Overview
This lecture explains the difference between form and structure in English literature, providing clear analogies and examples from poetry and prose to help students analyze texts effectively.
Understanding Form and Structure
- Form refers to the overall type or category of a literary work (e.g., sonnet, villanelle, novel).
- Structure refers to the specific internal organization and components of a work (e.g., stanzas, rhyme schemes, letters).
- Form and structure are closely related; structure often helps determine form, and form encompasses structural elements.
Analogies and Examples
- Cars analogy: Form is like the type of car (SUV, hatchback), structure is the specific engine parts.
- In poetry, forms include villanelle and Petrarchan sonnet; structures include tercets, quatrains, octaves, rhyme schemes.
- In prose, forms include short stories, novels; structures include rising action, climax, paragraphs, POV shifts.
Poetry Example: Villanelle
- A villanelle is a poetic form consisting of five tercets (three-line stanzas) and one quatrain (four-line stanza).
- Features include repeated alternating lines and a chain rhyme scheme.
- Identifying structure (stanzas, rhyme) reveals the poem's form.
Prose Example: Embedded Narrative
- Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" starts and ends with letters (epistolary structure), containing narratives within narratives.
- The tripartite structure (Walton, Frankenstein, Monster) defines the form as an embedded or framed narrative.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Form — The overall type or genre of a literary work (e.g., sonnet, novel).
- Structure — The internal arrangement or organization within a literary work (e.g., stanzas, narrative frames).
- Tercet — A stanza of three lines.
- Quatrain — A stanza of four lines.
- Villanelle — A poetic form with five tercets and a final quatrain, with repeated lines and rhyme.
- Embedded Narrative — A story within a story structure.
- Epistolary — A narrative told through letters.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Practice identifying form and structure in your assigned readings.
- Try analyzing a poem or novel excerpt, noting both structural elements and overall form.