A Subaltern’s Love Song, Essay Example

There are more differences than similarities between the literary form of a short-story and a poem. One major similarity is that most poems and most short-stories contain a plot. In poems, the plot may take on a lesser role than in short-story; however, both forms can usually be said to utilize plot as a literary device. One major difference between the poetic form and the narrative form is that poems are written in stanzas. By contrast, short-stories are written in paragraphs. Stanzas, by their innate nature, bring an emphasis to the first and last words of each line, whereas the lines of paragraph follow in a more linear fashion. The way that these differences impact the reader is that a poem delivers its meaning in quick-bursts with an overt rhythmic meter, and a short-story flows together with a more pedestrian rhythm, building to a climax.

A good example of this dynamic is John Betjeman’s poem “A Subaltern’s Love Song” (1945). The poem tells the story of how the narrator fell in love and met his future wife while playing tennis. The same theme could have been told in a short-story, but the method of telling the story would be different than in a poem. To begin with the A/B/A/B rhyme scheme of the opening stanza presents an echo of a tennis game with the rhymes standing for the back and forth of a tennis match. Obviously, tennis is being used in the poem as a metaphor for human love. It is a friendly competition, under which some serious emotions exist. The poem’s form therefore is able to draw the reader into a “bodily” feeling of the theme. In prose the insights would have to be shown through the characters dialogue or introspective passages.

Another very good example of a poetic device that is used in the poem is the repetition of the word “ominous” in line forty-two. By repeating this word, the poet ensures that the reader will understand the gravity of the scene despite its playful surface. The poem offers a sing-song rhythm and rhyme that lures the reader into a feeling of lightness which is very similar to the way the narrator is being pulled into love during the course of the poem. In my opinion these techniques allow poetry to be a more intimate and complete expression than prose. Many people may feel more comfortable reading prose than poetry, but this is due to the fact that poetry appeals simultaneously to all the sense, including the sense of rhythm and music. Prose also does this, but it is a much more subtle approach.