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NARRATIVEPOETRY

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Narrative Poetryo Narrative poetry is

o It can be ao It is usuallyo It

o In addition, it also :

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In addition, it also contains at least some elements ofpoetry.

1) Similes(the comparing of two things using like or as)

2) Metaphors(the comparing of two things without like or as)

3) Personification(giving human qualities to nonhuman things)

4) Imagery(the use of vivid language to create a mentalimage)

5) Alliteration(the repetition of the beginning consonant)

6) Onomatopoeia(words that sound like what they describe)

7) Repetition(repeating of words or phrases within a poem)

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Characteristics of narrative poetry

Characteristics

- Closed-form poetry (fixed form)- Often set to music, can be sung (because of its rhythmic features)- Tells a story - have elements of a story: characters, setting, plot, climax, narration,dialogue- Narration in third person p.o.v, Dialogues in first person p.o.v- Repeated phrases (in a form of chorus such as in songs)

Form- Stanzas of four lines- Second and fourth line rhymes- Rhyme scheme - abcb- Rhythm: First, Third line - four stresses, Second, Fourth line - three stresses- Dialogues (people talking) and narration (description)

Language used- Simple, everyday language- Strong, impactful words- Imagery- No comparisons (simile, metaphor) is used (emphasis on simple language)

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Language used- Simple, everyday language- Strong, impactful words

- Imagery- No comparisons (simile, metaphor) is used (emphasis onsimple language)

Main Theme;- Folklores- Myth, legends- Current impactful events

- Humorous or scandalous events- Grotesque (Ballad of Birmingham)- Love

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Ballad of Birmingham

BY DUDLEY RANDALL

(On the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963)

Mother dear, may I go downtown

Instead of out to play,

And march the streets of Birmingham

In a Freedom March today?

No, baby, no, you may not go,

For the dogs are fierce and wild,

And clubs and hoses, guns and jails

Arent good for a little child.

But, mother, I wont be alone.

Other children will go with me,

And march the streets of Birmingham

To make our country free.

No, baby, no, you may not go,

For I fear those guns will fire.

But you may go to church instead

And sing in the childrens choir.

She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,

And bathed rose petal sweet,

And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,

And white shoes on her feet.

The mother smiled to know her child

Was in the sacred place,

But that smile was the last smile

To come upon her face.

For when she heard the explosion,

Her eyes grew wet and wild.

She raced through the streets of Birmingham

Calling for her child.

She clawed through bits of glass and brick,

Then lifted out a shoe.

O, heres the shoe my baby wore,

But, baby, where are you?

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Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;As idle as a painted shipUpon a painted ocean.

Water, water, everywhere,And all the boards did shrink;Water, water, everywhere,Nor any drop to drink.

*It tells the story of a sailor left alone on a boat when the rest ofthe crew dies.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by SamuelTaylor Coleridge