poetry form week 10: Narrative Poetry

Narrative Poetry: Types, History, and Use

By Gary R. Hess. Category: Poetry
 

The three main types of poetry are narrative, lyrical and dramatic. The narrative poem can be described simply as a poem with a plot. It may be short or long or simple or complex. The only part which matters is that it tells a story which is often nondramatic and holds an objective regular scheme and meter. The four main types of narrative poems are ballad, epic, idyll, and lay.

Find out more about the three types of poetry.

The Four Types of Narratives

Ballad

A poem similar to a folk tale which uses a repeated refrain. This means that every few stanzas a portion of the poem is repeated, much like a song.

Epic

A long, serious poem which tells the story of a hero. Think of stories like Odyssey or Ben-Hur.

Idyll

A poem about either an idolized country scene or about the heroes of yesteryear. This could also include the story of Odyssey, except for different reasons. An idyll speaks of someone or something in a way that it should be idolized. For example, today many stories of Ghandi or Martin Luther King, Jr. could be written about in an idyll. However, an even better example could be George Washington.

Lay

A long poem which was sung by medieval minstrels. The long poems generally were about the news of the day or historical facts they wished to be passed along throughout the countryside.

History and Use of Narratives

A narrative may be an entire novel or a simple short story. Some narratives are divided into interrelated groups like the Canterbury Tales. Some narratives are larger and made up of both prose and poetic interludes; an example of this type of narrative is The Cremation of Sam McGee.
Many narrative poems are performance pieces. They hold oral traditions in which poetry was used as a way of memorization. The meter, alliteration, and kennings helps bards better remember the stories which were used to tell of traditions, the happiness of life, and life's deepest troubles.
The epic narrative is perhaps one of the single most important parts of the narrative genre. An epic is a long narrative which contains details of heroic deeds and events significant to specific cultures or nations. The epic poem has been written for at least as long as the time of Homer--who wrote the epics Iliad and Odyssey. Today, epics are used to tell imaginative and re-imaged heroic stories.
Without narrative poetry, many of the stories we love, like Robin Hood and the story of Troy, may not exist today. History and much of what we know about ancient life, politics, and warfare would only be left to our imagination.

Read more about Narrative Poetry: Types, History, and Use by www.poemofquotes.com

sample poems for Ballad from poetrysoup:


 A  Theresa Marie Poem

 

Cloud Nine So Divine

Never knew how sweet your kisses could be
They tasted like candy-coated sugar free
As we were enraptured with innocence so real
For we were hypnotized within exquisite lovers feel
Felt like I was floating on cloud number nine
Never knew that this tastiness could be so divine
I’m enveloped in your passions of desire
Never knew I could be inflamed in heated fire
As your sugar coated kisses does travel
To the unknown chartered places of heated navel
I feel your creativeness is thus caressing me
As you fulfill our lover’s passions beyond ecstasy
Fore we’re both capsizing like a symphony of waves
Surely you can feel our unique silhouettes concave
Endearingly we float on a rose petal upon our heart
So we’ll be tasting all the sweetest desires in
rhapsodies song of pure golden chart
While we’re both enhanced together on cloud nine
Feeling, feelings of tastiness of loving so divine.

 a short ballad poem by Sally White

 i think of the days

as a ball of yarns,

although a long way to go, 

also colorful,

we have to pull it 

a little at a time,

so that we see some 

hope in a form of love...

lots of gem poets who blog and co-own poetry around the world communities, here are a few samples:

PS: PLEASE join Thursday Poets Rally Week 81 poetry prompt today, simply link your blog post 

with a poem posted in your personal blog, and  submit via inlinkz

Hyde Park Poetry

hyde park thursday poetry rally week 81: (Feb 25- March 11, 2015)

 
Palpable rhythms
http://voiceofheart-bijaylaxmi.blogspot.com/2015/01/evening-walk.html

bring forth a coke
https://bringforthacoke.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/ocher-impure-red-iron-ore/
Magaly
http://pagan-culture.blogspot.com/2014/10/i-will-sleep-skyclad-tonight.html
numerounity
http://www.numerounity.com/2015/02/enter-joker.html
Nickers and Ink
http://nickersandinkblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/of-mice-and-mien-poetic-glance-perhaps.html
picturesque words
http://bekkiespicturesquewords.blogspot.com/2014/12/finally-here.html
skylover
http://kerryoconnorpoems.blogspot.com/2015/02/discourse.html
angieinspired
https://angieinspired.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/day-6-while-i-was-sleeping/
the passionate crone
http://passionatecrone.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/wet-mornings.html
grapeling
https://grapeling.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/remorse-code/
georgeplace poetry
https://georgeplaceblog.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/is-it-a-dream

eternal spirit is eternal, overcoat wears out, all is sublime, mental, never in doubt... Don

Read more at: http://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/short/balla

i laugh you became a pro pick up the blocks around the world someone misses you it's not me!

Read more at: http://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/short/balla

We Agree On Love The time has come, for us to see. That our love was meant to be. The time has come, for us to see this through. You will see that we agree. You will see that we agree on love. Love, love, love, love.. Love, love, love.. We agree on love.. The time has come, for us to see. It's you for me, and me for you. The time has come, for us to see this through. You will see that we agree. You will see that we agree on love. Love, love, love, love.. Love, love, love.. We agree on love.. We finally see this coming true. It's you for me, and me for you. We finally see our love is coming through. You will see that we agree. You will see that we agree on love. Love, love, love, love.. Love, love, love.. We agree on love. We agree on love..... Love Song By Kim Robin Edwards

Read more at: http://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/we_agree_on_love_642793

poetry form week 9: more on free verse including cadence

Free Verse

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Poetry that is based on the irregular rhythmic CADENCE or the recurrence, with variations, of phrases, images, and syntactical patterns rather than the conventional use of METER. RHYME may or may not be present in free verse, but when it is, it is used with great freedom. In conventional VERSE the unit is the FOOT, or the line; in free verse the units are larger, sometimes being paragraphs or strophes. If the free verse unit is the line, as it is in Whitman, the line is determined by qualities of RHYTHM and thought rather than FEET or syllabic count. Such use of CADENCE as a basis for POETRY is very old. The poetry of the Bible, particularly in the King James Version, which attempts to approximate the Hebrew CADENCES, rests on CADENCE and PARALLELISM. The Psalms and The Song of Solomon are noted examples of free verse. Milton sometimes substituted rhythmically constructed VERSE paragraphs for metrically regular lines, notably in the CHORUSES of Samson Agonistes, as this example shows:

But patience is more oft the exercise
Of Saints, the trial of thir fortitude,
Making them each his own Deliver,
And Victor over all
That tyranny or fortune can inflict.

Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass was a major experiment in cadenced rather than metrical VERSIFICATION. The following lines are typical:

All truths wait in all things
They neither hasten their own delivery nor resist it,
They do not need the obstetric forceps of the surgeon.

Matthew Arnold sometimes used free verse, notably in "Dover Beach." But it was the French poets of the late nineteenth century --Rimbaud, Laforgue, Viele-Griffln, and others--who, in their revolt against the tyranny of strict French VERSIFICATION, established the Vers libre movement, from which the name free verse comes.
In the twentieth century free verse has had widespread usage by most poets, of whom Rilke, St.-John Perse, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Carl Sandburg, and William Carlos Williams are representative. Such a list indicates the great variety of subject matter, effect and TONE that is possible in free verse, and shows that it is much less a rebellion against traditional English METRICS than a modification and extension of the resources of our language.

information credit: upen.edu

some blog links who voucher for free verse all the way, here are some of those gem blogs:

 ZoralinQ-ZQ:

https://rkgaron.wordpress.com/

A B Thomas:

https://abthomas.wordpress.com/

the memories of young heart:

https://memoirsofyoungheart.wordpress.com/

Julian Javier

https://crimsoncorvus.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/the-forlorn-heart/

perfumed verses

http://urpushi.blogspot.com/2014/12/unsafe-world.html

rach: projected words poetry:

https://projectwords11.wordpress.com/category/poems/

whitewashed sepulchers

https://blueplatypus.wordpress.com/

tapping the wall

http://tappingthewall.com/

into stillness:

https://intostillness.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/resting-in-your-spirit/

between silence:

http://alakaline.blogspot.com/2014/08/rain-verses.html

Susie Clevenger:

http://confessionsofalaundrygoddess.blogspot.com/2015/01/clutching-matches.html

write in motion:

http://writeinmotion.blogspot.com/

gardens of words:

http://gardenofwords.com/2015/01/07/small-lamp-of-defiance/

inner space

http://naturepremi.blogspot.com/

poetry form week 8: free verse (January 14-January 27)

Free Verse

Definition of Free Verse How do you define Free Verse? What is the definition of Free Verse? The definition of Free Verse is as follows:   Definition of Free Verse Free Verse is a form of Poetry composed of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern. The early 20th-century poets were the first to write what they called "free verse" which allowed them to break from the formula and rigidity of traditional poetry. The poetry of Walt Whitman provides many illustrations of Free Verse including his poem "Song of Myself".

Example of Free Verse There are many examples of different types of poetry. An example of Free Verse can be found in the poetic work of Walt Whitman.   Example of Free Verse Song of Myself by Walt Whitman I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. I loaf and invite my soul, I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. Click the following link for the full version of "Song of Myself". Example of Free Verse

Forms of Poetry and Literary Terms   How do you define a couplet or a Falling Meter? And what exactly is an Iambic pentameter? We have provided  a definition of poetry and literary terms together with the meaning and examples, such as the above definition  of Free Verse. A helpful educational resource for those taking an English test or a University student  studying English and American Literature. Each definition, such as the above definition and example of Free  Verse will provide a glossary of literary terms or a dictionary with the meaning, samples, examples and  the rules of specialising in each different type of poem and poetry.

Definition of Poetry   Poetry is piece of literature written by a poet in meter or verse expressing various emotions which are  expressed by the use of variety of techniques including metaphors, similes and onomatopoeia. The emphasis  on the aesthetics of language and the use of techniques such as repetition, meter and rhyme are what are  commonly used to distinguish poetry from prose. Poems often make heavy use of imagery and word  association to quickly convey emotions. An example of Free Verse is detailed above. Structure of Poetry  The structure used in poems varies with different types of poetry and can be seen  in the above example of Free Verse. The structural elements include the line, couplet, strophe and stanza.  Poets combine the use of language and a specific structure to create imaginative and expressive work.  The structure used in some Poetry types are also used when considering the visual effect of a finished poem.  The structure of many types of poetry  result in groups of lines on the page which enhance the poem's  composition. An example of Free Verse.

Another sample of free verse: Like a skein of loose silk blown against a wall She walks by the railing of a path in Kensington Gardens, And she is dying piece-meal of a sort of emotional anemia. And round about there is a rabble Of the filthy, sturdy, unkillable infants of the very poor. They shall inherit the earth. In her is the end of breeding. Her boredom is exquisite and excessive….. will commit that indiscretion. (The Garden by Ezra Pound) Ezra Pound is also renowned for writing free verse poetry. He has created this modern free verse poem with musical quality. There are stressed and unstressed patterns but created in a very . clever way. It is not following a regular rhyme scheme but we can see alliteration in words such as                                                       “like, loose, round rabble, exquisite and excessive.”