Dramas may be written in prose or in poetic form. The tendency is toward prose in comedy and poetry in tragedy, though in the same play both prose and poetry are sometimes used. The most common form for the poetic composition is the unrhymed iambic pentameter or blank verse (heroic measure). Rhymes are in use but usually their purpose is definite and specific and they may occur occasionally in plays which are otherwise in blank verse. Lyrics are often introduced, and in them both rhyme and meter are varied at the pleasure of the author. _Journeys Through Bookland_ contains numerous illustrations of the facts of this chapter and plentiful examples of every form of literature except the sonnet, of which a type has just been given. The outline which follows will summarize this chapter and show a few of the examples that may be formed. [Illustration: ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON PAUL DU CHAILLU RUDYARD KIPLING THOMAS HUGHES HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN JAKOB GRIMM WILHELM GRIMM] LITERATURE I. PROSE. 1. Forms of Prose Composition. A. Narration. _The Pine Tree Shillings_: IV, 192. _A Christmas Carol_: VI, 244. B. Description. _Brute Neighbors_: VII, 260. _The Alhambra_: VIII, 153. _Children's Books of the Past_: V, 101. C. Exposition. _Imitation of Christ_: VI, 134. _The Cubes of Truth_: VII, 406. _Reading History_: V, 394. D. Argument. _Poor Richard's Almanac_: VI, 407. 2. Kinds of Prose. A. Fiction. _Aladdin_: III, 288. _Tom Brown at Rugby_: V, 469. _The Adventure of the Windmills_: VII, 438. B. Essays. _Childhood_: VI, 124. _Dream Children_: VIII, 335. _The Vision of Mirza_: IX, 285. C. Orations. _The Gettysburg Address_: IX, 321. _Abraham Lincoln_: IX, 324. II. POETRY. 1. Structure of Poetry. A. Rhyme. _The Country Squire_: VI, 474. _To My Infant Son_: VI, 478. B. Meter. _The Daffodils_: VII, 1. _The Old Oaken Bucket_: VII, 11. _Bannockburn_: VII, 15. _Boat Song_: VII, 17. 2. Kinds of Poetry. A. Epics. a. Heroic Epics. _Death of Hector_: IV, 364. _Wooden Horse_: IV, 383. b. Lesser Epics. _Saint Nicholas_: II, 202. _Pied Piper of Hamelin_: III, 384. _Incident of the French Camp_: IV, 174. _Sohrab and Rustum_: VI, 173.