Comedy

Definition of Comedy
Comedy is a literary genre and a type of dramatic work that is amusing and satirical in its tone, mostly
having a cheerful ending. The motif of this dramatic work is triumph over unpleasant circumstance by
creating comic effects, resulting in a happy or successful conclusion.

Thus, the purpose of comedy is to amuse the audience. Comedy has multiple sub-genres depending
upon the source of the humor, context in which an author delivers dialogues, and delivery methods,
which include farce, satire, and burlesque. Tragedy is opposite to comedy, as tragedy deals with
sorrowful and tragic events in a story.

Example #1: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (By William Shakespeare)

William Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is a good example of a romantic comedy,
presenting young lovers falling comically in and out of love for a brief period. Their real world problems
get resolved magically, enemies reconcile, and true lovers unite in the end.

Example #2: Every Man in His Humor (By Ben Johnson)

In his play Every Man in His Humor, Ben Johnson brings a comedy of humors. An overpowering suspicion
of, and obsession with, his wife – that she might be unfaithful to him – controls Kitely. Then a country
gull determines every decision of George Downright in order to understand the manners of the city
gallant. Kno’well worried for moral development of his son, tries to spy on him.

Example #3: The Conscious Lovers (By Sir Richard Steele)

Sir Richard Steele’s play, The Conscious Lovers, is a best-known and popular sentimental comedy, which
is like a melodrama. It characterizes extreme exaggeration, dealing with trials of its penniless leading role
Indiana. The play ends happily with the discovery of Indiana as heiress.

Example #4: All’s Well that Ends Well (By William Shakespeare)

Shakespeare’s play, All’s Well that Ends Well, perfectly sums up tragic and comic elements. This
tragicomedy play shows antics of low-born but devoted Helena, who attempts to win the love of her
lover, Bertram. She finally succeeds in marrying him, though she decides not to accept him until she
wears the family ring of her husband and bears him a child. She employs a great deal of trickery by
disguising herself as Bertram’s other, and fakes her death. Bertram discovers her treachery at the end
but realizes Helena did all that for him and expresses his love for her.
Examples of Epic from Literature

The Epic of Gilgamesh (~2000 BCE)

Perhaps, the Epic of Gilgamesh is the first example of an epic. It tells the story of the life of an Assyrian
king, Gilgamesh. Like all other epics, the narrative of this epic revolves around the themes related to
gods, human beings, mortality, legacy and seduction. Like other epics, it is also composed in a grand
style. Gilgamesh is a young arrogant king due to his being half-god and half-human. His strength and
masculine beauty becomes a constant source of trouble for others. Therefore, gods grow sick of
Gilgamesh’s arrogant and troublesome attitude and decide to teach him a lesson. He is made to fight his
antagonist, Enkidu, and then go on a long journey to bring the plant of life — a journey on which he
learns the lessons of life. Although the epic is written nearly 4,000 years ago, critics are unanimous that
it is a human work.

The Iliad (800 BCE)

Iliad is another example of an epic. It was written by the popular Greek poet, Homer. It relates the story
of the Trojan wars, involving themes of courage, boldness, love for one’s country and nostalgia of family.
However, it describes many legends related to the siege of Troy, the events took place before the siege,
the gathering of the warriors prior to the siege and the causes of the war. Later, the epic foretold the
looming death of Achilles and the destruction of Troy. The style of narration is grand, and suits an epic
poem — the reason that it is still one the most celebrated work of antiquity.

Paradise Lost (1667)

Written on the same traditions but on a different subject, Paradise Lost, is an English epic by yet another
blind poet of English origin, John Milton. It also is known colloquially as the Protestant Epic. In this epic,
Milton argues Satan’s fall from the heaven as well as Adam and Eve’s fall from the Garden of Eden.
Despite his blindness, Milton did not stop from explaining “the ways of God to men.” He has depicted
Satan as a highly complex character, who is at war with God. Despite his different subject, Milton has
used several epic devices introduced by Homer such as invocation to the muse, extended similes and
grand style.
Ode
Definition of Ode
An ode is a form of poetry such as sonnet or elegy. Ode is a literary technique that is lyrical in nature, but
not very lengthy. You have often read odes in which poets praise people, natural scenes, and abstract
ideas. Ode is derived from a Greek word aeidein, which means to chant or sing. It is highly solemn and
serious in its tone and subject matter, and usually is used with elaborate patterns of stanzas. However,
the tone is often 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.

Examples of Odes in Literature

Example #1: Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood (By William
Wordsworth)

“There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

The earth, and every common sight

To me did seem

Apparelled in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream.

It is not now as it hath been of yore; —”

This is a perfect example of an English Pindaric ode. Just observe the use of different types of meters in
each stanza, which have made it easier to read, and made flexible with simple rhyme scheme of ababac.

Example #2: Ode to the Confederate Dead (By Allen Tate)

“Row after row with strict impunity

The headstones yield their names to the element,

The wind whirrs without recollection;

In the riven troughs the splayed leaves

Pile up, of nature the casual sacramen

To the seasonal eternity of death …”

This is an example of Horatian ode, which presents a consistent rhyme scheme. It has no division into
triads like Pindar ode, but is less ceremonious, less formal, more tranquil, and better suited for reading.
The purpose of using this type of ode is to give vent to pent-up feelings.

Example #3: Ode to the West Wind (By Percy Bysshe Shelley)

“Scatter, as from an unextinguish’d hearth

Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!

Be through my lips to unawaken’d earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”

This presents an example of irregular ode, which employs neither three parts, nor four line stanzas like a
Horatian ode. Nevertheless, each stanza of ode is distinct from the other stanzas in rhyme scheme,
pattern and length.

Example #4: The Progress of Poesy: A Pindaric Ode (By Thomas Gray)

“A thousand rills their mazy progress take:

Now the rich stream of music winds along

Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong …

Now rolling down the steep amain,

Headlong, impetuous, see it pour:

The rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar.”

In the above mentioned ode, the speaker is addressing to poetry that is coming out among from
different places to find its echoes in the nature. This is a good example of a true ode.

Example #5: Ode on a Grecian Urn (By John Keats)

“Sylvan historian, who canst thus express

A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme …

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter …

Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,

Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone.”

This ode has a regular and tight structure. Except the final stanza, the first four lines in each stanza follow
rhyme scheme of ABAB and the next lines follow CDE or CED. This is one of the most celebrated odes in
English literature.

Example #6: Ode to Spring (By Thomas Gray)

“The untaught harmony of spring …

Still is the toiling hand of Care:

The panting herds repose:

Yet hark, how thro’ the peopled air

The busy murmur glows!

Some lightly o’er the current skim,

Some show their gaily-gilded trim

Quick-glancing to the sun.”

This is another good example of an ode. The speaker is talking about the spring season, and praises its
beauty, expressing lofty and noble sentiments about it.