Verse Novels

[ficklemuses]

I've been working on a verse novel lately, and wanted to seek some thoughts from others who have worked in the genre or who like reading it.

To start with, can anyone recommend any good verse novels? Two I like are Kim Addonizio's "Jimmy and Rita" and Anne Carson's "Autobiography of Red."

One aspect I've been pondering is the structure of verse novels--particulary whether the novel is the best model for a book-length narrative poem series. Another possible model would be the tv series--i.e. each poem would be like an episode, each section a season, and the book the full series.

Another question I've been thinking about is how verse novels might be a way to popularize poetry, given the relative popularity of novels. But how can we make the crossover, when verse novels are generally marketed & shelved as poetry?

[wordsheff]

Jesus...get ready to set aside a big chunk of your life to do that!

I only know PORTIONS of SOME faulkner novels took on iambic pentameter...

you tryin to enter the milton/dante pantheon???

I wish you luck, and honestly those are the only "novels" i know of in verse, tho they're more properly called epics...like Byron's Childe Harold and Don Juan...i really don't know of novels of verse...really tho, good luck!

I admire the ambition immensely!

WS

[aspier]

I've been working on a verse novel lately, and wanted to seek some thoughts from others who have worked in the genre or who like reading it.

To start with, can anyone recommend any good verse novels? Two I like are Kim Addonizio's "Jimmy and Rita" and Anne Carson's "Autobiography of Red."

One aspect I've been pondering is the structure of verse novels--particulary whether the novel is the best model for a book-length narrative poem series. Another possible model would be the tv series--i.e. each poem would be like an episode, each section a season, and the book the full series.

Another question I've been thinking about is how verse novels might be a way to popularize poetry, given the relative popularity of novels. But how can we make the crossover, when verse novels are generally marketed & shelved as poetry?


Been done before. Switch to Buckovski ... he's got some 'novel' ideas. No?

[AnneMarble]

I've been working on a verse novel lately, and wanted to seek some thoughts from others who have worked in the genre or who like reading it.
The only verse novels I've read are young adult novels in verse -- for example, Sonya Sones, Ellen Hopkins, and Eireann Corrigan. There are others, but I can't remember the authors names right now. I have read a theory that for reluctant readers, free verse novels are sometimes more attractive because, well, there aren't as many words on the page. :D And these books do tend to be short and very much to the point.

Another question I've been thinking about is how verse novels might be a way to popularize poetry, given the relative popularity of novels. But how can we make the crossover, when verse novels are generally marketed & shelved as poetry?
I did end up deciding to read poetry after getting into some YA verse novels. However, I don't know if most readers are like that. Young adult readers are said to be more willing to read experimental forms, such as novels in verse or even second person present tense.

I'm not sure if I'd want to read an adult novel in free verse, however. The ones I've seen/heard of are long with small type. :scared: I'm all for an esoteric form if I am interested in the story. ("Cool, another book about a miserably depressed teen!" :D) But I wouldn't be interested in, say, a verse novel about a professor going through a mid-life crisis.

[ficklemuses]

Been done before. Switch to Buckovski ... he's got some 'novel' ideas. No?

What's been done before? Verse novels? That's kinda like saying poetry's been done before, no?

[RTH]

I don't know about writing a whole novel in verse, but I've been toying with verse to enhance my verbage in my latest novel. I've found that by restricting the meter of certain passages, I can get a lot more creative/beautiful imagery coming out. Basically I compose the passages as poems, then break apart the line structure and put the words into a prose format for the final paragraph. I try to vary the metric structure so that it's not obviously verse -- so that the reader wouldn't realize the meter consciously, but would get taken up by the flow.

It's been a great teaching tool and has helped the prose a lot. Is it a "verse novel?" Sort of. Say %25-%50 verse...

[ficklemuses]

I did end up deciding to read poetry after getting into some YA verse novels.

It's good to know that happens at least some of the time.


I'm all for an esoteric form if I am interested in the story. ("Cool, another book about a miserably depressed teen!" :D) But I wouldn't be interested in, say, a verse novel about a professor going through a mid-life crisis.

I think that can be a problem with marketing poetry in general. Though I imagine the strict genre divisions can be limiting for fiction writers, the virtual absence of genres in poetry (at least where books are concerned) makes it rather harder for readers to find poets who write in subjects they'd want to read.

[aspier]

What's been done before? Verse novels? That's kinda like saying poetry's been done before, no?

No, its not the same but i see your point ... I had rather meant to have it over 'form' and the 'time range' of it. Don't write 'old' in the 'new' time etc. such, see? A lot of inverted comma's here too, no? That's been done before too as well, no? Ah, I don't know. For short - there's something wrong with the 'sonnests' is basically all I am saying.

[Bret]

Jimmy and Rita was one of the toughest, most gripping reads of my life. If you can even come close...well, break a leg! Kim Addonizio is a ****ing goddess.

The only thing I can think of is Galway Kinnell's Book of Nightmares though its more of a book length poem. Luck!

Making a episodic poem story connect with popular culture? I'm afraid we'll need Beyonce', Anna Nicole Smith, Justin Timberlake, and Dave Navarro to hold one up to the camera and say "Hey! These things are really cool! If you don't read one today, you are an ***."

[ddgryphon]

Jimmy and Rita was one of the toughest, most gripping reads of my life. If you can even come close...well, break a leg! Kim Addonizio is a ****ing goddess.

The only thing I can think of is Galway Kinnell's Book of Nightmares though its more of a book length poem. Luck!

Making a episodic poem story connect with popular culture? I'm afraid we'll need Beyonce', Anna Nicole Smith, Justin Timberlake, and Dave Navarro to hold one up to the camera and say "Hey! These things are really cool! If you don't read one today, you are an ***."

As ti has been said before: "'Tis pity 'tis true, 'tis true 'tis pity"

[poetinahat]

Great thread topic, ficklemuses. It's something I'd been thinking about as a long-range project - but not necessarily in strict meter.

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aspier, I didn't understand your last post. Can you clarify, simply? Do you mean that poets should never use old forms today? (I disagree, with respect.)

And what's a sonnest -- is this just a typo?