Poetry and Fiction Walk Hand in Hand

One may often wonder in what ways poetry can relate to other types of fiction. On the surface, it may be hard to find the commonalities. Poetry is often considerably shorter than most types of fiction, there are no rules for grammar, there doesn’t need to be any characters, and is often filled with many adjectives that describe the title or subject at hand. However, the two main connections that poetry has with fiction is that they’re both works of literature and they are both intended to be read. As with all types of literature, I find that they are meant to engage, enlighten, entertain, and/or educate those reading it.

Always Now, by Margaret Avison contains many poems that are short in length but are full of meaning. Canadian culture and the Canadian environment are the common themes within her poems. Her vivid use of colour and the way she engages our imagination throughout her poetry allows us to connect with her poems. This obviously engages a Canadian reader, as it plays upon our knowledge of our surroundings. It also has the ability to enlighten and educate others to the Canadian landscape if they are not from here.

Poetry is meant to be analysed. Poets often use different techniques to disguise the meaning behind their poems and for us to uncover those meanings is how we advance our literary understanding. This new knowledge can be applied to fiction as well. Authors in novels often use the same literary devices as poets but go unnoticed because we are not trained to notice it in fiction. We are taught to look for characters, plot, climax, theme etc. in fiction but are rarely ever told to look for metaphors, irony, double meanings like we are for poetry. If by reading Always Now, we are able to expand our knowledge of literature, then "titles" like poetry and fiction are insignificant; they are one in the same.