When I was younger I didn’t think that I liked poetry. Outside Shakespeare I rarely read verse for pleasure. Last year though, I was introduced to Alfred Noyes’ “The Highwayman” and it changed my view of poetry completely. Since then I have been reading other narrative poems including the “The Ballad of the Fleet” (Tennyson) and “The Walrus and the Carpenter” (Carroll) and incorporating them into my work.
A narrative poem tells us a story but it is set out in stanzas with the rhythms and rhyming patterns familiar in other types of poem. It will contain a skilfully woven story packed with wonderful imagery and metaphors which compels its audience.
In my opinion the narrative poem offers so much that I have even used them in pieces for Birthday Parties! Here are what I see as the merits of working with narrative poetry.
The narrative poem is perhaps one of the most ancient form of storytelling (The Iliad and Beowulf are both story poems). As a Drama Facilitator I believe they are a fantastic way of introducing complex text to young audiences which demonstrates the breadth and depth of our literary heritage beyond Shakespeare.
It offers a whole story. A chapter of a book or a scene from a play wouldn’t offer the beginning middle and end in this way. If I want to guarantee that a group have heard the material a narrative poem is a concise way of quickly offering an entire story.
The narrative poem will capture the imaginations of boys and girls as it often recalls and romanticises some kind of adventure.
Investigating narrative poetry through drama is a lot of fun and once a group has a story they are better positioned to explore the author’s imagery and language choices. The poems I am talking about were mostly written in the 19th and 20th Century and whilst the language is certainly complex it is not impenetrable. Accessing it allows young participants to make their own judgements about themes, events and characters (perhaps physically characterising or hot seating characters about their decisions in the story or making up scenes based upon their deductions).
I have also found that exploring a narrative poem can become a catalyst for exploring rhythm, rhyme and meter and getting groups to write in poetry.
_ _ _ _
“The wind was a rushing train, dodging every tree
The moon was a shiny banana ripe and ready for me.
The road was a lonely wanderer, under an ongoing spell
and Mr Highwayman came riding, riding, riding
Josh Highwayman came riding, up to the Grand Hotel.”
_ _ _ _
“The snow was a breeze of coldness coating the leafy bush,
The sun was a ball of fire, gleaming upon rushing waves
The field was a soft green carpet, over the earthy road
And the Highwayman came skating, skating, skating
The Highwayman came skating up to the big mansion’s door.”
_ _ _ _
As well as getting excited about narrative poetry I have discovered narrative songs. My taste in story song is eclectic ranging from Benny Hill (The Fastest Milkman in the West) to Charles Daniels (The Devil Went Down to Georgia) and Chris Wood (Hollow Point). You could easily laugh some narrative songs off as being novelties but constructing an effective narrative within a poem or a song is a great skill. Tennyson and Noyes might not be matched for their poetry’s beautiful imagery but Hollow Point particularly is (in my view) a powerful piece of modern verse based storytelling.
Up to now narrative poems have formed the basis of workshops or featured within other work that I have presented but this summer to coincide with The Summer Reading Challenge 2014 I am taking my new found love of the narrative poem to a whole new level as I reinterpret Homer’s “Odyssey” for a young audience.
My final reinterpretation is unlikely to be a narrative poem but one thing is certain – it’s going to be epic!
Special thanks to the children of South Malling Primary School for sharing their “modern” takes on “The Highwayman”.
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