by Cole Lamkins
What is a better way to catch a reader’s attention than to figuratively take them on a journey through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven? I guess that is the question that Dante asked himself whenever he wrote the Divine Comedy in the early 1300’s. One very important factor that separates the poetry found in The Divine Comedy and a lot of modern poetry is that Dante writes The Divine Comedy as a narrative in the form of an adventure.
What is narrative poetry?
A narrative poem is a poem that tells a story and has a plot according to Dictionary.com. When I think of narrative poetry I tend to think of poetry that is storytelling.
Poetry that is written in the form of a narrative can potentially have a much larger impact on it’s readers in contrast to a collection of poems that conceptually connect but don’t interact with it’s reader.
Narrative poems often times seem captivating because whenever you start to read them you get dragged into the story line and eventually become a bit emotionally invested. One of the reasons this happens is due to the poets ability to use intense imagery to help establish a setting for the reader to immerse themselves into.
Another reason that narrative poems captivate readers is because the character dialogue creates a feeling of relativity, or interaction within the poem. People like to relate poetry to things that are going on in their own lives, so any connection between a situation within a poem and a situation in the real world feels as if the poet is speaking directly to the reader.
In conclusion, if you are ever looking to read something that you can immerse yourself into but don’t have time to read all 585 pages of Moby Dick. Try picking up some good narrative poetry to read from your local bookstore. My favorite from the genre is The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.
Semi-Poetic 