: Re: How can we incorporate poems in a novel? I am not sure if this is true, but I heard there were short poems in the beginning of each chapter in Lord of the Rings. Although, this could be

There are a number of short to moderate verses in The Lord of the Rings They do not serve as chapter headings, nor do the appear regularly in each chapter. They are generally recited or sung by one or another character, although in at least one case the narrator tells us that a verse was made years later to describe and commemorate an event, and gives us the verse. In another case the narrator describes an epitaph that was later added to a gravesite, after the scene where the death occurs (Faithful servant / yet master's bane / Lightfoot's foal / swift Snowmane for Theoden's horse). Verses are recited or sung by Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Frodo, Bilbo, and Sam, among others. That is one way to do it.

I have seen works that use verse as chapter epigraphs, and works where "ancient" verse is quoted by the narrator. It all depends on the narrative situation, and the effect desired.

Any use of verse takes some care. If the tone and style do not fit, or the composition seems clunky, it will detract rather than add.

I recall that in Delany's Babel-17 the main character is a poet, and a number of her verses are quoted. But then Delaney was at that time married to the noted formalist poet Marilyn Hacker, and i rather suspect that she had a hand in those verses.

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: Re: How can we incorporate poems in a novel? I am not sure if this is true, but I heard there were short poems in the beginning of each chapter in Lord of the Rings. Although, this could be

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