Narrative poetry is a lot like epic poetry where it tells a story, but that’s where the two types end their storytelling blood ties. Narrative poetry, unlike epic poetry, can tell all kinds of stories that don’t just involve fantastical stories and characters that are larger than life. Narrative poetry is free to also tell small stories that involves ordinary small characters. Other types of poetry that are part of the overall narrative poetry in storytelling are The Ballad, The Idyll, The Lay and The Verse Novel. Here is a greater explanation of the rest of these. I’ll also include the epic poetry here just to give fully give you a well-rounded idea of the five narrative types of poetry.
Ballad Poetry – This type of poem is a type of poetry that tells a story, but is often accompanied by music, hence its name. A good example poem would be Edgar Allan Poe’s Annabel Lee.
Excerpt: The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, Went envying her and me— Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea) That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
Epic Poetry – As mentioned earlier, this type of poetry tells a story, but features larger than life characters in a grand storyline. An example poem would The Odyssey by Homer.
Excerpt: “Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter of Jove, from whatsoever source you may know them.”
Idyll Poetry – A type of poetry that is written about rural life, a simpler lifestyle. It highlights nature and the characters of rural lifestyle linking strongly with nature itself. Example poem Idylls of the King, by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Excerpt: I found Him in the shining of the stars, I mark’d Him in the flowering of His fields, But in His ways with men I find Him not. I waged His wars, and now I pass and die. O me! for why is all around us here As if some lesser god had made the world, But had not force to shape it as he would, Till the High God behold it from beyond, And enter it, and make it beautiful?
Lay (Lai) Poetry – A narrative poem that centers mainly around adventure and romance. Written in octosyllabic verse (each line containing eight syllables). Example poem by Geoffrey Chaucer, The Franklin’s Tale.
Excerpt: She thanked him upon her knees bare, And home unto her husband is she fare, And told him all, as ye have hearde said; And, truste me, he was so well apaid, That it were impossible me to write. Why should I longer of this case indite? Arviragus and Dorigen his wife In sov’reign blisse ledde forth their life; Ne’er after was there anger them between; He cherished her as though she were a queen, And she was to him true for evermore; Of these two folk ye get of me no more.
Verse Novel Poetry – This type of poetry is written in a novel length, but completely in verse, as opposed to prose. There are no rules for this type of poetry in novel form, so that makes it free verse, the most popular type of poetry in our modern world. An Example book is by Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X.
Excerpt: I am unhide-able. Taller than even my father, with what Mami has always said was “a little too much body for such a young girl.” I am the baby fat that settled into D-cups and swinging hips so that the boys who called me a whale in middle school now ask me to send them pictures of myself in a thong.
The other girls call me conceited. Ho. Thot. Fast. When your body takes up more room than your voice you are always the target of well-aimed rumors, which is why I let my knuckles talk for me. Which is why I learned to shrug when my name was replaced by insults.
I’ve forced my skin just as thick as I am.
Narrative poems can avoid the use of rhymes, be a short or a long story and may use the voices of the narrator and characters of the story. One of my favorite narrative poems is Goblin Market, a masterpiece of the speculative poetry genre. This specific poem uses both a meter and a rhyming scheme to tell its narrative.
If you’re a writer, storyteller, or poet, why not try your hand at narrative poetry and see where it leads you. All three skills inspire improvement when you practice the art form. I’m sure the last time you looked in a mirror, the person looking back at you was a smiling artist.
GF Poetic Wisdom | To set sail on your ship of poetry, writing, and storytelling, is to conquer the waves of fear and doubt in an ocean of opportunities. ~ Gabriel Foster
