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NARRATIVE POETRY

Narrative Poetry
o Narrative poetry is o It can be a o It is usually o It

o In addition, it also

In addition, it also contains at least some elements of poetry. 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 mental image) 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)

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)

Language used - Simple, everyday language - Strong, impactful words - Imagery - No comparisons (simile, metaphor) is used (emphasis on simple language) Main Theme; - Folklores - Myth, legends - Current impactful events - Humorous or scandalous events - Grotesque (Ballad of Birmingham) - Love

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?

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge


Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon 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 of
the crew dies.

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