元白长篇叙事诗，指白居易的《长恨歌》、《琵琶行》，李绅的《莺莺歌》，元稹的《连昌宫词》等作品。考察这类作品的流派意义，务必首先关注一个事实，即：早期的元白长篇叙事诗本是包容在传奇小说之内的。宋赵彦卫《云麓漫抄》卷八说：“唐之举人，先籍当世显人以姓名达之主 Yuan Bai’s long narrative poem refers to Bai Juyi’s “Everlasting Regret”, “Pipa”, Li Shen’s “Yingying Song”, Yuan Zhen’s “Lianchang Gong Ci” and other works. To examine the genre significance of these works, we must first focus on the fact that the earliest meta-long narrative poem is contained in the legendary novel. Song Zhao Yan Wei, “Lu Yun Man Chao” Volume VIII, said: "Tang’s move, first born when the world was known as the Lord of the Lord