Mixing poetry into prose

[Bear]

In my first book one of the short stories had a poem in it. It wasn't just thrown in for the sake of putting a poem in. The poem ended up being an important mechanism for one of the characters to deal with a nasty situation. Every time she encountered a scenario that ended up being unnerving she recited parts of the poem. I carried this through the entire short story up until the end. I found it an effective way of showing she was afraid of something. The poem calmed her down.

Sometimes I try to have my regular sentences come across as poetic in nature. Poetic prose if you will. That doesn't always pan out but eh, it sounds good.

[Steerpike]

I typically skip poems and songs in books as well. And I skip the little introductory quotes some writers use at the beginning of chapters (at least in most cases, unless they are very short). It doesn't bother me to see these things in a book, but I don't often read them.

[SlimShady]

If it's good poetry then I'll read it. But, more often than not I find that it is typically just filler. I like songs and poetry that tie in with the chapter or may even be significant later in the story.

[The Dark One]

If it's good poetry then I'll read it. But, more often than not I find that it is typically just filler. I like songs and poetry that tie in with the chapter or may even be significant later in the story.

But how do you know it's good until you read it? And how do you know whether it's tied in later unless you read the poem in situ?

All you non-poetry readers are freaking me out, as the resolution to my new book (a slightly bizarre thriller) is utterly contingent on a poem.

[Caged Maiden]

My question exactly. I wrote a song into a novel and three chapters later, when the woman who sang the song asks her companion why he thinks her to be the person they seek, he answers, "Because of a song he heard you sing."

I guess people would have to go back and decipher later. Oh well.

I'm a big fan of songs/ poetry in novels, but I think occasionally when i read it, it feels like an obligatory song/ poem was thrown in because it's EXPECTED. I prefer the ones that sound artfully done, and I love the idea of an ebook link to a song. THat seems to be my biggest problem when reading a song, not knowing the tune. In fact I wrote a few that would be very hard for a reader to ascertain on their own (one recently in the Cantina) where the lines change meter, but it works as a beautiful song. Perhaps some time I'll grow the guts to sing it and post a link for those who care to hear it.

[SeverinR]

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