• Home
  • About
  • Current Issue
  • Back Issues
    • All Back Issues
    • Inaugural Issue (November 2023)
    • A Christmas Collection (Dec. 25, 2023)
    • Reprints (December 2023)
    • New Series Issue 1 (Winter, 2024)
    • New Series Issue 2 (Spring, 2024)
    • New Series Issue 3 (Summer, 2024)
    • New Series Issue 4 (Fall, 2024)
    • New Series Issue 5 (Winter, 2025)
    • New Series Issue 6 (Spring, 2025)
    • New Series Issue 7 (Summer, 2025)
    • New Series Issue 8 (Fall, 2025)
    • New Series Issue 9 (Winter, 2026)
    • New Series Issue 10 (Spring, 2026)
    • New Series Issue 11 (Summer, 2026)
  • Samplers
    • Styles and Themes
    • Epic and Narrative Poems
    • Noted Authors
    • Modern Life
    • Natural Scenes
    • Poems of Love, Devotion, Passion & Grief
    • The Audio-Video Tour
    • Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction
    • Alliterative Verse in Arda
    • The Anglo-Saxon and Viking World
    • The High Medieval World
    • Arthurian Legend
    • The Classical, Alliterative
    • The Biblical, Alliterative
    • Humor (Light Verse)
    • The Riddle Tour
  • Contact
  • Call for Submissions
  • Reviews
  • Information Pages
    • Archive
    • Index
    • Authors
    • Books
    • Resources
    • Communities
    • Historical Texts
    • The Modern Alliterative Revival
logo image
image

Forgotten Ground Regained

Long Poems in Alliterative Verse

Whether the poem in question is a modernist eclogue, like Auden's Age of Anxietry, or a traditional epic, like Tolkien's The Fall of Arthur, alliterative verse works well as a vehicle for long form poetry.
For longer alliterative poems that have been published online or in larger collections, check out the Epic Poems sampler.
This poem tells a story of adventure in medieval England.
Ulfhildr Thaler
image
Bea Wolf Weinersmith
J.R.R. Tolkien's take on the death of King Arthur
The Fall of Arthur Tolkien
Synopsis and excerpts from an ongoing alliterative epic about King Arthur
Arthuriad Gupta
J.R.R. Tolkien's alliterative verse version of one of the most famous Germanic legends.
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun Tolkien
A treatment of the Arthur legend in alliterative verse
Artorius Heath-Stubbs
W.H. Auden's long alliterative poem on the modern age
The Age of Anxiety Auden
Richard Eberhart's alliterative epic on Corregidor and the Bataan Death March.
The Brotherhood of Men Eberhart
A retelling based on Sumerian myth
The Latin Fables of Phaedrus, translated into modern English alliterative verse
The Hero Enkidu Turco
The Sea-Crossing of Saint Brendan Brennan
Benjamin John Peter's layered narrative, built around a long alliterative epic
Freydis and Gudrid Leiser Libretto Opera
Benjamin John Peter's layered narrative, built around a long alliterative epic
Sigurd's Lament Peters
This book contains a long poem with the same name that uses stanzaic alliteration.
Requiem for the West Trainor
Contains a long poem by the same name in alliterating stanzas.
S. Bret Breneman's alliterative epic about the life of the founder of the Baha'i faith.
For most people, Christmas is a time of joy; for some it has become a time of lonely sorrow. For Snowdrop, Christmas is about to become a timeless place of fear
Noble Rider Breneman
Snowdrop: A Story in Verse Roots
An epic of Hastings by David Moffett
Haestingas: A retelling of the valiant fall of England in verse Moffett
A tale within a tale, featuring the fate of a Viking bard with a blodthirsty audience, in loose alliterative meter.
The Blood-Eagle Saga Ingham
A regelling of the sory of Hengest, leader of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of England.
Hengest
This illustrated children's book retells the story of King Arthur and the Cath Palug
King Arthur vs. Devil Kitty Sumption
A retelling of the Beowulf story set in the fantasy world of the author's Empire series
Bjarndýr and the Marsh Monster Thorpe
A retelling of the Biblical story of the Flood, by Timothy Witchazel
Noah and the Great Flood: A Poem in Alliterative Verse Timothy Witchazel
A reyelling of the story of the fall of Jericho in alliterative verse
Joshua and the Battle of Jericho Timothy Witchazel
lgo, wizard-king of Umbra, in the hopes of extending his dynasty in perpetuity, unwisely fashions a magical golden mask for his beloved but evil son Ollock.
A novel in verse by Gerdur Kristny
The Mask of Ollock Kauffmann
Drápa: A Murder Mystery (A novel in verse in English and Icelandic; the Icelandic is in the drapa form) Gerður Kristný [Review here]
image
Hessen (a short SF epic) Garrett Carroll
A reyelling of the story of the fall of Jericho in alliterative verse
The Saving of the City Timothy Witchazel

Long Poems with Major Sections in Alliterative Verse

 An alliterative verse novel set in a dystopian New York
A second alliterative verse novel set in a dystopian New York
Mr. Either/Or Poochigian
Either/Or: All the Rage Poochigian

Loosely Alliterative Long Poems Inspired by Alliterative Verse

An epic poem of Saxon England, in frequently alliterative free verse.
Eþandun: Epic Poem Carpenter
(blank verse; loosely alliterative)
A translation of the classic Persian epic into a loose imitation of alliterative verse
The Teller of Tales: Stories from the Shahnameh Richard Jeffrey Newman
A translation of the classic Persian epkic into a loose imitation of alliterative verse
A poem in alliterative verse, combining threads from two medieval poems, St. Erkenwald and The Peddler of Swaffham.
The Stonecutter's Tale Kellow-Bingham
(four-stress accentual with ryming couples, loosely alliterative)
image
Historical Lacunae and Poetic Space Braune
It may not look like it, but this doctoral dissertation contains an epic poem inspired by skaldic meters, "Skulváði Úlfr"
Copyright © Paul Deane, 2023
No part of this site may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems
Join email discussion list
Your Cookie Settings

We use cookies to enable essential functionality on our website and analyze website traffic. For more information, read our Cookies and Privacy Policy below.

Cookie Categories
Essential

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our websites.

Analytics

These cookies collect information that is used in aggregate and in an anonymized form to help us understand how our website is being used and how effectively our site is performing.