List of long poems in English

This is a list of English poems over 1000 lines. This list includes poems that are generally identified as part of the long poem genre, being considerable in length, and with that length enhancing the poems' meaning or thematic weight. This alphabetical list is incomplete, as the label of long poem is selectively and inconsistently applied in literary academia.

Poet Poem Year published Length Verse form
Algerton, Frank C.Columbia: an Epic Poem on the Late Civil War between the Northern and Southern States of North America1893heroic couplet
Ammons, A. R.Sphere: The Form of a Motion1973
Ammons, A. R.Tape for the Turn of the Year
Ashbery, JohnFlow Chart1991
Atherstone, EdwinThe Fall of Nineveh1828-1868blank verse
Atherstone, EdwinIsrael in Egypt186120,000 c. 20,000blank verse
Auden, W.H.The Age of Anxiety1944-462,500 c. 2,500
Aurobindo, SriSavitri: A Legend and a Symbol195124,000 c. 24,000 lines
AnonymousBeowulf8th-11th Century3,182 linesalliterative metre
Benét, Stephen VincentJohn Brown's Body193015,000 c. 15,000 linesvarious
Blackmore, RichardEliza17058,000 c. 8,000 linesheroic couplet
Blackmore, RichardRedemption1722
Bowles, William LisleThe Spirit of Discovery; or, the Conquest of Ocean1804blank verse
Branch, Anna HempsteadNimrod1910blank verse
Browning, Elizabeth BarrettAurora Leigh185610,938 linesblank verse
Browning, RobertSordello1840heroic couplet
Browning, RobertThe Ring and the Book1868-6921,000 c. 21,000 linesblank verse
Bryant, John DelavauRedemption, a Poem1857blank verse
Bulmer, AgnesMessiah's Kingdom183314,000 c. 14,000 linesheroic couplet
Byron, LordDon Juan182415,920 linesottava rima
Byron, LordChilde Harold's Pilgrimage1812-184,455 linesSpenserian stanza
Chaucer, GeoffreyTroilus and Criseyde1380 c. 13808,239 linesRhyme royal
Clough, Arthur HughThe Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich18481,870 c. 1,870hexameter
Cowper, WilliamThe Task1785blank verse
Crane, HartThe Bridge1930
AnonymousCursor Mundi1300 c. 1300
H.D.Helen in Egypt
H.D.Trilogy1944-46
Davenant, WilliamGondibert1651
Dickey, JamesThe Zodiac1976
Dorn, EdwardGunslinger[1]1989
Drayton, MichaelThe Barons' Wars1603ottava rima
Drummond, William HamiltonThe Battle of Trafalgar1806heroic couplet
Duncan, RobertThe Structure of Rime
Duncan, RobertPassages
Drayton, MichaelPoly-Olbion1612; 162215,000 linesalexandrine
Emerson, ClaudiaPinion
Fitchett, JohnKing Alfred1841131,000 c. 131,000 lines[2]blank verse
Glover, RichardLeonidas1737blank verse
Grahn, JudyThe Chronicle of Queens
Howe, SusanThe Liberties
Hughes, LangstonMontage of a Dream Deferred
Jones, DavidThe Anathemata
Jones, DavidIn Parenthesis1937
Kaye, John BrayshawTrial of Christ in Seven Stages1909blank verse
Kaye, John BrayshawVashti1894blank verse
Keats, JohnEndymion18184,100 c. 4,100heroic couplet
Langland, WilliamPiers Plowman1370-90 c. 1370-907,300 c. 7,300 linesalliterative metre
Lawrance, William VicarsThe Story of Judeth1889heroic couplet
LayamonBrut1190-1215 c. 1190-121516, 095alliterative verse
Lydgate, JohnThe Fall of the Princes1431-143936,365 linesrhyme royal
Longfellow, Henry WadsworthEvangeline18471396 lineshexameter
Longfellow, Henry WadsworthSong of Hiawatha18555,414 linesoctosyllable
Masefield, JohnDauber1912rhyme royal
Meek, Alexander BeaufortThe Red Eagle. A Poem of the South1855
Melville, HermanClarel187618,000 lines
Miles, Sibella ElizabethThe Wanderer of Scandinavia, or Sweden Delivered1826Spenserian stanza
Milton, JohnParadise Lost166710,565 linesblank verse
Milton, JohnParadise Regained16712,070 linesblank verse
Milton, JohnSamson Agonistes16711,758 linesblank verse
Moon, George WashingtonElijah the Prophet1866blank verse
Morris, WilliamThe Earthly Paradise1868-1870various
Morris, WilliamThe Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs187610,000+ linesalliterative verse
Ogilvie, JohnBritannia1801blank verse
Olson, CharlesMaximus Poems
AnonymousPearl14th century1212alliterative verse
Peterson, Joseph G.Inside the Whale2011
Pound, EzraCantosfree verse
Robinson, Edwin ArlingtonMerlin19172,560 c. 2,560 linesblank verse
Seymer, John GunningThe Fall of Saul1839blank verse
Shelley, Percy ByssheQueen Mab (poem)18132,289 lines
Shelley, Percy ByssheThe Revolt of Islam18174,818 linesSpenserian stanza
AnonymousSir Gawain and the Green Knight14th centuryalliterative verse
Southey, RobertJoan of Arc1796
Southey, RobertThalaba the Destroyer1801
Southey, RobertMadoc1805
Southey, RobertRoderick the Last of the Goths1814
Spenser, EdmundThe Faerie Queene[3]1590, 159634,928 linesSpenserian stanza
Stanford, FrankThe Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You197715,283 lines
Stein, GertrudeStanzas in Meditation1956
Swinburne, Algernon CharlesTristram of Lyonesse18824,488 linesheroic couplet
Thomson, JamesThe Castle of Indolence1748Spenserian stanza
Thomson, JamesThe Seasons1730blank verse
Tighe, MaryPsyche, or the Legend of Love[4]18053,348 linesSpenserian stanza
Tolson, Melvin B.Harlem Gallery1965
Townsend, GeorgeArmageddon1815blank verse
Walcott, DerekOmeros1990
Whitman, WaltSong of Myself18811346 lines
Williams, Saul, said the shotgun to the head
Williams, William CarlosPaterson1946-58
Wordsworth, WilliamThe Prelude1850blank verse
Zukofsky, Louis"A"

References
  1. Gunslinger (poem)
  2. Charles William Sutton, Fitchett, John at Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 19.
  3. https://www.poemist.com/edmund-spenser/the-faerie-queene-book-iii-canto-vi
  4. https://www.poemist.com/mary-tighe/psyche-or-the-legend-of-love-canto-ii
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