Poetry lovers, can you help me?

[scribblinlenore]

I need to find a poem for a project I'm very near to completing, and I just can't think of anything that works. It should be nineteenth century or earlier, preferably earlier, and can be in English, French, Italian, German, really any Western language. It needs to be fairly epic and have sort of a quest feel, something that deals with the struggle

Comments

[margueritem]

What do you mean by epic?

Because when I think of epic, I think of La Chanson de Roland.

[scribblinlenore]

By epic, I mean long and tells a story and deals with grand themes. But I'd rather it be more allegorical than historical. Does that make sense?

[neery]

Ooh, how about Schiller's Die Bürgschaft? It's long and quest-y, and I love it a lot. (Translation and summary at the link - bit of a shitty translation, but I need to go to bed now. I can look for a better one tomorrow if you like.)

[scribblinlenore]

Thank you! I'm going to go check it out.

[rheasilvia]

This was also the poem I immediately thought of. :-)

[rheasilvia]

(Eeek, it's really translated as "The Hostage"? I mean... now that I think about it, there doesn't seem to be a better translation, but eeek. That's definitely a word missing in the English language, because the nuances are wrong to my mind.)

[oxoniensis]

Hmmm, the first thing that came to mind was Dante's Divine Comedy. Or John Milton's Paradise Lost. That kind of thing?

[scribblinlenore]

Yes, exactly. I was thinking those are too long. It needs to be a poem that a six-year-old child (albeit a genius with an eidetic memory) could memorize. But maybe...I could make it a section of Paradise Lost. Hm. That could work.

[moriann]

Pearl and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight would be good examples in English ca. 14th century. Former with religious themes, latter heavy on the quest side (and metaphors and allegories like whoa).

[scribblinlenore]

Oh, those are great. I think Pearl would work nicely. Thanks so much for the suggestions!

[moriann]

No problem, glad to help!

[azewewish]

A great epic "quest" styled poem is Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by Lord Byron

[scribblinlenore]

Thank you so much for the suggestion! That could definitely work.