11.13.2016

no narrative plan

Even narrative poets have an aversion to plot.

1 comment:

Joseph Hutchison said...

As the author of a collection of narrative poems, I have to admit that plot does present a challenge because of poetry's multivalent character. It resists linearity, and plot after all is stubbornly linear. Fiction writers generally respond by multiplying plots and shifting points of view; poets from Shin-Leqi-Unninni on have done the same, but always with "dichten = condensare" in mind. Anything to avoid the plot-required elements that clog the veins of so much fiction: "He got up from the table and walked to the window"; "She spooned another dollop of raspberry yoghurt out of the plastic cup and thought about Mrs. Dalloway; etc.