TAALS Literature Genres

Literature Genres
Contents
•Poetry
•Prose
Why does diversity
in reading matter?
Importance of
Reading Widely What do you find
challenging when it comes
to reading?
Is it always easy to prepare yourself

to read? Why or why not?
Poetry
Poetry is a type of literature
that conveys a thought,
describes a scene, or tells a
story in a concentrated, lyrical
arrangement of words
(MasterClass, 2020). It is a form
of literature usually written in
lines or verses that make up
stanzas; poems are designed to
be recited or read aloud
(Teaching Language and
Literature, 2009)
Photo by Guillaume Apollinaire / Public domain

Structural Devices
Sense – revealed through words, images, and
symbols
• Diction – denotative and connotative
meaning
• Images & Sense Impressions – refer to the
words used that appeal to the sense of
sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch
• Figurative language– the creative use of
words or expressions to enhance the sense
impression
Poetic Diction
Poetic diction refers to the operating
language of poetry, language
employed in a manner that sets poetry
apart from other kinds of speech or
writing. It involves the vocabulary, the
phrasing, and the grammar considered
appropriate and inappropriate to poetry
at different times (www.poets.org).
“Thin”
Denotative: Little thickness; Skinny
Connotative: The content of the proposal
appears to be thin.
In poetry: Bony, all skin and bones, skeleton,

death-like, emaciated
Connotation in Poetry Patterns by Amy Lowell
My dress is richly figured,

And the train
Emily Dickinson’s “There is Makes a pink and silver stain
no frigate like a book” On the gravel, and the thrift
There is no frigate like a book Of the borders.
To take us lands away, Just a plate of current fashion,
Nor any coursers like a page Tripping by in high-heeled,
Of prancing poetry. Out, Out by Robert Frost ribboned shoes.
This traverse may the poorest The boy’s first outcry was a Not a softness anywhere about
take rueful laugh, me,
Without oppress of toll; Only whale-bone and brocade.
How frugal is the chariot As he swung toward them
That bears a human soul! holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to
keep
The life from spilling. Then the
boy saw all—
Since he was old enough to
know, big boy
Doing a man’s work, though a
child at heart—
On His Blindness by John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."
When I consider how my light is spent (G1)

And that one talent which is death to hide (G2)
To serve therewith my Maker, and present (G3)
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?" (G4)
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need (G5)
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state (G6)
And post o'er land and ocean without rest: (G7)
When I consider how my light is spent

And that one talent which is death to hide
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
7 Sense Impressions by MasterClass.com
• Visual imagery. In this form of poetic imagery, the poet appeals to the reader’s sense of
sight by describing something the speaker or narrator of the poem sees. It may include
colors, brightness, shapes, sizes, and patterns.
• Auditory imagery. This form of poetic imagery appeals to the reader’s sense of hearing or
sound. It may include music and other pleasant sounds, harsh noises, or silence.
• Gustatory imagery. In this form of poetic imagery, the poet appeals to the reader’s sense
of taste by describing something the speaker or narrator of the poem tastes. It may include
sweetness, sourness, saltiness, savoriness, or spiciness.
• Tactile imagery. In this form of poetic imagery, the poet appeals to the reader’s sense of
touch by describing something the speaker of the poem feels on their body. It may include
the feel of temperatures, textures, and other physical sensations.
7 Sense Impressions by MasterClass.com
• Olfactory imagery. In this form of poetic imagery, the poet appeals to the reader’s
sense of smell by describing something the speaker of the poem inhales.
• Kinesthetic imagery. In this form of poetic imagery, the poet appeals to the
reader’s sense of motion.
• Organic imagery. In this form of poetic imagery, the poet communicates internal
sensations such as fatigue, hunger, and thirst as well as internal emotions such as
fear, love, and despair.
Images & Sense Impressions in Poetry
3. 4. The locks of the

2. They silently inhale approaching storm. Thou dirge
the clover-scented gale, My heart looks for her, and
she is not with me. Of the dying year, to which this
And the vapors that arise closing night
From the well-watered and The same night whitening the Will be the dome of a vast
1. Sugar smoking soil
Ah, honey, honey same trees. sepulchre,
You are my candy girl We, of that time, are no Vaulted with all thy
Rain in Summer by Henry congregated might
And you got me wanting you longer the same.
Wadsworth Longfellow
Sugar, Sugar by Andy Tonight I can Write by Ode to the West Wind by
Kim and Jeff Barry Pablo Neruda Percy Bysshe Shelley
6. Do not go gentle into that
good night, 7. Sweet was the walk along
Old age should burn and rave •Visual
the narrow lane
5. Flower in the crannied wall, at close of day; At noon, the bank and hedge- •Auditory
I pluck you out of the crannies, Rage, rage against the dying
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand, rows all the way •Gustatory
Little flower—but if I could understand
of the light. Shagged with wild pale green
•Olfactory
What you are, root and all, and all in all, tufts of fragrant hay,
Do not Go Gentle into
I should know what God and man is. •Tactile
that Good Night by Sweet was the Walk by William
Flower on a Crannied Wall by Dylan Thomas Wordsworth •Kinesthetic
Alfred Lord Tennyson •Organic
4. The locks of the approaching
2. They silently inhale 3. My heart looks for her, and storm. Thou dirge
the clover-scented gale, she is not with me. Of the dying year, to which this
1. Sugar - Gustatory smoking soil same trees. sepulchre,
Ah, honey, honey We, of that time, are no Vaulted with all thy congregated
You are my candy girl Rain in Summer by Henry longer the same. might
And you got me wanting you Wadsworth Longfellow
Tonight I can Write by
Sugar, Sugar by Andy Pablo Neruda Ode to the West Wind by
Kim and Jeff Barry Percy Bysshe Shelley
the narrow lane
•Olfactory
4. The locks of the approaching storm.

2. They silently inhale 3. My heart looks for her, and Thou dirge
the clover-scented gale, she is not with me. Of the dying year, to which this closing
And the vapors that arise night
From the well-watered and The same night whitening the Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,
1. Sugar - Gustatory smoking soil - Olfactory same trees. Vaulted with all thy congregated might
Ah, honey, honey Of vapours, from whose solid
We, of that time, are no atmosphere
You are my candy girl Rain in Summer by Henry longer the same. Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst:
And you got me wanting you Wadsworth Longfellow
Tonight I can Write by
Sugar, Sugar by Andy Ode to the West Wind by Percy
Pablo Neruda Bysshe Shelley
Kim and Jeff Barry
the narrow lane
•Olfactory
3. Visual 4. The locks of the

2. They silently inhale approaching storm. Thou dirge
the clover-scented gale, My heart looks for her, and
she is not with me. Of the dying year, to which this
1. Sugar - Gustatory smoking soil - Olfactory
Ah, honey, honey same trees. sepulchre,
You are my candy girl We, of that time, are no Vaulted with all thy
Rain in Summer by Henry congregated might
And you got me wanting you longer the same.
Sugar, Sugar by Andy Tonight I can Write by Ode to the West Wind by
Kim and Jeff Barry Pablo Neruda Percy Bysshe Shelley
the narrow lane
•Olfactory
2. They silently inhale 3. Visual 4. The locks of the

the clover-scented gale, My heart looks for her, and approaching storm. Thou dirge
And the vapors that arise she is not with me. Of the dying year, to which this
From the well-watered and closing night
1. Sugar - Gustatory The same night whitening the Will be the dome of a vast
smoking soil - Olfactory same trees.
Ah, honey, honey sepulchre,
You are my candy girl Rain in Summer by Henry We, of that time, are no Vaulted with all thy
And you got me wanting you longer the same. congregated might Auditory
Ode to the West Wind by
Sugar, Sugar by Andy Tonight I can Write by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Kim and Jeff Barry Pablo Neruda
the narrow lane
•Olfactory

the narrow lane
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
rows all the way •Gustatory
Little flower—but if I could understand of the light. Shagged with wild pale green
tufts of fragrant hay, •Olfactory
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is. Tactile Do not Go Gentle into •Tactile
Flower on a Crannied Wall by Wordsworth •Kinesthetic
Dylan Thomas

good night,
Old age should burn and rave 7. Sweet was the walk along •Visual
5. Flower in the crannied wall, at close of day; the narrow lane •Auditory
I pluck you out of the crannies, Rage, rage against the dying At noon, the bank and
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand, •Gustatory
Little flower—but if I could understand of the light. Organic hedge-rows all the way
Shagged with wild pale green •Olfactory
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is. Tactile Do not Go Gentle into tufts of fragrant hay,Kinesthetic •Tactile
that Good Night by •Kinesthetic
Flower on a Crannied Wall by Sweet was the Walk by William
Dylan Thomas Wordsworth
Elements of Poetry
Sound – result of creative combination of
words; poet may use alliteration, assonance,
rhyme, repetition, and anaphora
• Rhythm – ordered alternation of strong and
weak elements in the flow of sound and
silence
• Meter – refers to the duration, stress, or
number of syllables per line
• Rhyme scheme – formal arrangement of
rhymes in a stanza or in the whole poem
Rhythm (literarydevices.net)
The word rhythm is derived from rhythmos (Greek) which means, “measured motion.” Rhythm
is a literary device that demonstrates the long and short patterns through stressed and
unstressed syllables, particularly in verse form.
Types of Rhythm
English poetry makes use of five important rhythms. These rhythms are of different patterns
of stressed (/) and unstressed (x) syllables. Each unit of these types is called Foot. Here are
the five types of rhythm:
• Iamb (x /)
This is the most commonly used rhythm. It consists of two syllables, the first of which is not
stressed, while the second syllable is stressed. Such as:
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
(Sonnet 18, by William Shakespeare)
• Trochee (/ x)
A trochee is a type of poetic foot commonly used in English poetry. It has two syllables, the
first of which is strongly stressed, while the second syllable is unstressed, as given below:
• “Tell me not, in mournful numbers”
(Psalm of Life, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
Rhythm
• Spondee (/ /)
Spondee is a poetic foot that has two syllables, which are consecutively stressed. For
example:
“White founts falling in the Courts of the sun”
(Lepanto, by G. K. Chesterton)
• Dactyl (/ x x)
Dactyl is made up of three syllables. The first syllable is stressed, and the remaining two
syllables are not stressed, such as in the word “marvelous.” For example:
“This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,”
(Evangeline, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
The words “primeval” and “murmuring” show dactyls in this line.
• Anapest (x x /)
Anapests are total opposites of dactyls. They have three syllables; where the first two
syllables are not stressed, and the last syllable is stressed. For example:
” ‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,”
(‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, by Clement Clarke Moore)
Meter (literarydevices.net)
Meter is a pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables within the lines of a poem.
It is determined by the number of feet in a line
and its structure. Foot/feet in poetic terms is a
measuring unit; it is a single group of syllables
in a poem. You need to identify the number and
type of syllables and their stress patterns in order
to identify the meter of a poem. The meter of
a poem, in turn, will help you to identify the
type or structure of a poem.
Meter
• one foot = monometer
• two feet = dimeter
• three feet = trimeter
• four feet = Iatetrameter
• five feet = pentameter
• six feet = hexameter
• seven feet = heptameter
• eight feet = octameter
Famous Examples of Meter
• Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (iambic pentameter)
• Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, (
trochaic octameter)
• Out, damned spot! Out, I say! (spondaic trimeter)
• The itsy, bitsy spider (iambic trimeter)
• Stop all the clocks, / Cut off the telephone (dactylic dimeter)
• I wandered, lonely as a cloud (iambic tetrameter)
• “Forward, the Light Brigade! / Charge for the guns!” he said. (dactylic
dimeter)
• Fair is foul and foul is fair. (trochaic tetrameter)
• But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? (iambic pentameter)
• ‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house (anapestic
tetrameter)
Rhyme Scheme (literarydevices.net)
Rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyme that
comes at the end of each verse or line in poetry.
In other words, it is the structure of end words of
a verse or line that a poet needs to create when
writing a poem. Many poems are written in free
verse style. Some other poems follow non-
rhyming structures, paying attention only to the
number of syllables. Thus, it shows that the
poets write poems in a specific type of rhyme
scheme or rhyming pattern.
Rhyme Scheme
Types of Rhyme Scheme
• Alternate rhyme: It is also known as ABAB rhyme
scheme, it rhymes as “ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH.”
• Ballade: It contains three stanzas with the rhyme
scheme of “ABABBCBC” followed by “BCBC.”
• Monorhyme: It is a poem in which every line uses the
same rhyme scheme.
• Couplet: It contains two-line stanzas with the “AA”
rhyme scheme, which often appears as “AA BB CC and
DD…”
• Triplet: It often repeats like a couplet, uses rhyme
scheme of “AAA.”
Rhyme Scheme
• Enclosed rhyme: It uses rhyme scheme of “ABBA”
• Terza rima rhyme scheme: It uses tercets, three lines
stanzas. Its interlocking pattern on end words follows:
ABA BCB CDC DED and so on.
• Keats Odes rhyme scheme: In his famous odes,
Keats has used a specific rhyme scheme, which is
“ABABCDECDE.”
• Limerick: A poem uses five lines with a rhyme scheme
of “AABBA.”
• Villanelle: A nineteen-line poem consisting of five
tercets and a final quatrain. It uses a rhyme scheme of
“A1bA2, abA1, abA2, abA1, abA2, abA1A2.”
Elements of Poetry
Structure – refers to the arrangement of words and lines
to fit together and the organization of the parts to form
the whole.
• Word order – natural and unnatural arrangement of
words
• Ellipsis – omitting some words for economy and effect
• Punctuation – abundance or lack of pronunciation
marks
• Shape – contextual or visual design, omission of spaces,
capitalization or lower case (Teaching Language and
Literature, 2009)
Structure
Loneliness
I am lonely.
I cannot say that
I have always been alone
Tonight I Can Write by Pablo Although
Neruda now I know
fate meant for me to be this way
This is all. In the distance someone is I have nobody.
singing. In the distance. I would be wrong to say
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
someone would care,
if I tried again to destroy myself.
The effect would be massive
only if I was perfect.
It’s untrue that I could have worth
even if I tried
I am less than beautiful,
nobody can convince me that
I am right where I belong
Structure
Loneliness
I am lonely.
I cannot say that
I have always been alone
Tonight I Can Write by Pablo Although
Neruda now I know
fate meant for me to be this way
I have nobody.
This is all. In the distance someone is I would be wrong to say
singing. In the distance. someone would care,
My soul is not satisfied that it has if I tried again to destroy myself.
lost her.
The effect would be massive
only if I was perfect.
It’s untrue that I could have worth
even if I tried
I am less than beautiful,
nobody can convince me that
I am right where I belong
Read from top to bottom.

Structure
Preludes by T.S. Eliot
And the light crept up between the shutters
And you heard the sparrows in the gutters,
You had such a vision of the street
As the street hardly understands;
Sitting along the bed’s edge, where
You curled the papers from your hair,
Or clasped the yellow soles of feet
In the palms of both soiled hands.
Structure
Preludes by T.S. Eliot
And the light crept up between the shutters
And you heard the sparrows in the gutters,
You had such a vision of the street
As the street hardly understands;
Sitting along the bed’s edge, where
You curled the papers from your hair,
Or clasped the yellow soles of feet
In the palms of both soiled hands.
Structure
Sonnet 138 by Shakespeare
When my love swears that she is made

of truth
Psalm of Life by H.D. I do believe her, though I know she
Longfellow lies,
That she might think me some
untutored youth,
Art is long, Unlearnèd in the world's false
and Time is fleeting, subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks
me young,
And our hearts, though stout
Although she knows my days are past
and brave, the best,
Still, like muffled drums, are Simply I credit her false-speaking
beating tongue;
On both sides thus is simple truth
Funeral marches to the grave. suppressed.
But wherefore says she not she is
unjust?
Structure
Sonnet 138 by Shakespeare
When my love swears that she is made

of truth
Psalm of Life by H.D. I do believe her, though I know she
Longfellow lies,
That she might think me some
untutored youth,
Art is long, Unlearnèd in the world's false
and Time is fleeting, subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks
me young,
And our hearts, though stout
Although she knows my days are past
and brave, the best,
Still, like muffled drums, are Simply I credit her false-speaking
beating tongue;
On both sides thus is simple truth
Funeral marches to the grave. suppressed.
But wherefore says she not she is
unjust?
Figures of Speech
Figures of Speech
• Simile
A simile compares one thing to another by using the words like or as. Read Shakespeare’s poem
“Sonnet 130.”
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
• Metaphor
A metaphor compares one to another by saying one thing is another. Read Emily Dickinson’s poem
“Hope Is the Thing with Feathers.”
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
• Personification
A personification involves giving a non-human, inanimate object the qualities of a person. Robert
Frost did that in his poem “Storm Fear.
When the wind works against us in the dark,
And pelts with snow
Figures of Speech
• Hyperbole
A hyperbole is an exaggeration of the truth in order to create an effect. The example below is from the
poem, “As I Walked Out One Evening” by W.H. Auden.
"I'll love you, dear, I'll love you

Till China and Africa meet,
• Irony
Irony is a literary device in which contradictory statements or situations reveal a reality that is different
from what appears to be true. Situational irony is a common type of irony presented in poems just like
in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor-Coleridge.
"Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink...."
Figures of Speech
• Metonymy- using another word that is clearly identifiable or associated with the idea
referred to
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries—Sonnet 27
O, for a draught of vintage! --Ode to a Nightingale
Friends, Romans, countrymen, and lovers, lend me your ears;--Shakespeare
• Synecdoche - Using part for the whole (or vice versa), a class for a whole (like in
brand); naming an object by its material (nice wheels)
No busy hand provoke a tear; No roving foot shall crush thee here.—The Wild Honeysuckle
“There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;”
The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock
Figures of Speech
• Oxymoron - is a figure of speech that combines two seemingly contradictory or
opposite ideas to create a certain rhetorical or poetic effect and reveal a deeper truth.
O heavy lightness, serious vanity!
Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.(Shakespeare)
It’s been cold summer night since we drifted apart (Francis Magalona)
• Paradox-a phrase or statement that on the surface seems contradictory but makes
some kind of emotional sense.
Destroyer and Preserver, Hear oh Hear! (Percy Bysshe Shelley)
Rage, rage against the dying of the light (Dylan Thomas)
‘Men work together,’ I told him from the heart,
‘Whether they work together or apart.’ (Robert Frost)
Figures of Speech
• Apostrophe - a direct address to something inanimate or dead or absent
Break, break, break/ On thy grey stones, O sea! (William Blake)
Blue moon you saw me standing alone

Without a dream in my heart (Frank Sinatra)
• Allusion- refers to any scientific, historical, mythological, literary, or Biblical event or
figure
They read you Cinderella
You hoped it would come true
That one day your Prince Charming
Would come rescue you
You like romantic movies
You will never forget
The way you felt when Romeo kissed Juliet (All-4-One)

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Literature Genres

Is it always easy to prepare yourself

Photo by Guillaume Apollinaire / Public domain

In poetry: Bony, all skin and bones, skeleton,

My dress is richly figured,

When I consider how my light is spent

When I consider how my light is spent (G1)

When I consider how my light is spent

3. 4. The locks of the

4. The locks of the approaching storm.

3. Visual 4. The locks of the

2. They silently inhale 3. Visual 4. The locks of the

2. They silently inhale 3. Visual 4. The locks of the

2. They silently inhale 3. Visual 4. The locks of the

Read from top to bottom.

When my love swears that she is made

When my love swears that she is made

"I'll love you, dear, I'll love you

“There will be time, there will be time

Blue moon you saw me standing alone

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