Hey guys!
I'm looking for some help for an art project; I've got to illustrate a poem, the longer the better, and preferably one that tells a story (for example the Highwayman or Tennyson's the Lady of Shallot).

However, I want something a little less well known, and out of personal interest have a couple of other things I'm after: so! If anyone's got any pieces that are:

• Longish (preferably 800 words+)
• Tell a story
• Based on a human character (not animal)
• Out of personal preference, based in Asia or based on Asian characters

The personal one's optional - just because I've got a great interest in Chinese poetry at the moment :) Any help seriously appreciated!
Thanks!

Hmmm... how about Li Sao?

http://www.chinapage.com/poem/quyuan/quyuan-e.html

genji monogatari - tale of genji

Epic of Gilgamesh?

It's based in Asia Minor, but if you want fantastic imagery...

Paradise Lost by John Milton
but you probably know about that already

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree."

I only remember that because it was repeated so often in one episode of Hale & Pace. Appropriate, because I find it so utterly campy it's almost like it teems with lesbian bewitchment.

beowulf?

>>7 took mine.

howl

I'm personally fond of the Nibelungenlied, but that's ancient german rather than asian.

the waste land?

There Once Was A Man From Nantucket

Poetic Eddas

The fucking Waste Land.

"HURRY UP PLEASE, IT'S TIME"

>>11
>>14
No, please don't. It hurts my head enough as simply words.

The Aeniad, the Illiad, Beowulf, The Nibelungelied... the list is endless.

>>16
I forgot to add, though not strictly an epic poem, the 1001 Arabian Nights, that's very much like the Tales of Genji.