Literary Genres :

1-Poetry and poetic forms

 Definition of poetry
❖ Poetry, from the Greek ‘poiesis’ meaning 'making' or
'creating‘.

❖ Poetry is a style of writing that uses rhyme and meter and it

is often divided up into lines or stanzas.
❖ Poets and critics have provided us with a number of
definitions:
• William Wordswprth: “The imaginative expression of strong
feelings.”
• Mathew Arnold:”Poetry is a criticism of life.”
• Percy Bysshe Shelley: “The record of the best and happiest
moments of the best and happiest minds”
 Origins and History of Poetry
• Unlike other literary forms, it is difficult to date the earliest texts and time periods
of poetry but as an art form poetry predates written text
• Some writers believe that poetry has its origins in song. The earliest poetry that
have been recited or sung, was used as a way of remembering genealogy,oral
history, and law.
• Many of the poems surviving from the ancient world are recorded prayers, or
stories about religious subject matter, but they also include historical accounts,
instructions for everyday activities, love songs, and fiction.
• Other sources assert that epic is the oldest form of poetry and The Epic of
Gilgamesh is often cited as one of the earliest works of epic poetry, dating back
to the 18th century B.C. Other examples of early epic poems might include
the Mahabarata , the Ramayana, and two works of Greek mythology : the
Iliad and the Odyssey , by Homer.
• . Many scholars suggest that the Sonnet is the oldest poetic form having
originated in 13th Century Italy.
• Others assert that the Ghazal, common in Arabic, Persian and Turkishl iterature,
predates the sonnet, having established its shape in the 11th and 12th centuries.
 Poetic Forms
The major types of poetry are narrative, dramatic and lyric.
• 1-Narrative Poetry: Poetry which tells a story and It is always told by a
narrator. Sub-categories of narrative poetry are:
A. Epic: Along narrative poem which tells the life and adventures of a hero
in an elevated style of language .There are three types of epics :
• Folk Epic ( e,g Beowulf).
• Literary Epic(e.g Milton’s Paradise Lost ; Spencer’s Faerie Queen)
• Mock Epic(e.g Pope’s The Rape of the Lock)
B.Ballad: A form of narrative poetry which is intended to be sung and tells a
brief story in short stanzas.It is divided into folk ballad and literary ballad.
C.Metrical Romance: A long narrative poem of Medieval times which told
the story of chivalrous nights , ladies in distress and adventures.e.g Sir
Gawain and the Green Night.
• D.Metrical Tale: A story told in verse.It may be long as Scott’s Lady of the
Lake or as short as Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott.
2- Dramatic Poetry: Poetry written in the form of drama with the intention
of being performed. E.g Elizabethan drama, the Masque and Closet drama.
3-Lyric Poetry: A simple poem which directly expresses the personal feelings
and thoughts of its author . It is originally meant to be sung accompanied by
a musical instrument called the lyre.e.g Byron’s She Walks in Beauty. It falls
into the following Sub-categories:
A.Song; A short lyric poem designed to be sung.It may be religious ( Hymn) e.
g Cowper’s Light Shining out of Darkness ; or secular e.g Shakespeare’s Who
is Sylvia?
B.Ode: A long lyric poem with a serious subject written in an elevated style.e.
g Ode To A Nightingale by John Keats ; Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind
C.Sonnet:A fourteen -line lyric poem in iambic pentametre with a particular rhyming scheme . It has two
major types: The Italian (Petrarchan sonnet) and The English ( Shakespearean) Sonnet.

D.Elegy: A poem that laments the death of a particular person .e.g Milton’s Lycidas and Shelley’s Adonais.
E. Free Verse:
Free Verse cont. “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams
so much depends
Upon
a red wheel
Barrowg
lazed with rain
Water
beside the white
chickens
F. Haiku :is an unrhymed Japanese verse consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables
(5, 7, 5) or 17 syllables in all. Haiku is usually written in the present tense and focuses on nature.i.e.
i.e. warm soup in a bowl
letters of the alphabet
hang on the teaspoon