UNIT 3 “ANALYZING POETIC TEXTS”. NOTES ...................................................................... 1
1. WHAT IS POETRY? ......................................................................................................... 2
1.1. ELEMENTS OF POETRY ........................................................................................................ 2
ELEMENTS OF POETRY I ............................................................................................................................. 2
1. PROSE/POETRY....................................................................................................................................... 2
2. VISUAL ELEMENTS OF POETRY (FORM).................................................................................................. 3
3. VISUAL ELEMENTS OF POETRY (FIGURATIVE) ........................................................................................ 3
ELEMENTS OF POETRY II ............................................................................................................................ 6
1. PROSE/POETRY....................................................................................................................................... 6
2. AURAL ELEMENTS OF POETRY: METRICAL VERSE .................................................................................. 6
3. AURAL ELEMENTS OF POETRY: NON-METRICAL VERSE ......................................................................... 6
1. PROSE/POETRY....................................................................................................................................... 6
2. AURAL ELEMENTS OF POETRY: METRICAL VERSE .................................................................................. 7
3. AURAL ELEMENTS OF POETRY: NON-METRICAL VERSE ......................................................................... 9
2. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS: DYLAN THOMAS: “A REFUSAL TO MOURN THE DEATH, BY FIRE, OF
A CHILD IN LONDON”....................................................................................................... 12
2.1. CULTURAL AND LITERARY CONTEXTUALIZATION............................................................... 12
2.1.1. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ...................................................................................................... 12
2.1.2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT .................................................................................................................... 12
2.2. ANALYSIS OF POETIC ELEMENTS (STRUCTURE, STYLE, LANGUAGE) .................................... 13
3. LITERARY CRITICISM .................................................................................................... 27
3.1. CHAPTER 3 “POST-STRUCTURALISM AND DECONSTRUCTION” BY PETER BARRY ............... 27
3.1.1. SOME THEORETICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STRUCTURALISM AND POST-STRUCTURALISM ..... 27
3.1.2. POST-STRUCTURALISM: LIFE ON A DECENTRED PLANET ............................................................... 28
3.1.3. STRUCTURALISM AND POST-STRUCTURALISM: SOME PRACTICAL DIFFERENCES ......................... 30
3.1.4. WHAT POST-STRUCTURALIST CRITICS DO ...................................................................................... 32
3.1.5. DECONSTRUCTION: AN EXAMPLE .................................................................................................. 32
3.2. CRITICAL AUTHORS: JACQUES DERRIDA. OF GRAMMATOLOGY ......................................... 34
,1. WHAT IS POETRY?
Poetry itself isn’t all one thing: Poems differ as much as the people who write and read them,
or as much as music and movies do […] Poetry is, in certain vital ways, distinct from other
forms of writing. [It] plays by its own rules and has its own history and traditions, so reading
poetry effectively [...] does involve learning and playing by certain rules. […] Yet the questions
we ask of a poem and the techniques we use to understand it are simply variations of the
same ones we use in reading fiction or drama. (698-699)
(from the forum) PROFESSOR FRANCESC GÁMEZ’S DEFINITION:
So, a way to define poetry (just one of many, of course) is literary artifacts
which follow particular rules concerning visual and aural elements.
ANOTHER INSIGHTFUL DEFINITION BY A PARTNER:
POETRY:
Literary genre in which the expression of feelings, ideas and meanings is highlighted and given
intensity through the use of visual and sound features of the language.
The meaning can be reinforced through the visual structure of the text on the page (by the
use of stanzas, different fonts, punctuation or shapes), specific line-ending chosen by the
writer, the use of figurative language (similes, metaphors, personification, symbols…) and the
chose and setting on the text of words forming sound patterns, rhyme, meter and rhythm.1.1.
ELEMENTS OF POETRY
1.1. ELEMENTS OF POETRY
ELEMENTS OF POETRY I
PREVIEW:
1. PROSE/POETRY
- WHAT MAKES POETRY DIFFERENT FROM PROSE?
2
, In general terms, prose consists of the telling of events or a story. Poetry can also tell
a story, but the meaning is highlighted through VISUAL/AURAL aspects of language.
Poetic language is not “transparent” as in prose.
- VISUAL/AURAL ASPECTS OF POETIC LANGUAGE:
Visual or Sound effects addresse at the READER’S physical eye or ear.
- ELEMENTS OF POETRY I: VISUAL ASPECTS OF POETIC LANGUAGE
o Poetic techniques to call the attention of the READER’S PHYSICAL EYE (the
form of language/words).
o Poetic techniques to call the attention of the READER’S MENTAL EYE
(figurative language).
2. VISUAL ELEMENTS OF POETRY (FORM)
- General visual effects on the page: we should image language as “paint” and the
page as “canvas” .
- Poetry has a specific VERTICAL structure: this chosen line-ending technique makes
poetry different from prose.
- Main poetic elements to create visual structure on the page: STANZA – a section of a
poem made by a group of lines sharing a pattern called “stanzaic form”.
- Apart from stanzas, there are other elements poets use and experiment with to create
visual structures on the page: lines, font, punctuation, shape poem.
3. VISUAL ELEMENTS OF POETRY (FIGURATIVE)
- Images/imagery: visual poetic elements that create images in the reader’s mind
through figurative language.
- LITERAL vs FIGURATIVE language: the former refers to the real object or normal
meaning of the word whereas the latter refers to an imaginary meaning beyond the
real meaning of the word.
a) Poetic techniques: the creation of images through LIKENESS/SIMILITUDE. Two
figures:
o SIMILE: “My lover’s eyes are like the sun”.
3
, The likeliness between eyes and sun is made explicit by “like”.
o METAPHOR: “My lover’s suns shine on me”.
One term in the comparison eyes = sun is hidden (eyes).
ELEMENTS OF THE METAPHOR: “My lover’s suns shine on me”
TENOR VEHICLE GROUND
Eyes Sun Light/Radiance
The object or element The IMAGINATIVE or The CHARACTERISTIC or
from REALITY we are FIGURATIVE object or QUALITY we are
referring to element it is similar to highlighting in the
comparison.
Examples:
“The day and night of life”. TENOR: youth/old age; VEHICLE: day/night. GROUND:
beginning and end of cycle, light-darkness.
“A rose in the people’s garden: TENOR: woman; VEHICLE: flower; GROUND: beauty.
b) Poetic technique: the creation of images through ASSOCIATION. Two figures
(considered types of metaphor):
o METONYMY (association by PROXIMITY). “From the cradle (birth) to the grave
(death)”; “the Crown (Queen) spoke her mind”; “He boiled the kettle” (water).
o SYNECDOCHE (relates the terms in the creation of the image through the
relation of PART/WHOLE): “Many hands will be needed” (people); “Four
mouths to feed”.
c) Other poetic techniques that create Images in the reader’s mind using figurative
language:
o PERSONIFICATION (PROSOPOPEIA): Inanimate objects or abstract concepts
are personified. “Trees whispered secrets”; “Misery prepares breakfast”.
o SYMBOLS: Owl (vehicle) – wisdom (tenor) ; fish (vehicle) – Christ (tenor). The
relation between the Tenor and the Vehicle in the symbol is culturally
established.
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