The Narrative Poetry Anthology
I'M LOOKING FOR OTHER EXAMPLES OF A NARRATIVE POETRY ANTHOLOGY LIKE HARRIET'S. HERE IS A RESPONSE TO MY QUERY FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
ALONG WITH MY CHALLENGE TO YOU !
"I've continued to research your question, but still haven't found any previous examples of "narrative poetry anthologies." I do think it's very possible that other NPAs were written and collected by families. The problem is that these unpublished collections would not be indexed in any standard reference sources. While such collections could be housed in various archives and special collections, unless a finding aid for a collection explicitly notes that it includes a group of poems contributed by multiple authors that chronicle a single unfolding story, these are likely to remain unrecognized.
I do think this type of communal poetic endeavor is something that can be undertaken with pleasure by families, friends, and classmates. I'm envisioning, for example, a school project in which each week or two a different student writes a short verse reviewing that week's events. At the end of the year, the class would have a neat verse chronicle of their time together.
I hope this information helps. If I do come across another example of an NPA, I will be sure to let you know. Please let me know, in the meantime, if there is anything else that I can do."
Peter Armenti, Digital Reference Section, Library of Congress
OKAY ALL YOU AMAZING ARCHIVISTS, GENEALOGISTS AND OTHER RESEARCHERS OUT THERE, HERE'S YOUR CHALLENGE! FIND ANOTHER NPA. I AGREE WITH PETER AT THE LOC, THERE MUST BE OTHERS, THEY SIMPLY HAVE NOT YET BEEN RECOGNIZED.
A NARRATIVE POETRY ANTHOLOGY IS DEFINED AS A COLLECTION OF POEMS BY MULTIPLE AUTHORS WHICH CHRONICLE THE SAME STORY, IN REAL TIME, AS THE STORY UNFOLDS OR PROGRESSES. --RK PATE