The Home-Made GingerBread Seoulwich House at Dallas, New York Time Square and London: March 2020

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

poetry form week 33, Nemesis or Tautology

Nemesis is a literary device that refers to a situation of poetic justice, where the good characters are rewarded for their virtues, and the evil characters are punished for their vices.

Tautology is the repetitive use of phrases or words that have similar meanings. In simple words, it is expressing the same thing, an idea, or saying, two or more times. The word tautology is derived from the Greek word tauto, meaning “the same,” and logos, meaning “a word or an idea.” A grammatical tautology refers to an idea repeated within a phrase, paragraph, or sentence to give an impression that the writer is providing extra information.

a typical example

“Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme…
From the bells, bells, bells, bells.”

“To be, or not to be – that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep…”

poetry form week 32, Oxymoron and Paradox

Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect. The common oxymoron phrase is a combination of an adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting meanings, such as Flying houses and breathing words

example by Sir Thomas Wyatt

I find no peace, and all my war is done
I fear and hope, I burn and freeze like ice,
I flee above the wind, yet can I not arise;

poetry form week 31, Free Verse Poem

an example poem by walt whitman

title: after the sea-ship

“After the Sea-Ship—after the whistling winds;
After the white-gray sails, taut to their spars and ropes,
Below, a myriad, myriad waves, hastening, lifting up their necks,
Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship:
Waves of the ocean, bubbling and gurgling, blithely prying…”

poetry form week 30, Fable or Aesop

classical example of Fable or Aesop written by S. T. Coleridge

First Voice

“But tell me, tell me! speak again,
Thy soft response renewing —
What makes that ship drive on so fast?
What is the ocean doing?”

Second Voice

“Still as a slave before his lord,
The ocean hath no blast…
Up to the moon is cast —…
See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more…
“Without a breeze, without a tide,
She steadies with upright keel!”

poetry form week 29, Epiphany or manifestation

Derived from the Greek word epiphaneia, epiphany means “appearance,” or “manifestation.” In literary terms, an epiphany is that moment in the story where a character achieves realization, awareness, or a feeling of knowledge, after which events are seen through the prism of this new light in the story.

example of Epiphany

I used to smoke a lot. Everyone let me know that it was bad for my health however, I didn’t pay any notice. One day I saw my two-year-old baby trying to grab a stubbed-out cigarette from the ashtray. Seeing this, it suddenly dawned on me how terrible smoking was, and I stopped smoking.

poetry form week 28, Argument in Literature

example of argument

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

definition of argument

An argument is the main statement of a poem, an essay, a short story, or a novel, which usually appears as an introduction, or a point on which the writer will develop his work in order to convince his readers.

poetry form week 27: Allegory in Literature

Animal Farm (By George Orwell)

Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is an allegory that uses animals on a farm to describe the overthrow of the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, and the Communist Revolution of Russia before WW I. The actions of the animals on the farm are used to expose the greed and corruption of the revolution. It also describes how powerful people can change the ideology of a society. One of the cardinal rules on the farm is this:

“All animals are equal but a few are more equal than others.”

The animals on the farm represent different sections of Russian society after the revolution.
For instance, the pigs represent those who came to power following the revolution; “Mr. Jones,” the owner of the farm, represents the overthrown Tsar Nicholas II; while “Boxer” the horse, represents the laborer class. The use of allegory in the novel allows Orwell to make his position clear about the Russian Revolution and expose its evils.