Differences between Poetry, Prose, and Drama

Literature is a study of literary work which presents ideas related to human experiences (Ogu, 2016). English literature has developed since a long time ago which is from oral to written works and has influenced the human mindset. Literature is divided into 3 genres namely poetry also known as poem, prose, and drama that have their characterizations.

Poetry

Poetry is one or literary works that consist of lines, stanzas or verses, and metaphors (Piscayanti, 2015). She stated that poetry can be expressed such a feeling like sadness, happiness, love, loneliness according to the poet’s feelings, thought, and point of view in looking at the world.

There are several types of poetry namely, lyric, sonnet, epic, ballad, epigram, etc (Ogu, 2016). Emotion and voice can be spoken out, heard and felt in poetry (Piscayanti, 2015). She also stated that the beauty of poetry comes from some elements namely word, line, verse, stanza, rhyme, and figurative language. According to Piscayanti (2015), poetry gives deep massage to the reader through the power of words.

Line in poetry consists of words and is strung beautifully into stanza (Piscayanti, 2015). The uniqueness of poetry is in its rhyme and the use of figurative language to express the meaning implicitly (Piscayanti, 2015).

Prose

Prose can be defined as written work consist of sentences, paragraphs, and chapters that do not have rhyme or stanza as poetry (Ogu, 2016; University, 2004). According to Rai Technology University (2004), the prose is divided into nonfiction which is created based on reality for instance essay, speech, journal, and autobiography. The second type of prose is a fiction which is about an imaginary story such as a novel, short story, and novella.

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There are some elements that prose fiction usually has according to Rai Technology University (2004), namely theme, character, plot, setting, point of view. The theme is the main idea or issue that happening in the story for example love, friendship, and religion (Piscayanti, 2015). Character is the subject that carries out the story (Piscayanti, 2015). The plot is the sequence of the story from the beginning, middle, and end (Piscayanti, 2015). The setting is about time, place and atmosphere of the story (University, 2004). The last is the point of view is how the narrator delivers the story namely first person (I), second person (you), and third-person (they) (Piscayanti, 2015).

Drama

Drama or a play is a show of a story performed by the characters usually on a stage in the theater (Ogu, 2016). Drama often conveys a story that related to social life or what is happening in society. According to Ogu (2016), there are 5 primary types of drama namely, comedy, tragicomedy, melodrama, farce, and tragedy. According to Anggraeni (2008), there are nine elements of drama namely characters, plot, structure, text, language, point of view, theme or meaning, tone, symbolism. In addition, there are two natures that is the text and the performance which help the audience to understand the play (Anggraeni, 2008). She stated a text of drama or play is a written language that contains dialogue, monologue, and stage director (Anggraeni, 2008). Those three aspects above have function to deliver the actions and events in a drama (Anggraeni, 2008). Moreover, the performance in a drama, there is dramatic conventions (Anggraeni, 2008). According to Anggraeni (2008), dramatic conventions mean the audience has to visualize what the actors being delivered or play on the stage.

Conclusion

In conclusion, literature is written art that can still exist today. Those 3 literary works have their differences one of them is in its element. All the characteristics in those literary works combine to make great art. They are all significant so that the meaning and the message can be delivered perfectly.