EXPLORING LITERARY GENRES FOR

EFFECTIVE CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITING

Lesson I – Poetry

“Poetry is prose bewitched.” (Mina Roy)

(1) Poetry is derived from the Greek term poesis which means to create or to
make. It is the art of communicating meanings, emotions, and values
which leave an effect or impact (emotions, aspirations, conditions,
etc.) on its readers. It can be delivered in both spoken and written
forms and it mainly considers the rhythmic and tonal aspects which are
perceived to be intricate and complex.

(2) It mainly differs from other forms of literature in a sense that it must be
read as carefully as it could be.

(3) It may be described as the most economical means of expression as it

only uses a limited number of words.

(4) It evokes emotions and reveals the inner thoughts and aspirations of the
writer.

(5) It should manifest aesthetic and emotional appeal to its readers.

(6) Poetry centers on several key aspects such as structure, language,

tone, sound, rhythm, and lastly, emotional appeal. Poetry is
established by the consideration of its fundamental composites – sense,
sound, and structure.

(7) Structure. The poem utilizes a few words, arranged in lines and stanzas
and may differ based on the style of the writer and the culture.

(8) Language. The poem expresses feelings, emotions, conditions, and the
link in an implicit and suggestive way. Words used contain expressions
that bear numerous meanings and interpretations such as connotations,
concrete words, and figurative language. A variety of figurative
expressions beautify and heighten the effect of a poetic work.

(9) Tone, Sound, and Rhythm. Poem writing is similar to song writing. In
most cases, poets are careful with various rhythmic patterns, and even
sound devices (Shakespearean, Petrarchan, Spenserian Sonnets; Japan’s
Haiku).

(10) Sense. Sense involves word choice, imagery that can appeal to the
sense, and lastly figurative expressions. It can be established through
words, symbolisms, and images.
(11) Sound. Sound refers to an offshoot of a variety of elements like tonal
patterns, rhythm, and measurements. Sound devices, rhyming schemes,
and repetitions are utilized to create a strong appeal.

(12) Structure. Structure pertains to how words and lines are organized,
sequenced, arranged, and formed to provide for unity and form. It involved
the careful and mindful combination of different parts – establishing
harmony and revealing the meaning of a poem.

The Various Forms of Poetry

(13) Narrative Poetry. This form capitalizes on recounting a story. This

form, moreover, is non-dramatic. The emphasis here is on the
progression of action and the setting of stories. Common examples
include epics, ballads, and medieval romances.

(14) Lyric Poetry. This form mainly evokes and highlights the emotions
and feelings of the writer toward the chosen subjects in a personal or
subjective way. These poems are melodic in nature and are originally
sung. Simple lyrics, songs, odes, sonnets, and elegies are examples.

(15) Dramatic Poetry. This form of poetry exhibits the elements of

drama – dialogue and characterization. A monologue and soliloquy
are best examples that fit the conventions of this type.

Other Creative Forms of Poetry

(16) Cinquain. This poem consists of five (5) lines in which each line has
a certain number of words.

a. Cinquains tend to follow fairly straightforward rhyme schemes such

as ABAAB, ABABB, or AABBA.

b. The Didactic Cinquain

The number of words in each line and follows the pattern 1-2-3-4-1
(so that the first line has one word, the second has two, and so
on).The first line is a noun, the second line is composed of adjectives
that describe the noun in the first line, the third line has an
action, the fourth line contains a longer description, and the fifth
line is a noun that relates to the noun in the first line.

Ocean
Blue, powerful
Waves crashing ashore
Teeming with sea creatures
Life
(17) Epitaph. This is a relatively short commemorative inscription (a
poem or a saying) on a tombstone intended for a deceased person. This
can be written in a serious tone or in a humorous one.

(18) Riddle Poetry. This mainly provides a description of its subject that
is done in a poetic way. It makes something extraordinary because of the
creative use of language. It leaves the readers to guess as they need to
decipher the answer by analyzing the descriptions carefully.

(19) Acrostic Poetry. This is a creative composition in which the initial

letters of each line are taken to form a word.

(20) Clerihew (Edmund Clerihew Bentley). It is usually a humorous poem

that is composed of four (4) lines and is mainly intended to describe a
person.

Edgar Allan Poe

Was passionately fond of roe
He always liked to chew some
When writing anything grewsome.
(E. C. Bentley)

(21) Shape Poetry. In this type of poetry, the words and lines of the poem
are set to form the figure of shape – usually of its subject.

The Elements of Poetry

(22) Stanzas. Stanzas are series of lines grouped together and separated
by an empty line from other stanzas. They are the equivalent of a
paragraph in an essay. One way to identify a stanza is to count the
number of lines:

Couplet - two lines

Tercet - three lines
Quatrain - four lines
Cinquain - five lines
Sestet - six lines (also called a sexain)
Septet - seven lines
Octave - eight lines

(23) Form. A poem may or may not have a specific number of lines, rhyme
scheme and/or metrical pattern, but it can still be labeled according to
its form or style. Here are the three most common types of poems
according to form:

a. Lyric Poetry. It is any poem with one speaker who expresses strong
thoughts and feelings. Most modern poems are lyrics.
b. Narrative Poetry. It is a poem that tells a story; its structure
resembles the plot line of a story.
 c. Descriptive Poetry. It is a poem that describes the world that
surrounds the speaker. It uses elaborate imagery and adjectives.
While emotional, it is more outward-focused than lyric poetry which
is more personal and introspective.

Subtypes of Various Forms of Poetry

(24) Ode. This is usually a lyric poem of moderate length, with a serious
subject, an elevated style, and an elaborate stanza pattern.

(25) Elegy. It is a lyric poem that mourns the dead. It has no set metric or
stanzaic pattern, but it usually begins by reminiscing about the dead
person, then laments the reason for death, and then, resolves the grief by
concluding that death leads to immortality. It often uses apostrophe as
a literary technique.

(26) Sonnet. It is a lyric poem consisting of fourteen (14) lines and in the
English version is usually written in iambic pentameter.

a. Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet. It is named after Petrarch, an Italian

Renaissance poet. It consists of an Octave (eight lines) and a sestet
(six lines). It is usually divided into two parts: argument and
conclusion.

The octave follows the ABBA ABBA rhyme scheme whereas the sestet
follows the CDECDE or CDCCDC rhyme scheme.

b. Shakespearean Sonnet. It consists of three quatrains and a

couplet. It follows the ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme.

(27) Ballad. It is a narrative poem that has a musical rhythm and can be
sung. A ballad is usually organized into quatrains or cinquains and has
a simple rhythm structure and tells the tales of ordinary people (Annabel
Lee by EAP).

(28) Epic. It is a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds
of a legendary or historical hero (Odyssey by Homer).

(29) Haiku. It has an unrhymed verse form having three lines (a tercet)
and usually of a 5-7-5 syllabic pattern.

(30) Limerick. It has a very structured poem, usually humorous and

composed of five lines in AABBA pattern; beats must be anapestic (weak,
weak, strong) with 3 feet in 1, 2, and 5 (seven to ten syllables) and 2
feet in 3 and 4 (five to seven syllables).
Sound Patterns in Poetry

(31) Three other elements of poetry are rhyme scheme, meter, and word
sounds. These are sometimes collectively known as sound play because
they take advantage of the performative, spoken nature of poetry.

(32) Rhyme. Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds. The most common
of which is the end rhyme.

(33) Meter. Meter is the systematic regularity in rhythm. Meter is a

regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that defines the
rhythm of some poetry. These stress patterns are defined in groupings,
called feet, of two or three syllables. A pattern of unstressed-stressed,
for instance, is a foot called an iamb. The type and number of
repeating feet in each line of poetry define that line's meter. For example,
iambic pentameter is a type of meter that contains five iambs per line
(thus the prefix “penta,” which means five).

a. Types of Meter (grouping of syllables)

Monometer 1 foot
Dimeter 2 feet
Trimeter 3 feet
Tetrameter 4 feet
Pentameter 5 feet
Hexameter 6 feet
Heptameter 7 feet
Octameter 8 feet

b. Five Basic Meters

1. Iambic meter (unstressed + stressed)
That time of year thou mayst in me behold.

2. Trochaic meter (stressed + unstressed)

Tell me not, in mournful numbers.

3. Spondaic meter (stressed + stressed)

4. Dactylic meter (stressed + unstressed + unstressed)
5. Anapestic meter (unstressed + stressed + stressed)

(34) Blank Verse (has rhythm but no rhyme). Any poetry that does have
a set of metrical pattern (usually iambic pentameter) but does not
have rhyme.

(35) Free Verse (has no rhythm and no rhyme). A type of poetry that has
no rules about meter or rhyme whatsoever.
On Word Sounds

(36) Alliteration. This refers to the repetition of initial sounds on the

same line of stanza.

Pretty women wonder where my secrets lie.

(37) Assonance. This refers to the repetition of vowel sounds anywhere

in the middle or end of a line or stanza.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height.

(38) Consonance. This refers to the repetition of consonant sounds

anywhere in the middle or end of a line or stanza.

(39) Onomatopoeia. This refers to using words that sound like what they
describe.

(40) Repetition. This refers to the repetition of entire lines or phrases to

emphasize key thematic ideas.

(41) Parallel Structure (Anaphora). This refers to a form of repetition

where the order of verbs and nouns is repeated. It may involve the exact
words or may employ the same sentence structure.

On Concreteness and Patricularity

(42) Poetry deals with particular things in concrete language, since our
emotions most readily respond to these things.

(43) The reader may generalize but these generalities arise by

implication from the particular. In other words, the poem is by all
means, concrete and particular and yet its messages – the generalities
we take out from its verses are general and abstract (as implied by
images).

(44) Poetry plays with meaning when it identifies resemblances or makes

comparisons between things.

Common Figures of Speech

(45) Simile. Suggestive comparison by means of like or as.

(46) Metaphor. Direct comparison.
(47) Synecdoche. This figure of speech makes use of a part to represent
the whole.

Ten Brilliant Minds = Ten Brilliant People

(48) Metonymy. This figure of speech uses substitution or
representation of something that it is associated with.

The Pen and Plume = The Writer

The Crown and Throne = The King

(49) Allegory. An allegory can be defined as a one to one correspondence

between a series of abstract ideas and a series of images in the form of
story or a narrative.

(50) Personification. This happens when you treat abstractions and

inanimate objects as humans with human-like attributes.

(51) Irony. It takes many forms. This happens when the actual intent is
expressed through words that carry the opposite meaning. Irony may be
situational, verbal, or dramatic in nature.

You gave me a good plan. Its only problem is that

it can never be done.

(52) Paradox. It uses a literal contradiction in terms or situations.

Cowards die many times before their death.

The French are though to have an unhealthy lifestyle, yet they

have a long-life expectancy.

(53) Hyperbole or Overstatement.

(54) Understatement or Meiosis.

(55) Euphemism. This involves the use of a mild words or expression that
is substituted for one that is considered too blunt or too harsh.

(56) Oxymoron. This uses contradictory terms in the same phase.

The Right Mistake, An Honest Liar, Loud Silence

(57) Apostrophe. This is an expression addressed to a non-existent or

dead person, an inanimate object, or an idea or a quality.

(58) Litotes. This is an understatement where the affirmative is expressed

by the negative of its contrary.

A Concept of No Small Importance

Lesson II – Fiction

(1) Fiction is heavily drawn from one’s imagination.

(2) It depicts the world and an experience that can be perceived to be mainly
contrived or created by the writer. It involves people who do not truly
exist.

(3) It presents human life by considering the world of objective reality

through actions and experiences of man and the world of subjective
reality which centers on comprehension and apprehension of man.

(4) Fiction has two composites – characters and plot.

Basic Forms of Fiction

(5) Flash Fiction. This is an emerging form of fiction that is best remembered
because of its relative shortness. Words used by the writer range from
100 – 150 words but is still considered as a complete story since all the
essential elements of fiction are covered.

(6) Short Story / Short Fiction. This form relatively can be done in one
sitting since it deals with a single complication and a limited number of
characters. A short story usually has 7500 words.

(7) Novella. This fiction form emerges between a short fiction and a novel.
This is relatively long for a short story but is somewhat short to be
classified as a novel. A novella usually has 17 500 – 40 000 words. Nick
Joaquin’s The Woman Who Had Two Navels is one work of fiction under
this category.

(8) Novel. This greatly covers several plot complications since it is composed
of several chapters. A novel usually has 40 000 – 90 000 words. The
number of characters is relatively bigger.

Genres of Fiction (Crime, Romance, Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction)

JOJO RABBIT

Johannes "Jojo" Betzler is a young boy living in Nazi Germany during

the later stages of World War II with his mother, Rosie. His absent father is
supposedly serving on the Italian Front but has lost all contact, and his
older sister Inge has recently died of influenza. The jingoistic Jojo often talks
with his imaginary friend, Adolf, a supportive but buffoonish version of Adolf
Hitler.

Now aged ten, it is time for Jojo to join the Deutsches Jungvolk. He
attends his first Hitler Youth training camp with his best friend, Yorki, run
by the one-eyed Wehrmacht Captain Klenzendorf and assisted by Fräulein
Rahm, where Jojo receives a knife. When Jojo is ordered to kill a rabbit by
older Hitler Youth members, he tries to release it. The older boys snap its
neck, and Jojo runs off crying after the other boys taunt him with the name
"Jojo Rabbit". After a pep talk from Adolf, Jojo returns, stealing a
Stielhandgranate and throwing it without permission in an effort to prove
his bravery. It bounces off a tree and explodes at his feet, leaving him with
facial and body scars and a slight limp. After Jojo recovers, Rosie coerces
Klenzendorf, demoted after the incident, to make her son feel included,
despite his injuries. Jojo is given small tasks such as spreading propaganda
leaflets throughout the town, and collecting scrap for the war effort.

Alone at home one day, Jojo discovers Elsa Korr, a teenage Jewish girl
and his late sister's former classmate, hiding upstairs. Elsa reacts
aggressively on their first encounter, pinning him against a wall and taking
the knife issued to him as a member of Hitler Youth. Jojo threatens to turn
her over to the Gestapo, but Elsa warns that his mother would be killed for
hiding her, and threatens to kill him if he tells his mother. Intimidated, Jojo
agrees to keep her safe, but soon afterwards returns and asks her that she
reveal her "Jew secrets" so he can write a book about Jews for Klenzendorf,
which amuses him. Elsa plays along by making up stories about Jewish
powers, such as mind-reading. Angry with his mother for hiding a Jew but
unable to reveal his knowledge of Elsa, Jojo accuses Rosie of being
unpatriotic and laments that his father is away. Rosie dismisses his
accusations and espouses her belief that positivity and optimism are the
best ways to be free of oppression.

Jojo continues to interrogate Elsa. Elsa says she has a fiancé called
Nathan with whom she wants to reunite when the war is over. Jojo forges a
letter from Nathan, which claims that he has found someone else and wants
to break up with Elsa. Hearing her crying, Jojo writes another letter
retracting the first one. Jojo and Adolf argue, with Adolf insisting Elsa is a
monster. Later, while on one of his metal collecting trips, Jojo spots his
mother leaving a "free Germany" message in town.

Jojo is home one day when the Gestapo, led by Captain Deertz, visit
his house. Klenzendorf also happens to arrive at the house while it is being
searched. When the Gestapo notice that Jojo's Hitler Youth knife is missing,
they are suspicious of Jojo's answer to how he lost it. Elsa reveals herself,
pretending to be Jojo's sister Inge. She tells the Gestapo she had taken the
knife in order to protect herself against Jojo intruding into her room, and
produces Inge's papers in answer to the Gestapo's challenges to her identity.
She hands them to Klenzendorf and provides her own birthday to quell the
Gestapo's suspicions. The Gestapo rely on Klenzendorf, who is holding the
documents, to affirm her accuracy, and he does. Jojo is relieved, but Elsa
later realizes she recited the wrong date and Klenzendorf covered for her.
Elsa is confident the Gestapo will eventually realize the deception. Later that
day, Jojo finds his mother has been hanged in the town square, recognizing
her two-toned shoes. He breaks down, hugging her dead body. Before
leaving, he ties her shoes: to this point, Jojo had never shown he was able to
tie shoe laces. Devastated, he returns home and stabs Elsa in the shoulder
with his blunt Hitler Youth knife, then breaks down again; Elsa comforts
him.

Jojo runs into Yorki, now a soldier, who tells him Hitler has
committed suicide and that the Allies are closing in. When the village is
attacked, Jojo and Yorki find cover, where they find Fräulein Rahm sending
out children with grenades strapped to them to "hug" enemy soldiers before
she charges into battle with a machine gun. Facing the American and Soviet
forces, the city's garrison surrenders. The Soviets force several captured
Germans into a backyard and line them up against a wall, including Jojo. A
wounded Klenzendorf tells Jojo his mother was a good woman and to look
after his "sister", then saves him by removing his Hitler Youth coat and
calling him a Jew, causing the Soviet guards to drag him to safety. The
soldiers expel Jojo, who runs away as gunshots are heard.

Jojo runs home and, to stop Elsa from leaving, tells her Germany won
the war. Recognizing her despair, he recites a new letter from Nathan,
claiming that he and Jojo have figured out a way to smuggle her to Paris.
Elsa confesses that Nathan died of tuberculosis the previous year. Jojo tells
her he loves her, and she tells him she loves him like a "younger brother". A
disheveled Adolf (now displaying the bullet wound in his head) angrily
confronts Jojo for siding with Elsa, and Jojo kicks him out the window. Jojo
takes Elsa outside, where she sees American soldiers and realizes the Allies
have won the war. She slaps Jojo in the face for lying before they dance in
the street to a German rendition of Heroes by David Bowie. Elsa is wearing
the same two-toned shoes worn by Jojo's mother.