When most people hear "science fiction," they think of fiction and not poetry. Fantasy and horror have a less exclusive phrasing, but still, genre readers are more inclined to forget about poetry. It remains, however, a vital part of speculative literature. A genre is defined more by focus than by form. The speculative field—in all its myriad subdivisions—bases itself on the prime question, "What if?" Speculative poetry is simply exploration of "What if?" in verse.

Although poetry has enjoyed tremendous respect in some cultures and time periods, today many people ignore or disdain it. Part of the reason lies in the sad fact that poetry just does not get taught, published, or shared as much as fiction. Yet to those who know and love it, speculative poetry becomes a passion. This article explores some examples of science fiction, fantasy, and horror poetry with attention to what makes them special.

Poetry vs. Fiction

Poetry and fiction have a real love-hate relationship. They're like a couple who constantly fight and then have great makeup sex. In the end, neither is better than the other; both types of literature have their own pros and cons. You may find them together or apart—sometimes the poetry stands alone, and other times it embeds itself in a book or a movie. Sometimes a story is about a poem; sometimes a poem is about a story. In a few cases, poetry and prose form the warp and weft of a book. They are related through genre similarities, yet poetry and fiction display quite different characteristics. Consider the following comparison.

1. Poetry is more concise than fiction. A poem is usually shorter than a story, and every word must count. Poetry, being denser, tends to have greater immediate impact and requires less of a time commitment on the reader's part. Fiction generally enjoys greater freedom to cover topics in depth, at length.
2. Poetry is more memorable than prose. Rhymed, metered verse tends to stick in the mind because the human brain reacts more strongly to discernible patterns. (Note that this is an effect of structure rather than quality.) This supports the tradition of didactic and mnemonic poems. Even free verse tends to display more deliberate patterns of rhythm and sound repetition than ordinary prose.
3. Poetry is bound by different rules than fiction. Poetry has far more forms than fiction, and each form has its own rules regarding rhyme, rhythm, and other uses of language.¹ Poets are more free than storytellers to create new words or bend grammar into alien shapes. In some ways, poetry is much more rigid than fiction, but in others, it is more flexible.
4. Poetry is intended to call attention to language. In fiction, the writing should be transparent or nearly so, allowing the reader to concentrate on the story instead of the words used to convey it. Fiction that calls attention to the writing is distracting—what's sometimes called "the bug spot problem." Poetry uses conspicuous words and phrases to give it substance and to emphasize its main ideas.
5. Poetry is more suited to describing the indescribable. Poetic devices use patterns and comparisons to help us grasp ephemeral and universal concepts by comparing them to things we already understand. Fiction is expected to make sense. Poetry doesn't necessarily have to do that—it is allowed to transcend logic, especially when describing the illogical.

Poetry for Its Own Sake

Poetry can exist alongside fiction and interweave with it. However, poetry also stands on its own. People who love poetry may venture into speculative poetry even if they don't care for speculative fiction. The features of poetry lend themselves to certain exploits.

First, poetry can tell a tale as well as fiction can. Epic poetry reaches far back into our history. Even today it touches our lives; consider the recent success of Beowulf in movie form.² In shorter forms, the structure of the poem itself may lend support to the plot. In the sonnet The Cyburbs by Constance Cooper, the first quatrain presents the parents' reasons for moving; the second quatrain presents the advantages for the children; and the concluding sestet describes the cyburbs themselves.³ Like science fiction, poetry can explore the stories we're living today…scooted forward in time so we can look at them anew. For instance, Too Human by Half by Suzette Haden Elgin narrates the introduction of elder-robots to care for senior citizens.⁴

Unlike fiction, poetry can do without a plot. Many poems excel not because of gripping action but because of their imagery, as another purpose for poetry is to paint a picture in words. In "Corruption of Metals," Sonya Dorman juxtaposes images from Earth and space.⁵ Deborah P. Kolodji anthropomorphizes a common tool in The Office Stapler, a poem that relies on the visual and tactile descriptions of people who use the stapler.⁶

Then there is the sheer joy of sound—poems made for fun. What carries them is how they play with language, how they feel in the mouth, how they make the reader want to say them out loud, and how they stroke the ears upon entering. Some of these poems tell a story, as in "Vampire Villanelle" by David Lunde, which uses repetition and long vowels to echo subtly the vampire's antiquity.⁷ Others are a ramble of concepts connected by sounds, structures, or the pattern of an underlying metaphor as in "Spacer's Compass" by Bruce Boston with its scrolling description of galactic directions.⁸

Poetry as Worldbuilding

Many authors have used poetry to distinguish a certain setting. The literature of a culture reveals much about its people, their practices, and their beliefs. It also tells us how they feel about the land where they live. In speculative fiction, it's important to set the scene early and make readers feel like they're really in another world. So the concise, punchy imagery of poetry is an asset.

Severna Park uses a single verse in Hand of Prophecy to depict the relationship between masters and slaves in her novel:

See there, the wayward prince in white,
Bare of foot and bare of head.
Threw off the hunting dogs tonight,
But run to ground where demons tread.⁹

"Wayward" suggests a minor and futile infraction. His lack of suitable clothes indicates that the escape was unplanned. The hunting dogs imply a culture that considers slavery normal, an image that echoes American history. We might render the resolution as "out of the frying pan, into the fire."

In Speaking Stones, Stephen Leigh shares some of the poems and songs of the human colonists and the alien Miccail. "Lullaby for a Sa Child" speaks of the third sex, who traditionally traveled from family to family keeping the gene pool healthy.¹⁰ Another example, "Blue Night," describes the human custom of using colored stone necklaces during gathers to ensure an appropriate genetic mix.¹¹ The tragic history of the planet Mictlan, and its mutagenic quality, shape the course of both species.

M.C.A. Hogarth adds to the classic tradition of mournful lullabies in Alysha's Fall. Early in the book, the main character translates "Came Out to Play" from its original Meridan into Universal.¹² It belongs to a collection of "exodus lullabies" about the heritage of her people, the genetically engineered Pelted, who left Earth to settle freer worlds. That immigrant background and species diversity characterizes the Alliance in which humans play but a tiny role.

Poetry as Plot

In any story, something has to light a fire under the protagonists to make them leap into action. In speculative fiction, authors often choose prophecy for this purpose—and prophets tend to speak in riddles and rhymes. Characters may also discover helpful (or ominous) verses while trying to figure out what's happening. Other poems arise from the culture to memorialize or comment on the epic events underway.

One of the greatest speculative poets was J.R.R. Tolkien. He used poetry to capture the iconographic conflict of The Fellowship of the Rings:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. ¹³

Other poems spoke of the hobbits' travels, Boromir's death, and ancient glories or perils. Tolkien's heroes stood out not just for their bravery but for their eloquence: man, elf, dwarf, or hobbit, they could all recite or compose appropriate poetry for every occasion from taking a bath to presiding over a funeral. The rolling grandeur and jolly charm of Tolkien's verse made Middle Earth come alive.

In Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey uses short poems as chapter headers, introducing the culture of Pern. Also appearing, though late in the novel, is "The Question Song," which begins:

Gone away, gone ahead,
Echoes away, gone unansweréd.
Empty, open, dusty, dead,
Why have all the Weyrfolk fled? ¹⁴

With the deadly Thread returning and only one of the six Weyrs populated by dragons and their riders, everyone searches desperately for a solution. The clue lies in those verses, sending Lessa back in time to retrieve the lost Weyrs.

The fantasy movie The Dark Crystal depicted a magical world troubled by an ancient legacy: the energies of the flawed crystal and the disjunction of Skeksis and Mystics. The hope of healing and reunion appeared in this prophecy:

When single shines the triple sun,
What was sundered and undone
Shall be whole, the two made one,
By Gelfling hand, or else by none.¹⁵

The evil Skeksis, who preferred the status quo, responded with genocidal attacks against the Gelflings. The protagonists, Jen and Kira—the surviving Gelflings—thus have a strong motive to work against the Skeksis.

Poetry as Characterization

For some people, poetry is a frill—nice to have, but optional. For others, poetry (and music, because song lyrics are a type of poetry) is essential to their happiness. So a character's regard of poetry can distinguish him or her from others in a story. Poetic skill may also influence a character's choice of career or response to plot twists.

One character with a life driven by poetry and music is Menolly of Pern, first introduced in the novel Dragonsong. Here again, Anne McCaffrey uses short verses as chapter headers—but mixed with the traditional ones are some composed by Menolly herself. This one tells of Menolly's famous dash for safety ahead of falling Thread:

Then my feet took off and my legs went, too,
So my body was obliged to follow
Me with my hands and my mouth full of cress
And my throat too dry to swallow.¹⁶

Despite the serious topic, the meter is light and the description humorous: key traits of Menolly as a person and of her compositional style. Her verse memorializes a moment fraught with both fear and courage, as she faces the thing that all Pernese dread: being trapped in the open during Threadfall. The clear-headed determination and athleticism that allow her to survive the ordeal are further hallmarks of her power as a protagonist. Why was she out there in the first place? She ran away from home because, among other reasons, her family forbade her to compose anything.

A similar situation arises in Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey. Vanyel Ashkevron prefers literature and music to the rough-and-tumble rustic pursuits demanded by his father.¹⁷ No matter how badly people treat him, at least he always has the refuge of lyrics and history, things that can take him away from his miserable life. But when Vanyel finds out that he lacks the coveted Bardic Gift, the loss of his dream very nearly destroys him. That intense yearning for song, story, and music is one of the core features of his personality. Mercedes Lackey has also written lyrics to several songs about Vanyel and his later exploits as "The Last Herald-Mage," lyrics that stand out for their touching poetry as well as the tales they tell.

In the science fiction film Contact, Jodie Foster plays a scientist (Dr. Ellie Arroway) who's chosen as an astronaut for a solo trip to an alien world far from our solar system. As she careens through a staggering array of sublime celestial phenomena, she muses aloud to herself, half crying, "It's so beautiful… so beautiful… They should have sent a poet." ¹⁸

Conclusions

Poetry serves many functions in the speculative field. It can stand alone, appear in stories, or accompany music as song lyrics. It allows us to dive into unfamiliar situations and understand them almost instantly; it describes the bizarre in ways we can easily grasp. It reveals important features about characters and settings; it can push the plot forward. There are doubtless more uses beyond those covered here.

Although poetry does not currently enjoy much favor in the mainstream, it's doing a bit better here. Speculative poetry has an award of its own, the Rhysling Award, presented annually by the Science Fiction Poetry Association. The SFPA also publishes the magazine Star*Line and an annual anthology of Rhysling nominees. Other magazines, both print and online, also accept speculative poetry. See the list of recommended resources, below for more about appreciating or writing speculative poetry.

Then if you ever experience something inexpressible…you'll be ready respond with poetry in motion.