3.1.1 Creating your Setting 3.2 Atmosphere/Mood/Tone 3.3 Types of Poems
3.3.1 Lyric 3.3.2 Ballad
3.3.3 Narrative Poetry 3.3.4 Epic
3.3.5 Sonnet 4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment 7.0 References/Further Reading
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In this unit you are introduced to the preliminary issues in poetry writing. We will start with the setting of the poem through the atmosphere/mood, tone and finally some types of poems.
2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
• identify mood and atmosphere in a poem
• distinguish setting in a poem
• determine the relationship between the setting and atmosphere
• list the major types of poems.
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 Setting
You may be surprised that we are starting this module with setting instead of the subject matter. Poetry is the most emotional of all the genres of literature. The setting is therefore important because you may have encountered a setting that left a memorable impression on you and you decide to build your poem around it. It could be a unique scenery, a busy road, a slum or a battle field. It could also be a historical period like Nigeria in the First Republic, or during the military period. Your setting could be a physical environment, or a social environment. The emotion you express in your poem must take place somewhere for it to be realistic and relevant to human experience. In fiction and drama the setting is specific because in most cases the work is set in a physical environment since human beings do not exist or operate in a vacuum. In poetry, it could be specific like the cell in Dennis Brutus’s “Letters to Martha” but it could also reflect an emotional state, a spiritual plane or other unearthly experiences. In poetry according to Tanure Ojaide setting “varies in degrees from being amply presented to being minimally there. It could be narrow or broad, direct or indirect, depending upon how related and relevant the experience being expressed is with where it takes place” (40-41).
Like we said earlier, setting helps the reader to visualize the situation being described in the poem but in some cases, it is just there to provide the environment. While in the first instance, you could compare it to the scenery or decorative background in a stage play. However, setting assumes greater significance in poetry if the poem is written specifically to draw attention to the physical and social characteristics of a particular place at a given time. A good example is this excerpt from Niyi Osundare’s “A Song For Ajegunle”.
Through roads portholed by callous rains Through hovels eaves-deep in swelling pools Through gutters heavy with burdens
Of cholera bowels
Through the feverish orchestra Of milling mosquitoes
I saw you sprawled out
Like the daub of apprentice painter Here evenings are pale smokes Snaking out of idle kitchens
The toothless swagger of beer parlours The battering clamour of weeping wives The satanic rumble of supperless stomachs The salaaming clarion of manacling mosques I saw you sprawled out
Like a sheath with an absent cutlass And night, ah night, when it comes The shadowy thunder of hurrying feet The hooded stench of nightsoil pails The brooding brow of startles pangs The sweaty stupor of crowded mats The gutsy blast of angry guns I saw you sprawled out
Like a stream without a bed (Lines 9- 32)
3.1.1 Creating your Setting
How do you create your social or physical setting? You could create an imaginary environment or base your setting on your knowledge of an existing physical and social setting to suit your purpose. The important factor here is the intent. What do you intend to achieve? Do you want to create an imaginary world to serve as your vision of an ideal society or to warn of the dangers inherent in such an environment as we see in Wilfred Owen’s “Strange Meeting” that seems to be set in a horrible situation where the enemies do not seem to be enjoying their stay there.
In this poem Owen only used his imagination to create/evoke a phantasmagoric setting for these two “enemies” who, but for the lies of the politicians who cause or manage wars (as in J. P. Clark’s
“Casualties”), might have been friends and had a few drinks together.
If you intend to write a historical poem, you must ensure that you relate your setting to the physical and social environment prevalent at that time. In this type of poem, you must ensure that you use accurate data to create your setting. If necessary carry out a research to ensure the accuracy of your information. If you don’t do this, you might paint an unreliable picture in your poem. As a budding poet, it is better for you to avoid writing historical poems. Just record your emotion the way you feel it or as the inspiration come to you.
You will do better if you create your setting from your personal recollections of events, rooms, rivers/streams, houses, landscapes, animals, birds, plants and other objects. You will write better if you write about familiar environments than writing about an entirely fictional one. As a creative writer, exposing yourself to various types of physical settings or environments will be beneficial to you. Each time you find yourself in an environment or each time you encounter a place that makes an impression on you, contemplate what possible use you could make of the setting. The poet finds beauty or ugliness in everything and expresses it in his poem. So you should start now to see
settings differently and try to see their relevance to you or to the next poem you are going to write.
From now on pay particular attention to your environment taking in the details that before now you did not observe. The flowers should become more colourful, the normal sunset becomes more picturesque, the glow of worm in a dark night assumes a different dimension, the gentle breeze sends a message to you and even the snoring of your partner creates a melodious tone in your ears. Start observing the weather, the seasons, living and dying closely. In all these and more, you will find a suitable environment to set your poem. Setting can be symbolic; it could be a joyous occasion, serious and unserious events, memories, dreams and other situations and events.