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What defines a narrative poem?
A narrative poem is a longer form of poetry that tells an entire story, with a beginning, middle, and end. Narrative poems contain all of the elements of a fully developed story, including characters, plot, conflict, and resolution.
Narrative poems are distinguished from narrative prose, such as a short story or a novel because they are written in verse and retain poetic devices and characteristics like meter and rhyme. Though some narrative poems may be written in blank verse (that is, in iambic pentameter but with no rhyme), most narrative poetry does retain a formal rhyme scheme such as ABCB, with the second and fourth lines rhyming.
 There are three basic types of Narrative Poetry
Narrative poems vary in style and have changed over the ages as both language and literary trends have evolved. Some were composed with the intention of being sung and danced to, while others are written to record human history.
Epics
Epic poems were composed by ancient Greek poets like Homer and were intended to be recited rather than read. Epics are written in a grandiose style, and tell stories of historical events or legends of cultural importance. One example of an epic poem passing down history is Homer’s The Iliad, which contains a long passage called the Catalogue of Ships. This chapter lists in great detail, and in poetic verse, the contingents of the Achaean army that sailed to Troy. In a time before written language, this type of detail in a narrative poem worked to pass on historical events to the next generation.
Ballads
Ballads derive from the French “chanson ballade,” which were poems set to music and intended for dancing. Because of its strong musical background, ballads are associated with a specific meter: Ballads are typically written with alternating lines of iambic tetrameter (dah-DUM dah-DUM dah-DUM dah-DUM) and iambic trimeter (da DUM da DUM da DUM), with every second and fourth line rhyming. They were most popular in Ireland and Britain starting in the Middle Ages but also gained popularity around Europe and on other continents. Ballads may be relatively short narrative poems, compared to other types of narrative poetry.
Arthurian Romances
Arthurian romances derive from twelfth-century France. They are any narrative poetry that tells stories of romance and adventure within the Arthurian court. King Arthur was an English ruler in the fifth and sixth centuries, best known for fighting off the Saxon invasions. According to some scholars, however, Arthur never existed but was instead a fictional character. Historical status aside, King Arthur and his knights are major figures in English and French folklore. Arthurian literature was hugely popular during the Middle Ages and had a resurgence of popularity in the eighteenth century. Different stories focus on Arthur and his wife Guinevere, on the Knights of the Round Table and the search for the Holy Grail, or on any number of side characters associated with the Arthurian court.
Here are some classic examples of Narrative Poetry:
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
One of Poe’s most famous poems is a narrative poem that begins with a man hearing a knock on his door at night. Over the course of 18 stanzas, the narrator, who we learn is mourning the loss of his lover Lenore, descends into madness.
The Ballad of Reading Gaol, by Oscar Wilde
This 1897 poem is an example of a narrative ballad. Oscar Wilde wrote the poem after his release from Reading Gaol, where he had been incarcerated. The ballad tells the story of an execution that Wilde had witnessed in jail a year earlier when a prisoner was sentenced to hanging for killing his wife.
The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service
This 1907 poem tells the story of Sam McGee, who freezes to death in the Yukon.
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Poetry: March 02, 2022 Issue [#11225]
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