Narrative Poetry

Narrative Poetry


Poems can essentially be divided into two types: Lyric and narrative. The most obvious difference between the two is that narrative poems tell a story and lyric poems don’t. A good poet is comfortable with each, so this week we’ll talk about narrative poetry.
Narrative poems were in decline a years back but they are making a comeback now, due principally, I believe, to the work of the southern poets who never abandoned the form; the south is a story-telling region, so it only makes sense that the poetry of the region should also tell stories.

Elements of Narrative Poetry

Michael J. Bugeja offers six elements that he says are found in all narrative poetry:

Topic: All narratives contain a beginning, middle and an end. A story starts, builds and resolves. There’s a definite movement through time, a definite protagonist moving toward a destiny. If someone in your poem is struggling to accomplish something, you’ve probably got a narrative.

Theme: All stories have meaning, we know that. A narrative poem, then, while it is telling a story, implies the meaning of that story. Events do not simply happen; they are carefully chosen and constructed to convey a definite idea.

Voice: Who is telling the story? The character, the poet, an onlooker? Will you use the first or third person? If you’re using third person, will the narrator be someone involved in the action or a dispassionate story-teller? However, you choose to do it, all narrative poems will have a narrator.

Viewpoint: This is an extension of voice. As we know, everyone is the hero of his own story, so who you choose as the narrator will greatly influence how the narrative proceeds, what it ultimately means. A poker game described from the point of view of the loser is an entirely different game than if the winner is telling us about it. If you’re using a storyteller, he will tell the tale through some character’s perspective, so a definite viewpoint is always present.

Moment: the story takes place in time, as does the poem. But does the poem take place during the same time as the story? Ted Berrigan was a genius at creating the current moment in his poems; he made you feel as if he were writing them down at the exact moment they were happening. Other poets prefer to look back on events long after they have happened. Frank O’Hara’s “The Day Billy Holiday Died” does not try to recreate the day as if it were today; instead he is looking back into the past. Obviously, time creates distance. How closely do you want to be to the events? That will determine what period of time you choose.

Ending: you’ve got to close out the poem, send a signal that it is over. Basically, there are two ways you can do that. You can use an open ending or a closed one.
Open: the open ending implies the resolution. It says things do not end. Perhaps they close but their effects linger on, their emotional impact hangs in the air long after the event itself has ended. Think of a love affair; it ends but the effects are still present long afterward.
Closed: A closed ending signals a final outcome. Questions are answered, things are resolved. Whatever the topic was, it is over now.
Which ending should you use? That one that it most organic for your materials, of course.
Remember, every poem has an organic form it wants to be in. Your job is to discover it and use it. How? Mostly, by getting out of the way, lightening up your control and enforced direction and letting the poem happen.
Next time, we'll talk about lyric poems.