LANGUAGE TWO NOTES FOR ADVANCED LEVEL (TOPIC 1)

BASIC CONCEPTS OF LITERATURE

THEORY OF LITERATURE

It is a body of principles that gives a learner the origin, development, and essential qualities of literature. It examines different definitions and treatments of the word literature. It also explains how literary works differ from other works such as law books, science, mathematics, etc.

Literature is a multi-dimensional concept; hence there have been various attempts to define the term literature as follows:

Literature is the product of human imagination employing language creatively to reflect man’s relationship within his/her environment (Shakespeare).
Literature is a mirror that reflects the reality of society (Nkwera).
Literature is the use of language in a peculiar way (different from normal language use) in order to reflect social realities through artistic use of language (Gibbon).
Literature is imaginative and creative writing which uses language and arbitrary assemblage of devices.
Literature is an imitation based on the reality of society.
Literature is the work of art which uses language creatively to express human realities (the universe is the source of these realities to be expressed).
Literature is the expression of emotions and feelings of someone.

Generally, literature can be defined as any work of art that uses language creatively to reflect social realities within society aiming at educating, entertaining, criticizing, conscientizing, or warning the society. As literature, it uses universality, artist, work as well as audience.

Key words to consider

Art (Organization of events, characterization, flow of incidents)
Use language
Creatively
Social realities

Literature is a product of society; it therefore attempts to reflect social activities with an interest to not only entertain but also to educate.

The first intention demands that literature has to be artistic in order to provide entertainment to the consumer; however, in order to educate society, literature must uncover its skills and sexiest ways for remedial changes.

Social realities

In order to accomplish this opinion, the work of art must be accordant with the same society it’s talking about. It’s evident therefore that a good literary work of art is a product of society, by the outsiders. Since literature aims to benefit society, it has to work upon the daily activities of society; in fact, it must be a serious commentary, judge, and critic of society.

Words

Words are the brushes with which a literary artist paints the picture of society.

ART

In defining the word art, two ideas emerge:

That art is a skill.
That art is an item or a product of creativity.

Art is a skill

This paradigm argues that art is the skill used in making or doing different things e.g. the art of basket weaving, the art of tuning a piano, the art of scoring a goal. In this sense, there are many arts; in fact, there are as many arts as there are deliberate specialized activities for human beings to engage in.

Art is used in many other ways. For example, useful arts refer to those arts which produce beautiful objects for everyday use. Decorative arts are arts which produce items for decorations and also for their own use.

The word art is used in a more specialized way; for example, it is widely used to mean a painting, a novel, music composition, to mention a few. Such activities designed only to produce a work of art are often called fine art.

Why Art

Creations of art serve different reasons. For example, in human life, people have created different tools for cutting, digging, and have needs of special satisfactions—things worth looking at or worth hearing. Others want memorable things; these needs are either formal or commemorative interests.

Formal interests

These are found with people who are interested in order; they enjoy patterns of contrast and balances. For example, prehistoric people curved the handles of their hunting knives in regular pleasing patterns. Objects in our homes are arranged in regular patterns. Today we dress up, wear jewellery, and arrange our dresses in certain ways depending on our interests. These are examples of formal interests.

Commemorative interests

Some events and ideas take a very high importance in our religious, social, and political life. In different societies, people use some formal symbols or ceremonies to make such events memorable. For example, prehistoric people used dances and rituals to ensure success at seed time or harvest time. Ancient Greeks represented with different symbols the ideal human politics of strength, courage, and beauty in their statues of gods and goddesses.

Today we mark a marriage with speech, songs, and ceremonies and therefore give the occasion form in order to mark it memorable.

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WORK OF ART

An Aesthetic experience

Works of art result from the formal and commemorative coming together; they satisfy our desires for form and at the same time remind us of something we consider. When we experience a work of art, we do not feel the two separate interests; they join to create a special experience for us. This is aesthetic experience.

Examples of works of Art

The great epic poem ODYSSEY appeals to us in a way that unites the two interests into one. It is not only a story about basic human problems and a study of the resourcefulness and adaptability of human nature, but it is also cunningly told with suspense and a climax.
Vincent van Gogh’s paintings of the sunflower are not just a formal composition of shape and color; they have a bright vividness that stays in our minds as a kind of symbol of nature bursting with life.
Berte Thorvaldsen’s “Shepherd Boy” is a delightful marble statue typical of a neoclassical style. It vividly shows the beauty of youth just as it captures our imagination, thus creating a universe of ideas. Works of art may differ widely in the proportions in which they combine formal and commemorative interests. Fine arts and literature usually amount to the conclusion that this picture and that poem induce the same mood in a person. The various arts have their individual history and a different internal structure of elements, although they are in constant relationship with each other. These relationships are not influences which start from one point and determine evolutions of other arts.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

A literary work of art cannot survive or even be properly understood without a thorough understanding of the language which is its medium of expression. Its use of language is not to be taken as it meets the eye. The literary artist concentrates on the books that are thought worthy of preservation as literature, to be studied for their own sake rather than for their extensive value as guidebooks or political tracts. The language in these books is used in a peculiar way in order to entertain and educate at the same time. There is a difference therefore in the way language is used in literature as opposed to ordinary language use in at least three aspects:

Literary language may violate or deviate from the generally observed rules of the language in many different ways.
A creative writer can use features of the language of past ages or even borrow features belonging to other non-literary uses of language.
Literary language is well known for its tropes/figures of speech like irony and metaphor and therefore is rich in devices compared to ordinary language.

The result of the above factors is that a literary work of art is not a simple object but rather a highly complex organization of a stratified character with multiple meanings or relationships.

BEAUTY AND SIGNIFICANCE

Scholars try to describe the two interests in art as those of beauty and significance. They identify the formal interests with the desire to make and enjoy beautiful things. People studying art believe that the formal satisfaction of sheer design and the intensity of the commemorative aspect both contribute to beauty.

BEAUTY AND USEFULNESS

Beauty does not depend on usefulness; works of art such as paintings and music have little or no use apart from their value as works of art. We could use a piece of sculpture to hold the door open although its only real use is that it is the sculpture. Other objects such as cups or chairs are designed to perform special functions yet they too are sometimes considered works of art. They may even be exhibited in a museum if they produce aesthetic experiences.

SOCIAL ROLE OF THE ARTIST

By nature, visual arts like paintings and sculptures involve more physical manual labour than the literary arts. The sculptor or painter has generally more easily assimilated to the traditions of skilled manual craftsmanship. The poet has tended to be associated with the realm of religious ceremonies and record keeping within or outside the various religious organizations. All in all, artists have a role to educate, challenge, revolutionize, entertain, and record; these are enjoyed in all spheres of the social structure.

LITERATURE AND THE OTHER ARTS

The relationships of literature and the other arts are many and complex. Sometimes poetry has used inspirations from the other arts. Likewise, other works of art may use themes of poetry. Poets have used pieces of sculptures, paintings, or even music. More often, poems have been written with the intention that music should be added, and in some cases, poets and composers have been one and the same. It is evident therefore that there are some relationships among the various art types.

HOW LITERARY ARTS DIFFER FROM THE OTHER ARTS

Although all arts are similar from the artistic point of view that serves both commemorative and formal interests, there are several differences between literary and other arts. The differences are as follows:

LANGUAGE
Literary works of art are presented using language as their medium of presentation. The language used is not the ordinary language; it is artistic and therefore rich in artistic devices.
CHARACTERS
Literary artists use characters to relay their message. The characters are artistic creations of the author or the poet and they are the mouthpiece of the writer. Through these, the authors pass the message to society. The characters also portray the lilies and shortcomings of the people in society at a given time.
SETTING
Setting refers to time and place. A literary work of art is set at a certain given period of time. Setting is therefore basically divided into two. First, the temporal setting which depicts the period when the work of art was set (period). This influences the language and all the aspects of culture found in the work of art. For example, dark and wet weather. This is because if the work of art depicts the 1960s, it will also depict the aspects of culture of that period and place including language, dress, and music, to mention just a few aspects.
Secondly, the geographic setting. The author will depict the culture of the society shown in the work of art to resemble that of the society where the art is set. Thus, if the work of art is portraying the society of fishermen, this setting will dictate the dressing and all the other details found in the work to fit such a society.

TYPES OF LITERATURE

Oral Literature
Written Literature

ORAL LITERATURE

Is the type of literature presented through the use of mouth. It is primary to the written genre, i.e., it has been in existence long before the invention of written form. The elements of oral literature include legend, myth, proverbs, sayings, riddles, folktales, anecdotes, fables.

LEGEND

These are the formed stories of the past, especially ones that may not be practically true but of historical truth and perhaps less of supernatural.

Example: Wangu Wa Makeri (by Bukenya) – These are stories originated in ancient times, especially with focus on ideas or beliefs about the early history of mankind, encounters, experiences of supernatural power and super-being creatures that had power more than human beings. It tells the origin of life, creation, and the meaning of life.

FABLES

These are short stories not based on fact, often with animals as characters that convey a moral message. People and inanimate objects are sometimes the central figures. Fables have to do with supernatural or unusual incidents.

ANECDOTE

These are short, interesting, and amusing stories about a person or event. It is a narrated incident based on the life of an important person and should contain elements of truth.

EPICS

Are long narrative poems in an elevated style presenting characters of high position in adventures forming an organic whole through their relation to an arbitral heroic figure.

RIDDLES

These are puzzling questions, statements, or descriptions especially intended to test the cleverness of those within to solve them. Example: “My house has no door” – An egg; “We are three in our family.”

FOLKTALES

These are short narrations passed down through oral tradition. They are popular stories passed from one generation to the next. These explain or tell how things came to exist the way they are. Example: The Sun and the Moon (by Bukenya).

SAYINGS

These are phrases or statements that express something about life that most people believe is wise and true. This includes idioms and proverbs.

IDIOMS

Are phrases or sentences in which their meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words. Thus, it must be learned as a whole unit.

Hit the nail on the head – go straight to the point
Break one’s back – to overwork someone
Take French leave – to leave without permission
Beauty is only skin deep – don’t judge by appearance

PROVERBS

Are short artistic wise sayings which are meant to warn or educate.

Birds of some feathers flock together
Stitch in time saves nine
Every dog has its day – everyone has success ahead
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush

TASK

Comment on the status/position of Oral Literature in Tanzania today.

WRITTEN LITERATURE

Is the work of art expressed through written form. It emerged after the invention of writing, so it is secondary to Oral literature.

Written Literature has three GENRES:

Novel
Plays/Drama
Poetry

a) THE NOVEL

Is a long work of prose fiction that contains characters in the form of plot. Normally presents life based on history and culture of the society in which it is set. It is also defined as a long narrative in which characters and events are imaginary. Though events contained in novels are fiction, they are said to have verisimilitude (realism). This is due to the fact that incidents found in the novel have some relationship with real life as experienced by human beings. A person who writes a novel is called a NOVELIST.

A novel (from French Novella, Italian novella meaning new) is an extended generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. Until the 18^th century, the word referred specifically to short fictions of love and intrigue as opposed to romances which were epic-length works about love and adventure. Novels are generally between 60,000 – 200,000 words or 300 – 1300 pages in length.

During the 18^th century, the novel adopted features of the old romance and became one of the literary genres. It is today defined by its ability to become the object of literary accusation demanding artistic merit and a specific literary style. The early novel was basically any story told for its spectacular or revealing instincts. The original environment living on with a typical frame setting – was the entertaining conversation. Stories of grave incidents could just as well augment sermons.

Collection of examples facilitated the work of preachers in need of such illustrations. A fable could illustrate a moral conclusion; a short historical reflection could do the same. A competition of genres developed. Tastes and social status were decisive. If one believes on the medieval collections, the working classes loved their own brands of drastic stories, stories of clever cheating, wit, and the ridicule leveled against hated social groups.

FEATURES OF A NOVEL

Novels are presented in narrative form.
They are written in chapters, unlike plays which are written in acts and scenes, and poems which are written in stanzas and verses.
Novels are meant to be read silently, quite contrary to plays which are meant to be performed on stage or poems to be sung.
A novel has a point of view, i.e., the angle from which the story is told.

b) PLAY / DRAMA

Drama is a work of art written for the purpose of being acted on stage. Another scholar has defined drama as storytelling that uses actors/actresses before people’s eyes.

A person who composes/writes a play is called a PLAYWRIGHT.

FEATURES OF DRAMA / PLAY

When in scripts, drama shows its setting through stage directions which tell the readers when and where something happened. It also shows where and when characters enter and leave, and it shows different moods of characters.
Drama must have dialogue, i.e., conversation or speech of two or more characters speaking to each other.
A play must have a conflict that drives it. These conflicts pass through stages such as exposition, rising action (complication/confrontation), climax (point of no return), falling action, resolution (denouement).
Most modern plays have elements of realism, meaning what an artist says/does relates to everyday experience.
The stages of a play have something that characterizes the mood of the play. Normally a song that is sung throughout the play is to affect the emotions of the viewers or readers. The choice of the song will depend on the subject matter of the play.
Plays have many theories like novels do.

Terms used in Drama/Play

Scene: The smallest unit in a play. A scene has one major event. Thus, a play is made up of scenes which combine to form acts.
Act: A major division of a play made of scenes. Sometimes you may find a play which has neither scenes nor acts.
Curtain: When the actors/actresses leave the stage, they go behind the curtain. The rising and lowering of the curtain marks the beginning or end of the scene or act.
Stage direction: These are words introduced before any action in a play with the intention of making readers imagine they are viewing the actual performance on stage. They show the setting of an act or a scene. They also show the mood of the actors/actresses. Stage directions show leaving and entering of characters.

NB: Stage directions are normally written in italics to make those words unique.

TYPES OF DRAMA / PLAYS

There are four types of plays, as shown below:

i) Tragedy

Is a play that deals with serious action. Tragedy plays present terrifying events and extensive suffering. The source of tragic plays comes from royal events presenting kings and queens and great persons. Also, tragic plays deal with noble persons.

It has a hero/heroine who becomes engaged in a conflict, experiences great suffering, and finally dies or is defeated or punished. In other words, we can say it is a play that ends sorrowfully.

ii) Comedy

This type of play is aimed to make people laugh. It is argued that comedy came into existence because tragedy was considered threatening, so viewers could not learn because they could concentrate on pitying the hero/heroine suffering due to tragic action. Thus, they introduced comedy to make people enjoy instead of tragedy.

Comedy achieves the purpose of laughter by employing wit (clever/amusing) and humor (funny), usually has a happy ending.

Comedy ridicules the weakness of human nature.
Comedy criticizes and aims to correct human conduct.
Usually, comedy is exaggeration in nature.
Comedy arises from improbable people placed in probable situations.

iii) Tragic–Comedy

This is a mixture of tragedy and comedy. It is a play that employs a plot like that of tragedy but ends happily the way comedy ends. In tragic comedy, it is the denouement that shows happiness. Thus, tragic comedy has both features of comedy and those of tragedy because there are aspects that appeal to laughter and those that appeal to sadness or pity.

iv) Melodrama

It is a kind of drama which uses music to heighten events and uses stock characters (characters taken from the past).

The major aim of melodrama is to present confrontation between good and evil. Also, it aims to make human beings do good things which are acceptable in society.

Usually in melodrama, there is violence on the stage and usually the good one wins.

v) Mixed form

This is a contemporary type of drama which includes all the types mentioned. This has been so due to development and changes and it is because of the freedom of form, freedom of style as well as freedom of techniques.

HOW TO WRITE A PLAY

Make sure that your play shows characters who are talking to each other. That means a play must be in dialogue form.
As it is in scripts, it must be supported by stage directions so that readers may know where various incidents take place.
Stage directions will help the reader to see that the character enters or leaves the stage.

NB: Words that show stage directions are normally in italic form and in brackets. These words help the reader to understand what/when & where the events take place in the play.

When the play/drama is performed on the stage, stage directions are replaced by actual activities that the viewer can see and hear. For example, things like closing and opening the door, coughing can be seen and heard.

Know the type of play you are composing.
Before all, you must have an idea, i.e., all about the play.
Make sure your play has all the features of being a play.

TASK

What are the features of a play?
Differentiate comedy from tragedy.
What is the difference between a novel and a play?
Plays are said to have more power of educating, criticizing, and building awareness in their respective society and the world at large than other literary genres. Do you agree? Why?

c) POETRY

(From the Greek “poiesis” – making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to its ostensible meaning.

Poetry may be written independently, as discrete poems, or may occur in conjunction with other arts, as in poetic drama, hymns, or lyrics.

Poetry and discussions of it have a long history. Early attempts to define poetry such as Aristotle’s Poetics focused on the use of speech in theater, drama, song, and comedy. Later attempts concentrated on features such as repetition and rhyme and aesthetics which distinguish poetry. Poetry has sometimes been more loosely defined as a fundamental creative act using language.

Poetry often uses particular forms and conventions to expand the utter meaning of the words, or to evoke emotional or essential responses. Devices used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poets use ambiguity, symbolism, and other stylistic elements of poetic diction that leave a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly, metaphor and simile create resonance between otherwise disparate images, layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist between individual senses in their patterns of chime or rhythm.

Some forms of poetry are specific to particular cultures and genres, responding to the characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. While readers accustomed to identifying poetry as being written in rhyming lines and regular meter, there are traditions such as those of Dufu and Beowulf that use other approaches to achieve rhythm and euphony. In today’s globalized world, poets often borrow styles, techniques, and forms from diverse cultures and languages.

In addition to specific forms of poems, poetry is often thought of in terms of different genres and subgenres. A poetic genre is generally a tradition or classification of poetry based on the subject matter, style, or other broader literary characteristics. Some commentators view genre as natural forms of iteration; others view the study of genre as the study of how different works relate and refer to other works.

The term poetry has been defined differently according to different perspectives of various scholars.

Poetry is the writing that formulates a concentrated, imaginative awareness of experience chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through its meaning, sound, and rhythm. (Webster’s New International Dictionary G & C Merriam Co., 1961, 3rd ed.)
Poetry is an imaginative work that normally presents experiences or ideas with special reference to emotions using language characterized by imagery and rhythmical sound.
Poetry is a literary genre that is rich in figurative expression as well as musical features.
Poetry is a literary genre in verse (line) form using language more creatively and artistically than other literary works.
Poetry is a metrical composition characterized by strong imagination, emotion, significant meaning, and appropriate language.

FEATURES OF POETRY

Very economical in language use, i.e., poetry uses few words to convey a lot of information.
Poetry consists of musical features such as rhyme and rhythm.
Poetry uses relatively more figures of speech than other genres of literature.
The basic unit composing a poem is the line.
Poetry rarely involves characters with names; normally poems use the persona/speaker.
Poetry is arranged in lines and stanzas.

TERMS USED IN POETRY

Poetry has jargons that identify it as something unique in itself. These terms/jargons are common in poetry and are called POETIC DICTION/DEVICES.

2. POETIC DEVICES

These are techniques or tools used in poetry which help improve the quality of poetry. Poetic methods/devices can be a number of things used in a poem, for instance language, imagery, assonance, alliteration, simile, metaphor, stanza, consonance, persona, allusion, refrain, rhyme, rhythm, tone, poetic license, onomatopoeia.

1. PERSONA

This refers to the person who speaks in the poem. Sometimes a poet may use the pronoun “I” in his/her poem. This does not mean that it is the poet who is speaking; rather, the poet has put him/herself in someone’s shoes.

ALLITERATION

Is the repetition of initial consonant sounds at the beginning of consecutive words in a verse/line.

Example: But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined when I was one. Or the babbling brook bubbled the furrow followed free.

CONSONANCE

Is the repetition of similar consonant sounds at the end of a word in stressed syllables in a given verse.

Example: Food is good, not word.
Set your foot to fit here.

ASSONANCE

Is the repetition of vowel sounds in neighboring words in a verse.

Example: Jo ascended the throne and told the whole populace to throw a bone to Polonius the vole.

ELLIPSIS

Is the intentional omission of some words that the poet considers less important to be used in his/her work. Normally functional words such as prepositions, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, and determiners are the ones that fall victims of being omitted.

NB: The omitted words may be filled by the readers as they read.

ALLUSION

Is the use of well-known things as reference so as to make readers understand the concept(s) due to the fact the reference used is well known.

STANZA

Is a group of lines that stands as a paragraph. Stanzas are separated from each other by space.

RHYME

Is the similarity of ending sounds existing between two words or is the similarity in sound at the end of consecutive lines or at the same interval in a stanza.

FUNCTIONS OF RHYME

The repetition of sounds at regular intervals brings the reader a sense of gratification; meaning it makes the reader enjoy that repetition.
The recurrence of the rhyme at regular intervals helps to establish the form of the stanza.
The rhymes serve to unify and distinguish the divisions of the poem and therefore give unity to one stanza while marking it off from the others as separate. From such divisions, the rhyme creates a sense of movement to the poem as a whole.

Types of Rhymes

The types of rhymes are classified according to two schemes:

The position of the rhymed syllables in the line.
The number of syllables involved in producing the rhyme.

End Rhymes

These are the most common rhymes and they occur at the end of the line.

Internal Rhymes

Sometimes called leonine rhyme, occurs at some place after the beginning but before the end of the line.

The Beginning Rhyme

This occurs in the first syllable or syllables of the line.

RHYME SCHEME

The sequence in which the rhyme occurs. For example:

Like and learn to be hard working (a)
Like bees you should live (b)
You’ll be like a king (a)
You’ll know how to live (b)
Indeed, living is learning (a)

Thus the rhyming scheme in this stanza is ab, ab, a.

REFRAIN

Is a word or line that is repeated at the end of each stanza in a poem. It actually acts as a chorus. This technique serves two great roles: (i) emphatic role (ii) musical purposes.

The Refrain

It is a line repeated at the end of each stanza. Examples of poems with refrain:

“The Song of the Low”
“A Freedom Song”

Function of Repetition in poetry

These two contribute to both musicality of the poem and the meanings of the poem:

Sound repetition
Word repetition

A good example is “Western Civilization,” a poem with a lot of repetitions. The repetition in this poem shows the monotony of the work.

VERSE

Is a unit of a poem consisting of a line in a stanza. No stanza in the absence of verses.

RHYTHM

Is a pattern of stress and pauses that link words in a unit. So rhythm is caused by the poem being either regular or irregular. When it is regular, stress occurs at similar intervals, and when it is irregular, stress does not occur at the same interval. Both stressed and unstressed syllables form a foot. One foot begins where a stressed syllable begins.

ONOMATOPOEIA

Is the use of words which imitate sound or the use of words that suggest meaning through the sounds of things or animals.

Example: The use of “tu-tu-tu-tu” which suggests the sound of a gun.

POETIC LICENSE

Is the right assumed by poets to alter or invert standard syntax or depart from common diction or pronunciation to comply with the metrical or tonal requirements of their writing. Or the privilege that poets have to violate the rules of grammar of the language he/she is using to compose his/her work.

It is an allowance or permission to the poet to play around with the rules of language in order to achieve effect.

VARIETIES OF POETIC LICENSE

This is the poet’s right to ignore set rules and conventions generally observed by users of the language. The poet deviates from the norm (canon) in order to achieve his own end in this presentation of the poem. Through poetic license, there are several deviations that can be observed from poems; these include the following:

a. Lexical deviation

This is the art of inventing new words for the poem in order to fit the style of the poet. Lexical deviation is not a complete variation of lexical rules; rather, it only applies the rules of word formation to a greater generality. Quite a number of widely used English words originated in poetry due to the use of lexical deviations, for example:

Blatant – Spencer
Assassination – Shakespeare
Pandemonium – Milton

Usage of lexical deviations

In order to deviate from the norm lexically, the poet waves or ignores the usual descriptions or the rules of word formation. Examples include the English rules of word formation which permit the predication of “force” to a verb to convey the meaning of beforehand as in foresee, foretell.

Such a rule may be applied with greater freedom to create words like foretell or foreappear.

In the example above, the rule of using the prefix “fore” which limits its usage to just a number of verbs is overstretched to include other words which do not under normal circumstances use the prefix.

Likewise, compounding, which is another process of word formation, is used with greater generality in some lines or poems. For example, in a poem by Hopkins titled “The Well of the Heathland,” he used the following rhyme: “The widow making uncoiling deeps.” The use of UN as a prefix on words which do not take a prefix in normal speech. Widow making is also used on the pattern of music prize-winning tub thumping.

However, there is strangeness in the usage, as such a compound as widow making is not normally a choice by the poet. Some words may have to be snorted; in this incidence, parts of words are omitted, such as:

The removal of the initial part of a word – Ephesians e.g., ‘tis instead of it is.
The removal of the medial part of a word – Apocalypse e.g., Nev instead of never.
The removal of the final part of a word – syncope e.g., oft’ instead of often.
Removal of words with no importance – elision.

b. Dialectical deviation

This is the borrowing of features of socially or regionally defined dialects. It is commonly used by storytellers, humanists, and poets. For the poet, dialect may serve a number of purposes; in its usage, it evokes flavors and a sense of belonging to the society which reads the poem. A good example is the poem “The Socialists” by Richard Mabala.

It had been afraid to draw close dressed as I was in working clothes, but fired by such moving words of commitment, I approached each Bandung and asked him if they would spare a few hours to help us dig our new irrigation ditch.

c. Grammatical Deviations

This is the deviation from the normal grammatical rules in order to suit the requirements of the poem. A good example of this is the re-arrangement of syntactic elements in an irregular order called “hyperbaton.” This is done by placing an adjective after the noun it qualifies. Likewise, jumbled structures of clauses are sometimes used in verses. They are taken for granted. This can be seen in the poem “The Diverting History of John Gulpin” written by Cowper.

John Gulpin was a citizen of credit and renown,
A train-band captain eke he was a
Famous of London town.
John Gulpin’s spouse said to her dear,
“Though wedded we have been”
These twice ten tedious years yet we
“No holiday have seen.”

The sections underlined contain the main clause elements which are S for subject, C for complement, and V for verb which in ordinary speech would certainly take the order S V C.

However, Cowper gives three separate variations of that order: CVS, CSV, SCV.

d. Archaism

This is the deviation of the language of the historical period. A poet is not restricted to the language of his or her own period; widely applauded poets make use of archaism. James Joyce thought a writer must be familiar with the language’s history.

T.S. Eliot expressed a similar idea when he argued that the significance and appreciation of the poet is the appreciation of his relationship to the dead poets and artists. This means that many poets have felt that they share the same language, same communicative media as poets of earlier generations, whatever changes the language may have undergone in the meantime.

Archaism is therefore the survival of the language of the past into the language of the present. The archaic by Aristotle has long persisted through much of the history of English poetry.

Poets like Spencer and Milton played a leading role in the establishment of these rational patterns of usage. The traditional has been kept alive in poetry by such words such as:

Behold – meaning see or look
Betimes – meaning sometimes
Damsel – meaning small
Stetson – meaning often
Are’ – meaning error
Fain – meaning act like
Oft – often
Smith – hit, kill
Unto – to me you
Sounder – there

e. Graphological/Orthographic Deviation

This is the line-by-line arrangement of words of the printed poem with irregularity. The printed line, just like the printed stanza, is different in its arrangement when it is compared to stanza or a paragraph in prose.

The line in a stanza is an independent unit which is capable of communicating an idea; it is also capable of interacting without the use of standard units of punctuation.

Good examples of poets who use graphological deviations are William Carlos Williams and E.E. Cummings.

Orthographic deviation is the discarding of capital letters and punctuation where conventional prose calls for their use.

A good example of a poet using orthographic deviation is E.E. Cummings. According to him, the use of capital letters, spacing, and punctuation is an expressive device and not just symbols used in writing.

Seeker of Truth by E.E. Cummings

Seeker of truth
Follow no path
All paths lead where
Truth is here

When graphological deviation is employed and ambiguity arises from a clash between the units of sentences indicated by line action and by syntax.

By elimination, the poem above ends with the statement “Truth is here,” but according to syntax, “truth” must belong to the clause that began in the previous line, so “here” is left on its own as an explanatory conclusion.

The significance of the poem lies in the ambiguity which could not have arisen if the poet had used conventional capitalization and functions.

Tone

Is the writer’s attitude toward the subject he/she is writing about. It can be happy, angry, lovely, scared, excited, suspicious, etc.

Mood

Is the feeling or atmosphere perceived by the reader or the feeling the reader gets when reading something. It can be scary mood, anger, pity, happiness, fun.

Imagery

Words or phrases that appeal to any sense or any combination of senses.

Personification

Is a figure of speech which endows inanimate objects with human traits or abilities.

Example:

When whole water dapped our cringing brow
Injustice strides forth with a sure step
The house pleaded for a new coat of paint
We could hear the singing of water streams as we walked in the forest
The trees were whispering as the wind blew.

Point of View

The poet’s/author’s point of view concentrates on the vantage point of the speaker or teller of the story or poem.

1st person: The speaker is a character in the story or poem and tells it from his/her perspective (uses “I”).
2nd person limited: The speaker is not part of the story but tells about the other character but limits information about what one character sees and feels.
3rd person omniscient: The speaker is not part of the story but is able to know and describe what all characters are thinking.

TASK

Add ten (10) more poetic devices you know.

TYPES OF POETRY

Generally, poems/poetry can be grouped into two broad types:

Traditional poetry/closed form poem
Modern poetry/open form poem

i) TRADITIONAL POETRY/CLOSED FORM POEMS

These are poems which strictly follow ancient rules and regulations of composing a poem. Rules and regulations like balance in the number of words per stanza, rhyming pattern, rhythm, and balance in the number of words in each line of every stanza.

ii) MODERN POETRY/OPEN FORM

These are poems which are not as strict as the traditional ones in obeying all the rules and regulations of composing a poem.

NB: Some modern poems have rhymes. If you find a modern poem which has rhymes, then it is not a free verse poem because a free verse poem is a poem which has no rhyme.

Also, it should be noted that traditional and modern have nothing to do with time. A poem may be composed today and yet be regarded as a traditional poem. The vice versa is true.

However, poetry can further be categorized based on form and content. If you categorize/classify poems in this approach, the following are the types you can have:

i) NARRATIVE POEM

This poetry tells a story. It includes other types like epic, ballad, allegory, and simple narratives. Example: “Always a Suspect” – the poet tells us a story of one Black man in South Africa.

In “Shebeen Queen,” the poet tells the story of the queen collecting her money, etc.

ii) DIDACTIC POEM

This is a poem whose aim is to instruct the reader rather than appeal to his imaginative understanding. This poem aims at giving a lesson to the reader so as to move them (change), usually talking about political or social matters. For example, “Your Pain” (by Armando Gaebuza).

iii) LYRICAL POETRY

These are poems which express the thoughts and particularly the feelings of the poet. So it deals with the internal world of the poet. These can be poems of love, death, torture, etc. For instance, the poem “I Love You Gentle One” or “Song of Common Lover” (by Ralph Botanizer and Flaring Renovo) respectively.

iv) SONNET POETRY

Is a lyric poem that contains 14 (fourteen) lines. These lines are divided into two groups. The first eight lines are called Octet and the remaining six lines are called Sestet.

A good example of this is “If We Must Die” (by C. Mackey).

v) DESCRIPTIVE POETRY

Is a poem which tells about the outlook of people or certain situations or events. For instance, “Dying Child” (by Lwamba).

vi) BALLAD POETRY

Is a narrative song with the recurrent refrain. It is usually a song that tells a story. It’s like a drama as it is in the form of conversation; when you sing it, you will find as if there are two people talking to each other in turns.

Example: “Ballad of the Landlords” (by Langston Hughes).

Ballads are tales which touch upon legends, love, passion, battles, human conflicts, and even supernatural events. They were most popular in the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. Many popular ballads describing conflicts were composed in the 15^th and 16^th centuries and they were about the conflict between the Scots and the English.

Characteristics of a Ballad

They are usually written in four-line stanzas.
They are written in dramatic question and answer dialogue to raise the emotion of listeners.
They often have a refrain.
Probably the ballads developed from oral tradition (rational songs). This helps to give the narration a smooth flow and serves to intensify or to increase the dramatic effect; mostly the narrator remains pensive until the talk reaches its tragic climax. The narrator often refrains from making any moral comment; he doesn’t judge, he just stays there.
The audience draws their own conclusion.
Due to passage from one generation to another by word of mouth, the words sometimes change giving each ballad its variation.

vii) EPIC POETRY

This is a long narrative poem presenting characters of high position and adventures. Normally, an epic poem has a central heroic figure whose relation with other characters develops episodes which are important to the history of a nation or place.

One theory of epics claims that the first epic took shape from the scattered words of various unknown poets and through their usage in time the episodes were melded into an ordered sequence. This theory has led to the belief that an epic is a product of a single genius who gives its structure and expression.

Epics without certain authorship are called folk epics. Both folk and art epics share a group of characteristics:

The hero is an important figure of national or international importance and of great historical or legendary significance.
The setting is vast, covering great nations, the world, or the universe.
The action consists of deeds of great or seen supernatural courage.
Supernatural forces interest themselves into the action and intervene from time to time.
A style of sustained elevation and simplicity is used.
The epic poet recounts the deeds of the hero with a measure of objectivity.

viii) ODE

Is a poem that either addresses a person or a thing or celebrates a certain event. For instance, if one composes a poem for one’s wedding.

ix) ELEGY

Is a lyric poem that expresses sadness about someone who has died. So all poems composed for this purpose are called elegies.

Generally, these are some of the categories of poems as there are many ways/approaches of categorizing poems. It should be noted that one poem may fall in several kinds of poetry depending on how one may approach it.

HOW TO COMPOSE A POEM

For a person to compose a good poem, one must know all the features of poetry.

Select a suitable title of your poem in a condensed way but gives a summary of your poem.
Know the type of the poem you are composing.
Pack your messages in verses. Note that a verse/line in a poem is not necessarily a sentence.
Use words economically so words that are metaphorical or symbolic are inevitable. As the poet, you need to use words that you think best present the message you intend.
Use imagery to appeal to at least one of the five senses or organs such as touch, hearing, smell, sight, and taste. These words are as important as they act as spices in your work.
Reread the poem to see how it produces the rhythm.

TASK

Compose a lyric poem.

FORM AND CONTENT IN LITERARY WORK

These are the key concepts to consider when analyzing literary work. Any literary work must have form and content. There is no way one can separate the two concepts. Understanding form and content will help you to produce your own literary works and easily decipher the works produced by other artists.

FORM:

This part contains all techniques used by the artist for artistic effect. In this part, the artist chooses the best techniques that will enable him/her to decipher the message to the readers/audience. It is impossible for the work of art to exist without form.

Form contains the following elements: style, plot, flashback, foreshadowing, characters, suspense, language, setting, point of view, etc. Through these elements, an artist communicates to his/her readers, listeners, or viewers.

i) STYLE

This is the way the author decides to present his/her work. Every author has his/her unique way of writing. For instance, Ngugi wa Thiong’o in his novel “Grain of Wheat” uses biblical quotations. So if you observe many works of Ngugi, you will conclude that Ngugi prefers biblical quotations in his work; that being the case, we say this is Ngugi’s style.

Not only that, but also Chinua Achebe has the tendency of using Igbo proverbs, vocabularies, and mixing of languages, so again this is Achebe’s style.

Generally, style can be achieved by choice of vocabularies, use of certain figures of speech, incorporating features of oral literature like songs, proverbs, and other oral literature genres.

NB: One can be in a good position to say, this is the style of a certain author only if one has gone through a number of readings of that particular author.

ii) FORESHADOWING

This is the technique by which a hint of the action which will follow later in the story is given. For example, you may be reading a play and find somewhere a knife is shown. As we continue reading, we find that one of the characters has used it to kill him/herself. Then we conclude that it is foreshadowing.

iii) SETTING

This can be described in terms of place and time. Based on the occurrence of events presented in the work, setting depends on time and place. For example, the novel “The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born” is set in Ghana after independence. There are clues that can help a student/reader to identify the setting of a particular work. These include:

Actual names of places and people.
Physical features.
The actual history of the place.
Social context in which events take place, e.g., church, school, wedding ceremony.
The author’s name and history, e.g., Atufigwegwe, Mwaifuge, Twikasige, etc.
The culture of people at that particular place described, e.g., type of food eaten, type of clothes worn, economic activities carried out, ways of worshiping, type of dances, the way people marry and bury dead bodies, etc.

So there are some clues that can assist learners to identify the setting of a given literary work.

iv) PLOT

This is the arrangement of events in a literary work. Plot ought to have unity, meaning incidents are supposed to be arranged in a good manner to show how those incidents are related.

Plot may be chronological or mixed up. Chronological means that incidents are arranged in series based on the way they occurred, i.e., from the beginning to the end (1, 2, 3, 4…).

Mixed plot means that incidents are not arranged chronologically or in series. In this, you may find the incident that is supposed to be presented at the beginning is found at the end or middle. For example, you may be introduced to the death of a certain main character, then about his/her birth, and at the end about his/her diseases.

Plot has five stages/parts: exposition, rising action/confrontations, climax/point of no return, falling action, and resolution.

Thus, dramatic plot has the following structure: point of no return/climax.

NB: If the work of art follows this sequence, then it is a chronological plot; the vice versa is also true.

v) CHARACTER & CHARACTERIZATION

CHARACTER:
Is a person or thing that is given a role to play in a literary work. In a novel or play, there are people who carry the message of the artist, so through these people we understand what the artist wants to tell us.

CHARACTERIZATION:
Is the process of giving attributes to a character or an artist gives attributes to a character keenly so as to enrich the intended message to the reader/listeners/viewers or society at large.

TYPES OF CHARACTERS

Protagonist and antagonist
Dynamic and static
Main and minor

vi) SUSPENSE

This is a technique whereby an artist creates anxiety for the reader. The reader may have the desire to see what will be the result. Unexpectedly, he/she introduces a new incident that means the previous incident has been suspended. By doing so, the artist has caused anxiety to the reader as he/she will be eager to follow the story so as to know the result of the suspended incident.

vii) POINT OF VIEW

This refers to the angle at which we view the story or vantage point from which a story is told. In other words, it is a camera to the reader. This helps the narrator to narrate the story.

The story can be told in the first person where the narrator uses the pronoun I/We. Sometimes it can be told in the third person where the narrator uses he/she or they. Third person can be omniscient or limited. When the narrator knows all about the characters, it is called third person omniscient, meaning the narrator has the ability to describe the thoughts of characters.

The narrator is said to be limited if he/she can only tell the actions done by the character, i.e., the narrator does not know more about them.

viii) LANGUAGE

“No literature in the absence of language.” This is due to the fact that literature uses language to convey messages to society. It is said that language is the vehicle of information transfer in literature.

Language is the source of pleasure in literature because most of the enjoyment that we find in literary work largely depends on artistic use of language.
Literature helps people to improve other language skills, e.g., reading skills, listening skills, etc.

ix) FIGURATIVE USE OF LANGUAGE

This refers to the way the artist uses language so creatively to convey rarities of message. Under form, we came to prove that literature uses language artistically as it uses figures of speech. The divergence of language from normal use for the purpose of achieving a certain effect is what we call figure of speech.

The following are the figures of speech that are commonly used in literature.

a) IMAGERY

Is the use of particular vocabulary in a piece of writing to present through emotions and sensory experience and produce a mental picture. Imagery appeals to at least one of the five senses, i.e., touch, smell, taste, hear, and see.

b) IRONY

Saying the opposite of what is meant. Three types of it are:

Dramatic Irony
Verbal Irony
Situational Irony

Example of Verbal Irony:

“What a beautiful day,” Maxine said, opening her umbrella.

Situational Irony: This is when the result or ending comes in an opposite way than people or audience expected.

Dramatic Irony: This is the situation whereby the reader/audience knows the truth about the characters while characters themselves are not aware or are ignorant of what is going on. A character can be considered good while he/she is bad and vice versa.

c) PERSONIFICATION

Is the situation whereby inanimate or abstract things are given qualities or attributes of a human being.

For example:

The house pleaded for a new coat of paint.
We could hear the singing of water streams as we walked in the forest.
The trees were whispering as the wind blew.

d) SARCASM

Is a form of verbal irony that insults a person with insincere praise.

For example: If a student comes late in class and the teacher says, “I congratulate you for coming to class on time.”

e) SATIRE

This is another form of irony. It uses humor and wit to criticize a person or a community in order to improve that person or the situation. For example, most political cartoons and frequently original comedy use satire.

f) SIMILES

Is the direct comparison of two dissimilar things by using conjunctions such as like, as … as, and than.

For example:

She is as beautiful as an angel.
His hand was small and cold; it felt like wax.
In the morning, the dust hung like fog.

g) METAPHOR

Is a comparison in which two dissimilar things are compared by one being given the attribute of the other. This is an indirect comparison without using words like ‘as’, ‘as…as’, ‘than’, or ‘like’.

Examples:

She is an angel.
In battle, the soldier is a tiger.
Michael’s face is a map of Ireland.

h) PARADOX

Is a statement that seems absurd or contradictory but may actually be true. For example:

For slaves, life was death and death was life.
They call him a lion, but in boxing, the lion was a lamb.

i) OXYMORON

This is the combination of contradictory words to reveal a truth. Oxymoron is a form of paradox; however, unlike paradox, oxymoron places opposing words side by side. For example:

Parting is such sweet sorrow.
The hurricane turned the lush island strict into a hellish paradise.

j) HYPERBOLE/OVERSTATEMENT

Is the deliberate use of exaggeration or elevation in order to give emphasis.

For example:

There are thousands of students in my class.
Hyperbole is a way of speaking or writing that makes something sound better, more exciting, dangerous, etc., than it really is.

k) UNDERSTATEMENT

Is the deliberate avoidance of stressing points. This treats serious matters as if they are minor or normal things. It also sounds as a form of irony because it intends to mean the opposite of what it says.

l) SYNECDOCHE

Is the figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole.

Examples:

Many hands make light work. (Hands stand for workers)
Jack bought a new set of wheels. (Wheels stand for a car)

m) SYMBOLISM

Is the use of symbols to represent ideas.

It is a way of representing an important idea/issue using an object or thing.

A symbol is something that exists and stands for/represents something else.

Examples:

In some contexts, a cross stands for Christianity.
In other contexts, a lion may be a symbol for bravery.

TASK

Is form so important in literary work? Why?

CONTENT

This is what is being said or conveyed in a literary work. Content is what is said or written about in the book, an article, a program, a speech, etc.

Content of literary work includes:

Themes
Messages
Conflicts
Prologue
Crisis

THEME

Is the subject or main idea in a talk, piece of writing, or work of art. It is an abstract concept that is made concrete through its representation in person, action, image in the work of art. It is the basic or general idea expressed in the book.

The following are the main themes in African literature (common themes in African Literature):

African traditions
Betrayal
Position of women
Corruption
Love
Poverty
Protest
Self-awareness (Consciousness)
Unemployment
Classes

Others are:

Racism
Violence
Oppression
Unity
Torture
Colonialism

MESSAGE

Is the main idea that the author wants the readers to understand from what they read. It is actually something that the artist wants the readers to do after reading the work. So we conclude that message is a kind of an appeal that tells readers what action to take after reading the work.

Examples:

We should struggle for our development.
We should fight against corruption for the betterment of our society.
People should struggle and stand for their rights.

LESSON

A lesson is something, especially moral, that we learn from a literary work. Lessons are deduced from what befalls characters in the work. So a literary work is hardly read without a lesson being learnt.

Example: In “A Man of the People,” we may learn that living a corrupt life like that of Chief Nanga has a bad ending.

CONFLICTS

Is the misunderstanding between two parts or two people or an individual. There may be conflict between characters and their environment or circumstances, or a character may be at war with himself, feeling an internal struggle between conflicting ideas, thoughts, or feelings.

Types of conflicts

Social conflict e.g., family conflict
Political conflict e.g., ruling party vs opposing party
Economic conflict e.g., the rich against the poor
Personal conflict e.g., internal feelings, ideas, thoughts, etc.
Philosophical conflict e.g., idea vs idea, feelings vs feelings

CRISIS

Time of great danger, difficulty, or confusion when problems must be solved or important decisions must be made. Example: A political/financial/economic crisis.