The use of poems, verse, songs in contemporary novels (Part 1)

By Dilshan BOANGE

The modern novel is not necessarily prose only. A novel is generally conceived as a narrative in prose. However, with the advent of writers such as Vikram Seth whose novel The Golden Gate is in verse form, the genre of the novel has undergone some remarkable developments since the stages of Victorian writing. Contemporary fiction, today includes many forms of narrative and subject matter, presents many innovative 'narrative devices' that range from monologues to pictorial elements. All of it, one can argue comes within the framework of the novel's narrative form, manner in which the story is told to the reader.

This article takes a very brief look at the use of poems and verse in novels with reference to a couple of modern, contemporary novels. Apart from poems/verse non-prosaic elements such as song lyrics (which may not necessarily qualify as 'verse') are also found as a feature that is not too scarce in contemporary novels. What is the role of these elements in a work of prose based fiction? Are they mere embellishments? Or do such parts also perform functions that can be integral in understanding the story of the novel? When considering the craft of novel writing, especially in the modernistic sense, the use of non-prosaic elements need be looked at with intent focus.

Vickram Seth

James Joyce

Michael Ondaatje's maiden novel Coming Through Slaughter, which is a sort of quasi-biographical portrayal of Charles 'Buddy' Bolden who was one of the pioneers of the jazz music genre, is a narrative that presents an assemblage of diverse elements.

In the novel are lyrics of two songs that occupy space in two separate pages. The non-linear narrative structure of the novel itself is a rather intriguing prospect at first reading, in working out how exactly the monologues, snippets of dialogue, prose and so on fit together to create the whole picture. And within this textual collage are the lyrics of two songs which are placed without any descriptions or background information. The songs are titled as 'Nora's song' and 'Train song,' which one will come across in pages 17 and 85 respectively, in the novel. By the looks of them they appear to be folk type songs which maybe New Orleans jazz compositions, since it is in this state that the story unfolds, being a pioneering ground of American jazz. As compositions the two songs are not ones which have elaborate sentential crafting.

Each song is made up of essentially a single line's repetition, in whole and part, with breaks in the flow. In Nora's song the repeated line "Dragging his bone over town" is very much the essence that forms it as a composition. And "Passing wet chicory that lies in the fields like the sky" is the sentential basis of 'Train song'. It is with a play of this sentence being repeated in full and part a textual composition is formed that presents a flow, which is very likely intended to represent a certain rhythmic pattern when reading. What are the purposes of including pieces such as these in a novel? The reasons and intents seem to be varied as both thematic and structural. At the level of theme, one can suggest that a work like Coming Through Slaughter, which is considered a remarkable example of the 'jazz novel' genre, brings out the essence of jazz through a fusion of diverse elements. The fusion of fragments is one way of assembling a jazzy composition, be it musical, textual or (possibly even) theatrical. Music, interspersed with conversation of a very colloquial form and newspaper adverts and so on form a very diverse assemblage of elements, fused together to tell a 'story.' The novel is about one of a legendary pioneer of jazz music, therefore the subject of the work itself is bound with the notion of musicality. With these considerations one my say that the inclusion of 'Nora's song' and 'Train song' plays a thematic function in the novel to bring out the texture of a jazz novel.

Further purposes and functionalities

Apart from the thematic significance, what other possible role would elements such as the songs discussed, perform? In terms of structure, of the novel's narrative, the songs do not appear to play a crucial part that tells the reader what developments of the story can be expected, in the following pages. However, it may be that the two songs, which are like 'ragtime songs,' capture a facet of the 'social landscape.' What if the songs were meant to also to tell the reader about the sort of lyrical craft, that Buddy Bolden's society would present? What if the songs were meant to capture a sense of the 'consciousnesses' of Bolden and his community, that Ondaatje very clearly sought to present in his novel? Maybe such elements would not perform a direct 'plot function,' where the development of the story are very clearly provided to the reader; however such elements, if they present a facet of the character's consciousness, maybe attributed with significant importance in respect of the contribution they make to the 'larger picture' the novel hopes to provide the reader. After all, the Modern Novel is not just about telling a story from A to Z by unfolding 'a plot.'

An academic perspective in relation to works of James Joyce

The doctoral thesis titled "The poems of James Joyce and the use of Poems in his Novels" by Selwyn Jackson (1978) identifies how the inclusion of poems, in certain novels of James Joyce, marks a trail to note the development of characters in the story.

Referring to Joyce's novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Jackson's study discusses how poetry is a means by which the protagonist of the novel (Stephen) is presented to the reader. The character's development through the story in respect of 'plot development,' is also shown through certain instances where poems are used in the course of the novel's narrative. In this view, one may see the 'songs' that Ondaatje posits as somewhat rather abstractly in Coming Through Slaughter, and possibly being more than 'embellishments' to the text.

Another riddle like part of Coming Through Slaughter in connection with the use of verse like elements is what one finds on page 146 of the novel. The text is produced as follows-

In the room there is the air and there is the cornerand there is the corner and there is the corner and there is the corner, If you don't shake, don't get no cake. (p.146)

By the looks of it this piece is more or less of a similar form as the two 'songs' in its sentential patterning, made up of repetition of one primary line. However unlike the two songs this piece is not titled. And one is left to do some 'textual exploration' in the novel to find some connection point to see to what 'larger context' this may fit into.

A surface level answer of sorts comes when one refers page 23 of the novel which features what may be deemed as a list of names/titles of jazz songs/composition, of which the last is "If you don't shake, don't get no cake." Maybe the assumable 'list' on page 23 was meant to provide a subtle precursor of what the textual narrative of the novel will provide as the reader turns the pages to eventually arrive at page 146, where the abstract piece of text (produced afore) is found without title or description.

Whether Ondaatje intended to make such a subtle narrative scheme is open for discussion and whether such a narrative device (if that can be said of it) effectively performs its purpose, is a matter that is debatable