Novel and Short Story
The short story has a close connection with poem as there is in both a
unique union of idea and structure. It
has been described as poetic in structure and narrative in intention, with the
rare combination of ‘precision’ and ‘passion’ which provide beauty and appeal
to it. That is, a story should be
compressed and economical the way a poem is free from digression and marked by
intensity and wholeness.
According to Thesaurus
dictionary, a poem is –
“A
verbal composition designed to convey experiences, ideas or emotions in a vivid and imaginative way, characterized by the use
of language chosen for its sound and suggestive power and by the use of literary techniques such as meter,
metaphor and rhyme.”
According to encyclopedia,
“Poetry is a form of literary art which uses aesthetic and rhythmic
qualities of language such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism and meter to
evoke meaning in addition to or in place of the prosaic ostensible meaning.”
Well,
poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning,
sound and rhythmic language so as to evoke an emotional response. Poems can be very long and tell stories, just
as short stories can have lyrical qualities.
Edgar Allan Poe’s famous comments about the ‘Single effect’ of shorter
literary works including poems and short stories in ‘The Philosophy of Composition’ seems to suggest that the two may
have more commonalities than differences.
One of the same element short stories and poetry have is setting. The setting of a work of fiction establishes
its historical, geographic and physical context. Without understanding the
setting it is difficult to understand the cultural aspect as it adds attitude
to poems and short stories.
In both the forms the author and the poet try
to get the message across with brevity and in a succinct form. Both are literally like a message or a theme
that is condensed in a small form to appreciate the full significance of what
the author is trying to communicate.
Short stories have narrators who tell the story, but poems have voice or
poems speaker that the poet creates. The
narrator or the voice can set the tone of the story or the poem. The tone conveys the speaker’s attitude
towards his/her subject or audience. If
they are sarcastic then the work is sarcastic, and if they are serious then the
tone is serious. Also, if the narrator
or the voice is joyful then their work is joyful. A very good example of
merriness of narrator can be seen in Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem “The
Canterbury Tales”. And in Joseph Conrad’s ”Heart
Of Darkness” we feel the gloominess in the story as the narrator
himself is sad.
Figures of speech are another
element that is shared by short stories and poems. These include hyperbole or metaphor and
imagery to achieve effects beyond ordinary language and to give readers an
impression of situation to help reinforce a theme. An allegory is often used by writers in short
stories and poetry to give their writing a deeper meaning and can be used to
give moral to readers. We also find myth
and symbol in both of them. A Myth is
anonymous story reflecting the religious and social values of the time often
involving god and heroes. The Greek
often used myths in their stories, and most of the poets generally use it in
their poems. This technique is called mythopoeia. And, Indian authors aren’t
far behind in dealing with this. Amish Tripathi is mining our
nation’s ancient epics to write thrillers and fantasy series like “Shiva’s
Trilogy“ and “The
Immortals Of Meluha”. A
symbol is used in writing to represent something that stands for or suggests
something else by relationship or association.
Blood is an example of symbol used in both short story and poem to
symbolize death.
Next similarity is conflict.
Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces and it emerges as the
action develops. It can also be internal
within oneself as found in poems.
Conflicts add excitement and keep the reader’s attention in short
stories. Another element is a climax,
where tension or importance reaches its peak.
A poem with tension often has a climax where tension reaches its
greatest peak just like short stories have a peak. Foreshadowing is also used in both. It is used early in short story to hint of
things to come. And, foreshadowing is
used in poetry in the title to give the reader an idea of what the poem is
about. Another similarity is mood, used
to add atmosphere and to help convey the theme.
It gives short stories and poems a feeling, for example the mood can be
eerie or sad.
There is no denying the fact that there are some forms of poetry that do
not focus on things such as rhyme and meter; free verse do not rely on
established meter and blank verse has an unrhymed meter; that more closely
resembles natural speech. Then we have
narrative poetry that tells a story. Thus,
in a nutshell it can be said that although both being very different literary
genres have many elements in common.
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