Analyzing and Interpreting Literature / Unit 9 AIL 0803 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Problem, Development, Turn, Resolution
Captions available
The idea
The commonest shape in English lyric runs in four stages: a situation is set out, elaborated, then altered by a turn, then closed. Not every poem uses all four, and the stages need not be evenly sized. The shape is a reading tool rather than a rule poems obey.
In practice
Set out, elaborate, turn, close.
Where people slip
A tool for reading, not a rule.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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