Introduction to Literary Genres

Lessons

Senior 1 · English

Introduction to Literary Genres

5 lessons

Lesson 5 of 5

Poetry and Drama: Windy Nights and The Riddle Contest

30 min

Let's begin

Some literature only comes fully alive when it is spoken. A poem is written for the ear: its beat and its sounds carry half of its meaning. A play is written to be seen and heard: its script is a set of instructions for actors. Rwandans have always known this. Warriors recited ibyivugo at speed and with pride, and today families gather round the radio for Urunana. This lesson gives you one poem to read aloud and one short play to perform.

Listen first: ask a classmate to read the poem below aloud while you close your eyes. What do you hear?

Poem: Windy Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson

Whenever the moon and stars are set,
Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet,
A man goes riding by.
Late in the night when the fires are out,
Why does he gallop and gallop about?

Whenever the trees are crying aloud,
And ships are tossed at sea,
By, on the highway, low and loud,
By at the gallop goes he.
By at the gallop he goes, and then
By he comes back at the gallop again.

From A Child's Garden of Verses, 1885.

Word	Meaning
the moon and stars are set	the moon and stars have gone down and cannot be seen
gallop	(of a horse) to run as fast as possible; at the gallop: galloping
crying aloud	making loud, wailing sounds
tossed	thrown up and down by the waves
highway	a main road

In Stevenson's Scottish and English speech, again is often said to rhyme with then.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894), photographed in 1893. The Scottish author of Treasure Island was often ill as a child and spent many long nights awake in bed. A Child's Garden of Verses looks at the world through the eyes of a child like that, which may explain why the rider in "Windy Nights" is heard but never seen. Photo: Henry Walter Barnett, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Understanding the poem

When does the man go riding by? Give two details.
What is the weather like? Find three words or phrases that tell you.
What question does the speaker ask at the end of the first stanza?
Does the speaker ever see the rider? What makes you think so?
Who, or what, might the galloping rider really be?
Read the last two lines aloud. How does their sound match their meaning?

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Whenever the moon and stars are set and the wind is high; late at night, when the fires are out.
For example: "the wind is high", "the dark and wet", "the trees are crying aloud", "ships are tossed at sea".
"Why does he gallop and gallop about?"
Probably not: it is too dark (no moon or stars), and the speaker describes sounds ("low and loud"), so the rider is heard rather than seen.
Perhaps the wind itself, which a child lying awake imagines as a man on a horse, rushing past and coming back again.
The beat is quick and bumpy, like a horse's hooves, and "By… by… back… again" makes the rider pass, then return, just as the line does.

Definition

Line and stanza: a poem is written in lines; a group of lines separated by a space is a stanza. Example: Windy Nights has two stanzas of six lines.

Rhyme: the same sound at the end of two words (set, wet). The rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes, shown with letters: each new sound gets the next letter. Example: the first stanza is ABABCC.

Rhythm: the pattern of strong and weak beats in a line. Example: BY at the GAL-lop he GOES, and THEN: four strong beats, like hooves on a road.

Repetition: using the same word or phrase more than once, for effect. Example: gallop appears five times.

Imagery: words that make pictures, sounds or feelings in the reader's mind. Example: ships are tossed at sea.

Personification: describing a thing as if it were a person. Example: the trees are crying aloud.

Literature: how Windy Nights works

Feature	In the poem	Its effect
Stanzas	two stanzas of six lines	The rider goes by in the first and comes back in the second.
Rhyme scheme	ABABCC (set, high, wet, by, out, about), then DEDEFF (aloud, sea, loud, he, then, again)	Each stanza ends with a rhyming pair, which snaps it shut like a door.
Rhythm	a fast, bouncing beat of about four strong stresses a line	It sounds like a horse's hooves.
Repetition	Whenever… Whenever…; gallop five times; By at the start of four lines	The rider seems to pass again and again; the night feels endless.
Imagery	"the dark and wet", "ships are tossed at sea", "low and loud"	We see darkness and hear the storm.
Personification	"the trees are crying aloud"	The storm seems alive and frightening.
Speaker	someone lying awake at night, asking a question	We share the speaker's wonder and fear.

The speaker's question, Why does he gallop and gallop about?, is never answered. A poem is allowed to leave a mystery, and this one invites you to guess.

Worked example

Analyse the last two lines of Windy Nights: which devices does the poet use, and what is their effect?

By at the gallop he goes, and then
By he comes back at the gallop again.

Read aloud and mark the beats: BY at the GAL-lop he GOES, and THEN; BY he comes BACK at the GAL-lop a-GAIN. Four strong beats in each line, quick and uneven, like hooves.
Find the repetition: both lines begin with By and both contain at the gallop. The second line almost echoes the first.
Notice the word order: normal English would say "he goes by at a gallop". Putting By first makes the rider flash past before we even know who is moving.
Find the rhyme: then and again make the final rhyming pair, which closes the poem.
Write it up (point, evidence, explanation): The poet makes the rider seem to pass and return. In the lines "By at the gallop he goes" and "By he comes back at the gallop again", the repeated "By" and "gallop" and the strong beat sound like hooves going away and coming back, so the ride never seems to end.

Play: The Riddle Contest

A one-scene play written by Ganzaa for this lesson.

CHARACTERS: GRANDMOTHER · IRADUKUNDA, 12, who lives with her · KEVIN, 13, her cousin from Kigali, on holiday

A sitting room in a house in Rwamagana, on an evening in the school holidays. The electricity has just gone off. A small solar lamp stands on the table. GRANDMOTHER sits in her chair; IRADUKUNDA sits on a mat at her feet. KEVIN stands by the window, shaking his phone.

KEVIN: Two per cent! Grandma, when will the power come back?

GRANDMOTHER: When it wants to. (She settles back in her chair.) We managed for years without it. Sakwe sakwe!

IRADUKUNDA: (at once) Soma!

KEVIN: (looking from one to the other) What's happening?

IRADUKUNDA: Riddles. Grandma asks, you answer. If you can't answer, you lose the round.

KEVIN: Riddles are for little children.

GRANDMOTHER: (smiling) Then this will be easy for you. Havamo umwe twashira. If one of us leaves, we are finished.

KEVIN: (thinking hard) A… football team?

IRADUKUNDA: (laughing) A team can still play with ten!

GRANDMOTHER: (pointing towards the kitchen) Amashyiga. Three stones under the pot. Take one away, and nobody eats tonight.

KEVIN: (slowly) Oh. That's actually clever.

GRANDMOTHER: Another. I am full of holes, but I still hold water.

KEVIN: (quickly) A sponge!

IRADUKUNDA: (to the audience) He's learning.

KEVIN: My turn. (He stands in the middle of the room.) Sakwe sakwe!

GRANDMOTHER and IRADUKUNDA: Soma!

KEVIN: I sleep in your pocket and wake up singing, and I carry your voice over the hills without any legs.

GRANDMOTHER: (after a long pause) Hm. A drum?

IRADUKUNDA: A bird?

KEVIN: (holding up his phone) A phone! One point to the city!

(The lights come back on. KEVIN and IRADUKUNDA cheer, but neither of them moves towards the charger.)

GRANDMOTHER: (to the audience) The power is back, and nobody has noticed.

(Lights down.)

Understanding the play

Where and when does the play take place?
Why does Grandmother start the riddle game?
How does Kevin feel about riddles at first? Quote his words.
Which line shows that Kevin's attitude has begun to change?
What is the answer to Kevin's riddle, and why do the others fail to guess it?
What is funny about the ending?

Show answersHide answers

In a sitting room in Rwamagana, on an evening in the school holidays, just after a power cut.
The electricity has gone off, Kevin's phone is almost dead, and there is nothing else to do; she also enjoys the old game.
He thinks they are childish: "Riddles are for little children."
"Oh. That's actually clever." (Later he even stands up to ask his own riddle.)
A phone. Grandmother and Iradukunda think of older things that sing or carry sound (a drum, a bird), not of modern technology.
Kevin wanted the power back to use his phone, but when it returns, the children are enjoying the game so much that nobody goes to charge the phone.

Definition

Playwright: a person who writes plays. (Note the spelling: wright is an old word for a maker, as in a maker of wheels.)

Dialogue: the words the characters speak to each other. In a script, each speech follows the character's name.

Stage directions: the words in a script, usually in italics or brackets, that tell the actors how to move and speak, and describe the setting, sounds and lights. They are not spoken aloud.

Aside: a short speech that a character says to the audience, which the other characters on stage are supposed not to hear. Example: IRADUKUNDA: (to the audience) He's learning.

Scene and act: a scene is a part of a play in one place and time; an act is a larger part made of several scenes. The Riddle Contest is a one-scene play.

Literature: the parts of a play

Term	Meaning	In The Riddle Contest
Cast	the list of characters, and the actors who play them	Grandmother, Iradukunda, Kevin
Set	the scenery and furniture that show where the play happens	a sitting room: a chair, a mat, a table, a window
Props	objects the actors carry or use (short for properties)	the phone, the solar lamp
Costume	the clothes an actor wears for a part	for example, a mushanana for Grandmother, a city T-shirt for Kevin
Lighting and sound	changes of light and sound effects, written as stage directions	"The lights come back on." · "Lights down."
Stage directions	instructions for movement, tone and gesture	(after a long pause), (pointing towards the kitchen)
Aside	words to the audience only	two asides: Iradukunda's and Grandmother's last line

Literature: kinds of drama

Kind	Features	Example
Comedy	light and funny; misunderstandings; a happy ending	The Riddle Contest; The Penalty Shoot-out (Lesson 1)
Tragedy	serious; a main character suffers or dies, often because of a weakness such as pride	Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Radio drama	performed with voices, music and sound effects only; the listener imagines the scene	Urunana, on Rwandan radio since 1999
Film and television drama	performed for a camera; can change place in a second	a television series or a film

Where actors stand: the stage

Stage directions often tell an actor where to go: (She crosses down left.) These names come from the actor's point of view, standing on the stage and facing the audience.

Language focus: writing stage directions

A stage direction can show…	Form	Example
an action or movement	present simple, full sentence	(She settles back in her chair.)
how a line is spoken	an -ing form or a short phrase	(smiling) · (at once) · (after a long pause)
a gesture	an -ing form + object	(holding up his phone)
who is spoken to	to + person	(to the audience)
light and sound	a short phrase or sentence	(Lights down.) · (A dog barks outside.)

When a stage direction is a full sentence, its verb is always in the present simple, because they describe what happens on stage now, every time the play is performed.

Warning

Never read the stage directions aloud in a performance: act them.
Stage right is the actor's right, which is the audience's left. Directors and actors mix these up all the time; check which way you are facing.
Rhyme scheme letters go by sound, not spelling. then and again can rhyme; cough and though do not.
Don't sing-song a poem. Keep the beat, but pause where the punctuation tells you to, not at the end of every line.

Tip

Tap the beat. Before you recite a poem, read it once while tapping the table on each strong beat. For Windy Nights you will hear the horse: BY at the GAL-lop he GOES. When you perform a play, underline every stage direction in your script in one colour, so that you act it instead of reading it.

What makes a poem … a poem?, a TED-Ed lesson by Melissa Kovacs (5 minutes). Poets themselves disagree about what a poem is; the video names three features that most poems share. Write them down, then check whether Windy Nights has all three.

Speaking: recite and perform

Recite Windy Nights. In pairs, read one stanza each. Tap the beat first. Begin quietly and grow louder as the rider comes closer; slow down a little on the question at the end of stanza 1; make "back… again" sound like the rider returning. Then learn one stanza by heart.
Perform The Riddle Contest in groups of four: three actors and a director. The director decides where each actor stands (use the stage diagram), which props to use, and how each stage direction is acted. Perform for another group, which then tells you one thing that worked and one thing to improve.

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We could hear every word when…
The aside worked well because you turned to face us…
Next time, try pausing before…
We didn't see the lights come back on: maybe someone could…

Writing: the next scene

Write a short scene (12 to 16 lines of dialogue) that continues The Riddle Contest the next evening, or a new scene of your own set in Rwanda. Include a list of characters, a description of the setting in italics, at least four stage directions of different kinds (movement, tone, gesture, light or sound) and one aside.

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CHARACTERS: GRANDMOTHER · IRADUKUNDA · KEVIN

The same sitting room, the next evening. The lights are on. KEVIN sits on the mat with a notebook. IRADUKUNDA enters with a tray of tea.

IRADUKUNDA: What are you writing?

KEVIN: (hiding the notebook) Nothing.

GRANDMOTHER: (to the audience) Nothing, he says. He has been writing since lunch.

KEVIN: (standing, clearing his throat) All right. Sakwe sakwe!

GRANDMOTHER and IRADUKUNDA: Soma!

KEVIN: (reading carefully) I have a face and two hands, but no arms and no legs.

IRADUKUNDA: (at once) A clock! Too easy.

KEVIN: (turning a page) Then: I go up the hill full, and come down empty.

GRANDMOTHER: (slowly) Hm. Is it… a jerrycan going to the well?

KEVIN: No! It's the other way round: up empty, down full. (He frowns at his notebook.) Wait.

(IRADUKUNDA and GRANDMOTHER burst out laughing. Outside, a dog barks.)

KEVIN: (laughing too) I'll write a better one tomorrow.

GRANDMOTHER: (smiling) Good. And tomorrow I will have a harder one for you.

(Lights down.)

✦

Practice

How many stanzas does Windy Nights have, and how many lines are in each?
Write the rhyme scheme of the first stanza.
Copy one example of personification from the poem, and explain it.
Which word is repeated five times in the poem? What sound does the repetition create?
What is the job of a stage direction? Give an example from The Riddle Contest.
What is an aside? Copy one from the play.
An actor reads the stage direction (She crosses down right.) Does she move towards or away from the audience? On which side of the stage does she end up, as the audience sees it?
Is The Riddle Contest a comedy or a tragedy? Give two reasons.

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Two stanzas, with six lines in each.
ABABCC (set, high, wet, by, out, about).
"the trees are crying aloud": the trees are described as if they were people crying, which makes the storm sound alive and frightening.
Gallop: the repetition sounds like hooves beating again and again, as if the rider never stops.
It tells the actors how to move or speak, or describes the setting, lights and sound. For example: (pointing towards the kitchen) or (Lights down.)
A short speech to the audience that the other characters are supposed not to hear. For example: IRADUKUNDA: (to the audience) He's learning.
Towards the audience (downstage), and to the actor's right, which is the audience's left.
A comedy: it is light and funny (Kevin's wrong guesses, the asides), there is a friendly contest instead of real danger, and it ends happily, with everyone enjoying the game.

1Poem: Windy Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson

2Understanding the poem

3Literature: how Windy Nights works

4Play: The Riddle Contest

5Understanding the play

6Literature: the parts of a play

7Literature: kinds of drama

8Where actors stand: the stage

9Language focus: writing stage directions

10Speaking: recite and perform

11Writing: the next scene

Poem: Windy Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson

Understanding the poem

Literature: how Windy Nights works

Play: The Riddle Contest

Understanding the play

Literature: the parts of a play

Literature: kinds of drama

Where actors stand: the stage

Language focus: writing stage directions

Speaking: recite and perform

Writing: the next scene