Many of the posts here, and much of the discussion, revolves around one aspect or another of ‘story’. However, the modern understanding of ‘story’ seems to be based mainly in the world of prose. This is a relatively recent evolution in the history of storytelling (it could be argued that Western fictional narrative, and its more ‘informal’ language, grew out of the ‘histories’ – and only became popular when books first became widely available in the fifteenth century).
If we go back to the first storytellers, while they may not have originally thought of themselves as poets, that is what they were. In order to remember extremely long tales, certain formulations, certain rhythms were used to aid memory.
The oldest known version of the “Epic of Gilgamesh” was originally five independent Sumerian poems that date from as early as the Third Dynasty of Ur (2150-2000 BC). Four of the poems were used as the source material for the Akkadian version. This first, “Old Babylonian”, version of the epic dates from the 18th century BC and is titled “Shūtur eli sharrī” from the opening lines “Surpassing All Other Kings”.
Modern West African griots keep alive a centuries-old tradition that the storytellers of Ancient Greece would have recognised immediately. In the 1930s Milman Parry and Albert Lord argued (in what became known as the Parry/Lord thesis) that the structure of the Homeric epic is due to it being a written representation of an oral composition (although much of their original work was specifically related to Serbian oral epic poetry). The thesis was developed by Lord (for example in “The Singer of Tales” where he discusses oral tradition and its relation to literary composition, using Homeric and medieval epics as examples).
With the transition from oral to literary, the written form of epic poetry continued to be the main vehicle for storytelling through the 12th Century (Chanson de Roland – Old French), the 13th Century (Parzival – Middle High German), the 14th Century (Divina Commedia – Italian), the 15th Century (Morte Arthure – Middle English) and it is easy to see the direct links between these examples and some strands of the modern fantasy novel.
Everyone who writes stories, or who tells stories, is part of an unbroken chain that links us through the medieval classics and back to those ancient firesides and the first tales of epic heroes.
While modern examples of the epic poem are relatively few on the ground, they are still there. A perfect example is Derek Walcott’s “Omeros” from 1990, which draws on many of the traditions of the Homeric epic (and is thought, by many, to be the Nobel laureate’s best work).
The Classical Greeks (for example Aristotle in “Poetics”) describe three genres of poetry; epic, comic and tragic. Later, aestheticians went further and defined three major genres; epic poetry, lyric poetry and dramatic poetry (with comedy and tragedy being sub-genres of dramatic poetry). This breadth of genre gives plenty of scope for storytelling. In fact, over the past two years, much of my poetry has been a very specific genre, science fiction. For those of you who may be interested, check out the Science Fiction Poetry Association.
Many children’s most loved poems are ‘story poems’. (In this article I’m using the term ‘story poem’ to emphasise my point, it is definitely not an literary term…) I remember how famous Pam Ayres was when I was young; and how, on Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart’s ‘Junior Choice’ radio show, Stanley Holloway’s recitation of Marriot Edgar’s “Albert and the Lion” was a favourite in our house; as was Edgar’s “The Battle of Hastings” with the perfect last verse:
“Then after the battle were over,
They found ‘arold so stately and grand,
Sitting there with his eye full of arrow,
On ‘is ‘orse with ‘is ‘awk on ‘is ‘and.”
As a trainee teacher in the 1980s, my most memorable lesson with one class of 10-11 year olds was the reading of a comic poem (by Pam Ayers I think) and then encouraging them all that anyone can write a poem (having to read mine alongside theirs to prove it!) We ended up with a whole booklet full of poems, all entitled “The Day The School Fell Down”.
As I’ve mentioned; when I am not writing short stories or working on the latest draft of my novel, I write poetry. While some of my poems may be abstract, others may be attempts to evoke a particular feeling; but some are pure storytelling. I can’t tell you why a particular story works better in poetry form, but I do know that some just do. Story poems do not have to be epic in length; as with prose fiction, story poems can range from the equivalent of flash fiction right up to the doorstops of the modern-day fantasy epic. The form of the poem can also vary; I have written story poems that are unrhymed, a series of linked sonnets; whatever seemed to fit.
And so, to finish, I would like to suggest that, when looking for the perfect vehicle for a story that has sprung to mind, that you consider poetry as one avenue.
Do you read/write poems for their ‘story value’? Or do you get something ‘different’ out of poetry?
What recommendations of ‘story poems’ can you give?
