When I recently discovered that Ms. Norton also writes poetry, I was a bit surprised. Strangely enough, I didn't think about this aspect of her creation. That made me wonder. Why - I asked myself - have I always believed that she writes only prose? Two answers came to my mind. Firstly - never have I seen before any mention of her poems, apart from the R. Scholbin & Irene Harrison's Bibliography. Secondly, it occurred to me that Andre, unlike other fantasy authors, like, for example, Tad Williams (whose Dragonbone series is, by the way, really worth reading), scarcely includes poetical elements in her books - you will find them only in a very few novels.
    What is very characteristic of Norton lyrics and, at the same time, adds to the chance of them being paid little attention by the reader, being neglected, is their small size. They almost never exceed 15 verses in length, usually being made of five to ten short verses. Thus they seem to vanish, disappear in the midst of tens of thousands of letters that constitute the whole book.
    The length, as well as the widespread use of accurate (as far as pronunciation is concerned), 1.5-syllable, abab rhymes, is also responsible for making these poems resemble childish rhymes (they are even called so by the author in the "Mirror of Destiny"), which is an intended stylistic technique. Let the examples be the Eagle, hear me from Fur Magic or Intery, mintery, cutery corn from Outside, both novels addressed to a younger audience.
    There are of course exceptions to that rule, like the two beautiful, state-of-the-art incantations to the Lady from the "Moon called" (see Blessing and I am the servant, Thou the Lady)or the poems published in Omniumgathum.
    As far as the subject is concerned, the poems can be divided into two distinct groups - ritual and didactic. The appearance of magical, occult rituals in Norton books is closely connected the genre they belong to. After all, it isn't easy to find a fantasy book without magical elements in it. Poetry, thanks to the use of vague metaphors and ellipses, makes the readers rely mostly on their imagination and helps to create a state of suspense, mystery. Thus it is a very effective tool in the hands of a skilled writer.
    Another characteristic trait of this kind of poems that appear in Ms. Norton's writing is the use of syntactic parallelisms and epiphors that allow emphasising the message they convey. A good example of this is again Cory's prayer to the spirit of the Eagle, where the repeated, litany-like, use of the phrase "hear me" is a means of stressing the boy's need of help and thus directing the sprit's notice to him.
    Most of the "ritual" poems in Norton's books take a form of an apostrophe or, if longer, an invocation to a being of power or some kind of a supreme force (e.g. Gunnora). The fact that the most common style (another synonym for "form"?) is that of a plea infers the superiority of the receiver over the sender. As it is the protagonist who usually utters such requests, it suggests that the author be strongly in favour of such attitude, not the authoritarian one.
    The so-called didactic poems have been named so, because they usually convey some sort of message, either advice or warning, which is directed to a character and, indirectly, reader. Believeing's seeing is an example of the first type - short, stirring the imagination and given in a tone of a parent instructing a child.
    
    "Songsmith", which some of you might have read, with numerous song lyrics of considerable length, doesn't seem to match this pattern. When I read this book, I noticed that change and began to suspect that it was not Ms. Norton who wrote them and my suspections were true. Ms. Norton and Ann Crispin asked Teresa Bigbee, a blind but (Perhaps I should say "thus" - there are times when I believe there is no good poetry without the poet suffering either mentally or/and physically, for only then the verse comes straight from one's heart) very talented poet.
    It all points to the conclusion that Ms. Norton prefers not to write poems. Well, personally, I would not mind if more of her poetry appeared in the novels and I think most of you will agree with me on that point.

Poems published seperately:

Freedom¹

• Published in September 1943 in Cleveland Press (from Andre Norton's personal files)

Cats¹
The Last Cohort¹
Song of the Barbarian Swordsman¹

• Appear in Omniumgathum: An Anthology of Verse by Top Authors in the Field of Fantasy (paperback), ed. by Jonathon Bacon and Steve Troyanovich, Stygian Isle Press, 1976.

Useful links:   Other works of Andre Norton