Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher

Literature
The term or word literature has been derived from Latin word ‘literatis’ which has been
formed from ‘littera’ which means letter.
Oxford Advance Learner Dictionary gives four meaning:
1- At the writing of a country or a period.
2- Books dealing with special subject like World War II, travel poultry forming.
3- Printed material describing or advertising something e.g. pamphlets, literature about
TV, refrigeration, machine.
4- The written books value as work of art. (drama, fiction, essay, poetry, biography,
contrasted, with technical books and journalism)

In Dictionary of Literary Terms A.F Scott define literature as writing in verse or prose of
acknowledged excellence whose value lies in their intense, personal expression of life
literature, is an artistic expression of thought, replete with feeling imagination.
According to Emerson it is a record of the thoughts. To the classical writer, it is the
criticism of life. To romantic it is the expression of emotion.

Literature is different from and higher in the other branches of learning: In sense, it
is the whole while most of the other major branches of learning deal with parts of what
literature deals with science deal with what is philosophy deals with ought to be or should
be. History deal with what has been, literature deals with all these, like science it deals with
what is i.e. it deals with the truth of literature is a higher truth, being ideal like history it with
what has been, but also continue it with ‘what should have been’ what thought to have
been and thus its complements history like philosophy it deal with what should or taught to
be, but by combining it with what is and what has been complements philosophy, its subject
is life. Painting and sculpture, literature is an art of creation with the help of imagination like
journalism it informs communication and delights. Like Sociology, it is the study of society.
Like Anthropology, it is the study of man. Like Economics and Political Science, literature
also service humanly like theology, literature has through mysticism, help us it’s understand
the creator and to establish relationship between the creator and the creature. Again a
religious reformer, a literary reformer, like Dickens also wants to reform society by attacking
social events like psychology, literature also deals with human psychology. So we see that
literature enjoys on established superiority over all the other branches of learning both
through its similarities and dissimilarities with these branches of learning. It is not a branch
of fine art but a branch of useful arts and useful degree with Plato’s statement that it’s not a
useful art and agrees with Wordsworth who says that it (particularly poetry) is the breath
and finer spirit of all learning.
The major qualities or characteristics of literature follow, Firstly, literature has artistic
quality. It is an expression of life, the expression of some truth. Secondly it is suggestive. It
doesn’t say things but suggest them it appeals to our emotions and imagination rather than
intellect. Thirdly it is permanent and universal. It’s for all time and all place. Its appeal is not
for single age or for a single place, but for everyone, everywhere and in every age.
Literature is basically of two types: Classical and Romantic. The word classical is a
form of ‘classic’ which has been derived from the Latin ‘classicus’. Roman society was
divided into five classes and the uppermost class was named ‘classicus’ which means the

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 Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher
best. From there the name was taken and appealed to the type of literature which is
thought to be a criticism of life, possessing high seriousness, following the rules laid by the
ancient master and having the purpose of reforming the society.

The Romantic is taken from ‘Romance’ which was the name given to a highly
fantastic story popular in the bordering area of span. They were fantastic, with rural setting
and so nature surroundings, dealing with love and imagination. From there the name was
borrowed and given to the type of literature which shows imagination, natural description,
love, strangeness is added to beauty, love for the past, subjectivity, expression of emotion
etc.
Literature has various forms. These forms are either narrative: The forms of stories,
descriptive, i.e. in the form of dramas or having dramatic elements. The forms of literature
are poetry, drama, novel, essay, criticism and biography. All these literary form are, in turn,
sub divided into categories and forms and thus a network of literary forms is established.
They are shown by the following chart:

C
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o
P
a
D
ti
i
r
r
e
t
L
g
o
i
B
v
o
N r
t
m
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l
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p y
a
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 Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher

Poetry
It’s derived from the Greek word ‘poetria’ means ‘making’ ‘poetes’ means the maker or the
one who makes.
According to Oxford Advance Learner Dictionary, its means the quality of producing
feelings. But keeping the Greek source of the word in view, we can say that poetry is the art
of creating something ideal and so higher because it’s the result of feelings, emotion and
imagination which are superior human qualities.
Poetry has been defines variously. Dr. Johnson; it’s the metrical composition. Lord
Macaulay; it’s the art of doing by means of words what a painter does by means of colours.
Carlyle; its musical thought. Shelley, it’s the expression of emotions. Coleridge, it’s the best
words in best order. Wordsworth; it’s the breath and fine spirit of all learning, to him again,
it’s the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility. William Hazlitt;
it’s the language of imagination and passion. Mathew Arnold; it’s the criticism of life.
I define it; the expression of one’s ideas, the narration of events or the views about
something or someone in poetic language.
The essential of poetry are imagination, expression of emotions, meter, rhythm,
diction, figure of speech and human appeal along with other things.
Poetry enjoys a distinguished position in the forms of literature. It can be
distinguished from other form of literature in the following ways:
1- Poetry is different from drama in its nature as well as the use of language. Drama is
objective, while poetry is subjective or objective. The language of drama may be
either that of poetry or of prose while poetry must be poetic. Then in drama there is
only action and no narration whereas it’s not so in poetry.
2- Poetry is different from novel in its nature as well as the use of language. Like novel,
there may be a story, if it’s in the narrative form. Again, like novel it’s also imaginary
and an art of creation. But unlike novel it may be either short or long, whereas novel
must be necessarily long.
3- Poetry is different from criticism, whereas the function of criticism is to comment
upon the function of poetry is to create. It’s invention, whereas criticism is exploring.

Literature is basically of two types: Classical and Romantic. The word classical is a
form of ‘classic’ which has been derived from the Latin ‘classicus’. Roman society was
divided into five classes and the uppermost class was named ‘classicus’ which means the
best. From there the name was taken and appealed to the type of literature, which is for the
sake of life, which shows high seriousness, in which the rules laid by the classical rules of
ancient master are followed, in which there is a greater importance to head than heart and
which is realistic, e.g. poetry of Milton, Pope, Dryden, T.S Eliot etc. Classical has the second
meaning as well and it also refers to the greatest artist, e.g. Shakespeare is an English
classic, though one of the father of romanticism in English literature.
The Romantic is taken from ‘Romance’ which was the name given to a highly
fantastic story popular in the bordering area of span. They were fantastic, with rural setting
and so nature surroundings, dealing with love and imagination. From there the name was
borrowed and given to the type of literature which shows imagination, natural description,
love, strangeness is added to beauty, love for the past, subjectivity, expression of emotion,
violation of classical rules, humanism, idealism, revolutionary note, medievalism, Hellenism,

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 Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher
supernaturalism, description of outward or physical nature, the use of decorative style by
using the figure of speech and in some eases escape.
Poetry has different forms grouped into two main divisions, e.g. subjective and objective
poetry.
Objective sub divided into the sub groups of narrative poetry and dramatic poetry; in
narrative poetry we have epic, muck epic, ballad, lyrical ballad, metrical romance and idyll.
In dramatic poetry we have dramatic monologue, soliloquy, poetry in drama. In subjective
or lyrical poetry we have lyric, sonnet, ode, elegy and hymn. They are in the following chart:

1) Subjective poetry
1- Lyric: It’s derived from the Greek ‘lurikos’ means singing to a lyre. Originally the
term referred to a song sung with the music of a lyre. Today it means a short poem directly
expressing. The poet’s own thoughts and emotions. Ballad, ode, elegy, and sonnet are the
special forms of lyric. According to A.F Scott, it’s the short poem possessing musicality, light
tone, beauty of words and ideas, decorative devices, light rain, simplicity and expression of
emotion. If philosophy enters a lyric it become unphilosophycal or less philosophical. But
what we said above is not totally applicable, to the Romantic lyric, e.g. romantic poets lyrics
are much difference due to the change of the change that lyric along with many other poetic
forms, undertook. In the age of revival, lyric become more lyrical philosophy in it also

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 Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher
remained philosophical, as we see Wordsworth’s mysticism and pantheism, Shelley’s
idealism and Keats realism in the lyric in the lyrics of the age. It was the age in which even
ballad become lyrical.
Lyric has different kinds or types. There is an unlimited range and variety of lyric
according to Hudson, as lyric can accumulate any kind of emotion. We have Bacchanalian
lyric or the lyric of revelry (the name is divided from Bacchus, the god of win in Greek
mythology) then we have the lyric about the lighter thing of society called verse-de- society.
Thirdly, there is love lyric which is about love. Fourthly, there is religious lyric which shows
the religious emotion of the poet. Finally, there is reflective lyric which is based upon
reflection and so thoughtful.
There are some essentials of good lyric: Firstly it’s short. Secondly its language is
simple. Thirdly it deals with a single emotion. Fourthly it possesses musicality. Fifthly is
appeal to the heart of the reader or listener. These characteristics and essential of a good
lyric and this appeal is the result of spontaneity. Sixth essential of a good lyric which means
that it comes directly from the poet’s heart and is not a matter of hard work on his part.
Seventh essential of a good lyric is that there are no intricacies of word or thoughts in a
good lyric.
Lyric is one of the oldest poetic forms in English literature. There are traces of short
poems designed to be sing in. English literature before the 17 th century. From the Middle
English period to 1590, most short poems seen t have been composed with music in mind
and often explicitly for musical accomplishment. But as English music reached the height of
sophistication in the Elizabethan age, lyric entered its glorious age in this period. The plays
of Shakespeare are replete with such songs. Ben Jonson also composed them.
Elizabethan lyric was sweet and musical but artificial. The use of refined vocabulary
is another mark of Elizabethan lyric. But there is no genuine inspiration behind it. It’s not
coming out directly from the heart of the poet and so it doesn’t much appeal to our heart.
There is no intensity of passions in it. Often there is a note of moralizing in it. But along with
these things, there is the use both of alliteration and rhyme to enhance its musicality. Thaw
there is the blend of antiquity and modernity must. But it lacks in originality.
In the 17th century we have the metaphysical lyric and the Caroline lyric. The
metaphysical lyric is not ordinary. Its intellectual is tone and was intellectualized by john
Donne. In it, there is an elaborate analysis of a single emotion. But we also see the fusion of
thought and emotion in it. In Donne’s lyric we see emotional intensity. The Caroline lyric is
sweet, musical, perfect in diction but artificial. It’s a result of conscious effort. In it we see
the beauty of nature as well as that o f the beloved. Philosophy in it is unphilosophycal or
less philosophical, unlike the metaphysical lyric. In it we see the correct, usual image drawn
from nature. Lyrics of Robert Herrick are the example of Caroline lyric.
In the 18th century, the development of lyric was almost nil, except the one in the
last part of it marked by the age of transition in which Blake composed fine lyrics which
paved the way for the Romantic lyric.
In 19th century, we have the Romantic lyric and then the lyric of in the Victorian age.
In the Romantic age lyric become more lyrical. In the Romantic age dominated by poetry
and poetry in turn was dominated by lyric. Even ballad become lyrical and ode become
personal in this age. In this age we have the lyrics of the poets among whom Shelley is the
most lyrical. His lyrics comes it directly from his heart and great appeal to ours. They are the
most musical, spontaneous and original. They show balance between subject and form.
They also show verity of subject.

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 Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher
In the Victorian age we have Tennyson and Browning as the greatest of the lyrical
poets. Tennyson is a great artist with words. We see his musicality in his lyrics but they are
artificial. Then we have the dramatic lyrics of Browning in which he pours out the soul not of
himself but of one of his characters. But his ‘prospice’ is a pure lyric.
Lyric is also composed in the modern age. We have john Drinkwater, Walter De- La-Mare,
John Masefield as well as W. B Yeats in the modern age with their lyrics in Britain where as
Robert Frost with his lyrics in America. Different kinds of lyric are practiced in this age,
including lyric, of place, patriotic lyric, love lyric, and lyrics for children.
After tracing this long development of English lyric and seeing its pressure in the
literature every age in England, we can easily conducts that as long as there is a poet and he
has a personality, as long as the poet has his view and wants to express them in the best
way, lyric shall be there.

2- Sonnet: The word ‘sonnet’ has been derived from the Italian ‘sonetto’ a
dominative of ‘suono’ which means sound. The word ‘suono’ itself has been derived from
the Latin ‘sonus’.
Oxford Advance Lerner Dictionary explains it by standing that it is a kind of poem
containing 14 lines, each of ten syllables, and with a formal pattern of rhymes. Longman
companion to English literature defines it as a short poem of 14 lines and a rhyme scheme
restricted by one or other of a variety of principle. According to Goodman, it’s a form of lyric
and of all the form of lyric it’s the most carefully ordered and bound by definite and rigid
rules.
Sonnet has two forms: Italian and English. The Italian from is also known as the as
Petrarchan sonnet. It comprises an octane or the part of eight lines and a sestet or the part
of six lines. In most of the eases there are different themes in the octane and sestet which
are separated by caesura, the stop in the 8th line. The rhyme scheme of such a sonnet is
abba, abba, cde, cde. The name Petrarchan is given to this form of sonnet because it was
invented by Petrarch, the Italian poet who addressed his sonnets to his beloved, Laura.
The English form of sonnet is also called Shakespearean sonnets, because it reached
its maturity in the hands of Shakespeare who composed such sonnets (154 in numbers) in
which a greater number have been address to the fair youth and a few to the dark lady.
Such a sonnet comprises three quatrains and a couplet at the end. The theme is often
presented in the couplet. This form was introduced into English poetry by Earl of Surrey,
before Shakespeare but its reached maturity in the hand of Shakespeare.
As for the origin and development of sonnet, we have the earliest example of this
poetic form in, Europe in the 13th century. But it didn’t reach to England in the 16th century.
The early sonneteers in English are Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard, and the Earl of
Surrey. Wyatt revived the Italian or Petrarchan form of sonnets which The Earl of Surrey
incented the English or Shakespearean form. In the sonnets of Surrey, we see the note of
sorrow due to his love for Elizabeth Fitzgerald or Geraldine, as he calls her.
In the Elizabeth age, the proper sonnet was revived by Sidney in his “Astrophel and
Estella” In his sonnets we see his love for Penelope, the wife of Lord Rich by then “Astrophel
and Estella” is his sonnet sequence, i.e. collection of sonnets.
After Sidney we have Spencer with his sonnet sequence tilled “Amoretti” it is a
collection of 88 sonnets. They show his love for Elizabeth Boyle, his beloved whom he
married afterwards. Then there have 154 sonnets of Shakespeare, addressed to the fair

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 Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher
youth and a few to the dark lady. They show the qualities of high order. In them we see the
blend of sense and sound.
In the 17th century, Donne and Milton composed sonnets they used this poetic form
much for moral purpose. We have the examples of Donne’s ‘Holy sonnets’ and Milton’s ‘On
his blindness’ Milton enlarged the scope of sonnet to cover religious and political as well.
Due to the enlargement of scope and topics, it becomes difficult to compose sonnet
sequence that is why there are no sonnet sequences until the modern age with the
sequence of Robert Bridges. Milton composed 23 sonnets in all.
From the mid 17th to mid 18th century, the prominence of the couplet kept sonnet
out of use. It was revived by poets like Grey and Cowper in the age of transition to be
developed by the romantic poets later on.
In the age of Romantic Revival, we have the sonnets of Wordsworth like the one composed
upon Westminster Bright, the one addressed to Milton, “The word is too much with us” etc.
Shelley’s ‘Ozymandiaz’, Keats’s sonnet ‘on first looking into Chapman’s Homer’ etc. the
romantics followed the Miltonic example both inform and content.
In the Victorian age we have the sonnets of Hopkins and Elizabeth Barret Browning.
In modern age we have the sonnets of Robert Bridges, John Masefield and Rupert
Brooke. In this age we also have the revival of the sonnets sequence by Robert Bridges
through his sequence ‘The growth of Love’.
Looking back on the past of sonnet in English literature, we see that sonnet had been
there in all the ages or period except one- The New-classical age. So, I appears that the
poetic form is strong enough to meet the challenges and pass from past to future via the
present.
3- Ode: The word ‘ode’ has been derived from the Greek ‘oide’ which means a sing
and ‘oeiden’ which means to sing.
According to Oxford Dictionary, ode is a poem usually in irregular meter and
expresses noble feelings often in celebration of some special event. A.F Scot in his dictionary
of literary terms defines ode as a poem meant to be sung. According to him, it’s a lyrical
poem often address to a person or an abstraction, usually of exalted style and feeling.
Longman Companion to English literature uniform us that ode, in ancient Greek Literature
was an elaborate lyrical poem, distinguished from the ordinary lyric by being composed for
a chorus to chant and to dance to. It was accompanied by music. It was divided into
strophes i.e. units of verse in certain rhythmic patterns chanted by one half of the chorus,
Antistrophes, corresponding to the strophes but sung by the (whole chorus at the standstill.
Ode is distinguished by certain characteristics. It’s often in the form of address. It has
emotional intensity. Its theme is exalted and dignified. Its style is elevated. In ode there is
also logically and clarity of thought.
Ode is two types: Pindaric and Horacian. Pindaric ode is given the name because of
its inventor, whose name was Pindar. He was a Greek poet of Hellenic age (600 to 500 BC).
He composed his odes in praises of gods or on the victories king. It also came to be known
as ‘The greater ode’ its content was Solemn and dignified often religious. It was divided into
strophe, antistrophe and epode.
Horacian ode doesn’t show division into strophe, antistrophe and epode. It was also
named afterwards as “lesser ode”. It’s given the name after Horace, its inventor. The odes of
Horace were not choral. Horace odes are called odes by virtue of their solemn content and

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 Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher
being moral and patriotic. Horace imitated Pindar but with modifications. Horacian ode may
be personal in nature, unlike Pindaric odes.
Ode in English literature was first introduced by Cowley in the 17 th century. He
composed Pindaric odes. Marvell in this age composed Horacian odes. After them we have
the Pindaric odes of Dryden.
In the Romantic age like most other poetic form ode also underwent a change in its
very nature. It become personal in the hands of Wordsworth, developed by Shelley and
reached maturity in the hand of John Keats. In this age it becomes philosophical.
In the Victorian age Tennyson and Swinburne composed odes. We have Tennyson’s
“ode on the death of the Duke of Willington” and “ode to memory” etc.
In the modern age there are many poets composing odes. We can refer as an
example to Hopkins ode “on the death of Deutschland”, Watson’s “ode on the coronation of
Edward vii, Macaulay’s”, “New year 1968”, Quitter Couch’s “upon Edingtion Bridge”, “River
Avon” etc. The development of English ode shows that it has up till the present time,
conquered time and is hoped to conquer it in future as well.

4- Elegy: It has been derived from the Greek word ‘elegeia’ which is formed
‘elegos’, meaning a mournful poem.
According to Oxford Dictionary, its means a poem or song of sorrow, especially for
the dead. A.F Scot in his dictionary of literary terms defines elegy is a song of lamentation
over someone. Longman Companion, elegy is usually taken to be a poetic lament for one
who has died, or at least a grave, reflective poem. Longman Companion to English literature
tells us that in ancient Greek and Latin poetry, elegy followed a particular meter pattern and
had no necessary connection with the death of someone i.e. it quote Ovid, the Latin poet,
who used it for love poetry. In English poetry, Donne has used it for satire. But most of
English poets have used it for lamentation over the dead.
Elegy is invented by Bion, a Greek poet who composed elegy on the death of Adonis
Moschus, another Greek poet and a follower of Bion, composed an elegy on the death of
Bion.
In English literature, we have Milton’s “Lycidas” an elegy composed on the death of
Edward king, then we have the famous elegy i.e. Grey’s Elegy, Shelley’s “Adonais” is an elegy
composed by him on the death of Keats. In the Victorian age, we have Tennyson’s “In
Memoriam” a unique elegy of our a hundred lyrics composed by him on the death of Arthur
Hallam. Then we also have Mathew Arnold’s “Rugby Chapel” in this age. In it he expresses
his sorrow over the death of his father Dr. Arnold, the founder of Rugby school.
In the 20th century we have W.H Auden’s elegy on the death of Keats. Dylan Thomas is
another example in the regard. In modern elegy, nature causes to mourn over the death of
the dead person. Moreover the death is no more shown to be a great loss for mankind.
As for the kinds of elegy, there are two categories of them. In the first category we
have the traditional and modern elegy while in the second category we have classical and
romantic elegy.
In traditional elegy, nature is made to mourn for the death of the death person.
Secondly the death of a dead person is presented as a great loss for mankind. In modern
elegy on the other hand we don’t see the mourning nature and the death of the person as a
great loss for mankind.

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 Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher
Classical elegy is also given the name pastoral elegy. In it we have the excessive grief
of the poet. Secondly in classical elegy we have the mourning often in the shape of
shepherds. Thirdly its elegy form the beginning till the end and it ends with a note of grief.
In the romantic elegy on the other hand we have the violation of these rules. Romantic
elegy ends with a note of optimism rather than sorrow, a note of joy rather than grief, i.e.
we have Shelley’s “Adonais” which ends with the note of optimism and joy when the poet
happy that Keats has become on with nature and so immortals, its death that is dead and
not Keats who lives, who wakes. So he says; mourn not for Adonais and when he mourns no
more, the elegiac note is gone and the note of optimism and of joy ends the elegy.

2) Objective
Objective poetry means that type of poetry which is impersonal rather the personal, means
in which the poet doesn’t express his own emotions. It is also called dramatic poetry and the
term dramatic in this sense is general rather than particular in which it stands for one of the
sub group of objective poetry.
Objective poetry is of two type, i.e. Narrative and Dramatic. Narrative refers to that
type of poetry which narrates rather than events and describes i.e. which is in the form of
story. Dramatic poetry is the type of poetry which has the quality of drama. The divisions of
objective types are shown in the following chart:

A. Narrative Poetry: It refers to the group of objective poetry which is in the

form of story. In this group is including those forms of objective poetry which are in the
form of stories. Different in the length and in the forms of the stories. Make different forms

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 Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher
of narrative poetry. In this group are included epic, muck epic, ballad, lyrical ballad, metrical
romance and idyll.

a) Epic: it’s derived for the Greek word ‘epikos’ which is made from the Greek word
‘epos’ which means word, narrative, poem.
Oxford Dictionary defines it as a long poem, about the deed of one or more great
heroes, or a nation’s past history. The same dictionary also defines it also a long full, story
etc. Dealing with heroic deeds and exciting adventures. Longman Companion to English
terms defines it as a narrative of heroic action, often with a principal hero, usually mythical
in its content, offering inspiration and ennoblement within a particular culture or natural
tradition. The word to Longman Companion also denotes quality of heroism and adventure.
A.F Scot in his dictionary of literary terms defines that it’s usually held synonymous with
heroic poem. I define it as a long story in verse, dealing with national theme and the heroic
actions of heroes, a product of sustained imagination.
Epic is basically a story. Being long and being in verse are its attributes. Lets us see
how it’s similar to or different from other stories. Now let compare and contrast epic with
other stories:
o With Ballad: it is similar to ballad in being product of imagination and in being
compose in the poetic language. But it differs from ballad in its length. Epic is a long
story in verse while ballad is a short story in verse.
o With Allegory: epic is similar to allegory in its being a product of imagination. But it
differs from allegory in its nature. Epic comprises a single story that we read while in
allegory there are also other stories running beneath the surface story. Allegory may
be either in prose or in verse, while epic is necessarily in poetic language. In allegory
we often have satire and so an attack on man, while in epic we see the elevation of
man
o With Tragedy: tragedy elevates man, its subject, a product of sustained imagination.
But unlike tragedy it’s narrative rather than dramatic. The action is narrated and not
acted. Like comedy, it’s a product of imagination. But unlike comedy it elevates man
and unlike comedy, epic narrates rather than develop the story through action.
o With History: if epic is the story, history is also a story. But history’s real while epic is
realistic. History is about the homosapien while epic is about the homofictous. Epic is
the product of research.
o With Novel: both novel and epic are long stories, product of imagination, about
man, than what make them differ? First language, epic is in verse while novel in
prose. Second it’s older than the other. It’s to novel as a grandfather is to his
grandson. It’s a cause and novel is effect. Third novel is in one book divided into
chapters while epic is divided into books.
o With Fable: it’s also a story. But here the characters are animals and birds while in
epic the characters are mainly human beings.
o With Romance: it’s also a story, like epic it’s a product of imagination. But romance is
a product of fancy. It’s highly fantastic rather than realistic. Then it has no plot but is
only a story. These things make romance from novel. Romance maybe either in verse
or prose, whereas epic is in verse language.

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 Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher
o With Myth: it’s also a story. Epic and Myth are product of imagination. Epic is being
realistic and in dealing mainly with human beings rather than the supernatural
beings.
o With Biography: epic is a story. But biography covers the whole life of a single
person- homosapien; while epic take a part of the lives of many men. So we see that
epic is a story that’s distinct and distinguished form all the other kind of story.

There are essentials or elements which are necessary for epic, particularly the
serious or classical epic. They are the major and minor elements. As for the major elements
they are divided into pairs composing related elements. They are: i) grand action ii) grand
character, which constitute the second pair. If the action is grand, the actor of it or the
character must be grand because a grand action can’t be performed by trivial character.
Similarly when the theme is grand, the style to show it must also be grand because a grand
theme can’t be elaborated.
Apart from these major elements, there are also other elements of epic which are its
major elements. There are also other elements of epic which are its minor elements. They
are the use of imagination, the national character of epic sits theme and subject matter, and
the use of the supernatural a single, unified and whole action, the presence of distinguished
heroes a greater length, digressions, division into books use of epic similar and invocation to
the muses and statements of the theme in the start.
Epic are of different types. The types of epic can be discussed in three categories
We have classical and romantic epic. In the third category we have the primary and the
secondary epic.
Epic of growth is the name given to the type of epic which had its origin in the folk
lore. Certain stories about a hero or events may develop in the folk lore and then some time
a genius may come forward, affect those stories, organize them into a whole and give them
a form and unity to make it an epic. In Greek literature we have homer’s “Illiad” as an
example of the epic of growth while in English literature we have the Anglo-Saxon epic
“Beowulf” is an example of it.
Epic of art is the name given to a kind of epic which is not originated in the folk lore
but is an art of creation. It is written by some genius who invents the story and presents to
us. It’s an imitation of epic of the epic of growth in which the poet imitates the earlier model
and tries to excel it. In the classical literature, we have Virgil’s “Aenied” as an example of
such epic. In English literature, John Milton “Paradise Lost” is the example of the epic of art.
The broader category of types of epic is that of the classical and romantic epic.
Classical epic is a long story in verse, with grand theme, grand style, grand action and grand
character, imagination, supernatural elements, digressions, epic similes and invocation and
statement of theme in the start. If obeys the epic rules thoroughly. The epic of growth and
epic of art are the types of classical epic. Homer’s “Illiad” and “Odyssey”, Virgil’s “Aenied”,
Dante’s “divinia Comedia”, the Indian “Mahabharata” and “Ramayana”, the French
“Chanson de Roland”, the Anglo-Saxon epic “Beowulf”, John Milton “Paradise Lost” and
Arnold’s “Sohrab and Rustam” are the example of classical epic.
Romantic epic is a long story in verse but it has some elements of epic while not
other. Here we have in expression of the poets own emotion which makes it subjective.
Here we see great important to beauty. It also has allegorical elements, elaborate
description of nature and a more ordinary style. Than that of the classical epics are the

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example of such epics are “Orlando Furioso” by Ariosto, “Jerusalem liberata” by Tasso (both
are Italian) and in English literature “The Faerie Queene” by Spencer.
As per its human appeal, epic is divided into primary and secondary epic. Primary
epic is that which is written for a society that is still fairly close to the one described in the
narrative Homer’s “Illiad” and “Odyssey”, in Greek literature and “Beowulf” in English
literature are the example of primary epic. Secondary epic is that which is based on the
pattern of primary epic but is written for a materially developed society more or less remote
from the one describe in the narrative Virgil’s “Aenied” in Roman literature and Milton
“Paradise Lost” and Arnold’s “Sohrab and Rustam” in English literature are the example of
secondary epic.
Epic has a long history of development in the world. When poetry was born in the
world, it was in the form of epic. The first epic was “Illiad” and “Odyssey” was composed by
Homer in the Hellenic age. They were the first epic of growth in the classical epic and the
primary epics.
Homer was followed by Virgil, the Roman, in his “Aenied” which is a classical epic
(epic of art) and secondary epic.
In English literature, the first epic “Beowulf” was composed in the Anglo-Saxon age.
It’s an epic of growth and primary epic. In the Middle English period there is no epic. In the
renaissance, Spencer and Dryden compose epics but succeeded in the writing long
narratives. The “Faerie Queene” of Spencer is considered a romantic epic.
In the 17th century is the climax in the age of development of English epic. It was the
age in which Milton composed his “Paradise Lost”.
In the age of Romantic Revival we have “The Prelude” of Wordsworth which is a
romantic epic. And then Keats’s “Hyperion” which he started as an epic but proved to be
only and epic fragment. Byron’s “Don Jam” in this age is and epical poem rather a proper
epic. In Victorian age we have Mathew Arnold “Sohrab and Rustam” is the classical epic,
epic of growth and secondary epic. It’s based on Firdausi’s “Shahnuma”. But it’s also an epic
fragment rather than epic-proper.
In the modern age we have T.S Eliot’s “The Wasted Land” which is known as the epic
of the modern age. It’s based on the classical epic and in it Eliot satirizes the modern society
and modern man for various social evils.
So, we can consider that with epic poetry has come to their world and epic has developed
with the development of literature. As the age of long imaginative stories is past, so epic has
made appropriate by T.S Eliot to the modern age by giving alternator to its size as well as
function.

b) Ballad: It’s derived from the old French word “ballade” which in turn has been
derived from the provincial word “ballada”. It has again derived from the low Latin word
“ballare” which means to dance.
It’s a short story in verse. Originally, ballad was a song accompanied by dance, latter
on the term was applied to a narrative poem, usually passing by words of mouth, sung by
minstrels. Finally the term was applied to a short story in verse. In their earlier phase,
ballads were often in the form of dialogue, hence having dramatic element. They were
about some local events.
From the very definition of ballad, it’s clear that ballad is basically a story. Let us
relate and differentiate it from other stories on literature.

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 With Epic: It’s a story and a product of imagination. Like epic it may be either of
growth of art and is in verse. Like epic it’s national and international in character. But
unlike epic, it’s a short story in verse.
 With Romance: It’s a story. But they are different in language. Romance may be in
either in prose or in verse, while ballad is necessarily in verse language. Romance
fantastic while ballad may be national and realistic.
 With Novel: it’s a story and a product of imagination. But unlike novel, it’s in verse
language and it’s short.
 With Allegory: Ballad also comprises a story. But unlike them ballad is a story of
human beings rather than animals, bird and supernatural beings.

There are certain essentials for a ballad:

i) It’s primarily a story. Its matter is highly dramatic narrative.
ii) It’s composed in ballad stanzas quatrains with alternate rhyme, every line having
three iambic feet.
iii) Its opening is abrupt.
iv) In it there is the use of stock epithets like “golden”, “milk-white” etc.
v) It’s impersonal in treatment.
vi) In ballad there is the use of refrain, i.e. a line together unlike the other line.
vii) There is no detail of place and time in ballad.
viii) It’s marked by the use of imagination, through on a lesser level then in epic.
ix) It’s marked by the simplicity of language and fluently.

Ballad is of two types: 1- Proper Ballad, 2- Lyrical Ballad

Proper ballad is personal and subjective showing the expression of the story about
others. Proper ballad like classical epic is of two types: ballad of growth and ballad of art.
Ballad of growth is that which grows in the folk lore and is then collected and organized by a
poet. It’s often an unknown authorship. It’s also called popular ballad.
Ballad of art is the product of the mind of a single genius. It’s an act of creation
rather than imitation. It’s also called literary ballad. These types are shown following:

As for the birth and growth of ballad in English literature, we know that ballad had
been popular since the earlier time. But the impulse to makes them was the strongest in the
15th century. To this age belong the first known ballads in English literature, i.e. the ballad of
“The Nut Brown Maid” and the ballad of “Chewy chase”. ‘The Nut Brown Maid’ is the story
of a lady and her lover who pretends to be an outlaw in order to test her love. In the ballad
of ‘Chewy chase’ was composed on the battle between Percy of England and Douglas of
Scotland. Percy kills Douglas and then weeps on his dead body, admiring his heroism. To this

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age also belong the ballads composed on the exploits of Robin Hood and his merry man who
were the outlaw’s robbing the poor and helping the poor.
The year 1765 saw the first publication of English ballad by Percy in his “Reliques”
which is a collection of English epic handed down from generations.
In the age of romantic revival, we have the fine ballads of Sir Walter Scott. His works
include the anthology of some old ballads as well as some of his own. His “The Lay of the
Last Minstrel” shows a greater originality. The age is marked for the transformation in
English ballad which becomes lyrical. We have the lyrical ballads of Wordsworth and
Coleridge. But in it we also have the proper ballads of Keats; ‘La Belli Dame Sans Merci’.
In Victorian age, Tennyson and browning composed ballad. Tennyson’s “The Lady of
shylot” is a ballad. In modern age we also see that this form of narrative poetry still exists.
So we see that ballad has a very long history of growth and it shall be there as long
as man is found of either telling or listening to stories that are short but interesting.

c) Metrical Romance: It’s has been derived from ‘meter’ which means a foot
or collection of syllables, stressed and unstressed, in a line of poetry. Hence its means
poetic, Romance means highly fantastic story.
Metrical Romance may be defined as a highly fantastic story in poetic language. As
metrical romance is basically a story, so we see what similarities and dissimilarities does it
show with other stories?

o With Novel: It’s a story and product of imagination, but is different form novel in its
language which is poetical, in the absence of plot from it and the absence of relation.
o With Epic: It’s a story like epic; it’s in poetic language and is a product of imagination.
But it’s being highly fantastic differentiates it from epic which is realistic, dealing
with national hence and themes.
o With Ballad: It’s an imagination story. But it differs from ballad in its being highly
fantastic as well as in its size.
o With Fable: It’s kind of story but fable is different because in fable we have animals
and birds as characters while in metrical romance it’s not so.
o With Myth: It’s a story and different form metrical romance because the characters
in it are not the supernatural beings.
o With Drama: It’s different from metrical romance in its being narration, rather than
action and in its language which is of poetry while that of drama may be the Laing of
prose as well as poetry.

Of all types of story, metrical romance is nearest to prose romance. Everything is

common in them except the language. Metrical romance in English literature led to prose
romance.
Metrical romance has certain characteristics of which the important ones are:
 It’s necessarily in poetic language.
 It’s national and international in character.
 Metrical romances are in cycle.
 Their sources are legends.
 They are based upon chivalry.

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Metrical romances were introduced in the Middle English period of English
literature. They were an effect of the eastern influence carried to Europe by the crusaders.
They development of the cycle was an influence of the Arabian Nights.
Metrical romances in the Middle English period are grouped into these groups
named the matter of Britain, the matter of France and the Greeco-Roma matter. The matter
of Britain comprises the romances about King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table as well
as the few other romances like ‘King Horn’ and ‘Havelock, The Dane’, etc.
The matter of France comprises the stories about Charlemagne and his Knights. The Greeco
Roman matter comprises the stories about Alexander’s Eastern adventure, the Trojan War
and Thebes.
Though the metrical romances begin and then ended in the Middle English period,
yet it doesn’t grow. They grew and led t the birth of prose or romances which led to the
birth of English novel in the 18 th century which has grown much same that time. And we
hope that as long as there is the English novel, there shall be reference to and the study of
the romance, both prose and metrical romance.

d) Idyll: it’s has been derived from the Greek “eidullion” which means a little
picture. It’s an idealist story of happy, innocence, in pastoral form, often in verse. It’s a form
of poetry neither proper narrative nor proper lyrical but in between the two.
Idyll was invented by Theocritus a Greek poet, who gave the name ‘Idylls’ to his
poem composed on the rural life of
icily. So, originally it was a poem more or less like an eclogue but different from eclogue
because eclogue could be in the form of dialogue form. Later on, it was see in its true,
simplified form as we see in pastoral life.
In English literature we see the qualities of idyll in the poetry of Chaucer as well, but
the proper Idyll was composed by Tennyson. His “Idyll of the King” is the poems about King
Arthur. His “Merle de Arthur” and “The passing of Arthur” are such examples. The
characteristics of idyll are brevity, description of scenery, the depiction of lower class people
and then manners, pictorial effect and simplicity of language. In the Idylls of Tennyson we
see violation of classical pattern in the abscise of pastoral qualities. But the contact with
medieval feelings in them often reminds us of the classical Idyll.

B. Dramatic Poetry: Dramatic poetry is that group of objective poetry in

which we have the dramatic, qualities i.e. they are the utterance of characters rather than
the poets, they show the mind and thinks of the speakers and they exhibit some cortical
situation in the lines of the speakers. Moreover, they show us conflict as shown by a drama.
In this category of objective poetry are included the dramatic monologue, soliloquy
and poetry used in drama.

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1) Dramatic Monologue: It’s made of two words “dramatic” and

“monologue”. Dramatic is an adjective from ‘drama’. Drama is a Greek word meaning a
deed, an action on the stage. It’s made from ‘dran’ which means ‘to do’, ‘to act’. The word
‘monologue’ is taken from Greek ‘monologos’ which means speaking alone.
According to A.F. Scott, dramatic monologue is a poem in the form of a monologue,
which reveals a dramatic situation and other characters besides the speaker? Longman
companion to English literature defines its poetic form in which the poet invents a character
or more commonly uses history or legend and reflects on life from the characters
standpoint. It tells us that dramatic monologue is a development from the conversational
poems of Coleridge and Wordsworth, in which, unlike dramatic monologue, the poet
reflects upon life in his own person rather than though a character.
Dramatic monologue is dramatic in many senses:
o It’s dramatic because, like in drama the speaker in dramatic monologue is also epic
himself but a character, i.e. in “Ulysses” rather than Tennyson; The speech in “My
Last Duchess” is the duke of Ferrara the browning.
o We see the character in a critical situation of his life, i.e. The duke of Ferrara has got
his first wife or duchess murder and is going to re-merry. The politician in the Patriot
is going to be executed after being the leader of his country.
o Its show the conflict in the mind of character, i.e. we have conflict in the mind of
Ulysses in the ‘Ulysses’ the one in the mind of the Patriot in ‘The Patriot’ etc.
External conflict is also the in it.
o The revolution of character is like that in drama. The character of a person is
revealed through his talking.
o We have the psycho-analysis of the act who speaks. His whole mind and thought is
revealed to us when he speaks, i.e. we know about the character of the duck of
Ferrara of the statesman, of Andrea and of Caliban through their talking in ‘My Last
Duchess’, ’The patriot’, ‘Andrea del sorto’ and ‘Caliban Upon Setibos’
reprehensively.
Dramatic monologue is monologue become here we have the talking of a single speaker.
(Mono means one and logus means talking). Dramatic monologue is different from other
forms of poetry. It’s different from epic and ballad because it’s dramatic while they are
narrative. They belong to different group of poetry. It’s different from lyric, sonnet, elegy,
dirge, ode etc. because it’s objective while they are subjective. It’s different from soliloquy
because in dramatic monologue we have the revelation of other characters as well as the
speaker while in soliloquy only the character of the speaker is revealed.
Romantic monologue is different from drama:
o We have monologue or the talking of the one man while in drama we have dialogue
or the talking of more than one.

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o Drama is lengthier then dramatic monologue.
o Drama may be written in poetry or prose while dramatic monologue necessarily in
poetic language.
o Drama is a whole having different forms while dramatic monologue is a part of a
literary form, i.e. a part of dramatic poetry, an objective form of objective poetry
which in turn is a category of poetry.
Dramatic monologue was invented by Tennyson. His “Ulysses”, “Tithonus” and “Maud, a
monoitrance” are the first example of dramatic monologue. But it reached perfection in the
poetry of browning. It’s in his dramatic monologues that we see browning as a poet. His
“My Last Duchess”, “Andrea del sorto”, “Love among the Ruins”, “The Patriot”, “Caliban
upon Setibos”, “Rabi Bin Jzra” etc. are the example of perfect dramatic monologues.
Another poet of the dramatic monologue is Arthur Hugh Clugh.
In the modern age, we have the dramatic monologue of T.S Eliot, i.e. his “The love of
J. Alfred a form of dramatic poetry. It is different Prufrock” and “Gerontion”. His dramatic
monologues present to us his profound judgment of the culture of the time.

2) Soliloquy: It’s derived from the Latin word “soliloquium” it’s again coined by
Saint Augustine form the words “solus” which means “alone” and “logue” means to speak.
According to A.F Scot soliloquy means speaking one’s thoughts aloud with no one to
hear or being regardless of the presence of the hearers. To him, it’s a declamation in this
manner in a play, as we see in Shakespeare. Soliloquy is an emotional speech by a character
in a play to himself.
Soliloquy is different from dramatic monologue because in it only the character of
the speaker is revealed while in dramatic monologue we have the revelation of other
characters as well. It’s different from epic and ballad in being a form of dramatic poetry. It’s
different from lyric, sonnet, ode, etc in being a form of objective poetry. It’s different from
aside its length.
Soliloquy is different from drama because it’s a part of drama. It’s shorter. In shows
character of one man, the only speaker, while in drama we have many speakers and many
characters. There we have dialogue which it’s the speaking talking of a single man.
Soliloquies are found in abundance in the plays of Shakespeare. The soliloquies in his
great tragedies are the masterpiece in this art. We have the soliloquies in Hamlet, Ophelia
and the king in ‘Hamlet’. We also have soliloquies in ‘Macbeth’, i.e. the on beginning with
“tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow…..”

3) Poetry in dramas: Many playwrights have written their plays in verse. The
first English tragedy, “Gorbodue” by Norton and Sackville is a verse play, written in blank
verse. Blank verse in dramas reached perfection in the plays of Christopher Marlow and
Shakespeare. Dr Johnson was the first critic of Shakespeare, calls the later a poet of nature
(i.e. human nature) mainly because if the use of verse by Shakespeare in his plays. If there is
the use of prose in his plays, it’s used for the talking of the lower class characters. All the
eminent characters in his plays use poetic language for their talking or speeches. We have
the soliloquies of Hamlet and Macbeth, the speech of Antony and Brutus as well as the
utterance of all the other prominent characters in poetic language.
But with the passage of time, blank verse ceased to be the medium of plays, plays in
prose become prominent as we see in cause of G.B Shaw. In modern age, T.S Eliot revived

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poetic drama. He revived the use of blank verse in plays. His “Murder in the Cathedral”, a
play in blank verse, is an example is this regard.

Devices and Elements of

Poetry
1) Speaker: A poem being the expression of one thought, narration of events or
expression of emotions in poetic language, there must be the speaker in it to describe, to
narrate things or to give an outlet to his emotions. We discuss the speaker in poetry in
various categories.
o The speaker may be either the poet himself. Speaker in his ‘solitary Reaper’ and
‘Lucy Gray’ which we have the duke of Ferrara as the speaker in Browning’s ‘My Last
Duchess’
o There may be one speaker or more than one speaker in a poem. For example, there
is on speaker, i.e. Ulysses, in Tennyson’s ‘Ulysses’ while many speakers in Tennyson’s
‘The Lotus Eaters’ (i.e. Ulysses ship sailor).
o The speaker may either be human beings or animals and birds. For example, we have
Ulysses and his sailor as speakers in ‘The Lotus Eaters’ while we have the owl and the
nightingale as speakers in ‘The owl and Nightingale’ a poem in the Middle English
poetry which is considered the first allegory in English literature.
o The speaker in poetry may be the animal, beings or the inanimate things. For
example, we have the statesman and Keats as speaker in Browning’s ‘The Patriot’
and Keats’s ode on a Grecian thin respectively while the clod and the pebble as
speakers in William Black’s ‘The Clod and the Pebble’.
o The speaker in a poem may be either, a living person or dead body. For example, we
have Robert Frost as the speaker in his ‘The dust of snow’ while the dead body of the
poet as a speaker in Emily Dickenson in her ‘I died for beauty but was scarce….’
Mainly the speaker in any form of subjective poetry is the poet himself while that in the
forms of objective poetry is not the poet himself but someone else.

2) Setting: According to Oxford Advance Learner dictionary setting means the frame
work in which something is fixed or fasted. In literature, setting means the place where the
action takes place.
Nothing takes place nowhere. Therefore, whenever there is an action, there must be
some setting for it. In a drama, a novel, an epic, a ballad, a lyrical ballad or any other form of
literature that shows action, there must be setting.
Setting has different kinds belonging to various categories:
o Setting may be either fixed or changing. Fixed setting is also called pour setting and
changing setting is also called rich setting. An example of fixed or poor setting is that

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of Tennyson’s ‘Crossing the bar’ which is the bar, i.e. bank of the sand on the sea
shore. The example of changing or rich setting is that of Shelley’s ‘Ode to the West
Wimp’. Here the setting in the first stanza is the surface of the earth and that in the
second stanza is the zenith of the sky. In the third stanza the setting changes to the
bottom of the Medilerancan. While in the fifth or last stanza it once again shifts to
the earth, i.e. the forest and then the whole world.
o Setting may be either usual or unusual. An example of the usual setting, i.e. which is
not strange or queer to us, is the setting in Wordsworth’s ‘The Daffodils’. The
example of unusual setting is that in Coleridge’s ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’.
The setting of Frost’s ‘The Dust of snow’ is usual while that in his ‘The Spider’ is
unusual.
o Setting may be either natural or urban. An example of the natural setting is that of
Wordsworth’s ‘Lucy Gray’ while that of urban setting is his sonnet composed upon
the Westminster Bridge.

3) Rhyme, Rhythm and Stanza:

o Rhythm: It’s has been derived from the Greek word ‘rhuthmos’ and Latin
‘rhythmus’ which means measured motion. The German ‘reim’ and French ‘rime’
and the old German ‘rim’.
Rhythm means the measure of flow of words and phrases in a line of poetry. It
means the fall and rise of sounds which gives musicality and harmony to the utterance. As
poetry musical, it must have rhythm. It’s rhythm that gives musicality to blank verse which
lack of the use of rhyme.
o Rhyme: its means the identity of sounds between two words which extend from the
last fully accented (or stressed) vowel to the end of the word, e.g., chair and fair,
ending and blinding, are the rhyming words.
In the land of sights and noise
I saw the paradise.
Here we see the use of rhyme. When the last words of both the lines a verse rhyme
together, we have a heroic couplet. It’s used I most of the epic.
Different in arrangements of rhymes have gives rise to different stanza forms. The
use of rhyme increases the musicality of poetry. In the old English poetry there was no
rhyme. Musicality has produced by the use of alternation. Rhyme was invented in the
Middle English period. Alliteration invents to the background but was revived in the 14 th
century and since then alliteration and rhyme both go side by side in English poetry,
enhancing its musicality.
Rhymes are one of different kinds. Firstly, we have Male or Masculine rhyme which
is produced when there is one syllable rhyme in words, e.g. that in ‘go’ and ‘so’. The second
is the female or feminine rhyme or double rhyme which is in two syllables, e.g. in ‘joy’ and
‘toy’ then we have triple rhyme, e.g. the one in three syllables e.g. in ‘glorious’ and
‘victorious’ etc, and Quaitraple rhyme i.e. the rhyme in four syllables e.g. in ‘maternity’ and
‘paternity’ etc. Then we have middle, medial or internal rhyme which occurs when a word in
the middle rhymes with a word at the end of a poetic line, e.g.
‘’We were the first, that ever burst
Into that silent sea.’’ Etc.

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Then there is also alternate rhyme i.e. when the last words of the first and third and
the second and fourth lines of a stanza rhyme together. Enclosed rhyme, another kind of
rhyme, is a kind of rhyme when the first and fourth and second and third lines of a stanza
have the rhyming words at their ends.
o Stanza: It’s derived from Latin word ‘srantein’, ‘stare’ which mean to stand. Stanza is
the longer unit of a poem in rhymed verse. It means the lines of verse grouped
together to compose a pattern that is usually repeated throughout a poem. The
pattern of stanza is determined by the number of lines, the no of feet and stresses in
each line and the rhyme scheme. There are different stanza forms in English
literature, i.e. the couplet, composing two lines, The Tercetor Triplet consisting of
three lines, Quatrain composing four lines, lamerick comprising five lines (non sense
verse), The Chaucerian stanza of eight lines and the Spenserian stanza made by
Spencer, with the addition of an alexandrine as the 9th line to Chaucer stanza.

4) Structure: The structure of the poem means the organization of its parts and
units into an order that is coherent and meaningful in terms of the content as a whole. The
structure of a narrative poem is simplest structure is that of a story (narrative poem) in
which there is a coherence of events. The structure of a narrative poem is simpler than that
of a lyric or a dramatic poem. Sometime we have the conversational structure, as the
question, answer structure in Keats’s ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merei’. Sometime we have
different stanzas in a poem carrying different thoughts and subject, as and Yeast’s ‘The Four
Ages of Man’ in which the first stanza is about the body, the second about heart, the third
about mind and the fourth about the death of men.
In poem one or another type of structure may be used. But in certain forms of
poetry we have definite patterns. Narrative poems, for example adhere to the chronological
ordering of events, in the sonnet we have an octave and seslet or there quatrains and a
couplet. Sometime there is the elaboration of an anology, i.e. an extended comparison that
explain one thing in the terms of another (e.g. in Shelley’s “A widow bird sat mourning for
her love”) such a poem end when the elements of analogy exhaust.
There is always a continuous development in structure. New structures are invented;
old structures are combined into new ones.
We have different categories of the kinds of structure:
We have simple and complex structure. The example of simple structure is that of narrative
poem and the example of complex structure is that is dramatic monologue.
We have the single patterned structure and one of different patterns, for example, in the
Petrarchan sonnet we have an octane and a seslet while in a lyric we may have different
patterns of structure.
We have the structure with no change of mood and one with the change of mood. For
example, there is no change of mood in classical elegy while I the romantic elegy we have
one.

5) Genre: It’s derived from the Latin word ‘Gener’ which is the stem of ‘Genus’
which means birth genre means a kind of style. In English literature it’s the name given to a
literary form such as epic, lyric, tragedy, comedy etc. it means a mode of writing that follows
certain literary rules or conventions that have come down to the poet (or writer) though

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custom and use when we say that a particular poem belongs to a particular genre, we relate
it to the other poems (or forms) of this genre.
There are three genre of poetry, i.e. lyrical, narrative and dramatic. In lyrical we have
lyric, sonnet, ode, epic, elegy, mock epic, ballad, lyrical ballad and idyll. In dramatic genre of
poetry we have the dramatic monologue, soliloquy and poetry in drama.

6) Tone and Attitude: It’s derived from the Greek word ‘tones’ which means
stretching, tension. ‘tonos’ is taken form ‘ teino’ which means to stretch.
Tone refers to the author’s prevailing spirit, his mental attitude or his moral outlook
appearing in the work itself and determining and tone, i.e. tone is determine by his attitude
and outlook. But tone also means the aspect of speaking voice which helps us to understand
the attitude of the speaker. So, tone and attitude are concomitant and complementary for
each other.
The tone of the speaker in a poem is either joy or sorrowful. It may be better or
soothing and mild, somber a light, angry or loving, nasty or sobre, pessimistic or optimistic
and light or meditative.
For the proper understanding of a poet, it’s also important to understand the tone
and attitude of the speaker or the poet. The tone of a speaker is understood by the words
he uses, and one his understood, it’s easier to understand his attitude.
The tone in a poem is a product of many things e.g. the choice of words and details,
association of imagery, rhythm and sound effects, speaker, and situation.
Very kind of tone can be attributed to various ages in the history of English literature,
for example we see the tone of love in one or another from in the Elizabethan poetry, the
tone of seriousness and sobriety in the metaphysical poetry and age of Milton, the time of
bitterness in the neo-classical age, the tone of emotionalism in the romantic age, the tone of
seriousness in the Victorian age and the tone of disillusionment and bitterness in the
modern age.
Similarly, different kind of tone can be attributed to different forms of poetry, for
example, we have the tone of seriousness in epic and sonnet, light tone in lyric and
meditative tone in the dramatic monologue. Sometimes the tone of a poet or speaker in a
poem is just the reverse of his attitude. This is seen in the ironic tone in poetry.

7) Imagery and Figurative Language: It’s derived from ‘Imago’ means

an image, has two senses: a broader and a narrow sense. In broad sense it means the figure
of speech and in the narrow sense it means creation of lively picture in words. In such a case
the case, the poet doesn’t use a symbol (i.e. word) to represent a thing, but describes the
thing directly, for example, Shakespeare, to introduce winter to us, doesn’t use the symbol
or word ‘winter’ for it but introduce the season to us in this way:
“When icicles hands by the wall,
And Dick the Sheppard blows his nail,
And tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen in pail,
When blood is nipped and ways be foul,
The nightly songs the staring owl……”
In these lines, we see or at least feel the typical sight of winter. We feel it cold; we hear the
sounds of winter itself through imagination which is filled by images. But the word ‘winter’

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is never used. Another example of imagery is the starting lines of Keats’s “The Eve of St.
Agnes” Shelley’s “A widow bird sat mourning for her love” provide us with another such
example. There are many example of imagery in its narrow sense, there are various sources
of imagination in this sense, e.g. we have imagery from geography, from gardening, sea
farring etc.
In its wider or broad sense, imagery means the use of the figure of speech. The
language with this quality is called figurative language. Figurative language means the
indirect language that covey’s one thing in terms of another. There are various devices of
figurative language which are called the figure of speech. There are more than two hundred
figures of speech. As discussing all of them seem impossible here, so we go on to discuss
briefly a few of them which are the most frequently used.
1) Kenning: It refers us to the use of a compound word or phrase which identifies the
thing without naming it, e.g. ‘the wheal’s road’ for the sea, ‘the eye of heaven’s for
the sun, the ring giver for the king etc. This figure of speech was common in the old
English literature.
2) Simile: Though this figure of speech, a thing is compared to another with the use of
the word ‘as’, ‘like’ etc. e.g. ‘He is strong like steel’.
3) Metaphor: When something or someone is compared to something or someone else
without the use of the words ‘as’, ‘like’ etc. we have metaphor, e.g. ‘He is a dog’ etc.
4) Epic Simile: When something or some is compared to something or someone else
with the use of the words ‘as’, ‘like’ etc. and the comparison extends but of the line,
i.e. when it become lengthier and elaborate, it’s called epic simile, heroic simile, long
tailed simile or Homeric sounds such sounds are used by epic poet in their epics, e.g.
we see in ‘Paradise Lost’ and ‘Sohrab and Rustam’ etc.
5) Extended Metaphor: It’s used metaphor in which the composition is carried on
beyond a single phrase or line of poetry.
6) Synecdoche: When a part is used for the whole, we have synecdoche, e.g. “Souls
that have thought and wrought with me”. (Where soul is used for man)
7) Metonymy: When an object, idea or event is referred to only by naming some
attributes or qualities associated with it, e.g. ‘Pen is mightier than sold’.
8) Personification: When a human and living personality is given to the non living
things, e.g. the personification of autumn in different forms in Keats’s “Ode to
autumn”
9) Pathetic fallacy: When human emotions are given to a non living thing, e.g. “O Wild
West wind”
10) Apostrophe: it means addressing a person or a thing e.g. the starting lines of odes to
Autumn, on a Grecian Urn etc.
11) Oxymoron: When word of opposite meanings are brought together, e.g. “bitter
sweet days”, “the worm cold days” etc.
12) Pun: It means play upon words; i.e. when a word is taken in two or more different
meanings, e.g. “I saw a saw in saw dust”, “I saw a spring in the spring springing in the
spring season” In the above examples the word ‘saw’ and ‘spring’ used different
places in different meanings.
13) Conceit: it refers to an elaborate and queer (strange) comparing between totally
different things, e.g. Donne comparing lover to the feet of compass.
14) Pictorial quality: it means making lively pictures in the words, e.g. the various
pictures in Keats’s ‘Ode to Autumn’

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15) Hyperbole: It means exaggeration, e.g. Wordsworth in “The daffodils” saying “Ten
thousand saw I at a glance”
16) Alliteration: It means the repetition of sounds in consecutive words. If the repetition
is of consonants, we have consonances, if it’s one of vowels, its assonance. Example
“O Wild West wind”
17) Paradox: It means a statement appearing wrong apparently but true in reality, e.g.
“The child is father of a man”
18) Antithesis: It means bringing opposite, balancing classes together, e.g. “Man
dumpsis, God disposes”

8) Subject and Theme: Subject of a poem mean what it’s written about and
theme means what is taken out of it. Theme is the central idea or the crux of the subject. In
this sense subject is the whole while theme is the part, but the very basic part, the basis.
If a poem is narrative its subject is the events that are narrated. If it’s dramatic, its
subject is that which is shown through the analysis of the character or his action. If it’s
descriptive, its subject is the thing or things for the description of which the poem is
composed.
To show the difference between subject and theme through example, we first refer
Homer’s ‘Illiad’. Its subject is the Trojan War resulting from the elopement of Hellen with
Paris and leading to the defeat of the Trojans, the burning of troy and the murder of Hellen.
But its theme is the wrath of Achilles. Then we comes to “Paradise Lost” its subject is the fall
of Satan resulting from his rebellion against God, leading to the fall of Adam from heaven.
But its theme is the justification of the ways of God to man. Similarly, the subject of Keats’s
“Ode on a Grecian Urn” is the urn and the Greek art. But its theme is the immortality of art
and beauty or truth to life in art. It’s expressed in the end by “Beauty is truth and truth is
beauty”
So we can say that though both are complementary, theme and subject don’t refer
to the same thing but to different things.

9) Diction or Words order: It means the arrangement of words in a

sentence of prose or a line of poetry. When the best words are arranged in the best order,
we have poetry, as Coleridge views.
We can understand the meanings of words in poetic lines through ‘Denotation’ and
‘Connotation’. Denotation means the lexical or dictionary meaning of words while
connotation means contextual meaning.
Diction in English poetry means the use of words and language in a particular age.
Poetic diction was originated by Spencer. His diction was carried on in the latter age. The
main features of Spencer’s poetic diction are his use of different words, Spenserian stanza of
nine lines, i.e. the eight lines of Chaucerian stanza plus an Alexandrian, or a line of six iambic
feet, the use of archaic words etc. After Spencer we have the poetic diction of Shakespeare
with its intensification, vitality, passion and Spenserian influence on it. Milton has his own
sublimity, etc. Milton took the Spenserian poetic diction and poet a new life into it. After
Milton we have the poetic diction of Dryden with Spenserian influence and the diction of
the Neo-classical poets. In this age, style being everything, diction was developed very
much.

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The romantic revolted against the poetic diction of the neo-classicists. They rejected
the poetic diction so much that Wordsworth even declared the there is no difference in the
language of prose and poetry. To him, poetry should take the language of the simple rustics
as its language.
In the Victorian age we have the diction of Tennyson with its simplicity
because of the use of simple words in simple but effective order. Then we have the poetic
diction of Browning with the use of difficult words in difficult order, leading to obscurity in
the poetry.
In the modern age we have the revival of the romantic and metaphysical poetry. In it
we see the influence of Browning as well. In most of the cases we see obscurity due to the
use of different words as well as symbolism and impact of psychology.

10) Symbolism: The word is taken form ‘symbol’, which has been derived from the
Greek word ‘sumbolon’ which means watchword. The Greek ‘sumbolon’ is taken form
‘sumbalem’ which means to agree.
A symbol is something standing for something else, e.g. the cross stands for
Christianity, rose for beauty etc.
When something is said or stated and the other is meant, we have symbolism. In
symbolism the symbols are used for other things. Symbolism involves two things, i.e. the
symbols and the referents. The thing said or started is called the symbol and the thing
meant is called referent. For example, rose is a symbol and beauty is referent.
Symbolism is also the name given to recent school of French poets including
Malarma, Verlaine and Rimbaud, who aimed at representing ideas and emotions by
suggestions rather than by direct expression.
Symbolism has different kinds. It may be simple or complex, traditional or personal,
rose ,lamb etc. are traditional symbols and the use of such symbols lead to traditional or
simple symbolism. Yeats winding stairs, Byzantium, Tasso’s sword etc are personal or
complex symbols and their use lead to personal or complex symbolism.
Symbolism movement started in France. In England W.B Yeats is the exponent or
leader of symbolism. He has used both personal and traditional symbols.
Modern English literature exhibits certain influences ion it and that of symbolism is a
major one. Modern English poetry is highly symbolic. In modern English literature we see
symbolism in almost all literary forms, e.g. in poetry as in that of Yeats and Eliot, in noel as
in those of Golding and Foster and in short stories as those of Earnest Hemmingway.

11) Irony: It’s derived from the Greek word ‘eironeia’ which means simulated
ignorance. Irony means contrast between appearance and reality either of what is said or of
a situation a character fate or chance. It has different type’s i.e. verbal irony, dramatic irony,
irony of situation, irony of fate.
o Verbal irony: when something is said and the opposite is meant we have verbal
irony. For example, the first sentence of Jane Austen’s “Pride and prejudice” in the
poetry we have it in the poetry of Chaucer in abundance.
o Irony of character: When there is contrast between the appearance and reality of a
character, e.g. in the character of Tom Jones in Fielding’s “Tom John”
o Irony of situation: When a character expects one situation and just the reverse
occurs, e.g. the marriage of Emma with Mr. Knightly in Jane Austen’s “Emma”

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o Dramatic irony: When something occurs of which a character or some characters are
ignored while the other characters and the audience know the reality (e.g. the latter
to Molvolio in “Twelfth Night”)
o Irony of fate: When fate acts against a character, e.g. in the novels of Hardy.
Irony is used in its different types in different forms of literature.

12) Satire: It’s derived from Latin word ‘satuia’ which latter on become ‘satira’ which
means full? Satire means holding of folly to predicate. It’s an attack on the social evils
though different forms of literature. Satire in the earlier period was considered as a
separate literary form. But latter on it ceased to be a literary form and be was considered a
literary device.
Satire must have two important elements:
o It should have the criticism of ridiculous.
o It must contain humor.
The presence of folly and the forcefulness or outspokenness. Among its other essentials
we have a direct route to its target.
Satire was born in Greek in the Hellenic age. Aristophanes is the first satirist. We
have his satire of Socrates and his philosophy in “The Clouds”. After Aristophanes we have
Horace and Juvenal in the Roman literature. The satire of Horace is mild while that of
Juvenal is harsh and punching.
In English literature we have satire for the first time in the Middle English period in
the poetry of Langland. Then we see it in the works of Chaucer. In 15th century we have
satire in Lydgate and Dunbar. In the 16th century we have it in the plays of Ben Jonson. In the
17th century we have it in the works of Cleveland and in Marvell in the metaphysical school.
Satire reached its perfection and abundance in the 18th century. We see in the works of
Pope, Dryden and Swift among the others. The satirists of the age, except Pope, were paid
by Tories or Whigs to attack them opponents.
In the Romantic age we have satire in Byron. In his English bard scotch reviewers “he
has attacked the reviewers” we also have satire in the age in the novel of Jane Austen. In the
Victorian age we see satire in the novels of Dickens, Thackeray and Carlyle among other. In
the modern age we again have abundant satire. We see it in Eliot, Yeats, Golding, Forster,
Peacock and many others. Nearly every modern attacks the society of the age.
So we see that satire started with the birth of literature and as long as there is man
and he is imperfect, satire shall be there.

13) Allegory: It’s has been derived from the Greek ‘allegoria’ which is made of
‘alos’ which means other and ‘agoren’ which means to speak.
Allegory may be defined as the expression of one thing in the guise of another. It’s a
story in at least are other story. In past, allegory was considered as a literary form. Today it’s
thought as a literary device.
Allegory may be either in prose or in verse. Example of prose allegory is John
Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s progress” while that of allegory in verse of these kinds are often
included in an allegory, e.g. as we have in “The Fairer Queene”.

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Allegory may be either social or political. It may historical or religious as well. More
than one of these kinds is often included in an allegory, e.g. “The Fairer Queene”. In allegory
often the writer falls asleep and what follows is the dream of the author. This we see in “The
Pilgrim’s progress”. But it’s not followed by every writer.
There are some stories which fall between allegory and symbolical stories, as the
symbolism there is not as sustained as the one we have in allegory. We may call them
allegorical stories rather than proper allegories. Golding’s “Lord of the flies” is such a story.
It may be called an allegorical novel but not allegory as some people mistake to call it.
Allegory took its birth in the Middle English period with ‘The owl and ‘The
nightingale’ in which the owl represents the serious aspect of life which the nightingale
stands for light aspect of life. Allegory reached perfection in the hands of Spencer in “The
Fairer Queene”. There we have the birth of prose allegory in the 18 th century. In this age we
have Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s progress” and Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” as the example of
prose allegory. On the modern English literature we see the influence on it. The modern
writers are the critics of the society and they think the social evils thought symbolism and
allegorical way.

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Novel
It has two meanings: By literal sense “something new”. As novel is a comparatively newer
literary form, so it’s given the name.
It’s advanced or a developed form of Novell or Novella, kind of short story written by
Boccaccio an Italian poet.
The word is derived from Latin ‘novellas’ which means new things.
According to Oxford Advance Learner’s dictionary gives two meanings to the word novel:
Anything strange, anything not seen before.
A story in prose, long enough to fill one or more volumes, about either imagery or historical
people.
A.F Scott, in his dictionary of literary terms defines novel as a fictitious prose narrative
dealing with human beings and their actions over a period of time and displacement variety
of human characters in relation to life. According to Dr. Tillyard, a novel is not least saying
2000 words. According to Henry Fielding, a novel is a comic epic in prose.
I define it as long as story in prose presenting life through its realistic portrait.

1. With other stories: From the aforesaid definitions of novel, it’s clear that novel is
primarily a story. We see that there are other stories in literature as well. So, let us see
how novel is similar to those stories and how does it differ from them.
2. With Epic: Like novel it’s a story. Both are similar being in length. Being a product of
imagination and dealing with human beings and their actions. But unlike epic, novel is
written in verse. Then it’s not about the national events and national characters. It has
no invocation at the star. Then it’s younger or newer than epic.
3. With Drama: Both deal with human beings in a realist way, but they are different:
o In the use of language, Drama may be either in prose or in verse, while novel
necessary in prose.
o The action in drama develops through dialogue while in novel we have the
narration of the action.
o The playwright is less free while the characters in a play are freer while it’s the
sense in novel.
4. With allegory: Both are stories but novel is different form allegory in being a single
story that we read them having others stories below the surface. Allegory may be in
prose and in verse while novel is in prose. The characters in allegory are personified
abstrictions while those in novel are human beings or like real people.
5. With history: Both are stories, but they are different in their natures. History is real
while novel is realistic. We have the historical novel which is more prone to history,
which complements history by giving life to it and adding imagination to history?
6. With Biography: Both are story, but being real it’s different from novel. It deals the
whole life of one man while novel deals with a part of the lives of many people, either
historical or fictitious.

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7. With romance: of all the stories, novel is the nearest to romance resulting from it.
Novel has developed form romance, like romance it is a story like romance it’s the
element of fantasy, as Foster says. But unlike romance, novel is realistic. Unlike
romance which is a product of fancy, novel is a product of imagination. Again unlike
romance, a novel is realistic, unlike romance it has plot.

Kinds of novel:

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Though born very recently, novel has developed more than other form of literature. This
enormous development of this form has led to the diversity of kinds. The various type of
novel is as per its structure, its setting, its purpose and as per its narration. We have the
following main forms or types of novel:

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1. Picaresque novel: The word has been taken from Spanish ‘picaro’ which means a
rogue, a scoundrel. Picaresque novel is that kind of novel in which the main character or
hero moves from place to place in the course of the development of the novel and thus
giving as an opportunity to know about different people, their manners and the places they
live in. the example of picaresque novel are the novels of Denial Defoe. His Robinson
Crusoe is such a character.

2. Omniscient novel: It’s the most common type of novel. Most of the great
novelists of English have adopted this type of novel. It’s a kind of novel in which the story is
narrated by the novelist or some imagined feelings narrator. This form was invented by
Fielding and was carried on by novelist like Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy,
Carlyle etc. it’s also called the traditional novel. It has been revived in modern age by
novelists like Forster, Golding, etc. after the stream of consciousness novel along with which
it’s also being carried on today.

3. Epistolary novel: The word has been taken from ‘epistol’ which means letter. It’s a
form of novel which the story is carried on through letters. This form was invented by
Samuel Richardson. His ‘Pamela’ and ‘Clarrisa’ are the example of epistolary novel. Though
this form as such was not carried on in the latter age, it developed to the psychological and
then the stream of consciousness novel. Hence its importance.

4. Psychological novel: A kind of novel in which, though we have the story, the main
focus shifts from outside to the inside, from external action or events to the psycho or mind
of the character. This kind of novel was originated by Gorge Eliot in the Victorian age. Her
Adam Bede, ‘The Mallon the floss’ are psychological novels.

5. Stream of consciousness novel: The term stream of consciousness was used by

William James one of the founder of the modern psychology, in his book on psychology,
while discussing human novel. From there the term was taken and applied to the modern
and newer kind of novel. In this form of novel, we peep from the mind to the soul of the
character. It is an advanced form of the psychological novel. Its shows the inner being to us.
It has the two groups:

o One led by Virginia Woolf in which we still have story, plot and character in the
traditional sense.
o The other kind, as those of James Joyce and Dorothy Richardson.

There is no story, no plot and no character in the traditional sense but only the minds and
soul of the character. It is about this kind of novel that is said that there we have the killing
of the story and character. Stream of consciousness novel is in the form of unrelated
episodes of mental thinking.

6. Panoramic novel: panorama means the changing scenery. Panoramic novel is a

kind of novel as per its setting. The novel in which the setting changes frequently, the novel
of Defoe are panoramic as well because here we have the changes of sitting in the course of
the story of the wandering picaro or rogue. Its elements are in some novels of Dickens and
Fielding as well.

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7. Gothic novel: The term gothic has been borrowed from architecture and applied
to novel. Om architecture, gothic is that type which is fearful. Gothic novel is form of novel
in which we have the element of fear through fearful character. In it we have events with
the use of the supernatural to increase the element of fear. The example of Gothic novel is
in the novels of Mrs. Redcliff.

8. Social Reform novel: It’s a kind of novel as per its theme and function. Its that
type of novel which is invented for social reform. The novels of Charles Dickens provide the
best example of this form. He has attacked various social evils in his novel in order to reform
the society of them.

9. Regional novel: It’s a type of novel as per setting. In it we have a particular region
to be the setting of the novel. An example of it’s the wessex novels of Hardy, in which the
sitting is wessex.

10. Domestic novel: It’s a novel as per the subject matter. In such a novel we have the
domestic subjects, for example we have the novel of Jane Austen what deal with marriage
and love which are domestic subjects of interest to woman.

11. Doctrinaire novel: It’s a kind of novel as per its purpose and subject such as novel
deals with the propagation of a doctrine, political or religious. An example of such novel is
provided by E.M Foster’s “A Passage to India” dealing with internationalism.

12. Political novel: It’s also a type of novel as per its function and subject. We have the
propagation of a political doctrine or political subjects in this type of novel Foster’s ‘A
Passage to India’ is an example in this regard as well.

13. Historical novel: It’s again a type of novel as per its subject. It’s a blend of history
and fiction. In such a novel, the plot is taken form history but a plot in such a novel is
imaginary sir Walter Scott’s novels are the example of such novel.

14. Sex dealing novel: It’s a type of novel as per the purpose, subject and theme of
novel such a novel deals with sex as an important element in human life. The examples in
this regard are provided by the novels of D.H Lawrence which deal with free sex as a means
to attain complete peace of mind.

Aspects or Elements of Novel

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There are certain aspects of the novel which distinguish it from other literary forms. Some of
them have been discussed in the detail by E.M Foster in his “Aspect of the Novel” the other
we are going to discuss is taken from other books like “The novelist on novel” etc. Following
are the aspect of the novel.
Story
Story is the most important aspect of novel. It’s the backbone of novel. Every novel is
primarily a story. E.M Foster doesn’t wish it to be such an important aspect of novel. Plot is
a development of the story. Characters are bound to follow the story. Setting is for the
development of the action which is a form of story. Philosophy, theme, fantasy, prophecy
etc. all are closest and known in the contact of story. Man is by nature a love of story and
novel is a story of man and for man.
Story has come to their world with the creation of man. The first story is the story of
Adam’s fall which led to the existence of man on the planet. Human life in itself is a story
and is even going to lead to another story after its end. And novel studies human life.
The first recoded story, recorded in the books of literature in fact is the story Osiris
an Egyptian god. Its deals with this coming to this world, his death and regeneration. Then
we have this story of Tammuz, a god in Syria and of Tammuz and Ishtar in Babylonia. From
there the story invented and become the Adonis legend in Greece. But Greece we also have
Homer’s “Illiad and Odyssey”. The first examples of epic and so of poetry as well as story.
After the Hellenic age, we have story in Roman literature, as for example Virgil’s ‘Aenied’. In
English literature stories like that of ‘Beowulf’ in Anglo-Saxon age, the stories through the
metrical romances in the middle ages, prose romance, the stories in Chaucer like his
“Canterbury tales’, Triolus and Cryssede’ etc. in the 16 th century we have stories as the one
in “The Faerie Queene” and the prose romances, in the 17th century again story existed in
England, as the one in “Paradise Lost”. In the neo-classical age we have the prose romance
and then the birth of novel from this time onwards we have a smooth and regular
development of story in the shape of novel. Through the romantic age with the novels of
Scott and Jane Austin. The Victorian age with those of Dickens, Carlyle, Hardy and George
Eliot and it reaches the modern age in which, after suffering from a setback from the hands
of the stream of consciousness novelist, story has once again been revived and we have
stories in the novels of many great novelists like Foster and Golding.

Plot
Plot means the story with cause effect relationship. For example “The king died. The
queen died” is a story while “The king dead and the queen died of a broken heart” is a plot
because here, the first event i.e. the death of the king is a cause while the second event, i.e.

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the death of the queen is its effect. In a plot, every event effect of the previous event and
the cause of the next event such a relationship are called cause effect relationship.
Plot was discussed for the first time by Aristotle in his “The Poetic”. The first book of
literary criticism in the world. According to Aristotle, the requirements of a good plot are:
Cause effect relationship, which makes it.
o Organic unity, i.e. the relation between the parts and the whole on one hand and the
parts themselves on the other hand. It also means that there should be nothing
superfluous in a good plot
o It should be of proper magnitude or intermediate length, i.e. meter neither too short
nor too long.
o It should be convincing, dealing with probable impossibility rather than improbable
possibility.
To E.M Foster, plot is the highest element of novel. It differentiates novel form story and
romance.
Plot is not only important for novel only but also for the either literary forms
dealing with stories, plot is there in an epic as well. But it’s different from the plot of novel,
being in poetic language. Plot is there in drama as well but it’s different from the plot of
novel, being dramatic.
Plot has different kinds or types. The types of plot fall into four categories which
follow:
o We have compact and loose plots. Compact plot is preferred to lose plots. The plots
of Jane Austen are compact. The plots of Fielding are lose, with loose ending.
o We have simple and complex plot. According to Aristotle, simple plot is that in which
there is no discovery and reversal while complex plot is the one in which we have discovery
and reversal. In other words, we can say that when the action moves in a single direction,
we have simple plot, while when the direction of the action changes or reverses we have
complex plot. The concept would be cleared by the following diagrams:

Simple plot Complex plot

The direction of the action in complex plot changes or reverses due to some discovery. For
example of the action “Oedipus Rex” changes or reverse form on of rise to one of fall when
Oedipus comes to know that he has killed his father and married his own mother.
o The plot develops through diversion and conversion. Diversion is the point in plot in
which the action becomes narrower and comes to the particular point. But in some plots
there is one diversion and conversion of the lines of action (one cause and one affect make
one line of action) the former kind of plot is preferred to the latter. This division of plot can
be clearly shown from the following diagrams:
Beginning (1) End Beginning (2) End

Diversion Conversion
o We have the main plot and sub plot. Main plot deals with the main action while in
sub plot we secondary action in the strict sense. Some plots have the skillful blending or
connection of the main and its sub plots. They are preferred over those not connected the
sub plots. They are preferred over those not connected.

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Characters (people)
Characters constitute another important aspect of novel. It’s important because
every novel is in itself a world and there can be no world without people. Secondly novel is
the narration of action and there can be no action without the actor. Characters are the
actors who perform the action that is narrated in novel. Thirdly novel is primarily a story
about man and hence the presence of human characters is important first.
A painter and a sculptor can introduce their arts of they likes. A musician can’t
introduce human beings in their art even if they want. But a novelist has to introduce
human beings in his novel even if he doesn’t wish to do so or even he wishes not to
introduce human beings. It’s so because there can be no novel without characters.
We also have characters in romance, but they are different from those in novel,
being fantastic and not like as those in novel. Characters are there in epic as well, but unlike
those in a novel, those space poetry language. The characters of drama are different form
these in a novel because they introduce themselves and show themselves by dialogues.
They are freer role more responsible for the development of action than those in a novel,
being symbols and personified abstractors. The characters in novel are different from those
on fable because the former are human beings while the latter are animals.
The characters in a novel, though like the real people are not exactly the real people.
The homofictous according to Foster are like the homosapiens. They are born like them,
they eat, sleep and wake like them. They marry and love like them. But they are freer than
the homosapiens.
Characters have different types which are being discussed in the following six
categories:
o We have good and bad characters. The heroes and the side heroes are the example
of good characters while the villain and his colleagues are the bad ones.
o We have protagonist and the antagonist. When the central character in the novel is
not hero, he is called protagonist. Heathiliff in “Wouthering Heights” is a protagonist.
The opponent of protagonist is the novels of Fielding, Jane Austen etc.
o We have the method of narration by the hero as we see in Defoe’s “Robinson
Crusoe” Dickens’s “The Great Expectations”.
o We have narration is that of narration by two narrators this we see in Emily Bronte’s
“Wouthering Heights”
The story in novel is narrated either from inside of from outside. When a novelist like
Gorge Eliot enters the mind of the character, we have the narration from inside. When a
novelist like Hardy narrates the story without focusing on the psyche of the characters then
we have the narration from inside.

Fantasy
It’s another important aspect of novel according to E.M Foster. It’s important for
novel is a realistic rather than a real, it become history. If it’s totally unreal or fantastic, it’s a
romance. Novel must have the elements of both and so fantasy is important for novel.
Secondly as novel is a child of romance, it has the element of fantasy inherited form
romance, its moths. The introduction of the fantastic produces a special effect in novel
because of the element of fantasy in it. Fantasy implies the supernatural but need not
explain it.

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Prophecy
It’s important aspect of novel according to E.M Foster. A novelist is a prophet as he
gives prophecies. According to E.M Foster, prophet is the one having his own view of the
universe. In novel we also have philosophy, but the difference between them is that while
philosophy needs reflection prophecy doesn’t need it. To Foster, Lawrence is a prophet. He
calls him a prophet because Lawrence gives prophecy whiles all the other fantastic and
preachers. ‘Wouthering Heights’ doesn’t present any view of the universe but still Bronte is
a prophetess in the sense that what she implies in her novel is more important to her than
what is said.

Pattern and Rhythm

Pattern borrowed from painting and rhythm from music. Novel shows action and for
action rhythm is important. It’s a record for events and for record pattern is important. That
is why pattern and rhythm in novel mainly come out of its plot. The other aspect like
characters and setting also contribute to pattern and rhythm. Pattern and rhythm gives
beauty to novel and delight to the readers. But it done badly they mar the novel and bore
the readers.

Theme
It’s the central idea of the crux of the whole matter in novel. Its different form
subject matter in being its part, rather its basic part.
There are three kinds of theme:
o The main theme on which there is greater focus and which a greater part of the plot
is assigned.
o The minor theme on which there is no greater focus.
o The major theme, in some cases, many connected themes combines to constitute
the major theme of the novel. This we have in Foster’s “A Passage to India” in which
the theme like that of personal relationship, union versus separation of love versus
hatred etc. combine to form the major theme, i.e. the lack of universal love the
major theme in such cases is closely connected to the minor theme.

Narration
It’s important element of novel because novel is basically a story and story is
narrated. There are various methods of narration adopt by different novelist:
o The epistolary method in which the story develops through letters, as we see in the
novels of Richardson.
o The omniscient way in which the story is narrated by the novelist or some imaginary
fictitious narrator. The method we see in the novels of Fielding, Jane Austin etc.
o The method of the narrator by the hero as we see in Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe” and
Dickens “The Great Expectations”.
o Narration by two narrators this we see in Emily Bronte’s “Wouthering Heights”.
The story in the novel is narrated either from inside or outside. When a novelist like
Gorge Eliot events the mind of the characters, we have the narration from inside when a
novelist like Hardy, narrates the story without focusing on the psycho of the characters then
we have narration from inside.

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Setting
Setting means the place where the action takes place. As novel deals with mean in
action, there must be setting in it because nothing can take place nowhere. Setting may
remain fixed or change. For example fixed setting is that of “Lord of the flies” while that of
changing setting is the setting of a novel also leads to the limitation of the range of a
novelist, as we see in case of the novels of Jane Austen.

Range
Range of a novel is also called world of the novelist. Range is either limited of
unlimited. The limited range is seen in the case of Jane Austen while the unlimited range is
seen in the novel in Fielding and Dickens. Unlimited range demands a great skill than that
demanded by limited setting. Range of a novel is determined by many factors like
characters, theme, viewpoint, setting, experience etc.

Development of novel
Novel has its origin in the prose romance; travelogues adventure stories, prose
allegories, prose romances and metrical romances.
Novel was the result of the development of prose romance form metrical romance
and the lading of the prose romance to adventure stories. It was born in the 18 th century. In
the 19th century we have the novels of Jane Austen and the birth of historical novel by Scott.
In the Victorian age we have the novels of Dickens and Hardy. Gorge Eliot started the
psychological novel. In the 20th century we have the modern or the stream of consciousness
novel in which there is no plot and no character in traditional sense. But here we also see
the development of the traditional novel as in the novels of novelist like Foster and Golding.

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m
a
r
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Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher

‘dran’ means to do, to act.

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Drama

37
m

The word drama is a Greek word means a deed, an action on the stage. It’s derived from

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The meanings of drama in Oxford dictionary are:
o A play for the theater, radio or TV.
o Series of exciting events.
Drama is different from the other forms of literature because of its presentation of action
on the stage. Drama is in the language both of prose and verse.
It has four kinds or forms, i.e. Tragedy, Comedy, Tragic-comedy and Historical play.
We have also the Roman play of Shakespeare. In the second category we have the five act
play. The three acts play, two acts play and the modern one act play. The former division of
drama is as per its nature and subjects and the latter is as per its length and division. The
former category being more important, we go on to discuss the forms of this group in detail.

Tragedy
It’s has been derived from the Greek word ‘tragoidia’ which means good song. The word
‘tragoidia’ is made of ‘tragos’ which means ‘he-goat’ an ‘oide’ which mean song.
There are the reasons for giving the name to it:
It’s originated in hymns sung by singers. Who were the skins of he-goats and moved around
the temple of Dionysus in Greece. Dionysus was the Greek god of vegetation life, rebirth and
sex. The Greeks celebrated Dionysus festival in spring as he was a god of vegetation. Then as
he was a god of sex as well, so the singers of hymns in his honour, were the skin of he-goat,
the most sexual animal and a symbol to tragedy is that in the Dionysus festival there used to
be a competition of the playwright who wrote the best play with an unhappy ending was
awarded with the prize in shape of a he-goat.
According to Oxford dictionary tragedy means a play with sad ending. Aristotle was
the first to give an authentic definition to tragedy. He says: “tragedy is an imitation of action
that is serious, complete in itself, of a certain magnitude in language beautified by various
kinds of embellishment, through action and not narration, and through scenes of pity and
fear, leading to the catharsis of such like emotions”. This is so authentic and complete
definition of tragedy that we don’t need any other definition to know what is tragedy.
Tragedy is different from the other forms of drama. It’s different from comedy:
o In the sense that it has an unhappy ending while comedy has happy ending.
o Tragedy is serious while comedy is comic and humorous.
o Tragedy deals with man above the average and so elevates man, while comedy deals
with man below this average and so degrades him by bringing his follies to the
surface.
o Tragedy is older than comedy when drama was born it was tragedy.
Tragedy is different from tragic-comedy in being to tragic and have no comic elements.
It’s different from historical play because it deals with something fictitious while history play
is based upon history.

Kinds of Tragedy
The kinds or types of tragedy can be discussed in two categories:
We have classical and romantic tragedy. Classical tragedy is that type of tragedy in which
the rules fail down by the great classics like Aristotle are followed these rules include the
various unities and the rules regarding its purpose. The first rules in this regard are that of
the unity of structure to the unity of tone and effect which was followed in the Greek plays.

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It means that a tragedy is to be tragic through and through as a comedy should be comic
from beginning to end. It forbids the playwright to include the comic elements in tragedy.
The second unity is the unity of plot or of action. It’s also called organic unity. It means that
there should be a connection between the parts and the whole. There should be nothing
irrelevant in it. The events of the plot should be in cause effect relationship. It should have a
proper magnitude. The unity of time means that a play should cover a certain limited period
of time. Unity of place demands that the whole action take place in some particular place.
Another classical rule is that of seriousness. Another rule is that it should be a criticism of
life and should have a moral purpose to be a useful act.
In English these were followed by playwrights like Ben Jonson, T.S Eliot etc. and the
classical playwrights.
Romantic tragedy on the other hand is the one in which these rules are isolated. The plays
of Shakespeare are an example in this regard. He was isolated the unity of tone and effect
by including comic elements in his tragedies. He has been justified for this relief because
though it he relieves the tension then the unity of place and time are also isolated in his
semantic tragedies.
In the second category we have the following forms of tragedy:
1) Pure Tragedy 2) Love tragedy 3) Revenge Tragedy 4) Melodrama
5) Heroic Tragedy 6) She-tragedy 7) Sentimental Tragedy
We go on to discuss them one by one:

1) Pure Tragedy: It’s the form of tragedy which can be classified only into tragedy
and not farther, T.S Eliot’s “Murder in the Cathedral” is its example.

2) Love Tragedy: It’s a tragedy which deals with love Shakespeare’s “Romeo and
Juliet” and “Troilus and Crysseda” are its examples.

3) Revenge Tragedy: It’s mainly revenge, i.e. it main theme is revenge. It was
indicated by Seneia, the Roman poet. The first English tragedy ‘Gorbodue’ by Marion and
Sackville is a revenge tragedy. Among the other examples we have kid’s “The Spanish
tragedy” and Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”.

4) Melodrama: It’s a type of tragedy having the scenes of fear and death
Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Hamlet’ has the elements of melodrama. The introduction of
the supernatural in such plays also enhances over fear. The atmosphere of tension is
enhanced in a melodrama.

5) Heroic Tragedy: It’s a type of tragedy which is understood by the rules of epic. It’s
different from the older tragedies. Invented in the Neo-classical age, it’s defined by Dryden
as an imitation, in little, of a heroic poem.

6) She-tragedy: It’s a type of tragedy in which the main character is a woman rather
than a man. It’s a parody of heroic tragedy which was an artificial product of an artificial age,
e.g. Dryden’s “All for Love’.

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7) Sentimental Tragedy: It’s a type of tragedy which shows the excessive and
emotions of the character, e.g. Dryden’s “All for Love’.

Essentials of Tragedy
The following are the essential of tragedy:
1) Theme
2) Plot
3) Action that is serious and complete
4) Characters
5) Simultaneously
6) Conflict, both interior and external
7) Dialogue
8) Humourless or Tragic flaw and error of judgment
9) Dramatic unities for (classical tragedy)
10) Unity of atmosphere or of tone and effect
11) Tragic hero to be above the others in degree, not in kind
12) Catharsis, which is the function of tragedy
13) Excessive suffering of the hero
14) Unhappy ending
15) Melodramatic sense
16) Character to be subordinate to action
17) A sense of loss for the readers or audience
18) Suffering of a good man

Development of tragedy: Tragedy was born in the Hellenic age Aeschylus the real father of
tragedy and so drama in the world followed by Sophocles and Euripides in the Hellenic age.
In the Roman age we have the revenge tragedy invented by Seneca.
In English ‘Gorbodue’ is the tragedy, followed by Marlow kid, Shakespeare and
Jonson among other in Elizabethan age. In the 18th century we have the heroic, sentimental
tragedy and her tragedy. In 19th century drama was dormant. But towards all the end of it
we have the plays of G.B Shaw. In 20th century we have the revival of verse drama by T.S
Eliot.

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Comedy
It has been derived from French ‘comedie’. This in turn is taken from the Greeco-Latin
‘comoedia’. The word ‘comoedia’ is made of ‘komos’ which means ‘revel’ and ‘oide’ which
means a song.
According to Oxford Advance learner dictionary comedy means a branch of drama
which deals with everyday life and humorous events. It also means a play of light amusing
type for the theater.
Comedy may be defined as a play with a happy ending, amusing in nature, criticizing
life attacking follies and making as laugh through laughing at us.
A.F Scott defines comedy as a drama dealing with humorous, familiar events and the
behavior of ordinary people speaking the language of day to day life. Its purpose is to amuse
and its treatment of character often has touches of exaggeration and caricature. It may have
a serious purpose as in ‘Aristophanes’ plays and it may deal with the universal predicament
as we see in the play of chekove.
The function of comedy is the criticism of life and the reformation of society by
attacking follies and dealing with man below the average. Its other function is
entertainment.
Comedy is different from the other dramatic forms. It’s different from tragedy in
having a happy ending secondly its different from tragedy by bringing man down to a lower
scale. Thirdly it’s humorous.
Comedy is different form tragic-comedy because it’s comic through and through
whereas tragic-comedy has its elements tragic-comedy is a hybrid of tragedy and comedy.
Comedy is different from historical play because it doesn’t depend upon history for its plot
or characters which are imaginative. Secondly comedy is humorous and comic which history
play may not be such. Thirdly for comedy the comic elements and follies are necessary while
for historical drama they aren’t.

Classical and Romantic Comedy:

A broad division of comedy is that of classical and romantic comedy. Classical comedy
is that in which the classical rules are followed. It has the unity of tone of effect and the
unities of action, place and time. It’s serious in nature with purpose of criticizing life and
holding follies to ridicule. Romantic comedy on the other hand, violates classical rules. It
discards the unities of time and place. By the blend of the tragic and comic, it violates the
unity of tone and effect. In it there is an element of sympathy unlike the classical comedy in
which there is attack. Difficulties in the way of romantic comedies. There is a greater role of
chance or fate in romantic comedy. In it we have kind, light hearted and humorous play
upon words is another characteristic of romantic comedy. The example of classical comedy
is the comedy of Ben Jonson while romantic comedies are the comedies of Shakespeare.

Types and form of comedy:

There are various categories of the forms or types of comedies, i.e. old and new comedy
classical and romantic comedy, high and low comedy and the other types which are the
comedy of humours comedy of manners, comedy of errors, comedy of intrigues, burlesque,
farce, masque, sentimental comedy etc. Among other categories of its types we have that of

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Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher
sweet and better comedy and that of romance and satire which is same as the category of
classical and romantic comedy. The various categories are below:

L o

a) Comedy of humours: humour means a salient trait of character, e.g. various pride
etc. The ancient believed that human body was made of four elements, i.e. air, fire,

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water and earth. The increased quality of any of these elements, called humours was
supported to give rise to certain trait of character, e.g. that of fire leading to the firry
nature, that of water leading to cold temptation etc. from there the word humour was
borrowed and applied to a play written on an eccentrically or salient trait of
personality. Such plays were written by Ben Jonson, e.g. his ‘volpone’ which is written
upon avarice.
b) Comedy of Manners: It’s a play which deals the upper class people and their
manners. It’s satirical in nature, like the comedy of humours. Its purpose is corrective;
such plays were famous in the restoration age. Sheridan’s “The Rivals” and the plays of
congregate and Oliver Goldsmith are the example of the comedy of manners.
c)Comedy of Error: It’s a comedy deals the error on the part of the readers and some
characters can be done by mistaken identity as well as other means. Comedy of errors
was imported from Rome. In the Roman age such plays were written by Terrence.
Comedy of error often deals with sea-sorrow, separation of twins and mistaken
identity. At the end all is cleared and the lost ones find each other. For example such
comedy is Shakespeare’s ‘Comedy of Error’. Its elements are found in his “Twelfth
Night” as well.
d) Burlesque: It’s a literary form in which, people, action or literary works are made
ridiculous by an incongruous imitation. It imitates another work of art to make fan of it
parody. Farce and caricatures are the types of burlesque. Parody is a form of high
burlesque. It ridicules not its subject but the style by applying it to a trivial subject. An
example of burlesque is ‘The Rehearsal’ which is a burlesque of the 18 th century Heroic
tragedy.
e) Low comedy and High comedy: Romantic comedy is also called high comedy. Unlike
the romantic comedy to low comedy makes use of the less refines speech like Farce to
make a comic appeal.
f) Comedy of Intrigues: A form of comedy in which the main focus is on the intrigues and
so on plot rather than characters. It was most famous in Spain form where it was
imported to England and become popular in the age of Dryden.
g) Masque: A form of comedy in which the actors wear masks. It was important from
Italy and become famous in the Elizabethan age. We have the masques of Ben Jonson
as its example. But the vest masque is Milton’s ‘Comas’.
h) Farce: A form of comedy which mainly focuses on producing laughter. In it we often
see the use of the episode of low comedy. In Farce, a one dimensional character is put
into a ludicrous situation to evoke maximum laughter. For example, Fielding is the
author of Farce.
i) Sentimental comedy: A form of comedy which is so much sentimental or emotional
that it moves is to tears rather than laughter. It was born as a reaction to the 18 th
century comedy of manners. Such plays were written by Sir Richard Steele, Hugh Kelly
etc. but some afterwards there manners was revived.

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Tragic-Comedy
A form of drama in which the devices of comedy as well as tragedy are used. It’s basically a
tragedy but the introduction of comic elements makes it comic. It’s a hybrid of tragedy and
comedy. It’s the result of the violation of the classical unity of structure or unity of tone and
effect which demands that a tragedy must be tragic through and through and a comedy
must be comic. This rule was violated by Shakespeare who introduced comic elements in his
tragedies to give the comic relief from the melodramatic tension in his tragedies. His
tragedies are tragic in their melodramatic sense tragic heroes, role of chance or fortune and
the use of the supernatural. But they also exhibit comic elements in the comic sense with
the comic devices like pun the introduction of clown and fools, witty remarks of violating the
classical rules and writing tragic-comedies. But he is justified in doing so because in the real
life the tragic and comic go together. Secondly had h not done so, his tragedies would have
become melodramas or sentimental tragedies.

History play
It’s a form of drama which is based on upon history. Here it takes some historic events or
person and treats it or him in imaginative way. In this sense it’s a combination of the real
and unreal of fact and fiction. In it the historical events are taken for the plot but
imagination is mixed with them. Similar is the case with characters as well. The imagination
here is more important than the real. Like the historical novel, historical drama also
complements history. It also gives life to history. For example of historical drama we have
the historical plays of Shakespeare like his “Henry iv” and Marlow’s “Tamerlane”.

Elements of Drama
Elements of drama are discussed follow:
Theme
It’s the central idea that is conveyed in a drama. Its different from subject matter in
being its cruse. For example the theme of ‘Hamlet’ is revenge while its subject is the murder
of Hamlet’s father and the ghost of his father telling him to take the revenge of its original.
But he delays in talking the revenge. Similarly the theme of ‘Romeo and Juliet” is the love
between Romeo and Juliet.
Theme may be main theme story while minor theme is that of a secondary action or
story. For example, the main theme of ‘Hamlet’ is revenge while its minor themes are delay,
love, intrigues etc.
Character
It’s an important element of drama. In case of drama they are more important than in case
of novel or any other narrative because in drama the action develops through their action
and dialogue. Being the performers of the action, they are the backbone of drama. The
character in a drama must be human being. Supernatural can be introduced but only if they
are extremely necessary and if they are made convincing.

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Characters are either types or individual, either flat or round either major or sound,
either heroes or villains and either protagonists or antagonists. Types are those representing
certain types of people and hence possessing there characteristics. Individuals, on the other
hand have then individual personalities and qualities.
Flat characters are those which don’t undergo any change while round characters
undergo various changes in the course of the action. For example, Sir Toby is flat while the
Viola is a round character.
Major and main character is those that perform main role. For example, Viola is main
character in ‘Twelfth Night’ while Antonio is a main character.
Heroes are those characters that have the main role and perform heroic actions in
some plays. They are the main focus Villains are the opponents if the hero and then
importance depends upon the importance of the heroes. For example, King Lear is a tragic
hero while his two daughters are the villains.
Sometime the central character, through falling the place of the hero is not heroic. In
such cases they are called protagonist and those opposing them are called antagonist. For
example, Macbeth is a protagonist while Duncan or Malcum and Dunalbrim are
protagonists.
Characters in drama are revealed by themselves, i.e. through their actions and
dialogues. In this way it’s the revelation from inside rather from outside because the
playwright or any other narrator is not permitted in a drama to say anything.

Suspense
It’s a necessary element for drama. It means the curiosity of the readers or the audience
about what is going to happen next. Suspense creates interest in the play and its increase
the interest. Suspense should begin develop and end simultaneously with the action. If the
action ends and the suspense remain the play is not good. Similarly if suspense ends before
the action, the play is again not good. In a good play suspense and action develop and end
the same time. In most plays, suspense is born a little or somewhat after the beginning of
the action.

Plot of Drama
Plot means a story with cause effect relationship. It was first discussed by Aristotle and he
had the plot of drama tragedy in particular in front of him when he was discussing it.
According to him plot should have the unity of action. He has given comparatively little
importance to the unity of time and hasn’t discussed the unity of place at all. But it has been
attributed to him latter on he tells us that the plot should be a coherent whole neither too
neither short nor too long and having nothing superfluous. The plot of drama is different
that of novel in the following ways:
We keep presentation on stage in mind. The plot of novel is narrated while that of drama is
acted.
A playwright is not allowed to comment. A playwright is less free in this regard.
The characters of drama are more independent in and more responsible for the
development of action as compared to the characters in a novel
Kind of plot: there are various categories of the types of plot:
1. They differ in then length or magnitude. In this regard we have four types of plot:
I. Those showing the activity of a single character in a single closed situation.

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II. Those showing the activity of more than one character in a single closed
situation.
III. Those showing the action of more than two characters in a single closed
situation but only one event of them being important.
IV. Those showing the activity of more than two characters in a series of
situations in which the principle events are more than one.
2. There are different plots due to the different laws of probability for example; the
plot of farce is different from that of an ordinary comedy.
3. Simple and complex plot form another category of the types of plot in simple plot
the action goes in a single direction while in complex the direction of the action
changes or reverse.

Complex plot simple plot

The point of the change of direction is called peripity by Aristotle. It’s the result of
anagnorisis, i.e. coming from ignorance to knowledge, according to him complex plot is
though superior by Aristotle because in it the unexpected happiness and emotions comes to
us in expectedly. It evolves complication which may be either continuous as in case of
Shakespeare or incidental as in case of G.B Shaw. In it the line of action comprising one
cause and one effect each separate and unite. The point of their union is called conversation
when at the end all the lines of action unite at the point of conversion. The complication is
resolved. It’s shown though a diagram.

Beginning Ending

Diversion Conversion

Conflict
It’s the most important elements of drama. It may be either inner or outer. The inner
conflict is that which occurs in the mind of the character. Outer or external conflict may be
between man and man, between man and traditions, between the opposing groups of men
between one man on one hand and many on the other hand, between man and nature and
between man and destiny beside the other kinds of outer conflict, in Shakespeare’s
‘Hamlet” we see the external conflict in his mind. It’s seen in his remarks or his soliloquies
like the one starting with “To be or not to be that is the question…” the outer conflict here is
between Hamlet and Claudius, between him and Fortinbras and between him and Polonius
and then Laertes, the son of Polonius. The inner conflict in Eliot’s “Murder in the Cathedral”
is in the mind of Thomas Backed about his facing martyrdom while the outer conflict in the
play is between him and the king and the knight. For example of the outer conflict between
groups is the one between the workers and the factory owners in Galsworthy’s “Strife”.

Composed By: Irfanullah 46 M.A English (previous)

 Introduction to English literature by: Jehan Sher

Dialogue
It’s an essential element of drama _____________ be the form of drama, dialogue is the
central importance in it because the action of a play develops through dialogue. Its gives
freedom to the characters and binds the playwright. It’s also the important because it shows
the mind of the characters and the inner conflict in the play. A novelist can use dialogue of
he wishes. But a playwright is bound to use it whether he wishes or not.

Hamartia
The term is a Greek word first used by Aristotle in his ‘The Poetic’. Its means an error of
judgment or a wrong decision resulting from a flaw in character. It’s what leads to the tragic
flaw of the tragic hero.
To give his example from various tragedies we see it in “Oedipus Rex” where the hamartia
and Oedipus is his running away from the home of the Shepherd which result in his killing
his father and marrying with his own mother and his tragic end. In Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”
the flaw lies in the delay of Hamlet. Macbeth’s hamartia is his killing of Duncan, the king due
to his ambition while leads to his tragic fall. Hamartia is an important element for tragedy
rather than comedy.

Unities
It’s an important element for classical dramas. The first unity is the unity of structure of
tone and effect which means that a tragedy should be tragic and a comedy comic tell the
end. But the more common unities which the term unities refer to are the unities of action
of tune and of place. Unity action or organic unity means:
o The action should be a complete wholly.
o There should be nothing superfluous or that everything should be relevant.
o There should be cause effect relation in the action.
o The action should be of proper length.
The unity of time means that the action of a play should take place during a specific and
limited duration. Aristotle has specified a single revolution of the sun, i.e. 24 hours for it.
Unity of place means that the action should take place means that the action should take
place in limited setting. It should occur within specific boundaries rather than in different
places.
These unities are followed by the classical playwrights while the romantic
playwrights like Shakespeare have violated them.

The End
Composed By: Irfanullah 47 M.A English (previous)