Literary Forms: Differences and Similarities

In order to properly compare and contrast the major differences between literary forms, we must first look at their similarities. The drama, poetry, and short story are all creative works of art. They all use tone, symbolism, imaginative language, satire, and, irony to captivate their audience’s attention and bring their individual creative work to life. In addition, drama and the short story all have a protagonist, antagonists, minor character, stock character, the foil, foreshadowing, and dramatic irony in one way or another within their stories. Still, we can clearly see that each literary form approaches their audience in different ways.

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The major element of drama that distinguishes it from the short story and poetry is its ability to draw you into imaginary experiences by its intensity and visual performance. This is evident in the dramatic play Riders to the Sea (Synge). This is a play that is considered a tragedy. It depicts a woman who has lost all the male members in her household. It shows her struggle with the sea and her last living son Bartley. We are exposed to the dramatic irony of the play. In line 225-229, we finally find out that she saw her son Bentley riding the red mare and her dead son Michael riding on the grey pony wearing new clothes and shoes. This symbolizes that Bentley is soon to die from the sea as well. The ironic part is that she had no knowledge of the bundle of Michael’s clothing that the girls had kept from here. Therefore, she was not aware that the priest found a drowned man in Donegal that turned out to be her son Michael. This could also be considered a short story if it did not use the play writers narratives and used descriptive language instead.
Moreover, in a short story we are forced to use our imagination to decipher the symbolic meanings of the writer. Thus, we are not able to visually experience the characters and atmosphere. We must read or listen to this type of literary form and use the writer’s imaginative language to fully experience the intended outcome of the author. For example, Kate Chopin used symbols in her short story called “The Story of an Hour”. She used symbolism throughout the entire story to describe “Mrs. Mallard’s” true feelings towards her husband. In paragraph four, Kate has her slumping and sighing into a chair, using symbolism it appeared as though she was actually distraught over her husband’s death. However, in reality she is so happy that her farce of a marriage is over and done with. Then we see in paragraph six that the world becomes brighter, new and fresh. However, the writer Kate Chopin was symbolically painting a picture of her being freed from the constraints of a loveless marriage. This short story could be considered a tragedy because of the protagonist’s feelings towards her husband and her dramatic and untimely demise.
However, when we read a poem we look more to the author’s expressionism, creativity, rhythm, and tone. A poem is emotional and musical. The rhyming of each stanza in a poem assists me in the reading and comprehension of the authors meaning in his or her literary work. For example, William Wordsworth poem “She dwelt among the untrodden ways” used romanticism, tone, symbolism, and rhythm to covey his feelings of his love for Lucy. By rhyming a poem it allows the reader to imagine it as a romantic musical lullaby. Moreover, when it is performed, you can mentally picture the musical rhythm in your head. Also; the performance assists the listener to visualize the symbols as the reader speaks them. We can feel how much he treasured Lucy by what he wrote in line five. He believes she is a rare treasure that is hidden by a mossy stone or if you will, a beautiful violet that is not easily seen. This sort of poetic symbolism brings the authors creative work to life and creates an ambiance of visualization to the literary work.
In order to properly compare and contrast the major differences between literary forms, we must first look at their similarities. The drama, poetry, and short story are all creative works of art. They all use tone, symbolism, imaginative language, satire, and, irony to captivate their audience’s attention and bring their individual creative work to life. The major element of drama that distinguishes it from the short story and poetry is its ability to draw you into imaginary experiences by its intensity and visual performance. Moreover, in a short story we are forced to use our imagination to decipher the symbolic meanings of the writer. Thus, we are not able to visually experience the characters and atmosphere. However, when we read a poem we look more to the author’s expressionism, creativity, rhythm, and tone. Thus, we can conclude that each writer approaches their intended audience in different ways by the form of literature that they choose to adopt for their literary works.