Pieces of Hope to the Echo of the World

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pieces of Hope to the Echo of the World (French: Parcelles d'espoir à l'echo de ce monde[1]) is reputedly the longest modern handwritten poem in the world, unveiled on 4 August 2006 by its author, French public notary Patrick Huet. It comprises 7 547 verses and is reported to be almost 1 km (0.621 mi) long, at 994.1 m.[2]

The poem takes the form of an acrostic, in which the initials of each line collectively spell out the 30 articles of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The display of the work was unveiled before a court official in Lyon, so that the poem could be considered for inclusion in Guiness World Records.

There remain other, far longer epic poems, such as the Indian Mahabharata and Persian Shahnameh, although these are far older.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Paris Diary", 4 July 2006, The Guardian. Available from http://politics.guardian.co.uk/backbench/comment/0,,1812163,00.html.
  2. ^ "Frenchman displays world's longest poem", 5 August 2006, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Available from http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1706896.htm