When it comes to writing, it is referred to as a medium of human communication that consists the language representation. It can be from a system of mechanically transferred, physically inscribed, or digitally represented symbols.
It can have effects of knowledge transforming as it allows to externalize thinking. Several players in writing play a vital role, but poet and narrator are two of them highlighted in this article.
Poet can be referred to as someone who writes poetry, while the narrator narrates something. In this article, the chief focus is on differentiating poet and narrator.
Key Takeaways
- A poet is the author of a poem, while a narrator is a person who tells the story in a work of fiction.
- Poets use figurative language and poetic devices to convey their message, while narrators are more concerned with telling the story.
- A poet can also be a narrator, but a narrator is not necessarily a poet.
Poet vs Narrator
Poets write poetry, which is characterized by metaphor, rhyme, and meter. Narrators tell stories, as novels, short stories, or other written works. Poets tend to be more focused on language and imagery, while narrators are more concerned with plot and character development.
A poet is anyone who either as an occupation or for pleasure writes poetry. The term poetry can be described as a literary genre that uses rhythm and words in a way that makes it engaging.
A poet might write the poetry and perform their art to an audience or might publish it as a book. Sometimes, listeners or readers of poetry might find it complex to understand directly.
The narrator is the one who has a role to tell a story. When it comes to fiction work, it determines the point of view of the story.
Work might have more than one narrator that can be referred to as an epistolary novel like Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa. To several stories the narrator is integral.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Poet | Narrator |
|---|---|---|
| Interpretation | It can be described as someone who holds special powers of expression or imagination to write a poem. | It can be described as a person who narrates something particularly a character who recounts the novel’s events or narrative poem. |
| Introduction | Dates back to shamans | The 1610s |
| Synonyms | Writer and poetaster | Chronicler and describer |
| Antonyms | There are no such categorical antonyms | Listener and audience |
| Examples | Charles Bukowski and Walt Whitman | Patrick Stewart and Peter Coyote |
What is Poet?
The creation of poetry is done by the poet. Poets might be described as such by others or be describe themselves as such.
A poet might simply be a creator who composes poems in written or oral form or also perform their art. The poet’s work is essentially one of communication that expresses ideas either metaphorically or literal sense.
Since prehistory, poets might have lived in nearly all languages as well as formed works that range greatly in distinguish periods and cultures. All-round every language and civilization poets have used many styles.
Over time it switched and simply leads to countless poets, just like the diverse literature they produced.
In terms of ancient Rome, poets which are professional were promoted by wealthy supporters, patrons comprising of military and nobility officials.
In the Arabic society of pre-Islamic, the sha’ir or poet filled the role of propagandist, soothsayer, and historian. Earlier times the posts were people who are highly educated and well-read, while others to large extent, were self-educated.
A few poets, for instance, John Milton and John Gower were in many languages able to write poetry. In the 20th century, creative writing degrees are offered by many universities.
What is Narrator?
The existence of the narrator can only be seen in a narrative poem or fictional texts. The narrator’s point is to narrator story for instance to tell the story.
However, what the narrator cannot and can see determines the text’s perspective and also considers how much the readers know. When it comes to kinds, firstly there is a first-person narrator who speaks from the point of view of 1st person.
In the commntary, it uses the pronouns “my/are,” “me/us”, etc. Secondly, there is a second person narrator who speaks from the point of view of 2nd person and in commentary uses the pronouns as “yours,” “your,” and “you.”
Thirdly, the third person narrator who speaks from the point of view of 3rd person and in commentary uses the pronouns like “his/ her/their,” “he/she/they,” etc.
Narrators sometimes apart from being integral might not or might be characters within the action they develop their voice. A narrator is always there in every story.
To understand this concept there is one instance.
The Catcher in the Rye is written with a narrator in the first person. The main character is the narrator in this text, namely Holden Caulfield.
Main Differences Poet and Narrator
- The chief role of the poet is to inspire, engage, and influence readers with the language of mastery as intertwined with emotions and ideas. In contrast, the narrator is the one with the chief role of telling a story and determines the point of view of the story.
- The word poet is mainly a noun that can be called poeticize in the form of a verb. On the flip side, the word narrator is mainly a verb that can be called narration in the form of a noun.
- When it comes to types, the poet cannot be classified because there are several poetry types and it is totally up to the poet to write which kind of poetry. Meanwhile, there are mainly three kinds of narrator which are third person, second person, and first-person.
- The examples of poet word usage in sentences are “Ray is highly rated as a poet” and “for a poet, the worst tragedy is to be admired from being misunderstood.” Conversely, the examples of narrator word usage in sentences are “the narrator assumes that Laura and Gen had an innate faculty of speech” and “the name is taken by the narrator of eve.”
- The origin of the word poet can be traced from the Greek word poiētḗs which means “to make.” On contrary, the origin of the word narrator can be traced from Latin narrator which means “to tell or relate.”
References
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/4228365/
- https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2018/HCI/Presentations/8/
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
