Jacob Butlett: POETRY AS VENN DIAGRAM • Craft Essays

A Poetry Craft Essay by Jacob Butlett
THE THREE CLASSICAL CATEGORIES OF POETRY AS VENN DIAGRAM

The Narrative, the Dramatic, and the Lyric are broad classical categories of poems. For some, they may seem “too technical” to understand, let alone apply to one’s writings, right away. To address this potential concern, I modernized how these poetic categories can be taught, showing how students and non-students alike can better understand, analyze, and write poems. Here, I will explain what each category means, present poems that fall into the categories, and provide writing prompts that challenge you, the reader, to think with narrative, drama, and lyricism in mind. This essay is intended for all poets, especially newer ones. My hope is that more experienced poets will glean a lot from my modernized take on the three classical categories.

Let’s start with the fundamentals. What the heck is a poem? The word poem derives from the Greek word poiesis, meaning “making.” That is, “a made thing.” Poets during the Renaissance used to call themselves “makers.” At the heart of the definition (“a made thing”) lies craft. The writer should use words to convey her work so well that others can perceive and understand her artistic vision. In other words, a poem is a “made thing” (literally speaking) and is “made” or “built” in others’ imaginations (metaphorically speaking). One can make a poem knowing the three classical categories of poetry composition. These categories are as follows:

As you can tell, these categories blend, as great poetry must.

Given that a poem is “a made thing”, let’s visualize a poem as a house. You can discover new people, places, and things when you explore a house. Likewise, you can discover new people, places, and things when you read poems.

Imagine you’re a ghost drifting through a house you’ve never been in. You see three children playing Xbox in the living room. You smell garlic and horseradish in the next room: in the kitchen, a married man and woman are cooking dinner. The family seems happy. But something is not right.

Notice the fresh bruise under the man’s left eye. Notice the silence between them.

The Dramatic emphasizes conflict, disturbances, instability, doubts, fears. A great poem recognizes that the world is neither all bad nor all good. A great poem embraces the power of tension. A source of tension in one poem may not work in another poem. The Dramatic in a poem could be the death of a beloved family member, whereas in another poem the Dramatic could be cold, cold boredom or frustration one once felt during a long car ride to the post office.

As an example, let’s read and reflect on “The Paradise of Wings,” a wonderfully dramatic poem by Theodore Deppe.

In “The Paradise of Wings,” the twist always wows me. Great poems are often about change or transformation or revelation—that is, something discovered, either in term of plot, meditation, or both. The Dramatic “gestures” or guides, directly or not, readers toward discovery. Conflict, fear, unquenchable wonder compel readers to learn more and feel more while they explore the rooms of your poem. Readers of poetry are voyagers and voyeurs of the human spirit. To write great poems, therefore, requires courage—the ability to lead and share the story of your life with your whole heart. Be real. Be creative. Be you.

Before we move on, I want to stress one thing: you do NOT have to write about your traumas to be a great writer. However, take chances with your work. Write about your fears, hopes, dreams to the best of your ability.

Now let’s do some writing with the Dramatic in mind. In your journal, answer the following prompts.

What went wrong during the last month in your personal life? Have you fallen sick? Have you made a mistake of some kind? Did something shocking or terrifying or pleasantly surprising happen to you or a loved one? What happened?
Is there someone from your past who hurt you or disturbed you? What did that person look like? How do you know that person? Where did they hurt or disturb you?
What are five physical objects in your life that hold sentimental value? Describe them in 2-3 sentences each. How did you procure these things? Where do you keep them? Now imagine one of them ended up lost or destroyed. How would you fix it? Can you fix it?
What is one hilarious misunderstanding you witnessed or caused in the last month? Where were you when the misunderstanding occurred? Describe the setting and the people involved. How was the misunderstanding resolved (or not resolved)?

As its name implies, the Narrative stresses storytelling. Even though a poem can tell a story, a poem does not have to. Instead, a great poem relies on clear, cohesive, developed, and interesting narrative elements such as characters, conflicts, and settings.

A narrative inherently incorporates the Dramatic because both require some form of tension. Traditionally, a story is about someone who wants something but cannot get it. Stories are often about change (usually a character or situation changing or showing the distinct possibility of change).

Without narrative elements, a poem may confuse readers, who may ask, “What did I just read? What was the poem’s premise?” Young writers may assume that readers will naturally analyze a poem. That may hold some truth, but simply because someone wrote a poem doesn’t mean its audience will automatically understand and appreciate it. As they write/revise their work, poets must ask themselves, “Is the speaker clear? Is the conflict, if present, clear? Is this metaphor or simile or image or whatever it may be, clear enough to be understood in one or two readings?” Most contemporary poems are meant to be reasonably understood in one to two readings.

A poem that tells a story can be long because readers can follow its narrative progression. If this weren’t true, perhaps epics like The Odyssey wouldn’t still be so popular, let alone comprehensible. In contrast, long lyric poetry without narrative elements tends to be difficult to read because such poems can confuse readers, who may ask themselves, “The poem sounds lovely, but what is the poem trying to say?”

Thus, the concept of narrative clarity is paramount because readers need to follow along with the poem’s premise and narrative structure; if not, readers will not understand the poem. When this occurs, readers may feel compelled to overinterpretthe poem rather than simply understand and appreciate it.

Consider “On the Death of a Colleague,” a narrative poem by Stephen Dunn. What’s at stake in the narrative? Since narratives are usually about change, what changes in the poem? A person? A situation? The reader’s understanding of a character, object, place? Usually, change comes in the form of a discovery. What do you (and perhaps the speaker) discover as the plot unfolds?

This vulnerable poem about loss and preventable tragedy is brought to life through the narrative. We sympathize with the speaker but more so the student who dared to speak up. Notice, too, that the poem doesn’t feature florid poetic language. A poem that stresses the Narrative usually doesn’t have to depend so much on lyrical elements to maintain readers’ attention. This is especially true about serious poems that employ understatement. You use understatement when you wish to hold back on describing or explaining something, depending on, for instance, your current images to “speak for themselves,” to evoke the necessary emotions in your readers. Overstatement often includes describing something in depth to evoke the necessary emotions in your readers. General rule of thumb: If you’re writing about something very sensitive, leaning into understatement is usually a safe bet.

Now let’s do some writing with the Narrative in mind. In your journal, answer the following prompts:

What are two childhood memories you love or are perhaps too afraid to share? What makes those memories noteworthy? How do those memories make you feel? Happy? Sad? Angry? Write each memory as a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
Is there someone from your past whom you loved? This person could be a family member or friend. What did that person look like? How do you know that person? Describe a time in which you and that person hung out, and something funny actually happened.

Have you ever read something, anything, and thought, Wow, this sounds so poetic! What about that thing sounded poetic? Perhaps the lyricism?

The Lyric emphasizes sound effects—often sound repetition. There are three primary forms of basic sound repetition in poetry:

Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds, as in brown cow (the OW sound)
Consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds, as in snappy penguins (the S and P sounds)
Alliteration: the repetition of the same letter or sound across words as in pleasant penny pinchers (the P sounds)

Poets use the Lyric for many reasons. Here are just three of them:

The Lyric can be used as a mnemonic device. This is why song lyrics are so catchy: the sound repetitions linger in the back of listeners’ minds. In the same vein, a great poem should linger in the back of readers’ minds long after they read it.
Musicality can be used to spotlight key images and ideas. Which sounds more interesting? The animal over there, or the scarlet squirrel squatting on the fence?
Playing with sound effects is fun. If it weren’t, people wouldn’t find wit and tongue twisters so amusing.

Let me broaden the scope of the Lyric by mentioning figurative language—namely, similes and metaphors.

Simile: a comparison using like, as, or than as in She storms into the room like a hurricane
Metaphor: a comparison not using like, as, or than as in The figure skater is an angel on the ice.

Poets should feel free to play around with figurative language, but should also do so with focus and purpose. Author Frances Mayes asserts:

“A literal image remakes something in words in order to describe a reality as vividly as possible. A figurative image establishes connections between things we normally would not associate.”

Consider the metaphor above: The figure skater is an angel on the ice. What do you think of when a figure skater is being compared to an angel? Do you think of the ice skater as a clutz? Or do you imagine someone with the ability to leap and spin effortlessly? The word angel invokes a positive connotation (emotional meaning), doesn’t it?

Why might you use figurative language? Mayes answers:

(1) Expand sensory perception beyond the literal meaning. (2) Give pleasure or surprise to the imagination. (3) Impart vigor by the inclusion of another active sensory detail. (4) Intensify the deeper intention in the poem by adding the new dimension of the figurative image.

In “Bilingual/Bilingüe,” a lyrical poem by Rhina P. Espaillat, how and why do you think the poet uses lyricism and figurative language?

Did you notice the end rhymes? They don’t draw much attention to themselves, making for an immersive reading experience. The poet’s voice and the dramatic tension between father and daughter propel the lyricism forward. A great companion piece to “Bilingual/Bilingüe” is “Accents” by Denice Frohman.

Next, let’s do some writing with the Lyric in mind. In your journal, follow these instructions:

Write a list of 10 words that use assonance, consonance, or alliteration. Feel free to stick with rhymes (rhyming words use assonance, after all). Next, write ten random nouns. Pair up the words so you have five sets of two words. What does each pairing have in common? Link them with a simile or a metaphor. Lastly, write a silly paragraph in which you describe a person, place, or action using at least six words in your assonance, consonance, or alliteration list AND using at least two of the similes or metaphors you just came up with.

I summarized the three classical categories of poetry and presented poems that embody the categories. Now it’s your job to tie everything together. Read Sharon Olds’ “The Quest,” which embraces the Dramatic, the Narrative, and the Lyric beautifully. Ask yourself the following questions as you’re studying Olds’ poem. When you’re done, reread the poems in the previous sections and ask how they, too, embody all three classical categories. Again, most great poems should illustrate elements of all three categories—that is, most great poems exist in the center of the Venn Diagram.

The Dramatic. Who or what is the source(s) of tension, intrigue, mystery, suspense, wonder, or danger in the poem?
The Narrative. What is the plot or premise of the poem? Who is the speaker? Why is the plot or premise meaningful to the speaker? How does the poet balance understatement with overstatement?
The Lyric. How does the poet use alliteration, assonance, alliteration, and figurative language? Come up with an example of each from the poem. Why do you think the poet uses lyricism? Think in terms of emotion, tension, description, narrative, etc. A poet may decide to use subtle lyricism or figurative language. If so, ask yourself why the poet would do this.

Jacob Butlett is an award-winning author with an M.F.A. in Poetry. His creative works have been published in many journals, including the Colorado Review, The Hollins Critic, The MacGuffin, Lunch Ticket, and Into the Void. In 2023, he received an Honorable Mention for the Academy of American Poets Prize (Graduate Prize). In 2024, he completed the course on writing best-selling fiction offered by The Great Courses. Jacob is pursuing an M.F.A. in Fiction while teaching first-year composition to undergraduates and while working as the Head Poetry Editor of the Blue Earth Review. He is the author of a book of poems titled Stars Burning Night’s Quiet Rhapsody (Kelsay Books, 2024). His follow-up book of poems, Languish, was recently accepted for publication. He is working on his third book of poems and his first book of short stories.