Does anyone read the poems and excerpts at the start of books?

[j d worthington]

Essentially, you are talking about epigraphs:

http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/epigraph

Definition 2, in particular.

Answer: I always read them. Took me a while when I was younger to get the connection, but since then they became very much a part of the experience for me. Sometimes they are used to set forth the theme directly; other times to take an opposing position to the thesis of the work; sometimes used to pose an ironic commentary reinforcing or questioning the author's position within the work (essentially to open up a dialogue between the reader and the work, as it were)... and, of course, for several other uses.

Several come to mind for their applicability to the work, some by genuine authors (whether it be poets or prose writers); some by writers created by the writer (as Moorcock with his long-standing poet Wheldrake, loosely based on Algernon Charles Swinburne). Sometimes they are not only quite applicable, but essential to an understanding of the work -- or at least some aspect of the work. One which comes to mind is the quote from John Keats which heads one of Lovecraft's most famous yet most enigmatic stories, "The Outsider":

That night the Baron dreamt of many a woe,
And all his warrior-guests, with shade and form
Of witch, and demon, and large coffin-worm,
Were long be-nightmar'd....

Which at least one commentator has taken as a key to the tale as a tribute to Keats, as Keats was among Lovecraft's favorite poets, and the story was written around the centenary of the poets' death.

Another is his choice of quotations from Algernon Blackwood's novel, The Centaur, which he edited slightly to emphasize certain aspects of both Blackwood's theme and his own, for "The Call of Cthulhu":

“Of such great powers or beings there may be conceivably a survival . . . a survival of a hugely remote period when . . . consciousness was manifested, perhaps, in shapes and forms long since withdrawn before the tide of advancing humanity . . . forms of which poetry and legend alone have caught a flying memory and called them gods, monsters, mythical beings of all sorts and kinds. . . .”

which ends up saving a heck of a lot of exposition which would otherwise bog down the story tremendously.

Moorcock does this not only for the particular novel in which it is used as an epigram, but for his work in general, through the quotation by his (fictional) commentator Prinz Lobkowitz:

The War is ceaseless. The most we can hope for are occasional moments of tranquility in the midst of the conflict.

(This is also quoted in other places, in slightly different form, including the addition of a final "We must learn to appreciate these lulls when they occur".)
Another such instance from Moorcock is included at the beginning of Book 1 of Phoenix in Obsidian (a.k.a. The Silver Warriors); it is from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Pains of Sleep":

But yester-night I prayed aloud
In anguish and in agony,
Up-starting from the fiendish crowd
Of shapes and thoughts that tortured me:
A lurid light, a trampling throng,
Sense of intolerable wrong,
And whom I scorned, those only strong!
Thirst of revenge, the powerless will
Still baffled, and yet burning still!
Desire with loathing strangely mixed
On wild or hateful objects fixed.
Fantastic passions! maddening brawl!
And shame and terror over all!
Deeds to be hid which were not hid,
Which all confused I could not know
Whether I suffered, or I did:
For all seemed guilt, remorse or woe,
My own or others still the same
Life-stifling fear, soul-stifling shame.

This, too, not only sets the tone of what follows, but is related to much of the Eternal Champion Cycle and its themes, as well as adding several different layers of reading to these works.

Chapter headings, too, can serve many of the same purposes. They don't always; some writers simply don't know how to use such tools effectively, and end up wasting space with empty verbiage... but in general, the use of such things really is an important part of what the writer is doing. Were it not, they wouldn't be doing it....

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Wondered when you'd dip your beak into this one, JD.

 

[Delboy]

I'm another non-reader of these poems / quotes / verses. And definitely a skipper of verse / songs / poems within a story.

 

[dask]

I read all that stuff, the quotes, the poems, the forwards and introductions. One of my favorite poems was in the middle of Andrew Offutt's intro to SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS I, Arthur Conan Doyle's great little gem that goes---

I wrought my simple plan
If I give one hour of joy
To the man who's half a boy
Or the boy who's half a man

Should be at the beginning of every book of fantastic fiction.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

It's a sad day to skip any song and verse within a story, and definitely as a starter. For me, even if these epigraphs, as JD pointed out their proper term, didn't help me understand the story better, they definitely helped sharpen my mood for the rest of the story. And it is most effective, I find, when about to read a horror story, as they can help chill the atmosphere and kick your mind in the berries to help wake it up and say, "Hey! Better focus on this one!" For indeed, where is the entertainment of a thriller or horror story, if not in the atmosphere and tone?


One thing I tend not to really care for, however, are actual chapter titles. Taking from one example that annoyed me, would be Brooks' Landover series. I know the chapter titles were meant to set the theme for each individual chapter, but I find that setting different themes as such for each chapter to simply be a bad move, at least so blatantly. The reader should be able to pick up the actual theme of the chapter, if ever it has to really have one standing out special, from the content of it. Luckily, chapter titles are fairly rare.

 

[Mouse]

I love poetry when I'm not trying to read fiction, but when it's quoted I rarely see how it connects to the story (it feels like something the author's added in because they like it) and I'm not terribly interested in working it out -- I just want the story, dammit!

Exactimundo.

 

[Kapelvig]

Answer: I always read them. Took me a while when I was younger to get the connection, but since then they became very much a part of the experience for me. Sometimes they are used to set forth the theme directly; other times to take an opposing position to the thesis of the work; sometimes used to pose an ironic commentary reinforcing or questioning the author's position within the work (essentially to open up a dialogue between the reader and the work, as it were)... and, of course, for several other uses.

Great post, JD - really interesting, thanks

I agree, they can be very effective when used properly and I always read them. Some authors use them in a rather bland way, but when you get a real corker it becomes, as you say, integral to the reading of the novel.

 

[prizzley]

Great post, JD - really interesting, thanks

I agree, they can be very effective when used properly

Absolutely! But I pick and choose which I read. Some not only add nothing but confuse me.

 

[j d worthington]

One thing I tend not to really care for, however, are actual chapter titles. Taking from one example that annoyed me, would be Brooks' Landover series. I know the chapter titles were meant to set the theme for each individual chapter, but I find that setting different themes as such for each chapter to simply be a bad move, at least so blatantly. The reader should be able to pick up the actual theme of the chapter, if ever it has to really have one standing out special, from the content of it. Luckily, chapter titles are fairly rare.

Chapter titles tend to be more problematic, unfortunately. At times, of course, they are simply a telegraphing of what occurs within that chapter. At others they, too, can set the tone by suggesting an occurrence, mood, or atmosphere which can get the reader into the mindset most appropriate for that chapter. These suggestions may be fairly direct, or made by playing on associations (as with Robert H. Barlow's breaking up of HPL's famous couplet, "That is not dead which can eternal lie, / And with strange aeons even death may die" into four lines to head the chapters of his brief but very effective tale, "A Dim-Remembered Story").

While not chapter titles but rather epigraphs for individual chapters, I think those used in the Dune series (at least the first four or so) also serve such a purpose, plus the added one of sometimes agreeing with, sometimes contradicting, the actual content of the chapters; thus showing how the histories of such times will be determined not by the events, but by the beliefs and political pressures of the time in which they are written. Thus we see not only the basic story, but we see it as what is already history to others, and even those histories as histories to be questioned, modified, or overturned as new pressures or evidence arise. This in turn relates the events of the tale to our own experience of world events of our own lives, and how we ourselves (both individually and collectively) write the histories of these, our own, times....

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

See, chapter epigraphs are different. I've come across them in one book years ago, I can't remember what it was. But I do know that they helped keep things going pretty well.


I don't use them myself for the most part, as I'm not a novelist, and it feels a little frivolous to use them for a story that most likely won't even reach forty pages. I did use one for an entry into the 300 challenge, though...and I felt it was one of the best things I'd ever written. What a pity I really couldn't tweak it a bit more to add just a tiny bit in, though.

 

[hopewrites]

I took a disliking to chapter titles very young and havent (sometimes unfortunatly) read one since.

The book I was reading spoliered a fantastic plot twist with a chapter name. At an age where emotional decision making is just about the only kind of decision making there is, and when personal character formation is still in the "well if that doesnt work for me I'll just be something else" stage; I decided that if I was going to be too clever for chapter titles to not ruin the story for me, I would just have to not read them from now on.


since I forgot to answer with my favorite song/poem before I'll just slip it in now

The tears I feel today
I'll wait to shed tomorrow.
Though I'll not sleep this night
Nor find surcrese from sorrow.
My eyes must keep their sight;
I dare not be tear-blinded.
I must be free to talk
Not choked with grief, clear-minded.
My mouth cannot betray
the anguish that I know.
Yes, I'll keep my tears for later;
But my grief will never go.
-Menolly's Song for Petiron

-Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Singer.

A haunting melody surrounded it when I first read it, that I cant get out of my head now. And it eloquently expresses a tendency I have to put off feeling something heartbreakingly (or breathtakingly) real until I have dealt with everyone else's sorrow (or joy). Which reminds me to let go of my self-control now and then and actually feel what I'm feeling.

 

[billhafan]

I tend to read everything at the start - but can be left disappointed or confused if there is no relevance to a poem etc. Long lists of names and acronyms at the start can put me off - and I think are better at the back of the book as a reference, if needed. Multiple maps can also be a little off-putting to me, too. One is okay, but pages of them make me think it's going to be so complicated that I'll need to continually reference them to understand the story, and as I seldom give up on a book once started, it doesn't set the right mood for me at the beginning.

Love poetry, and if I thought it was appropriate, would certainly use one.

 

[Gumboot]

I'll give the author a chance, and if the pieces are short ( a line or two) I'll always read them. If they're longer than that (Robin Hobb sometimes has entire pages of quoted matter at the beginning of a chapter) I'll only keep reading them if they prove interesting and relevant. If not I'll eventually just skip them, at least on the first reading.

 

[Toby Frost]

I do read them, but with a degree of apprehension. I'm fine with short real-world quotations, as they can often set the scene. Likewise, I like the approach used by Asimov and Herbert of quoting imaginary reference books, encyclopedias etc. What I'm cautious of is poetry, which unless the author is really skilled won't be terribly good. This counts double if the poetry is supposed to be by some great bard in the story.

 

[Bonnie Milani]

I don't recall seeing poetic chapter headers at all except for Rudyard Kipling's "Kim" - and Kipling being Kipling, I didn't just READ those verses, I've made one of them a personal mantra. Think this verse was the header for Chapter 14:

My brother kneels (so saith Kabir)
To stone and brass in heathenwise
But in my brother's voice I hear
my own unanswered agonies.
His gods are as his Fates assign;
his prayer is all the world's - and mine.

 

[James Coote]

When I was thirteen, I started reading LoTR. I decided to be completion and started by reading the extra stuff at the start. After struggling through something about the museum in some place in the Shire, and then ploughing my way through the fellowship of the ring, which takes time to get going anyway, I vowed that life was too short for that stuff. I have to force myself to read prologues these days.

 

[Appello]

I have to say that quotes at the beginning of stories tend to annoy me, just because I find them a little presumptuous. Like they are trying to pre-empt the attitude the reader should be taking toward the story. In my opinion, a story's drama or angst should be conveyed through the writing, not some cryptic line or two at the beginning.

I'm reading 'Way of Kings' by Sanderson at the moment, and the way he puts a ridiculously cryptic quote at the beginning of every single chapter is really getting to me. For instance, this is the quotation at the start of chapter 42:

"Like a highstorm, regular in their coming, yet always unexpected."
-The word Desolation is used twice in reference to their appearances. See pages 57, 59, and 64 of Tales by Hearthlight.

Bearing in mind, of course, that this 'tales by hearthlight' doesn't actually exist except in the mind of Sanderson, I find this incredibly frustrating. It doesn't add anything to the story at hand, it has no obvious connection with other quotations at the start of other chapters. It seems the only reason it's thrown in there is to add a seeming historical depth and 'mystery' to the world. To be honest that's what the writing and characters should be doing. This just feels a bit cheap and pretentious.

Just my personal opinion, of course.

 

[Anne Martin]

In The Cult of Hahn, I begin many chapters with a series of verses from The Book of Cyrus, which is the bible of the alternate universe that I use (sorry Hex). If you skip it, you may not understand the significance of the chapter. They usually contain a prophesy, or important history of Hora or Hahn, that Liz (the current Hora) doesn't yet know. She's studying the history (illegally) to learn about herself, with they aid of Alleyn her Mentor (and servant). Someday I might even write the full Book of Cyrus, but that will take a lot of work, being all in verse. (Someday I might even finish the novel.)

Some authors go to great pains to create an epigraph like these to give history or create a milieu for a chapter. To me, it makes sense to read them. I always do.

Inserting an epigraph allows the writer to give background information without digressing from the story.