Poetic Genres

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

A narrative with two levels of meaning, one stated and one unstated.

Question 2

Aubade

Answer 2

A song or poem greeting the sunrise, traditionally a lover’s lament that the night’s passion must come to an end.

Question 3

Ballad

Answer 3

Broadly speaking, the ballad is a genre of folk poetry, usually an orally transmitted narrative song. The term “ballad” applies to several other kinds of poetry, including the English ballad stanza, which is a form often associated with the genre.

Question 4

Blason

Answer 4

A Renaissance genre characterised by a short catalogue-style description, often of the female body.

Question 5

Cento

Answer 5

A poem composed entirely of lines from other poems.

Question 6

Dirge

Answer 6

A funeral song.

Question 7

Dramatic Monologue

Answer 7

This might be called a “closet soliloquy”: a long poem spoken by a character who often unwittingly reveals his or her hidden desires and actions over the course of the poem. The “I” of the dramatic monologue is very distinct from the “I” of the poet’s persona. Robert Browning was a master of this genre.

Question 8

Eclogue

Answer 8

A short pastoral poem; Virgil’s eclogues are one of the first examples of this genre.

Question 9

Ekphrasis

Answer 9

Originally a description of any kind, “ekphrasis” is now almost exclusively applied to the poetic description of a work of art.

Question 10

Elergy

Answer 10

This genre can be difficult to define, as there are specific types of elegiac poem as well as a general elegiac mood, but almost all elegies mourn, and seek consolation for, a loss of some kind: the most common form of elegy is a lyric commemorating the death of a loved one. Greek elegiac meter, which is one source of what we know as the elegy today, is not normally associated with loss and mourning.

Question 11

Epic

Answer 11

A long narrative poem that catalogues and celebrates heroic or historic deeds and events, usually focusing on a single heroic individual.

Question 12

Epigram

Answer 12

A brief and pithy aphoristic observation, often satirical.

Question 13

Epitaph

Answer 13

A tombstone inscription. Several famous poems end with the poet writing his own. (See, for example, Thomas Gray’s “Elegy in a Country Churchyard” or W.B. Yeats’ “Under Ben Bulben.”)

Question 14

Epithalamion

Answer 14

A song or poem that celebrates a wedding.

Question 15

Fable

Answer 15

A brief tale about talking animals or objects, usually having a moral or pedagogical point, which is sometimes explicitly stated at the end. Aesop and la Fontaine are perhaps the most famous fable-writers.

Question 16

Georgic

Answer 16

The agricultural cousin of pastoral, a georgic is a poem that celebrates rustic labor.

Question 17

Hymn

Answer 17

A song of praise.

Question 18

Invective

Answer 18

A personal, often abusive, denunciation.

Question 19

Lament

Answer 19

An expression of grief.

Question 20

Light verse

Answer 20

Poetry that is mostly for fun: this can mean anything from nonsense verse to folk songs, but typically there is a comical element to light verse.

Question 21

Lyric

Answer 21

This genre encompasses a large portion of the world’s poetry; in general, lyrics are fairly brief poems that emphasise musical qualities.

Question 22

Masque

Answer 22

Courtly drama characterised by elaborate costumes and dances, as well as audience participation.

Question 23

Occasional verse

Answer 23

Poetry written with reference to a particular event.

Question 24

Ode

Answer 24

A long, serious meditation on an elevated subject, an ode can take one of three forms.

Question 25

Paean

Answer 25

A song of joy or triumph.

Question 26

Palinode

Answer 26

A recantation or retraction, usually of an earlier poem.

Question 27

Panegyric

Answer 27

Poem or song in praise of a particular individual or object.

Question 28

Parody

Answer 28

A comic imitation.

Question 29

Pastoral

Answer 29

Originally a poem that depicted an idealized singing competition between shepherds, “pastoral” has come to denote almost anything to do with a rural setting, although it also refers to several specific categories of the genre. Associated genres of varying synonymity are idyll, bucolic, eclogue, and georgic.

Question 30

Psalm

Answer 30

A sacred song.

Question 31

Riddle

Answer 31

A puzzling question that relies on allegory or wordplay for its answer. Riddles are often short, and often include an answer to the question posed, albeit an unsatisfying one. The riddle of the Sphinx, which Oedipus solved, is a particularly famous example: “what walks on four legs in the morning, two at midday, and three in the afternoon?”

Question 32

Romance

Answer 32

An adventure tale, usually set in a mythical or remote locale. Verse forms of the romance include the Spanish ballad and medieval or chivalric romance.

Question 33

Satire

Answer 33

Ridicule of some kind, usually passing moral judgement.

Question 34

Tragedy

Answer 34

This genre originated in ancient Greek verse drama and received extended treatment in Aristotle’s Poetics, which made the downfall of the main character one of the criteria for tragedy. The genre has since expanded to include almost anything pertaining to a downfall.

Question 35

Verse epistle

Answer 35

A letter written in verse, usually taking as its subject either a philosophical or a romantic question.