1. What is poetry?

Writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience

in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response
through its meaning, sound, and rhythm. It may be distinguished from
prose by its compression, frequent use of conventions of metre and rhyme, use
of the line as a formal unit, heightened vocabulary, and freedom of syntax.
Its emotional content is expressed through a variety of techniques, from
direct description to symbolism, including the use of metaphor and simile.
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2. What are the literary devices for poetry?

Allusion: An event or fact from an external context assumed to be known by the
reader (e.g. historical, biblical, etc.). An allusion can increase ones
understanding of the poem in question by drawing parallels with other subjects.

Anthropomorphism: The showing or treating of animals, gods and objects as if
they are human in appearance, character or behaviour.

Apostrophe: Something that addresses an object, abstract idea, or person who
is dead as though it could reply. E.g. Antonys cry in Julius Caesar: O
Judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts; Wordsworths appeal in London
1812: Milton! Though shouldst be living at this hour . . .

Connotation: The emotional associations implied or suggested by a word; they
extend the meaning of a word beyond its literal meaning.

Denotation: The precise, literal meaning of a word.

Enjambement (a.k.a. run-on line): a line which runs into another without any
break

Extended Figure: An apostrophe, simile, metaphor, etc. which is developed
throughout a poem.

Hyperbole: Use of exaggeration for emphasis, serious, or humorous effects:
There were tons of people trying to get tickets to that concert.

Metaphor: A common figure of speech which a direct comparison or
identification is made between two unlike objects (not using like or as): Juliet is
the sun; Thumb: an odd friendless boy raised by four aunts.


1
Poetry - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary". merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 23
June 2014.
Metonymy: A figure of speech in which an objects name is substituted by its
function or a word closely associated with it: The law is at the door (law =
police).
Personification: A figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate
objects or abstract ideas: The houses gazed at each other; the yellow fog
rubs its back upon the window pane.

Refrain: A repeated line, phrase, sentence, etc. which appears throughout a
poem.

Simile: A figure of speech comparing two dissimilar things, using the words like
or as: My love is like a rose; the thunder sounded like a mean dogs growl.

Synecdoche: The substitution of a part of one thing to represent the whole. E.g.
from Thomas Campbells Ye Mariners of England, oak represents both
Britannias warships as well as the material from which they were made: With
thunders from her native oak, / She quells the flood below. Synecdoche is also
common in everyday speech. In the phrase The Senators won the game,
Senators stands for The Ottawa Senators NHL team.
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3. What are the types of poetry?
Lyric Poetry
A lyric poem is a comparatively short, non-narrative poem in which a single speaker
presents a state of mind or an emotional state. Lyric poetry retains some of the
elements of song which is said to be its origin: For Greek writers the lyric was a song
accompanied by the lyre.

Subcategories of the lyric are, for example elegy, ode, sonnet and dramatic monologue
and most occasional poetry:

In modern usage, elegy is a formal lament for the death of a particular person (for
example Tennysons In Memoriam A.H.H.). More broadly defined, the term elegy is also
used for solemn meditations, often on questions of death, such as Gray's Elegy Written
in a Country Churchyard.


2
Literary Devices-Poetry <
http://www.colonelby.com/teachers/vitzthumg/eng2de/unit7/Literary_Devices_in_poetry.doc> Retrieved 23 June
2014
An ode is a long lyric poem with a serious subject written in an elevated style. Famous
examples are Wordsworths Hymn to Duty or Keats Ode to a Grecian Urn.

The sonnet was originally a love poem which dealt with the lovers sufferings and hopes.
It originated in Italy and became popular in England in the Renaissance, when Thomas
Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey translated and imitated the sonnets written by Petrarch
(Petrarchan sonnet). From the seventeenth century onwards the sonnet was also used
for other topics than love, for instance for religious experience (by Donne and Milton),
reflections on art (by Keats or Shelley) or even the war experience (by Brooke or Owen).
The sonnet uses a single stanza of (usually) fourteen lines and an intricate rhyme
pattern (see stanza forms). Many poets wrote a series of sonnets linked by the same
theme, so-called sonnet cycles (for instance Petrarch, Spenser, Shakespeare, Drayton,
Barret-Browning, Meredith) which depict the various stages of a love relationship.

In a dramatic monologue a speaker, who is explicitly someone other than the author,
makes a speech to a silent auditor in a specific situation and at a critical moment.
Without intending to do so, the speaker reveals aspects of his temperament and
character. In Browning's My Last Duchess for instance, the Duke shows the picture of his
last wife to the emissary from his prospective new wife and reveals his excessive pride
in his position and his jealous temperament.

Occasional poetry is written for a specific occasion: a wedding (then it is called an
epithalamion, for instance Spensers Epithalamion), the return of a king from exile (for
instance Drydens Annus Mirabilis) or a death (for example Miltons Lycidas), etc.

Narrative Poetry
Narrative poetry gives a verbal representation, in verse, of a sequence of connected
events, it propels characters through a plot. It is always told by a narrator. Narrative
poems might tell of a love story (like Tennyson's Maud), the story of a father and son
(like Wordsworth's Michael) or the deeds of a hero or heroine (like Walter Scott's Lay of
the Last Minstrel).

Sub-categories of narrative poetry:

Epics usually operate on a large scale, both in length and topic, such as the founding of a
nation (Virgils Aeneid) or the beginning of world history (Milton's Paradise Lost), they
tend to use an elevated style of language and supernatural beings take part in the
action.

The mock-epic makes use of epic conventions, like the elevated style and the
assumption that the topic is of great importance, to deal with completely insignificant
occurrences. A famous example is Pope's The Rape of the Lock, which tells the story of a
young beauty whose suitor secretly cuts off a lock of her hair.

A ballad is a song, originally transmitted orally, which tells a story. It is an important
form of folk poetry which was adapted for literary uses from the sixteenth century
onwards. The ballad stanza is usually a four-line stanza, alternating tetrameter and
trimeter.

Descriptive and Didactic Poetry

Both lyric and narrative poetry can contain lengthy and detailed descriptions
(descriptive poetry) or scenes in direct speech (dramatic poetry).

The purpose of a didactic poem is primarily to teach something. This can take the form
of very specific instructions, such as how to catch a fish, as in James Thomsons The
Seasons (Spring 379-442) or how to write good poetry as in Alexander Popes Essay on
Criticism. But it can also be meant as instructive in a general way. Until the twentieth
century all literature was expected to have a didactic purpose in a general sense, that is,
to impart moral, theoretical or even practical knowledge; Horace famously demanded
that poetry should combine prodesse (learning) and delectare (pleasure). The twentieth
century was more reluctant to proclaim literature openly as a teaching tool.
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4. What is drama?
Drama is a literary composition involving conflict, action crisis and atmosphere designed
to be acted by players on a stage before an audience. This definition may be applied to
motion picture drama as well as to the traditional stage.
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5. What are the literary devices used in fiction? Give examples for each.

3
Types of Poetry < http://www2.anglistik.uni-freiburg.de/intranet/englishbasics/PoetryTypes01.htm > Retrieved
23 June 2014
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Drama < http://drb.lifestreamcenter.net/Lessons/Drama.htm > Retrieved 23 June 2014

Allegory. The writer creates a story in which the characters and events form a
system of symbolic meaning. George Orwells Animal Farm is a story in which
each animal represents a specific person from the Russian Bolshevik Revolution.
Ex. Faith is like a stony uphill climb: a single stumble might send you
sprawling but belief and steadfastness will see you to the very top.
Symbol. The fiction writer can use a word, object, action, or character in the
story to suggest or mean something other than its dictionary or literal meaning.
For instance, an owl can represent wisdom.

Ex. a new dawn

Irony. The writer can use three types of irony. The first is verbal irony.
Essentially, the intended meaning of a statement is different from the actual
meaning. It is often a form of sarcasm. The second type is situational Irony. It
occurs when the expected outcome of an action is different than the actual
outcome. The last type is dramatic irony. Essentially, the audience knows more
about the characters situation than the character does.
Ex. Oh! What fine luck I have!
Imagery. The writer uses language that appeals to the senses to create word
pictures in the mind of the reader. The writer can use imagery that appeals to
the sense of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing.

Ex. The gushing brook stole its way down the lush green mountains,
dotted with tiny flowers in a riot of colors and trees coming alive with
gaily chirping birds.

Figurative Language

Simile. A figure of speech in which the writer makes a direct comparison
between two unlike things, usually with the words like or as.
Example: Her cheeks were as red as cherriesHe runs like a race horse.

Metaphor. A figure of speech in which the writer makes an implied
comparison between two unlike things, without using like or as.
Examples: Love is a treasure boxLife is a journey, not a destination.

Personification. A figure of speech in which the writer assigns human
qualities or attributes or abilities to an animal, an object, or an idea.
Example: The angry wind knocked over the chair and slammed the
shutters.

Hyperbole. A figure of speech in which the writer uses to exaggeration
or overstatement for emphasis. Examples: The journey took foreverHe
was so hungry that he ate everything in the refrigerator.
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6. What are the literary devices used in non-fiction. Give example for each.
Point of View
A non-fiction story can be told from many of the points of view present in literary
fiction. A memoir or autobiography, for example, is a first-person account of personal
events, while a standard biography is written by a third-person narrator who has
investigated or interviewed subjects before writing from a more distanced perspective.
Non-fiction may be written in second-person, using you as the subject, if it is in the
form of a how-to guide or instructional manual.
Ex. 1st person, indicating a personal experience
I have found that increasing my workload is taxing on both my physical and
mental health. Unless I am in a physically-intensive profession, my body is
wasting away while I work. Additionally, my diet has also suffered as I have
spent more time at work. No longer do I have the time to prepare healthy
meals at home or even worse; I sometimes do not have time to eat at all.
Character
Like literary fiction, non-fiction contains characters who act within the story. Though
these characters are real people in non-fiction, they still are represented in writing with
the same tools and techniques as fictional characters. Non-fiction stories rely on the
same reader empathy as fiction stories, so they must also contain sympathetic or
interesting characters for the reader to follow. Because a reader may not know the real-
life person in the story, an author must introduce and characterize the person just as a
fiction writer would, including physical details and descriptions of their behavior.
Narrative
A non-fiction story follows a sequence of events in the same way a fictional story might,
creating a narrative through which the story is told. Narratives in non-fiction may be
linear or nonlinear, based on chronology or some other organizing factor. An author
writing about the death of her father, for example, may move around from chapter to
chapter capturing different scenes from her childhood and adulthood as they feel
relevant to different aspects of her fathers life. As with literary fiction, a non-fiction
writer can use different narratives to tell the same story in very different ways.
Dramatization

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Elements of Fiction: Literary Techniques < http://davehood59.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/elements-of-fiction-
literary-techniques/ > Retrieved 23 June 2014
For a non-fiction story to be compelling, it must not only be true but also interesting
enough to be worth the read. Non-fiction stories can center on conflicts and dramatic
moments to create literary works with the same emotional beats of fiction. Even
journalistic non-fiction focused solely on reporting works most effectively with a conflict
or dramatic center established in the articles lead paragraphs.
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7. What are the literary devices used in poetry. Give example for each.

Allusion: An event or fact from an external context assumed to be known by the
reader (e.g. historical, biblical, etc.). An allusion can increase ones
understanding of the poem in question by drawing parallels with other subjects.
Ex. Its no wonder everyone refers to Mary as another Mother Teresa in
the making; she loves to help and care after people everywhere- from
the streets to her own friends.
Anthropomorphism: The showing or treating of animals, gods and objects as if
they are human in appearance, character or behaviour.
Ex. The raging storm brought with it howling winds and fierce lightning
as the residents of the village looked up at the angry skies in alarm.
Apostrophe: Something that addresses an object, abstract idea, or person who
is dead as though it could reply. E.g. Antonys cry in Julius Caesar: O
Judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts; Wordsworths appeal in London
1812: Milton! Though shouldst be living at this hour . . .
Ex. "Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own."
(Lorenz Hart, "Blue Moon")
Connotation: The emotional associations implied or suggested by a word; they
extend the meaning of a word beyond its literal meaning.
Ex. And once again, the autumn leaves were falling.
Denotation: The precise, literal meaning of a word.
Ex. They built a house.
Enjambment (a.k.a. run-on line): a line which runs into another without any
break
Ex. A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and asleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
(Endymion by John Keats)
Extended Figure: An apostrophe, simile, metaphor, etc. which is developed
throughout a poem.

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Literary Elements of a Non Fiction Story <http://classroom.synonym.com/literary-elements-nonfiction-story-
2256.html> Retrieved 23 June 2014
Ex. "Bobby Holloway says my imagination is a three-hundred-ring circus.
Currently I was in ring two hundred and ninety-nine, with elephants
dancing and clowns cartwheeling and tigers leaping through rings of
fire. The time had come to step back, leave the main tent, go buy some
popcorn and a Coke, bliss out, cool down."
(Dean Koontz, Seize the Night. Bantam, 1999)
Hyperbole: Use of exaggeration for emphasis, serious, or humorous effects:
There were tons of people trying to get tickets to that concert.
Ex. I am so tired I cannot walk another inch or Im so sleepy I might
fall asleep standing here.
Metaphor: A common figure of speech which a direct comparison or
identification is made between two unlike objects (not using like or as): Juliet is
the sun; Thumb: an odd friendless boy raised by four aunts.
Ex. Henry was a lion on the battlefield
Metonymy: A figure of speech in which an objects name is substituted by its
function or a word closely associated with it: The law is at the door (law =
police).
Ex. He writes a fine hand.
Personification: A figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate
objects or abstract ideas: The houses gazed at each other; the yellow fog
rubs its back upon the window pane.
Ex. The warm and comforting fire
Refrain: A repeated line, phrase, sentence, etc. which appears throughout a
poem.
Ex. From:
Stopping by Woods On a Snowy evening, 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.
Simile: A figure of speech comparing two dissimilar things, using the words like
or as: My love is like a rose; the thunder sounded like a mean dogs growl.
Ex. "He is like a mouse in front of the teacher."
Synecdoche: The substitution of a part of one thing to represent the whole. E.g.
from Thomas Campbells Ye Mariners of England, oak represents both
Britannias warships as well as the material from which they were made: With
thunders from her native oak, / She quells the flood below. Synecdoche is also
common in everyday speech. In the phrase The Senators won the game,
Senators stands for The Ottawa Senators NHL team.
7

Ex. Weary feet in the walk of life

7
Literary Devices-Poetry <
http://www.colonelby.com/teachers/vitzthumg/eng2de/unit7/Literary_Devices_in_poetry.doc> Retrieved 23 June
2014