LECTURE TWO

Reading Poetry

Course Objectives:

This course is intended to:

-Introduce students to poetry as a literary genre.

-Present and explain the importance of word choice in poetry.

Introduction

The history of English poetry goes back to the middle of the 7th century. Over this
period, English poets have written some of the most enduring poems in the Western culture.
The earliest surviving poetry from the area currently known as England was most likely
transmitted orally and then written down in versions that do not now exist; thus, dating the
earliest poetry remains difficult and often controversial. The earliest surviving poetry written
in Anglo-Saxon, the most direct predecessor of modern English, may have been composed as
early as the seventh century.

What is Poetry

The Concise Oxford Dictionary’s first definition of poetry is ‘Art or work of the
poet’. It is defined as elevated expression of elevated thought or feeling in metrical or
rhythmical form. Etymologically, poetry is closely related to the term “lyric” derived from the
Greek musical instrument “lyra”. More precisely, the term poetry goes back to the Greek
word “poeieo” meaning to make or to produce and indicating that the poet is the person who
produces verse (Klarks 27).

It refers to writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in a

special language arranged to create a specific emotional and artistic response. Poetry is the
most condensed and concentrated form of literature, saying most in the fewest number of
words but expressing a lot. Hence, Poetry might be defined, initially, as a kind of patterned
language that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language. That
patterned language refers to composition in verse in which there is intense expression of
feelings through figurative language and syntactical reordering (Mays 699-700).

Simply put, poetry can also be defined as a piece of literature written by a poet in
meter or verse expressing various emotions which are expressed by the use (sometimes the
overuse) of variety of different techniques including metaphors, similes and imagery. The
emphasis on the aesthetics of language and the use of different techniques such as repetition,
meter and rhyme are what are commonly used to distinguish poetry from prose.

Though they are written in different sizes, a noticeable characteristic is the shortness
of poems. Brevity is one way that ensures the intensity and concentration of poems. It incites
readers to modulate their pace while reading inviting them to pay attention to possible
intended meanings and various linguistic features. Brevity is also closely related to the
organization of poems in verses (lines). By arranging words into lines and, often, into stanzas,
the poet determines not only where words fall on the page, but also succeeds in creating entire
paragraphs out of the breaks and spaces in the mind of the readers (Mays 700-701).

In general, the genre poetry is divided into two major categories as narrative and lyrical
poetry. While narrative poetry includes the epic long poem, the romance and the ballad
dealing with well-developed and structured plots, lyrical poetry is shorter and deals mainly
with one central idea, concept or event (Klarks 27-28).

Word choice

In poems, every word, sound, and every structure in the verses comes down to specific
meanings. Due to its condensed nature, appearing as distilled prose, poems contain only the
essential words but each is chosen for generating exactly the right shade of meaning or
feeling. The poet’s word choice determines not only meaning but also every effect the poem
produces. Word choice is certainly one of the first concerns of any literary language. English
in particular has developed over a very long period of time, and has been heavily influenced
by Latin and French which were for a time superimposed on it. It has one of the largest and
most diverse vocabularies of any language, and numbers of words overlap one another in
meaning, but differ in the range of their overtones or associations.

Denotation and connotation

 The choice of a particular word for expository or factual writing is itself difficult since
words are not interchangeable; the word which perfectly expresses a particular idea, or fits
best into a combination of other words must have both a precise and suitable literal meaning
(denotation), and appropriate overtones and associations of usage (connotations). For
example, the words woman, female, and lady all denote the same biological entity, but they
each connote different values and attitudes towards human beings of that sex. Woman is a
fairly neutral word and can be applied to any individual so long as only a distinction of sex is
intended. Female has a more technical or scientific use and emphasizes sexual function at the
expense of the humanity or individuality of the person. If used in a social rather than medical
or administrative context, the effect is degrading or dismissive. The whole woman is reduced
to a sexual object, dehumanized, and depersonalized. In some, but not contexts, therefore, the
word female is derogatory; it has a negative emotional charge or aura used in this way the
response of the reader is influenced through the indication of an unspoken value judgment.
Lady, on the other hand, refers to a person who is more than either biologically or
individually significant, in fact one who is also of some social status or importance. A lady is
a woman who is either refined in character and manners or occupies a social position in which
refinement is expected to say, "a lady is a female who…" introduces a certain shock value or
force because of the sharp contact between the words lady and female (Mays 821) .

Although the denotative meaning of words is very important, words are more than
hard blocks of words. Words carry an emotional charge and different shades of meanings and
suggestions. The words are used in poetry to indicate not only meaning but also to generate
certain feelings. The latter is associated with the use of the connotative meaning of words to
highlight to the emotional colorations of words that imply our attitude and invite a similar one
from the hearers. In poems, what words connote can be just as important as what they denote;
some poems work primarily through denotation and some more through connotation.

There are many ways in which words derive connotative values. For example, serpent is a
mere highly charged or emotional word in English than snake partly because it carries with it
associations of diabolic, evil and guile from the bible story of Eve's seduction by Satan who
disguised himself as a serpent.

Words of mental value generally give the impression of objectivity and simple diction
the impression of sincerity, A highly charged vocabulary whether positive or negative in force
suggests a highly emotional reaction to the object matter and its effects on the expression of
the theme is equally pronounced. Constant patterns of connotation are often to be built up in
literature as an element or a building unit of meaning. The good reader looks out for these
patterns and the effects they create in establishing an idea, attitude or quality about a person,
place or thing (Mays 824).