PAPER 3 ASSIGNMENT

  Discussion about Prose,Poem ,& Poetry 

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Name:- Zankhana .M.Matholiya

Roll.No:-50

Paper No.-3- Literary Theory & Criticism :Western-1

Class :- M.A. Sem-1

Enrollment No:- 2069108420180036

College:- Smt.S.B.Gardi Department of English

Email ID :- zankhanamatholiya96@gmail.com

Submitted:-Department of English  M.K.University, Bhavnagar

Introduction:-

Biographia Literaria is a very famous and benchmark work of literature. It was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. S.T.Coleridge was poet of Romantic era and his time duration was 1772-1834. He contributes in number of amounts in English Literature. His some famous and noticeable works are :-

➡The Time of the Ancient Mariner.

➡Frost at Midnight.

➡Christabel.

➡Kubla Khan.

These all poems give him a position in history literature. He wrote about his personal views and

extended criticism on Wordsworths theory of Poetry as given in preface of liyrical Ballads And by this work of criticism he supported his own theory of poetry as he wrote in Lyriacal Ballads As per it in this critical  work; Biographia literaria; we can see coleridge’s views on nature and function of poetry, in philosophical style and terms.

He was the first English writer who firmaly believes that every works of art is an organic whole by its nature.

While other critics, before colderige and many of after him had been done criticism of many poems and others forms of literature but they just deals with some theories and discourse abuout poetry or any other form of literature on its merits and demerits. But,Coledrige was different among them and busied  himself towards the basic questions about poetry , poem and prose. He tries to define , classify, and  evaluate these three forms of literature and tries to give very specific understanding of these three forms of literature. These three forms are basic and main forms of literature and colderige tries to specify these three forms as per his own understanding.

What is prose?

Prose Definition:-

Prose is a form of language that has no formal metrical structure. It applies a natural flow of speech, and ordinary grammatical structure rather than rhythmic structure, such as in the case of traditional poetry.

Normal every day speech is spoken in prose and most people think and write in prose form.  Prose comprises of full grammatical sentences which consist of paragraphs and forgoes aesthetic appeal in favor of clear, straightforward language. It can be said to be the most reflective of conversational speech. Some works of prose do have versification and a blend of the two formats that is called prose poetry. It is derived from the latin word "prosa" means "straightforward". Prose is a major form of literature; both fiction and nonfiction are included in prose.

Fiction:-

Ø Short-story

Ø Novel

Ø Novella

Ø Folktale-legend, fable, parable

Non-Fiction :-

Ø Biography

Ø Autobiography

Ø History

Ø Letter

Ø Diary

Ø Journal

Elements of Prose Fiction

Plot:

PLOT is CHARACTER revealed by ACTION. --Aristotle, 350 BCE

Plot is the order of events that make up a story. The plot of a story is a series of interconnected events in which every occurrence has a specific purpose. A plot is all about establishing connections, suggesting causes, and showing. Gustav Freytag was a 19thcentury German playwright and novelist who saw common patterns in the plots of stories and novels and developed a diagram to analyze them.

Character:

 The author’s characterization, or means of developing a character so that they seem real, greatly affects one’s attitude toward individual characters and toward the story as a whole. Characters may simply be described, or they may reveal themselves through dialogue and action. (The main character in a work is called the protagonist. And, if 

s/he is pitted against an important opponent, that character is called the antagonist.)

Setting:

Such elements as the time, place, physical surroundings, and social environment constitute a story’s setting. The setting  may be very important to the overall meaning and purpose of a story.

Point of View:

Who tells a story and how it is told determine a story’s point of view. The teller of the story, or narrator, may or may not be identifiable with the author, but inevitably affects one’s understanding of characters and events by filtering what is told through his or her closeness to the story and perspective. While more than one point of view may be used in a story, stories are often told in either first or third person point of view.

The first person narrator uses “I” and is somehow a participant in the actions being related. The reader is restricted to the observations, thoughts, and feelings of whatever character is narrating. The first person point of view may present difficulties for small children, because they are learning their own "I" identity, and may have trouble identifying with the strange "I" of the story.

EX:-“I have of late,-but wherefore I know not,-

lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of execises; and indeed ,

 it goes so hevily with my disposition that this goodly frame,

the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory.”     

                            -‘Hamlet’ by Shakespeare

The third person narrator is not a character in the story, and may be omniscient moving freely through time and space or into various characters’ heads or may have only limited omniscience being restricted to the thoughts of one character, for example. In either case, the narrator may remain neutral with regard to characters and events, or the narrator may evaluate thoughts and actions for the reader.

EX:-

Harry had taken up his place at wizard school, Where he and his scar were famous…..but now The school year was over, and he was back with the Dursleys for the summer , back to being treated like a dog that had rolled in something smelly.  

                  - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K.Rowling

Theme:-

Theme is the main idea that weaves the story together, the why, the underlying ideas of what happens in the piece of literature, often a statement about society or human nature.

Ex:-

§  Love and friendship -: Romeo and Juliet

§  Revenge-: Hamlet

§  War:-Arms and the man

what is poem?

Definition:-

A poem is a collection of spoken or written words that expresses ideas or emotions in a powerfully vivid and imaginative style. A poem is comprised of a particular rhythmic and metrical pattern.

 In fact, it is a literary technique that is different from prose or ordinary speech, as it is either in metrical pattern or in free verse. Writers or poets express their emotions through this medium more easily, as they face difficulty when expressing through some other medium. It serves the purpose of a light to take the readers towards the right path. Also, sometimes it teaches them a moral lesson through sugar-coated language.

Examples of Poem in Literature

1: While you Decline to Cry (By Ō no Yasumaro)

Haiku Poem:-

“While you decline to cry,

high on the mountainside

a single stalk of plume grass wilts.”(Loose translation by Michael R. Burch)

This poem contains three lines, which is the typical structure of a haiku poem. It does not follow any formal rhyme scheme or proper rhythmical pattern.

2: The Song of Hiawatha (By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Epic Poem:-

“By the shore of Gitchie Gumee,

By the shining Big-Sea-Water,

At the doorway of his wigwam,

In the pleasant Summer morning,

Hiawatha stood and waited…”

These are a few lines from The Song of Hiawatha, a classic epic poaem that presents an American Indian legend of a loving, brave, patriotic, and stoic hero, but which bears resemblance to Greek myths of Homer. Longfellow tells of the sorrows and triumphs of the Indian tribes in detail in this lengthy poem. Therefore, this is a fine example of a modern epic, though other epics include Paradise Lost by John Milton a.

3: After the Sea-Ship (By Walt Whitman)

Free Verse Poem

“After the Sea-Ship—after the whistling winds;

After the white-gray sails, taut to their spars and ropes,

Below, a myriad, myriad waves, hastening, lifting up their necks,

Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship:

Waves of the ocean, bubbling and gurgling, blithely prying…”

This poem neither has rhyming lines, nor does it adhere to a particular metrical plan. Hence, it is free of artificial expression. It has rhythm and a variety of rhetorical devices used for sounds, such as assonance and consonance.

4: La Belle Dame sans Merci (By John Keats)

Ballad:-

“O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

Alone and palely loitering?

The sedge has wither’d from the lake,

And no birds sing …

And this is why I sojourn here

Alone and palely loitering,

Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake,

And no birds sing.”

This poem presents a perfect example of a ballad—a folk-style poem that typically narrates a love story. The language of this poem is simple. It contains twelve stanzas.

 What is Poetry?

Definition:-

Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning. Factors such as rhyme, rhythm, metric syllables, etc. are taken into account to create poetry. Poetry is normally used to express something in an artistic and aesthetic way.

Poetry, according to Coleridge, is the product of imagination working on the objects of life and nature.  It is an activity of imagination, idealizing the real and realising the ideal.  As colours are to the art of painting, words are to the art of writing poetry.  Again, as the combination of colours decide the pattern and quality of painting, so the arrangement of words aesthetically expressing the emotions and thoughts of the power decide the pattern an quality of poetry.  But words arranged in the pattern of rhyme alone would not make poetry.  The following lines, for example, have rhyming ending, but they do not make poetry:

"Thirty days hath September,

 April, June and November."

           The real soul of poetry lies in its power of expressing and arousing emotions.  However, rhyme and rhythm add to the charm and pleasure of poetry.  He says, "As a particular pleasure is found in anticipating the recurrence of sounds and quantities, all compositions that have this charm super-added, whatever be their contents, may be entitled poems.  But mere metre and rhyme, without imagination and emotion for their bases would not make poetry. 

            But it should be remembered that pleasure, and not truth is the immediate end of poetry.  He does not believe that moral preaching is the ultimate end of poetry.  It is true that metrical form of composition has more charm and pleasure.  But they are merely apparel, and not the soul of poetry.

v Difference Between Prose and Poetry   

 

Definition:

-

Prose: Prose is a form of literature that uses the language in its original and natural form.

Poetry: Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning.

Rhyme and Rhythm

Prose: Prose does not pay attention to rhyme and rhythm.

Poetry: Poetry pays attention to rhyme and rhythm; they are the essential components in a poem.

Words

Prose: The writer usually has no word limit.

Poetry: Poets use a limited number of words.

Structure

Prose: The ideas are written in sentences; sentences are grouped into paragraphs.

Poetry: The ideas are written in lines; lines are grouped into stanzas.

Language

Prose: The language is more natural and grammatical.

Poetry: The language is figurative and rhythmical.

Understandability

Prose: Prose can generally be understood by reading once.

Poetry: More than one reading may be needed to understand the meaning of a poem.

Characteristics

Ø Poetry

·        It is a lyrical form of writing.

·        It has structure, format and rhyming in the sentences.

·        It is usually divided into lines or phrases.

·        It is more expressive and attractive.

·        It serves to excite the readers.

·        It is imaginative.

Ø prose

·        It is the typical form of writing.

·        It has no structure, format and rhyming in the sentences.

·        It is not usually divided into sentences.

·        It is dull.

·        It is simple and common.

·        It is quite ordinary.

Ex:-

Poetry from “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” written by Robert Frost.

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.”

Prose Form

“The woods look lovely against the setting darkness and as I gaze into the mysterious depths of the forest, I feel like lingering here longer.  However, I have pending appointments to keep and much distance to cover before I settle in for the night or else I will be late for all of them.”

The above paragraph is conveying a similar message but it is conveyed in ordinary language, without a formal metrical structure to bind it.

 

v Difference between poem and poetry

Definition  

Poem :-A piece of writing in which the expression of ideas is given intensity by particular attention to diction (sometimes involving rhyme), rhythm and imagery.  

Poetry:-Literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as genre of literature.

The word poem is often used in the sense of an individual piece of work. Poetry is a collected work. In other words it is a collective term used to indicate many pieces of individual poems. Poetry is a literary form whereas a poem is a written piece of work.

• Poetry is a literary form, whereas a poem is a written piece of work.

• Poetry is an art form, whereas a poem is a composed work.

• He who composes poems occasionally cannot be called a poet but can be called a versifier.

• A poem is the fundamental unit of poetry. It can thus be said that poetry is made of poems.

Conclusion:-

To conclude, we may say in his own words, he endeavored ‘to establish the principles of writing rather than to furnish runes about how to pass judgment on what had been written by others.’ Thus, Coleridge is the first English critic who based his literary criticism on philosophical principles. While critics before him had been content to turn a poem inside out and to discourse on its, merits and demerits, Coleridge busied himself with the basic question of “how it came to be there at all.” He was more interested in the creative process that made it, what it was, then in the finished product.