Verse novel
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Verse novels are a contemporary genre combining the power of narrative with the rich, evocative language of verse or poetry.
A popular recent example was Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust, which won a Newbery Medal in 1998. Since then, many new titles have cropped up from authors such as Sonya Sones, Steven Herrick and Margaret Wild.
Although the narrative structure of a verse novel is similar to that of a novella, the organisation of the story is usually in a series of short sections, often with changing perspectives. Verse novels are often told with multiple narrators, providing readers with a cinematic view into the inner workings of the characters' minds. Some verse novels employ an informal, colloquial register. Yevgeny Onegin by Pushkin is a classical case.
Other recent examples of verse novels include:
- The Golden Gate, Vikram Seth (1986)
- Love, Death and the Changing of the Seasons, Marilyn Hacker (1986)
- Whylah Falls, George Elliott Clarke (1990)
- History: The Home Movie, Craig Raine (1994)
- Autobiography of Red, Anne Carson (1998)
- Fredy Neptune: A Novel in Verse, Les Murray (1999)
See also
