Classification , Analysis and Discussions on Various Genre of Poetry


 What is Poetry?

Poetry is born when the form, rasa, smell, sound, touch of the material world, that is, the world of the senses, is absorbed in the sweetness of the poet's mind and acquires a rhythmic and artistic form. Indicating the history and purpose of the birth of poetry, Rabindranath Tagore said that the poet collects the words from the heart in his imagination and makes the ordinary very extraordinary and what was imaginative, he made it physical or figurative. Infact, Various attempts have been made to define poetry. Many people want to capture the meaning in different ways.

 Dr Samuel Johnson called poetry a metrical composition. Elsewhere, he sees poetry as a combination of joy and truth, "the art of uniting pleasure with truth by calling imagination to the help of reason." Romantic poets such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, etc. have discussed in detail the form of poetry, subject matter, etc. According to Wordsworth, poetry is the spontaneous expression of irresistible emotions (Poetry of the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings). To the poet Edgar Allan Poe, poetry is "the rhythmic creation of beauty." According to Many like Matthew Arnold, 'poetry is not for poetry, it is for life. Poetry is at the bottom a critique of life under the conditions fixed for such a critique by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty. 


 
Indian aesthetics too have spoken about the nature of poetry. Ecstasy is born in the heart of the composer, that is the sign of poetry. Kalidasa defines poetry in the dual form of Shiva (অর্ধনারীশ্বর). Parvati means 'word' and 'Shiva' means 'inner meaning'. That is to say, according to Kalidasa, poetry is a composition in which there is a bold and dialectical combination of words and meanings, sounds and rhythm. Poet Rabindranath felt that poetry is a form of emotion. According to him, "When we read a poem, we don't just look at it as a set of words - we judge the relation of words to sentences. Thought is the main goal as a refuge of speech. On the other hand, he says, "Poetry is the ability to enter into one's own soul, into another soul, and into the soul of nature." Again Poetry is not only in substance, it is not only in sweetness.


 The best poetry is born where there is the union of sweetness with materiality, the union of materiality, that is, poetry is only humorous and materialistic. According to Bankimchandra Chhattapadhya, the purpose of poetry is to create beauty. The only purpose of poetry is not ethics. Roughly speaking, we can call a poem a poem only when the imagination of the human mind, with its harmonious combination of words and meanings, becomes emotional and takes on a rhythmic form in the proper word form and semantics. When a particular emotion is conveyed, it is expressed in a vibrating form of a verse. In his book "An Apology for Poetry", Elizabeth-era writer-critic Philip Sidney says, "Verse is a mere garment of poetry which has nothing but a rhetorical value." Bacon, in his book 'Advancement of Learning', says, "Verse can be the vehicle of any one poem. Wordsworth did not follow any dividing line in the poem, saying, "Diction or phrase and meter (rhyme) were judged to be necessary for mere decorative sweetness. Coleridge puts it this way: "The opposite of poetry is not prose, but science; The opposite of prose is not poetry, but verse. Although there is a melody in the rhythmic word format, composing poetry through prose is not at all impossible or inappropriate. 'Verse' does not mean poetry. 'Prose', of course, can be the medium of poetry, if it contains the heartbeat, the rhythmic beauty of the rhythm, or the imaginative expression of the poem.

 Forms of poetry: 

Poetry can be of various forms and structures. The subject, the style, the variety of attitudes, the size can be different. Poetry in general can be divided into two parts -

 Manmoy or lyrical poems (Subjective / lyrical) 

and 

Tanmoy or Impersonal poems (Objective / Impersonal).

  Poetry that is primarily self-centered, so that the poet dives deep into his mind and thinking, so that the emotional expression of the poet's personality is expressed is called Manmoy or lyrical poems (Subjective / lyrical). When a poet expresses his inner-feelings, personal experiences, thoughts and external feelings only as the content of his poetry, we call his creation manmoy or subjective poetry. It is the autobiography of the poet. Again, when the idea of ​​a particular object arouses the poet's poetic mind and transmits emotion, then the poet's mind is filled with intense poetry. In Manmoy poetry the intensity of the poet's personal feeling is the main thing. In Tanmoy poetry the object-essence is the main thing. The subjective poetry is personal, it is also called personal poetry. Objective or Impersonal poetry deals with the external world. 

 The English word lyric comes from the word lyre (harp instrument). As the melody rises in the harp, so does the heartfelt melody of the lyric poem. It is called 'lyric'. In general, the word 'lyric' is used in a special sense in poetry. It becomes 'lyric poetry'. In short, lyric poetry will contain the poet's spontaneous feelings and the spontaneous expression of those feelings — these two together will create an unbroken image. In a poem, the poet's self-realization or personal desire - desire and joy - pain is embodied in an emotional tone from the depths of his soul. It is called lyric poetry. The poet's personal feelings, imagination, beauty and musical wings contain humor, the name of that musical phrase is lyric poetry.

 Types of lyric poetry according to the variety of content:

 (A) Devotional: The poet's religious longing and devotion is often expressed in the form of poetry. When a poem is freed from religious theory and consciousness and the inner space of the poet is revealed in the light of special feelings, then it is devotional lyric poetry. Vaishnava Poems, Milton Herbert Hopkins Rossetti poems

  (B) Patriotic or National Poems: Patriotism is the subject matter of many poets' poems. This kind of lyric poetry is due to the excitement created in the poetic mind of the poet who is overwhelmed by the strong passion of patriotism. Such as: old English epic, Beowulf,  Bankim Chandra's 'Bandemataram',  

(C) Love lyric poetry: This kind of poetry is formed by sheltering the love of men and women, hope of love, despair, separation, pain, sweetness etc. Vaishvab Padavali, are examples of successful love lyric poems.

  (D) Lyric poetry about nature or cosmos: When the poet's heart is chemically absorbed by the form, rasa, smell, touch of external nature, then the poet's monologue is created by a deep feeling and pervades the whole world - nature - then it becomes cosmos poetry. Rabindranath's 'Barshamangal' are examples of such poems. 

 (E) Hymns (Ode): In ancient Greece, hymns were sung along with music and dance on the occasion of religious and social rituals - these were the original forms of 'Ode' or hymn poetry. Poet Pindar wrote long, solemn poems in the 5th century BC, welcoming the outstanding achievements of Greek heroes. These were Strophe (turn), Anti-Strophe (Counter-turn) and Epode (after Song). Strophe was sung to the beat of the left-wing dance; The chorus sang ‘Anti - Strophe’ while dancing on the right; And Epode used to stand and pronounce in a steady manner. Pinder's hymns were formal, high in subject matter and style. In English literature, such poems were composed to appeal to a person, abstract thought, natural or unnatural forces. Ode is a rhymed (rarely unrimed) lyric, often in the form of an address: generally dignified or exalted in subject, feeling and style. Any strain of enthusiastic or exalted lyrical verse directed to a fixed purpose, and dealing progressively with a dignified theme. Notable examples.

 (F). Elegy: The language of this class of poets is given to personal grief, sorrow, pain, anguish or any national mourning story. 

 Pastoral Elegy: or Eclogues: A kind of sophistication in the hands of Greek poets such as Theocritus, Moscas, Bayon in the third century AD, There was an official mourning song called Pastoral elegy or shepherd mourning song. In this kind of mourning poem, the language of grief was given in the face of a shepherd or a shepherd on the death of a dear friend or relative. Both the deceased friend and the bereaved poet are identified as shepherds in this national composition and the environment and ‘Rakhalia’. The ancient Greek Theocritus and other Sicilian poets who wrote short poems glorifying simple and fluent village life and shepherds were called idyll. In imitation of these idylls, the poet Virgil wrote the shepherd's dialogue or monologue 'Eclogues'. Spencer's "The Shepherd's Calendar" in English Literature (1569); "Lycidas" of Milton; Shelly's "Adonais"; Amold's "Thyrsis" “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray–inspired by the death of the poet Richard West

“In Memory of W.B. Yeats” by W.H. Auden–honoring the passing of Irish poet William Butler Yeats

“Adonaïs: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats” by Percy Bysshe Shelley–memorial poem for poet John Keats

“Thyrsis” by Matthew Arnold–commemoration of the death of the poet Arthur Hugh Clough

“Blake’s Purest Daughter” by Brian Patten–elegy for the poet Stevie Smith

 (G) Sonnets and fourteen-line poems: Sonnets are formed only when the lyrical self-expression is inserted in fourteen lines in a specific order. This sonnet was born out of the ‘Sonetto’ shorthand in Italy. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, love poetry was prevalent in Italy. The sonnet was born in the fourteenth century to Francisco Petrarch. The content of the sonnet is lyrical. Because the main feature of a sonnet is to express the poet's secret thoughts in fourteen lines in the sonnet. In the beginning, sonnets were about love and nature. Later, like lyric-poetry, all sorts of subjects were included in the sonnet. Watts Danton says, "A sonnet is a wave of melody and according to Rosetti," A sonnet is a moment's monument. "The shape of the sonnet is variable.

 Petrarch's sonnet had eleven syllables in charan, fourteen charan format in two stanzas. Named Octave and Sestet. This octave is divided into two quadrilaterals and components into two triangles. Shakespeare, meanwhile, took some liberties and showed novelty in composing and arranging. His stanza consists of four stanzas, three quatrains, one pair - that is, abab / cdcd / efef / gg. 

 Features of Petrarch's Sonnet: 

(1) There must be fourteen leaves. 

 (2) The whole poem will be divided into eight and six (i.e. the first eight lines and the last six lines) thus divided into two stanzas.

 (3) The matches of the octave shall be as follows: in the first, fourth, fifth and eighth lines and in the second, third, sixth and seventh lines. 

 (4) The poet's freedom about the subject is wider. However, the components need to be more varied than these matches.  

 Variety of Objective Poems: 

👉 Epic: The name of the greatest section of Tanmoy narrative is Mahakavya or Epic. Although it belongs to the category of narrative poetry, it is a sublime poem adorned with the glory of seriousness, greatness and breadth. The nature of the epic is said to be, a beginning-middle-end verse in which the human-society-age of eternity is echoed, whose splendor, bewilderment, astonishment, astonishment and extreme fascination in taste. 

 ðŸ‘‡ Even if it is composed in the same verse, the rhythm will change in the canto. 

👇At the end of each canto there should be the beginning of the canto. Or the poem will start by praising the god. 

 ðŸ‘‡A true story, historical and mythological story or a story circle will be formed based on Gods or noble heroes or kings.  

👇The background of the epic will be heaven-mortal-underworld or Tribhuvan extending.    

👇 There will be descriptions of the moon, sun, sea, night, dawn, morning, hunting, forest, mountain, rebellion, war picture, mantra application, war etc.  

👇 The quatrain (religion, meaning, work, salvation) will result in the epic lesson.  

 ðŸ‘‡The composition will be decorated with ornaments and humor. 

 ðŸ‘‡Language will be energetic and serious. 

 However, The Greek philosopher Aristotle, in his Poems of Poetry, says of the nature of the epic , It is an imitation of serious subjects in a grand kind of verse .... in narrative form.

 ðŸ‘‡(It) Should be based on a single action, one that is a complete whole in itself, with a beginning, middle and end, so as to enable the work to produce its own proper pleasure with all the organic unity of a living creature.   

 Epic two-class: Primary Epic or Authentic Epic or Epic of Growth is not an individual epic. The subject matter of many eras, the language of imagination - the fictional story is gradually pronounced in the folklore, the epochs of the country become elusive. A talented poet has given a series of poems by compiling those popular stories together as his own strength. The heart of the whole country and nation is throbbing in this epic of the epoch-making life of the people - equal to the tradition. "The Ramayana" by Balmiki, "The Mahabharata", Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" can be called Authentic Epic.  

Literary Epic (Secondary Epic or Imitative Epic or Epic of Art or Literary Epic): Following the style of the ancient epic, a poet's high imagination and exceptional mindset is an unbroken, artistic image, which reflects the thoughts of a nation, consciousness 

 In the re-evaluation of the past story, in the skillful writing style, in this kind of epic, the poet integrates the contemporary with the eternal. In this creation the life of the poet became embodied. This type of epic is said to be "a product of individuals working in an age of scholarship and literary culture ...". A shining example of a literary epic is Milton's 'Paradise Lost' According to Aberecrombie, "Authentic epics were intended for recitation, when the literary epics are meant to be read." Poet and city, forest, rock, sea, morning-evening, war-consultation, etc., are included in the epic . I must share a few words on Meghnad Badh Kavya, a parallel to paradise lost. In fact, although Madhusudan's mind was a luxury of classic poetry, his poetic spirit was predominantly romantic. For this reason, even though 'Meghnad Badh Kavya' is epic in form, its soul Nandini is completely romantic and the triumph of Madhusudan's life in this poem is not of heroism, but of sad rasa. The poet therefore, in the words of Rabindranath, concludes the poem by breathing in the crematorium by the sea.  

Mock Epic: Poems that are written with epic features to satirize a minor subject are called Mock Epic or satirical epics. All of the epics Features such as description of warfare, supernatural powers, epic or Homeric analogy etc. are used in Mock Epic for the need of satire. Pope's The Rape of the Lock is based on the story of a woman named Miss Arbella Fermor who had her hair cut.   

Free verse: Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French vers libre form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. It is quite close to prose poetry. Free verse in the general sense is the prose that contains poetry. That is to say, the poem which is the vehicle of apparent prose rhyme can be called prose poetry. It is not enough to break the very definite rhythmic bond in prose poetry. I believe that it is possible to extend the rights of poetry far and wide in uncompressed prose style and I have written the poems published in this book keeping that in view. Prose coexistence of prose and verse in Free verse. Just as there are rhetorical forms of prose, there are also charming verses. Free verse is composed with the help of emotion, imagination and sound or rhyme. Free verse is not just poetry written in prose, it is a poem written in the form of poems arranged in stages. In these poems emphasis has been laid on the predominance of emotion and the poet's mental expression has been freed from the bondage of rhythm and emphasis has been laid on natural expression. 

Example: T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

                                      "The Waste Land"

 Ballad: The word ballad originates from the Italian ‘ballad’. The word ‘baller’ means ‘to dance. That is to say, dance is involved with it. Although the ballad's style is dramatic, the distributor is only one person and he is more adept at music than dance. According to many, ballads are the oldest form of poetry. However, there are many compositions with ballad features in ancient times. These ballad composers simultaneously composed lyric poems inspired by lyrical feeling and collective consciousness. There are many types of ballads. Love, religion, heroism, politics, humor, compassion - everything can be resorted to. This ballad

 (1) The dramatic situation will be the main goal of the ballad. Things are moving fast towards that goal. 

 (2) These are all dramatic symptoms. 

 (3) The style of writing will be impersonal. The author's personal attitude or emotion is rarely expressed in it. 

 A ballad is a story of the four elements common to all narrative, action, character, setting and theme. The ballad emphasizes the first. Setting is Casual; themes are often implied, characters are usually type and even when more individuals are undeveloped, but action carries the interest. The action is usually dramatic, often startling and all the more impressive because it is unrelieved ". There is only one dramatic situation in these lyric stories, the impersonality of the visual narrative rather than the narrative. 

Examples of this “literary” ballad form include John Keats’s “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” Thomas Hardy’s “During Wind and Rain,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee.”

 Narrative and Narrative Poetry

 Narrative poetry is the name given to a long, long narrative verse. Its feature is that a single story extends throughout the poem. Manasamangal, Chandimangal, Dharmamangal, Annadamangal, Chaitanya Bhagavata etc. are examples of such narratives. Again, a poem based on a narrative is called a fragmentary poem.  

 Satire

 The main subject of the attack of satire is human taste or policy error. The affected person is a representative of a special class here. In satire there is no room for the author to express his personal feelings. He attacks conventional behavior or stands up against any social prejudice.  

Metaphorical poetry

this type of poetry is also narrative. This kind of poetry has a deeper meaning than the literal meaning in parallel. The real meaning of poetry is to be found in it.  

 Parody

 Parody or parody is a satirical imitation of a work. These are a comie transposition through satirical exaggeration without changing the structure of the original text. The word ‘parody’ originates from Latin Parodia or Greek Parodia (meaning parallel song composition). Parody or lalika is a new critical creation of a well-known song, or poem or drama-novel.  

Example: Sonnet 130 (By William Shakespeare)

Don Quixote (By Miguel de Cervantes)

Ardhendu De

References

1. Genre | Poetry Foundation. (n.d.). Poetry Foundation. Retrieved November 25, 2022, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/genre

2. Glossary of Poetic Genres. (n.d.). Glossary of Poetic Genres | Poetry at Harvard. Retrieved November 25, 2022, from https://poetry.harvard.edu/glossary-poetic-genres

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