Long narrative poems

[Dr Doom]

It seems to me that long narrative poems aren't very popular these days. Poems I see written and published today are usually short "stream of consciousness" type poems. But then again, I don't read much contemporary poetry, so maybe my assupmtion is wrong. My favorite poem of all time has to be Milton's Paradise Lost, and I try to read it every year. Are there any long narrative poens written today? Does anyone enjoy reading narrative poems? I wonder if our attention span is so short now that a long poem would bore us to death.

[MorpheusSandman]

There are epic poems being written today, but most seem to be in a very different style than those of the classics. After Milton, I don't think anyone had a hope or prayer of composing anything in the same mode on the same scale and having it be considered an equal. William Blake may have come the closest. Even Wordsworth balked under the concept. But here's a list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_poetry#Modern_epics_.28from_1500.29) of modern epics, of which Pound's Cantos, Kazantzaki's Odyssey Sequel, Williams' Paterson, and Merrill's The Changing Light at Sandover are probably the most famous from the last century.

[ladderandbucket]

Robinson Jeffers wrote some long narrative poems in the early 20th century. They were set in rural California but they have a real mythic feel - a sort of cross between Faulkner, Homer and an Old Testament prophet. They are some of my favourite pieces of literature.

[Dr Doom]

I'm aware of narrative poems written in the recent past, but I'm more interested in such poems being written today.

Right now I'm reading some of C.S. Lewis's narrative poems. I really like the OE-influenced "The Nameless Isle" (which I understand was not named by Lewis himself). He seems to have been an accomplished poet but seems like his poems never really took off. I love his scholarly writings.

[OrphanPip]

Anne Carson writes "verse novels," which are essentially the same thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_Red

I recommend Autobiography of Red.

[shortstoryfan]

I did enjoy "Autobiography of Red", but I think that most people who are troubled that there aren't enough long narrative poems will not enjoy it. It's a postmodern narrative. And people just hate that.

[Lokasenna]

Well, I'll step on my soapbox and recommend Kalevala - an absolutely wonderful cycle of epic poetry concerned with Finnish mythology. And at 1849, it's relatively recent.

The other modern-ish one that sprung to mind was Aurora Leigh by Barrett Browning.

[stlukesguild]

A lot depends upon how you define "narrative". If you expect the usual narrative ala a 19th century novel, then you may have to dig deep to find Modern narrative poems. Having said that much... I would recommend the following (all far more contemporary than Kalevala:

T.S. Eliot- The Wasteland
Pablo Neruda- Canto General
Federico Garcia-Lorca- A Poet in New York
Octavio Paz- Sunstone
James Merrill- The Changing Light at Sandover
Homero Aridjis- Persephone
Nikos Kazantzakis- Odyssey
Anne Carson- Autobiography of Red (which really isn't that off-putting in its post-modernism)