Poetry - Point of View

Terms Related to Poetry – Point of View

Point of view –

the perspective from which an author tells a story point of view – the perspective from which an author tells a story.

First person –

first person point of view tells the story from the narrator’s personal perspective using I, we, me, my, us, our.  First person narration is used when a person is writing about themselves such as in an autobiography where it is purportedly telling the truth.  In fiction, first person is where telling the story as though it is about a personal occurrence, but it could be completely fictional where the author simply uses first person to make the story seem like a true event when it is a fiction.  First person narrators are not necessarily reliable to be telling an actual series of events.

Narrator –

the person through whose voice a story is told

Speaker –

the narrator of a poem

Persona –

the personality a narrator assumes; a mask used in Ancient Greek theater by the actors playing a particular role

Irony –

created when  there is a discrepancy between an expectation and an actuality

Dramatic irony (tragic irony) –

an irony created when the audience knows something a character does not know

Situational irony –

an irony created when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to have occurred and what has actually occurred in the situation

Verbal irony –

an irony created within a sentence where there is a difference between what is said and what is meant

Unreliable narrators –

a narrator who is either not omniscient or is deliberately misleading the reader

Third person –

third person point of view tells the story from the perspective of an outsider as opposed to first person where the narrator is telling a story about him or herself using the word "I"

Omniscient –

an omniscient narrator knows everything about the events and the characters

Limited omniscient –

a limited omniscient narrator only knows about the story and characters from a limited perspective such as one of the characters who does not know everything.

Objective –

relates the story as a sequence of events without commenting or judging the characters or their action or situation.

Stream-of-consciousness –

a style of writing that writes how a person is thinking; written-down thoughts.

Tone –

the attitude with which the story is told as expressed in particular words; a description of people laughing and enjoying themselves conveys a happy tone, for example.

Sarcasm –

a form of expression which says something opposite from what is meant in a way to criticize or insult or express anger such as describing a bad day by saying, “What a great day I had!”