Page 17 - KTUDELL E-LIT | Issue 4 - January 2025

2025 LITERATURE

On the other hand, narrative poetry is a type of poetry that Chaucer here, while processing the inner conflicts of the
describes an event, character, or situation. The poet presents knights and the difficulties they experienced with an
a story to the reader, and this story contains characters, emotional narrative, introduces the reader to both heroism
events, a period, and a place. Narrative poems have a and romance.
narrative-based structure and usually follow a plot of events.
We also see that great stories are told in subgenres such as Finally, in the The Wife of Bath's Tale section of the same
epic epics, ballads, and romance. collection, there is a powerful narrative about a woman's life,
love and women's rights. In this story, a Woman from Bath
One of the oldest and most powerful examples that comes conveys her own views and experiences about marriage,
to mind in world literature is Homer's epic, the Iliad. This sexuality and social norms. At the end of the poem, deep
epic poem, which focuses on the Trojan War, talks about the themes such as a reward given to her and the search for
heroism and anger of Achilles in particular. In addition to happiness stand out:
war, Homer deals with themes such as honour, friendship,
revenge, and fate brought about by war. At the beginning of “I know well that Abraham was a holy man,
the story, the consequences of Achilles' anger are expressed and Jacob as well, as far as I know,
in the following lines: and each of them had more than two wives,
and many other holy men did as well.
"Sing, O muse, of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus, that When have you seen that in any time
brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.” great God forbid marriage
explicitly? Tell me, I pray you,
Here, Homer takes the reader on an epic journey while Or where did he order people to remain virgins?”
processing Achilles' anger and its reflections on the battle
with epic depth. The Iliad paints a picture not only of war, In these lines, Chaucer masterfully handles the female
but also of the complex conflicts of the human psyche, and character's effort to confront double standards and question
thus presents a universal narrative. their role in society. While narrative poetry explores events
and characters in depth in this way, it both draws the reader
One of the first works that also comes to mind in English into the story and brings them together with universal
literature is Geoffrey Chaucer's poetry collection The themes.
Canterbury Tales. In this collection, Chaucer describes the
journey of pilgrims from different social classes towards In conclusion, lyric and narrative poetry are two important
Canterbury Cathedral. Each pilgrim shares his or her own genres that allow us to delve deeper into literature. By
story on the way, and thus different human profiles and plot thoughtfully unravelling emotions and weaving compelling
patterns are presented to the reader. stories, poets guide us in exploring the depths of the human
psyche and experience. As we journey through this
For example, in the section The Knight's Tale, the love of two extraordinary world, it is upon us to embrace the
knights for the same woman is told. The knights become enchantment of poetry.
enemies to each other for the sake of their love and
eventually come face to face in the tournament square.
However, while the story deals with deep themes such as
love, heroism and fate, Chaucer emphasizes the emotional
contradictions of man and the search for justice:

“Love if you like; for I love and aye shall;
And certainly, dear brother, that is all.
Here in this prison cell must we remain
And each endure whatever fate ordain.”

15