Rhetorical Forms 2

Definition:

• An epigram is a statement or poem that comes before 

  • Source: 

History:

• The epigram was originally used (and is still used today) as an inscription on a monument or gravestone in ancient Greece. Epigrams were used by Roman writers like Martial in his collections of epigrams, which if you looked at from a modern perspective would look like a normal book of poems. 

  • Sources: The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

My Response:

• I 

What is this poetic element like?

• This 

Example:

Definition:

• A slam is a competitive poetry event where performers are scored by selected audience members, with winners determined by total points. It is a hybrid art form that blends poetry, theater, storytelling, and performance into one dynamic experience.

  • Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/slam

History:

• The genre’s origins can be traced to Chicago in the early 1980s.

  • Sources: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/slam

My Response:

• My response to slam poetry is an appreciation for the ability to combine elements from different artistic styles to create a performative version of poetry. I think the beauty of the style is that it can be about anything, and executed in many different ways. This is something I never have had the guts to do at Wabash, but have enjoyed watching over the years at the MXIBS yearly X-Tacy event.

What is this poetic element like?

• The way this is often performed reminds me of waves crashing on the shore of a beach. Sometimes they are soft, sometimes they are hard and aggressive, just like the words and messages in the poems. There are rises and falls, there are times where you are swept into the current, and there are times where you are pushed away. 

Example: 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDa4WTZ_58M

Definition: Occasional poetry is poetry composed for a particular occasion. In the history of literature, it is often studied in connection with orality, performance, and patronage. 

My Response:  When I think of occasional poetry I think of poems that could be written for annual events such as birthdays or holidays. Any occasion you can think of and writting a poem dedicated to it.

What is this poetic element like? Occasional poetry is similar to epithalamia. Epithalamia is a poem that is written specifically to a bride on the way to her wedding chamber. This only happens (assuming you dont devorce and remarry) once in a lifetime. While Occasional poetry is supposed to happen more than once, the epithalamia is similar in the sense of writting a poem for an occasion.

Example: A high-profile example of a 21st-century occasional poem is Elizabeth Alexander's "Praise Song for the Day," written for Barack Obama's 2009 US presidential inauguration, and read by the poet during the event to a television audience of around 38 million. 

Source:  Occasional poetry - Wikipedia 

Definition: 

A verse novel is a narrative work in which a full story is told through poetry rather than prose. Instead of traditional paragraphs, the text is composed of a sequence of poems using free verse that collectively develop characters, plot, and setting. According to The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, verse narratives combine the compression and musicality of poetry with the extended structure of storytelling, allowing for both lyrical expression and narrative depth. 

History: 

The roots of the verse novel can be traced back to ancient and classical traditions of narrative poetry, such as epics like The Odyssey. However, the modern verse novel, especially in its contemporary form, emerged more prominently in the 20th and 21st centuries. Writers began experimenting with free verse to tell longer, more personal or accessible stories. Today, verse novels are especially popular in young adult literature, where authors use poetic form to convey emotion, voice, and pacing in a concise way. Organizations like the Poetry Foundation and the Academy of American Poets highlight the growing influence of verse novels in contemporary literature. 

My Response: 

I find verse novels interesting because they combine two forms that are usually kept separate: poetry and storytelling. The poetic structure allows for emotional intensity and reflection, while the narrative keeps the reader engaged over a longer arc. It feels like each page carries more weight than a typical novel, since every word is more deliberate. I also think verse novels can make stories feel more personal and immediate, especially when written in a strong voice. 

What is this poetic element like? 

Verse novels are similar to traditional novels in that they tell a continuous story with characters and conflict, but they differ in form and pacing. Compared to prose novels, verse novels tend to be more fragmented and rely on imagery, line breaks, and rhythm to convey meaning. They can also be compared to long narrative poems, but unlike many classical examples, modern verse novels often use free verse and contemporary language. As noted in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, this blending of lyric and narrative allows the form to move fluidly between introspection and action. 

Example: 

From The Crossover by Kwame Alexander: 

“With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .
The court is SIZZLING.
My sweat is DRIZZLING.
Stop all that quivering.
’Cuz tonight I’m delivering,” 

Definition:

• It is the french for “coat-of-arms” or “shield”. A literary blazon (or blason) catalogues the physical attributes of a subject, usually female. A blazon compares parts of the female body to jewels, nature or rare objects. But mostly nature. Its opposite is a contreblazon, which describes “wrong” parts of the female body or negates them completely in an unflattering way. (The Poetry Foundation)

History:

• The blason was a popular poetic form in the 16th century, following the epigram Le Beau Tétin by Clément Marot, published in 1535. A few poets used contreblazon as a satire such as Shakespeare or Guillaume Alexis. 

• The genre has evolved over time, while remaining true to the traditional vein of descriptive poetry focused on the female form. Thus, 16th-century sonnets by Ronsard which celebrates the various features of a woman's face and her breasts and those by Joachim du Bellay which evokes the beauty’s entire body (face, breasts, thighs...). 

• The term “blazon” is also used in reference to animal subjects, as in Charles Baudelaire’s Les Chats or Guillaume Apollinaire’s Le Bestiaire or Cortège d’Orphée. (Wikipedia)

My Response:

• I discovered blasons through Shakespeare’s sonnets during my undergrad years. Actually, it was the very first time I followed a course in literature, and we started with Shakespeare’s sonnets. I almost got traumatized. 

What is this poetic element like? (metaphor ou simile)

• It is when you both love a woman and nature, so you see nature in her or her in nature. Or, the opposite, you can say “She has the eyes of an aye-aye”. Unflattering.

Examples: 

(Blason)

There Is A Garden In Her Face

By Thomas Campion

There is a garden in her face

Where roses and white lilies grow;

A heav'nly paradise is that place

Wherein all pleasant fruits do flow.

There cherries grow which none may buy,

Till "Cherry ripe" themselves do cry.

Those cherries fairly do enclose

Of orient pearl a double row,

Which when her lovely laughter shows,

They look like rose-buds fill'd with snow;

Yet them nor peer nor prince can buy,

Till "Cherry ripe" themselves do cry.

Her eyes like angels watch them still,

Her brows like bended bows do stand,

Threat'ning with piercing frowns to kill

All that attempt with eye or hand

Those sacred cherries to come nigh,

Till "Cherry ripe" themselves do cry.

(Contreblazon)

My Boyfriend

By Camille Guthrie

After Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel

His Exterior

toes like blue glass marbles

nails like wax shavings

feet like those of an elephant   

heels like narrow escapes

soles like yellow sponges expanding in water   

legs like longitude and latitude   

knees like neon headlights

thighs like open desert in a movie   

hips like a leaping horse

a belly button like a luminescent watch   

pubic hair like frontier instances   

a penis like overnight mail

balls large as a boar-hound’s

seminal vesicles like tulip bulbs in a paper bag
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