Narrative verse

Narrative Verse

Cuddon states that narrative poem tells a story(566).There are three types of narrative poems. They are epic, romance, and ballad. Early examples of narrative poems are Gilgamesh, the Aeneid by Virgil, and Metamorphoses by Ovid. More recent examples are The Code by Robert Frost, Kazantzakis's The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, and Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body(569).

Epic

An epic is a long narrative poem. These tell the stories of heroes and warriors (Penguin, 264). These often embody national pride in a lofty or grandiose manner(265). Examples of great epics are Homer's Illiad and Odyssey.

Romance

This form of narrative is principally a source of entertainment(Penguin, 758). These stories were written with elements of love, fantasy, adventure and extravagance. Some popular works of romantic verse are Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory, Don Quixote by Cervantes, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Ballad

This form of narrative verse tells a story and was a musical accompianment to a dance (Penguin,71).

There are certain charavteristics to every ballad. They are:(a) the beginning is often abrupt,(b) the language is simple,(c) the story is told through dialogue and action,(d) the theme is often tragic(though there are a number of comic ballads), and (e) there is often a refrain. (Cuddon, 71). There are two types of ballads. They are folk or traditional ballad and the literary ballad.

folk

This type is transmitted from singer to singer and is annonymous.

literary

This type of ballad is not annonymous and is written down by the author as he writes it.

Works Cited

Cuddon, J.A. The Pengiun Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Penguin Books: London. 1999.

Hornblower, Simon and Spawforth, Anthony.Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford Books: New York. 1996.