I'm curious has anyone here used poetry to tell a story? One project I've wanted to do for a while is to tell a whole story through poetry not like Shakespeare and his plays but through free-verse and other styles of poetry. I have two poems currently one from each semester of poetry I took for my creative writing minor the first one describes a girl and her family during the Victorian times moving back to the home she was born in and how she ends to the garden. This garden is her pride and joy and she's hesitant about leaving it for the man she is supposed to marry. The second poem is about her visiting said man and being ignored while on her visit, he lives in a busy part of town with barely any land so my unnamed character has no means to garden and she eventually calls of their wedding to return to her garden. Lately I've been uninspired to keep this story going (I do plan on returning to it) could this idea be successful? Would you read a story told through narrative poetry?
My favorite poet, Robinson Jeffers, wrote a lot of narrative poetry. I've enjoyed reading his work, though a fair amount of it is pretty horrifying in terms of its subject matter. John Gardner wrote an extended verse version of the story of Jason and Medea and that was interesting, too (though I've lost my copy, damnit). I enjoy reading narrative poetry so long as the poetry is good - it has to be good enough, I mean, to justify telling the story in verse rather than prose. You might find it hard to sell narrative poetry, because it's unconventional these days and the market is likely to be small.
Have you read any of Ellen Hopkins' work? Her novel, Crank, is written in free-verse and I believe she has written others in the same way. I'm not a fan of poetry but I didn't dislike reading it. At least, I didn't dislike it as a teen; I don't think I would enjoy reading a story written that way now.
I have seen Crank at the book store but have always been short on funds to get myself new books, it is one I've wanted to read. The idea for the book is about the length of Crank from what I can tell and would be told in free-verse, it would also be historical fiction.
I tend to groan when reading narrative poems, as they tend to drag often. I would still love to do one of my own, but I would not expect a sane person to enjoy my self-pandering.
Not sure of this is the style you were meaning, but 'Cloud Busting' by Malorie Blackman used several different styles of poetry to effectively present a story. Worth researching.
