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Introduction To Literary Studies: BS English (1 Semester) GDC Khwaza Khela Swat
Introduction To Literary Studies: BS English (1 Semester) GDC Khwaza Khela Swat
Introduction To Literary Studies: BS English (1 Semester) GDC Khwaza Khela Swat
• “Ode” comes from the Greek aeidein, meaning to sing or chant, and
belongs to the long and varied tradition of lyric poetry.
• It can be generalized as a formal address to an event, a person, or a
thing not present.
• Originally accompanied by music and dance, and later reserved by the
Romantic poets to convey their strongest sentiments.
• For instance: John Keats’ “Ode to Autumn”
3.Elegy
• An elegy, in poetic terms is a funeral song.
• It can be thought of as a melancholy poem, which is written to mourn
the death of someone, who is personal and close to the heart.
• A lyric poem mourning for the death of an individual or lamenting over
a tragic event.
• For instance: Thomas Gray’s “An Elegy Written in a Country
Churchyard”
4.Epic
• It is a long, often book-length, narrative in verse form that retells the
heroic journey of a single person, or group of persons.
• A long narrative poem that tells in grand style the history and
aspirations of a national hero.
• A primary epic is a type of Epic with which the epic tradition began
For Example: Homer’s “Iliad and Odyssey”.
• The secondary or Literary Epic is the one which imitated the tradition of
the primary epic.
For Example: John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”.
5.Ballad
• A narrative poem that tells a story through dialogue and action.
• The word ballad has been taken from Latin word ballare, which means
dancing song.
• John Keats’ “La Belle Dame sans Merci” is the example of Ballad.
6.Dramatic Monologue.
• A kind of lyric poem in which a single speaker expresses his thoughts
and feelings to a silent listener.
• Robert Browning is well known for dramatic monologues. “ My last
Duchess” is one of his famous Dramatic Monologue.
7.Hymn
• A lyric poem or song in praise of God or a deity or a hero.
• Keats “Hymn to Apollo” is one the well known hymn in English.
8. Epithalamion
• A kind of lyric poem written to celebrate a wedding.
• Spenser’s “Epithalamion” he wrote to celebrate his own marriage is
best example of it.
B) Drama
• Drama presents the actions and words of characters on a stage.
• A literary form intended to be performed on stage through action and
dialogues.
• It is also called “play”.
• From classical example also comes the standard subdivision into
tragedy and comedy.
• Historically, many of the specific conventions of these two types have
changed. We refer, for instance, to Greek tragedy, or to medieval
tragedy, or to Shakespearean tragedy.
Types of Drama
Comedy:-
• A kind of drama which begins with adversity or discord but ends in
happiness.
• Its primary purpose is to amuse the audience.
• Its plot presents conflict of some kind.
• Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and Bernard Shaw are among
best known comedy writers.
Example: Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Tragedy:
• A story in which a hero is brought down by his/her own flaws, usually
by ordinary human flaws.
• In essence, tragedy is the mirror image or negative of comedy.
• For instead of depicting the rise in circumstances of a dejected or
outcast underdog, tragedy shows downfall of a once prominent and
powerful hero.
• Sophocles, Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and John Dryden are
some famous tragedians.
Example: Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the best example of Tragedy
c) Novel
• A fictitious prose narrative of a certain length (50,000 and above
words).
• A novel tells an imaginary story about recognizable characters and
their actions.
• In other words, the people and events in traditional novels are
imitation of real human society.
• A novel ma be tragic or comic. It may be general or regional. It may be
psychological or social. A novel may also be a picaresque novel or a
gothic novel.
Types of Novel:
• Picaresque Novel: A novel that tells the story of a rascal or knave
who moves from place to place for adventures and fights his evil
antagonists. The genre gets its name from the Spanish word “picaro,
or "rogue”.
Example: Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones.
• Historical Novel: A Historical novel is a novel set in a period earlier
than that of the writing.
Example: Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities,
• Bildungsroman: German terms that indicates a growth. This fictional
autobiography concerned with the development of the protagonist’s
mind, spirit, and characters from childhood to adulthood. It is also
called formation or education Novel.
Example: Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.
• Epistolary Novel: The word epistolary comes from Latin word
‘epistola’ means a letter. A novel in the form of letters. The narrative
of this type of novel is carried forward by letters written by one or
more of the characters of the novel.
Example: Richardson’s Pamela
• Gothic Novel: Gothic novel includes terror, mystery, horror, thriller,
supernatural, doom, death, decay, old haunted buildings with ghosts
and so on.
Example: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
• Regional Novel: A novel that is set against the background of a
particular area. A novelist who writes regional novels chooses a
particular fictional region for the settings of all his novels.
Example: Thomas Hardy’s novels are set in Wessex.