Need a bit of verse in my prose
I am an (aspiring) fiction writer. I write prose. However, every so often, I run into a need for poetry. I might need a prophecy, or a ritual blessing, or a character might be serenading another, or some piece of information should be hidden in an old song: I need verse. The plot demands it.
Trouble is, I'm not a poet. I find myself beating my head against RhymeZone, producing cringe-worthy manure. (Not that I specifically need rhyme. I am aware of alliteration, and other tools. I can't do anything useful with them either.)
Is there a solution? Do I write my way around the verse, change the plot so it isn't needed? That limits me considerably in the fantasy genre, particularly in High Fantasy. Do I pretend that the prophet/serenader was also a lame poet, and hope the readers can forgive the cringe-worthy small bit of verse if I give them good plot? Is there a way I could learn to write better poetry?
I should add that I read quite a lot of poetry, in English, French, Hebrew and Russian, and I can't write decent poetry in any language. At all. So apparently reading is not how you learn to write in this case. At least not how I learn.
And to clarify yet again, I'm not looking to become a poet. My passion is telling stories. It's just that sometimes the story calls for verse, and I can't seem to give it that.
2 answers
Steal it!
For a ritual setting, the poetry is plausibly old stuff, so find some very old poetry in the public domain, and look for passages you can steal. You don't have to attribute it to anybody.
If you have studied enough, you can change some words, paying attention to rhythm and rhyme, and perhaps change a piece of old poetry to your own uses. Wedding vows might be lifted from many a love poem.
Tell, don't show: Fake it!
Or similarly, skip over the actual recitation, and describe the poetry, mentioning a few highlights of some poem you found, one that compared love to the cuddling of birds and the purity and sanctity of the white blossoms of orange trees.
But don't quote it, just describe what he said, and to be fair what your MC remembers of what was said, which may be just some poetic bits and pieces, not the whole thing verbatim. Perhaps the first and last lines verbatim, which is often what people remember from such addresses.
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Since you are writing in the fantasy genre, is there any reason that the poetry needs to be in a human readable tongue?
I can imagine that humans, living among other older species, might know just enough elvish or dragon-tongue to properly pronounce a few lines of ancient verse; with no real understanding of that languages' subtleties such as meter or rhythm.
The more learned among your human characters might even be able to translate the ancient verses into human words, such that the meaning and beauty of the previously presented nonsense words can be offered to the reader, without any poetic artistry being required of the translation.
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