POETRY Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry. ~W.B. Yeats

Four Main Types of Poetry Narrative Lyric Dramatic Didactic

Narrative Poetry Narrative—a poem that tells a story. Ex.: a ballad or an epic poem

Lyric Poetry Lyric– a short poem expressing the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker Lyric poems are usually easy to recognize Lyric poems are often written in first-person Traditionally, lyric poems have a songlike immediacy and emotional force Ex.: “The Red Wheelbarrow”

Dramatic Poetry Dramatic—a poem that presents the voice of an imaginary character or characters speaking directly, without any additional narration by the author. Strictly speaking, it describes any verse written for the stage, but generally it refers to a poem written as a speech made by a character Ex: Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess”

Didactic Poetry Didactic—a kind of poetry written with the purpose of imparting knowledge or teaching a moral lesson. Ex: “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” ~Ben Franklin

What does good poetry do? Engages the whole person through senses, emotion, imagination, or intellect. Employs no excess words, but uses only those that bear their full weight in contributing to the total meaning of the poem.

More characteristics of good poetry The diction, images, and figures of speech are fresh, not trite, except when irony is the purpose. The “sound” doesn’t clash with its “sense,” or the form with its content. Images and ideas are so effectively arranged (crafted) that any rearrangement would be harmful to the effectiveness of the poem.

~Author unknown Quotable Quote 2 Poetry is a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language. ~Author unknown

Quotable Quote ~Author unknown The greatness of a poem is in proportion to the range and depth and intensity of experience that it brings to us: its amount of life. ~Author unknown