I love this. I am deeply fascinated by verse novels and wish, dearly, I could figure one out.
Also, if someone told me their heart was *not* crushed by Out of the Dust, I'd probably stop trusting them immediately. That book is incredible, full stop.
It really is! It set the bar pretty high for verse novels for me. Not that I expect them all to be "crushing," but I do want them to use verse to its full effect!
Last fall I was a judge for a children's book award, in the category for poetry collections and verse novels, and at one point, another judge criticized one of the nominees because, he said, "This isn't verse, it's just prose, broken up," and I really had to think about that. When it's free verse, it can be a very fine line, and to be honest, not one I'm always good at identifying. You wrote something last week, I think, about how the poems in verse novels need to work together *as well as own their own* and that blew my mind -- not only because I'd never heard anyone describe it that way before (and you're completely right), but because I don't think I've ever sat and considered, do each of these poems work on their own?
Ah, the broken up prose issue! You're right, it can be a very fine line. I think free verse can often feel like "prose, broken up" when the author isn't using other poetic devices in order to make the writing more lyrical. That said, I do think there is room in a novel in verse for some poetry that is a little like "prose with line breaks." But it can be disappointing when the whole book is like that.
Thank you, Rachel! I can go on all day talking about the verse novels I love!
I love this. I am deeply fascinated by verse novels and wish, dearly, I could figure one out.
Also, if someone told me their heart was *not* crushed by Out of the Dust, I'd probably stop trusting them immediately. That book is incredible, full stop.
It really is! It set the bar pretty high for verse novels for me. Not that I expect them all to be "crushing," but I do want them to use verse to its full effect!
Last fall I was a judge for a children's book award, in the category for poetry collections and verse novels, and at one point, another judge criticized one of the nominees because, he said, "This isn't verse, it's just prose, broken up," and I really had to think about that. When it's free verse, it can be a very fine line, and to be honest, not one I'm always good at identifying. You wrote something last week, I think, about how the poems in verse novels need to work together *as well as own their own* and that blew my mind -- not only because I'd never heard anyone describe it that way before (and you're completely right), but because I don't think I've ever sat and considered, do each of these poems work on their own?
Ah, the broken up prose issue! You're right, it can be a very fine line. I think free verse can often feel like "prose, broken up" when the author isn't using other poetic devices in order to make the writing more lyrical. That said, I do think there is room in a novel in verse for some poetry that is a little like "prose with line breaks." But it can be disappointing when the whole book is like that.
Yes, agreed!