The long poem is a type of literary work that includes poetry with a great length. The definition of a long poem is not clearly defined but includes some of the most important poems ever written.
The Epic of Manas is the longest epic poem in the world, with over 500,000 lines. It is about 17 times larger than the Iliad and Odyssey combined, about 35 times longer than Dante’s Divine Comedy, and two and a half times the size of the Mahābhārata.
In English, Beowulf and Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde are among the earliest important long poems. This genre became more popular and gained new life through the work of experimental Modernist writers in the early 1900s. It has continued to change and grow through the 21st century.
The long poem is now a general term that includes many types of poetry, such as epic, verse novel, verse narrative, lyric sequence, lyric series, and collage/montage.
Definitions
Lynn Keller describes a long poem as a poem that is simply "book-length." However, a simple way to define a long poem is that it is long enough for its length to carry meaning. Susan Stanford Friedman describes the long poem as a genre that includes all poems not considered short. Edgar Allan Poe, in his essay "The Philosophy of Composition," argued that there is no true long poem, only long sequences of short poetic elements and experiences.
These broad definitions, though sometimes unclear, help explain the wide range of long poems and have allowed the genre to become a way for people in modern and contemporary poetry to express cultural identity. Only a general definition can apply to the entire genre. In general, a poem is considered a "long poem" when its length adds to and expands the poem's themes, creativity, and structure.
Although the term "long poem" is hard to define, the genre has become important both as a literary form and as a way for groups to share collective experiences. In her essay "Pushing the Limits," Lynn Keller emphasizes the long poem's lasting importance in early twentieth-century American literature.
Purposes
A long poem often helps share a story that includes a culture's values and history. Ezra Pound created the term "tale of the tribe," which he used to describe his own long poem, The Cantos. The length and wide scope of long poems allow poets to explore big ideas that shorter poems cannot. A poet may see themselves as someone who carries important knowledge, like Langston Hughes described, guiding others through a culture's story or sharing wisdom already present within the group. Some poets also act as poet-prophets, offering special insights for their people.
In modern and contemporary long poems, the "tale of the tribe" has often been retold by people who have been culturally, economically, or socially left out of traditional stories. Because classic epics often ignored these groups, new types of epic stories, such as Derek Walcott's Omeros, have appeared. These works help fill gaps in storytelling for post-colonial people, racially oppressed groups, women, and others who were excluded from traditional epic tales.
Many poets have used the long poem genre to "rewrite myths" in new ways. Since long poems have roots in forms that often excluded poets without strong cultural influence, they can serve as a major change in how stories are told. These changes may include adding characters who were previously ignored, changing how famous characters are viewed, or reworking traditions set by earlier literature. Feminist critics especially note how women gain new voices and stories by transforming a form that was once dominated by men.
Lynn Keller explains that long poems helped modernists include information about society, anthropology, and history. Some long poems retell history to support a specific idea, while others teach about a place or people's past. Like rewriting myths, these poems may highlight or change parts of history to show a different perspective or make a point.
Concerns and controversies
Long poem writers often have trouble making their poems make sense or deciding how to end them. Many are worried that their work might not have the strong effect they hope for. Because long poems can take many years to finish, this worry feels even bigger. Ezra Pound, who wrote The Cantos, faced this challenge. Since long poems come from the tradition of epics, writers often feel pressure to create works that define a nation's identity or the shared identity of a large group. American long poems, in particular, face challenges because of the influence of European poems. Walt Whitman tried to show what it means to be American in Song of Myself. When writers feel their work does not reach the level they want or inspire change, they may see their poem as a failure.
Writers of long poems also struggle to choose the best form or mix of forms to use. Since long poems cannot be clearly grouped into one form, it is hard to pick the most effective style.
Some critics, like Edgar Allan Poe, believe poetry should focus more on the lyric style, which is short and emotionally powerful. They argue that the intense emotions of a lyric cannot be kept up for the length of a long poem, making long poems either impossible or inherently flawed.
In his article "The long poem: sequence or consequence?" Ted Weiss quotes a passage from M. L. Rozenthal and Sally M. Gall's The Modern Poetic Sequence, which reflects Poe's views: "A long poem is really just a series of short poems. A poem must strongly move the reader by lifting the soul, and intense emotions are naturally short. For this reason, at least half of Paradise Lost feels more like prose than poetry—because it is a series of emotional highs and lows. Long poems lack the unity needed for a true poem. A poem should not be longer than what can be read in half an hour. No truly unified long poem is possible."
Critic Lynn Keller also discusses challenges in her essay "Pushing the Limits." She explains that because there are many types of long poems, critics and readers often pick one type, usually the epic form, as the "real" long poem. This leads to unfair criticism of other types for not matching the epic style. Some critics also believe long poems must be either epics or lyrics, with no middle ground.
Many critics use different names to describe types of long poems, which can cause confusion. Below is a list of the most common and widely accepted categories of long poems.
Advantages of the genre
The long poem genre has several advantages over prose and strictly lyric poetry. The most obvious difference between the long poem and other literary genres is the great difficulty of composing a long work entirely in verse. Poets who write long poems face the serious challenge of creating a work that is always poetic, sometimes using strict forms and keeping them throughout the whole poem. However, poets who choose to write long poems turn this challenge into an advantage—if a poet can write a long poem, they show they are skilled. The difficulty gives the genre a sense of importance. Long poems have been among the most influential texts in the world since Homer. By writing a long poem, a poet joins this tradition and must prove their skill by meeting the standards of the tradition. As discussed below, the traditionally difficult long poem's importance can be used for new or different purposes.
Additional benefits of the long poem:
Female authors in the genre
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the first female writers in the modern era to try writing an epic poem. In an article titled "Written in blood: the art of mothering epic in the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning," Olivia Gatti Taylor examines how Browning attempted to create a truly feminine epic poem called Aurora Leigh. Taylor suggests that Browning designed the poem’s structure to reflect its connection to pregnancy. Earlier epic poems, such as The Aeneid and Paradise Lost, had twelve books, but Aurora Leigh was planned to have nine books. According to Sandra Donaldson, Barrett Browning’s personal experience of giving birth and caring for a child at age forty-three had a strong influence on her poetry. This experience improved her ability to express deep emotions and ideas in her writing.
Genealogy
The most important "parent genre" for the long poem is the epic. An epic is a long, respected story poem that usually deals with serious topics and describes great actions or events important to a culture or country. The term "long poem" includes all the usual features of an epic and also includes responses that oppose those features. Many types of long poems share traits with the epic, such as telling stories about a tribe or nation, describing journeys, recounting history to teach lessons, featuring a hero, or including predictions.
Other types of long poems include lyric sequence, series, collage, and verse-novel. What connects all these types under the category of "long poem" is that their length plays an important role in their meaning. Each type, however, is different in how it is written, its style, voice, storytelling method, and how closely it relates to other types of writing.
Sequence poetry connects poems in order to create meaning, with each poem building on the ones before it. Examples include Louise Glück's The Wild Iris and older groups of sonnets, such as Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella or Dante's Vita Nuova. Serial lyrics also rely on placing poems next to each other and showing how they interact to create deeper meaning.
These types of poems are often combined, mixed, or overlapped to form new subgenres. The mixing of these types makes the long poem difficult to define, but it also shows how creative writers are when using this form.
Subgenres
Critic Joseph Conte explains that an epic is a long poem that must have a grand voice and purpose, and it must express something important. Lynn Keller says that one part of an epic is a "quasi-circular quest-journey structure," which means the journey in the poem starts and ends in similar places. She mentions that this structure appears in Walt Whitman's long poem Song of Myself. However, Keller notes that Song of Myself does not have a clear ending, unlike more traditional long poems. While long poems share some roots with epics, they are not always the same as epics. Another example of a long poem that differs from traditional epics is Helen in Egypt by H.D. Unlike traditional epics, which focus on physical journeys, Helen in Egypt explores the inner journey of the character Helen.
Epics often include a hero, myths, and quests. These elements appear in many long poems, but they are sometimes changed. For example, Helen in Egypt uses "mythic revision," which means it retells a myth in a new way. This makes the poem unique. Also, not all long poems are based on the same kind of epic. Some are inspired by specific epics rather than the general idea of an epic.
The long poem Omeros by Derek Walcott has received mixed opinions about whether it should be linked to the traditional epic form. Some critics say the story is not as important as those in traditional epics, as Omeros focuses on fishermen in the Caribbean rather than heroic battles. Others argue that Omeros still connects to the epic genre because it contrasts with traditional epics by featuring ordinary characters instead of warriors. These critics also note that the names of characters in Omeros are taken from Homer, the ancient poet, which shows the poem's connection to epic traditions.
Walcott has given different answers in interviews about whether Omeros is tied to the epic form. In one, he said it is a type of epic, but in another, he said it is not, pointing out that there are no epic-like battles in the poem. However, critics believe that Walcott likely read Homer, as the character names in Omeros are similar to those in Homer's works. Walcott's hesitation to link Omeros to the epic form may be because he wants people to see the poem as more than just influenced by epics.
The way a long poem is categorized as an epic or not affects its meaning. Long poems are influenced by many different genres, so changing the rules of these genres can create a strong contrast with what people expect from epics.
Lynn Keller agrees with critic Susan Friedman, who says that the long poem has often been seen as a form dominated by men, which keeps women from being fully included in the tradition of epic poetry. However, many long poems are written by women, so it is not accurate to connect all long poems to the epic genre.
The traditional epic, like The Odyssey or The Aeneid, is a written history that shapes how a culture is viewed. The person who writes this history controls how future generations understand the past. Friedman's argument that long poems should not be linked to epics because they are sometimes written by women ignores the work of female poets who use the long poem form to share the stories of marginalized groups.
If a long poem is considered an epic or similar to one, it can be a way to rewrite history by focusing on the stories of people who have been overlooked, such as women. Omeros is an example of this, as it tells the story of a marginalized group. Similarly, H.D.'s Helen in Egypt changes the story of Helen of Troy to show that women are not always to blame for the Trojan War. Using the epic form allows these poets to legitimize their stories while also showing that the traditional epic form is not enough for their purposes.
A lyric sequence is a group of short lyric poems that work together to create a larger, unified meaning. These poems are often connected by a theme, and each one adds to the overall message of the collection. A key feature of this form is that each poem stands alone but also contributes to the whole.
Critic Lynn Keller contrasts the lyric sequence with the epic, saying that the lyric sequence does not focus on themes like quests, heroes, or history. Instead, it is more about personal emotions and experiences.
The lyric sequence is a type of poetry where the arrangement of short poems helps build the meaning of the long poem. This arrangement, called "seriality," can help create a story or develop a theme. Each poem is unique, but together they form a bigger picture.
Deborah Sinnreich-Levi and Ian Laurie studied the work of Oton de Grandson, who used a series of short love poems to create a connected story. George Oppen's Discrete Series uses the idea of a "discrete series" from mathematics to structure his poems. Langston Hughes' Montage of a Dream Deferred is also an example of a lyric sequence.
One of the most famous examples of a collage long poem is T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. Critic Philip Cohen describes Eliot's use of collage in the poem as similar to a "cubist collage," where different styles and voices are combined. The poem uses many different parts and styles, and the speakers change from one voice to another.
A collage combines different elements to create a new whole.