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

Hornblower and Spawforth say that an epic is a long narrative poem. These tell the stories of heroes and warriors (1027). These often embody national pride in a lofty or grandiose manner(Cuddon 265). Abrams says that to be an epic, an appilied work must meet at least these criteria: it is a long verse narrative on a serious subject, told in a formal style, and centered on heroic figure whose actions depends the fate of many people (81). Examples of great epics are Homer's Illiad and Odyssey.

Romance

This form of narrative is principally a source of entertainment (Cuddon 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. Harmon and Holman believe this to be the most popular of the three narrative verses (444).

Ballad

This form of narrative verse tells a story and was a musical accompianment to a dance (Cuddon 71). There are certain characteristics 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

Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005.

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

Harmon, William and Holman, Hugh. Handbook To Literature. 7th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Books, 1996.