What is narrative poetry?
Narrative poetry tells a story in verse form. The genre uses fictional devices, such as character development, plot, and scene description, with poetic formatting and language to craft a story that follows the rhythm of language. Because of this, narrative poetry is generally longer with multiple themes, characters, and/or settings. Narrative poetry is one of the oldest forms of literature, as pre-literate societies relied on oral communication to pass along stories and history. Beowulf, The Odyssey, and The Canterbury Tales are some of the most popular narrative poems and were written in verse based on song and memory.
How to Write a Narrative Poem
Choose a topic you feel strongly about. This doesn’t mean you have to pick a topic of activism or social justice. The story you choose to write should be something you want to write. Think about what you want to share with your readers. Maybe that’s a personal experience or feeling or a fictional romance full of magic and dragons. Brainstorming ideas and storylines can help if you’re unsure what to pick. Try writing down everything that comes to mind—a memory, image, or place.
Find the speaker or narrator of your poem. Who is telling your story? Is it being told through a first-person or third-person perspective? Before you start writing your poem, discover who the leading character of your story is. Perhaps it’s you, a stranger, an animal, or a legendary hero. A first-person perspective uses “I” and “me” to recall events that have happened or are happening to the character. A third-person perspective uses “she/her,” he/him,” and “they/them” to describe what the character is doing. Narrative poems can be written with any point of view or perspective; just be consistent throughout your narrative. As long as your narrator is the one telling the story, you’re golden.
Outline the beginning, middle, and end of your story. Narrative poetry is a form of storytelling verse, meaning a story must be told one way or another. Even if your narrative is of a single event, it must have a start and end. Your outline can consist of a few sentences or even bullet points—it’s there to help you flesh out your story before you write the verse. One of the main purposes of narrative poetry is to entertain. Unlike other forms of poetry, a narrative poem doesn’t drive a reader forward with feelings but with plot devices. Brainstorm different possibilities for your characters, setting, and plot. What you write down isn’t set in stone. Some writers find that outlining during or after writing helps them more than outlining while brainstorming.
Open the poem with a striking image or lyrical line. The first line of your narrative poem should immediately capture your reader’s attention. Draw them into your story by putting them in the middle of the action or painting a picture of how your leading character sees the world. For example, T. S. Eliot opens The Waste Land with the famous line “April is the cruellest month, breeding.” You’re instantly drawn into Eliot’s words as a reader, wondering why April is so cruel. There’s no set rule that a narrative poem has to start at the beginning of a story, so play around with your opening scene.
Let the details drive the narrative. Many poems rely heavily on symbolism and description, and narrative poetry is no different. Try incorporating your five senses into your poem: what can you and your characters see, smell, taste, touch, and hear? For example, in “The Fish,” Elizabeth Bishop describes a fish’s skin as “ancient wallpaper” and eyes as “tarnished tinfoil.” These descriptions help us as readers see what the narrator sees, putting us into the story.
Strike your reader’s heart with repetition. One of the many advantages of telling a story through narrative poetry is that you can convey deeper emotions and feelings with poetic devices. Repeating phrases, words, and sounds appeals to the eye and ear and evokes emotion. Try adding alliteration, assonance, and consonance to your narrative poem to keep readers engaged and stress the importance of your message. For example, in Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven,” the phrase “nothing more” is repeated as an allusion to the narrator’s deteriorating mental state. Alliteration is the repetition of beginning stressed sounds through a series of words, like “swift, slow, sweet, sour.” Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the middle of words, such as “leaping” and “deep.” Consonance is the repetition of words that share a similar sound, like “bed” and “bad.”
Add dialogue to your narrative poem. Playing with character conversations and dynamics can help you add relatability, charm, and depth to your narrative. There are no general rules for putting dialogue in poetry, but it is important to stay consistent. Choose whether you want speech to be in italics or quotation marks and stick to it. This will make it easier for your reader to follow along and stay immersed in the story. Edmund Spenser chooses to use quotation marks in The Faerie Queene to separate the narrator’s voice from the characters’: “Saying, ‘yet O thou dreaded Dame, I crave / Abide, till I have told the message, which I have.’”
End the poem with ambiguity. You and your friend could read the same poem and come across two different meanings, and that’s the beauty of poetry! Narrative poetry is no different as it can also be interpreted in multiple ways depending on the reader’s experiences and current emotions. Try ending your poem with open possibilities. Maybe the hero’s world goes black, and it’s uncertain if they’re dead or unconscious, or perhaps the sun sets to represent an end or a new beginning. Robert Frost’s narrative poem “The Road Not Taken” is famously known for having two interpretations: the speaker consciously makes a choice or fate led him down a particular path. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” also receives multiple interpretations; this prose example has been defined as a ghost story, exploration of mental illness, or combination of both.
Tips for Writing a Narrative Poem
Read narrative poetry to get a sense of style. When you’re exploring a new genre or writing style, it’s always best to do a little research. Thankfully, narrative poetry has been around for centuries, so there are plenty of poems out there! Read poems from the 15th, 17th, or even 21st century: William Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock David Ferry’s “The Soldier”
Carry a notebook with you wherever you go. Inspiration for your narrative poem can strike from anywhere at any time. Start a writing journal to jot down notes and keep all your ideas in one place. Try keeping a small notebook and pen in your bag or making a folder for “poem ideas” in your phone’s notes app. Take notes on whatever inspires you throughout the day. Maybe that’s a sunset, graffiti, or the smell of rain on pavement. Your notes don’t have to be detailed. Try jotting down a single word or even doodling an image—whatever will jog your memory later.
Write the poem as prose first. If you're stuck on rhyme scheme, meter, and line breaks, try getting your story out without the poetic logistics. Record yourself telling your story out loud or write it as a short story. This can help you find the narrative of your piece first, making it easier to convert everything to stanzas and lines later on. Prose generally refers to literature that's written in a straightforward manner that follows typical grammatical guidelines. Basically, anything that isn’t written in verse is considered prose, such as short stories, essays, and books.
Let yourself write. It can be easy to second guess your work and wonder if you’ll ever be good enough, but you can overcome writer’s block and imposter syndrome. The cure? Writing! Push those worries and fears aside by immersing yourself in your story. Remember, there’s no right or wrong way to write poetry. Instead of sticking to a certain format or style right away, just let the words flow. Even the most famous poets will tell you that their best work didn’t happen overnight. It takes work and revision, but the best thing you can do is simply write.
Read your poem out loud. Narrative poetry is a lyrical version of prose with verses, rhymes, and meter. If you’re not sure what to write next, go back and read aloud what you have written. Not only will this help get those creative wheels turning, but it’ll also help you find flaws in the rhythm and sound.
Take a break from the poem if you’re stuck. Sometimes, words don’t come to you, and that’s okay! Give yourself an hour break or set the poem aside for a day or two. Inspiration and new ideas will strike again in no time. Letting a poem sit for a while and even working on something else can allow you to return to it with a fresh perspective. Try going for a walk, listening to music, or reading on your break to get those creative wheels turning.
Types of Narrative Poetry
EpicEpics are a form of long narrative poetry where a heroic protagonist embarks on a journey or quest. These poems are typically book-length and offer a series of themes, settings, characters, and dialogue. Although the wording is lyrical, the storytelling follows prose conventions. Check out these epic narrative poems: Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene John Milton’s Paradise Lost
Ballad Ballads are typically narratives passed down or transcribed from songs. Their structure is built with quatrains that alternate between four-stress and three-stress lines. They often recount tragic, comedic, or heroic tales that can easily be paired with song. Here are some famous examples of ballads: John Keats’ “La Belle Dame sans Merci” Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee” Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner A quatrain is a four-lined stanza that has a rhyming scheme.
Arthurian RomanceArthurian romances are a subgenre of narrative poetry that centers around the legends of King Arthur. These poems often include the Knights of the Round Table, Merlin, and/or a quest for the holy grail. Along with having lyrical meters and verse, Arthurian romances typically contain themes of chivalry, virtue, religion, and courtly love. Consider reading these narrative Arthurian poems: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Marie de France’s “Lanval” Alfred Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott” In poetry, a meter refers to the rhythmical pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Verse refers to poetry as a whole or a single line of poetry.
Verse Novel Verse novels are a hybrid form of narrative poetry that shares stylistic properties with traditional novels. Like other narrative poetry subgenres, a verse novel combines prose and poetic conventions; however, it's a subgenre of narrative poetry that doesn’t haven’t specific themes or literary devices outside of structural choices. Verse novels are strictly composed of verse and the length of a book. The characters, points of view, chapters, and dialogue are written in a prose-like manner but confined to a stanza or free verse. Here are some verse novel examples: Elizabeth Barret Browning’s Aurora Leigh Homer’s The Iliad Derek Walcott’s Omeros A stanza is a group of lines separated from others in a poem. Free verse is a structural poetic style where non-rhyming lines follow the natural rhythms of speech.
Narrative Poem Prompts
Shadows Take a look at your shadow. Observe how it moves when you move. What comes to mind when you study it? Have you ever wondered what happens to a shadow when it’s not there? Consider writing a narrative poem about a fearful shadow world from the perspective of a shadow.
Fun Fact Turn a statistic or random bit of information into a narrative poetry idea by diving deep into its meaning. Perhaps you write of a cat with nine lives or about the tallest known man.
Look Around Quickly scan where you are right now. Is there a person, place, or thing that stands out to you? What does the air smell like? Is it light or dark? Pull inspiration from wherever you are by asking yourself, “What if?” in regards to anything in the room. For example, you may ask yourself, “What if the TV suddenly turned on to an opera station?” or “What if it was raining gumdrops?”
Retelling Think about your favorite story or legend. If you could, is there anything in it you would change? Well, now’s your chance! Write a narrative poem inspired by a beloved fairy tale, book, movie, or legend.
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