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Re: Question for Helen Frost
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From: maggie_bo_at_comcast.net
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 15:24:18 +0000 (UTC)
I think this is a great question, and I can't wait to hear how Helen answers it! I think Helen's poetic forms are always integral to the meaning of her work, and I'd love to know how she chooses which forms to use!
I think one of the criticisms that naysayers of novels-in-verse make is that there is no "reason" for them to be written in verse--that the book would be as good or better if written in prose. Perhaps there are some NIV that deserve this criticism, but if there are, I haven't read them ... which could be due to the fact that I'm very choosy about what I read. However, I think it's more likely that it's due to some folks' unwillingness to respond to and engage with the meaning poetic form can bring to a work. The fact that novels-in-verse like Helen's are so popular with kids clearly indicates that children and teens, at least, "get" the power of sound and rhythm and repetition and imagery (just to name the most obvious of poetic devices). This doesn't surprise me .... kids love music and are always googling song lyrics ... why should they not love poetry?
A little off topic ... but I'm presenting on form and function in novels in verse at a panel at the ChLA conference in June ... and I was surprised to note that, out of literally dozens of panels, mine is the only one that has a sole focus on poetry (someone correct me if there's another one, I hope there is!). Poetry is such a big part of MY world that I forget how peripheral it is elsewhere.
Maggie Bokelman Eagle View Middle School Mechanicsburg, PA
----- Original Message ----- From: "Elsa Marston" <elsa.marston_at_gmail.com> To: "Subscribers of ccbc-net" <ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu> Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2014 10:46:01 AM Subject: [ccbc-net] Question for Helen Frost
One of the great pleasures in reading Helen's novels-in-verse (and I've read them all) is to appreciate the poetic form she uses. My question is so basic, I feel it probably has been come up already--but I'll ask anyway.
Helen, how do you decide what poetic form you want for a particular story, whether a classical one such as the sestina, or a form of your own invention? Do the elements of the story--plot, theme, characters, setting--seem to call for a particular form; or is it a more gradual process, that you develop in the course of writing?
Thanks for this really interesting discussion!
Elsa www.elsamarston.com
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Received on Sat 19 Apr 2014 10:24:40 AM CDT
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 15:24:18 +0000 (UTC)
I think this is a great question, and I can't wait to hear how Helen answers it! I think Helen's poetic forms are always integral to the meaning of her work, and I'd love to know how she chooses which forms to use!
I think one of the criticisms that naysayers of novels-in-verse make is that there is no "reason" for them to be written in verse--that the book would be as good or better if written in prose. Perhaps there are some NIV that deserve this criticism, but if there are, I haven't read them ... which could be due to the fact that I'm very choosy about what I read. However, I think it's more likely that it's due to some folks' unwillingness to respond to and engage with the meaning poetic form can bring to a work. The fact that novels-in-verse like Helen's are so popular with kids clearly indicates that children and teens, at least, "get" the power of sound and rhythm and repetition and imagery (just to name the most obvious of poetic devices). This doesn't surprise me .... kids love music and are always googling song lyrics ... why should they not love poetry?
A little off topic ... but I'm presenting on form and function in novels in verse at a panel at the ChLA conference in June ... and I was surprised to note that, out of literally dozens of panels, mine is the only one that has a sole focus on poetry (someone correct me if there's another one, I hope there is!). Poetry is such a big part of MY world that I forget how peripheral it is elsewhere.
Maggie Bokelman Eagle View Middle School Mechanicsburg, PA
----- Original Message ----- From: "Elsa Marston" <elsa.marston_at_gmail.com> To: "Subscribers of ccbc-net" <ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu> Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2014 10:46:01 AM Subject: [ccbc-net] Question for Helen Frost
One of the great pleasures in reading Helen's novels-in-verse (and I've read them all) is to appreciate the poetic form she uses. My question is so basic, I feel it probably has been come up already--but I'll ask anyway.
Helen, how do you decide what poetic form you want for a particular story, whether a classical one such as the sestina, or a form of your own invention? Do the elements of the story--plot, theme, characters, setting--seem to call for a particular form; or is it a more gradual process, that you develop in the course of writing?
Thanks for this really interesting discussion!
Elsa www.elsamarston.com
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Received on Sat 19 Apr 2014 10:24:40 AM CDT
