TERMS USED IN POETRY:

01.                        The poet or poetess. – It’s the writer of a poem.

02.                        The persona or personae – the person(s) in the poem being written or talked about/to.

03.                        The speaker – is the person speaking or taking in the poem.

04.                        Lines: A line is a collection of words that make a unit of sense, although there are one word line that makes a unit of sense. It’s called a verse.

05.                        Stanzas: There are a collection of lines in a poem that make a unit of sense. There are also one line stanzas that make sense.

THE MAN HE KILLED”

          ‘Had he and I but met.

          By some old ancient inn

          We should have sat us down to wet

                   Right many a nipperkin!

         

          ‘But ranged as infantry,         

                   And staring face to face,    

          I shot at him as he at me,

                   And killed him in his place.

          ‘I shot him dead because, -

                   Because he was my foe,

          Just so: my foe of course he was;    

                   That’s clear enough; although

          ‘He thought he’d list, perhaps,

                   Off hand like – just as I –

          Was out of work – had sold his traps –

                   No other reason why.

     

          ‘Yes; quaint and curious war is!

                   You shoot a fellow down

          You’d treat if met where any bar is,

                   Or help to half – a – crown,’

         

-         Thomas Hardy.

C.F.   Epilogue by Grace Nicholes as well –

          Fare a simple/one word line.

          Not that, there can be one stanza poems as well. For examples, Shakespeares sonnets (poems of         fourteen (14) lines.

          Other one letter line and one work stanzas is also possible. For example e.e. (from U.S.A) cummings’ poem, ‘Nothing can Surpass the mystery of stillness.’

          NOTHING CAN SURPASS THE MYSTERY OF STILLNESS

          n

          OthI

          n

          g can

          s

          urpass

⁰⁵       s

          The m

         

          y

¹⁰       ster

          y

          of

          s

          tillness

¹⁵       s

TYPES OF POETRY

01.                        Narrative: -

02.                        Descriptive: -

03.                        Humerous: -

04.                        Dramatic:

05.                        Pastro: -

06.                        Didactic: -

07.                        Lyrical: - These are musical (song) poems. It is full of strength rhythm. E.g. in the Ghetto, and

The snake  by E. Presley and J. Mbiti respectively.

JULY. – John Clare.

… noon burns with its blistering breath.

Around, and day dies still as death

The busy noise of man and brute.

Is on a sudden lost and mute;

Even the brook that leaps along

Seems weary of its bubbling song,

And, so soft its waters creep,

Tired silence sinks in sounder sleep.

The very flies forget to hum;

And, save the wagon rocking round

The landscape sleeps without sound.

The breeze is soft, the lazy bough

Hash not a leaf that dances now;

The totter – grass upon the hill,

And spiders’ threads, are standing still;

The feathers dropt from moor – hen’s wing,

Which to the waters surface cling,

Are steadfast, and as heavy seem

As stones beneath them in the stream;

Hawkweed and groundsel’s fanning downs

Unruffled keep their seedy crowns;

And in the Oven-heated air,

Not one light thing is floating there,

Save that to the earnest eye,

The restless heat seems twittering by.

          From: The Shepherd’s Calendar

ATTACK

          At dawn the ridge emerges massed and dun

          In the wild purple of the glowing sun,

          Smouldering through spourts of drifting smoke that shroud

          The menacing scarned slope; and, one by one,

          Tanks creep and topple forward to the wire.

          The barraqe roars and shovels and battle – gear,

          Men jostle and climb to meet the bristling fire;

          They leave their trenches, going over the top,

          While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists,

          And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists,

          Flounders in mud. O Jesus, make it stop!

-         Siegfried Sassoon

Pounding grain,

Pounding grain makes you cry,

Tears drip drip;

Drawing water,

Drawing water make you cry,

Tears drip drip;

Fetching wood

Fetching wood makes you cry

Tears drip drip;

Hoeing

Hoeing makes you cry,

Tears drip drip.

-         (Chi Chewa, Malawi)

LAPOBO

          Lapobo,

          Tall but not too tall,

          Short but not too short,

          She is of medium size.

          Lapobo,

          Her teeth are not as ash

          Nor the colour of maize flour

          Her teeth are white as fresh milk.

          The whiteness of her teeth.

          When I think of her

          Makes food drop from my hand.

          Lapobo,

          Black but not too black,

          Brown but not too brown,

          Her skin colour is just between black and brown.

          Lapobo,

          Her heels have no cracks,

          Her palms are smooth and tender to touch

          Her eyes – Ho! They can destroy anybody.

-         A.R. Cliff – Lubwa P’Chong

The terms in Poetry have been shown labeled in the poem,

"The Man He killed" but because blogger could not support the labels, please download in PDF to reveal the labels.