The Three Directions of Poetry Options

[Tinker]

The Three Directions of Poetry

Poetry can be broken down into three main directions, lyrical, narrative and dramatic. "Traditionally, the lyric expressed personal emotion, the narrative propelled characters through a plot, the dramatic presented an enactment." New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Although all have their roots in music, all three were originally sung and chanted. However, the musical element has always been secondary to the narrative and the dramatic while lyrical poetry is often still sung. "Lyrical poetry retains most prominently the elements which date back to its origins in musical expression—singing, chanting and repetition with musical accompaniment." NPOPP.

Lewis Turco's Book of Forms suggests that it is a matter of voice. Lyrical poetry is the poet speaking to him or herself or nobody, narrative is the poet speaking to an audience and dramatic verse is the poet creating a character and speaking through that character to another.

Lyrical Poetry

The vast majority of poems written are "lyrical poetry", written in the first person as an emotional or subjective (emphasizing the personal or individual) response to an experience. But, even narrative or dramatic poetry can sometimes be categorized as also lyrical as in the case of the ballad, a lyrical narrative.

Appropriately the name "lyrical" originates from "lyre" (a musical instrument). Most poetry began by being sung or chanted around campfires, in Greek theatre or later by the troubadours, but lyrical poetry took a turn in the 15^th and 16^th centuries when it began to be composed to be read from the written word and it took on a whole new genre.

The musical qualities of lyrical poetry do not mean that the poetry is written always to be sung, nor does it mean that the poetry possesses musical characteristics as harmony, pitch, syncopation, counterpoint, and other structural forms of a tonal, musical line or sequence ( although those qualities can be present). However it does mean the poetry "employs specific themes, meters, attitudes, images and myths". NPOPP

Although the term "lyrical poetry" is too general to specifically define, its qualities can be highlighted. Here is an attempt to describe lyrical poetry by renown poets and with these descriptions in mind, lyrical poetry would probably be best written as a combination of some or all of the following:

Lyrical poetry is:

1. "brief". (Poe)
2. "one, the parts mutually support and explain each other, all in their proportion harmonizing with, and supporting the purpose and known influence of metrical arrangement." (Coleridge)
3. the "spontaneous over flow of powerful feelings". (Wordsworth)
4. "an intensely subjective and personal expression" (Coleridge)
5. an "inverted action of mind upon will" (Schopenhauer).
6. "the utterance that is overheard" (Mill)
7. " a short poem expressing the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker. Often written in first person and often with song like immediacy and emotional force". Donald Hall

The characteristics of lyrical poetry focus on an image or an object, the meaning of a concept, an experience or event, a talent or encounter. It is often a meditation.

Winter (1595)------------- When icicles hang by the wall,----------------------- And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And Tome bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail, When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul, Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-who; Tu-whit, tu-who—a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. When all aloud the wind doth blow, And coughing drowns the parson's saw, And birds sit brooding in the snow, And Marian's nose looks red and raw, When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-who; Tu-whit, tu-who—a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. ---William Shakespeare (1554-1616)

Hope is the thing with feathers (1862} Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I've heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me. --- Emily Dickinson 1830-1886 note: #s differ depending on the collection. T.H. Johnson #254 / R.W. Franklin #314

Narrative

A narrative simply tells a story and is most often found in epic form. It is often objective, distanced from the subject and usually written in the third person as an observer. It describes an event in time and place as it unfolds and is "rooted in local intention" or takes a particular point of view of the event. It often will dramatize the crisis or climax and can be narrative, dramatic and lyrical in presentation, such as the ballad. The story telling can be fact or fiction and is presented in verse to separate from other types of literature.

Lewis Turco in his Book of Forms says it is a matter of voice. Verse forms compatible as narratives are the epics, ballads, Blank Verse, and the French Pastorale, and the Lai or Lay family of forms.

In the Art and Craft of Poetry, Michael Bugeja tells us there are six elements to narrative poetry. Here is my shorter version of Bugeja's concept.

All narratives should have:

1. Topic: the subject must have a beginning, middle and end which naturally creates a sequence of events and provides a sense of passage of time. And something has to happen in that passage of time, there is action in a narrative.
2. Theme: "an undercurrent of meaning runs through a narrative" Bujeia. The story is told in a sequence which logically builds to a conclusion. (the conclusion is fore told by the illustration of events)
3. Voice: someone has to tell the story. If it is told by a narrator, the story is told as coming from I or we (not the poet), if the theme is happy the narrator must be happy, if angry the narrator must be angry….etc. If the story is told by a storyteller, the story is told entirely in the third person. The tones in the voice of the storyteller remain detached, the tone of voice connected to the theme belongs to the characters in the story.
4. Viewpoint: Every story can be told from a different viewpoint. If the poem will tell the story from the viewpoint of the poet, a narrator should be the voice. If the poem will tell the story from a viewpoint different from the poet's the voice should be one of a storyteller. Use whichever will give the best impact.
5. Moment: This does not imply the moment in time itself (winter, time of chivalry, September 11, last night), nor past tense versus present tense but, "when the reader is allowed to enter the story". (1.) immediately with the experience fresh and emotional as if we were there, here the narrator can only describe the events as they happen without comment. (2.) relatively close to the event giving perspective to the meaning of the details and scenes. In this moment the narrator describes events from the character's point of view and provides his/her own comments. And (3.) much later, removed from the event when it happened, where our perspective is more important than the details. Therefore the narrator or storyteller comments on the events putting them in perspective. (you really have to read the book)
6. Ending: either open where the conclusion is not explained but simply illustrated or closed with the conclusion wrapping up the loose ends.

JOHN MAYNARD by: Horatio Alger (1832-1899) A Ballad 'TWAS on Lake Erie's broad expanse One bright midsummer day, The gallant steamer Ocean Queen Swept proudly on her way. Bright faces clustered on the deck, Or, leaning o'er the side, Watched carelessly the feathery foam That flecked the rippling tide. Ah, who beneath that cloudless sky, That smiling bends serene, Could dream that danger awful, vast, Impended o'er the scene,-- Could dream that ere an hour had sped Would sink beneath the lake's blue waves, Blackened with fire and smoke? A seaman sought the captain's side, A moment whispered low; The captain's swarthy face grew pale; He hurried down below. Alas, too late! Though quick, and sharp, And clear his orders came, No human efforts could avail To quench the insidious flame. The bad news quickly reached the deck, It sped from lip to lip, And ghastly Faces everywhere Looked from the doomed ship. "Is there no hope--no chance of life?" A hundred lips implore, "But one," the captain made reply, "To run the ship on shore."

A sailor, whose heroic soul That hour should yet reveal, By name John Maynard, eastern-born, Stood calmly at the wheel. "Head her south-east!" the captain shouts, Above the smothered roar,-- "Head her south-east without delay! Make for the nearest shore!" No terror pales the helmsman's cheek, Or clouds his dauntless eye, As, in a sailor's measured tone, His voice responds, "Ay! ay!" Three hundred souls, the steamer's freight, Crowd forward wild with fear, While at the stern the dreaded flames Above the deck appear. John Maynard watched the nearing flames, But still with steady hand He grasped the wheel, and steadfastly He steered the ship to land. "John Maynard, can you still hold out?" He heard the captain cry; A voice from out the stifling smoke Faintly responds, "Ay! ay!" But half a mile! a hundred hands Stretch eagerly to shore. But half a mile! That distance sped Peril shall all be o'er. But half a mile! Yet stay, the flames No longer slowly creep, But gather round that helmsman bold, With fierce, impetuous sweep.

"John Maynard!" with an anxious voice The captain cries once more, "Stand by the wheel five minutes yet, And we shall reach the shore." Through flame and smoke that dauntless heart Responded firmly still, Unawed, though face to face with death,-- "With God's good help I will!" The flames approach with giant strides, They scorch his hand and brow; One arm, disabled, seeks his side, Ah! he is conquered now! But no, his teeth are firmly set, He crushes down his pain, His knee upon the stanchion pressed, He guides the ship again. One moment yet! one moment yet! Brave heart, thy task is o'er, The pebbles grate beneath the keel. The steamer touches shore. Three hundred grateful voice rise In praise to God that he Hath saved them from the fearful fire, And from the engulphing sea. But where is he, that helmsman bold? The captain saw him reel,-- His nerveless hands released their task, He sank beside the wheel. The wave received his lifeless corpse, Blackened with smoke and fire. God rest him! Never hero had A nobler funeral pyre! "John Maynard" is reprinted from Grand'ther Baldwin's Thanksgiving. Horatio Alger. Boston: Loring, 1875.

Dramatic poetry speaks through a character. Although it too, got its beginnings from music and chant, just as the lyrical and narrative verse did, dramatic poetry characterizes the song or words. The dramatic poem, like the other two comes in all styles, shapes and sizes and can at the same time be dramatic, lyrical and or narrative. How is that for mucking up the definition?

The primary thing to remember is the dramatic poem characterizes. The poem is told through one or more characters voice, perspective and language. It is the voice of the poet speaking through the parameters of one or more characters developed by the poet. Personality, motive and viewpoint are the focus. The poem is written though dialogue. The forms are those of drama itself, tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy, the monologue, dialogue, soliloquy.

Clown Song from Act V Scene I Twelfth Night

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man's estate, L5
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gates,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain; L10
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
With toss-pots still had drunken heads, L15
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day. L20
---William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

This is the final monologue of the play; the clown addresses the audience.