1.

Atlantis a Lost Sonnet by Eavan Boland

Eavan Boland, a prize-winning poet born in Dublin, Ireland, wrote this poem using the
myth of Atlantis a fictional island, the sinking of which Plato wrote about to critique the
hubris of nations. Boland uses the myth to reflect on nostalgia (the longing for a lost
time or place). Note how she moves between reflecting on the grand-historical and the
personal and intimate, and how the two add layers of meaning to each other:
How on earth did it happen, I used to wonder
that a whole city arches, pillars, collonades,
not to mention vehicles and animals had all
one fine day gone under?
Boland follows this with vivid descriptions of a remembered city, addressing a you that
is presumably a lover, given the intimacy of the description:
I miss our old city
white pepper, white pudding, you and I meeting
under fanlights and low skies to go home in it.
The poems ending conveys the pathos of the loss of a loved place/person while also
suggesting the function of storytelling or making narratives as something that helps us
cope with any inescapable sadness:
Maybe what really happened is
this: the old fable-makers searched hard for a word
to convey that what is gone is gone forever and
never found it. And so, in the best traditions of
where we come from, they gave their sorrow a name
and drowned it.
Here are some takeaways from reading Bolands poem to think about when writing
long-form fiction:

How does the personal fit in with the larger myths the bigger narratives of
society? How can a backdrop of specific historical or mythical events contribute to
conveying the mood and emotion you want to evoke?
In writing about romance, how can place and setting be used to evoke intimacy?
Does your characters environment change over the course of your novel and will this
change their relationship?

As you can see, reading the best poems from the 21st Century (those included here are
only some suggestions out of countless others) will help inspire you to think about
important elements of novel-writing such as character and setting.
2. Litany by Billy Collins
Billy Collins, who served as American Poet Laureate between 2001 and 2003, wrote this
romantic and humourous parody poem. It moves between clichd and fresh imagery to
create a tribute that gently pokes fun at a grandiose passage by the Belgian poet
Jacques Crickillon: You are the bread and the knife,/The crystal goblet and the wine.
Collins starts out by using the original quote:
You are the bread and the knife
The crystal goblet and the wine.
He proceeds in this way, adding:
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
Collins introduces humour and a sense of surprise by departing from this repetitive
structure and using the negative, you are not:
However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.
The colloquial (casual) tone (there is just no way) and the change in construction from
you are to you are not creates a sense of surprise. Surprise and repetition are two
common ingredients of comedy.
The speaker of Collins poem proceeds to list what he is:
It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of the rain on the roof.
Collins ends the poem with the speaker reassuring the addressee that despite all the
lovely things he is (I also happen to be the shooting star and the basket of chestnuts
on the kitchen table) the loved one is still the most important, the bread and the knife:

But dont worry, Im not the bread and the knife.

You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and somehow the wine.
Here are some takeaways from Collins poem that may be particularly useful if you are
wondering how to write a book using comedic or romantic elements without lapsing into
clich:

Unexpected changes between the highbrow and the colloquial can create
interest, as well as humour where such changes border on the absurd.
Its fine to borrow from other writers, but expand on what they have said in your
own voice and enter into dialogue with their ideas. This is what distinguishes drawing on
influences from plagiarism.
Just as much as another writers work can inspire your novel, you can also find
inspiration for a novel in your frustration with the grandiosity or other traits of other
writers and their works.
In writing romance, dont just stick to accepted flowery descriptions and
metaphors think of scenes and sights that convey intimacy. Collins reference to the
boots in the corner is one such image of intimacy, suggesting cosy cohabitation.
3. My Blue Hen by Ann Gray
Ann Gray is a poet and editor and this poem was one of the recipients of the Forward
Prize for best single poem, 2015. The Forward Prize is one of the most prestigious
annual prizes for poetry by UK and Irish writers. Her winning poem shows how even
potentially clichd images (such as the heart as the seat of emotion) can work when
supported by more striking imagery. It also shows how parallel construction (sentences
having the same, repetitive structure) can work in some instances:
Gray begins by describing a pet hens loss of her mate:
I sing to my blue hen. I fold her wings
against my body. The fox has had her lover,
stealing through the rough grass,
the washed sky.
Gray proceeds with a series of lines that begin I tell her:
I tell her, I am the blue heron
the hyacinth macaw.
And:

I tell her there are

things even the sea cant do, like come in when
its going out.
Gray collects a discrete array of beautiful images that increase the poems tenderness
and pathos.
The poem ends by introducing an unexpected you which seems to suggest that the
hens lost love is only a metaphorical projection for the speakers own:
I stroke her neck. She makes a bubbling sound,
her song of eggs and feathers. I tell her you were
a high note, a summer lightning storm of a man.
There are several elements of Grays poem that might help you in the process of
learning how to write a book:

Grays sentence construction (I tell I tell) creates a continuous, suspended

time, and prolongs a sense of the intimacy of the act of giving comfort. Language and
structure can be used in this way to great emotional effect.
Gray tells it slant: the poet leaves in ambiguities. Is the lightning storm of a man
the hens lost love or her own?
The poem is full of striking ideas and imagery (there are things even the sea
cant do, a dog can be a lighthouse, stealing through rough grass).
If youre ready to start your novel and create a blueprint that will help you finish.