Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Poetry

This is topic Poetry in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/writers/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=003046

Posted by Novice (Member # 3379) on :

Does anyone else read and write poetry? (I saw a post by GodSpoken that mentioned poetry, which is what made me start this topic.)

Do you feel that there is a place for good poems in fantasy and sci-fi? Is there no audience for genre poetry, or are there simply no markets willing to publish it?

Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :

There are several markets that publish only genre poetry, and hundreds that include poems in what they print. you might want to review ralan.com; the guidelines usually specify if they accept poetry or not.

Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :

I write bad poetry. Does that count?

Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :

Is there room for poetry in fantasy & sci-fi? Tolkien certainly seemed to think so. However, I personally read only a tiny portion of his poetry. For me, it slowed the action down to a crawl and I started bleeping over the poetry.

Although I've always been mightily fond of the poem sung in Bree, that starts out:
"There was an inn, a merry old inn
Beneath an old gray hill
And there they brewed a beer so brown
That the Man in the Moon himself came down
One night to drink his fill..."

I used to have that one memorized.

But then, at one point I memorized Data's "Ode to Spot", too.

Posted by MightyCow (Member # 3384) on :

I tend to be the same way. If the poetry or "song", as it's often presented, is very good, or I feel that it adds to the story, I'll read it. Most of the time I feel like the author wanted to have someone sing or read a poem, and felt the need to put one in there just to have it.

Either that, or they wanted to have a poem published, and realizing that there isn't much market, just shoved it into a book. Good show, I guess, but I usually find them annoying and or boring when they're shoved into a story. Stick with writing the story.

Of course, when you talk about SciFi or Fantasy themed poetry that stands on its own, that's much better. At least I can decide if it's good or not on its own merit.

[This message has been edited by MightyCow (edited April 30, 2006).]

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

I went through a period in the early / mid eighties, where I turned out about three or four hundred poems. I sent some 'round---even placed a couple in magazines (that didn't pay in money, just copies)---but my urge to do so died out sometime in the late eighties.

I still turn out the occasional poem---usually a parody of something---but haven't whacked at it in a major way.

I'd like to, if I was writing epic fantasy (or epic science fiction) to have the characters declaim a good poem. But I haven't yet had an appropriate situation arise in my writing---and, besides, I'd actually have to turn out a "good poem" of my own, or find something in the public domain that's appropriate and attributable.

Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :

For me, LotR was different: I wanted everything about that world, and that includes the songs.

The Ballad of Babel-17 was essentially *about* a poem (and how ot interpret it), so I read that.

But for other books, if it's more than a couple of lines, I'll skip. I want the story; if I wanted poetry, I'd rather decide to read a poem on its own. Which I sometimes do.

[This message has been edited by wbriggs (edited April 30, 2006).]

Posted by Inkwell (Member # 1944) on :

Personally, I enjoyed the poetry in both Hobbit and LOTR...except for some of the Tom Bombadil stuff. The mere thought of that particular section of Fellowship still gives me a headache, and it's been years since I read it.

My favorite of Tolkien's poems was from the same book, though...the one Bilbo recites in Aragorn's defense:

"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king."

~JRR Tolkien

That's the only one I can remember verbatim (except for the one about the rings). I guess it just made a lasting impact on my 6th grade psyche.

So, yeah...I think there is a place for poetry in fantasy. Science fiction also features existing poetry from time to time...the March Upcountry series by David Weber and John Ringo is very fond of Kipling, if memory serves.

Inkwell
------------------
"The difference between a writer and someone who says they want to write is merely the width of a postage stamp."
-Anonymous

Posted by Novice (Member # 3379) on :

How about epic poems? Homer and Spenser wrote poems that, today, would fall into the fantasy genre. (But then again, so would a lot of the classics.) Is there no market for contemporary authors who wish to tell their stories in poetic form?

All of these responses tend to separate "poems within prose texts" from stand-alone poems, and I'm wondering if true epic poetry might appeal to anyone. (I think I would want to see something that was illustrated, if I were going to buy a book that was all one long poem. But I've never seen such a beast outside of children's literature.)

I found a really interesting essay about poetry by Isaac Asimov on Asimov's website, which is part of why I've been dwelling on this issue.