narrative poem
Rhyming told tale
A narrative poem tells a story, with characters, plot, and often dialogue, distinguishing it from lyric poetry's focus on emotion or reflection.
Epics, ballads, and verse novels are narrative poems.
The Iliad, Beowulf, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner are classic examples.
The form ranges from folk ballads to book-length works.
- epicImpressively grand in scope
- stanzaPoem's line grouping
- layPlace down flat
- balladNarrative poem or song
- sagaExtended heroic narrative
folk ballad · oral tradition · Beowulf · classical epics · minstrel · bard · imagery · meter · rhyme scheme · Canterbury Tales · blank verse · lineation · idyll · symbolism · medieval literature · Arthurian legend · romance · chant
- talestale, funny stories, tall tales, short story, yarns
- epicsIliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Beowulf, Gilgamesh
- folk versefolk ballad, folk song, nursery rhyme, lullaby, ballad
- poetry formshaiku, sonnet, sonnets, tanka, limerick
- German poetryGoethe, Rilke, George, Claudius, lieder
- fictionfiction, novel, novels, novella, novellas
narrative poemlyric poem
Short emotive verse form
lyric poetry · lyric · dramatic monologue · ode · sonnet
narrative poemhaiku
Japanese seventeen-syllable verse
epigram · fragment · couplet · found poem · prose poem
narrative poemprose fiction
Imaginary tales in sentences
novel · short story · flash fiction · novella · prose