LITERATURE-ITS BRANCHES

                                               LITERATURE-ITS BRANCHES

Literature is depiction of life and also an expression of emotions, ideas and ideals which have permanent value, inspiring men of every age and country.
       The branches of literature are Prose, Poetry, Drama and Fiction. In prose we come across the author’s point of views, in poetry the poet’s emotions and feelings. Action is added to these two i.e. Drama.

Eg: Shakespeare uses verse and prose for his plays.
-Mark Antony’s Speech, Portia’s Speech.
1. Poetry according to Wordsworth is a “Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings and emotions recollected in tranquility”.
“It is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge”.
2. Dr. Johnson says, ”Poetry should give pleasure, calling imagination to the help of reason”.
3. Macaulay says, ”the art of doing by means of words what the painter does by mean of colours”.

Language: “ Common language of common man” according to Wordsworth –The Grand style of Milton-Poetic & Prosaic language.
Poetry should have form and content.


Form: Rhyme, meter, language, figures of speech, simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, oxymoron, pun, irony, pathetic fallacy etc.

KINDS OF POETRY:
1.Personal (Subjective)-Poet goes down into himself
2.Impersonal (Objective)-Poet goes out of himself

Poetry is not only ‘Pure literature, but it is the purest of the pure.

VARIOUS FORMS OF POETRY ARE:
1.Epic : A language narrative heroic poem.
eg:”Paradise Lost” by Milton.
2. Elegy: A Poem of solemn meditation.
eg:”Mourning the death of someone”
3.Sonnet: A 14 line poem,divided into 2 octave   a nd sestet.
-divided by caesura.
4. Ballad: Folk song/poem.
5. Ode : A poem of addressing  someone/something.
6. Lyric Musical poem (lyre) : Personal love.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PROSE AND POETRY:

Prose- No deviation from the author’s point of view.
Prescribed to acquire knowledge of the matter-Vocabulary, Communication skills-LSRW.

Poetry-
1) Is for appreciation (Critically)
Analyze the poem: For pleasure/moral.
2) Poetry is one’s own interpretation.
3)  Should give way for imagination, pour out emotions, feelings etc.

b. Pre-reading questions related to the title of the poem should be asked in the class for discussion.
4) The poem should be read-skim (by students)
5) Second reading should be given with intonation, modulation, rhythm, enjambment-end of the thought.
6) Explanation-line by line with meaning of difficult words.
7) Past-reading questions are asked to ga uge  how far the students comprehended the substance/matter of the poem.
8) Reading by students for notification of mistakes if any-pronunciation, accent etc.
9) Critical appreciation of the poem discussed:
a) Title if apt, appropriate and suitable.
b) Theme of the poem.
c) Form/kind.
d) Figures of speech if any-simile metaphor, personification, hyperbolic, oxymoron, pun, iron, paradox etc.
e) Contract of ideas : eg-urban/rural.
f) Contrast of colours- “as white as lily”
g) Rhyming words for lyrical quality
h) Blank verse
i) Rhetorical-Uniformity-Questions rhyming etc
j) Refrain- ‘Repetition of lines’

FIGURES OF SPEECH:
I) SIMILIE:
Comparision between two different things but having the same quality.
Eg:

II) METAPHOR: A=B  B=C

Eg)1.He fought like a lion in the world
2.Camel is the ship of the desert

III) PERSONIFICATION:
Non-living things are given life to be living things.

IV) HYPERBOLE EXAGGERATION:

Statement made emphasis by over statement.
“Here is the smell of blood stain still, all Perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten his little hand”. –Macbeth

V) PUN:

Double meaning: Is the life worthy living?
                          It depends on the lives

VI) PARADOX:

Self contradictory statement
“God is creator and a destroyer.”

VII) IRONY:

Sarcasm

VIII) OXYMORON:
Opposites-Painful pleasure
               Sweet wounds/aching joys.