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At our February meeting David Calcutt led a workshop on Drama and Narrative in Poetry

David made a few opening comments: basically there are two forms of narrative, that derived from one’s own experience or that drawn from elsewhere but which is significant to us.

We looked first at David’s poem Acheron. He explained that this is based on his own experience. The river Acheron is in northern Greece (and if it rings a bell but you can’t place it – it is the river that leads to Hades in Greek mythology) – but it also really exists. It runs through a gorge and then disappears into a cave underground. It is possible to walk in the river through the gorge – but tourists are forbidden to go on underground!

David’s first exercise was on a personal poem – mark the events in the poem which you think actually happened – or which are those which he added or changed in order to make the poem?

Basic guide to narrative:

List the dramatic moments – what order should they/could they be in? (the chronological is not necessarily the most dramatic or the best way to tell a particular story).

The poetry is in the intensity of light shone on each incident.

Narrative is written with an audience in mind – it is not personal and introspective.

(One is subconsciously thinking of what the audience hears).

Another point David made is that every narrative has a turning point/ key moment/ fulcrum.

It is not always easy to see this at first but when pinpointed then one knows where the poem is going. (Peter Brooke in his book on dramatic production ‘The Empty Space’ calls it the ‘flashpoint’ and further remarks that ‘in every play there is one image’ – is that true of narrative poetry as well? (Exercise – think of narrative poems you know what do you remember? – or even novels, come to that! – ‘Please Sir, I want some more.’)

We then looked at Skin. This poem is in four sections which came from stories David had read in People of the Sea by David Thomson.

David explained that these are drawn from selkie stories – the sea peoples (of Celtic myth and fable in particular). They involve two types of people – humans and spiritual. Normally the humans are men and the sea peoples in the stories female. David was intrigued by the stories in their handling of extreme relationships and found the voice of the female to be ‘the way in’ for him. Each section is drawn from a different story.

Our own obsessions draw us to certain stories – in retelling or reworking we are giving back to the story.

But one needs also to stand back, autobiographical material does not work if one is too close and direct. If it is too personal it may mean nothing to anyone else.

Summary

• Think about what in particular draws you to that story.

• List the events of the story.

• What order should they be in? (The obvious is not necessarily
    the best).

• Identify the key moment/action.

• One needs to use one’s own experience to make the narrative
    one’s own.