Long Form Poems: A List:

The intent here is simply to be a place to collect titles. Long-form poetry has been an interest of mine for many years; it might be argued that it is my primary interesting in literature. Though, I would expand the field to be "long form aesthetic works," of which there is a list begun in the Literature file (here).

Now there is an issue of what constitutes a long-form work. The Waste Land is considered a long poem, though it runs between only sixteen to twenty pages in most printings. And then I have a single volume edition of Hollander's "Head of the Bed," which is only thirteen stanzas (and thirteen pages) long. So minimum length is tricky: in many ways the nature of the poem — and how it is perceived — speaks to whether it might fall into a long form category. A work made out of a process that is rather automatic, something like Cage's "Walking Through" experiments, can be book length, but really the first page speaks for the whole, and I will generally leave such things out. Also, there is an issue of whether it is a book-length work or is it merely a book-length collection of small works on the same topic. I will tend to leave out things that look like the latter. There is also the difference between a poem that is merely long and work that is poetic, but does not necessarily fit either the notion of singular, long poem nor the notion of a collection of poems. That distinction is not present in the lists below. I also include "novels-in-verse" (taking it in the broadest sense), and many are notated as such.

I am not limiting the lists to works in English. It is only happenstance that the lists are now primarily of works of the nineteenth century and later.

Presence in the list is not in any way a statement of quality. For the most part dates are dates of publication, not of composition.

The list below will generate over time. Consider it a holding point. I will add comments as I feel the need. Most of these I have not read. The first body of the list was generated by Liam Guilar in his exploration of long form poems. (His blog: Lady Godiva and Me.) As such, some of these I will take on his word that they fit the list.

I will present the list twice. First by date, then by author.

1922. Eliot, T.S. The Waste Land

1924. Jeffers, Robinson. Tamar

1924/5. Pound, Ezra. A Draft of XVI Cantos.

1925. Jeffers, Robinson. Roan Stallion

1926. MacDiarmid, Hugh. A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle

1928. Jeffers, Robinson. Cawdor

1930. Pound, Ezra. A Draft of XXX Cantos

1932. Bunting, Basil. Chomei at Tomai

1932. Jeffers, Robinson. Thurso's Landing

1934. Pound, Ezra. Eleven New Cantos XXXI-XLI

1937. Jones, David. In Parenthesis

1937. Pound, Ezra. The Fifth Decade of the Cantos XLII-LI

1937. Williams, William Carlos. "Apsphodel, that Greeny Flower"

— in Asphodel, that Greeny Flower and Other Love Poems

1939. MacNeice, Louis. Autumn Journal

1940. Pound, Ezra. Cantos LII-LXXI

1942. Kavanagh, Patrick. The Great Hunger

1945. Eliot, T.S. Four Quartets

Burnt Norton (1936)
East Coker (1940)
The Dry Salvages (1941)
Little Gidding (1942)

1946. Williams, William Carlos. Paterson Part I

1947. Artaud, Antonin. Artaud le Mômo (Artaud the Mômo)

1947. Artaud, Antonin. Pour en finir avec le jugement de dieu (To Have Done With the Judgment of God)

— radio play

1948. Jeffers, Robinson. The Double Axe

1948. Williams, William Carlos. Paterson Part II

1949. Williams, William Carlos. Paterson Part III

1951. Bunting, Basil. "The Spoils."

1951. Williams, William Carlos. Paterson Part IV

1952. Jones, David. The Anathemata

1953. Berryman, John. Homage to Mistress Bradstreet

1954. MacNeice, Louis. Autumn Sequel

1958. Williams, William Carlos. Paterson Part V

1959. Koch, Kenneth. Ko: or A Season on Earth

1960. Olson, Charles. The Maximus Poems (parts I, II, III)

1963. Williams, William Carlos. Paterson

— first complete (1946, 48, 49, 51, 58; first complete 63)

1964. Berryman, John. 77 Dreamsongs (complete in 1969)

1966. Bunting, Basil. Briggflatts: An Autobiography

1967. Berryman, John. Berryman's Sonnets (a.k.a. Sonnets to Chris)

— sonnet sequence, most written 1947

1968. Berryman, John. His Toy, His Dream, His Rest

— continuation of 77 Dreamsongs

1968. Olson, Charles. The Maximus Poems: III, IV, V

1969. Berryman, John. The Dreamsongs (complete)

1971. Hill, Geoffrey. Mercian Hymns

1974. Hollander, John. Head of the Bed

1974. Hughes, Ted. Crow (?)

1975. Dorn, Edward. Slinger

1975. Olson, Charles. The Maximus Poems: Volume Three

1976. Merrill, James. The Book of Ephraim

— first part of The Changing Light at Sandover)

1977. Koch, Kenneth. The Duplications

1977. Stanford, Frank. The Battle Field Where the Moon Says I Love You

1978. Merrill, James. Mirabell's Books of Number

1978. Silliman, Ron. Ketjak

1978. Zukofsky, Louis. "A" first complete

— earliest part written 1928

1980. Heijinian, Lyn. My Life

1980. Merrill, James. Scripts for the Pageant

1981. Hoffman, Daniel. Brotherly Love

1982. Merrill, James. The Changing Light at Sandover (complete)

1983. Olson, Charles. The Maximus Poems (complete)

1984. Heaney, Sheamus. Station Island

1985. Harrison, Tony. V

1986. Hacker, Marilyn. Love, Death, and the Changing of the Seasons

— sonnet sequence

1986. Seth, Vikram. The Golden Gate

1987. Scully, Maurice. Five Freedoms of Movement

— first part of "Things that Happen"

1990. Carruth, Hayden. The Sleeping Beauty

1990. Muldoon, Paul. Madoc: A Mystery

1992. Porter, Dorothy. Akhenaten(novel-in-verse)

1994. Bernard, Kenneth. The Baboon in the Night Club

1994. Porter, Dorothy. The Monkey’s Mask

novel-in-verse

1998. Hill, Geoffrey. The Triumph of Love

1998. Merwin, W.S. The Folding Cliffs

— novel-in-verse

1998. Wright, C.D. Deepstep Come Shining

1999. Carson, Anne. Autobiography of Red

1999. Porter, Dorothy. What a Piece of Work

— novel in verse

2000. Murray, Les. Freddy Neptune

— novel-in-verse

2000. Schnackenberg, Gjertrud. The Throne of Labdacus

2001. Betjeman, John. Summoned by Bells

2001. Hill, Selma. Bunny

2002. Hill, Selima. The Orchards of Svon

2002. Hill, Selima. Portrait of My Lover as a Horse

2002. Maxwell, Glyn. Time's Fool

2002. Porter, Dorothy. Wild Surmise

— novel in verse

2003. MacAdams, Phoebe. Livelihood

2003. Seidel, Frederick. The Cosmos Trilogy

— The Cosmos Poems, 2000; Life on Earth, 2001; Area Code 212, 2002

2004. Scully, Maurice. Livelihood

— second part of "Things That Happen"

2005. Duffy, Carol Ann. Rapture

2006. Povey, Malcolm. Sedgemoor

2006. Scully, Maurice. Sonata

— third part of "Things that Happen"

2006. Scully, Maurice. Tig

— final part of "Things that Happen"

2007. Croft, Andy. The Ghost Writer: A Novel in Verse

2007. Porter, Dorothy. El Dorado

— novel in verse

2008. Carson, Ciaran. For All We Know

2008. Weame, Alan. The Lovemakers (complete)

2009. Lauterbach, Ann. "Alice in the Wasteland"

— in Or to Begin Again

2009. McGlynn, Karyna. I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl

2009. Sumers-Willett. Susan B. A. Quiver

2010. Oswald, Alice. Dart

2010. Williams, Hugo. Billy's Rain

2012?. Jacobson, Lisa. The Sunlit Zone

2012. Wheeler, Susan. Meme

1947. Artaud, Antonin. Artaud le Mômo (Artaud the Mômo)

1947. Artaud, Antonin. Pour en finir avec le jugement de dieu (To Have Done With the Judgment of God)

— radio play

1994. Bernard, Kenneth. The Baboon in the Night Club

1953. Berryman, John. Homage to Mistress Bradstreet

1964. Berryman, John. 77 Dreamsongs (complete in 1969)

1967. Berryman, John. Berryman's Sonnets (a.k.a. Sonnets to Chris

— sonnet sequence, most written 1947

1968. Berryman, John. His Toy, His Dream, His Rest

— continuation of 77 Dreamsongs

1969. Berryman, John. The Dreamsongs (complete)

2001. Betjeman, John. Summoned by Bells

1932. Bunting, Basil. Chomei at Tomai

1951. Bunting, Basil. "The Spoils."

1966. Bunting, Basil. Briggflatts: An Autobiography

1990. Carruth, Hayden. The Sleeping Beauty

1999. Carson, Anne. Autobiography of Red

2008. Carson, Ciaran. For All We Know

2007. Croft, Andy. The Ghost Writer: A Novel in Verse

1975. Dorn, Edward. Slinger

2005. Duffy, Carol Ann. Rapture

1922. Eliot, T.S. The Waste Land

1945. Eliot, T.S. Four Quartets

Burnt Norton (1936)
East Coker (1940)
The Dry Salvages (1941)
Little Gidding (1942)

1986. Hacker, Marilyn. Love, Death, and the Changing of the Seasons

— sonnet sequence

1985. Harrison, Tony. V

1984. Heaney, Sheamus. Station Island

1980. Heijinian, Lyn. My Life

1971. Hill, Geoffrey. Mercian Hymns

1998. Hill, Geoffrey. The Triumph of Love

2001. Hill, Selma. Bunny

2002. Hill, Selima. The Orchards of Svon

2002. Hill, Selima. Portrait of My Lover as a Horse

1981. Hoffman, Daniel. Brotherly Love

1974. Hollander, John. Head of the Bed

1974. Hughes, Ted. Crow (?)

2012?. Jacobson, Lisa. The Sunlit Zone

1924. Jeffers, Robinson. Tamar

1925. Jeffers, Robinson. Roan Stallion

1928. Jeffers, Robinson. Cawdor

1932. Jeffers, Robinson. Thurso's Landing

1948. Jeffers, Robinson. The Double Axe

1937. Jones, David. In Parenthesis

1952. Jones, David. The Anathemata

1942. Kavanagh, Patrick. The Great Hunger

1959. Koch, Kenneth. Ko: or A Season on Earth

1977. Koch, Kenneth. The Duplications

2009. Lauterbach, Ann. "Alice in the Wasteland"

— in Or to Begin Again

2003. MacAdams, Phoebe. Livelihood

1926. MacDiarmid, Hugh. A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle

1939. MacNeice, Louis. Autumn Journal

1954. MacNeice, Louis. Autumn Sequel

2002. Maxwell, Glyn. Time's Fool

2009. McGlynn, Karyna. I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl

1976. Merrill, James. The Book of Ephraim

— first part of The Changing Light at Sandover

1978. Merrill, James. Mirabell's Books of Number

1980. Merrill, James. Scripts for the Pageant

1982. Merrill, James. The Changing Light at Sandover (complete)

1998. Merwin, W.S. The Folding Cliffs

— novel-in-verse

1990. Muldoon, Paul. Madoc: A Mystery

2000. Murray, Les. Freddy Neptune

— novel-in-verse

1960. Olson, Charles. The Maximus Poems (parts I, II, III)

1968. Olson, Charles. The Maximus Poems: III, IV, V

1975. Olson, Charles. The Maximus Poems: Volume Three

1983. Olson, Charles. The Maximus Poems (complete)

2010. Oswald, Alice. Dart

1992. Porter, Dorothy. Akhenaten

— novel-in-verse

1994. Porter, Dorothy. The Monkey’s Mask

— novel-in-verse

1999. Porter, Dorothy. What a Piece of Work

— novel in verse

2002. Porter, Dorothy. Wild Surmise

— novel in verse

2007. Porter, Dorothy. El Dorado

— novel in verse

1924/5. Pound, Ezra. A Draft of XVI Cantos.

1930. Pound, Ezra. A Draft of XXX Cantos

1934. Pound, Ezra. Eleven New Cantos XXXI-XLI

1937. Pound, Ezra. The Fifth Decade of the Cantos XLII-LI

1940. Pound, Ezra. Cantos LII-LXXI

2006. Povey, Malcolm. Sedgemoor

2000. Schnackenberg, Gjertrud. The Throne of Labdacus

1987. Scully, Maurice. Five Freedoms of Movement

— first part of "Things that Happen"

2004. Scully, Maurice. Livelihood

— second part of "Things That Happen"

2006. Scully, Maurice. Sonata

— third part of "Things that Happen"

2006. Scully, Maurice. Tig

— final part of "Things that Happen"

2003. Seidel, Frederick. The Cosmos Trilogy

— The Cosmos Poems, 2000; Life on Earth, 2001; Area Code 212, 2002

1986. Seth, Vikram. The Golden Gate

1978. Silliman, Ron. Ketjak

1977. Stanford, Frank. The Battle Field Where the Moon Says I Love You

2009. Sumers-Willett. Susan B. A. Quiver

2008. Weame, Alan. The Lovemakers (complete)

2012. Wheeler, Susan. Meme

2010. Williams, Hugo. Billy's Rain

1937. Williams, William Carlos. "Apsphodel, that Greeny Flower"

— in Asphodel, that Greeny Flower and Other Love Poems

1946. Williams, William Carlos. Paterson Part I

1948. Williams, William Carlos. Paterson Part II

1949. Williams, William Carlos. Paterson Part III

1951. Williams, William Carlos. Paterson Part IV

1958. Williams, William Carlos. Paterson Part V

1963. Williams, William Carlos. Paterson

— first complete (1946, 48, 49, 51, 58)

1998. Wright, C.D. Deepstep Come Shining

1978. Zukofsky, Louis. "A"

— first complete (earliest part 1928)