What Is Narrative Poetry Definition and Examples

Narrative poetry tells stories through verse. Like a novel or a short story, a narrative poem has plot, characters, and setting. Using a range of poetic techniques such as rhyme and meter, narrative poetry presents a series of events, often including action and dialogue. In most cases, narrative poems have only one speaker—the narrator—who relates the entire story from beginning to end. For example, Edgar Allan Poes The Raven is narrated by a grieving man who, over the course of 18 stanzas, describes his mysterious confrontation with a raven and his descent into despair. Key Takeaways: Narrative Poetry Narrative poetry presents a series of events through action and dialogue.Most narrative poems feature a single speaker: the narrator.Traditional forms of narrative poetry include epics, ballads, and Arthurian romances. Origins of Narrative Poetry The earliest poetry was not written but spoken, recited, chanted, or sung. Poetic devices like rhythm, rhyme, and repetition made stories easier to memorize so they could be transported long distances and handed down through generations. Narrative poetry evolved from this oral tradition. In nearly every part of the world, narrative poetry established a foundation for other literary forms. For example, among the highest achievements of ancient Greece are The Iliad and  The Odyssey, which have inspired artists and writers for more than 2,000 years. Narrative poetry became an enduring literary tradition throughout the Western world. Composed in Old French, Chansons de geste (songs of deeds) stimulated literary activity in medieval Europe. The German saga now known as the Nibelungenlied lives on in Richard Wagners lavish opera series, The Ring of the Nibelung (Der Ring des Nibelungen). The Anglo Saxon narrative Beowulf has inspired modern-day books, movies, operas, and even computer games. In the East, India produced two monumental Sanskrit narratives. The Mahabharata is the worlds longest poem with over 100,000 couplets. The timeless Ramayana spreads Indian culture and ideas across Asia, influencing literature, performance, and architecture. Identifying Narrative Poetry Narrative is one of three major categories of poetry (the other two being dramatic and lyric), and each type of poetry has distinct characteristics and functions. While lyric poems emphasize self-expression, narrative poems emphasize plot. Dramatic poetry, like Shakespeares blank verse plays, is an extended stage production, usually with many different speakers. However, the distinction between genres may blur as poets weave lyrical language into narrative poems. Similarly, a narrative poem might resemble dramatic poetry when the poet incorporates more than one narrator. Therefore, the defining feature of narrative poetry is the narrative arc. From the epic tales of ancient Greece to 21st-century verse novels, the narrator moves through a chronology of events from challenge and conflict to a final resolution. Types of Narrative Poems Ancient and medieval narrative poems were most commonly epics. Written in a grandiose style, these epic narrative poems retold legends of virtuous heroes and powerful gods. Other traditional forms include Arthurian romances about knights and chivalry and ballads about love, heartbreak, and dramatic events. However, narrative poetry is an ever-evolving art, and there are countless other ways to tell stories through verse. The following examples illustrate several different approaches to narrative poetry. Example #1: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Song of Hiawatha" On  the  Mountains  of  the  Prairie,On  the  great  Red  Pipe-stone  Quarry,Gitche  Manito,  the  mighty,He  the  Master  of  Life,  descending,On  the  red  crags  of  the  quarryStood  erect,  and  called  the  nations,Called  the  tribes  of  men  together. The Song of Hiawatha by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  (1807–1882) narrates Native American legends in metrical verse that mimics the Finnish national epic, The Kalevala. In turn, The Kalevala echoes early narratives such as The Iliad, Beowulf, and the Nibelungenlied.   Longfellows long poem has all the elements of classical epic poetry: a noble hero, a doomed love, gods, magic, and folklore. Despite its sentimentality and cultural stereotypes, The Song of Hiawatha suggests the haunting rhythms of Native American chants and establishes a uniquely American mythology. Example #2: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Idylls of the King" â€Å"I fain would follow love, if that could be;I needs must follow death, who calls for me;Call and I follow, I follow! let me die.† An idyll is a narrative form that originated in ancient Greece, but this idyll is an Arthurian romance based on British legends. In a series of twelve blank verse poems, Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) tells the story of King Arthur, his knights, and his tragic love for Guinevere. The book-length work is drawn from medieval writings by Sir Thomas Malory. By writing about chivalry and courtly love, Tennyson allegorized behaviors and attitudes he saw in his own Victorian society. Idylls of the King elevates narrative poetry from story-telling to social commentary. Example #3:  Edna St. Vincent Millay, "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver" â€Å"Son,† said my mother,  When I was knee-high,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"You’ve need of clothes to cover you,  And not a rag have I.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"There’s nothing in the house  To make a boy breeches,Nor shears to cut a cloth with  Nor thread to take stitches. The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver tells the story of a mothers unconditional love. By the end of the poem, she dies weaving her child magical clothes from her harp. The mothers dialog is quoted by her son, who placidly accepts her sacrifice. American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) cast the story as a ballad, a form that evolved from traditional folk music. The iambic meter and a predictable rhyme scheme of the poem create a sing-song rhythm that suggests child-like innocence. Famously recited by country musician Johnny Cash, The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver is both sentimental and disturbing. The narrative poem can be understood as a simple story about poverty or a complex commentary on the sacrifices women make to clothe men in the garbs of royalty. In 1923, Edna St. Vincent Millay won a Pulitzer Prize for her poetry collection of the same title. Story song ballads became an important part of the American folk song tradition of the 1960s. Popular examples include Bob Dylans Ballad of a Thin Man and Pete Seegers Waist Deep in the Big Muddy. Example #4: Anne Carson, "Autobiography of Red"   Ã¢â‚¬Å"†¦Small, red, and upright he waited,gripping his new bookbag tightin one hand and touching a lucky penny inside his coat pocket with the other,while the first snows of winterfloated down on his eyelashes and covered the branches around him and silencedall trace of the world.† Canadian poet and translator Anne Carson (b. 1950) loosely based Autobiography of Red on an ancient Greek myth about a heros battle with a red-winged monster. Writing in free verse, Carson recreated the monster as a moody boy who battles modern-day problems related to love and sexual identity. Carsons book-length work belongs to a genre-jumping category known as the verse novel. It shifts between description and dialogue and from poetry to prose as the story moves through layers of meaning. Unlike long verse narratives from antiquity, novels in verse do not adhere to established forms. Russian author Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) used a complex rhyme scheme and an unconventional meter for his verse novel, Eugene Onegin, and English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) composed Aurora Leigh in blank verse. Also writing in blank verse, Robert Browning (1812–1889) composed his novel-length The Ring and the Book from a series of monologues spoken by different narrators. Vivid language and simple stories have made book-length narrative poetry a popular trend in young adult publishing. Jacqueline Woodsons National Book Award-winning Brown Girl Dreaming describes her childhood as an African American growing up in the American South. Other best selling verse novels include The Crossover by Kwame Alexander and the Crank trilogy by Ellen Hopkins. Sources Addison, Catherine. The Verse Novel as Genre: Contradiction or Hybrid? Style. Vol. 43, No. 4 Winter 2009, pp. 539-562. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/style.43.4.539Carson, Anne. Autobiography of Red.  Random House, Vintage Contemporaries. March 2013.Clark, Kevin. Time, Story, and Lyric in Contemporary Poetry. The Georgia Review. 5 March 2014. https://thegeorgiareview.com/spring-2014/time-story-and-lyric-in-contemporary-poetry-on-the-contemporary-narrative-poem-critical-crosscurrents-edited-by-steven-p-schneider-patricia-smiths-shoulda-been-jimi-savannah-robert-wr/Longfellow, Henry W. The Song of Hiawatha. Maine Historical Society. http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid62Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. Idylls of the King. The Camelot Project.  University of Rochester. https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/publication/idylls-of-the-king-1859-1885