Page 145 - English_Form_3

Mr Mgimba: What about short stories?
Ms Tabia: Well! These are stories like novels, but they are much shorter.
They may be collected and put together in a book called an
anthology.
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Mr Mgimba: Great! What about drama?
Ms Tabia: Drama is literature which is acted on stage or in movies.
Mr Mgimba: So, drama is a play.

Ms Tabia: In a way, yes. When it is acted before an audience, it is called
drama, but once it is written and read as a book, it is referred
to as a play.

Mr Mgimba: So, let’s come to the third genre. Ms Tabia, what is poetry? It
always seems so complicated to me.

Ms Tabia: (Laughs) You are right. My students are the same. But we
are afraid of poetry for nothing. All songs with meaning are
poems. We can say that a poem is a literary piece expressing
feelings and ideas using rhythmic and figurative language,
usually structured in lines. It can be long or short, and we
can categorise poetry into traditional and modern poetry.
Traditional poetry refers to poems with regular rhyme and
rhythm throughout the poem, while modern poetry refers to
poems that do not follow regular rhyme and rhythm. Like
other literary works, poetry can tell a story through a voice
or character called a persona.
Mr Mgimba: Then, how can they be called poems?
Ms Tabia: You should note that the rhythm and how a poem is divided
can add to the poem’s meaning and the poet’s feelings. But
don’t be confused. Sometimes, the person speaking in the
poem is not the poet herself or himself. Remember! In such
a poem, a character is called a persona. For example, the
poet may be a man, but the person speaking in the poem, the
persona, is a woman or even a dog or any imagined entity.
Mr Mgimba: Wow! Ms Tabia, you have given us much to think about.
Unfortunately, we are running out of time. Can you please
finish by explaining the importance of literature?

English for Secondary Schools Student’s Book Form Three
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