By: A.B. Timothy
When telling modern stories, we can often lose the poetry of a good story. Poetry, many forget, is not just about rhyming cuplets, verse, or meter; it’s about the flow, it’s about the art of telling a captivating story. It’s about having a villain who reflects your character and asks them, “Why aren’t you me?” It’s about fantasy, the small farm boy ascending to become the hero that destiny needs him to be. The girl stuck in a dead-end minimum-wage job who gets swept off her feet by a prince who stumbles into her shop to avoid the paparazzi.
Love, adventure, action, drama, prose, and character, these are poetry. These things form the backbone of a good story and a story that people will talk about forever. We still talk and write stories about King Arthur because his story is so poetic. He is a man who came from nothing (in some tellings), or everything, and chose still to rise to the occasion that destiny had called him to. In some tellings, he is the son of the king who has to overcome the arrogance and pride that come with the station, and in others, he is a farm boy tasked with retrieving a sword, and stumbled upon the sword in the stone.
A poetic story is one that can draw the reader in and ask them, “How can you be like the hero?” Arthur calls us to a higher caliber of manhood.
Cinderella is one for the ladies. She begins the tale as someone who has the world offered to her by her loving father, but then has it all taken away by her evil stepmother. Eventually, she woos the prince, but not with her beauty; she woos him with her heart. She did not take the evil treatment by her step-mother and sisters to heart; instead, she persevered and was rewarded for it by her fairy godmother. This gave her the opportunity to let her true heart shine at the ball.
Growing up, I didn’t know a single boy who did not look up to a hero, or a girl who did not wish for her prince charming. This is because these stories speak to our hearts as poetry should.
When you are writing, either actual poetry or if you’re just trying to tell a poetic story, try to remember what moved your heart, remember whose heart you want to move with this story, and write that story. Because I believe we all have a poem inside us that is begging to be unleashed onto the page.
What do you think?
Do you believe stories should be poetic, or is mindless entertainment good enough for you? Let me know in the comments below, or by tagging me in a post on X @ABTimothyAuthor, or by commenting on my Facebook page, both of which you can find below at the simple click of an icon.
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