Narrators and Narrative Layers

A narrator (sometimes called a speaker), is basically the “voice” that speaks in a text. The word “narrator” comes from “narrate”, which means to tell a narrative; i.e. to tell a story. The narrator of the poem is therefore the “persona” or “entity” that tells the “story”.

Take for example the poem “Eldorado” by Edgar Allen Poe. Who is telling the “story” of the knight in search of Eldorado? Is it the author (Edgar Allen Poe) that is telling this story? It might be, but it is not necessarily. Rather, Poe created another “voice”, i.e. the narrator, to speak on his behalf.

Also, the narrator in this poem is not the only speaker. There are two other speakers as well, namely the knight and the “pilgrim shadow”.

The following diagram shows a depiction of the three basic narrative layers, each with a pair of entities, namely the (1) author and (2) reader, the (3) narrator and (4) addressee, and (5) character 1 and (6) character 2.

(Diagram from the English Department of TTU)

Exercise:

Use the poem “Eldorado” and replace these entities in the diagram with their proxies. For example, replace character 1 with “the knight”.

...ooOoo...

When trying to understand a poem it helps to identify the speakers, as well as identify who they are speaking to. Ask yourself: Who is the author? When the author wrote this poem, did he have a specific audience/reader in mind? Who is the narrator? Who is the narrator’s audience; i.e. who are the narrator's addressees? Who are the speakers (i.e. characters)?

Sound & Sense (p. 11) gives 21 points and questions that you can use to understand and evaluate a poem.