Poetic Genre

Poetic genre: elements of poetry

If we want to analyse a poem, we first need to identify its elements, starting with the bigger picture before moving on to the smaller details.

The main poetic elements include:

• Genre
• Form
• Sound and sound effects
• Poetic devices
• Themes

Genre is one of the broadest poetic elements, which is why it is at the top of our list. A poem's genre depends on the other poetic elements and how they come together in the poem.

Poetry genre definition

Getting comfortable with genre is vital to honing your poetry analysis skills. Here is a simple definition to get us started:

Genre was introduced as a way of classifying works of ancient Greek literature. The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BCE) identified poetic genres in Poetics (c. 350 BCE), including lyric poetry and epic poetry.

Today, genre remains the primary way of identifying different types of literature. Think of how difficult it would be to find your way around a library that wasn't organised by genre!

Having a solid understanding of genre is helpful when analysing poetry because it gives you starting points for what to look for.

We can use genre to:

• Predict certain features in a poem
• Draw comparisons and contrasts between different poems
• Understand the context in which the poem was written
• Interpret meanings in poetry

Fig. 1 - Understanding genre can help us find, write, and analyse works of poetry.

Poetic genre and form

Because both poetic genre and poetic form have a lot to do with how we expect poems to be presented, there are overlaps between the terms. However, they are not exactly the same.

Poetic genre describes how a poem can be categorised according to various shared features. Poetic form, on the other hand, specifically refers to a poem's structure and arrangement on the page.

Because some poetic genres follow stricter structural rules, they may also be referred to as poetic forms, but this is not the case for all poetic genres.

Poetry genres examples

We've already taken a brief look at two poetic genres: epic poetry and lyric poetry. Let's take a look at some more examples of poetic genres that you will likely come across in your studies. We will also take a look at some others that may be a little off the beaten track, such as the emblem poetic genre.

Satirical poetry

Satirical poetry is another classical genre that uses satire to critique and ridicule human behaviour, thought, and society.

Satirical poetry can range from subtle and lighthearted to scathingly critical and often focuses on topics such as religion, politics, the economy, and culture.

Examples of satirical poetry include:

• 'The Rape of the Lock' (1712) by Alexander Pope (1688–1744).
• 'London' (1738) by Samuel Johnson (1709–84).
• 'Interview' (1926) by Dorothy Parker (1893–1967).
• 'Thank You for Waiting' (2017) by Simon Armitage (1963–present).

Elegy

An elegy is a more melancholy poetic genre. Dating back to Ancient Greece, elegies began as a poetic form written in elegiac couplets.

Today, poems do not have to follow a specific structure to be considered elegies. Elegies are characterised by their exploration of themes of death and grief.

Sometimes elegies end on a more positive note as they come to terms with their sorrow. Elegies are often written in the first person, adding to their personal and expressive nature.

Examples of elegies include:

• 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' (1751) by Thomas Gray (1716–71).
• 'In Memoriam A.H.H' (1850) by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–92).
• 'O Captain! My Captain!' (1865) by Walt Whitman (1819–1892).
• 'Because I could not stop for Death' (1890) by Emily Dickinson (1830–1886).

Fig. 2 - Elegies reflect on the passing of loved ones and the concept of death itself.

Aubade

You have probably heard of a serenade before – a song or poem performed to a loved one during the night. If the serenade successfully wooed its audience, an aubade might be on the cards.

The less familiar aubade is a song or poem that laments the speaker's separation from their lover, often symbolised by the rising sun putting an end to a night of passion.

Examples of aubade poems include:

• 'The Sun Rising' (1633) by John Donne (1572–1631).
• 'Aubade' (1977) by Philip Larkin (1922–1985).
• 'Aubade with Burning City' (2016) by Ocean Vuong (1988–present).

Pastoral poetry

The genre of pastoral poetry emerged from ancient Greece when poets such as Theocritus, who lived in the third century BCE, wrote romanticised descriptions of the lives of shepherds in the mountains.

Although the popularity of the genre has waxed and waned, pastoral poetry has remained a significant genre. Pastoral poetry commonly deals with themes of life, death, love, and nature's beauty, which is often compared to urban life.

Examples of pastoral poetry include:

• Georgics (c. 29 BCE) by Virgil (c. 70–19 BCE).
• Paradise Lost (1667) by John Milton (1608–74).
• 'Adonais' (1821) by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822).

Emblem poetry

Emblem poetry combines an illustration (or 'emblem') with text exploring moral and religious themes.

The genre originated in sixteenth-century Italy when a publisher added woodcut prints to the poems of Andrea Alciato (1492–1550) in his Book of Emblems (1531) collection.

The only emblem poetry book written in English is Emblemes (1866) by Francis Quarles (1592–1644), an English poet who combined religious poems with pictures.