I'm sort of keeping a count at several times throughout my story on how many poems my MC has written, but I really do not know much about poetry. At the end of my story, I want him to have written enough poems to be put in book form. My question is, how many poems would that be, exactly? Like, what's a typical number of poems included in someone's book of poetry? I was thinking maybe 50 for him, because he only lived to be 18, and that's considering that he went through his very first poems and refined them to the point where they were as excellent as his later poems. Is 50 too much or too little? What would be the best number given his age?
I don't read poetry myself, but I believe they tend to be very short. Such books tend to be <50 pages long, and if it's one poem per page that would be 50 or fewer poems.
Too many - stick 25 in the first collection, and then publish the weaker ones a year later. Very delicate things poetry books, very pretty. I think I'm right? Then 2 years after the publishing storm-sensation, they bring out the 'complete works' - your original 50. But do some research, google [e.g] 'Sylvia Plath' and follow the trail.
