Narrative Poetry
A narrative poem tells a story, usually of human interest, and includes the epic, which is a long story, and the ballad, which was originally meant to be sung while dancing.
Well-known examples of poems that are ballads include:
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Following is an excerpt from The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer:
Experience, though noon auctoritee
Were in this world, were right ynogh to me
To speke of wo that is in mariage;
For, lordynges, sith I twelf yeer was of age,
Thonked be God, that is eterne on lyve,
Housbondes at chirche dore I have had fyve -
For I so ofte have ywedded bee -
And alle were worthy men in hir degree.
Following is the last stanza of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, The Raven.
And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore.