songs and many more. Béla Bartók recording Slovak peasant singers in 1908

Part/Secular Song
A part song, part-song or partsong is a form of choral music that consists of a
secular (Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin saeculum, "worldly" or "of a
generation") is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that
does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negatively or positively, may be
considered secular.[ (vs. ecclesiastical) song written or arranged for several vocal parts.
- Part songs are commonly sung by an SATB choir, but sometimes for an all-male or all-
female ensemble.
- A voice type is a group of voices with similar vocal
ranges, capable of singing in a similar tessitura, and with
similar vocal transition points (passaggi).
- Voice classification is most strongly associated with
European classical music, though it, and the terms it
utilizes, are used in other styles of music as well.
- Evensong rehearsal in the quire of York Minster, showing carved choirstalls

3.3 Poetic Play / Dramatic Poetry

– a play, composed in poetic form
✓ Dramatic monologue
✓ Soliloquy
✓ Character sketch

1. Dramatic monologue
- A lyric poem in which a speaker, who is explicitly someone other than the author,
makes a speech to a silent auditor in a specific situation and at a
critical moment.
- Without intending to do so, the speaker reveals aspects of his
temperament and character.

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- Browning`s “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria's Lover’ are examples of this type.
"My Last Duchess" is a poem by Robert Browning, frequently anthologised as an
example of the dramatic monologue. It first appeared in 1842 in Browning's Dramatic
Lyrics. The poem is written in 28 rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter.“
My Last Duchess” is a dramatic monologue in which the Duke of Ferrara tells the
messenger of his potential wife's family about his previous wife, the “last” duchess of
the poem's title. ... Throughout the poem, the duke reveals his belief that women are
objects to be controlled, possessed, and discarded.

This poem is set in 1564 and is based on the real-life Duke Alfonso II who ruled Ferrara,
Italy in the latter half of the 16th century. In the poem, he's talking about his first wife
Lucrezia de' Medici, who died under suspicious circumstances shortly after marrying the
Duke.Major Themes in “My Last Duchess”: Jealousy, hatred, and power are the major
themes of this poem. Browning has presented the character of a duke who wants to rule
his woman with an iron fist. He talks about his late wife and details the reasons why he
did not like her.

2. Soliloquy
A soliloquy (from Latin solus/solo ("alone") "to oneself" + loqui ("to speak")/ loquor "I
talk") is a device often used in drama when a character
speaks to oneself, relating thoughts and feelings,
thereby also sharing them with the audience, giving off
the illusion of being a series of unspoken reflections.
- a speech in a play made by a character while alone.
- a speech that one gives to oneself / a dramatic
device in which a character speaks his or her thoughts out loud.
- The purpose of such a device is to illustrate what is going on in the character's head in
a way that cannot be done quite as well through
dialogue or action.
- A soliloquy is a super important monologue given by
a character in a play who is alone on the stage.
Examples of Soliloquy:
From Romeo and Juliet - Juliet speaks her thoughts
aloud when she learns that Romeo is the son of her family's enemy: O Romeo,
Romeo!

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3. Character sketch
A character sketch is a rough-and-ready
rendering or thumbnail portrayal of an
individual, capturing, in brief, that person's
physical characteristics, psychological
attributes, and the like. The brief descriptions
often capitalize on the more unusual or
humorous aspects of the person's character.
It is a written piece that is a person's personality and behavior or a theatrical portrayal
of a unique character.

- Another example of a character sketch is a drag queen doing a club

performance as Liza Minnelli.
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress, singer and dancer. Known
for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice,
Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy,
Oscar, and Tony. Minnelli is a Knight of the French Legion of Honour.

4. Tragedy
Tragedy is a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy
ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character. It
deals with suffering and/or destruction - a disaster that brings death,
injury and hardship and has a somber tone.
* Tragedy, in contrast, is opposite to comedy, as tragedy deals with
sorrowful and tragic events in a story.
- Aristotle indicates that the function of tragedy is to arouse 'pity and fear' in the
spectator for both moral and aesthetic purpose. One has to remember in this context
that he had Plato's famous charge against the immoral effects of poetry on people's
minds.

Four Distinct Kinds of Tragedy:

1. there is the complex tragedy, made up of peripeteia and anagnorisis;
2. the tragedy of suffering;
3. the tragedy of character;
4. the tragedy of spectacle.

Complex tragedy. Aristotle distinguishes “complex” from “simple” tragedy, arguing that
the defining structure of complex tragedy—peripeteia and anagnorisis generating
catharsis—is what makes it complex. Catharsis, he insists, is the purpose of tragedy. His
notion of a protagonist as someone neither too great nor too small: that is, someone
like ourselves, is also crucial to understanding why complex tragedy is superior.

Tragedy of suffering. The concept of the tragic is a consequence of accepting the

individual as an autonomous being and of the insoluble social and historical conflict
arising from the individual's free actions under self-determination. The suffering of the
hero manifests his dignity and nobility as he is not reconciled to fate even in defeat.
Aristotle demonstrated the tragic aspects of human life - its changing nature where

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sorrow follows joy - as the necessary result of the [nous], eternal and self-contained,
surrendering to its other being and becoming temporal and subject to necessity.
Suffering and death are always necessary if there is to be rebirth, whether in romance,
in mysticism or in religion.

Tragedy of character. Stories often have characters that are doomed or flawed in some
way that means that they are going to lose out and not achieve their goals. Tragic
characters also help to make throw a contrasting light on the hero, showing how close
the hero could come to tragedy and hence how heroic they are. Tragic characters invoke
sympathy and pity in the audience. They also lead to relief as we realize that our own
lives could be tragic, and so we feel better for the little that we do have.
Tragic Hero Wilting Flower Victim
Fatally Flawed Doomed InnocentFoolish
Fallen Hero Madman
Doomed Warrior Lost soul
Examples of tragedies:
The Hunchback of Notre Hamlet. The Hunger Games.
Dame.
A Series of Unfortunate Events The Great Gatsby.
Romeo and Juliet.
Frankenstein. Romeo and Juliet.
Titanic.

Tragedy of spectacle. Spectacle is one of the six components of tragedy, occupying the
category of the mode of imitation. Spectacle includes all aspects of the tragedy that
contribute to its sensory effects: costumes, scenery, the gestures of the actors, the
sound of the music and the resonance of the actors' voices.

5. Comedy
Comedy is a literary genre and a type of dramatic work
that is amusing and satirical in its tone, mostly having
cheerful ending.
*The purpose of comedy is to amuse the audience.
*The motif of is triumph over unpleasant circumstance by which to create comic effects,
resulting in happy or successful conclusion - Romantic Comedy, Comedy of Humors,
Comedy of Manners, Sentimental Comedy, Tragicomedy
*Comedy has multiple sub-genres depending upon source of humor context in which an
author delivers dialogues, and delivery method, which include: farce, satire and
burlesque.
* the primary theme of most Shakespearean comedy is love with an underlying tension
between reason and passion.
Types of comedy in literature:

1. Romantic Comedy. This drama involves the theme of love leading to happy
conclusion.
2. Comedy of Humors. It derives from Latin word ‘humor’ that means liquid. It explains
that when human beings have balance of these humors in their bodies, they remain
healthy.

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3. Comedy of Manners. It deals with intrigues and relations of ladies and gentlemen,
living in a sophisticated society.
4. Sentimental Comedy. It contains both comedy and sentimental tragedy.
5. Tragicomedy. It contains both tragic and comedic elements. It blends both elements
to lighten an overall mood of the play. A serious play ends happily.
6.Situational Comedy. It gets its humor from awkward, amusing situations. Called
“sitcoms” for short, situational comedies are usually TV shows in which a small set of
characters gets into a different situation in each episode.
7. Physical Comedy (Slapstick). Physical comedy or slapstick might be the oldest type of
comedy around – it’s pies in the face, banana peels, farts, and other physical gags.
Though this is sometimes considered less sophisticated than other forms of comedy,
it’s very effective.
8. Dark Comedy (Gallows humor). Dark comedy or gallows humor
is when you make light of something very serious: death,
disease, war, slavery, addiction, terrorism, etc. Dark comedy is
a way of processing the sadness and despair that may occur in
the face of these things.
9. Farce. A farce is a comedy so silly and over-the-top that it just
doesn’t make any sense and you have to laugh. It usually use an
extremely exaggerated combination of physical comedy and
situational comedy, and are usually thick with plot twists, hidden identities, and
confusing surprises.
10. Topical humor. Topical humor deals with current events, especially politics.
11. Spoof or Parody. A spoof or parody is a comedy that imitates the rules and clichés of
another movie or genre. For example, the film Scary Movie makes fun of horror films
through exaggeration and confusion.
Here is a list of some well-known examples of Here are some famous literary examples that can be
Shakespearean comedies: considered modern comedy:

- All’s Well That Ends Well - slaughterhouse five

- As You Like It - The House of Mirth
- The Comedy of Errors - The Odd Couple
- Love’s Labour’s Lost - Pride and Prejudice
- Measure for Measure - The Importance of Being Earnest
- The Merchant of Venice - The Joy Luck Club
- The Merry Wives of Windsor - A Prayer for Owen Meany
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Fried Green Tomatoes
- Much Ado About Nothing - A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
- The Taming of the Shrew - Everyday Use
- The Tempest
- Twelfth Night
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- The Winter’s Tale

Function of Comedy
Comedy tends to bring humor and induce
laughter in plays, films and theaters. The primary
function of comedy is to amuse and entertain the
audience, while it also portrays social institutions
and persons as corrupt and ridicules them through
satirizing, parodying and poking fun at their vices.

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Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the most successful plays ever
written in the English language. The reason for its popularity is that it combines several
different forms of comedy, and was highly influential in the rise of early film. The
Importance of Being Earnest is kind of a “romantic sitcom farce,” combining aspects of
all three genres into one.
- It’s romantic because it deals with two growing relationship
- It’s a sitcom because nearly every scene contains an awkward situation between
these characters.

6. Farce
A farce is a lighthearted comedy that centers around a
ridiculous plot that usually involves exaggerated and
improbable events.
Example: The Three Stooges (film)… Seinfeld (TV series)…

Significance of Farce in Literature

15th-century Europe as a way to make serious
things, such as religious texts, foolish such as: acrobatics and clowning, that are still
present in the physical humor of contemporary farces, as well as reversal and perversion
of social rules and norms…entertainment is its primary goal.

7. Melodrama
Melodramas deal with sensational and romantic topics that appeal to the emotions of
the common audience.
• A subgenre of drama in an exaggerated form. It deals with sensational and romantic
topics that appeal to the emotions of the common audience. (heroes, heroines and
villains).
• Its purpose is to play on the feelings and emotions of the audience.
• In modern usage, a melodrama is a dramatic work wherein the plot, which is typically
sensational and designed to appeal strongly to the emotions, takes precedence over
detailed characterization.
• Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue, which is often bombastic or
excessively sentimental, rather than action.
• Drama v/s Melodrama…The drama is real, while melodramas are overly-enhanced,
overly-exaggerated, and often overly-sentimental and overly-emotional in the delivery
of plot elements and character reactions.

Characteristics of Melodrama:
1. Comes from "music drama" – music was used to increase emotions or to signify
characters (signature music).
2. A simplified moral universe; good and evil are embodied in stock characters.
3. Episodic form: the villain poses a threat, the hero or heroine escapes, etc.—with a
happy ending.
4. Almost never five acts – usually 2-5 (five acts reserved for "serious" drama).
5. Many special effects: fires, explosions, drownings, earthquakes.

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The key features/Elements of Melodrama as a form are:
1. pathos,
2. overwrought or heightened emotion,
3. moral polarization (good vs. evil),
4. non-classical narrative structure (especially the use of extreme coincidence and deux
ex machina to further plot elements), and
5. sensationalism (emphasis on action, violence, and thrills)

Types of Melodrama:
1. Animals used (along with the Romantic concept of nature):
2. Equestrian dramas: horses, often on treadmills – forerunners of the modern
Western.
3. Canine melodramas: like Lassie
4. Nautical melodramas: interest in the sea.
5. Disaster melodramas.

The most successful and popular melodrama:

Uncle Tom’s Cabin – the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852) had several
dramatizations: George L. Aiken’s was the most popular--1853. Six acts, done without an
afterpiece – established the single-play format. 325 performances in New York.

Example #1: Still Life, Brief Encounter (By Noel Coward)

Noel Coward’s heartbreaking drama Still Life, Brief Encounter, tells the story of two people who
seemed destined to be unhappy. In the film, a leading role and married woman, Laura Jesson, encounters
a doctor, Alec Harvey, in a train station. They decide to meet once in a week at the same station. Soon
they begin to feel delighted in each other’s company and share everything. Eventually they come to realize
that they are in love with each other. Their realization, however, leads to a tragic notion that they cannot
leave their families, which finally ends up in unrequited love, with their lives doomed into despondency.

Function of Melodrama
Melodrama is an exaggerated form of drama, where authors enhance the storylines in
order to tug the heartstrings of the audience. Typically, these types of
dramas focus on sensational plots that revolve around tragedy,
unrequited love, loss, or heightened emotion; featuring long-suffering
protagonists, especially females, attempting in vain to overcome
impossible odds. Its purpose is to play on the feelings and emotions of
the audience. We see the use of melodramatic plots more often in
films, theater, television, radio, cartoons, and comics.

8. Tragicomedy
Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends aspects of both tragic
and comic forms; a tragic play which contains enough comic
elements to lighten the overall mood or a serious play with a happy
ending.
Olive scandalizes and horrifies most of the audience and pageant judges with
a burlesque performance that she joyfully performs while oblivious to their
reactions. The pageant organizers are enraged and demand Sheryl and Richard
remove Olive from the stage. Instead of removing her, one by one the members of
the Hoover family join Olive on stage, dancing alongside her to show their support.

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9. Historical Play
Historical Play is a play based on a historical narrative, often set in the medieval or early
modern past. History emerged as a distinct genre from tragedy in Renaissance England.

Example: the ten plays that cover English history from the twelfth (12 th) to the sixteenth
(16th) centuries, and the 1399-1485 period in particular. Each play is named after, and
focuses on, the reigning monarch of the period.
Shakespeare’s King John; Richard II; Henry IV Parts I and II; Henry V; Henry VI Parts
I, II and III; Richard III and Henry VIII; although didn’t write them in that order.

King John (An excerpt) Act 5, scene 3

Synopsis:
King John, sick with a fever, is instructed by the Bastard to leave the battle. John receives the
good news that French supply ships have sunk. He goes to take refuge in an abbey.
Scene 3
Alarums. Enter King John and Hubert.
KING JOHN How goes the day with us? O, tell me, Hubert.
HUBERT Badly, I fear. How fares your Majesty?
KING JOHN This fever that hath troubled me so long
Lies heavy on me. O, my heart is sick. (Enter a Messenger)
MESSENGER My lord, your valiant kinsman, Faulconbridge,
Desires your Majesty to leave the field
And send him word by me which way you go.
KING JOHN Tell him toward Swinstead, to the abbey there.
MESSENGER Be of good comfort, for the great supply
That was expected by the Dauphin here
Are wracked three nights ago on Goodwin Sands.
This news was brought to Richard but even now.
The French fight coldly and retire themselves.
KING JOHN Ay me, this tyrant fever burns me up
And will not let me welcome this good news.
Set on toward Swinstead. To my litter straight.
Weakness possesseth me, and I am faint…. (They exit)

10. Social Poems

Social Poems may be comic or tragic and aim to bring about changes in social
conditions. Social poetry is poetry which performs a
social function or contains a level of social commentary.
- The term seems to have first appeared as a translation
from the original Spanish Poesia Socíal, used to
describe the post-Spanish-civil-war poetry movement
of the 1950s and 60s (including poets such as Blas de
Otero ).
- The function of poetry is that it does not have any
function beyond its own construction and being-in-the-world. For this reason, poetry
makes everything (and, yes, nothing) happen, especially in a consumer society prone
to assessing and dispensing value to everything from lap dances to teachers' salaries.

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- Poetry is so important because it helps us understand and appreciate the world
around us.
- Poetry's strength lies in its ability to shed a “sideways” light on the world, so the truth
sneaks up on you. No question about it. Poetry teaches us how to live.

“Social media is poetry in motion. It is a symphony of

various content and platforms all working together.
Each platform with a different pace, tone and
frequency that resonates a message of harmony.

That being said, we all know that humor, fun and

creative content tends to get a tad more traction then
stodgy old articles. So, here’s an idea… Why create an
actual poem using the platforms and technologies we all
utilize and wrap it up with a point?”
Here is an attempt at creative social media poetry that makes a subtle yet
profound point. (Bundlepost.wordpress.com)

Distinctions between Prose and Poetry

POETRY PROSE

• Expresses strong emotion or lofty • Is concerned with the presentation

thought in a compressed and
intense utterance.
• Its main purpose is to provide
pleasure and delight.
• It appeals to the emotion and
imagination.
of an idea, concept or point of view
in a more ordinary and leisurely
manner.
• Its purpose is to furnish
information, instruction, or
enlightenment.
• It appeals to the intellect.

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 Module 1 (Lit 111) Name: ____________________________________________
Activity No. 3a Program/Year: ____________Date Submitted: ___________

I. A manual is a book that shows people how to do something. You will create a
𝑐𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒
manual that shows people how to identify the narrator’s point of view.
Directions:
1. Take your two sheets of white paper and fold them in half lengthwise, so that if
forms a book.
2. On the top of five sheets you will write one of the narrative perspective terms.
3. Define each term.
4. Provide an original example of each.
5. Explain how to identify each point of view.
Terms: first-person, second-person, third-person central, third-person
editorial, third-person limited, third-person omniscient.
Example
First-Person Perspective Second-Person Perspective
1. Term Name →
Definition (Definition
2. Definition → First-person perspective is when Second-person definition goes
the narrator is telling his or her here.)
own story.

Example
I went to the store and bought
3. Example → some cotton candy. After eating
the delicious treat, I walked
home.
Example
(An example of second-person
narration goes here.)

How to Identify How to Identify

4. How to Identify → Readers can identify first-person (Here’s where you explain how
perspective because the to indentify the point of view.)
narrator will use “I” and “We”
often.

Rubric (try to check your output based from the rubric)

Definitions: Did you include all five definitions? Are your definitions correct?
1) No definitions
2) Many definitions are missing or incorrect
3) Some mistakes
4) Perfect
Examples: Did you include five original examples? Are your examples accurate?
1) No examples
2) Many examples are missing or incorrect
3) Some mistakes
4) Perfect

How to Identify: Did you tell how to identify each perspective? Are your instructions correct?
1) No instructions
2) Instructions are sloppy, incorrect, or incomplete
3) Some mistakes
4) Perfect

II. Read carefully the speech of Abraham Lincoln. Identify and write down both
the thematic concept and the thematic statement. Find at least 3 examples of
texts that convey each of the 8 tones: serious, comical, formal, informal,
gloomy, joyful, sarcastic, and sentimental.

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 Module 1 (Lit 111) Name: ____________________________________________
Activity No. 3b Program/Year: ____________Date Submitted: ___________

Genre of Literature. Concept Maps, there are several ways to construct concept
𝑐𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒
maps. Most include the following steps:
1. Read carefully the facts in your module, identify the major ideas or concepts
presented in all selections of text as you read.
2. Organize the ideas into categories. Be reminded that your organization may
change as you continue to read and add more information.
3. Use lines or arrows on the map to represent how ideas are connected to
one another, a particular category, and/or the main concept. Limit the
amount of information on the map to avoid frustration.
4. After you have finished the map, share and reflect on how each made the
connections between concepts.
5. Use the concept map to summarize what was read.
6. Briefly explain your summary that includes major ideas about the general
classifications of literature.

(Here are samples of concept map as your model)

1 2

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