aid: poetry-db
name: PoetryDB
description: PoetryDB is a public REST API providing programmatic access to a database of English-language poems. Developers can search the collection by author name, poem title, line content, and line count. The API requires no authentication or API key, returns JSON or plain text responses, and supports CORS. It is built on Ruby and Sinatra with a MongoDB datastore and is maintained as a free open-source resource for poets and developers.
image: https://kinlane-productions.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/poetry-db/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2026-06-13'
modified: '2026-06-13'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
tags:
  - Poetry
  - Literature
  - Public Domain
  - English Language
  - Search
  - Open Data
apis:
  - aid: poetry-db:poetry-db
    name: PoetryDB API
    description: Search and retrieve English-language poems by author, title, line content, and line count. Returns structured JSON with title, author, lines array, and linecount fields. No authentication required.
    image: https://kinlane-productions.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
    humanURL: https://poetrydb.org
    baseURL: https://poetrydb.org
    tags:
      - Poetry
      - Literature
      - Search
      - Public Domain
    properties:
      - type: Documentation
        url: https://github.com/thundercomb/poetrydb/blob/master/README.md
      - type: GitHubRepository
        url: https://github.com/thundercomb/poetrydb
      - type: OpenAPI
        url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/poetry-db/refs/heads/main/openapi/openapi.yml
    contact:
      - FN: thundercomb
        url: https://github.com/thundercomb
        X: https://x.com/thundercomb
common:
  - type: Website
    url: https://poetrydb.org
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/thundercomb/poetrydb/blob/master/README.md
  - type: GitHubOrg
    url: https://github.com/thundercomb
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/thundercomb/poetrydb
  - type: X
    url: https://x.com/po3db
  - type: Plans
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/poetry-db/refs/heads/main/plans/poetry-db-plans-pricing.yml
  - type: RateLimits
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/poetry-db/refs/heads/main/rate-limits/poetry-db-rate-limits.yml
  - type: FinOps
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/poetry-db/refs/heads/main/finops/poetry-db-finops.yml
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com