: 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

@Chiappetta298

Vote Up Vote Down

Two novels that do this very well are The Translator, by John Crowley, and Possession, by A.S. Byatt.

The Translator is about a young American poet who translates the work of a great Russian poet who is a visiting professor at the college she is attending. I believe I read somewhere that John Crowley wanted to write a novel about a great poet, but didn't think he could write great poetry himself. So the great poetry is in Russian, but all we see is a fairly literal free-verse translation into English. The young American poet becomes a celebrated poet herself after graduating from college, but mostly we see her earlier works.

In Possession, Byatt has a present-day plot and a Victorian plot. The Victorian plot is about two poets, so she had to write poetry for it—and to it had to be fairly good poetry to maintain the reader's suspension of disbelief. Luckily, she was a good enough poet to pull it off.

(0)

Login to post a comment!