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The Oxford book of narrative verse by Iona…
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The Oxford book of narrative verse (original 1983; edition 1983)

by Iona Opie, Peter Opie (Author)

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1211223,675 (3.79)2
The Opies write in their preface that they have chosen (for the most part) poems that tell a straightforward and complete story. They also "....point out that narrative verse needs a different reading technique from lyric and reflective poetry." Of course! You really have to read it out loud. This selection, running from Chaucer to Auden, should convince the reader of this truth. Personal favourites are Robert Service's The Cremation of Sam Magee, Chesterton's Lepanto (with its stanza-closing motif - Don John of Austria has set his people free!), Browning's Pied Piper, Macaulay's Horatius, Cowper's John Gilpin and, of course, Marriott Edgar's The Lion and Albert (the only one I would venture from memory).

These works have much more to do with ballad than poesy and are a long way from the works of most modern poets who are much more inclined to investigate emotion and intellect than to tell a story. Read them around the fire. ( )
  abbottthomas | Aug 9, 2008 |
The Opies write in their preface that they have chosen (for the most part) poems that tell a straightforward and complete story. They also "....point out that narrative verse needs a different reading technique from lyric and reflective poetry." Of course! You really have to read it out loud. This selection, running from Chaucer to Auden, should convince the reader of this truth. Personal favourites are Robert Service's The Cremation of Sam Magee, Chesterton's Lepanto (with its stanza-closing motif - Don John of Austria has set his people free!), Browning's Pied Piper, Macaulay's Horatius, Cowper's John Gilpin and, of course, Marriott Edgar's The Lion and Albert (the only one I would venture from memory).

These works have much more to do with ballad than poesy and are a long way from the works of most modern poets who are much more inclined to investigate emotion and intellect than to tell a story. Read them around the fire. ( )
  abbottthomas | Aug 9, 2008 |

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