Kinds of Poetry and Prose

Poetry
A language arranged in lines with regular rhythm, meter and often with definite rhyme scheme
Use figurative language
rhythmical creation of beauty - Edgar Allan Poe

a. Narrative Poetry
- intends to tell a story
- Usually relates the events in an order of time

^ Types ^
1. Epic tells about the adventures of a traditional hero important to the history
2. Ballad meant for singing &usually deals with subject such as love, honor or death
3. Metrical Romance is a long rambling love story in revolving around knights, lords
and their ladies
4. Metrical Tale deals with any emotion or phrase of life & is often told in simple
manner

b. Lyric poetry - meant to be sung

- focus on the writers feeling

^ Types ^
1.Ode most majestic type
2.Elegy poetic lamentation for the dead
3.Sonnet can be distinguished by its form for it always consist of 14 rhymed lines
4.Idyll a descriptive poem of rural or pastoral character which expresses the poets
feeling of his immediate landscape
5. Song has a particular melodious quality
6. Simple Lyric includes all those lyric poems that dont belong under the other types

c. Dramatic Poetry
- focus on the characters feelings
- designed to be spoken or acted on stage

These are plays whose dialogues are written in the form of poetry
1. Comedy a dramatic play of light and humorous character w/ a cheerful or happy
ending
2. Tragedy portrays struggle of a strong willed protagonist against fate
Ex. 5 great Shakespearean Tragedies
~ Hamlet indecision
~ King Lear parental love
~ Macbeth ambition
~ Othello conjugal love
~ Romeo and Juliet young love
 3. Dramatic History a dramatic play dealing w/ past historical event
4. Farce a comic play marked by broadly satirical comedy and improbable plot
5. Melodrama characterized by heavy use of suspense, sensational episodes, romantic
sentiment and conventional happy ending
6. Masque a form of dramatic entertainment of the 16th & 17th century performed by
masked actors
7. Dramatic Monologue a long speech In a play or a story delivered by a single person

Prose
- Its structure is in terms of sentences and paragraphs

Types of Prose
I. Prose Drama
- Like poetic plays but written in prose form
II. Essay
- A prose composition w/c discusses a particular subject.
III. Prose Fiction
- A prose composition w/c imaginatively created
A.Prose Allegory
- Is a narrative prose from in w/c abstract ideas are personified
- Prolonged metaphor or symbolic representation
B. Prose Romance
- A prose narrative treating imaginary characters, events, time or place, and usually
heroic, adventure or mysterious.
C. Tales of Adventure
- Deals w/ stories involving danger & unknown risks or mans encounter w/ nature
D. Novel
-a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length, portraying characters, actions, and
scenes representative of real life in a more or less intricate plot
E. Novelette
- Shorter than a novel, longer than a short story
F. Short Story
- A prose narrative about 10,000 words to be read in 1 sitting
G. Fable
- Stories about animals
H. Parable
- Stories from the bible
I. Myth
- Deals w/ supernatural beings, gods, and goddess

J. Legend
 - Deals w/ the origin of things
K. Folktale
- Is characteristically anonymous, timeless and placeless tale circulated orally among
people

L. Fairytale
- Is a narrative of adventures involving fantastic forces and beings
- Happy ending

IV. Biography
Biography written by someone else
Autobiography written by himself/herself
V. Letter
A. Letter written message address to a person or organization
B. Journal a prose composition published periodically for an exclusive readership
C. Diary a daily account of what happened in someones life

VI. Other Prose Forms

Works About
- Travel
- History
- Scientific Prose
- Current Publications
- Literary criticisms and Book Reviews
- Philosophical and Religious Writings