good poems to write essays on

Top 20 Famous Poems: Inspiring Poems For Your Next Essay

Are you looking for famous poems to study for your next essay? Then, check out these top 20 poems to inspire your next writing project .

Poetry has a way of capturing human emotion and conveying it in the written word through rhyme and meter. Many famous poets have made their mark on literature worldwide, writing everything from love poems to nonsense poems that explore the way words can work together to create verse.

Taking a closer look at famous poems can help to truly understand the impact that poetry has had. Here are 20 works of famous poetry that have impacted the world of literature.

1.“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou

2. “stopping by woods on a snowy evening” by robert frost, 3. “the road not taken” by robert frost, 4. sonnet 18 by william shakespeare, 5. “do not go gentle into that good night” by dylan thomas, 6. “i wandered lonely as a cloud” by william wordsworth, 7. “how do i love thee” by elizabeth barrett browning, 8. “she walks in beauty” by lord byron, 9. “the waste land” by t.s. eliot, 10. “the raven” by edgar allan poe, 11. “jabberwocky” by lewis carroll, 12. “o captain my captain” by walt whitman, 13. “invictus” by william ernest henley, 14. “the love song of j. alfred prufrock” by t.s. eliot, 15. “fire and ice” by robert frost, 16. “every day you play” by pablo neruda, 17. “because i could not stop for death” by emily dickinson, 18. “if-” by rudyard kipling, 19. “paul revere’s ride” by henry wadsworth longfellow, 20. “ozymandias” by percy bysshe shelley.

“ Still I Rise ” is in the third poetry collection by American poet Maya Angelou. This poem pays homage to the human spirit even as it overcomes discrimination and hardship. To write, Angelou tapped into her experiences as a black American woman.

In the poem, Angelou talks bout how others have downplayed her , her accomplishment, and her people, trying to break her spirit. And yet, she rises above these problems to find success.

“You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”

Written in 1922, “ Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening ” uses imagery, personification, and repetition to create a memorable poem. It displays iambic tetrameter and appears on the surface to have a simple meaning. This poem is distinctive in how simple it appears, yet how well it holds to the meter and rhyme scheme. Simplicity and accuracy are not easy to attain.

“Whose woods these are I think I know.  His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.“

Perhaps one of the most commonly-studied poems in American literature, “ The Road Not Taken ,” talks about a young man traveling through the forest when he comes to a fork in the road. He chooses the “one less traveled by” and states it has made all the difference. The final lines of this poem have become part of modern society, showing up in movies, commercials, and graduation speeches every year.

Many people know the final lines of this poem, even if they do not know that they came from a famous American poet. The poem’s lines are now part of over 400 book titles or subtitles, and that fact alone, combined with its general popularity, earns it a spot on this list.

“I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”

Perhaps one of his most famous love poems, Sonnet 18 , starts with one of Shakespeare’s most iconic lines. As he compares his lady love to a summer’s day, hearts swoon, and romantics take note.

Sonnet 18 follows the 14-line structure of most English sonnets. It has three quatrains and a couplet and follows iambic pentameter. The poem’s romantic lines make it a favorite to quote to an object of affection.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.”

This famous poem by Dylan Thomas is read at two out of every three funerals . It captures the feelings brought on by death and highlights how people who love someone want them to fight against the reality of the end of life.

“ Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night ” is particularly popular because it sounds so beautiful when read aloud. Thomas got much of his income from working on the radio, and as such, he learned the power of the spoken human voice. This understanding is reflected in the cadence of his verses.

“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Also known as “Daffodils,” this famous poem from William Wordsworth was written in the early 1800s. It took its inspiration from a walk Wordsworth took with his sister around Glencoyne Bay, where the two came upon a large field of daffodils.

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud ” is popular due to its rich imagery. When someone reads it, they can picture the daffodils dancing on the hill. However, unlike other famous poems , it does not necessarily have a double meaning but is simply a tribute to something beautiful in nature.

“I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

How Do I Love Thee” is the title of Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This romantic poem indicates that the different ways the speaker loves the object of her affections simply cannot be counted.

Throughout the poem, Browning exudes her passionate love for her husband . She even indicates that her love fills the quiet moments that happen in a home when two people live together. It follows the traditional abba, abba, cd, cd, cd sonnet rhyme scheme.

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace.”

This short, lyrical poem follows the iambic tetrameter pattern. It was written in 1814 by Lord Byron, who was inspired by Anne Beatrix Wilmont, his first cousin’s wife when he saw her at a party. “ She Walks in Beauty ” was put to music by Isaac Nation and is considered an excellent example of Romanticism in poetry .

This poem is on the list of famous poetry because of how many times it has been quoted. It has references in The Philadelphian, television shows like M.A.S.H. , Bridgerton, and White Collar, among others.

“She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes; Thus mellowed to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.”

Considered one of the most influential poems of the 20th century, this poem has dissonance that mirrors what Eliot felt was the fracture of his time. Even though it was written for the 20th century, it still holds value in modern society when society still feels quite disjointed.

Throughout the lines of this poem, Eliot explores his disgust at the state of society following World War I. “ The Waste Land ” explores the thought of spiritual emptiness, which is what Eliot believed he saw in the world around him.

“April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.”

Considered one of the first poems written in America , “The Raven” holds a special place in literature. This poem is considered one about grief, showing several examples of onomatopoeia with the raven tapping and rapping on the chamber door.

The repetition in “ The Raven ” drives the reader towards the end of the poem, where the author quotes the final “nevermore.” The death of his wife, Virginia, in the event that likely triggered the poem because of Poe’s grief over the loss of his wife.

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—     While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. ’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, ‘tapping at my chamber door—             Only this and nothing more.’”

Lewis Carroll was a novelist, but he often used poetry in his novels. “ Jabberwocky ” is a nonsense poem that was part of Carroll’s 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass . It tells the story of killing a mythical creature named “the Jabberwock.” In the book, Alice finds the poem in a book when she visits the Red Queen.

With so many unknown words, “ Jabberwocky ” confuses even Alice in the book. The poem is in ballad style, an exciting way to study the style with nonsensical words. Yet it leaves many unanswered questions, which fits the world of Wonderland that Carroll is trying to create.

“’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.”

“O Captain, My Captain ” is a poem that shows an extended metaphor style. Whitman wrote it in 1865 after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The poem is a tribute to Lincoln and his impact on the country during such a pivotal time in history.

In the three-stanza poem, Whitman compares Lincoln to a ship’s captain. Whitman also uses the literary device of juxtaposition to show the difference between the victory the country was experiencing and the death of its leader, who could not enjoy the victory. In the final stanza, he uses personification when talking about the shores, potentially representing the masses of people welcoming the ship, not knowing that the captain is slain.

“O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;        But O heart! heart! heart!          O the bleeding drops of red,            Where on the deck my Captain lies,              Fallen cold and dead.”

“ Invictus ” is an important poem in British literature written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley. Its final quatrain is the most famous of the piece, indicating that each master the fate of their soul.

Henley battled tubercular arthritis throughout his life, diagnosed at just 12 years of age. This painful disease was challenging to live with, and he was in the hospital for the amputation of his knee when he wrote “Invictus .” Knowing the personal trials, the author was dealing with makes the poem even more inspiring to the reader.

“It matters not how strait the gate,      How charged with punishments the scroll,    I am the master of my fate:   I am the captain of my soul.”

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is another famous piece by T.S. Eliot. It was his first professionally-published poem , and literary critics believe it marked the initiation of the shift between Romantic verse and Modernism.

The poem looks at the psyche of a modern man, who is simultaneously eloquent but emotionally stilted. In the poem, the speaker indicates he wants to reach out to his love interest, only to feel he cannot do so. What follows is a monologue that laments the lack of emotional connection that the author can create. Looking for more famous poems , check out our list of Mary Oliver poems .

“Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question… Oh, do not ask, “What is it?” Let us go and make our visit.”

Poet laureate Robert Frost has another short poem that is among the most famous in literature. “ Fire and Ice ” discusses the end of the world using an untraditional rhyme scheme. It asks whether the world will end in an inferno or an ice storm.

Some literary scholars believe “ Fire and Ice” were inspired by Dante’s Inferno , while others claim a conversation with astronomer Harlow Shapley was the basis. In the end, Frost wrote a poem that did not draw any conclusion about how the world will end but instead left the idea up to the reader.

“Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.”

Not all of the poets on this list come from American or English literature. For example, Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda was from Chile and won the Prize for his contributions to literature. He was known for his ability to produce poems full of deep passion, even when talking about everyday things.

“ Every Day You Play ” is a romantic poem that implies sensuality and references flowers while talking about the love interest. It contains one of Neruda’s most famous literary lines, “I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.”

“My words rained over you, stroking you. A long time I have loved the sunned mother-of-pearl of your body. Until I even believe that you own the universe. I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains, bluebells, dark hazels, and rustic baskets of kisses. I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.”

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is an elegy poem by Emily Dickinson. The six-stanza poem is written as a personal encounter with Death , a male character who drives a carriage. It indicates the speaker is not afraid of Death, which is a kind companion on this final journey.

This poem is divided into quatrains with an abcb rhyming pattern. The drive-in in the story symbolizes Dickinson’s life, and eventually, Death takes her into the afterlife. The final stanza, in which the speaker is now dead, is more abstract than the rest of the poem. If you are interested in learning about poems , learn the answer to the question is Dr. Seuss poetry .

“Because I could not stop for Death— He kindly stopped for me— The Carriage held but just Ourselves—  And Immortality.”

Though he is more famous for his novels, including The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling was also a skilled poet named English Nobel laureate for his work. “ If- ” is, perhaps, his most famous poem. The work is written to serve as parental advice to Kipling’s son, John, advocating for him to look beyond what other people think of him and to make the most out of life’s difficult situations.

Each couplet in the poem starts with the word “if.” it expresses its meaning clearly, serving as a mantra to live by, which may have been Kipling’s goal. Throughout the lines, Kipling gives practical advice for dreaming and planning  while keeping one’s head grounded in realistic goals.

“If you can keep your head when all about you    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,    But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,    Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;”

Longfellow is often revered as one of the most influential American poets , and “Paul Revere’s Ride” is one of his most famous pieces. While this poem does not have much literary analysis because it tells the tale of Revere’s famous ride, its regular rhyme and measure give the impression of a horse galloping through the towns.

Through this poem, Longfellow memorialized Paul Revere’s famous ride. He received inspiration from a tour of Boston he took, giving him the chance to see many of the sights of the famous day for himself. He did take some poetic license in his work, but his line “one, if by land, and two, if by sea” immortalized the signal lanterns that were part of the historic event.

“Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five: Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.”

“ Ozymandias ” is a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley, a 19th-century English Romantic poet. The poem received its inspiration from the Rameses II statue on display at the British Museum during Shelley’s time. It warns against hubris and arrogance, which are common in great leaders.

The sonnet uses iambic pentameter. It showcases the sad image of a fallen statue that once stood to head the greatness of the Pharaoh. Where once a mighty king ruled the land, nothing is left but a decaying, wrecked statute. To learn more, check out our round-up of the best 10 concrete poems !

“And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

• Poetry Contests

10 Greatest Poems Ever Written

Updated: April 26, 2024

An Ambitious “Best Poems” List Limited to Poems Originally Written in English and of 50 Lines or Less

by Evan Mantyk

What is poetry ? What is great poetry? The poems below answer these questions. From least greatest (10) to greatest greatest (1), the poems in this list are limited to ones originally written in the English language and which are 50 lines or less, excluding poems like Homer’s Iliad , Edgar Allan Poe’s “Raven,” Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy , and Lord Byron’s mock epic Don Juan . Each poem is followed by some brief analysis. Many good poems and poets had to be left off of this list. In the comments section below, feel free to make additions or construct your own lists. You can also submit analyses of classic poetry to [email protected]. They will be considered for publication on this website.

Related Content 10 Greatest Love Poems Ever Written 10 Greatest Sonnets Concerning Other Poets The Earliest English Poems Ever Written 10 Greatest Novels Ever Written 10 Greatest Poems about Death: A Grim Reader

10. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

Analysis of the Poem

This poem deals with that big noble question of “How to make a difference in the world?” On first reading, it tells us that the choice one makes really does matter, ending: “I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.”

A closer reading reveals that the lonely choice that was made earlier by our traveling narrator maybe wasn’t all that significant since both roads were pretty much the same anyway (“Had warn them really about the same”) and it is only in the remembering and retelling that it made a difference. We are left to ponder if the narrator had instead traveled down “The Road Not Taken” might it have also made a difference as well. In a sense, “The Road Not Taken” tears apart the traditional view of individualism, which hinges on the importance of choice, as in the case of democracy in general (choosing a candidate), as well as various constitutional freedoms: choice of religion, choice of words (freedom of speech), choice of group (freedom of assembly), and choice of source of information (freedom of press). For example, we might imagine a young man choosing between being a carpenter or a banker later seeing great significance in his choice to be a banker, but in fact there was not much in his original decision at all other than a passing fancy. In this, we see the universality of human beings: the roads leading to carpenter and banker being basically the same and the carpenters and bankers at the end of them—seeming like individuals who made significant choices—really being just part of the collective of the human race.

Then is this poem not about the question “How to make a difference in the world?” after all? No. It is still about this question. The ending is the most clear and striking part. If nothing else, readers are left with the impression that our narrator, who commands beautiful verse, profound imagery, and time itself (“ages and ages hence”) puts value on striving to make a difference. The striving is reconstituted and complicated here in reflection, but our hero wants to make a difference and so should we. That is why this is a great poem, from a basic or close reading perspective.

9. “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, this sonnet may have the greatest placement of any English poem. It also has one of the greatest placements in history. Lazarus compares the Statue of Liberty to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Like the Statue of Liberty, the Colossus of Rhodes was an enormous god-like statue positioned in a harbor. Although the Colossus of Rhodes no longer stands, it symbolizes the ancient Greek world and the greatness of the ancient Greek and Roman civilization, which was lost for a thousand years to the West, and only fully recovered again during the Renaissance. “The New Colossus” succinctly crystallizes the connection between the ancient world and America, a modern nation. It’s a connection that can be seen in the White House and other state and judicial buildings across America that architecturally mirror ancient Greek and Roman buildings; and in the American political system that mirrors Athenian Democracy and Roman Republicanism.

In the midst of this vast comparison of the ancient and the American, Lazarus still manages to clearly render America’s distinct character. It is the can-do spirit of taking those persecuted and poor from around the world and giving them a new opportunity and hope for the future, what she calls “the golden door.” It is a uniquely scrappy and compassionate quality that sets Americans apart from the ancients. The relevance of this poem stretches all the way back to the pilgrims fleeing religious persecution in Europe to the controversies surrounding modern immigrants from Mexico and the Middle East. While circumstances today have changed drastically, there is no denying that this open door was part of what made America great once upon a time. It’s the perfect depiction of this quintessential Americanness that makes “The New Colossus” also outstanding.

8. “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

In this winding story within a story within a poem, Shelley paints for us the image of the ruins of a statue of ancient Egyptian king Ozymandias, who is today commonly known as Ramesses II. This king is still regarded as the greatest and most powerful Egyptian pharaoh. Yet, all that’s left of the statue are his legs, which tell us it was huge and impressive; the shattered head and snarling face, which tell us how tyrannical he was; and his inscribed quote hailing the magnificent structures that he built and that have been reduced to dust, which tells us they might not have been quite as magnificent as Ozymandias imagined. The image of a dictator-like king whose kingdom is no more creates a palpable irony. But, beyond that there is a perennial lesson about the inescapable and destructive forces of time, history, and nature. Success, fame, power, money, health, and prosperity can only last so long before fading into “lone and level sands.”

There are yet more layers of meaning here that elevate this into one of the greatest poems. In terms of lost civilizations that show the ephemeralness of human pursuits, there is no better example than the Egyptians—who we associate with such dazzling monuments as the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid at Giza (that stands far taller than the Statue of Liberty)—yet who completely lost their spectacular language, culture, and civilization. If the forces of time, history, and nature can take down the Egyptian civilization, it begs the question, “Who’s next?” Additionally, Ozymandias is believed to have been the villainous pharaoh who enslaved the ancient Hebrews and who Moses led the exodus from. If all ordinary pursuits, such as power and fame, are but dust, what remains, the poem suggests, are spirituality and morality—embodied by the ancient Hebrew faith. If you don’t have those then in the long run you are a “colossal wreck.” Thus, the perfectly composed scene itself, the Egyptian imagery, and the Biblical backstory convey a perennial message and make this a great poem.

7. “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats (1795-1821)

Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fring’d legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Keats’s own drawing of the Grecian Urn.

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; And, happy melodist, unwearied, For ever piping songs for ever new; More happy love! more happy, happy love! For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d, For ever panting, and for ever young; All breathing human passion far above, That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d, A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice? To what green altar, O mysterious priest, Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, And all her silken flanks with garlands drest? What little town by river or sea shore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? And, little town, thy streets for evermore Will silent be; and not a soul to tell Why thou art desolate, can e’er return.

O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede Of marble men and maidens overwrought, With forest branches and the trodden weed; Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral! When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

As if in response to Shelley’s “Ozymandias,” Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” offers a sort of antidote to the inescapable and destructive force of time. Indeed, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” was published in 1819 just a year or so after “Ozymandias.” The antidote is simple: art. The art on the Grecian urn—which is basically a decorative pot from ancient Greece—has survived for thousands of years. While empires rose and fell, the Grecian urn survived. Musicians, trees, lovers, heifers, and priests all continue dying decade after decade and century after century, but their artistic depictions on the Grecian urn live on for what seems eternity.

This realization about the timeless nature of art is not new now nor was it in the 1800s, but Keats has chosen a perfect example since ancient Greek civilization so famously disappeared into the ages, being subsumed by the Romans, and mostly lost until the Renaissance a thousand years later. Now, the ancient Greeks are all certainly dead (like the king Ozymandias in Shelley’s poem) but the Greek art and culture live on through Renaissance painters, the Olympic Games, endemic Neoclassical architecture, and, of course, the Grecian urn.

Further, what is depicted on the Grecian urn is a variety of life that makes the otherwise cold urn feel alive and vibrant. This aliveness is accentuated by Keats’s barrage of questions and blaring exclamations: “More happy love! more happy, happy love!” Art, he seems to suggest, is more alive and real than we might imagine. Indeed, the last two lines can be read as the urn itself talking: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” In these profound lines, Keats places us within ignorance, suggesting that what we know on earth is limited, but that artistic beauty, which he has now established is alive, is connected with truth. Thus, we can escape ignorance, humanness, and certain death and approach another form of life and truth through the beauty of art. This effectively completes the thought that began in Ozymandias and makes this a great poem one notch up from its predecessor.

6. “The Tiger” by William Blake (1757-1827)

Tiger Tiger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, and what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain, In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp, Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

When the stars threw down their spears And water’d heaven with their tears: Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tiger Tiger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

This poem contemplates a question arising from the idea of creation by an intelligent creator. The question is this: If there is a loving, compassionate God or gods who created human beings and whose great powers exceed the comprehension of human beings, as many major religions hold, then why would such a powerful being allow evil into the world. Evil here is represented by a tiger that might, should you be strolling in the Indian or Chinese wild in the 1700s, have leapt out and killed you. What would have created such a dangerous and evil creature? How could it possibly be the same divine blacksmith who created a cute harmless fluffy lamb or who created Jesus, also known as the “Lamb of God” (which the devoutly Christian Blake was probably also referring to here). To put it another way, why would such a divine blacksmith create beautiful innocent children and then also allow such children to be slaughtered. The battery of questions brings this mystery to life with lavish intensity.

Does Blake offer an answer to this question of evil from a good God? It would seem not on the surface. But, this wouldn’t be a great poem if it were really that open ended. The answer comes in the way that Blake explains the question. Blake’s language peels away the mundane world and offers a look at the super-reality to which poets are privy. We fly about in “forests of the night” through “distant deeps or skies” looking for where the fire in the tiger’s eye was taken from by the Creator. This is the reality of expanded time, space, and perception that Blake so clearly elucidates elsewhere with the lines “To see a world in a grain of sand / And a heaven in a wild flower, / Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, / And eternity in an hour” (“Auguries of Innocence”). This indirectly tells us that the reality that we ordinarily know and perceive is really insufficient, shallow, and deceptive. Where we perceive the injustice of the wild tiger something else entirely may be transpiring. What we ordinarily take for truth may really be far from it: a thought that is scary, yet also sublime or beautiful—like the beautiful and fearsome tiger. Thus, this poem is great because it concisely and compellingly presents a question that still plagues humanity today, as well as a key clue to the answer.

5. “On His Blindness” by John Milton (1608-1674)

When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, And that one talent which is death to hide Lodg’d with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, lest he returning chide, “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?” I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies: “God doth not need Either man’s work or his own gifts: who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed And post o’er land and ocean without rest: They also serve who only stand and wait.”

This poem deals with one’s limitations and shortcomings in life. Everyone has them and Milton’s blindness is a perfect example of this. His eyesight gradually worsened and he became totally blind at the age of 42. This happened after he served in an eminent position under Oliver Cromwell’s revolutionary Puritan government in England. To put it simply, Milton rose to the highest position an English writer might at the time and then sank all the way down to a state of being unable read or write on his own. How pathetic!

The genius of this poem comes in the way that Milton transcends the misery he feels. First, he frames himself, not as an individual suffering or lonely, but as a failed servant to the Creator: God. While Milton is disabled, God here is enabled through imagery of a king commanding thousands. This celestial monarch, his ministers and troops, and his kingdom itself are invisible to human eyes anyway, so already Milton has subtly undone much of his failing by subverting the necessity for human vision. More straightforwardly, through the voice of Patience, Milton explains that serving the celestial monarch only requires bearing those hardships, which really aren’t that bad (he calls them “mild”) that life has burdened you with (like a “yoke” put on an ox). This grand mission from heaven may be as simple as standing and waiting, having patience, and understanding the order of the universe. Thus, this is a great poem because Milton has not only dispelled sadness over a major shortcoming in life but also shown how the shortcoming is itself imbued with an extraordinary and uplifting purpose.

4. “A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

What the heart of the young man said to the Psalmist

Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act, that each tomorrow Find us farther than today.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave.

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act,—act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o’erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time;—

Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.

In this nine-stanza poem, the first six stanzas are rather vague since each stanza seems to begin a new thought. Instead, the emphasis here is on a feeling rather than a rational train of thought. What feeling? It seems to be a reaction against science, which is focused on calculations (“mournful numbers”) and empirical evidence, of which there is no, or very little, to prove the existence of the soul. Longfellow lived when the Industrial Revolution was in high gear and the ideals of science, rationality, and reason flourished. From this perspective, the fact that the first six stanzas do not follow a rational train of thought makes perfect sense.

According to the poem, the force of science seems to restrain one’s spirit or soul (“for the soul is dead that slumbers”), lead to inaction and complacency from which we must break free (“Act,—act in the living Present! / Heart within, and God o’erhead!”) for lofty purposes such as Art, Heart, and God before time runs out (“Art is long, and Time is fleeting”). The last three stanzas—which, having broken free from science by this point in the poem, read more smoothly—suggest that this acting for lofty purposes can lead to greatness and can help our fellow man.

We might think of the entire poem as a clarion call to do great things, however insignificant they may seem in the present and on the empirically observable surface. That may mean writing a poem and entering it into a poetry contest, when you know the chances of your poem winning are very small; risking your life for something you believe in when you know it is not popular or it is misunderstood; or volunteering for a cause that, although it may seem hopeless, you feel is truly important. Thus, the greatness of this poem lies in its ability to so clearly prescribe a method for greatness in our modern world.

3. “Daffodils” by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

Through the narrator’s chance encounter with a field of daffodils by the water, we are presented with the power and beauty of the natural world. It sounds simple enough, but there are several factors that contribute to this poem’s greatness. First, the poem comes at a time when the Western world is industrializing and man feels spiritually lonely in the face of an increasingly godless worldview. This feeling is perfectly harnessed by the depiction of wandering through the wilderness “lonely as a cloud” and by the ending scene of the narrator sadly lying on his couch “in vacant or in pensive mood” and finding happiness in solitude. The daffodils then become more than nature; they become a companion and a source of personal joy. Second, the very simplicity itself of enjoying nature—flowers, trees, the sea, the sky, the mountains etc.—is perfectly manifested by the simplicity of the poem: the four stanzas simply begin with daffodils, describe daffodils, compare daffodils to something else, and end on daffodils, respectively. Any common reader can easily get this poem, as easily as her or she might enjoy a walk around a lake.

Third, Wordsworth has subtly put forward more than just an ode to nature here. Every stanza mentions dancing and the third stanza even calls the daffodils “a show.” At this time in England, one might have paid money to see an opera or other performance of high artistic quality. Here, Wordsworth is putting forward the idea that nature can offer similar joys and even give you “wealth” instead of taking it from you, undoing the idea that beauty is attached to earthly money and social status. This, coupled with the language and topic of the poem, which are both relatively accessible to the common man, make for a great poem that demonstrates the all-encompassing and accessible nature of beauty and its associates, truth and bliss.

2. “Holy Sonnet 10: Death, Be Not Proud” by John Donne (1572-1631)

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery. Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

Death is a perennial subject of fear and despair. But, this sonnet seems to say that it need not be this way. The highly focused attack on Death’s sense of pride uses a grocery list of rhetorical attacks: First, sleep, which is the closest human experience to death, is actually quite nice. Second, all great people die sooner or later and the process of death could be viewed as joining them. Third, Death is under the command of higher authorities such as fate, which controls accidents, and kings, who wage wars; from this perspective, Death seems no more than a pawn in a larger chess game within the universe. Fourth, Death must associate with some unsavory characters: “poison, wars, and sickness.” Yikes! They must make unpleasant coworkers! (You can almost see Donne laughing as he wrote this.) Fifth, “poppy and charms” (drugs) can do the sleep job as well as Death or better. Death, you’re fired!

The sixth, most compelling, and most serious reason is that if one truly believes in a soul then Death is really nothing to worry about. The soul lives eternally and this explains line 4, when Donne says that Death can’t kill him. If you recognize the subordinate position of the body in the universe and identify more fully with your soul, then you can’t be killed in an ordinary sense. Further, this poem is so great because of its universal application. Fear of death is so natural an instinct and Death itself so all-encompassing and inescapable for people, that the spirit of this poem and applicability of it extends to almost any fear or weakness of character that one might have. Confronting, head on, such a fear or weakness, as Donne has done here, allows human beings to transcend their condition and their perception of Death, more fully perhaps than one might through art by itself—as many poets from this top ten list seem to say—since the art may or may not survive may or may not be any good, but the intrinsic quality of one’s soul lives eternally. Thus, Donne leaves a powerful lesson to learn from: confront what you fear head on and remember that there is nothing to fear on earth if you believe in a soul.

1. “Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimm’d; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st; So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Basically, the narrator tells someone he esteems highly that this person is better than a summer’s day because a summer’s day is often too hot and too windy, and especially because a summer’s day doesn’t last; it must fade away just as people, plants, and animals die. But, this esteemed person does not lose beauty or fade away like a summer’s day because he or she is eternally preserved in the narrator’s own poetry. “So long lives this, and this gives life to thee” means “This poetry lives long, and this poetry gives life to you.”

From a modern perspective this poem might come off as pompous (assuming the greatness of one’s own poetry), arbitrary (criticizing a summer’s day upon what seems a whim), and sycophantic (praising someone without substantial evidence). How then could this possibly be number one? After the bad taste of an old flavor to a modern tongue wears off, we realize that this is the very best of poetry. This is not pompous because Shakespeare actually achieves greatness and creates an eternal poem. It is okay to recognize poetry as great if it is great and it is okay to recognize an artistic hierarchy. In fact, it is absolutely necessary in educating, guiding, and leading others. The attack on a summer’s day is not arbitrary. Woven throughout the language is an implicit connection between human beings, the natural world (“a summer’s day”), and heaven (the sun is “the eye of heaven”). A comparison of a human being to a summer’s day immediately opens the mind to unconventional possibilities; to spiritual perspectives; to the ethereal realm of poetry and beauty. The unabashed praise for someone without a hint as to even the gender or accomplishments of the person is not irrational or sycophantic. It is a pure and simple way of approaching our relationships with other people, assuming the best. It is a happier way to live—immediately free from the depression, stress, and cynicism that creeps into our hearts. Thus, this poem is strikingly and refreshingly bold, profound, and uplifting.

Finally, as to the question of overcoming death, fear, and the decay of time, an overarching question in these great poems, Shakespeare adroitly answers them all by skipping the question, suggesting it is of no consequence. He wields such sublime power that he is unmoved and can instead offer remedy, his verse, at will to those he sees befitting. How marvelous!

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264 Responses

What an interesting enterprise, Evan? I have always loved lists. Thank you for taking the time to write out all of these insightful analyses. You really know how to capture a person’s attention with your headlines. “Ten Greatest Poems Ever Written” reminded me of what first drew me to your site in the first place, a few years back. I believe it was something as blunt and as brazen as this: “Poetry should be metered, because metered poetry is, quite simply, better than free verse.”

While my list may be different than yours (I probably would add a Yeats and Millay or a Hardy), it would obviously be difficult to bench any of the all-stars you have in your present lineup. What would make it easier, or more amenable to more great poems being subsumed in more lists, would be to narrow the scope of the lists. For example, Ten Greatest Sonnets Ever, Ten Greatest Ballads Ever, Ten Greatest Romantic Poems Ever, Ten Greatest Twentieth-Century Sonnets Ever, Ten Greatest Eulogies and Elegies Ever, etc.. For what constitutes a poem? We are obviously excluding Epics.

I have invariably been drawn to your brazenness though. You know how to get a crowd into it…

Concerning your analyses, I thought that it was interesting that you associated “mournful numbers” with a “reaction against science.” I have always been under the impression that Longfellow was referring to “morbid poems” or psalms: as Petrarch often called his poems “numbers,” which in a sense metered poetry is, a compilation of syllables and stresses (i.e. music); but your postulation seems to work as well, and would function propitiously in an essay for one of your students comparing and contrasting Poe’s “Sonnet–To Science” and Whitman’s (hate him or love him–unlike Pound, I have still not made my pact) “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer.”

I will have to start working on my own lists; although I believe it could be an eternal task, for “man is a giddy thing,” as Shakespeare wrote, and I thoroughly love so many diverse poems.

Thanks, Reid. I mention at the beginning that it is only short poems, not longer works or excerpts of longer works, so epics are out. If you want to make a top ten (or five?) list for specific poetry fields for the Society that would be great! I am contemplating one on war poems (again, short poems, not epics or excerpts). Any ideas?

For “numbers” in Psalm of Life, I’ve seen interpretations such as poetic meter, Bible or poetic verses, or the Book of Numbers in the Bible specifically. After studying Longfellow quite a bit and particularly this poem, memorizing it and teaching it to my students, my own interpretation is that Longfellow is basically saying “don’t be daunted by the odds” “take some risks” or “don’t approach things in such a calculating and scientific way” If you take a look at a map of the U.S. in the 1830s, you’ll see that most of the U.S. is territories, much of it unsettled. This was the time of the Wild West and Manifest Destiny (the pitfalls in expansion can be seen in Little House on the Prairie and that was 40 years later). Doing things by the numbers would not have meant a healthy, expanding U.S. in the long run. This also fits in with the recurring war theme since enlisting is a similarly risky proposition. IMO.

Arabic poetry is the best in history, it has far more words for description and it has deep meanings. But I see that this list should’ve been called ” In European History” since there’s no variety.

“Numbers” definitely means “verse” here, and nothing else at all. It is a Latinism. You can forget any other ideas!

Hello! For war poems, you can’t possibly go past Wilfred Owen’s ‘Futility’. Or any others of his. Oh, I see this is all so old. Oh well. It’s 2020 now and Wilfred Owen’s poems are still great!

Great poems last for a long time.

Read Felt very happy to know world-class literatures.

It was my first time reading the poem and I thought it meant the mournfully high number of people who say such things.

I like it. Maybe occam’s razor (the simplest explanation is most likely the right one) may apply here. We may be reading too much into it. Thank you!

This was my first thought too. I remember my high school teacher interpreting it in a similar way. Simple and succinct.

poetry is not compared , because it is the sum of feelings and emotions < even thoughts…the one has ….so no way but to find beauty in each and every line of verse

Superb…

50 Cent, In Da Club. Poetry for the working man.

After the rock poem to inst. of quer to way another charactor… in the poem of shask.

To ask to people in the near way of life

music could be than to Dead of new archeology in the world

Nice collection. It took me to the flashback, reminded of schooldays & collage as well. Can still imagine my lecturer standing & explaining in her own style.

You to change the title,, 10 of the best english poem ” . I do not like at least one of them. IF by Kipling is far far away more beautiful than this list. Man and Women by Victor Hugo, Eminescu. You should read more poem to do the best 10 ever written.

Kipling sensibly NEVER would have proclaimed he was a finer poet than any of these listed here (except possibly for Frost and Longfellow, whose styles are clearly closest to his). Still it seems strange not to mention Gerard Manley Hopkin, TSE, or Emily Dickinson, though I suspect you wouldn’t champion any of those three either.

I aint reading allthat

The title of this article should read “10 Greatest Poems Ever Written IN ENGLISH”. Anything written in other languages- poetry, literature, lyrics, etc. lose their beauty with translation.

If By Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

This is my favourite too .

good but how can i find jack and jill went up the hill

what do you think of this poem?

I reminisced of a time long ago when I was only twenty years old. I was studying English 101 at the University Of British Columbia in the summer of Eighty-Four. It was at a summer session because I had failed English 101 two years before. A failure due more to my citizenship in a different realm than to the failings of my intellect, aptitude or the magnanimity of my core. “You have such a poignant and evocative writing style,” wrote my teacher on the short-story I had submitted the week before. I had written about a lonely sojourn on a desolate beach in the pregnant moment, When sunset injures day’s abandon and grants night the freedom to roam. I had written about the mighty North Shore mountains, Hoary with age and reverberating with an energy ineffable to the mind, But savored by the soul. I remembered how exhausting of mind, but above all of the soul, writing that short-story had been. I tried to reveal my spirit bare and exposed. I tried to destroy the ramparts and blow open the heavy gates shielding my secretive core. But through my exhausting efforts I had only succeeded in weakening the facade between me and the world, Usually held at arm’s length, But through my story then, only slightly nearer yet still remote. There is an essence within everyone hidden in a chamber far beneath the veneer that encrusts our core. We seldom allow it expression beyond just its fractured shadows dancing on an external wall. But if we all dig deep and reach into this secretive chamber, We will, to our astonishment, discover we are all reaching into the same chamber, Not a separate one for each within the all. And then we will grasp each other’s same-hand. We all share the same soul. I knew that in the novel of my compulsion I would have to expose this chamber, Ramparts and heavy gates destroyed once and for all. And my novel would then cry out from this collective chamber, And speak for my left and for my right with one voice for all. It would be the ineffable ground of being reaching out to humanity from the navel of Creation, Proclaiming the dawn of a Third Age. It would announce the sunset of the Second Age before this coming dawn. A moment pregnant with change that will forever be remembered in the annals of the Civilization of Man. It would herald a paradigm shift far greater than the Renaissance, Not just an age of reason, but of reason and divinity intertwined as an inseparable whole. I envision the Third Age to be promoting the two primordial dancers, The abstract magical and the other its complementary whole. To engage in the Dance and thence unshard into the Eternal Garden from whence we all came forth. They are in Eternity entwined, but sharded into the realms of space and time. They are shards of the divine. Would composing such a novel be an arduous journey, Exhausting my body and above all my core? Would I be as a drowning man, Gasping for breath, Kicking and screaming while with futility grasping for shore? But would every paragraph and page exhaust me, Yet also leave me yearning for more? It would I am sure. This arduous compulsion will also uplift and invigorate me with waves of catharsis and frisson. And I pray dearly for the same in my reader, of soul-piercing joy. If I fail to evoke the same in my audience then I would have failed to breach the ramparts and the gates shielding my innermost chamber, Our collective soul. Only within this innermost shared sanctum can I truly touch someone’s soul. And by touching one, I will be touching them all.

Wicked!!!!!I think it should be on the list.

Thanks for the beautiful poem

This should definitely be on that list

My Dad often reminded me of this poem. So good. Thanks! Rick

That’s my favorite poem.

this is the thirteen chapter in class 9th

Well chosen. I always believed that “If” is without a doubt, the best poem ever written and the best message ever given about life…

THIS IS GOOD

Awesome and meaningful poem.

if is a great poem

Its eternal advice to all. Wonderfully, whole heartedly written poetry. Hats off to the poet.

so wonderful and amazing

Now that’s a masterpiece, to be sure!

That’s the greatest poetry ever

In the words of Auden: “[Time] Worships language and forgives / Everyone by whom it lives… Time that with this strange excuse / Pardoned Kipling and his views.” THE JUNGLE BOOK was one of my favorite stories as a kid and “IF” is an unforgettable poem.

I love this series of the ten best. To comment on the first two – whilst not disagreeing with Evan’s analysis, I think there is even more technical genius in this poem: for example, the rhyming of ‘hence’ obliquely with ‘difference’, that off-rhyme conveys just that sense of uncertainty about choice that Evan outlines. And as for Emma Lazarus – isn’t her surname part of the poem: America, the land where the dead came back and were welcomed to life? So brilliantly synchronous!

This is a wonderful list, Evan, and thank you for sharing!

Honey what are you doing on this website you are grounded for 5 months

In this data-rich period of the last 100 years, we have seen myriads of lists composed, the top 10 vehicles of the last fifty years, the top 40 songs of the week, the top 100 contributers to humanity of the last 1000 years, the 500 richest people in the World this year, and so forth. It is a way for us in mass society to make sense of all the information that comes our way. Another reason for compiling such lists is that it clarifies our own visions, artistic, scientific, philosophical, etc.

However, all lists are at best provisional. They are works in progress. Things change. The most popular meme this week might not be the most popular meme next week. Our favourite cuisine this season may not be our favourite the next. In fact, we are creatures of change. We thrive on variety. So it should not come as a surprise to anyone that even our own lists will alter over time.

Mr. Evan Mantyk has done us a great service in posting his list of the 10 Greatest Poems Ever Written, not because he was right (after all, who could be right? De gustibus non est disputandum.), but because he gets us thinking. As Mr. Mantyk knows, by emphasizing poems of 50 lines or less (not his exact requirement, but his example), one must exclude epics, poetic plays, narrative poems, dramatic monologues, didactic verse essays, satires and epistles, etc. One of the paradoxes of making a list of the greatest short poems ever written is in attributing greatness to the smaller works, when the very meaning of greatness implies a largeness of expanse, of vision, etc.

Perhaps his title could have been retitled The Ten Short Poems in English I Admire Most. However, his title is catchier, and may even draw more readers in to this growing site; but I can’t imagine anyone would have the exact same list in the exact same order. Even he, I suspect, will change his list over time. Here is his list. 1. Sonnet 18, Shall I Compare Thee William Shakespeare 2. Death, Be Not Proud John Donne 3. Daffodils William Wordsworth 4. A Psalm of Life Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 5. On His Blindness John Milton 6. The Tyger William Blake 7. Ode on a Grecian Urn John Keats 8. Ozymandias Percy Bysshe Shelley 9. The New Colossus Emma Lazarus 10. The Road Not Taken Robert Frost What is remarkable about his list is its specificity and his analyses, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. As I read his list, however, I kept thinking, but what about this poem, or that poem?

First off, on his list, Shakespeare’s sonnet which begins with “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” is a wonderful choice. I have always enjoyed his comparison with a summer’s day, because for me a summer’s day has always seemed the best of days, and Shakespeare indicates its flaws in marvelous diction. Yet, the theme of love being preserved in verse Shakespeare has used elsewhere, as so has Edmund Spenser in Amoretti, Sonnet 75, “Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,/ Our love shall live, and later life renew.” In addition, Spenser’s sonnet, which takes place upon a beach next to a sea, sets up a dramatic contrast of two points of view on the topic, in a dialogue between a man and a woman. Other Shakespearean sonnets are also in competition with Sonnet 30. One could, in fact, make a top 10 of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Sonnet 116 for me has always had a special place, because in its delivery, Shakespeare even goes so far as to suggest that if true love does not exist, then he never wrote a thing. It is the Shakespearean sonnet that most moves me, so much so I recited it at the wedding of my college roommate many years ago. This shows one of the pitfalls of poetic placement; various poems may suggest more to us than others because of our own particular circumstances. One more example will suffice. Although I do not think it superior (nor inferior) to Wordsworth’s Daffodils, his sonnet Composed On Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802, has stirred me to write my own sonnet on Westminster Bridge in London. What appeals to me in that sonnet is its unusual vantage point, its precision, the use of particular words, like steep, and its terse landscaping.

Mr. Mantyk’s second choice, Death, Be Not Proud is a fine sonnet as well. As in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, what appeals to me is the audacity of the author, “And death shall be no more. Death thou shalt die.” One would be hard-pressed to find such confidence in the face of death in any writer since. But for me, the John Donne poem that takes my breath away is A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, with its extraordinary conceit of love with a mathematical compass. It is a linguistic tour de force that sweeps me away with its idealism, its learning, and its paradoxically intricate simplicity. For me, nothing like it in English poetry reaches such a refined, intellectual brilliance; and for a long time, it has seemed a worthy paradigm to emulate in my poetry.

I agree with Reid McGrath that it would be difficult to bench any of the all-stars Mr. Mantyk has in his present lineup, and concur with his idea that there could be more lists with the narrowing of the scope, as one’s ten top sonnets, etc. I do admit to favouring Shelley’s Ozymandias over Ode to the West Wind, but is it a better poem? Blake’s The Tyger may be the most anthologized poem in English literature, but is it superior to Ode on a Grecian Urn? And at 50 lines long shouldn’t Keats’ Ode rather be compared to works, like Jonson’s To the Memory of My Beloved Author, Mr. William Shakespeare, Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress, Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Browning’s My Last Duchess, Tennyson’s Ulysses, Poe’s The Raven, Longfellow’s Paul Revere’s Ride, T. S. Eliot’s The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock, Dylan Thomas’ Fern Hill, Robert Lowell’s Mr. Edwards and the Spider, etc. I do think Frost’s The Road Not Taken is his best performance, but I very much admire Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. And other poems come to mind: Auld Lang Syne author Burns’ lively To a Mouse, A. E. Housman’s terse To an Athlete Dying Young, (BJM’s offer of) Rudyard Kipling’s inspiring If, Matthew Arnold’s visionary, melancholic Dover Beach, Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est, Thomas’ villanelle Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night…the list going on to the crack of doom.

& the minority report is chosen

a hundred years from now at least one or two of the poems on your list will be voted off by future scholars (if humans have not already destroyed themselves), and bob dylan’s desolation row will be half way up the list.

And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot Fighting in the captain’s tower While calypso singers laugh at them And fishermen hold flowers

for my two cents worth the choices you made aren’t bad.

a lot of people now believe that the most beautiful image to be found anywhere in poetry is: “to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, silhouetted by the sea…”

i never finished my ph.d. in english lit at uc berkeley. timothy leary whispered the siren words in my ear, “turn on, tune in, drop out,” but before i did, i read a lot of poetry, so my opinion is not without some professional value.

i love the silly and absurd as in laverne baker’s “jim dandy in a submarine got a message from a mermaid queen. she was hangin’ from a fishin’ line. jim dandy didn’t waste no time. jim dandy to the rescue. jim dandy to the rescue.”

hank williams cold, cold heart is one of the greatest poetic commentaries on love ever written.

O Captain! My Captain! By Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up- for you the flag is flung- for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths- for you the shores a-crowding, For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head! It is some dream that on the deck, You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Exult O shores, and ring O bells! But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

I think your analysis of “The Tyger” is mistaken. Critics such as Harold Bloom have suggested the Tyger is actually a gentle, playful creature. It is seen in his carvings as a smiling, toy-like beast. I sometimes quote “The Tyger” when discussing inspiration as a Promethean current, the fire in the eyes being like the fire given to Man. However, the poet (as in Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound) is a Satanic figure, rebelling against orthodoxy. There was an error in Romantic literature that Satan was the hero of Paradise Lost but contemporary analysis suggests Adam is the hero, with Satan as an antihero. Satan became a mythical revolutionary telling God where to stick it for His oppressions. Blake in “The Tyger”, I think, is indicating that wisdom and inspiration are stolen from God Himself, a la Satan or Prometheus. I think this is validated by the lines “What immortal hand or eye/dare frame thy fearful symmetry?” The poet, as mythmaker, must have a solid set of experiences with the God he/she wishes to mythologize. Symmetry implies that order is addressed, a fearful order because it is misunderstood or new to the seer. The fact that Blake uses the word immortal in reference to eye and hand makes the poem extra enchanting– because he is calling poetry an immortal art that would not be what it is without a touch of the forbidden and the divine frenzy.

its really heart touching poem ,,,,, i know it was sung by american poet on the death of great leader ABRHAM LINCON,,,,,,,,

Some of them are inspired by artists and musician.

The list was great, like all lists go by, interesting …… But once the shopping done, To the bin of time it goes. For another one is on its way, for needs are different every day. So when a list is made one should realise, to add an “all time” tag, Is indeed the greatest folly. So forget it. Learn to shop from your heart.

Great excerpt of poems!

Where do I start? Half this list was on my school curriculum in Ireland in the “Soundings” books…

If I take Irish poets, I suggest Paudric Columb. While known more in America as a storyteller for children, he is best known in Ireland as a poet…

“A Drover”

To Meath of the pastures, From wet hills by the sea, Through Leitrim and Longford Go my cattle and me. I hear in the darkness Their slipping and breathing. I name them the bye-ways They’re to pass without heeding. Then the wet, winding roads, Brown bogs with black water; And my thoughts on white ships And the King o’ Spain’s daughter. O! farmer, strong farmer! You can spend at the fair But your face you must turn To your crops and your care. And soldiers—red soldiers! You’ve seen many lands; But you walk two by two, And by captain’s commands. O! the smell of the beasts, The wet wind in the morn; And the proud and hard earth Never broken for corn; And the crowds at the fair, The herds loosened and blind, Loud words and dark faces And the wild blood behind. (O! strong men with your best I would strive breast to breast I could quiet your herds With my words, with my words.) I will bring you, my kine, Where there’s grass to the knee; But you’ll think of scant croppings Harsh with salt of the sea.

The poems are beautiful, but the title is wrong. I mean, this are not THE 10 greatest poems ever, they are YOUR favorite 10 poems. But, anyway, I love your list. I’m a big romantic myself, specially a big fan of Shelley. Cheers!

passionately loving poem and so moved by words . poem makes my life grow with esteemed spirit.

Invictus – W.E. Henley

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.

INVICTUS my favorite of all time too!!!

I love this too. It’s my anchor.

Nothing by Goethe, Rilke, or Schiller? Nothing by Rumi, Homer, Li Bai, Dante Alighieri etc…? Or are great poems written only by native English speakers?

from the first line…

the poems in this list are limited to ones originally written in the English language and which are under 50 lines, excluding poems like Homer’s Iliad and Edgar Allan Poe’s “Raven.”

First Letter by M. Eminescu (1850-1889) When at night with a sleepy eye I blow the candle, The length of time’s flow: only the clock can handle. And as I pull the drapes in my room to the right, The moon engulfs everything with its warm light. It retrieves from my memory, endless thoughts. I feel the whole lot like in dreams that come in lots. You move on Earth’s dome, Moon you, mistress of the sea. You give life to one’s thoughts, and you lessen one’s misery. Virgin one you, thousand of wilds glow in your light. How many forests hide shimmer of water in their shade? As on top of the rough sheer size of the seas you drift, Over how many thousands of waves does your light shift? How many blossoming shores, what forts and castles too, Which flooded by your beauty, to yourself you put on view. Into how many thousands of homes, you gently touch? How many heads full of thought, you quietly watch? You spot a king, who webs the globe with plans for a century, While a poor guy dares not to think about the next day… While a new rank was drawn from the urn of fate for each guy, Your ray and the skill of death, rule them in the same way. To the same chain of passions, both guys are addicted, Be they weak or strong, stupid or smart. Some guy looks in the mirror and his hair he styles. Some other guy seeks the truth in this world, and in these times. From stained old files, thousand small pieces he folds. Their short-lived names he writes down on the script he holds. And some guy at his office desk carves up the world, and he tallies How much gold, the sea is hauling in its dark ships hulls. And there is the old professor, with his coat faded at the elbows. He searches, and in an endless count, he assesses. And he buttons up his old robe, of cold he freezes, He sinks his neck in his collar, plugs his ears, and he sneezes. Skinny as he is, frail and feeble as he appears, The vast Universe is in his reach, and it nears. Since at the back of his brow, the past and the future unite. On files, he makes sense of eternity’s deep night. Like Atlas of ancient times, who propped the sky on his shoulder, So, our professor props the space and the eternal time in a number. While over the old scripts, the moon lights with its glow, His thought takes him back billions of years, right now: To the beginning, when a living or nonliving thing there was not, When life and will, lacked for the whole lot, When hidden was nil, though the lot was out of sight, When weighed down with wisdom, the Hidden One relaxed His might. Was it a deep rift? Was it a sheer fall? Was it a vastness of water? Right… A conscious world, or a mind to figure it out, wasn’t in sight. Because there was darkness, like a sea without a ray of light, But there was nothing to look at, nor eye to see into the night. The shape of the un-formed did not start yet to work loose And the endless peace rules at ease… But all of a sudden, the first and the only one, a point stirs rather… Look how out of the chaos it forms a mother, and it grows to be the Father. That point of motion, even weaker than a bubble, It has total control over the entire Universe, without any trouble… Since then, the endless night sorts out in galaxies. Since then, come to light the Sun, the Earth, the Moon and the stars… Since then, up until now, colonies of lost worlds — with tales — Come from grey valleys of chaos on unknown trails. And they spring in swarms that glow from outer space. And by a boundless craving are lured to existence. And in this vast deep-space, we the tiny world’s brood We put together anthills on our globe, and we think it’s good. Tiny nations, kings, soldiers and the well read, We come in generations and we think we know everything from A to Z. Like flies that live a day, in a tiny world that is measured by the foot, In that deep space with no end, we spin following the same route. And we quite forget that this entire life is a poised instant, And at the beginning and at the end night is revealed, although is distant. As specks of dust move about in a ray-of-light’s field, Thousands of brisk specks waste away with the light. And so, in the on and on night that never ends, We have the instant; we have the ray that still stands… When it will switch off, everything will vanish, like a shadow into the night. Since the hazy deep space is a dream of nothingness. But wait… Now, the thinker doesn’t stop his search, and in the twinkling of an eye His contemplation takes him billions of years to the future to see a ray. The Sun that now shines, he sees it dim and red, like veiled in dust, How, like a wound among dark clouds, it goes bust. Everything freezes up. And in space, like rebels the spheres fling, And flee beyond the light’s reign, and Sun’s gravity ring. And the altar screen of the world has dimmed altogether its ray Like the autumn leaves, all the stars have gone astray. The ended time spreads out what’s left, and it turns into infinity, Since the bleak stretch is full of serenity. And all is quiet. All plunges into the night of non-existence. And in a state of ease, the eternal peace gets going again in this instance. …………………………………………………………………………… From the lowest rung of the crowd, up stepping, And to the royal heads, climbing ranking, Of his or her life mystery, everyone puzzled we see, With no way to say, worse off who will it be. The same as one is in all, all is in one. Ahead of the others, gets the one who can. While others with meek heart stand-alone and sigh, And do not grasp that like the unseen foam they quietly die. Whatever they want or think, what should the blind fate agonize? It is like wind that blows in gales over the folks’ days. Shall the whole world accept him? Shall writers cause him to feel at ease? What will the old professor gain out of all of these? Eternal life, they shall say. It is true that all his time, Like ivy on a tree, he clings to an aim. “If I die”— he says to himself, like the sages — “My name will pass on through the ages. Forever, in all places they shall pass it on, all the same, By word of mouth, by means of my fame, My writings shall find shelter in a spot of some head.” Oh, poor guy! Do you call to mind what in life you’ve read? What crossed in front of you? Or what to yourself you’ve said? Not much. From here or from there: a sketch’s bit, You remember you’ve done on a scrap of paper, or a hint of a thought. And when your own life, you don’t know by heart how it goes, Shall others be so keen to know how it was? Maybe over a century, a fussy man with his green eye, He shall sit among books of no use — himself, a redundant horse, let’s say — Your gift of style, he shall assess. Your book’s dust, he shall blow from his glasses. And he shall stack your work on two lines, in a tiny footnote. On a silly page, he shall put you last, with a dot. You can build a whole way of life. You can wreck it. Whatever you say, a shovel of dust shall stack over the whole lot. The hand that wanted the sceptre of the Universe, and higher ranks… And with vision to grasp the Cosmos, fits perfect in four planks. And with cold stares, like they are mocking you too, In the best funeral-procession, they shall walk behind you. And a shortie shall speak above everybody, reading your eulogy, Not to praise you… to polish himself in the shade of your celebrity. Look what awaits you. Oh yes, you shall see… The time yet to come, is even with more impartiality. They shall clap at your life’s skin-deep tale. It will aim to show that you weren’t big deal. You were a man like they are… everyone is content. Much more than him or her you weren’t. And in literary meetings, each guy with an ironic expression Will widen his or her nose, when about you they talk in session. It has to be said sincerely, With words, they shall praise you dearly. And so, fallen in the hands of anyone, they shall assess your toil. Everything they won’t be aware of, they shall soil. And apart from that, about your life, they shall stick their nose in. They shall look for dirt, faults and for some sin. All these brings you closer to them… Not the enlightenment That you shed on the world, but the sins, flaws and excitement, And blunders, and weak moments, and guilt from the past, Which, are linked in a fatal way to a hand of dust. All the little mess of a wretched soul that you’ve got Shall captivate them much more than all you’ve thought. ………………………………………………………….………………………………… Among the walls, flanked by the trees that shed flowers In the same way the full moon glows with gentle light for hours, It gets back much painful feeling from the faintness of our memories Eased is the pain, we feel everything like in dreams. As, it opens the star gate to our own dimension in a twinkling, And once the candle is quenched, it releases much inkling. Many a wilderness, glares in your glow, virgin one you. How many a forest, hide in its shade shimmer of springs, from your view? Over how many thousands of waves, does your glow shift When, over the rough expanse of the seas, your light shall drift? And everything that under the power of fate in this world stays, It’s ruled in the same way by the skill of the death and your rays.

(1881 February the 1st.)

Oh stop it! Don’t be that person!

Thoughts Words and a phrase and a song Repeating on and on In my head, in my brain Telling me just what to say But i dont cause i can’t Cause I’m not quite ready to let go yet

Mist, there’s a mist coming in Gold and silver on the clouds Riding high, look around And you just might see it Wait there’s a weight on the world And its falling but I can’t Let go yet

Fire, wildfire in my eyes Ragin loose and running wild In my head ‘til I’m dead And I’m going crazy What, what to say, but I know

Am I really ready to Let go yet

Thoughts, deepest thoughts On a page in a song Words, wary words In my mind they’re all wrong Write, write till i die Dead, Nothing else Nothing left

I absolutely love this one! I wish I could say I have achieved the privilege of mastering the worlds greatest poets, but blessed that I can appreciate ones beauty of expression! Can I ask who the poet is who wrote this and where you found it? Thank you!!

Great list. Ozymandias my favorite short-form poem ever. But where is something from Dickinson, the Bard of Amherst? Brilliant poems too numerous to enumerate…

A good list apart from number one by Shakespeare. This sonnet fails because it claims to give life to the subject but says nothing specific through which the reader could know anything about the subject; it’s just an ordinary rhyme. Number two by Donne is not bad. Number four by Longfellow is also okay especially the line “Be not like dumb driven cattle, be a hero in the strife”.

why would you say such things? How ironic are you to judge something and have zero information to explain or prove your words, yet your judgement words are identical to your expression of what you think of “mundane” is!!!

“but says nothing specific through which the reader could know anything about the subject;” What more about the subject do you wish to know? Perhaps he should have listed off her favorite foods.

I would have liked to know what made her interesting, unique or out of the ordinary; what she did with her life; what her personality was like; and / or what virtues she possessed. Or even something about her physical appearance would have been better than nothing. There really is nothing about her, assuming it is a she. Shakespeare is grossly overrated. Most of his work is unremarkable but gets more attention because when he was writing hardly anyone had written anything.

Persian poetry is the best in the history of poems; Our poets like “Hafez” and “sa’di shirazy” were unparalleled. If you read their poems you will sea they were great. Many people on the world have ridden them for many years… .

Did you intentionally use “sea” instead of “see”? Very clever. Persian poems are as great as the sea is expansive.

No mention of Invictus? That’s a shame. One of my personal favourites, Henley’s poem is. It evokes such raw willpower as to overcome any inner demon.

There seems to be a ground swell of support for Henley’s Invictus, so I may have to consider an Honorable Mention. That said, there is a sense, to me anyway, of godlessness to it. The depth of the darkness and terror is almost overwhelming, the gods “may be,” and you are “master” of your own fate. These strike me as relatively hollow reflections compared to those on the list. I’m still thinking this one over anyway.

I came across your list only yesterday. I think it’s terrific. At most, there may be a couple of substitutes I might make, but I’m not even sure of that. Great choices. By the way, I happen to agree with you regarding Invictus.

Please don’t change anything, unless it’s in your heart to do so. Your list is so beautiful, inspiring and for me personally extremely therapeutic! Whether or not your list gets changed, is most meaningful when it’s done by your own will. Again in my personal opinion ones own view is by far more interesting, pure and appreciated! Thank you for this list! As someone who’s been really struggling daily for almost a year now due to tragedy, heartache that proved to be very traumatic for me, reading your pick of poems for a moment soothed the pain I’ve been feeling as well as reminded me just how powerful expression and perception are. Most importantly it is not right nor wrong and should just simply (not literally) be appreciated! Thank you for lifting a tiny piece of fog that’s clouding my brain at this time!!!

Thank you, Kelly! Yours are some of the most encouraging words I think anyone’s poetry analysis could hope to receive.

A superb poem.

thank you for these deep and inspirational words! keep up your ongoing effort to expand your vocabulary (vocabulary means words that you know)

I don’t understand the last line of The Road Not Taken. Why does Frost say that his choice has made all the difference if the intent is that it hasn’t?

My understanding is that Frost is implying two different principles:

(1) what we think makes a difference may not make any difference at all. For instance, suppose you feel someone has wronged you, say a politician or perhaps someone close to you, and the actions you take driven by irrational emotion you realize later were silly. That person’s original actions you realize didn’t make a difference and your own subsequent actions didn’t make a difference.

(2) We should strive to make a positive difference in our world, even in whatever small and insignificant way it may seem. If something appears in need of attention and underserved or underutilized, as in the less warn path, then we should naturally feel inclined to help and participate where it is needed. We should naturally be open minded and compassionate to our fellow man, even if they suffer for a sound reason.

The two principles are perhaps contradictory, but I think Frost has experienced them and recognizes that he has them internalized, so the poem is an expression of that contradictory experience and elucidates the sometimes seemingly contradictory nature of life itself.

If there are layers of consciousness and layers of reality then the truth can perhaps be more closely approached. Principle 2 applies to ordinary human interactions at the most surface level and principle 1 demonstrates a larger scale principle that we can reflect upon in a more spiritual or philosophical state of mind but cannot entirely attain when confined to a human body.

An individuals choices will make a difference in their own life but will have no effect whatsoever on society as a whole in most cases.

It’s because he knows that it is a lie. The poem mentions: “I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence”. He is sighing because he knows that it’s wrong to lie about his past, but he also knows that people crave excitement, and that ordinary things go overlooked. So he makes it seem as if taking the path less traveled is what made the difference, when really, the were either the same, or there would have been no way to differentiate to begin with.

Thanks Evan. I do agree with those principles (#1 borne out many times) but the last line still flummoxes me a bit. I’m new to poetry though and suspect I’m approaching it with too much concrete thinking.

this was nice poems ive ever read… pls send me poems via email thank you GODBLESS more powers. [email protected]

did you mean these were the nicest poems that you’ve ever read or this was one of the nicest poems that you’ve ever read? re-read your comment before you post it next time Jenica 🙂

Unnecessary. Maybe the original poster is not a native English speaker. Don’t be condescending and rude.

A great list. I would add one more though, High Flight by John Magee

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there, I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung My eager craft through footless halls of air . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace Where never lark, or ever eagle flew — And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Great thought. I love that poem also. The story that goes with it makes it all the more moving.

*I also love that poem 🙂

Dom, Yes — wonderful poem, but a sad story. Very moving. Good thought! Ron

Thank you for taking the time to compile this list. I was inspired to revisit poetry after teaching it to my 3rd grade students. They seem to really enjoy poetry and grasping meaning from it. After reading all the comments, it’s reassuring to know that adults take the time to slow down and contemplate such written work. Thank you again!

I would love to understand these poems. Even reading them gives me a good feeling.

I like poems full of internal music , rich in rhythm ,touching mature thought ,of well-engineered words … please should you come across one of these ,be kind to send … Christina Rossetti’s poems are readable for me . … Good list !

I suspect that if Wordsworth had compiled a list of his best 10 poems, Daffodils would not have been on it. It’s funny how time and criticism (both formal and popular) separates out who and what is “great” whether in poetry, music, painting or any of the the arts. Personally, I would have had Burns in there somewhere, either “To a Louse” or “To a Mouse.” Even so, each poem in the list is worthy of admiration and the analysis is, for the most part, spot on. Thanks for sharing.

James, I suspect you’re probably right about Wordsworth not including Daffodils, but that doesn’t change my love of it one bit, and most people I know feel the same. Plus, as you’re aware, Wordsworth’s “greatest” list would have a number over the 50-line limit, so we’d have to set them aside to meet the criteria. By the way, I love your mention of “To a Mouse” — one of my favorites. Ron

I really Thanks to All Friends thos who shared these poems because these poems are related to our study course in ( ENGLISH LITERATURE )

Can’t disagree with your list. Thank you for sharing.

What a wonderful set of poems! Thank you for sharing.

I was also thinking of John Donne’s beautiful poem a little bit more as you shared it, along with your thoughts. As you outline it, the sixth reason death is not to be feared is that death is not extinction for John Donne. But what is the victory he imagines? What does it mean that death will die?

Certainly John Donne believed in an enduring soul, but I would submit that the reason in his poem hinges instead on his Christian belief in the resurrection of the body, not on the continuation of a non-physical soul. I would suggest it is not primarily a realization that the body is subordinate, nor that there is a greater identification with the soul. It is that one day, “when we wake” as he says, the body will be remade. And in that day, corruption, decay, and death will no longer exist. This is the source of his hope and how he sees the powerlessness of death.

The most obvious reason for this is that in the last line of his poem there is a clear allusion, if not a direct quote, from his treasured scriptures, “And death shall be no more” (Rev 21:4). The reality he is undoubtedly picturing is this same reality the writer of Revelation is picturing. It is a physical world that is being remade. It is not a world of disembodied souls. It is a world where the former order of things has passed away, corruption and death itself have become extinct. As the poem says, death thou shalt die.

And if this is true, I wonder if the possible applications you envision might need to be narrowed a bit more. Love to hear your thoughts. Thanks again for sharing.

Dear Anthony,

Thank you for your thoughtful analysis and question. Given Donne’s Christian background, you have a solid case for that interpretation for sure.

To me, there is not necessarily any contradiction between our two interpretations. If the soul is made of matter, possibly itself composed of yet unknown or yet enigmatic particles that far exceed current scientific understanding, then from the perspective of the other side, from heavenly realms, the soul is the real body, potentially capable of regenerating or reconstituting lesser forms of matter, which include what we human beings perceive to be the physical human body. Perhaps it is like a photograph. The human body is flat and two dimensional and captures a mere glimpse of the person, but the source of the photo, capable of generating more photos, is the soul. Both we might say present to us a complete physical body and a complete being, although the person obviously trumps the photo.

Okay, you hooked me into another question! It sounds like what you’re envisioning is a deeper physical reality, that perhaps science has not uncovered. You definitely have a revision of the traditional understanding of the soul when you say it can be composed of physical matter. But I’d be intrigued to know how the regeneration and reconstitution would work as you see it? When a person dies and all their physical parts decompose, are you imagining a scenario where some of those physical particles of matter (the ones that make up the “soul”) would actually reform together through natural processes… such that the same conscious soul is truly regenerated?

Dear Anthony, hahaha, we are getting very theoretical now and I’m not sure that I’m understanding the terms you’re using correctly. I apologize if I am not. I am imagining that the physical matter, or super matter, never usually decomposes, just what we perceive on the surface as the physical body decomposes. Another metaphor: the physical body is like clothing and the soul is the body, so the consciousness is the same. At death, it is merely that the dirty or worn clothes are taken off. Without the restraints of this physical dimension there is an expanded consciousness encompassing our human consciousness. To put it another way, if someone dies, the atoms don’t stop working. The electrons keep spinning and they maintain their atomic structure. Our bodies are made of cells and molecules that maintain an overall macro-structure, so it could be that our souls are composed of atoms and subatomic particles and also have an overall macro-structure. If you were to destroy the atoms or split them, then you would be destroying the soul and releasing a huge amount of energy, which is basically a nuclear explosion or nuclear energy. That is the power of but a few particles of the soul (I cannot mention this last metaphor and proceeding discourse without citing my own spiritual mentor Master Li Hongzhi: http://en.falundafa.org/eng/pdf/ZFL2014.pdf )

I disagree with the title of this list. It should be the “10 most famous and memorable poems”. These are definitely not the 10 greatest poems ever written. At least half of these poems are quaint trifles. The list also exaggerates the importance of rhyme in English poetry. Let’s face it, the great classical poets (including Milton and Wordsworth) and most modern poets eventually rejected rhyme as an annoying and embarrassing, pointless hindrance and good riddance. Or they transformed the way rhyme is used to make it less conspicuous and awkward. Furthermore, the under-representation of modern poetry in this list gives the impression that the compiler of the list hasn’t actually read that much poetry. Compare the poems in this list to the power and wizardry of a work like “The Windhover” by G.M. Hopkins.

You give a passionate attack on rhyme and then go on to cite a sonnet, Hopkins’ “The Windhover,” (which I have pasted below) which is bursting not only with an only somewhat subtle Petrarchan rhyme scheme but also copious and completely conspicuous alliteration. Alliteration predates rhyme as the “annoying and embarrassing” English poetry device of choice. Perhaps, if you try this argument elsewhere, you may consider using a different example.

(Hopkins by the way is featured in our 10 Greatest Poems about Death: http://classicalpoets.org/10-greatest-poems-about-death-a-grim-reader/ )

You do have an interesting point in which you correlate power and wizardry to greatness, but do no correlate posthumous fame or memorableness to greatness. What exactly is found in this “power and wizardry” of which you speak? Perhaps you have your own top ten list that you can compile and share.

I think in the future the list will need to be rewritten or expanded to include 21st century poets too, but we are not there yet.

The Windhover By Gerard Manley Hopkins To Christ our Lord

I caught this morning morning’s minion, king- dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing, As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!

No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear, Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.

Kind regards, The Author

thank you for your response. I would argue that Hopkins is using rhyme here in a very natural and unique manner, not in the service of an awkward convention. The sheer number of internal rhymes and alliterative and assonant phrases in this poem that do not feel forced is impressive. The experimental technical elements of the poem and its exciting rhythm do not in any way impair the poem’s ability to convey its principal theme, which is “being inspired by nature and the mundane”. In, fact I think they help to convey this theme most powerfully. I have not read enough to confidently conclude, as one critic did, that it is the “most beautiful poem in the English language”, but I think it is up there among the greatest. Hopkins himself said it was the best thing he ever wrote.

Poetry is our hearts, our lives, our pain, and pleasure all penned for sheer enjoyment or reflection. I enjoyed the list (Shake’s is a amazing) especially to measure my own works against how clearly the others conveyed their message and the emotion they were trying to reach. My own poem below is my personal favorite amongst those I’ve written, but friends love many others because they find a personal message in the words I’ve written. Enjoy and comment on the below.

“The Test”

What mettle are you made of my son? From what fiber have you been cast? In glass, or wood, or iron are thee? By your life are these questions asked.

You may learn much about a man By his fortitude and his grain, Only in time will each be tested Under stress, through fire, or disdain.

When life’s pressures are brought to bear On the road which you have been sent, Will you shatter or splinter in angst, Or will your mettle only be bent?

When love is blessed, but then meets dour; Enter your heart ‘pon the funeral pyre, Will you warp and crack, or fume in rage, Or shall you temper while engulfed by fire?

Now a man of glass can be seen through With simply a look or a glance. A man of wood, or what’s left of him Is by grace of hatchet or lance.

But an iron man, steadfast and true, With fortitude that time has shapened, May be bent, and marred, and hardened, but He can laugh at the test he’s taken.

L.F. Richard Smith December 18, 1994

It is a shame a summer day come to, I for summers’ day is not a day, I am bequeathed to tie. Thine self ist warned that such a bond be worthy not at all, but thine forgets the words of thou when he has lost it all.

Rumi should be on the list perhaps the one of the most popular poets of the day

im ayub and iwant to be the member of poems

Dirge Without Music Launch Audio in a New Window BY EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground. So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind: Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you. Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust. A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew, A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,— They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve. More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind; Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave. I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

William Blake’s poem is actually called “The Tyger” rather than “The Tiger” (common mistake)

Of course, originally it was “Tyger.” Here the spelling has been updated to avoid confusion (a common editorial choice). We have the original spelling here: http://classicalpoets.org/tyger-tiger-william-blake/

Good name of a website.

Most of the interpretations of these poems are not profound at all. Very shallow. Also the writer used the word “basically” which if informal and not appropriate for the caliber of writing glorified by classicalpoets.org

Thank you for your feedback. Feel free to offer your own interpretation of any of the poems, either in the comments section or for submission for publication to [email protected] . Alternatively, you may post a link to an interpretation that you feel is worthy.

Perhaps the style is too informal in places, I agree. However, recently I’ve found my self de-formalizing my prose because I feel it quickly becomes stuffy, inaccessible, and irrelevant. It seems to me that the place of “the writer” currently is to reach people of all socioeconomic backgrounds across a large segment of the world, not echo hallow sentiments in small and entrenched communities. The Society of Classical Poets is hopefully raising poetry to greater heights and opening it up to common people who find that prevailing modes of poetry nonsensical and dull, and again inaccessible and irrelevant.

Regards, The Writer

As a writer, one can express their ideas in any form of prose that suits them. However, the poems listed here are unlike counterculture lyric, haiku, limerick, mock poems, shape, and free verse poetry. They demonstrate immense skill in producing lyric and cohesiveness in thought through the use of innovative prosodic features and metrics, respectively; writing a basic explanation for them needs to be done by not only making the analysis accessible but, also slightly learned and comprehensive. Hitherto, all discussion on sonnets is done in a formal manner of writing, so I agree with the reader wholeheartedly, that being said, writing has to be made readable and understandable to prevent redundancy that is so common with “stuffy” formal prose. Notwithstanding, the excellent approach, the use of some phrases seems questionable such as ‘succinctly crystallized’ (I would prefer conflated) and ‘architecturally mirror’ (?).

Rabindranath Tagore…. An Indian writer…. Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection: Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action– Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee! He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!

The poem ‘Leave This’ addresses the hypocrisy within our hearts in the name of religion. In our pursuit of God, we truly seem to be running away from Him.

‘Let Me Not Forget’

If it is not my portion to meet thee in this life then let me ever feel that I have missed thy sight —let me not forget for a moment, let me carry the pangs of this sorrow in my dreams and in my wakeful hours. As my days pass in the crowded market of this world and my hands grow full with the daily profits, let me ever feel that I have gained nothing —let me not forget for a moment, let me carry the pangs of this sorrow in my dreams and in my wakeful hours. When I sit by the roadside, tired and panting, when I spread my bed low in the dust, let me ever feel that the long journey is still before me —let me not forget a moment, let me carry the pangs of this sorrow in my dreams and in my wakeful hours. When my rooms have been decked out and the flutes sound and the laughter there is loud, let me ever feel that I have not invited thee to my house —let me not forget for a moment, let me carry the pangs of this sorrow in my dreams and in my wakeful hours.

This exquisite piece of poetry, ‘Let Me Not Forget’ expresses the melancholic emptiness behind missing the beloved. The lines are beautiful yet they carry spasms of distress.

And many more….

Try and the logophiles like me would definitely enjoy with mirth because words rearranged beautifully always fascinate the likes of us…

A good thesis when we mention the list but the fact that the greatest poems cannot be listed ,as there are innumerable languages in the world and the essence of a poem felt in its own language cannot be easily engrossed in a translation, cannot be ignored. Thanking you.

Hitting the nail on its head! Incidentally, there are many more and better English poems than these listed. What is a great poem? What is a good poem? What is a classic poem? What is simply a brilliant poem? People tend to get fixated on classic poets.

I disagree. While there are subtleties of semantics that evade translation and wordplay can be lost unless it is specifically explained outside of a poem, the truly great poems are universally transcendent. In my subjective opinion, I mean. And ALL poetry’s value is subjective in nature; so any metric necessarily involves the consciousness of the person reading a poem.

Because all of the above poems on the top 10 list have been written by white men (excepting Lazarus, who is also white), it seems to me there is a sort of confirmation bias at work here. It is a pretty easy thing to forget that other cultures exist when one is steeped in the a given academic tradition. The author above seems to be heavily invested in his European progenitors’ literary traditions. I share much of that bias- regarded Blake, Dante, and Shakespeare as Holy Men. (I still do, but have extended my notion of Holy along various avenues. One example of Holiness: ‘that which does not privilege a particular inertial reference frame.’)

It is also fairly typical to regard more modern poets as less profound because they may have recognition outside of academic cultures. I tend to regard some sermons as a kind of poem. If “Howl” is a poem, then “I have a Dream” is too. Both would be included in my personal top 10. I would be tempted to add Dr. Dre’s “N.W.A” in Straight Outta Compton, but I suppose Dr King’s “Dream” already fulfills the Black socialist bracket. I am partial to socialist poetry, I may as well admit it. Take for instance what George Orwell wrote in _Why I Write_, reflecting on a poem he wrote while recuperating from a Fascist bullet in the throat that he received while fighting in Spain (skipping the first half or so):

But girl’s bellies and apricots, Roach in a shaded stream, Horses, ducks in flight at dawn, All these are a dream.

It is forbidden to dream again; We maim our joys or hide them: Horses are made of chromium steel And little fat men shall ride them.

I am the worm who never turned, The eunuch without a harem; Between the priest and the commissar I walk like Eugene Aram;

And the commissar is telling my fortune While the radio plays, But the priest has promised an Austin Seven, For Duggie always pays.

I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls, And woke to find it true; I wasn’t born for an age like this; Was Smith? Was Jones? Were you?

Speaking of dreams, this is my all-time favorite poem:

Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was myself. Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.” ― Zhuangzi, (Chuang-tzu) (369 BCE to 286 BCE)

ps: I hadn’t read that particular Wordsworth or Milton. Thank you!

I rather like the list, but I think there is some room for debate and discourse. With that being said, allow me to throw my favorite poem in the ring.

“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Smallest and Comforted, sitting on the rock, in the field.

Insulated and alone, sitting in my room, sobbing.

Sleeping and burned, Gone and lost to the wind, not seen again.

Chuckling and snickering, Taking my breath away, In my room.

Wiggling and eating, In the garbage, Eat what they can get.

Definitely great poems. But what are the ‘greatest’? In my opinion not the best ever written. And these are for the English language. In German, Dutch, French and Afrikaans poems just as great or even better have been written

I always liked Richard Cory, Winifred Owen’s “dulce et decorum est” and in a similar vein ” death of a ball turret gunner. All are kind of shocking, and some may feel cheap. But I think they are good.

But I like them. I DO think you could pull out a Wadsworth and throw in an Emily Dickinson. ( and there are a lot of hers to consider)

Frost likely has 4 poems worth considering. The two mentioned above as well as “out, out-” and ” mending wall”.

Overall a great list

BTW… I know Wadsworth wrote one, and Wadsworth Longfellow wrote two…. but I had guessed you would catch my drift

It was excellent and useful. Thank you very much from the members of your website.

Genial me encantan los poemas cortos en ingles, me gustaria que uno de ustedes me ayude a escribir algunos poemas cortos cuánto me cobran?

I enjoyed your list and your commentary on each poem. I ran into it looking for a poem that I memorized at least 60 years ago. I do not know who wrote it, do you? This is my memory of it. “Some look behind and say, Alas, alack! If only I could go back. Some look ahead and say , Ah then I will be happy then. But I, I look out on today, I clasp it close and kiss it’s radiant brow. Here in the perfect present let me stay For I am happy now. “

I believe that this is the poem you are looking for:

Now by Ella Wheeler Wilcox One looks behind him to some vanished time And says, Ah, I was happy then, alack! I did not know it was my life’s best prime — Oh, if I could go back! Another looks, with eager eyes aglow, To some glad day of joy that yet will dawn, And sighs, I shall be happy then, I know. Oh, let me hurry on. But I – I look out on my fair To-day; I clasp it close and kiss its radiant brow, Here with the perfect present let me stay, For I am happy now!

How much more enriched we all are after such contributions! Excellent.

This is definitely an amazing collection but I believe that everyone has a different perspective of analyzing a piece of poetry. So, coming up with a single meaning is not just and it often hinders the feelings with which a poets writes his poetry. Poems are worth feeling than understanding and no poem is great or the greatest its just the reader’s connection with it that makes it great. Moreover, I loved the collection as it was more about the truth of the world rather than some orthodox philosophy.

How many different ways to describe just one fleeting facet ofGod’s Creation – life. And obversely Death. These significantly beautiful Poems and the import latent in them takes my mind right to the meaning imparted by the sculptures created on the walls of The Holy Temples of Angkor. Each Pilgrim visiting Angkor carries back as varied meanings from the Temples as any reader shall after making a serious endeavor of understanding these lovely pieces of literary art.

Though these Poems and those Temples belong to entirely different time-frames in our Historical past, both underscore the beauty of God’s Creativity and its understanding by the human being, perhaps as He might have willed.

My mind also goes to yet another time slot when visionaries such as Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato also threw light on virtues related to inner-bliss and well-being of humanity and creativity of our maker in order to facilitate a better understanding of the ethereal facets of our existence. And after that.

Hope that we all individually as also collectively are able to make some tiny difference to the times that we all live in.

Re: Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” commentary:

Sometimes commentaries reflect the personal obsessions of the individual writing them far more than they do the poem itself. I believe that is what’s going on here. Robert Frost’s short, profound poem is about many different things and can have many different interpretations. But the last thing I see it as being about is the simple heroic narrative: making a difference in the world because the Hero Knows which is the Right Path to take.

To me it’s a commentary on tremendous unknown complexity of the world around us and how an almost random minor decision or event leads one, over time to a vastly different and completely unpredictable future than one ever imagined for oneself.

The individual at the crossroads is jejune, a immature youth or an innocent mind, inexperienced with life, who believes his clear choices, even ones make for shallow, almost random reasons, are always for the good or are always right, reflect deep intelligence and thought, and always have a strong impact on the world.

The individual looking back on that early decision point in time is a more experienced and wiser man and understands the effect of randomness on human beings, creatures who always falsely try to force order and “narrative” (to use that self-important and egregious popular term in the way that is a bit more accurate), a soothing coherent self-lullaby onto ones’ life. As one ages and one learns, however, you start to see how really random and chaotic the world (and your own personal “life story”) is. One starts to get a bit more honest and clear-sighted. One starts to grasp that one’s neat little life story (I did *this* very clearly and consciously because of *that*) isn’t actually how things actually transpired: happenstance and random chance played a far greater role in one’s life than one’s personal (and, to be honest, immature) meaningful heroic narrative allowed one to admit. With experience and age, the ego starts to get over itself, and other, more relevant information than that allowed by one’s youthful personal self-absorbed heroic fairy tale, starts to seep in. Or, at least, that’s what happens if one is lucky and one’s mental maturity progresses in pace with one’s physical aging.

The Road Less Traveled looks at a youthful decision-point, one of many, and sees how this rather light and ego-driven (I’ll be cool and do what others _don’t_ do) decision had echoing repercussions down the halls of time and made a tremendous difference on the narrator’s life. We aren’t told if the repercussions were good or bad (it’s the egotistic desire to believe one always chooses rightly, even when one is young and inexperienced that leads the reader to that conclusion). What we are told is that one minor, almost trivial decision had a tremendous effect on the writer’s life over time. It hints at the way little actions or choices can snowball as they roll forward into time and have tremendous effects. It’s not a warning to “choose wisely” because we can’t do that, really, at any time in life. We just haven’t enough information, except in the most overly simplistic of cases.

And yet we try. We always strive to know more, to get an edge, to discover the secrets that will make “it all” make sense. That’s human nature, and results in some of the finest behavior and effects on society. But sometimes I do wonder if we’re striving in the right direction. As people mature, they start to see how precarious, unknown, and unpredictable the world and one’s life in it actually is. Life can turn on the drop of a can of soup in a grocery aisle. To me, Frost’s poem gently suggests the reader take a break from self-absorbed life-story narratives (or fairy tales, from one perspective) and start looking a bit more closely at how the world actually works. There may be something worth learning from that.

Yes. This. So much this. We forgo pragmatism (and why not of course, it’s boring!) for loftiness; our head in the clouds filled with rabbit holes lit by the light of our own ideals and self involved interpretation. We come by it earnest if only by basic human nature but even moreso because we are thinkers, creators, dreamers, seekers of beauty and purpose and mystery- and all those things that make some of us to be perceived as a little weird and seemingly irrelevant. Pointless observation perhaps, as I lack any formal training whatsoever in the way of dictation of observation or rhetoric or what have you. I just love the music of word- or the attempt to happen upon a piece or compose something akin to the type of melodies that provoke a chill or a tear or a feeling in the pit of your stomach. Beautiful art. How weird of me to leave a comment like this.

The Road Not Taken seems to be an inadvertent inspiration or source for cause to pause and ponder in wonderment for some; A happy unintentional gift, to it’s now readers. A closer look, however, may reveal a question that begs to be unavoidable and sneeringly unanswerable at the readers expense. The way it is written romances us into false wonderment and sense of security about the choices we have made. however, there’s still the matter of: what about the Road not Taken? What about that sigh? I think it’s interesting how we analyze and have a need to interpret a deep meaning and we expect so much purpose from the writings of others. And that we actually find deep meaning in the poetry of others. It can bring healing to our souls even when not intended to do so. This poem actually originated as an ironic jest written for Frost’s friend Edward Thomas (with whom he would take frequent walks in the woods and without fail, Thomas would always grumble about choosing the wrong path or wrong way or wrong turn while they walked and talked. But Thomas’ personality and temperament was such that the he took the poem seriously as somewhat of a slight towards his inability to make decisions and make the right decisions that it affected his confidence about his own writings and seemed have an affect on his impending decision to fight in the war- even though Frost related to him the playfulness of spirit in which it was written). All of it is just intersting and it reveals something about the nature of humans in general. I wonder what Frost would have to say about the the influence and popularity and sheer endearment of his poem that was written out of playfulness.

Read Kalidas’s and then compare all above with him.

yes …. thanks … lovely poems … any more ?

Nice poems you have an amazing collection

There must be at least 6 Keats poems which I prefer to the Urn. Autumn and/or Nightingale must be included in any top 10.

These are all great poets and yet the superiority of Shakespeare is astounding. He is on a different level, inhabiting a different world, speaking a different language. Was he a man or an alien or a god? How the hell did he do it? Astonishing.

Hamilton, I respect your opinion, but allow me to point out that Nightingale is longer than 50 lines, and thus ineligible for the list.

hi, i love you so muchhhh

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free. Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls. Where words come out from the depth of truth, where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection. Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit. Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action. In to that heaven of freedom, my father, LET MY COUNTRY AWAKE!” ― Nobel Prize Winner Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali

I enjoyed the immense dialogue. Here’s one of mine: Well In interstices of contingency every task can find its mastery. So then the crisis unfolding in folding time discloses its wine and roses rhapsody. Ronald Thorpe Jorgensen

I must say that Columbus, by Joaquin Miller, is my favorite of all time.

Behind him lay the gray Azores, Behind the Gates of Hercules; Before him not the ghost of shores, Before him only shoreless seas. The good mate said: “Now must we pray, For lo! the very stars are gone. Brave Admiral, speak, what shall I say?” “Why, say, ‘Sail on! sail on! and on!’”

“My men grow mutinous day by day; My men grow ghastly wan and weak.” The stout mate thought of home; a spray Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. “What shall I say, brave Admiral, say, If we sight naught but seas at dawn?” “Why, you shall say at break of day, ‘Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!’”

They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow, Until at last the blanched mate said: “Why, now not even God would know Should I and all my men fall dead. These very winds forget their way, For God from these dread seas is gone. Now speak, brave Admiral, speak and say”— He said: “Sail on! sail on! and on!”

They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate: “This mad sea shows his teeth to-night. He curls his lip, he lies in wait, With lifted teeth, as if to bite! Brave Admiral, say but one good word: What shall we do when hope is gone?” The words leapt like a leaping sword: “Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!”

Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, And peered through darkness. Ah, that night Of all dark nights! And then a speck— A light! A light! A light! A light! It grew, a starlit flag unfurled! It grew to be Time’s burst of dawn. He gained a world; he gave that world Its grandest lesson: “On! sail on!”

When I was young, my mother read me most of these poems! 🙂

Great list, thanks. Sea Fever by John Masefield gives me goosebumps:

„I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky…

Which do you choose?? Good or bad, love or hate, anger or joy, happy or sad, heaven or hell, tears or smile pain or gain “I would pick the pain in the gain so I never forget how the game is being played Learn to love as much as I hate To every tears in my eye I put a smile in another person’s face Good or bad I don’t judge cause am not God Hell is a place but I pray I die save cause heaven is a place of joy and I don’t want to have everlasting sadness…… Make your poem with those words from the heart and see how deep the wound hurt……

I feel the same way. My wonderful 10th grade English teacher read it to our class and it gave me chills.

You are very fortunate that your mother read you such great poems.

Great selection and commentary.

Did you notice that 9 out of 10 are males?

Ode to nightingale by keats Should be in top 3

Ode to a Nightingale is truly great, but longer than 50 lines, so it doesn’t meet the criteria.

Thanks for taking the time to write all of that out. You are clearly very knowledgable and passionate about poetry.

*whispers* Just one thing though, they don’t have wild tigers in Africa.

*even quieter* My favourite is The Jabberwocky.

I’ll get my coat.

Me too, but say it loud – jabberwocky rocks! Take your coat off and join me by the fire!

These are good, but I think there are lots of other poem which deserve to be in top ten list.

I’m sure everyone reading this has their own top ten, likely completely different from everyone else’s.

Thinking more about this, how could anyone who knows poetry at all list whom they think wrote the 10 greatest poems and leave out Emily Dickinson, Gerard Manly Hopkins, Dylan Thomas, ee cummings, Wallace Stevens, WS Graham, and other modern poets? Haven’t you been paying attention to what’s been going on in poetry since the 19th century?

Hmmmmmm People *_names_* All like a _*game*_ Cus all they _*say*_ *Is lose or gain*

Names are *_symbolic_* *_Frolicking_* *_Rollicking_* And some even *_diabolic_* ♂️

*If you know, you know*

*But ain’t basing on this* ♂♂♂

People give themselves *_titles_* ☹ Which they ain’t *_fit_* They say *_this_* But at the end, they don’t *_fulfill it_* *_ Why give yourselves title_* ♂♂♂ When you know *_inside_* You aren’t *_dim fit_* Lots of *_pretence everywhere_* In order to get their *_wants_* But at the *_end_* We don’t *_exist anymore_*

*Rather than give yourself a name* *Rather than give yourself a title* *Rather than give yourself a post* *Why not let those who see you* *Give you as you dim fit* *_Cus what you portray on the inside_* *_Attracts what’s on the outside_*

*_Remember the day you were born_* *_You didn’t chose your name_* *_But was given to you_* *_As you dim fit…_* *_By those who see you…_* *_By those who see your worth…_* *_And felt the mirth…_*

“`*So as for me*“`

I don’t wanna give myself a *~title~* I don’t wanna say *~this~* And ~*I don’t fulfill it*~

But it’s your *_choice_* ☺ To give as you *_dim fit_* Cus it’s what you see of *_me_* That I’ll portray to *_all_* ♂

So take a *jotter* Inscribe with your *pen* And give a *name* Of what you *see* Cus it’s what I’ll *be* *To you*

Remember *Emmanuel cares*☺

Written by: *_OJO EMMANUEL OLUMIDE_* COLLEGE: *_COSIT_* DEPT: *_COMPUTER SCIENCE_*

NETWORKING THE WORLD *_all by the inspiration of the HolySpirit_*

*Which do you choose??* *Good or bad,* *love or hate,* *anger or joy,* *happiness or sadness,* *heaven or hell,* *tears or smile,* *pain or gain*

Have a taste of *sadness* To know the value of *happiness* Cus you can’t *love* If you never *hate*

Or *smile* ☺ Without tasting *pain* In the midst of *anger*

But there is always an insight of *joy*

Whatever *bad*‍♂ Or *good* None can *exist* Without the *other being dominant or successive*

With lots of *tears* Cus *hell* is *near* And I don’t wanna go *there* Save *heaven*

If only you could *hear* To avoid what’s *there*

Inscribe in your *heart*♥ *_All is here to take you there_* (heaven) cus it’s your *gain*

Thanks bro for your lovely top 10 quotes

My favourite poem is Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess”. Wonderful, unique story and exquisitly constructed.

(THE DAWN OF EVIL) LIFE FROM MY OWN PERSPECTIVE IS A, (MOVIE),HORROR,SCRIPT WHICH HAS NO NECCESSARY END EVEN WHEN DEATH OVERCOME WORTHLESS BODIES! I AM A LIAR,REFUSING TO ACCEPT THE TRUTH AND FACE REALITY THE WAY IT IS,I WILL FOREVER REAMAIN.I AM A CRIMINAL,A PRISONER, A MENACE TO SOCIETY,AM IMPRISONED BY FLOW OF HATE,HATE OF EVERYTHING SANE.I SEE THINGS DIFFEIENTLY,MY GOOD IS BAD AND MY BAD GOOD,HOW COME,IS THIS A CURSE OR JUST PLAIN ME,AND IF IT’S A CURESE,THEN,I SHALL CONTINUE TO LIVE WITH THE MONSTERS IN MY CLOSET,ONLY HEARD AND SEEN BY ME,AND IF IT WAS AN EPIDEMIC,I WOULD HAVE FELT THE SENCE OF BELONGING,BUT NO,IT ME, MYSELF AND I ALONE.DEPRESSION IS THE WAY OF LIFE AS WELL AS SUICIDAL AMBITION.ON MINUTE,IT CAME OVER ME LIKE A SWAM OF LOCUST,DESTROYING EVERYTHING FROM IT’S PAST,BUT,THOSE OF HIS OWN KIND STILL REMAIN.WE ARE BLINDED BY FEAR AND THE FEARS OF OUR NIGHTMARES TURNING INTO REALITY,THAT WE OVERLOOK THINGS,EVEN IN THE TIME OF THE APOCALYPSE.EVIL IS THE WAY AND LIFE-STYLE OF MAN.

That truly is one facet of reality. Some of the poems in this list speak to it. Keats and Wordsworth both acknowledge it, urging us to hold on to ecstatic, in-the-flow moments that can live in us always. Lazarus urges us to compassion — recent challenge to that stance led me, at least, to consider the many humanitarian achievements of the 20thC (the dissolution of empires, the notion of civil rights for all, criminalizing the beating of women children & animals…). If we look only at the century’s faults we’ll be mired in despair, but there is actually much to build on and building is ongoing. Longfellow says: the present moment is where we live — don’t be stuck in longing for or regretting the past, nor in fearing or dreaming of the future; one can only make a little progress in the now, but one can do that, and it will give heart to others. All I’m getting at is — yes, what you write is true, and so are some other things, and some of these poets hold out a way to get to those too.

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None of these have edge, have a joker’s tone, have a being that is not sculpted to a monolith of plainness, or do they? It’s posh poetry birthed from the ridges of aristocracy or docile humanity. We desire fire, all you have to do is look in the mirror.

Edgy thought need not be conveyed in edgy words. Hope you will give them another shot, ignoring the form & listening to the content.

At least three say, in various ways, “What, are you Stupid? you are stuck in trivialities when there is greatness to be seen and done.” A different set of three explores aspects of the inherent brutality of existence. One that purports to be about the soul is disputing the sinfulness of suicide. Another offers a counter to despair. At least one endorses transgressive action. Several represent a moment of exaltation with such vivid presence as to remind one, even in the dumps, that it’s possible.

Thing is — these are mostly 19thC or earlier, a somewhat different culture, so one has to think beyond the surface. Blake’s Tyger for example relies on a gentleman’s literary education to catch the allusions to Icarus who dared to attempt flight, Prometheus who stole fire from heaven, Hephaestus (iron-worker) who tried to thwart Zeus, and Lucifer who challenged God — and also historical awareness of the time, viz. the terrible mob that overthrew the divinely-sanctioned earthly order in the French Revolution of 1789, year of the poem’s publication. Is that power — the tiger — also divinely sanctioned? Remember: today we think the democratic revolutionaries justified, but at the time that was not at all a consensus. The question of whether & when transgression is “right” is very much alive — and edgy — today.

Its not be good to compare with any poet to anyone, but Its 100000% true that no one can be near to Rabindranath Tagore.

(If you don’t know the language then learn Bengali most beautiful language ever, sweetest language in the world). Its better than any other poet in the world.

Thanks me letter

I would have to agree that Bengali is much better than your butchery of the English language.

Awesome.. Best Software Company in Dehradun Best IT company in Dehradun

these poems are awsome pleas give me a responce i want to tell you my poem it is called roads

You may email submissions to [email protected]

I am by no means a poetry buff, but of the poetry I have read my favorite is ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ by Oscar Wilde. Great list though, I recognized seven out of ten.

How is The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot not on this list.

No Anne Sexton? Tsk,Tsk. She has a list of 10 on her own.

you missed one. michael rosen’s chocolate cake. that goes before anything

Where’s The Raven

WHERE’S THE RAVEN

Read the introduction.

X~God came to me in a dream a vaporous image hot like steam with a bright luminous golden gleem. I was an Albatross lost in a sea of chaos S~spoke was his voice a trumpets noise and the whispers of a ghost the Angel was my Savior my maker my host E~ everyone was counted His palm the ocean his fingers the seas seven the number Heavened sentences blessed this message V~ veiled was the Mother wailed was the child nailed was the cross a snow white dove leads a wayward Albatross E~eternity was the taste of the clouds R~ red was the blood of the lamb Wet were the tears of the lost abandoned and fearful S~ speaking from the flames a burning snake screams my name I~ invited denied blighted we die incited we try silver tongue tied taut Spittle burst forth steamy and hot brimstone burns an image of rot U~ undying invincible invisible this principality of life S~ shall the savior deliver the lost Albatross caught in a storm of pain loss and chaos

©DRBII☆2019 ©CNNCHAOSNEWSNETWORK

Life give it a try you will like it I end with no lie Lost no more in life’s awesome anonymous riot Now lay me down soothing soul so quiet As I bask with the comets and stars come night May my spirit float streamingly softly effortlessly light As I question the inevitable and Heaven and might To surmise it all ends in darkness this plight Arduous it seems this life of surprise delights romance and fights I succeed to no longer breathe in this earthly existence battle As it all unravels and drips to the bottom of my pitter patter heart rattle Summers end and Autumns frost brings these things Sun gleams on tears from cheeks as they stream Crossing my trembling lips they sting It seems my desires are embers from yesterday’s fires No longer to be in darkness be mired Dreaming of dying no Hearts beside me nothing but hate Screaming inside so hard my insides ached

Excellent collection, keep up!

On William Blake’s “Tiger” poem.

If the hand or eye is immortal, it could succeed in doing that.

If the hand or eye is immortal, it should be able to dare to do so.

I suppose he means that the hand or eye can only be “immortal” if it did so. However he didn’t say that. Could he or dare he if he is immortal? Could he or dare he to become immortal?

He could if the Tiger is viewed from a safe distance or in a cage. He dare not if he is before a wild Tiger while attempting to draw or paint it. He certainly is not likely to live long while attempting that.

Your comment reveals a few confusions. “Framing” the fearful symmetry is talking about designing the organism, the tiger in this case. Being a “safe distance” from it or not is irrelevant.

And what does immortality have to do with anything here? If someone designed a building, or a sculpture, or anything – how does that make that person immortal?

I believe you’re conflating or confusing or mashing together several notions, neither of which have anything at all to do with any other notion.

My comment does not have any confusions. You are giving the poem a meaning which it doesn’t have, and are not understanding me. Even what you are saying is not clear. What do you mean by “designing the organism”? I am just reading exactly what is written in Blake’s poem. If Blake meant for the poem to have “hidden meaning,” that’s fine, however, the meaning of the words must work on a surface level also, to be logical.

Further, what makes you think he did not speak of “framing” the symmetry of the Tiger in the sense of actually capturing it in some form of artwork? If he did not, his meaning is unclear and therefore his verse is not even “good”. But if he does mean this, then of course, it is not good because he is not logically considering his words or meaning, but is simply being enamored with the sound of his own words because of its effect. That’s not enough to make a good poem. Speaking for effect in a poem is good but not if it doesn’t flow logically.

And why would anyone not “dare” to frame the Tiger’s symmetry? Looking for hidden meaning without first following the clear surface meaning of words is just ignoring what he is actually saying. What he is actually saying, I proved to be without good sense. For he uses the word “immortal” pointlessly, for example.

Not even your comments make sense, and I am not confusing anything. It is not I that used the word “immortal,” but I am just reading what is there in the poem, and proving that Blake is pointlessly using the word or not making sense with that word. One can just imagine any meaning he likes, however, what Blake is saying is just for effect, not because he has clearly comprehended what his own words are saying. That’s why I spoke to make my points sound funny (considering only the first and last verses), because it is funny. And yet people would imagine something so “profound” when it doesn’t even make sense properly on a surface level.

Actually, I was confused, and yet justifiably so. Perhaps by not taking the poem seriously enough. For Blake is speaking about God making the Tiger.

When the stars threw down their spears And water’d heaven with their tears: Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

So all Blake is saying is stating the obvious then. God made the Tiger. But he is confusing me. I should have read it better, yet even then it doesn’t work for me. Why would it be a “dare” for an immortal God to make a Tiger? Of course God “could” frame or design him. And of course God could “dare” to make him. God is not so easily frightened.

I read it superficially not knowing immediately that he was speaking of God throughout. But why did I make this mistake? Because I see that God is not awed or frightened by a Tiger. Blake wrongly then makes the Tiger approach the greatness of God.

“On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire?”

“What the anvil? what dread grasp, Dare its deadly terrors clasp!”

Really now? What a tiny concept of God in this poem. No wonder I missed this. His “Tiger” is more terrible than the mightiness of God, so that it was a “dare” for God to make him. This sounds like exalting the creature over the Creator. So the poem is STILL not a good one. But I admit to you that I was blinded; and I see why. Because my concept of God is infinitely bigger than a Tiger.

This is a poem that is apparently supposed to exalt God in his creation, however, it does the opposite in exalting the Tiger (the creation) rather than God.

Everything is very open with a clear clarification of the challenges. It was really informative. Your site is useful. Thank you for sharing!

Nice Post, Awesome collection

Fantastic collection of poems with a very thoughtful writeup. I couldn’t pick a favourite as I thought they were all very powerful. Do you post new and upcoming poets? Just wondered.

Thank you for the very informative article.

When I was young, my mother read me most of these poems!

What a tremendous discovery to have stumbled accidently over this website ! Rita

I discovered this site by sheer accident – will definitely follow up in the future. Rita

We now have established a chat room that’s text. https://rhodeislandblankprintabledivorcepapers.wordpress.com

Awesome assortment of poems with an attentive writeup. I was unable to pick a most loved as I suspected they were all incredible. Do you post new and up and coming writers? Just pondered.

Everything is very open with a clear clarification of the challenges. It was really informative. Your site is useful. Thank you for sharing!…

Dear Evan, I am a novice at poetry myself but fortunately I can admire the greatness of classics and love your list. I would, however, like to improve my own poetry and would be grateful if the classicalpoets society could help. If I could send you, or the society, a mail with my poetry attached and get a opinion on it privately I’d be very grateful. Sincerely Rishi

You have to be a Member to receive feedback. To become a Member, you have to purchase the newest Journal and email me the receipt. If you live somewhere, such as India, where it is expensive to ship, or if your income is very limited, you may make a $15 USD donation and receive Membership and a PDF of the Journal.

Death by thee, shall not harm me.

Very Interesting Information. I loved Very Much Love From India

I have never ever read these poems before but thank you for sharing all these poems

I wrote poems and this whole poem give me hope and passion. I really love it and it also help especially for those who don’t express their feeling by talking but writing.

“The Raven” deserves a spot on this list.

John, the list is restricted to shorter poems. But we have a lot on the Raven that you may enjoy: https://classicalpoets.org/category/the-raven/

“Good Timber” by Douglas Malloch

I really like Shakespeare’s poem because it uses good words and stuff.

These are definitely not the 10 greatest poems ever written. I read poems in Arabic, they’re 10 times better, they have deeper meaning and they’re so so beautiful. I’m pretty sure there are better poems in other languages too! the list should’ve been called: “10 Greatest Poems Ever Written In English”. But thank you for the list.

I love Shakespeare’s poem because it uses magical words and stuff to make the best poem.

I have a publication that cites the title of Wordsworths poem as “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud.” Not “Daffodils”.

It would be great if someone could clarify as this is one of my favorites.

Also, I love the idea of the daffodils being a surprise to the poet and if they are in the title they are not the gift they should be if the title is “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.”

“The Road Not Taken” and “Daffodils” are two which I really love. All the poem are good. Thanks for sharing this list.

When I was young, my mother read most of these poems!

I love these poems and they’re well chosen, as works in English. The heading ‘Greatest poems ever written’ is however myopic and embarrassing. What about the great Persian works by Rumi, Hafez et al? The countless masterpieces in dozens of other languages?

And how embarrassing and short-sighted of YOU, Mr Digby, to be commenting in English, of all languages, when there are so many beautiful languages available! On my God!! And I find myself so utterly embarrassed that I am speaking in English as well. Enough of the self-loathing. Talk about nit-picking…

Dear Ian Digby, as with any list, there are parameters. The list states in its opening paragraph: “the poems in this list are limited to ones originally written in the English language and which are under 50 lines.”

-Evan Mantyk

The Tiger is the one of the best poem for me. This is very funny to read. But the actual meaning of this poem is so great.

Falling in Love Falling in love is like jumping in the Cold open water. It’s impossible to Describe the feeling! But you know it When your in it.

Bill Montague 4-17-2013

This is a great list of eminent personalities in English Poetry. No doubt. However, I am shocked to find the absense of any mention about Sri Aurobindo. For those who are immersed in the world of poetry, it would be noteworthy to know that the well known Hindu mystic, author, philosopher, and yes poet, of the twentieth century, is omitted from this great list. Is it an act of deliberate exclusion? More likely, it is an oversight. I would rather hope it is the latter because poets are expected to harbor an inclusive, contemplative outlook by nature. Aurobindo wrote “Savitri – A Legend and a Symbol”, recognized as the longest poem in English literature. Its 24,000 lines are packed with words that convey beauty and power. While the subject matter of the poem may not deal with the mundane world, at least the style and language should have caught the attention of those in this august body. Let me quote few lines from the beginning of this epic composition for those who are new to his work:

The Symbol Dawn

IT WAS the hour before the Gods awake. Across the path of the divine Event The huge foreboding mind of Night, alone In her unlit temple of eternity, Lay stretched immobile upon Silence’ marge. Almost one felt, opaque, impenetrable, In the sombre symbol of her eyeless muse The abysm of the unbodied Infinite; A fathomless zero occupied the world. A power of fallen boundless self awake Between the first and the last Nothingness, Recalling the tenebrous womb from which it came, Turned from the insoluble mystery of birth And the tardy process of mortality And longed to reach its end in vacant Nought. As in a dark beginning of all things, A mute featureless semblance of the Unknown Repeating for ever the unconscious act, Prolonging for ever the unseeing will, Cradled the cosmic drowse of ignorant Force Whose moved creative slumber kindles the suns And carries our lives in its somnambulist whirl. Athwart the vain enormous trance of Space, Its formless stupor without mind or life, A shadow spinning through a soulless Void, Thrown back once more into unthinking dreams, Earth wheeled abandoned in the hollow gulfs Forgetful of her spirit and her fate. The impassive skies were neutral, empty, still. Then something in the inscrutable darkness stirred; A nameless movement, an unthought Idea BOOK I: The Book of Beginnings 2 Insistent, dissatisfied, without an aim, Something that wished but knew not how to be, Teased the Inconscient to wake Ignorance. A throe that came and left a quivering trace, Gave room for an old tired want unfilled, At peace in its subconscient moonless cave To raise its head and look for absent light, Straining closed eyes of vanished memory, Like one who searches for a bygone self And only meets the corpse of his desire. It was as though even in this Nought’s profound, Even in this ultimate dissolution’s core, There lurked an unremembering entity, Survivor of a slain and buried past Condemned to resume the effort and the pang, Reviving in another frustrate world. An unshaped consciousness desired light And a blank prescience yearned towards distant change. As if a childlike finger laid on a cheek Reminded of the endless need in things The heedless Mother of the universe, An infant longing clutched the sombre Vast. Insensibly somewhere a breach began: A long lone line of hesitating hue Like a vague smile tempting a desert heart Troubled the far rim of life’s obscure sleep. Arrived from the other side of boundlessness An eye of deity peered through the dumb deeps; A scout in a reconnaissance from the sun, It seemed amid a heavy cosmic rest, The torpor of a sick and weary world, To seek for a spirit sole and desolate Too fallen to recollect forgotten bliss. Intervening in a mindless universe, Its message crept through the reluctant hush Calling the adventure of consciousness and joy CANTO I: The Symbol Dawn 3 And, conquering Nature’s disillusioned breast, Compelled renewed consent to see and feel. A thought was sown in the unsounded Void, A sense was born within the darkness’ depths, A memory quivered in the heart of Time As if a soul long dead were moved to live: But the oblivion that succeeds the fall, Had blotted the crowded tablets of the past, And all that was destroyed must be rebuilt And old experience laboured out once more. All can be done if the god-touch is there. A hope stole in that hardly dared to be Amid the Night’s forlorn indifference. As if solicited in an alien world With timid and hazardous instinctive grace, Orphaned and driven out to seek a home, An errant marvel with no place to live, Into a far-off nook of heaven there came A slow miraculous gesture’s dim appeal. The persistent thrill of a transfiguring touch Persuaded the inert black quietude And beauty and wonder disturbed the fields of God. A wandering hand of pale enchanted light That glowed along a fading moment’s brink, Fixed with gold panel and opalescent hinge A gate of dreams ajar on mystery’s verge. One lucent corner windowing hidden things Forced the world’s blind immensity to sight. The darkness failed and slipped like a falling cloak From the reclining body of a god. Then through the pallid rift that seemed at first Hardly enough for a trickle from the suns, Outpoured the revelation and the flame. The brief perpetual sign recurred above. A glamour from unreached transcendences Iridescent with the glory of the Unseen, BOOK I: The Book of Beginnings 4 A message from the unknown immortal Light Ablaze upon creation’s quivering edge, Dawn built her aura of magnificent hues And buried its seed of grandeur in the hours. An instant’s visitor the godhead shone. On life’s thin border awhile the Vision stood And bent over earth’s pondering forehead curve. Interpreting a recondite beauty and bliss In colour’s hieroglyphs of mystic sense, It wrote the lines of a significant myth Telling of a greatness of spiritual dawns, A brilliant code penned with the sky for page. Almost that day the epiphany was disclosed Of which our thoughts and hopes are signal flares; A lonely splendour from the invisible goal Almost was flung on the opaque Inane. Once more a tread perturbed the vacant Vasts; Infinity’s centre, a Face of rapturous calm Parted the eternal lids that open heaven; A Form from far beatitudes seemed to near. Ambassadress twixt eternity and change, The omniscient Goddess leaned across the breadths That wrap the fated journeyings of the stars And saw the spaces ready for her feet. Once she half looked behind for her veiled sun, Then, thoughtful, went to her immortal work. Earth felt the Imperishable’s passage close: The waking ear of Nature heard her steps And wideness turned to her its limitless eye, And, scattered on sealed depths, her luminous smile Kindled to fire the silence of the worlds. All grew a consecration and a rite. Air was a vibrant link between earth and heaven; The wide-winged hymn of a great priestly wind Arose and failed upon the altar hills; The high boughs prayed in a revealing sky.

For the curious who wish to read the entire text of the poem, please click here: http://savitrithepoem.com/toc.html

Don’t be silly.

These english poems are very good to read, i remember, few of them i learn when i was a kid of near about 9 or 10 years old. Thanks for sharing this, subscribed your blog for more updates.

Best poems ever!!:)

Poem Number 3 Touches My Heart.

What if I really enjoy writing poetry like this? You said that Shakespeare’s Sonnet to Hamnet is “Pompous” “Arbitrary” and whatnot. Well, what if I really like to write poems in this style? Does that make me pompous? Maybe I like the style of poetry, and think modern poetry is full of hubris and arbitrariness.

Frankly, the modern taste is a pissing mannequin. I think if poetry is rebellion, going back to the classical style is as much of a rebellion against the modern era as there can be. As I find modern poets Kitsch. Robert Frost’s poem is okay, yet according to modern literary analyses, the poem is just about taking a walk in the park, and does not mean anything about making a decision. That’s real literary theory going on right now. I think you ought to reconsider this idea that Shakespeare is stale. There’s nothing stale about him. If you’d just read him and understand he’s singing about the death of his son—who probably died while courting a woman, and died because he was black—then we wouldn’t be sitting here calling his praise to his son arbitrary. It even mentions how Hamnet will be immortalized in verse.

For a classical society, there’s not much class.

Woww! Isn’t it beautiful just to read this. and your analysis is just what we needed next! Beautiful work Evan! thank you for taking time to do this!

This is definitely an amazing collection but I believe that everyone has a different perspective of analyzing a piece of poetry. So, coming up with a single meaning is not just and it often hinders the feelings with which a poets writes his poetry. Poems are worth feeling than understanding and no poem is great or the greatest its just the reader’s connection with it that makes it great.

What an enhancing afternoon, to get some ideas, learn some history and feel such enlightenment with the poem about daffodils. Very good..GO

The English Poems are so good to read if someone understands the meaning. Well written.

Woww! Isn’t it beautiful just to read this. and your analysis is just what we needed next! Beautiful work Evan! Thank you so much for taking time to do this!

Though all are the great poems but what seems to me is of Robert Frost. His poems always appeal me and especially this poems ‘The Road Not Taken”. When you read this poems it feels that it is urging us to follow our dreams the roads you afraid to go on while you must. And this line “I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference”, is all the courage and motivation.

Thanks for providing such amazing poems.

“I absolutely loved reading this post about the 10 greatest poems ever written. As a lover of literature, I appreciate the care and consideration that went into selecting these works. Each poem on this list is a masterpiece in its own right, and it’s wonderful to see such a diverse range of writers and styles represented. From the epic scale of Dante’s ‘The Divine Comedy’ to the intimate beauty of Emily Dickinson’s ‘Because I could not stop for Death,’ these poems have the power to move, inspire, and transform us. Reading them is like taking a journey through the history of human experience, and I feel privileged to have been introduced to these incredible works. Thank you for sharing this list – it’s a true treasure trove for any lover of poetry.”

Thank you for showcasing the beauty of the natural world through your blog. Your vivid descriptions and stunning photography transport me to breathtaking landscapes and awaken a deep appreciation for our planet’s wonders.

Thanks for sharing high value and informative article with us.

Thanks, you for sharing such a beautiful poem.

I absolutely loved reading this post about the 10 greatest poems ever written. As a lover of literature, I appreciate the care and consideration that went into selecting these works. Each poem on this list is a masterpiece in its own right, and it’s wonderful to see such a diverse range of writers and styles represented. From the epic scale of Dante’s ‘The Divine Comedy’ to the intimate beauty of Emily Dickinson’s ‘Because I could not stop for Death,’ these poems have the power to move, inspire, and transform us. Reading them is like taking a journey through the history of human experience, and I feel privileged to have been introduced to these incredible works. Thank you for sharing this list – it’s a true treasure trove for any lover of poetry.

This sonnet is not only a celebration of the beloved’s enduring beauty but also serves as a testament to the power of poetry itself, as it immortalizes the beloved’s beauty in the verses of the poem.

This has to be one of my favorite posts! And on top of thats its also very helpful topic for newbies. thank a lot for the info!

These are not the top 10 greatest poems ever written. They are not even all “good” poems, to say the very least. It would take revelation from God to know the top 10 greatest poems ever written. Only God knows and can reveal this. But as a Christian I know certain things and because God has revealed the truth to me about this. The number one greatest poem ever written is in the Bible (the Authorized King James), and is called, The Song of Songs. It is both literally and allegorically true. Also it is worth noting that a poem cannot be hundreds of pages long. “The Divine Comedy”, by Dante, or “The Faerie Queen”, by Spencer, are not poems; because they are far too long to be poems. Edgar Poe also believed this and made a good point about it. What such works may be are a collection of very many poems. Now, in the case of Dante’s work, I’d like to point out, it is blasphemous, and a heap of rubbish. It is a work of vanity, showing his evil mind. Don’t mistake skill in writing for goodness or greatness. Many have or have had great skill in writing but that doesn’t mean that what is produced is great or even good. The popularity of a poem also is not proof that a poem is even good.

Richard, thanks for sharing your opinions. If the Song of Songs is truly the greatest poem ever written, surely it would be in the original Hebrew. I had not heard that a poem cannot be hundreds of pages long. Does that mean that the cutoff point is 199 pages to qualify as a poem?

I do agree that, as the epitome of goodness and greatness, only God could compile the list of the greatest poems ever written, however since you seem to have a pretty good understanding of Him, maybe you could make a short list of the greatest poems ever written in the English language for our edification.

Who knows, the editor might publish it!

I did not share my opinions but knowledge. If I thought they were opinions, I would have said so. 🙂 I have no doubt because I believe in God who showed me. But I am not attempting to prove anything here as that would be impossible. I just wanted to make the statement of facts as I know them. Of course, The Song of Songs is written in the Hebrew language as being the greatest poem of all. It was called, “The Song of Songs,” in ancient Hebrew, and was translated into English. Its very title is saying that it is the greatest poem of all. But one would have to accept the divine inspiration of the Bible to believe that. A poem can be “long”, but what is meant by “long”? The Song of Songs is a long poem but it is 2,651 words long in English, and that means a few pages. A poem can’t be “long” by definition in the sense that Edgar Poe stated. He made the point that a poem (in his experience) which takes longer than half an hour to read begins to become a tedium rather than a delight, which destroys the poem from being a poem. I don’t think that one can say that a poem can’t be more than half an hour in the reading. I don’t think we can make a rule or an exact cut off point. But it is certainly impossible for a poem to be hundreds of pages long or even a hundred pages long. A poem is not a novel or like a novel, for it has to be a kind of song. Is a novel a song? One cannot sing a song that is a hundred pages long. There can be no sustained emotion for that long. Such lengthy works either fail as poems or break into a series of poems. The Faerie Queen for instance is clearly a great multitude of poems. To call it a poem is in ignorance of what defines a poem. Although Edgar Poe’s essay isn’t perfect or telling all the truth about poetry, he does bring forth a true point about this. (Who but God can define poetry perfectly?) If you want to read his essay, you can find it online. It is called, “The Poetic Principle”. I quote from a statement online concerning the essay: “He also argues against the concept of a long poem, saying that an epic, if it is to be worth anything, must instead be structured as a collection of shorter pieces, each of which is not too long to be read in a single sitting.” But then, how long is a single sitting? One can only determine if a poem is too long by reading it and see if it destroys itself in the process of being too long. I know for example, The Song of Hiawatha, by Longfellow, certainly destroys itself by being too long. About half way, interest in the said poem is lost. As for my understanding of what the 10 greatest poems are, I do know, but they are not all in the English language. However I would only subject myself to ridicule (as I could not prove anything) by proclaiming them, and the editor certainly would not accept my list! If you get to heaven, you will find out eventually anyhow. It won’t be such a long wait. 🙂

Sir, you obviously did not read the article. If you had, I’m sure you would have a completely different set of complaints. There are plenty of readers that might appreciate your take on the ten greatest poems in any language. Like I said, write it up and send it to Evan. First, though, read the article above. Thanks for your interest.

There’s always somebody who wants to turn this place into Piety Corner. But when they also claim that they have a direct link to God, Who tells them the proper aesthetic views on the value of poems, their proper length, and the very best poem of all (in the specific translation given in a 1611 edition), then you know you’re dealing with a crackpot.

To Mike Bryant: Sir, your reply does not even make sense. I would not have “a completely different set of complaints”. And you did not listen to what I wrote at all. I told you why I would not send my list to Evan or give you my list. The list above is completely ignorant and people don’t even know how to define a poem, much less assess the greatness of one. Is there any proof of why the list above is greater than many other poems? Is it because pagan critics said so? One has to believe in God and the Bible to even have a good understanding. It’s totally ignorant to ignore the Bible and uphold pagan ideas of what great poetry is, and which God has no esteem for.

To Joseph S. Salemi I am not a “crackpot”. A crackpot is someone who thinks there is no God and believes in evolution. But to think there is a God who does not communicate, or is not willing to reveal things, is silly.

Sir, your reply does not even make sense. I would not have “a completely different set of complaints”. And you did not listen to what I wrote at all. I told you why I would not send my list to Evan or give you my list. The list above is completely ignorant and people don’t even know how to define a poem, much less assess the greatness of one. Is there any proof of why the list above is greater than many other poems? Is it because pagan critics said so? One has to believe in God and the Bible to even have a good understanding. It’s totally ignorant to ignore the Bible and uphold pagan ideas of what great poetry is, and which God has no esteem for.

Mr. Paulson, this is not a religious website. Persons of many different faiths (and non-faiths) come here to post material and join in discussions. We re not obliged to follow your dictates about what kind of poetry God likes.

Are you saying then that this site is an irreligious website? But Donne’s “religious” or Christian view of death being destroyed is even in one of the poems quoted above. And you did not object to that. Your words are so foolish and totally irrelevant to what I wrote. I did not ask you to believe me, but I made a statement which I should be free to make. I stated that I disagree with the list above. There is no reason at all for me to believe the list above of the alleged 10 greatest poems ever written either universally or in English is correct. I did not make any dictates (authoritative orders or commands). I simply told my convictions and made a point about what a poem is or is not (which agrees with Edgar Poe, that what are called epic poems are falsely so-called.) How do you know I am wrong in any way? You don’t. So you are making a useless and false reply to me.

Poems that are excellently written, whether religious in theme or not, can be enjoyed by anyone, religious or not. An atheist architect can admire the beauty and craftsmanship of a cathedral, and an agnostic can enjoy the religious poetry of Milton or Donne.

When I say that this is not a religious website, that does NOT mean that it is an irreligious one. It means that anyone of any opinion or faith can come here and post poems or make comments. The SCP is not connected with any denomination or church or sect. It is simply dedicated to traditional English verse. Is that so hard for you to understand?

Yes, you did express your opinion concerning the ten poems chosen to be on the list. But that is not all you did. You also made absurd statements about poetry in general, insisting that all good poems must be short, and that universally acclaimed epics like the Iliad, the Odyssey, and other classic works are not really poetry, and that God “showed” you the truth of these statements. You also made the idiotic statement that Dante’s poetry is “blasphemous” and “a heap of rubbish” produced by someone with an “evil mind,” and that the only valid version of the Bible is the 1611 King James translation.

Frankly, these statements show that you are more than a crackpot. You are a Low-Church Protestant fanatic of the sort who inhabit the backwoods area of the Bible belt.

I did not make any idiotic statements at all. And I did not give any opinions. I said God revealed to me the truth. You should just be silent, if you had any sense at all. But you can’t, because it is obvious that you do not believe in God, because you are a fool. You think that it is impossible for God to reveal or communicate to someone. That makes you completely stupid. You are stupid because you do not believe in God. And you are stupid in thinking God would not communicate if he does exist and that someone could know things others do not know through seeking God. But God is the only way anyone can really know anything at all. Moreover, you cannot disprove ANYTHING I said. So why are you even writing to me? If you don’t think I am correct, that is only your opinion, but you have not proven anything you have said. You derided me from the very beginning. So why are you still talking? You are a crackpot who knows nothing. The work of Dante is blasphemous indeed. Have you read the whole Bible? Do you understand Christian doctrine? No. Well Dante indeed was blasphemous in his views and his so-called “Divine Comedy” therefore is a heap of rubbish. Do you think popular opinion makes me wrong? Is popular opinion where your confidence lies? Certainly, because you are an idiot who is not able to think and come to truth for himself. It doesn’t matter that Dante could write skillfully, for that does not make a work great. But why am I writing to a fool? You can’t be told anything. You are too much of an idiot to understand the truth. I did not need your permission to write here. Could you at least understand that? But your foolishness prompts you to continue to write nothing but silly and empty words.

Congratulations, Paulson. You have revealed to us, in a glaringly florid manner, that you are a complete jackass.

Why don’t you write a book telling the world about all the truths that God has personally told you? I’m sure there must be quite a few of them, on many subjects.

To Joseph S. Salemi.

“But your foolishness prompts you to continue to write nothing but silly and empty words.”

A “complete jackass” is not someone who writes reasonably as I have done. A complete jackass is someone who like you falsely and wrongly and personally insults and mocks without proving anything.

To Mike Bryant: I did read the article above. The article does not even make sense. The title is wrongly called, “The 10 greatest poems ever written”. Also because there is a following explanation that this only is referring to poems written in English and which are “under” 50 lines. So this is a contradiction if it is only referring to English poems. And why only limit it to poems under 50 lines? That is a further contradiction. And also it is not even technically accurate. The poem by Keats is 50 lines and not “under” 50 lines, which therefore has to be excluded. But given all of this, if you are to assess the 10 greatest poems only written in English and under 50 lines, I still don’t agree with the list. And why would I be offered to make my own list of the 10 greatest poems ever written in English if there is any truth in the title of this article? So this is wholly nonsensical.

Dear Richard Paulson,

Thank you for catching the error. The language has been changed to 50 lines or less. What is listed above is only my opinion, though it happens to be the case that I am the Editor and President of the SCP. We have many other top ten lists written by others that I do not 100% agree with. They can be found here: https://classicalpoets.org/category/best-poems/

Feel free to post a poem you like or post a list of poems you like in the comments section here, or contact me at [email protected] if you are interested in contributing a piece of prose or poetry for publication.

Kind regards, Evan Mantyk

Thanks Evan for your reply. But I think you should change the title also, because it is misleading and the title is not saying the truth. Because you are only referring to English poems of a certain length the title really can’t be called, “10 greatest poems ever written”. How can this be the title if you are only referring to short poems and which are only in English? As for my poems, I had sent you one poem years ago, and so I do not think you will give my poetry the place it deserves. The truth is that those who should know better either still don’t understand poetry well enough or are more likely too envious to respond to me. Also, properly assessing poetry is a matter of knowing God. It does stir me up when I recognize the eternal poems that are in the Bible not being regarded, and someone like Shakespeare, whose poetry is earthy and not “eternal”, being esteemed above all. The true “eternal poems” will exist even when the earth and heaven pass away. And there are so few of them in existence.

Thank you, Richard, for your attention to the presentation, which I have updated based on your feedback. A clarifying subtitle has been added.

Regarding your own poetry, it may interest you that virtually all of the poets you see appear frequently on the SCP’s website have received feedback, edited their work, and had some of their works rejected… this includes myself as a poet as well. Do not be discouraged from participating. You may seek constructive feedback from others you know or, if you become an SCP Member (by purchasing our newest Journal), then I can give you feedback on your work directly.

From what I understand, there are a number of Christian poetry sites on the internet. If you feel the world view present at this website anathema to yours, you may consider checking those sites out.

—Evan Mantyk

“But your foolishness prompts you to continue to write nothing but silly and empty words.”

A “complete jackass” is not someone who writes reasonably as I have done. A complete jackass is someone who like you falsely and wrongly and personally insults and mocks without proving anything.

In case of misunderstanding, the above comment is meant only for Joseph S. Salemi. It was accidently published twice.

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The 32 Most Iconic Poems in the English Language

Plus some bonus poems, because we love you.

Today is the anniversary of the publication of Robert Frost’s iconic poem “ Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening ,” a fact that spurred the Literary Hub office into a long conversation about their favorite poems, the most iconic poems written in English, and which poems we should all have already read (or at least be reading next). Turns out, despite frequent (false) claims that poetry is dead and/or irrelevant and/or boring, there are plenty of poems that have sunk deep into our collective consciousness as cultural icons. (What makes a poem iconic? For our purposes here, it’s primarily a matter of cultural ubiquity, though unimpeachable excellence helps any case.) So for those of you who were not present for our epic office argument, I have listed some of them here.

NB that I limited myself to one poem per poet—which means that the impetus for this list actually gets bumped for the widely quoted (and misunderstood) “The Road Not Taken,” but so it goes. I also excluded book-length poems, because they’re really a different form. Finally, despite the headline, I’m sure there are many, many iconic poems out there that I’ve missed—so feel free to extend this list in the comments. But for now, happy reading (and re-reading):

William Carlos Williams, “ The Red Wheelbarrow ”

The most anthologized poem of the last 25 years  for a reason. See also: “ This is Just to Say ,” which, among other things, has spawned a host of memes and parodies .

T. S. Eliot, “ The Waste Land ”

Without a doubt one of the most important poems of the 20th century. “It has never lost its glamour,” Paul Muldoon observed . “It has never failed to be equal to both the fracture of its own era and what, alas, turned out to be the even greater fracture of the ongoing 20th century and now, it seems, the 21st century.” See also: “ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock .”

Robert Frost, “ The Road Not Taken ”

Otherwise known as “ the most misread poem in America .” See also: “ Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening .” And “ Birches .” All begin in delight and end in wisdom, as Frost taught us great poems should.

Gwendolyn Brooks, “ We Real Cool ”

This blew my mind in high school, and I wasn’t the only one .

Elizabeth Bishop, “ One Art ”

Bishop’s much loved and much discussed ode to loss, which Claudia Roth Pierpont called “a triumph of control, understatement, wit. Even of self-mockery, in the poetically pushed rhyme word “vaster,” and the ladylike, pinkies-up “shan’t.” An exceedingly rare mention of her mother—as a woman who once owned a watch. A continent standing in for losses larger than itself.”

Emily Dickinson, “ Because I could not stop for Death – ”

The truth is, there are lots of equally iconic Dickinson poems , so consider this a stand-in for them all. Though, as Jay Parini has noted , this poem is perfect, “one of Dickinson’s most compressed and chilling attempts to come to terms with mortality.”

Langston Hughes, “ Harlem ”

One of the defining works of the Harlem Renaissance, by its greatest poet. It also, of course, gave inspiration and lent a title to another literary classic: Lorraine Hansberry’s  A Raisin in the Sun .

Sylvia Plath, “ Daddy ”

To be quite honest, my favorite Plath poem is “ The Applicant .” But “Daddy” is still the most iconic, especially if you’ve ever heard her read it aloud .

Robert Hayden, “ Middle Passage “

The most famous poem, and a terribly beautiful one, by our country’s first African-American Poet Laureate (though the position was then called Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress). See also: “ Those Winter Sundays , which despite what I wrote above may be equally as famous.”

Wallace Stevens, “ Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird ”

This one takes the cake for the sheer number of “thirteen ways of looking at x” knockoffs that I’ve seen. But please see also: “ The Emperor of Ice-Cream .”

Allen Ginsberg, “ Howl “

With  On the Road , the most enduring piece of literature from the mythologized Beat Generation, and of the two, the better one. Even the least literate of your friends would probably recognize the line “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness . . .”

Maya Angelou, “ Still I Rise “

So iconic, it was a Google Doodle .

Dylan Thomas, “ Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night ”

I mean, have you seen Interstellar ? (Or  Dangerous Minds or  Independence Day ?)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “ Kubla Khan ”

Or Citizen Kane ? (See also: “ The Rime of the Ancient Mariner .”)

Percy Bysshe Shelley, “ Ozymandias “

. . . or  Breaking Bad ?

Edgar Allan Poe, “ The Raven ”

We had some votes for “ Annabel Lee ,” on account of its earworminess, but among the  many appearances  and references of Poe in pop culture, “The Raven” is certainly the most common.

Louise Glück, “ Mock Orange “

One of those poems passed hand to hand between undergraduates who will grow up to become writers.

Paul Laurence Dunbar, “ We Wear the Mask “

Dunbar’s most famous poem, and arguably his best, which biographer Paul Revell described as “a moving cry from the heart of suffering. The poem anticipates, and presents in terms of passionate personal regret, the psychological analysis of the fact of blackness in Frantz Fanon’s  Peau Noire, Masques Blancs,  with a penetrating insight into the reality of the black man’s plight in America.”

e.e. cummings, “ i carry your heart with me “

As quoted at many, many weddings.

Marianne Moore, “ Poetry “

All else aside, the fact that it starts with hating poetry has made it a favorite among schoolchildren of all ages. See also: “ The Fish .”

Rudyard Kipling, “ If “

According to someone in the Literary Hub office who would know, this poem is all over sports stadiums and locker rooms. Serena Williams is into it , which is proof enough for me.

Gertrude Stein, “ Sacred Emily “

Because a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.

William Blake, “ The Tyger ”

Tyger, tyger, burning bright . . . Blake famously wrote music to go along with his poems—the originals have been lost, but this verse has been widely interpreted by musicians as well as repeated to many sleepy children.

Robert Burns, “ To a Mouse “

As (further) immortalized by John Steinbeck.

Walt Whitman, “ Song of Myself ”

The most famous poem from Whitman’s celebrated  Leaves of Grass , and selected by Jay Parini as  the best American poem of all time . “Whitman reinvents American poetry in this peerless self-performance,” Parini writes, “finding cadences that seem utterly his own yet somehow keyed to the energy and rhythms of a young nation waking to its own voice and vision. He calls to every poet after him, such as Ezra Pound, who notes in  “A Pact”  that Whitman “broke the new wood.””

Philip Larkin, “ This Be The Verse “

We know, we know, it’s all your parents’ fault.

William Shakespeare, “ Sonnet 18 ” (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”)

Like Dickinson, we could have put several of Shakespeare’s sonnets in this slot. Most people only recognize the first couplets anyway.

Audre Lorde, “ Power “

A uniquely American poem, written in 1978, that should be outdated by now, but still is not.

Frank O’Hara, “ Meditations in an Emergency “

Courtesy Don Draper, circa season 2.

John McCrae, “ In Flanders Fields “

Probably the most iconic—and most quoted—poem from WWI. Particularly popular in Canada, where McCrae is from.

Lewis Carroll, “ Jabberwocky “

Still the most iconic nonsense poem ever written.

W. B. Yeats, “ The Second Coming “

Otherwise known as “ the most thoroughly pillaged piece of literature in English .” Just ask our hero Joan Didion. Joan knows what’s up.

One more thing. The above list is too white and male and old, because our literary iconography is still too white and male and old. So, here are some other poems that we here at the Literary Hub office also consider iconic, though they are perhaps not as widely anthologized/quoted/referenced/used to amp up the corny drama in films as some of the above (yet).

Adrienne Rich, “ Diving into the Wreck ”

One of my very favorites from Rich’s rich (sorry) oeuvre. I read it in college and have been quoting it ever since.

Patricia Lockwood, “ Rape Joke “

The poem that officially broke the internet in 2013.

Lucille Clifton, “ Homage to My Hips “

She’s just . . . so . . . damn . . . sexy. See also: “ To a Dark Moses ” and “ won’t you celebrate with me ,” because Clifton is the greatest.

Lucie Brock-Broido, “ Am Moor “

This happens to be my own personal favorite Brock-Broido poem, though almost any would do here.

Sappho, “ The Anactoria Poem ” (tr. Jim Powell)

I’m breaking my rule about the poems being written in English to include Sappho, whose work is uniquely appealing for being almost lost to us. The Anactoria poem is her most famous, though I have to say I also have a major soft spot for this fragment, translated by Anne Carson:

Go                     [ so we may see [ ] lady

of gold arms     [ ] ] doom ]

And when I say “soft spot” I mean it sends me into ecstatic fits.

Kevin Young, “ Errata “

The greatest wedding poem that no one ever reads at their wedding.

Mark Leidner, “ Romantic Comedies “

For those who enjoy snorting their coffee while reading poetry.

Muriel Rukeyser, “ The Book of the Dead “

A long, legendary poem, written in 1938, about the illness of a group of miners in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia. “Coming hot on the heels of modernist long poem masterpieces like Eliot’s “The Wasteland” or Stein’s “Tender Buttons,” the poem’s deliberate lucidity isn’t just an aesthetic choice—it’s a political one,” Colleen Abel wrote in  Ploughshares . “Rukeyser, from the beginning of “Book of the Dead,” seeks the reader’s participation in the journey to Gauley Bridge. The reader is implicated from the first section, “The Road,” in which Rukeyser calls outward to her audience: “These are roads you take when you think of your country.” The disaster Rukeyser is about to explore is a part of “our country” and the reader will have no choice but to confront it.”

Carolyn Forché, “ The Colonel “

What you have heard is true. This poem is unforgettable.

Rita Dove, “ After Reading Mickey in the Night Kitchen for the Third Time Before Bed “

Again, a thousand poems by Rita Dove would do; this is the one that sticks in my brain.

Nikki Giovanni, “ Ego Tripping “

I mean, “I am so hip even my errors are correct” should probably be your mantra. Watch Giovanni perform her poem here .

Terrance Hayes, “ The Golden Shovel “

Hayes’s homage to Gwendolyn Brooks is a masterpiece in its own right.

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A list of 50 inspirational topics for writing a poem

There is no one way to approach writing. The process of finding inspiration and then putting that inspiration into words is a unique and individual experience for each writer. Of course, you don't need prompts to write, but they can help you tap into your creative energy and feel part of a dialogue.

I've put together a list of 50 topics that can be particularly inspiring; thinking about these topics can help jumpstart the creative process.

When looking for inspiration, it's important to explore all aspects of your life and the world around you. By writing about what you know and feel passionately about, you can create poems that are authentic and meaningful to you and your readers. Of course, you can also allow the creative imagination to jump in--let some magic, some humor, some whimsy come into the writing experience. 

As a poet and writer, I've learned that the most important skill is to be open to and believe in the value of your own creativity . I've learned from reading others and from having others read and comment on my poems. As I wrote more and was more in alignment with myself, my writing got more understandable, more moving, and more skillful. But it was only when I really let go of the idea of wanting to please others and could listen more deeply to myself that I began to write my most powerful work.

The following list provides a variety of poem topics that can be used for inspiration when writing your next poem:

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50 Poem Topics And Ideas To Help You Write Your Next Poem

The beauty and mystery of nature can be a great source of inspiration for poets. Write about the changing seasons, a particular flower or tree, the stars or moon, the ocean, mountains, or any other aspect of the natural world that speaks to you. 

2. Childhood memories

Reflect on a time from your childhood that was particularly special or meaningful to you. Write about the sights, sounds, and smells of that time and what it meant to you then and now.

3. A significant event

Write about an event that has had a major impact on your life, whether positive or negative. Now write a poem describing how this event has changed you.

Express your deepest emotions and write about the power of love in all its forms. This could be a poem about romantic love, the love between friends or family members, or even self-love.

5. Happiness

What makes you happy? What are the small things in life that bring you joy? Write about the moments and people that make you smile and fill your heart with happiness.

6. Friendship

Write about the value of friendship, and how it has positively affected your life.  This could also be a poem about saying goodbye to a friend, or remembering a lost friend.

7. Overcoming adversity

We all face challenges in life, but how we deal with them can make us stronger. Write about a time when you faced and overcame a difficult situation. What did you learn from the experience?

8. Gratitude

Express what you are grateful for in your life, and why these things are important to you. If you haven't had a chance to read my interview with Ross Gay , poet, writer and visionary, I highly recommend it. In this interview, we talked about his new book Be Holding, his Book of Delights, Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, and how to practice attention, gratitude, and care both in poetry and in our difficult but also joy-filled world. Just click here to read it . I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

                  Image by S. Hermann &amp; F. Richter from Pixabay

How has your life changed over the years? What are some of the things that are different now than they were in the past? Write a poem about the process of change, and how it can be both scary and exciting.

10. Hope 

In spite of everything, we all need to believe that better days are ahead. Write a poem about hope, and how it can help us get through tough times. What gives you hope? Describe what hope feels like, and how it helps you in your life.

11. A moment in time

Write about a specific moment that was particularly memorable or significant to you. It could be a happy memory, a sad memory, or even a moment of realization or understanding.

12. A day in the life

Describe a typical day in your life, or write about a specific day that was particularly memorable.

13. Your favorite place

We all have a place that makes us feel safe and happy. Write about your favorite place, and what it is that you love about it. Write about what makes it so special, and how it makes you feel. 

14. An object 

Write  about a particular object that has special meaning to you. It could be something that you use every day, or something that you only see occasionally. 

15. A person

Write about someone who has had a major impact on your life, for better or for worse. This could be a family member, friend, teacher, or anyone else who has made a significant impact on you.

16. A memory

Reflect on a specific memory that is significant to you. What does it remind you of? Write a poem celebrating  a happy memory, or exploring a painful memory.

17. A feeling

Write about a feeling that is particularly intense or meaningful to you. Describe a specific emotion, and how it feels in your body and mind. No matter  what you write about, poetry can be a powerful way to express your thoughts and emotions. So don't be afraid to let your words flow freely and see where they take you.

18. The earth

Express your love and appreciation for our planet, and everything that it has to offer. Write about the importance of taking care of it. Write a poem or prose using the phrase "the poetry of the earth." What does that phrase mean to you?  

19. A hobby

Write about something you enjoy doing, and why it is so important to you.

20. An experience

Describe a particular experience that was particularly memorable or impactful for you.

21. Your dreams

What are your hopes and dreams for the future? Write about what you want to achieve, and how you plan to get there.

22. Your fears

What are you afraid of, and why? What do these fears mean to you?

Explore the emotions associated with losing something or someone important to you. When you lose something, it's natural to feel pain, grief, and even anger. Writing about these feelings can help you to process them and move on .

24. A time when you felt lost

Describe a time in your life when you felt lost or confused. What helped you find your way again?

25. A time when you felt alone

Writing poetry can be therapeutic, and can help you to express feelings that you may not be able to express in any other way. We all feel alone at times, but it's important to remember that we are never truly alone. Write about a time when you felt alone, and how you coped with it. 

26. A time when you felt angry

We all experience a range of emotions, and it's okay to write about the negative ones as well. Use your anger to fuel your words, and write about whatever it is that made you angry.

27. A time when you felt sad

We all experience sadness at times. Write about a time when you felt particularly low, and how you coped with it.

28. Your hopes for the future

29. your favorite thing.

What is your favorite thing in the world? Write about why it is so important to you.

30. A time when you felt happy

What makes you truly happy? Write about a time when you felt this way, and why it was so special to you.

31. Your worst nightmare

Write a poem inspired by your deepest, darkest fears. Write about what this fear means to you, and how it affects your life.

32. A time when you were proud of yourself

We all have moments that we are proud of. Write about a time when you felt this way, and what it was that made you so proud.

33. A time when you laughed

Laughter is one of the best things in life. Write about a time when you laughed until you cried, and what made it so funny.

34. A time when you cried

We all cry at times. Write about a time when you felt particularly sad, and how you coped with it.

35. A time when you were disappointed 

A time when you were disappointed: We all have moments when things don't go the way we wanted them to. Write a poem inspired  by a time when you were disappointed and  had to pick yourself up and keep going. 

36. A time when you felt scared

37. a time when you helped someone.

Describe a time when you went out of your way to help someone else. What made you do it, and how did it make you feel?

38. A time when you felt supported

We all need support at times. Write about a time when someone was there for you, and how it made you feel.

39. Your favorite thing about yourself

What do you love about yourself? Write about why you are so special to you. Sometimes we forget why we are amazing! So take a moment and drop out some of your best qualities.

40. Your favorite thing about life

What do you love about life? Write about what makes it so precious to you.

41. Your favorite thing about people

What do you love about people? Write about what makes them so special to you.

42. Your favorite quote

Do you have a favorite quote? Write about what it means to you, and why it is so important to you.

43. A time when you felt proud of someone else

We all feel proud of others at times. Describe a time when you felt this way, and who it was that you were proud of.

44. Your favorite memory

What is your favorite memory? Write about what made it so special to you.

45. A time when you were surprised

We all experience surprise at times. Describe a time when something unexpected happened, and how it made you feel.

46. A time when you made a difference

We all have the ability to make a difference. Write about a time when you did just that, and how it made you feel.

47. A time when you felt loved

We all need love in our lives. Write about a time when you felt particularly loved and supported, and why it meant so much to you.

48. Something that you are passionate about

What are you passionate about? Write about what this passion means to you, and how it drives you.

49. Your hopes for the world

What are your hopes for the world? Write about what you would like to see change, and how you think we can make it happen.

50. Finally, last, but certainly not least, take inspiration from any of your favorite poems. 

Reading is one of the best ways to be inspired as a poet and to find poetry topics. Explore my list of 15 morning poems for some inspiration .  

These are just a few poem topics to get you started based on my own experiences and what I value most in life. Feel free to choose whichever topic speaks to you, or mix and match several different ones to create your own poem.

If none of these inspire you, think about what matters most to you and write about that. The most important thing is to be true to your own voice and express how you feel in your own words. 

So don't be afraid to experiment with different poem styles or subject matter until you find the right fit for you. Whatever you do, have fun with it and let your creativity flow!

I am a member of a group called Toastmasters. One of my favorite parts of our meeting is Table Topics, where a person responds with a 2 minute impromptu response to a speaking prompt, not unlike your fifty topics. Because of the eclectic diversity of our members, it is here where I get to know the soul of a member. I am going to use some of the 50 prompts when I am next, the table topic master.

I'm so glad that you find this helpful and will use it in your Toastmasters group. I agree, it's a nice way to get to know other people.

Can I get interesting poetry prompts for my poetry group

Hi! I was thinking maybe take a topic maybe like a hobby, nature, or something else you find exciting and interesting and compare it to something heartbreaking or sad. Such as mental disorders, break ups, a person you lost, and ect. I have done this before and it really helped me be more inspiring to myself and others. I also think it is very interesting just to compare things!

Thank u so much for helping me out

Poetry can be amazingly emotive. All things considered, artists, similar to the journalists of the best books ever and best book club books, have an approach to communicating feelings that we probably won't have the option to really express.

Yes, I completely agree!

Thanks for this web it really helps me with school to get some ideas for the poem I'm writing.

I'm so glad this was helpful for you!

Verse can be incredibly emotive. Taking everything into account, craftsmen, like the writers of the best books ever and best book club books, have a way to deal with imparting sentiments that we presumably will not have the choice to communicate truly.

Is a great article for all readers because you have described the ideas of poem topics there are many people or students are found to these ideas because they have need to write their poem and assignments and other writing

Thank you for your comments!

This was very helpful

I love love love these poem ideas! Keep up the work!

I'm so glad!

Hello, I am working on a poetry project, and these prompts were really helpful! Thanks for the tips! You're great, just keep doing what you're doing! 🙂

So glad it was helpful!

24 and 25 are basically the same, with feeling lost and feeling alone. other than that it's very helpful.

That’s really interesting: when we feel lost, we often feel alone. And when we feel alone, we often feel lost. But there are also differences between the two experiences, too. And we can feel surrounded by people, but also lost and alone but with a clear sense of direction. I’m glad you found the list helpful!

Great ideas but I feel that it's best to just write from the heart and do it because you want to. not because of a website. I want to say this to all people reading this website: Don't take the advice. Write what comes into mind and make a beautiful word formation. I have written so many of my own poems about how I feel and now I can write poems about anything. Please write what you feel in the moment even if it's sad. Anything makes a great poem so don't worry about what you need to write a poem about. Now I am going to say something to the person who made this website: I see why you made this. For people who don't know what to write about. I think your ideas are great, but it really is better to just write what comes to your mind. I have written over 50 poems and I had no guidance. Please take my advice. I don't ask that you delete the website but that you read this.

Yes, writing from the heart is great. And having prompts can be also helpful–and even help us write more from the hearth. Many tools. There is no one right way 🙂

It helps me a lot…… Thank you 🙏🏻 very much ☺️💯💯

hello. i am non established poet from india.. wanting to write my first ever poem to publish.. you article helped me a lot..

This realy helped

Number 51: A time when you felt free from all the bd things in life

thats what i will now write about

I am what is termed an automatic poet, a visionary compelled to channel by pen messages from within. Spiritual messages from God and Jesus flow through my pen I write the time the poem begins and ends as the lines flow like rushing rivers. I can’t even stop to think, I just write. I’ve never had courses in writing and never know my poems content until it is written. The titles come last. I am learning to be in the moment and not concern myself with what will others think of me when I read to them. I belong to a small writers group that often ask me, where do you come from that you write as you do. Maybe I’m channeling my many poet and author ancestors or maybe I’m just being me. I am the poet Snowflake. Thank you for enlightening me to be more free

Lately, I’ve found myself drawn to the enchanting world of poetry and https://www.nursingpaper.com/msn-writing-service/ The rhythm of words, the dance of metaphors, it all captivates me. Exploring emotions through verses feels like unraveling mysteries of the heart. Whether it’s the gentle sway of nature’s symphony or the turbulence of human emotions, poetry offers a canvas to paint with words. Each stanza is a journey, a glimpse into the soul’s depths. With every line, I discover new ways to express the ineffable. Writing poetry isn’t just a hobby; it’s a passion that ignites my creativity and allows me to weave stories with the magic of language.

One of the primary advantages of assignment writing is the opportunity it provides for students to deepen their subject knowledge. Engaging in write my assignment , analyzing data, and formulating arguments allows students to explore topics in greater detail. By delving into a subject, students gain a comprehensive understanding of its concepts, theories, and practical applications. This process not only facilitates better performance in assignments but also enriches their overall academic journey.

Booking flights at the best prices requires a strategic approach. Start by using fare comparison websites like Skyscanner, Kayak, and Google Flights to compare prices across various airlines. These platforms allow you to see a range of options and find the most affordable flights. Setting up fare alerts can help you get notified when prices drop for your desired routes, ensuring you never miss a deal.

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A Full Guide to Writing a Perfect Poem Analysis Essay

01 October, 2020

14 minutes read

Author:  Elizabeth Brown

Poem analysis is one of the most complicated essay types. It requires the utmost creativity and dedication. Even those who regularly attend a literary class and have enough experience in poem analysis essay elaboration may face considerable difficulties while dealing with the particular poem. The given article aims to provide the detailed guidelines on how to write a poem analysis, elucidate the main principles of writing the essay of the given type, and share with you the handy tips that will help you get the highest score for your poetry analysis. In addition to developing analysis skills, you would be able to take advantage of the poetry analysis essay example to base your poetry analysis essay on, as well as learn how to find a way out in case you have no motivation and your creative assignment must be presented on time.

What Is a Poetry Analysis Essay?

A poetry analysis essay is a type of creative write-up that implies reviewing a poem from different perspectives by dealing with its structural, artistic, and functional pieces. Since the poetry expresses very complicated feelings that may have different meanings depending on the backgrounds of both author and reader, it would not be enough just to focus on the text of the poem you are going to analyze. Poetry has a lot more complex structure and cannot be considered without its special rhythm, images, as well as implied and obvious sense.

While analyzing the poem, the students need to do in-depth research as to its content, taking into account the effect the poetry has or may have on the readers.

Preparing for the Poetry Analysis Writing

The process of preparation for the poem analysis essay writing is almost as important as writing itself. Without completing these stages, you may be at risk of failing your creative assignment. Learn them carefully to remember once and for good.

Thoroughly read the poem several times

The rereading of the poem assigned for analysis will help to catch its concepts and ideas. You will have a possibility to define the rhythm of the poem, its type, and list the techniques applied by the author.

While identifying the type of the poem, you need to define whether you are dealing with:

• Lyric poem – the one that elucidates feelings, experiences, and the emotional state of the author. It is usually short and doesn’t contain any narration;
• Limerick – consists of 5 lines, the first, second, and fifth of which rhyme with one another;
• Sonnet – a poem consisting of 14 lines characterized by an iambic pentameter. William Shakespeare wrote sonnets which have made him famous;
• Ode – 10-line poem aimed at praising someone or something;
• Haiku – a short 3-line poem originated from Japan. It reflects the deep sense hidden behind the ordinary phenomena and events of the physical world;
• Free-verse – poetry with no rhyme.

The type of the poem usually affects its structure and content, so it is important to be aware of all the recognized kinds to set a proper beginning to your poetry analysis.

Find out more about the poem background

Find as much information as possible about the author of the poem, the cultural background of the period it was written in, preludes to its creation, etc. All these data will help you get a better understanding of the poem’s sense and explain much to you in terms of the concepts the poem contains.

Define a subject matter of the poem

This is one of the most challenging tasks since as a rule, the subject matter of the poem isn’t clearly stated by the poets. They don’t want the readers to know immediately what their piece of writing is about and suggest everyone find something different between the lines.

What is the subject matter? In a nutshell, it is the main idea of the poem. Usually, a poem may have a couple of subjects, that is why it is important to list each of them.

In order to correctly identify the goals of a definite poem, you would need to dive into the in-depth research.

Check the historical background of the poetry. The author might have been inspired to write a poem based on some events that occurred in those times or people he met. The lines you analyze may be generated by his reaction to some epoch events. All this information can be easily found online.

Choose poem theories you will support

In the variety of ideas the poem may convey, it is important to stick to only several most important messages you think the author wanted to share with the readers. Each of the listed ideas must be supported by the corresponding evidence as proof of your opinion.

The poetry analysis essay format allows elaborating on several theses that have the most value and weight. Try to build your writing not only on the pure facts that are obvious from the context but also your emotions and feelings the analyzed lines provoke in you.

How to Choose a Poem to Analyze?

If you are free to choose the piece of writing you will base your poem analysis essay on, it is better to select the one you are already familiar with. This may be your favorite poem or one that you have read and analyzed before. In case you face difficulties choosing the subject area of a particular poem, then the best way will be to focus on the idea you feel most confident about. In such a way, you would be able to elaborate on the topic and describe it more precisely.

Now, when you are familiar with the notion of the poetry analysis essay, it’s high time to proceed to poem analysis essay outline. Follow the steps mentioned below to ensure a brilliant structure to your creative assignment.

Best Poem Analysis Essay Topics

• Mother To Son Poem Analysis
• We Real Cool Poem Analysis
• Invictus Poem Analysis
• Richard Cory Poem Analysis
• Ozymandias Poem Analysis
• Barbie Doll Poem Analysis
• Caged Bird Poem Analysis
• Ulysses Poem Analysis
• Dover Beach Poem Analysis
• Annabelle Lee Poem Analysis
• Daddy Poem Analysis
• The Raven Poem Analysis
• The Second Coming Poem Analysis
• Still I Rise Poem Analysis
• If Poem Analysis
• Fire And Ice Poem Analysis
• My Papa’S Waltz Poem Analysis
• Harlem Poem Analysis
• Kubla Khan Poem Analysis
• I Too Poem Analysis
• The Juggler Poem Analysis
• The Fish Poem Analysis
• Jabberwocky Poem Analysis
• Charge Of The Light Brigade Poem Analysis
• The Road Not Taken Poem Analysis
• Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus Poem Analysis
• The History Teacher Poem Analysis
• One Art Poem Analysis
• The Wanderer Poem Analysis
• We Wear The Mask Poem Analysis
• There Will Come Soft Rains Poem Analysis
• Digging Poem Analysis
• The Highwayman Poem Analysis
• The Tyger Poem Analysis
• London Poem Analysis
• Sympathy Poem Analysis
• I Am Joaquin Poem Analysis
• This Is Just To Say Poem Analysis
• Sex Without Love Poem Analysis
• Strange Fruit Poem Analysis
• Dulce Et Decorum Est Poem Analysis
• Emily Dickinson Poem Analysis
• The Flea Poem Analysis
• The Lamb Poem Analysis
• Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Poem Analysis
• My Last Duchess Poetry Analysis

Poem Analysis Essay Outline

As has already been stated, a poetry analysis essay is considered one of the most challenging tasks for the students. Despite the difficulties you may face while dealing with it, the structure of the given type of essay is quite simple. It consists of the introduction, body paragraphs, and the conclusion. In order to get a better understanding of the poem analysis essay structure, check the brief guidelines below.

Introduction

This will be the first section of your essay. The main purpose of the introductory paragraph is to give a reader an idea of what the essay is about and what theses it conveys. The introduction should start with the title of the essay and end with the thesis statement.

The main goal of the introduction is to make readers feel intrigued about the whole concept of the essay and serve as a hook to grab their attention. Include some interesting information about the author, the historical background of the poem, some poem trivia, etc. There is no need to make the introduction too extensive. On the contrary, it should be brief and logical.

Body Paragraphs

The body section should form the main part of poetry analysis. Make sure you have determined a clear focus for your analysis and are ready to elaborate on the main message and meaning of the poem. Mention the tone of the poetry, its speaker, try to describe the recipient of the poem’s idea. Don’t forget to identify the poetic devices and language the author uses to reach the main goals. Describe the imagery and symbolism of the poem, its sound and rhythm.

Try not to stick to too many ideas in your body section, since it may make your essay difficult to understand and too chaotic to perceive. Generalization, however, is also not welcomed. Try to be specific in the description of your perspective.

Make sure the transitions between your paragraphs are smooth and logical to make your essay flow coherent and easy to catch.

In a nutshell, the essay conclusion is a paraphrased thesis statement. Mention it again but in different words to remind the readers of the main purpose of your essay. Sum up the key claims and stress the most important information. The conclusion cannot contain any new ideas and should be used to create a strong impact on the reader. This is your last chance to share your opinion with the audience and convince them your essay is worth readers’ attention.

Problems with writing Your Poem Analysis Essay? Try our Essay Writer Service!

Poem Analysis Essay Examples 

A good poem analysis essay example may serve as a real magic wand to your creative assignment. You may take a look at the structure the other essay authors have used, follow their tone, and get a great share of inspiration and motivation.

Check several poetry analysis essay examples that may be of great assistance:

• https://study.com/academy/lesson/poetry-analysis-essay-example-for-english-literature.html
• https://www.slideshare.net/mariefincher/poetry-analysis-essay

Writing Tips for a Poetry Analysis Essay

If you read carefully all the instructions on how to write a poetry analysis essay provided above, you have probably realized that this is not the easiest assignment on Earth. However, you cannot fail and should try your best to present a brilliant essay to get the highest score. To make your life even easier, check these handy tips on how to analysis poetry with a few little steps.

• In case you have a chance to choose a poem for analysis by yourself, try to focus on one you are familiar with, you are interested in, or your favorite one. The writing process will be smooth and easy in case you are working on the task you truly enjoy.
• Before you proceed to the analysis itself, read the poem out loud to your colleague or just to yourself. It will help you find out some hidden details and senses that may result in new ideas.
• Always check the meaning of words you don’t know. Poetry is quite a tricky phenomenon where a single word or phrase can completely change the meaning of the whole piece. 
• Bother to double check if the conclusion of your essay is based on a single idea and is logically linked to the main body. Such an approach will demonstrate your certain focus and clearly elucidate your views. 
• Read between the lines. Poetry is about senses and emotions – it rarely contains one clearly stated subject matter. Describe the hidden meanings and mention the feelings this has provoked in you. Try to elaborate a full picture that would be based on what is said and what is meant.

Write a Poetry Analysis Essay with HandmadeWriting

You may have hundreds of reasons why you can’t write a brilliant poem analysis essay. In addition to the fact that it is one of the most complicated creative assignments, you can have some personal issues. It can be anything from lots of homework, a part-time job, personal problems, lack of time, or just the absence of motivation. In any case, your main task is not to let all these factors influence your reputation and grades. A perfect way out may be asking the real pros of essay writing for professional help.

There are a lot of benefits why you should refer to the professional writing agencies in case you are not in the mood for elaborating your poetry analysis essay. We will only state the most important ones:

• You can be 100% sure your poem analysis essay will be completed brilliantly. All the research processes, outlines, structuring, editing, and proofreading will be performed instead of you. 
• You will get an absolutely unique plagiarism-free piece of writing that deserves the highest score.
• All the authors are extremely creative, talented, and simply in love with poetry. Just tell them what poetry you would like to build your analysis on and enjoy a smooth essay with the logical structure and amazing content.
• Formatting will be done professionally and without any effort from your side. No need to waste your time on such a boring activity.

As you see, there are a lot of advantages to ordering your poetry analysis essay from HandmadeWriting . Having such a perfect essay example now will contribute to your inspiration and professional growth in future.

A life lesson in Romeo and Juliet taught by death

Due to human nature, we draw conclusions only when life gives us a lesson since the experience of others is not so effective and powerful. Therefore, when analyzing and sorting out common problems we face, we may trace a parallel with well-known book characters or real historical figures. Moreover, we often compare our situations with […]

Ethical Research Paper Topics

Writing a research paper on ethics is not an easy task, especially if you do not possess excellent writing skills and do not like to contemplate controversial questions. But an ethics course is obligatory in all higher education institutions, and students have to look for a way out and be creative. When you find an […]

Art Research Paper Topics

Students obtaining degrees in fine art and art & design programs most commonly need to write a paper on art topics. However, this subject is becoming more popular in educational institutions for expanding students’ horizons. Thus, both groups of receivers of education: those who are into arts and those who only get acquainted with art […]

15+ Best Poems about Writing

(15 to start, 100+ to explore).

Poems about writing are an exploration of the creative process, the power of words, and the art of self-expression.

They delve into the intimate world of writers, capturing the struggles and joys of putting thoughts into ink. These verses reflect on the magic of storytelling, the vulnerability of sharing one’s innermost thoughts, and the profound impact words can have on readers.

Poems about writing celebrate the beauty of language and inspire both writers and readers to appreciate the transformative nature of literature.

“Venice — Venus?” (#5 from Hermetic Definition: ‘Red Rose and a Beggar’)

By hilda doolittle.

“Venice — Venus?” by Hilda Doolittle is an insightful poem about Doolittle’s reasons for writing despite critiques. Doolittle reveals that her ultimate source of inspiration is divine.

Venice — Venus? this must be my stance, my station: though you brushed aside

Bards of Passion and of Mirth

By john keats.

‘Bards of Passion and of Mirth’ by John Keats is one of the poet’s early odes. In it, Keats confirms that bards, or authors, have two souls, with one rising to heaven, and the other staying on earth.

    Bards of Passion and of Mirth,   Ye have left your souls on earth!   Have ye souls in heaven too,   Doubled-lived in regions new?  

The Biographer

By carol ann duffy.

‘The Biographer’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a dramatic monologue that features a biographer speaking to his subject, discussing his feelings, and more.

Because you are dead, I stand at your desk, my fingers caressing the grooves in the wood your initials made;

Marching Through A Novel

By john updike.

‘Marching Through a Novel’ by John Updike is an allegorical narrative about the dynamic between a writer and their characters and the effect of rigid characterization on a novel. The poem uses strong military imagery to urge readers to view characters in a novel as real human beings.

They extend skeletal arms for the handcuffs of contrivance, slog through docilely maneuvers of coincidence,

Poetry Readings

By charles bukowski.

‘Poetry Readings’ by Charles Bukowski is an interesting poem that critiques poetry readers and those who hold onto false hopes. 

poetry readings have to be some of the saddest damned things ever, the gathering of the clansmen and clanladies, week after week, month after month, year

Forest of Europe

By derek walcott.

‘Forest of Europe’ dissects the burden writers have, and their duty to the public to write the truth.

The last leaves fell like notes from a piano and left their ovals echoing in the ear; with gawky music stands, the winter forest

The Three Oddest Words

By wislawa szymborska.

‘The Three Oddest Words’ is a poem that addresses peculiarities of language in ways that reflect the peculiarities themselves.

When I pronounce the word Future, the first syllable already belongs to the past.  

When I have Fears that I may Cease to Be

Keats’ ‘When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be’ contemplates existential fears concerning mortality and how they thwart aspirations.

When I have fears that I may cease to be   Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain, Before high piled books, in charact’ry,    Hold like rich garners the full-ripen’d grain; 

Rivers to the Sea

By sara teasdale.

‘Rivers to the Sea’ by Sara Teasdale explores poetry’s turbulent impact, as the moon fails to calm strong emotions.

But what of her whose heart is troubled by it, The mother who would soothe and set him free, Fearing the song’s storm-shaken ecstasy Oh, as the moon that has no power to quiet

A Final Sonnet

By ted berrigan.

‘A Final Sonnet’ by Ted Berrigan is a meditative poem that follows a man’s disjointed thoughts as he struggles to comprehend death.

How strange to be gone in a minute! A man Signs a shovel and so he digs Everything Turns into writing a name for a day

Explore more poems about Writing

Don’t bother the earth spirit, by joy harjo.

‘Don’t Bother the Earth Spirit’ by Joy Harjo is a heavily symbolic poem that personifies nature as a mesmerizing storyteller.

Don’t bother the earth spirit who lives here. She is working on a story. It is the oldest story in the world and it is delicate, changing.  

L’Envoi (1881)

By rudyard kipling.

‘L’Envoi’ by Rudyard Kipling reflects on the nature and purpose of poetry and considers the poet’s legacy.

Rhymes, or of grief or of sorrow Pass and are not, Rhymes of today—tomorrow    Lie forgot.

A Picture of Otto

By ted hughes.

‘A Picture of Otto’ by Ted Hughes is addressed to Sylvia Plath’s father, Otto. It contains Hughes’ disagreements about how he and Otto were depicted in Plath’s work.

Breaking the Surface

By jean bleakney.

‘Breaking the Surface’ by Jean Bleakney is about the “art of skimming,” an extended metaphor for the art of writing poetry.

by Giusue Carducci

‘Virgil’ by Giusue Carducci uses nature imagery to evoke historical and mythical themes and events.

As when above the heated fields the moon Hovers to spread its veil of summer frost, The brook between its narrow banks half lost Glitters in pale light, murmuring its low tune;

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Ten Poems I Love to Teach

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Some poems you love, and some you love to teach. What’s the difference? The teachable ones do half the work for you: the questions they raise and the pleasures they offer show that close reading is not, despite its chilly reputation, academia’s way of “beating it [the poem] with a hose / to find out what it really means” (Billy Collins, “ Introduction to Poetry ”). Quite the contrary: close reading is courtship, a passionate, delicate way to find out what makes this particular poem worth a second date (that is, writing a paper about) or maybe worth spending the rest of your life with (that is, memorizing).

Here are ten poems that have the moves my students want to know better, with a couple of tips on how to catch their eyes across the dance floor.

1. “ To My Dear and Loving Husband ” by Anne Bradstreet

Like most interesting people, the characters you meet in poems rarely say the same thing twice. When they seem to, listen harder: that’s a lesson Anne Bradstreet ’s “ To My Dear and Loving Husband ” teaches my most skeptical students. Ask them to slow down and take it sentence by sentence. “If ever two were one, then surely we,” she sighs at the start, a line so satisfied, it just ends . (No other line in the poem is a complete sentence.) Your students may know couples like that. Bradstreet, though, promptly leaves this Smug Married stasis behind. She splits the couple into their public roles of “man” and “wife,” conjures some girlfriends to brag to (“Compare with me, ye women, if you can”), and keeps the poem in motion through a series of poised, propulsive asymmetries. My favorite comes in an off-rhyme halfway through: “My love is such that rivers cannot quench, / Nor ought but love from thee, give recompense.” Students quickly notice the off-rhyme; to follow up, ask them what’s equally “off” about the couplet’s logic. (You quench a fire, or a thirst, but you can’t “recompense,” “repay,” or even “reward” one.) That’s not a flaw but a flash of desire, half-hidden by decorum. Students often think that the Puritans were puritanical about sex, but Bradstreet’s poems about marriage give the lie to that assumption. Challenge the skeptics in your class to read her “ Letter to Her Husband, Absent Upon Public Employment ,” or use it in a follow-up assignment. As the speaker tries to persuade her husband to come home, when and how does she appeal to his head, his heart, and his “heat”? When and how does she change her mind and reconcile herself to his absence? Read either of these poems too quickly, and you’ll miss their wit, their passion, and their artistry—the more you respect them, the more you’ll enjoy them, too.

2. “ Wild nights!—wild nights! ” by Emily Dickinson

No one could miss the desire in this one! Its craft, though, and its wisdom take time to tease out. Try splitting your students into groups, and have each track a different element in the poem. I like to start with one focusing on sound, one on syntax, and one on diction . Make sure the sound group notices how the speaker keens those long e ’s in the first stanza, the better to savor that deliciously polysyllabic, lascivious word “luxury” at its close. In the second stanza, by contrast, there’s not a long e to be found, so when they surge back in the third—another trio, from “Eden” to “sea” and back to the original to “thee!”—it feels like coming home. The syntax group can dwell on the poem’s verbs, or lack of them. Again there’s a shift from stanza to stanza: the speaker starts with the conditional “were” and “should be,” but what happens in stanza two? Eliding the verbs themselves, Dickinson brings us into a world of fantasy where we can’t distinguish between possibility and the simple present tense. “Futile - the winds [ would be, or maybe are ] - / To a Heart in port,” the speaker sighs. That heart would therefore be “Done with the compass,” but it might also be done with it already, tossing it overboard along with the “chart” used by more timid mariners. No wonder the verbs feel so urgent and sexual in stanza three—“rowing” and “moor” are the first active verbs in the poem. As for “moor,” there’s enough action in that to summon the Moor of Othello and the windswept moors of Wuthering Heights into the poem as well. (Dickinson loved both Shakespeare and, as she called her, the “gigantic Emily Brontë.”) Send your diction group to the Oxford English Dictionary to look up the word’s various meanings and associations—and while they’re at it, have them track down the older meanings of “luxury,” too. When you convene the whole class to discuss what they’ve found, let the ambiguities and double meanings flourish; Dickinson uses them to capture the paradoxes of eroticism. The safer this speaker finds herself, the more she can enjoy the winds of passion gusting outside; in fact, the inland waters of Eden turn out to be indistinguishable from the “sea” she’s left behind. Now, students, about those prepositions: is this a “with” fantasy (stanza one), a “to” fantasy (stanza two), or an . . . Oops! There goes the bell.

3. “ Those Winter Sundays ” by Robert Hayden

Some poems are so tightly written that you can’t tap on the shoulder of a single word without the whole text turning around to see what you want. Take “chronic” in Robert Hayden ’s “ Those Winter Sundays .” The speaker remembers, as a child, “fearing the chronic angers of that house.” Ask your students to brainstorm reasons why “chronic” is the right word here. Some will notice how its hard “c” sounds echo throughout the poem—but only when the father is around or some physical or emotional coldness is an issue. Your diction mavens will spot its wordplay: the anger is “chronic” because it’s always there, like a disease, and it’s “chronic” because the father gets up early seven days a week. That’s not how the father uses language—his first stanza is plainspoken, even blunt. But just as the father “got up” and “put his clothes on,” in the second stanza the son “rises” and “dresses,” the word choice showing him to be an educated, even “polished” adult. If you have an extra day, ask them to look up the story of Chronos, Father Time, and how he treated his offspring. Then ask them what other story about a father and his son the poem turns to, with a kind of relief, as it ends. (Here’s a hint: Where are father and son probably going in those “good shoes” on a Sunday morning?)

4. “ The Sun Rising ” by John Donne

You can bring nearly any poem to life by asking, partway through, “Why isn’t the poem over yet?” In “ The Sun Rising ,” for example, I like to read the first stanza aloud, talk about its cleverness and bravado, and then invite my students to brainstorm why the poem doesn’t end with that grand dismissal of “Hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.” What has the speaker started that he still needs to finish? Have your students “stage” the opening stanza—they’ll immediately notice that there are three characters in the poem, right from the start, and although the speaker is talking to the sun, he has an actual, human audience right there in bed, listening in. Ask them to spot the moment when this woman shows up in the poem as a separate character, someone the speaker wants to appeal to or persuade, even if he’s not addressing her directly, as in “ The Flea .” Point out the drama of his pronoun shift from the “us” and “thou” of stanza one to the “I” and “her” of stanza two, and feel free to paraphrase the speaker’s attempt to be smooth: Sun, I could block your rays with a wink, he says, but then I’d have to take my eyes off her for an instant—and by the way, her eyes are brighter than you are. When do these compliments to the woman drift back into mere bragging? My female students always hone in on the end of the second stanza: “Ask for those kings thou saw’st yesterday / And thou shalt hear, all here in one bed lay.” Either she’s a king too, they’ll say—an anxious bit of gender-bending rhetoric—or he’s just talking up himself, losing her interest. That tension explains why the poem hasn’t ended yet. This sweet-talking man is now in a jam, and needs a new stanza to straighten things out. Students love to watch him backpedal and clarify: Did I say something about kings? No, “She’s all states, and all princes, I.” And they’ll swoon (just as they should) as the poem plummets from that political metaphor to its shortest, simplest, and yet most extravagant line: “She’s all states, and all princes, I, / Nothing else is.” As Donne turns their bedroom into Plato’s Cave, he finally pitches his rhetoric of seduction just right—at which point, at last, he can bring his poem to a close.

5. “ Theme for English B ” by Langston Hughes

The speaker of “ Theme for English B ” also struggles to get things right—but his constraint is a condescending classroom assignment. Listen to how Hughes ’s speaker changes linguistic style from section to section of this poem. First he quotes the instructor, who speaks in pat end rhymes and singsong rhythms. “I wonder if it’s that simple,” he wonders, and then imagines the dumbed-down, prosaic answer that his instructor probably expects. Look how repetitiously he identifies himself in that first long stanza—by age, geography, and race—and at how only the first two remain when he actually starts to write his theme a stanza later. Neither of these identities suffices, though, so he tries again—“Me—who?” he wonders—and answers from the inside, defining himself for the first time by what he likes , which the instructor does not know. Race returns only when he starts answering the instructor’s simplistic rhymes on “ite” and “oo.” “So will my page be colored that I write? Being me, it will not be white”; “Nor do I often want to be a part of you, / But we are, that’s true!” If your students love music, bring in some Bessie, Bach, and bop and show them how each uses the same “theme and variations” structure Hughes deploys so brilliantly here. And ask them who—the instructor or speaker—really seems “more free” by the close.

6 & 7. “ The New Colossus ” by Emma Lazarus and “ If We Must Die ” by Claude McKay

Poets use repetition and variation to think things through, and almost any sonnet will blossom when you attend to those subtle changes of heart and mind. These two are perfect, engaging examples. The first was penned to raise funds for a pedestal for “Liberty Enlightening the World” by a Jewish woman determined to change the statue’s meaning, and the latter in praise of black self-defense against white rioters in 1919. In “ The New Colossus ,” ask your students to watch how Lazarus takes us from “brazen” to “golden,” from a “torch” and “beacon” to a “lamp,” and from “gates” to a “door”—and track the names she gives the westbound immigrants, too. (Are they “exiles,” cast out of the classical polis? Are they “wretched refuse,” human garbage? No, they’re “homeless,” looking for a welcoming Mother; or even “tempest-toss’d,” like characters from Shakespeare’s late romance, dreaming of a brave new world.) McKay , by contrast, starts with two inhuman characters: “we,” who are “like hogs,” and the killers, who are “mad and hungry dogs.” As the sonnet develops, “we” grow noble, even Shakespearean: we have “precious blood,” we are “kinsmen,” and through self-defense we become at last “like men.” What happens to “them”? How exactly does McKay get from “if we must die” to “fighting back,” and what prompts each shift in his language and mood? These poems may be familiar, but such questions make them new.

8. “ Easter, 1916 ” by William Butler Yeats

For years I was afraid to teach “ Easter, 1916 .” I wasn’t sure how to lead students across the great divide separating that oblique, symbolic stanza about the stone in the water from the first two sections of the poem: the first stanza, where Yeats sketches how amused he was by “them” (the Irish nationalists who died in the Easter Rebellion), and the second, where he gives his first list of who “they” actually were, or were to him. Once I realized that Yeats, too, isn’t quite sure where he’s going—that he’s trying to figure out what sort of transformation has taken place in “them,” and hoping that symbolism will help him—the stumbles made sense, and our journey had a map. Set aside at least 90 minutes for this poem and take it slowly, sentence by sentence, with an eye to the speaker’s shifting feelings about the rebels, his changes of heart and of mind. As with the sonnets by Lazarus and McKay, I ask students to watch for repetition and variation; key words and phrases recur as the poet tries to decide how he feels about how the rebels have been transformed. Their hearts were put under a spell by the cause of revolution, enchanted into lifeless, static stone , he declares. A few lines later, he changes his mind. They weren’t enchanted, exactly . . . the change was caused by “too long a sacrifice.” And really, they weren’t turned to stone; they were just like children, running wild, and now they sleep. But no—they’re dead, not sleeping; and they didn’t run wild, they were be wild ered, and it wasn’t by too long a sacrifice, but by excess of love! What would have been, in other hands, a patriotic cliché feels, here, like a hard-won discovery: it takes Yeats 72 lines to decide that the rebels died for love. This poem is awfully long and complex for you to assign it as an explication, but if you work through it in class up through the speaker’s final question (“And what if excess of love / Bewildered them till they died?”), you can assign students to write a short paper about how the final seven lines look back to earlier material in the poem, mostly by contrast. As “polite, meaningless words” turn into “verse,” the rebels are finally given names, the jester’s “motley” becomes a solid shade of “green,” and so on. What, you might ask, is the final set of meanings and associations triggered by the poem’s epigrammatic refrain, “a terrible beauty is born”?

9. “ How Do I Love Thee? ” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Often my students have been taught that Elizabeth Barrett Browning ’s “How Do I Love Thee?,” the penultimate of her Sonnets from the Portuguese , epitomizes what was wrong with poetry before modernism. “It’s sappy,” they say, “and doesn’t she know a poet’s supposed to show, not tell?” If your pupils feel that way, remind them that the first phrase is a question, not an exclamation—and Barrett Browning is as puzzled, and as unwilling to settle for easy answers, as Yeats is in “Easter, 1916.” She tries spatial metaphors to answer “how,” but they must not be sufficient—that’s why the poem’s not finished. (Some students will need to be reminded that she’s not feeling “out of sight,” like some Victorian Motown singer; she’s groping in the dark, feeling around “out of sight / For the ends of being and ideal grace,” philosophical abstractions that she uses because she’s not ready to think about God.) In the next couplet she turns to the well-lit quotidian world, but that’s too private, too domestic, too feminine , to suffice as a description. It misses the public, manly side of her love, and the way her feelings now (at the time she speaks the poem) look back to earlier stages in her emotional life. Students who find the poem “gushy,” shying away from Browning’s Victorian language of feeling, can come to see her precision of thought by giving each of those temporal stages a crisp, objective descriptor, as Helen Vendler does with a Shakespeare sonnet in Poems, Poets, and Poetry :

• T1: childhood faith and saints present
• T2: griefs intervene, saints are lost
• T3: I love, but don’t realize how this love returns me to my past
• T4: I ask myself, or you ask, “How do I love thee?”
• T5: the present moment, when I figure out that my whole life is brought into this love, which lets me imagine
• T6: love in the future, after loss and death

Call that poetry for physicists. Meanwhile, let your wordsmiths look up that word “passion” (“the passion put to use / in my old griefs”) in a good dictionary. Every meaning they find will ring true.  

10. “Beam 10” of ARK by Ronald Johnson

Science and poetry never had a more playful, fertile fling than in ARK , a book-length work by the poet (and acclaimed cookbook writer) Ronald Johnson . I like to give my students “Beam 10” of this architectural poem, a little two-line riddle or treasure hunt, like “Blue’s Clues” for grown-ups. Here’s the poem:

daimon diamond monad I Adam Kadmon in the sky

Yup, that’s all of it. Have one group start by looking up the words they don’t know. Have some think about science: What are diamonds? Where do they come from? What’s their relationship to stars, and thus to hydrogen (which enters the poem via “monad”). Set your punsters loose on Kadmon—aka Caedmon, the original English poet—and tell anyone who starts humming the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” to go look up where the name Lucy comes from. While they’re at it, have them investigate how that name fits into a poem that mentions Adam, the original human of the Bible, and “Adam Kadmon,” the original, unfallen Heavenly Man of the Kabbalah. (They’ll want to report to the science group tomorrow.) Anyone who hears the Alphabet Song or Blake’s “The Tyger” in these lines is right, which is fun, and I promise that you’ll never sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” again without hearing a little answering voice: “Twinkle, twinkle, little star / How I wonder what you are.” “ daimon diamond monad I / Adam Kadmon in the sky.” OK—enough clues! Now go play.

Eric Selinger is Associate Professor of English at DePaul University, where he teaches courses on poetry, Jewish American culture, and popular romance fiction. His publications include What Is It then Between Us: Traditions of Love in American Poetry (1998), Jewish American Poetry: Poems, Commentary, and Reflections (2000), and Ronald Johnson:...

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Poetry about learning, for teachers and students alike.

Teaching John Donne’s poem “The Sun Rising.”

A “real poet” learns new tricks by teaching poetry to kids. 

1. "To My Dear and Loving Husband"

A good poem marred by an atrocious rhyme: "quench" and "recompense."

Edna Millay wrote better love poems that are more technically astute.

2. "Wild Nights!"

Another lousy rhyme--"port" and "chart"--but typical of Dickinson.

3. "Those Winter Sundays"

Tightly written? Not as tightly written as a mathematical equation. Look at the number of stresses per line, which vary between three and four and five, dictated not by the poem's internal requirements but by the writer's random impositions. In an equation, nothing is random .

4. "The Rising Sun"

Now Donne was a mathematician

5. "Theme for English B"

Drivel. Pure drivel.

6 &amp; 7. "The New Colossus" and "If We Must Die"

Magnificent peoms. Both of them exalt their themes with exalted language.

8. "Easter 1916"

You analysis is pretty good, but you failed to mention the most compelling part of the poem, which is its hypnotic three-beat line.

9. "How Do I Love Thee"

No matter how you twist and contort it, "grace" does not rhyme with "ways." Nor does "faith" rhyme with "breath." On the other hand, rhyming "ways" with "day's" was a brilliant stroke.

10. "Beam 10"

Maybe as a novelty item, but I don't like for kids to think that poety is just a game, unless they understand that it's the most serious game in the world.

Is this the same Eric Selinger from DePaul University....one of my favorite teachers who made me love poetry all the more???!!!!!

I'm curious what other people's top ten poems to teach lists are.

Over the years I have found students in many states and of all ages deeply interested in "We Real Cool" by Gwen Brooks. It stirs discussion and debate and works well as a choral reading.

I have not found the same success with EBB's "How Do I Love Thee?"

Top favorite poems to teach to undergraduates:

Stanley Kunitz: "Halley's Comet"

Robert Hayden: "Those Winter Sundays"

Elizabeth Bishop: "One Art"

Etheridge Knight: "Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane" (This is their favorite poem of the semester; if you can find a recording of this being read by Knight, please share it with them. "Feeling Fucked Up" is another class-pleaser).

Theodore Roethke: "My Papa's Waltz"

Mark Doty: "A Display of Mackerel"

T.S. Eliot: "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Philip Larkin: "This Be the Verse"

Stevie Smith: "Pretty"

These are not necessarily my favorites, but they're the ones the beginning writers clamor to discuss.

No offense but these were the kind of poems that made me hate college. I was so depressed in college. Teach Shelley or Ginsberg. Try teaching Hart Crane.

William Carlos Williams' "The red wheelbarrow" one of the most anthologized poems in the U.S., why is this not in the discussion?

In the Dickinson poem, the near rhyme of the words "port" and "chart" is quaint and endearing. Technicality is the most insignificant part of a poem. It is there to serve the passion and intent of the heart. Counting and measuring should be left to the carpenter.

Nothing by Frank O'Hara, such as The Day Lady Died? No Wallace Stevens? There are too many poems to choose from but these guys should be in the mix.

No, counting and measurement are the very foundations of poetry, just as they are of music.

Pythagoras discovered that musical tones are based on simple ratios, while Shakespeare was so conscious of the syllable count that he referred to verse as numbers: "If I could write the beauty of your eyes/And in fresh numbers number all your graces..."

It is not uncommon to confuse artistry with self-expression and craftsmanship with carpentry, but there has never been an artist who wasn't also a consummate craftsman.

I must agree with Lisa. Anyone who is more conscious of beats and syllables is missing the point. The meter should serve the message or emotion a poem is attempting to convey, but at its core poetry is language aiming to wake us up to life. I am more interested in an image within a poem and how it makes me feel than whether or not the author stayed within the confines of "structure"

Why all this concern in the comments with 'perfect end-rhyme'? There's far more to rhyme than end-rhyme--there's consonance ("port/chart") assonance, alliteration, slant rhyme, near rhyme, repetition. Perfect assonance end rhyme is monotonous and most poets know how and when to break the metronomic flow. That is, when they use rhyme at all! I liked these choices, though of course there are so many more. And how about some great Canadian poets?

5 poems worth teaching:

1. Monologue of a Dog by Wislawa Szymborska

2. Body and Soul by B.H. Fairchild

3. Fun by Wyn Cooper

4. Apron Full of Beans by Sam Cornish

5. Man in the Booth in the Mid Town Tunnel by Doug Holder

5 contemporary poets who have something to say and whose poems will resonate with students

I have found all of the poems on this list to be powerful, and have gotten good response from students on almost all of them. However, I would subsitute "The Mill" by Edwin Arlington Robinson for "Easter" and "In Creve Coeur, Missouri" by Rosanna Warren for "Beam 10". If you are looking for tight meter and ryhme, "The Mill" will not disappoint. "Creve Couer" has too many attributes to list. And just because it is my ultimate favorite, I would have to add "Ode to Autumn" by Keats. I cannot start the Fall without it.

The book is simply the author's choice. Write your own book of poems you like to teach. You commenters take yourself too seriously.

Wow, Valerian...Langston Hughes wrote "pure drivel"...ok then, how many of your poems are published? Read even? Loved? Memorized? Considered a turning point in American literature, history, and culture? Drivel, right.

An excellent set of choices. Let me cast another vote for "Those Winter Sundays," which I consider one of the most beautifully crafted poems of the twentieth century.The second word "too," shows how one word can make a difference. The repetition of "What did I know?" at the ending does for this poem what repeating "And miles to go before I sleep" does for Frost's "Stopping By Woods...." Then there's word music: his father " ...put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze." Sound never did more for substance!

Great article; one I will come back to when teaching poetry. Some of my students' favorites: 1. "What do Women Want?" by Kim Addonizio 2. "The Word" by Dorianne Laux 3. "Metaphors" by Sylvia Plath 4. "Homage to My Hips" by Lucille Clifton 5. "Candles" by C.P. Cavafy 6. "The Shipfitter's Wife" by Dorianne Laux 7. "In the Tavernas" by C.P. Cavafy 8. "Half an Hour" by C.P.Cavafy 9. "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke

This article and its comments have been a goldmine for me. Thank you!

I will be teaching "Monologue of a Dog Ensnared in History" by Szymborska to my ninth graders today. I don't think I could get away with Larkin's "This Be the Verse" or Lux's "The Word" -- you college profs have all the fun. But for the most part the poems mentioned here would work well for high school students.

I would add these to the list: "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke (works well as a companion to Hayden's "Winter Sundays") "anyone lived in a pretty how town" by e.e. cummings "next to of course god america i" by e.e.cummings "Tulips" by Sylvia Plath (excellent for teaching symbol and motif) "The Visitant" by Roethke (companion to Keats's "La Belle Dame") "Death of a Ball Turret Gunner" by Roethke

I also recommend Camille Paglia's book: Break, Burn, Blow. She explicates forty-three poems, ranging from classic to contemporary, with enormous insight. She's a terrific writer, so it's quite fun to read.

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Five of the Best Poems about Writing Poetry

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Writing poetry can be intensely rewarding, but unfortunately, the words don’t always come. And at some point or another, most poets have found themselves in the grip of writer’s block (something we’ve termed colygraphia , because let’s face it, it’s never going to be taken seriously until it has a Greek name). The following five poems are all about the struggle to write a poem; they are among the best poems about the actual act of writing poetry.

1. Sir Philip Sidney, ‘ Loving in Truth ’.

Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show, That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain,— Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know, Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,— I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe; Studying inventions fine her wits to entertain, Oft turning others’ leaves, to see if thence would flow Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburn’d brain …

This poem, which opens Sidney’s 1580s sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella – the first substantial sonnet sequence written in English – sets up the cycle of poems which follows. We find Sidney seated at his desk, chewing his quill, trying to find the right words to convey the pain of unrequited love he is feeling (the love which the sequence as a whole wonderfully chronicles).

Sidney says that he made the mistake of studying other writers’ words and trying to emulate them in order ‘to paint the blackest face of woe’. Sidney then creates a somewhat unusual ‘family’ whereby Invention (i.e. the poet’s creativity) is the child of Nature (Mother Nature, of course), but Invention is being governed here not by his natural mother, Nature, but by his stepmother or ‘step-dame’, Study.

The conclusion he comes to is breathtakingly simple and has resonated with writers throughout the ages.

2. Ted Hughes, ‘ The Thought-Fox ’.

One of the most celebrated poetic accounts of the act of writing poetry, or rather, more accurately, waiting for the arrival of poetic inspiration, ‘The Thought-Fox’ is one of Ted Hughes’s best- loved poems .

Curiously, the poem had its origins in one of the most significant events of Hughes’s young life. While he was studying English at the University of Cambridge, Hughes found that studying poetry was having a deleterious effect on his own poetry: he was writing virtually no new poetry, because he felt suffocated by the ‘terrible, suffocating, maternal octopus’ of literary tradition.

But it was another animal, the fox, that made up Hughes’s mind for him. While trying to work on a literary-critical essay for his degree, Hughes retired to bed at 2am, having been unable to write the essay. That night, he had a dream that a large fox walked into his room, its eyes filled with pain. It came up to his desk, laid a bleeding hand on the blank page where Hughes had tried and failed to write his essay, and said: ‘Stop this – you are destroying us.’

Hughes, who had a lifelong interest in portents, took this as a sign. In his third year, he transferred from English to anthropology and archaeology – and his poetry-writing took off again. This story probably provided Hughes with the genesis for ‘The Thought-Fox’ – a poem in which Hughes struggles, not to write an analysis of a poem, but the poem itself.

As we’ve discussed elsewhere , the poem’s opening line may be a subtle nod to Gerard Manley Hopkins’s ‘The Windhover’ .

3.  Carol Ann Duffy, ‘ The Love Poem ’.

This poem appeared in Duffy’s 2005 volume Rapture , and is a poem about the difficulty of writing a love poem. Duffy explores this difficulty – the notion that ‘everything has already been said by everybody else’ – by quoting snippets from famous love poems from ages past, such as those by John Donne , William Shakespeare , and Elizabeth Barrett Browning .

‘The Love Poem’ shows that Duffy is aware of the rich tradition of love-poem sequences in English literature: it is a poem that feels the weight of these former masters – Shakespeare, Sidney, Donne, Shelley, Barrett Browning – and finds it difficult to write a love poem that won’t sound like a bad pastiche or copy of these literary greats. ‘I love you’, as Jacques Derrida was fond of pointing out, is always a quotation.

We have analysed this poem here .

4. Jane Kenyon, ‘ Not Writing ’.

Jane Kenyon (1947-95) was an American poet whose work evinces a spare, pared back style. This sparse style works particularly well in ‘Not Writing’, Kenyon’s short poem about writer’s block. We love the way ‘papery nest’ makes us want to read ‘eaves’ as ‘leaves’ in this delicate, finely worded poem.

5. Oliver Tearle, ‘ Underpass ’.

Metromania’s religion: here you set your epic’s opening, journeyman’s false start.

Now put the lines down, see just what you get: chthonic forms the dead will come to write, frustrated shadows of the never-yet.

This poem, from our founder-editor Dr Oliver Tearle, a poet and literary critic, acknowledges that all poetry-writing is about standing on the shoulders of giants.

The ‘chthonic forms’ of the dead helped Odysseus the ‘journeyman’ just as the ghosts of dead writers help the contemporary poet to express what he or she wishes to say. This densely layered and allusive poem carries notes with it (in the link provided above), acknowledging the difficulty of writing in the shadow of so many great poets.

That concludes our pick of five great poems about writing, or not writing – poems about writer’s block, struggling to sit down and write a poem. Are there any classics we’ve missed off our list?

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3 thoughts on “Five of the Best Poems about Writing Poetry”

(Shakespeare) Sonnet 77…

Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear, Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste; These vacant leaves thy mind’s imprint will bear, And of this book, this learning mayst thou taste. The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show Of mouthed graves will give thee memory; Thou by thy dial’s shady stealth mayst know Time’s thievish progress to eternity. Look what thy memory cannot contain, Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find Those children nursed, deliver’d from thy brain, To take a new acquaintance of thy mind. These offices, so oft as thou wilt look, Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book.

Check out the Yeats poem I posted for February. Definitely a love poem for writers.

Gary Snyder’s “Axe Handles.”

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101 Poetry Prompts & Ideas for Writing Poems

Not sure what to write a poem about? Here’s 101 poetry prompts to get you started!

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These poetry prompts are designed to help you keep a creative writing practice. If you’re staring at a blank page and the words aren’t flowing, the creative writing prompts for poems can be a great way to get started!

New for 2023! Due to popular demand, I created a printable, ad-free version of these poetry prompts you can download to use at home or even in the classroom! Get them at our Etsy Shop .

Even if poetry isn’t your thing, you could always use these things to inspire other writing projects. Essays, journal entries, short stories, and flash fiction are just a few examples of ways this list can be used.

You may even find this list of creative poetry writing prompts helpful as an exercise to build your skills in descriptive writing and using metaphors!

Let’s get onto the list, shall we?

Here are 101 Poetry Prompts for Creative Writing

Most of these creative writing ideas are simple and open-ended. This allows you total creative freedom to write from these poetry prompts in your own unique style, tone, and voice.

If one poetry idea doesn’t appeal to you, challenge yourself to find parallels between the prompt and things that you do enjoy writing about!

1.The Untouchable : Something that will always be out of reach

2. 7 Days, 7 Lines : Write a poem where each line/sentence is about each day of last week

3. Grandma’s Kitchen : Focus on a single memory, or describe what you might imagine the typical grandmother’s kitchen to be like

4. Taste the Rainbow : What does your favorite color taste like?

5. Misfits: How it feels when you don’t belong in a group of others.

6. Stranger Conversations : Start the first line of your poem with a word or phrase from a recent passing conversation between you and someone you don’t know.

7. On the Field : Write from the perspective of a sports ball {Baseball, Soccer, Football, Basketball, Lacrosse, etc.} – think about what the sports ball might feel, see, hear, think, and experience with this poetry idea!

8. Street Signs: Take note of the words on signs and street names you pass while driving, walking, or riding the bus. Write a poem starting with one of these words you notice.

9. Cold water: What feelings do you associate with cold water? Maybe it’s a refreshing cold glass of water on a hot day, or maybe you imagine the feelings associated with being plunged into the icy river in the winter.

10. Ghostwriter: Imagine an invisible ghost picks up a pen and starts writing to you.

11. Lessons From Math Class: Write about a math concept, such as “you cannot divide by zero” or never-ending irrational numbers.

12. Instagram Wall: Open up either your own Instagram account or one of a friend/celebrity and write poetry based on the first picture you see.

13. Radio: Tune in to a radio station you don’t normally listen to, and write a poem inspired by the the first song or message you hear.

14. How To : Write a poem on how to do something mundane most people take for granted, such as how to tie your shoes, how to turn on a lamp, how to pour a cup of coffee.

15. Under 25 Words : Challenge yourself to write a poem that is no more than 25 words long.

16. Out of Order: Write about your feelings when there is an out of order sign on a vending machine.

17. Home Planet: Imagine you are from another planet, stuck on earth and longing for home.

18. Uncertainty : Think about a time in your life when you couldn’t make a decision, and write based on this.

19. Complete : Be inspired by a project or task be completed – whether it’s crossing something off the never-ending to-do list, or a project you have worked on for a long time.

20. Compare and Contrast Personality : What are some key differences and similarities between two people you know?

21. Goodbyes : Write about a time in your life you said goodbye to someone – this could be as simple as ending a mundane phone conversation, or harder goodbyes to close friends, family members, or former partners.

22. Imagine Weather Indoors : Perhaps a thunderstorm in the attic? A tornado in the kitchen?

23. Would You Rather? Write about something you don’t want to do, and what you would rather do instead.

24. Sound of Silence : Take some inspiration from the classic Simon & Garfunkel song and describe what silence sounds like.

25. Numbness : What’s it like to feel nothing at all?

26. Fabric Textures : Use different fiber textures, such as wool, silk, and cotton as a poetry writing prompt.

27. Anticipation : Write about the feelings you experience or things you notice while waiting for something.

28. Poison: Describe something toxic and its effects on a person.

29. Circus Performers: Write your poetry inspired by a circus performer – a trapeze artist, the clowns, the ringmaster, the animal trainers, etc.

30. Riding on the Bus : Write a poem based on a time you’ve traveled by bus – whether a school bus, around town, or a long distance trip to visit a certain destination.

31. Time Freeze : Imagine wherever you are right now that the clock stops and all the people in the world are frozen in place. What are they doing?

32. The Spice of Life : Choose a spice from your kitchen cabinet, and relate its flavor to an event that has happened recently in your daily life.

33. Parallel Universe : Imagine you, but in a completely different life based on making a different decision that impacted everything else.

34. Mad Scientist : Create a piece based on a science experiment going terribly, terribly wrong.

35. People You Have Known : Make each line about different people you have met but lost contact with over the years. These could be old friends, passed on family, etc.

36. Last Words : Use the last sentence from the nearest book as the inspiration for the first line of your poem.

37. Fix This : Think about something you own that is broken, and write about possible ways to fix it. Duct tape? A hammer and nails?

38. Suspicion : Pretend you are a detective and you have to narrow down the suspects.

39. Political News : Many famous poets found inspiration from the current politics in their time. Open up a newspaper or news website, and create inspired by the first news article you find.

40. The Letter D : Make a list of 5 words that start with all with the same letter, and then use these items throughout the lines of your verse. {This can be any letter, but for example sake: Daisy, Dishes, Desk, Darkness, Doubt}

41. Quite the Collection : Go to a museum, or look at museum galleries online. Draw your inspiration from collections of objects and artifacts from your favorite display. Examples: Pre-historic days, Egyptians, Art Galleries, etc.

42. Standing in Line : Think of a time you had to stand in line for something. Maybe you were waiting in a check-out line at the store, or you had to stand in line to enter a concert or event.

43. Junk Mail Prose: Take some inspiration from your latest junk mail. Maybe it’s a grocery store flyer announcing a sale on grapes, or an offer for a credit card.

44. Recipe : Write your poem in the form of a recipe. This can be for something tangible, such as a cake, or it can be a more abstract concept such as love or happiness. List ingredients and directions for mixing and tips for cooking up your concept to perfection.

45. Do you like sweaters? Some people love their coziness, others find them scratchy and too hot. Use your feelings about sweaters in a poem.

46. After Party : What is it like after all party guests go home?

47. Overgrown : Use  Little Shop of Horrors  for inspiration, or let your imagination run wild on what might happen if a plant or flower came to life or started spreading rapidly to take over the world.

48. Interference: Write a poem that is about someone or something coming in between you and your goals.

49. On Shaky Ground: Use an earthquake reference or metaphor in your poem.

50. Trust Issues : Can you trust someone you have doubted in the past?

51. Locked in a Jar: Imagine you are a tiny person, who has been captured and put into a jar for display or science.

52. Weirder Than Fiction: Think of the most unbelievable moment in your life, and write a poem about the experience.

53. Fast Food: Write a poem about fast food restaurants and experiences.

54. Unemployed: Write a poem about quitting or being fired from a job you depended on.

55. Boxes: What kinds of family secrets or stories might be hiding in that untouched box in the attic?

56. No One Understands : Write about what it feels like when no one understands or agrees with your opinion.

57. Criminal Minds : Write a poem from the perspective of a high-profile criminal who is always on the run from law enforcement.

58. Marathon Runner : Write a poem about what training you might be doing to accomplish a difficult challenge in your life.

59. Trapped : Write about an experience that made you feel trapped.

60. Passing the Church : Write a poem about noticing something interesting while passing by a church near your home.

61. Backseat Driver: Write about what it’s like to be doing something in your life and constantly being criticized while trying to move ahead.

62. Luster: Create a descriptive poem about something that has a soft glow or sheen to it.

63. Clipboard: Write a poem about someone who is all business like and set in their ways of following a system.

64. Doctor: Write a poem about receiving advice from a doctor.

65. First Car : Write an ode to your first car

66. Life Didn’t Go As a Planned : Write about a recent or memorable experience when nothing went according to plan.

67. Architect : Imagine you are hired to design a building for a humanitarian cause you are passionate about.

68. The Crazy Cat Hoarder : Write about someone who owns far too many cats.

69. Queen : Write a poem from the perspective of a queen.

70. Movie Character : Think of a recent movie you watched, and create a poem about one character specifically, or an interaction between two characters that was memorable.

71. Potential Energy : Write about an experience where you had a lot of potential for success, but failed.

72. Moonlight : Write about an experience in the moonlight.

73. Perfection : Write about trying to always keep everything perfect.

74. You Are Wrong : Write a poem where you tell someone they are wrong and why.

75. Sarcasm : Write a poem using sarcasm as a form of illustrating your point.

76. Don’t Cry : Write a poem about how not to cry when it’s hard to hold back the tears.

77. Listen Up: Write a poem telling someone they are better than they think they are.

78. Flipside : Find the good in something terrible.

79. Maybe They Had a Reason : Write a poem about someone doing something you don’t understand, and try to explain what reasons they might have had.

80. How to Drive : Write a poem that explains how to drive to a teenager.

81. Up & Down the Steps: Write a poem that includes the motion of going up or down a staircase

82. Basket Case: Has there ever been a time when you thought you might lose your mind? Jot your feelings and thoughts down in verse form.

83. Lucky Guess:  Many times in our life we have to make a good guess for what is the best decision. Use this poetry idea to write about feelings related to guessing something right – or wrong.

84. Dear Reader:  What audience enjoys reading the type of poetry you like to write? Craft a note to your potential audience that addresses their biggest fears, hopes, and dreams.

85. All or Nothing : Share your thoughts on absolutist thinking: when one’s beliefs are so set in stone there are no exceptions.

86. Ladders in the Sky : Imagine there are ladders that take you up to the clouds. What could be up there? What feelings do you have about climbing the ladders, or is their a mystery as to how they got there in the first place?

87. Always On My Mind: Compose a poem about what it’s like to always be thinking about someone or something.

88. Paranoia : What would it be like if you felt like someone was watching you but no one believed you?

89. Liar, Liar: How would you react to someone who lied to you?

90. Secret Word: What’s the magic word to unlock someone’s access to something?

91. For What It’s Worth: Use a valuable object in your home as inspiration as a poetry prompt idea.

92. Coming Home to Secrets: Imagine a person who puts on a good act to cover up a secret they deal with at home.

93. Productivity: Talk about your greatest struggles with time management and organization.

94. Defying Gravity: Use words that relate to being weightless and floating.

95. Signs of the Times : How has a place you are familiar with changed over the past 10 years?

96. Sleepless Nights : What ideas and feelings keep you up at night? What’s it like when you have to wake up in the morning on a night you can’t sleep?

97. You Can’t Fire Me, I Quit : Use one of the worst job related memories you can think of as a creative writing prompt.

98. By George : You can choose any name, but think of 3-5 notable figures or celebrities who share a common first name, and combine their personalities and physical characteristics into one piece of poetry. For example: George Washington, George Clooney, George Harrison.

99. Shelter : Write a poem about a time you were thankful for shelter from a storm.

100. Cafeteria : Create a poem inspired by the people who might be eating lunch in a cafeteria at school or at a hospital.

101. Dusty Musical Instruments : Base your poem around the plight of a musician who hasn’t picked up the guitar or touched a piano in years.

Love these prompts? The printable, ad-free version of these poetry prompts can be used offline or in the classroom! Get them at our Etsy Shop .

There are unlimited possibilities for ways you can use these poem ideas to write poetry. Using a list like this can greatly help you with getting into the habit of writing daily – even when you don’t feel inspired to write.

While not every poem you write will be an award-winning masterpiece, using these poem starters as a regular exercise can help you better your craft as a writer.

I hope you enjoy these poetry prompts – and if you write anything you’d like to share inspired by these creative poetry writing prompts, let us know in the comments below – we love to see how others use writing ideas to create their own work!

And of course, don’t forget to get the ad-free poetry prompt cards printable version if you’d like to use these prompts offline, in the classroom or with your small group!

Chelle Stein wrote her first embarrassingly bad novel at the age of 14 and hasn't stopped writing since. As the founder of ThinkWritten, she enjoys encouraging writers and creatives of all types.

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98 comments.

I had a wonderful inspiration from prompt number 49 “On Shaky Ground,” although it’s not exactly about an earthquake. I wanted to share it on here, so I hope you enjoy it!

Title: “Shaking Ground”

The ground’s shaking My heart’s aching I’m getting dizzy My mind’s crazy

On shaking ground It’s like I’m on a battleground We’re all fighting for love Dirtying our white glove

The ground’s shaking My body’s quaking Love is so cruel Making me a fool

On shaking ground We are all love-bound Stuck in a crate Nobody can avoid this fate

The ground’s shaking We are all waking Opening our eyes Everyone dies

On shaking ground Our love is profound Although we are separate Better places await

The ground’s shaking Death’s overtaking Heaven is descending The world’s ending

On shaking ground In love we are drowned

Awesome interpretation Amanda! Thanks for sharing!

heyyy, I have written something regarding prompt 27 and 96 The Night Charms.

Do you dread the dark; Or do you adore the stars? Do you really think the fire place is that warm; Or you just envy the night charms? The skyline tries to match the stars’ sparkle, The sky gets dark, the vicinity gets darker. The “sun” has set for the day being loyal; These are now the lamps burning the midnight oil. The Eve so busy, that everyone forgets to praise its beauty. The sun has set without anyone bidding him an adieu, Failed to demonstrate its scintillating view. The moon being the epitome of perfection, Has the black spots, Depicting an episode of it’s dark past.

And I sit; I sit and wonder till the dawn. What a peaceful time it is, To have a small world of your own. Away from the chaos, I found a soul that was lost. So tired, yet radiant, Trying to be someone she’s not in the end. That bewitching smile held my hand, Carried me back to shore, letting me feel my feet in the sand. The waves moved to and fro, Whispering to me as they go, “Oh girl, my girl This is the soul you have within you, Never let it vanish, For it alters you into something good and something new, Don’t let the cruel world decide, Don’t let anyone kill that merry vibe.”

Then I saw my own soul fade, Fly into my heart, For what it was made. Oh dear lord, The night’s silence became my solace, My life lessons were made by the waves. Who am I? What have I done to myself? Many questions were answered in self reproach, The answers were still unspoken with no depth. Oh dear night, What have you done to me? Or should I thank you for putting a soul that I see. The nights spent later were now spectacular, My darkness somehow added some light to my life, Making it fuller… Everyday after a day, walking through the scorching lawns, I wait for the the dusk to arrive, and then explore myself till the dawn.

This is so amazing I ran out of words. Very lit thoughts beautifully penned. Keep writing like this dude.❤🌻

That is beautiful, it inspired me to write about my fears, thank you!!

Thank you for the inspiration! 😀 This was based of 21 and 77 (I think those were the numbers lol)

Goodbye to the days when we played together in the sun Goodbye to the smile on your face and to all of the fun I look at you, so dull and blue How long before I can say hello to the real you You are worth more than you think At the very least, you are to me Though there are greater things that wait for you than the least You are worthy of the most, the greatest of things If only goodbye could be ‘see you later’ I want to see the real you again To your suffering I don’t want to be just a spectator I want it all to end Goodbye to my only friend I want to heal you but I don’t know how I wish I had this all figured out Please come back to me I just want you to be free

Thank u so much im more inspired after seeing these creative ideas. 🤗

Glad they inspired you!

Thanks for sharing Amanda!

That was beautiful! I am a writer too! I actually just finished writing one but, it wasn’t from this website, just kind of something that’s been on my head for a while you know? Anyways, again, that was awesome! I am a Christian, and I love seeing people write about that kind of stuff! 🙂

I am jim from Oregon. I am also a writer, not very good but active. I am a Christian as well as you are. Sometimes it is hard to come up with something to write about.

All of a sudden, I have started to write poetry. Do you like all forms of writing? I would enjoy reading some of you work if you would you would like to s if you would like to send me some.

i have written one about frozen time:

my brother will be drawing, his pencil wont leave the sheet, my mother hearing the radio, today’s news on repeat. my sister, in fact, is making her bed, she’ll be making it still, till the last bug is dead. me, on the other hand, i’ll be visiting you, i’ll see you in action, doing the things that you do, i’ll be happy to see you, just a last time, i’ll kiss your still lips, and hold for a while. then i’ll take a plane to saudi, where i’ll see my dad, he’ll be swimming with turtles, he will not seem sad. i have lived on this earth, for 15 whole years, time for goodbye, with not a single tear.

hey beautifully expressed…!!!

Beautifully penned 🌼

I love it I tried one out myself as well Change

She sat looking out the window. The sound of the piano’s cheerful tune ringing out throughout the room. The sweet smell of burnt pine emanating from her fireplace. The sky is blue and the sun shines bright. She closes her eyes for a second. She opens them again. The window is broken and scattered on the ground. The piano sits covered in ashes, every symphony played now just a distant memory replaced with a discordant melody. The room smells of smoke and ash. The sky is dark and rain falls on the remnants of her home. Not a living thing in sight,not even her.

Nice one Amanda. kind of tells me the chronology of love and its eventualities.

such a dilightful poem, thanks for the word that made the day for me. you are such a good poet.

Omg! What!! This is amazing! I’d love to feature this piece on my blog monasteryjm.com. I also love this blog post by thinkwritten.com, planning on putting the link in my next blog post so others can come over here to check it out! So helpful!

this is so great! I’ve been needing inspiration. this might work

Thank you so much for this article! I love the profundity and open-endedness of the prompts. Here is a poem I wrote, drawing inspiration from #56, “No One Understands.” I wrote this from the perspective of a psychic Arcturian Starseed in her teenage years and how the world perceives her spiritual connection; while at the same time hinting at the true meaning of her various baffling actions. Enjoy 🙂

Starseed – a poem on perspective

In the snow She stands alone Wrapped in shrouds of mystery Her gentle hand gloved with giving Caressing A violet stone

Math class is dismissed But there still she sits Speaking to the ceiling in tender tones A soft and healing resonance Murmuring sweetly of ascension to Another, dearer dimension

In homeroom Her classmate weeps Of missed planes and shattered dreams Quietly She strokes the hand of the suffering And whispers then of channeling Some celestial utopia called Arcturus Where she claims to have been.

Please feel free to let me know where I need to improve! I’m fourteen years old and only an amateur, so a few suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, love and light 🙂

#79 I don’t know why he was so mad Did he not get his mail Was he already mad Or did he only get bills

He swung his arm with force He caused a loud bang He hurt his own hand He left with some blood

He is the man that punched the mailbox His hand dripped blood on it He left it with a dent He left it alone after that

That’s great Michael, thank you for sharing your response to one of the prompts!

Awesome! That was simple and yet creative

Interesting tips and keywords for boosting inspiration. I’ve found some good topic for start writing. Thanks

sleepless nights (#96)

it’s never a strangled cry that drags me from my dreams, but a gentle whisper, there to nudge the socks off my feet, and settle me back into the sheets. i seem to wake before i’ve had a chance to fall to rest.

why is it that i can never sleep, but always dream?

sleepless nights rule my life and drag me by my toes, throwing me into a sky of black and blue. not a single star can break through this spillage. and i sit and wonder in a sea of sheets, rippling around me, why my mind can swim these dark, tangling waters and i never need to take a breath.

have you ever noticed how static-filled the dark is? because when i lay buried under these burdens and blankets, the world seems ready to crumble under my grasp.

i can’t sleep, but i can dream, of days when i wasn’t pulled struggling from bed but awoken into the light. i wonder how i ever survived the grainy sky’s midnight troubles, the oil spill of its thunderclouds, the sandpaper raspiness of the three a.m. earth against my throat.

oh, how i can never sleep in a world that threatens to fall apart.

this is amazing! i hope i can be this good one day

once again beautiful <3

Thank you so much for these prompts! They’re so thought-provoking.

You’re welcome! Glad you enjoy them!

Take me back to those days, When I was allowed to dream, Where no one use to scream. Take me back to those days, When I was a child, Where I never use to find reasons to smile. Take me Take back to those days, When I never used to lie, Where I never used to shy. Take me back those carefreee days, When I was far away from school days. Take me back to those days , where every one used to prase, no matter how foolish i behave. Take me back to those days, when i wasn’t stuck between fake people. Take me back to the day I was born, So that I could live those days again………….

so mine is basically a mix between 76 and 77… I made it for my literature club i recently began trying to make.

‘Listen to me’ Listen to me your words mean more than you think your opinion is worthy to be shared your songs are capable of being sung

Listen to me

your smile is bright your frown shows nothing more than you should be cared for like you care for us.

your laughter is delightful and so is everything else

dont let the past go hurt you find strength in the experience

are you listening to me?

can you here me?

because YOU matter

Nice, thank you for sharing!

Prompt #1 “Untouchable”

Grasping Reaching Searching for the untouchable The indescribable On the tip of my tongue My fingertips Close to my heart But warping my brain Yet understood in the depths of my soul Emotions undiscovered Words Unsaid Deep in the depths of my mind Hand outstretched Lingering on the edge Eyes wide open But somehow still blind Unattainable But still in the hearts of The Brave The Curious The Resilient They Seek the unseekable They pursue the unattainable Each man seeing it in a different aspect Each of their visions blurred Each distorted by Experiences Traumas Wishes Dreams Filtering what’s untouchable

Thank you, glad you enjoy it!

I had good inspiration from #51, locked in a jar. I used it more metaphorically instead of literally. So here it is: glass walls, lid screwed on tight, can’t escape, not even at night. From the inside, looking out, this is not who I’m supposed to be. I’m supposed to be bigger, I’m supposed to be free, not stuck in a jar, no room to breathe. I need to move, I need to soar, I need to be able to speak my opinions and more. So as I look down at my tiny self, in this glass jar, “let me out, I can’t take it anymore”, I say to the bigger me, the one ignoring my tiny pleas.

Just wanted to add a twist to this promt. I’m just a beginner in the art of poetry, but I tried. If anyone has any creative criticism, go ahead! #16: our of order

My brain is out of order My thoughts have filled it to the brim Of my deepest thoughts of who I am Who we are As people We are out of order Never focusing on what we want Our passions All we ever get is work on top of work Pushing us down and down Like a giant hand Squeezing us into the depths of our depressions Until We can do anything But take it Anymore

Thank you Ash for sharing your take on the prompt with us!

Thank you ASH for reminding we can do anything if we try

Was inspired by #77 listen up Listen up…….! When would you listen up! Seems! you have given up! No matter who shut you up! Stand straight and look up!

Look up don’t be discouraged Let you heart be filled with courage Listen up and be encouraged Let life be sweet as porridge

You might have been down Like you have no crown Because deep down You were shut down

There is still hope When there is life Yes! You can still cope If you can see the light Yes! Even in the night

Oh listen up! Please listen up and take charge, You are better than the best Listen up! And oh! Please listen up.

beautifully written!

I wrote a poem using prompt 21 and I’m so proud of it. Comment if you want me to post it🤓

I bet the poem you wrote about prompt 21 is really good. I would like to read it please.

Mental prison, what a way to be trapped, being hidden, being snapped,

Clear glass is all i feel, apart from people, I hope I heal, I will never be equal,

I am different I am hurt raging currents people put on high alert but no one cares

No one dreads many tears I only have so many more threads

One day I’ll be gone but no one would care I will run away from the death chair

But until then

Mental prison what a way to be trapped being hidden being snapped

One day this will all blow away someday I will be molded out of clay but until then I will be lead astray

This is so darn awesome. It’s so deep and evokes the deepest of feelings🥰

I wrote almost the same thing omg I’m turning it into a contest entry

Inspired by No. 1! I am completely new to poetry, but I love it so much already! Here it is.

Perfection is Untouchable-

Perfection waiting, out of reach

Will I never touch it?

It always remain

Untouchable

No matter how hard I try

I will never quite reach

It will always remain

Though many people have tried

And seemed to have come close

But perfection’s not the goal

‘Cause we can’t quite grasp it

Perfection will always be

For all eternity

Looks like you are off to a great start!

Of Course, Silly Billy Me

”Well shit, I guess I lost my opportunity” the youngster retort

You see, for him, it’s all about his hurt – but she’s so educated, knows more about the rules of English than the rest of us.

Thus, to me she said… You cannot use curse words in a court report… you need to paraphrase his quote.

Into her spastic face I smiled – and pled my case

If you were my English professor back in the day, I could only imagine how much further in life I would have been…

”Don’t you mean farther in life?”

Of course, silly billy me.

This poem is called Secret Keeper and was inspired by #92. I hope you like it.

Everyone has a secret, Whether it be their own, Or someone else’s, We all have one.

But what if, You met someone, Who had a secret so big, That telling anyone would lead to horrible things.

And what if, That person told someone, And what they told them, Was more horrible than anything they could have ever imagined.

What if, That person told everyone, And when the parents, Of the kid with the secret found out, They were furious.

What if, They kept doing horrible things, Even though everyone knew, Even though they knew it was wrong.

And finally, What if, No one ever helped, The little kid with the biggest secret.

On number 28 : Poision I wrote a poem for it and would like to share it. The poision of friends and love

Beaten,she lies there. For they may be mistaken. Laughter rings throughout the school halls; a pure disaster. The dissapearence of parents hast caused this yet no one stops it. “Your a disgrace!” She heard them say. While in place she cries “I don’t belong here! Perhaps im out of place..” But she is not misplaced rather.. Shes lost in space.

I miss when you called me baby And I was in your arms saftely I know we drive eachother crazy But I miss callin you my baby

Those restless nights when I couldn’t sleep You calmed me down with your technique Always reminded me I’m strong not weak If only I let you speak

My heart only beats for you My feelings for you only grew You understood what I was going through I will never regret knowing you

Your smile melted my heart I wish we could restart And I could be apart Of a man I see as a work of art!

Stary night painting poem I guess ill call it

I raised my paint brush to my canvas So I could help people understand this This feeling of emotion for this painting has spoken I see the light as opportunity As for the whole thing it symbolizes unity The swirls degnify elegance and uncertainty For this painting executes this perfectly Where as my paintings let me adress Everything I feel I need to express!

#56 WHITE NOISE Faded away In the background Unheard Not visible

Eardrums splitting from the screams Yet none seem to care Can even hear my cries for help? For I am screaming as loud as I can

Are you? For all we hear Are whispers in here

Fading away in the background Unheard, invisible Yet it’s there, not loud enough Not noticeable, but there White noise Blank and pure In the background Faded away, yet so clear.

Just need to listen So open your ears She’s screaming for help But it’s muted to your ears

So open ’em up And listen to the calls For faded away, in the background Not visible, but clear. White Noise. It’s there.

Hi guys, I’m kind of late joining in. I read the prompts and the poems posted and this community is a creative bunch. I liked #35 People You Have Known. I want to share it with you guys.

Bern, a friend from grade school was my seat mate as well Rob had always teased me so my young life was hell Neesa was pretty, she knew that she was my crush Miss Homel, our teacher was always in a rush Played ball with Buco and I got hit on my head Fell in love with Cia, dreamt of her in my bed Had a tattoo with Marcus and called it “The Day” Chub challenged me to eat two pies, I said, “No way” I had to go far away so I wrote to Charie In this new place I found a friend in Perry My Grandma Leng passed away, she was a doll My grumpy uncle, Uncle Zar was teased by all These people have touched my life for worse or better Won’t be forgotten, be remembered forever

I hope that you liked it. Thanks guys. Thanks Think Written.

#37 fix it Still new to poems, and I haven’t written one in a while. Criticism is welcome because I need some more inspiration since I haven’t been getting any.

This is the body repair shop where we fix humans that have stopped how may we help you?

the girl stumbled upon the front door and spilled her list of regrets out into the open

“we’re sorry, miss” “but i’m afraid your first kiss will just be a dear old reminisce”

“your heart is also one that cannot be mended” “for every shattered piece- their lives just simply ended” the sewing kit can’t sew the fragments of her heart back because there were way too many to backtrack

she cried her heart out and it went “plop!” her tears like a river and like a lightbulb flickering its last light she too, took her last breath and was put to death

This is the body repair shop where we fix humans that have stopped “it seems we have failed again today” “sorry we’ll just try harder again another day”

I did poetry prompt #7. I wrote about the street I grew up on. Luverne Luverne, I moved onto you at the age of three. We like to race up and down your pavement road, either biking or running. You keep safe the house that I grew up in, one that has six humans and three dogs. You shelter other houses, too, that hold family friends and best friends to last a lifetime.

Luverne, we love you.

-Margaret McMahon

I was inspired by the prompt poison. Monster Roses are beautiful and delicate, but flawed.

Every rose has thorns that cause you to bleed.

Its innocence and beauty draws you in.

Only then when you touch it, it poisons you.

Am I really such an ugly monster, that plants pain an watches it spread?

I would say no.

Wouldn’t we all?

But maybe, just maybe a rose doesn’t notice it’s thorns.

-Lilliana Pridie

You said you’re only just starting?! That was sooo good! No criticism here. 🙂

Sorry, that was meant for “Ash” but yours was amazing too! 🙂

Prompt number 8: Street signs STOP Stop look and listen Stop at the corner Stop at the red light Stop for pedestrians Stop for cyclists Stop for animals Stop doing that Stop drop and roll Stop doing something else Stop shouting Stop whispering Stop talking Stop being quiet Stop posting cute cat videos Stop forgetting your appointments Stop making plans without me Stop eating all the yummies Stop running Stop the insanity Stop shopping Stop the never-ending commentary in my head Stop stopping Stop

Thanks for making this site and all its suggestions and especially this space to post our work, available!

I wrote from prompt #72 about moonlight. Shining down like a spotlight, Illuminating everything around you. The pure white light, Paint your surroundings in a soft glow. The round ball in the sky, speckled with craters like the freckles on your face. Looking down upon the sleeping earth, A nightlight for those still awake, a nightlight for you. Guides you, pulls you, lulls you towards it. It caresses your face with the light, casting away the shadows of the night.

I liked it I just wrote a small poem dedicated to my tutor and tutor just loved it .I used 21 good bye . I liked it really.😊

I just took up writing so bear with me.

Based on #72 “Moonlight”

A full bed Just the left side filled Soft, cold, baby blue sheets wrap around bare feet

She sweetly invites herself in Dressing the dark in a blue hue through cypress filled air, like 5 A.M. drives in January on the misty Northern coast.

Damp hair dances across grey skin, Waltzing with the breeze to Radiohead’s “How to Disappear Completely”

Euphoria slow dances with Tranquility Heavy eyes give in to sleep

Ladder to the Sky I want to climb the ladder to the sky I’m sure all would be well and that I could fly The ladder would be sturdy but still give me a fright Because looking down I’ll realized I’ve climbed many heights The higher I climb the greater the fall The greater the fall, the greater the sprawl But if i ever get to the sky up high I would be sure to hug you and say “goodbye” Once I’ve climbed the ladder I’ll know Sometimes its okay to look far down below Life is full of failure but soon I’ll find Happiness is a place, and not of the mind We all have ladders to climb and lives to live We all have a little piece of us that we can give Because when we climb that ladder to the sky We should think “No, life never passed me by”

Hi Ray, I love your piece.It gives one courage to face the challenges of live and move on.

Thanks for sharing the prompts Chelle Stein. I wrote this sometimes ago before coming to this site and I believed prompts #1 and #88 inspired my writing it. kindly help me vet it and give your criticism and recommendation. It is titled “SHADOW”.

My shadow your shadow My reflection your reflection My acts your acts

No one sees me,no one sees you Programmed by the Ubiquitous, To act as our bystander in realism

Virtuous iniquitous rises on that day To vindicate to incriminate My deeds your deeds.

Thanks for the seemingly endless amounts of writing prompts. I’ve been working on a poem, but it isn’t much.

She’s got my head spinning, Around and around; She’s all I think about, I can’t help but wondering, Does she feel the same?

Of course not, I’m just a fool; I’m nothing special, Just another person; Bland and dull.

How could a girl like her, love a guy like me? But the way she looks at me, Her smile, I can’t help but to feel flustered; Is this just my imagination?

It must be.

Wow! That’s exactly how I feel! Amazing poem!

Thanks so much, I’m glad you like it. 🙂

A massive thank you to thinkwritten.com for these amazing prompts. Some of these prompts have now formed the basis of my upcoming poetry collection (Never Marry a Writer) scheduled for release on January 1 2021. I will also be leaving a “Thank you” message for this website in the acknowledgements section. You have inspired a whole poetry collection out of nowhere which is highly commendable. So booktiful that!

That is wonderful news!

So I didn’t use any of the prompts but I wanted some feedback on this; it’s not great but I’m working on improving my writing skills

I am a girl who is broken easily and loves music I wonder if things will ever be normal again I hear light screaming through the darkness I want freedom from the chains trapping me in my fear I am a girl who is broken easily and loves music

I pretend to float in the ocean, letting the waves carry me away from reality I feel a presence of hope like a flame on my bare skin I touch the eye of a storm, grasping the stillness it brings I worry about wars that a spreading like wildfires I cry when I’m not with the people I love I am a girl who is broken easily and loves music

I understand feeling hopeless when you have no control over what is happening I say our differences make us special I dream to be a nurse, to help others when they can’t help themselves I try to do my best in everything I hope that all mankind will stop fighting and live in peace I am a girl who is broken easily and loves music

HELLO EVERYONE.. THIS SITE IS JUST WOW, AS AND WHEN I WAS OUT OF TOPICS OR WAS NOT ABLE TO THINK UPON IT ..IT HELPED ME A LOT WITH HINTS TO BEGIN WITH MY ANOTHER POEM .. I M NOT A PROFESSIONAL WRITER BUT JUST A STARTER AND A STUDENT OF 12TH DIVISION.. I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE ONE OF MY SPECIAL CREATION , ALTHOUGH NOT FROM THIS SITE. HOPE YOU ALL WILL LIKE IT.

AU REVOIR GOODBYE UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN, I BID U FAREWELL UNTIL WE TIE AGAIN, SEE YOU SOON , SEE YOU AGAIN, LETS SAY GOODBYE FOR A BETTER DAY.

THE FIRE THAT BURNS IN OUR HEART , THE MEMORIES THAT PRESERVES OUR PAST. ITS NOT THE GOODBYE THAT WRENCH THE HEART , BUT THE FLASHBACKS THAT HAVE PASSED.

I RECOLLECT AND RECOUNT , MOMENTS THAT ARE HALF FADED AND RENOWNED, I ALWAYS FEEL SO CHARMED, THAT I HAVE SOMETHING, WHICH MAKES ME SAYING GOODBYE SO DAMN HARD.

TAKE A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE, WALK ON THE STREETS WITH GOLDEN TRAILS. FOR I M NOT GONNA WAIL, BECAUSE I KNOW I WILL MEET YOU SOON ON THE FORTHCOMING DAY.

I wrote a poem based on #101.

Thank you so much for the inspiration!!

And then it was there. What I had been missing. What is it? You may ask. Well, it’s quite simple actually. It’s the joy of music. It’s the joy of sitting down and making music. It’s the joy you feel when you look up at people admiring you. The joy you see in peoples’ eyes. I don’t know why I ever stopped that. The piano sat on the stage. Dusty and untouched. It’d been decades since I’ve seen it. I haven’t come to this stage since I lost her. After the concert. The last time I ever heard her voice. And yet here I am years and years later. Knowing why I haven’t been happy in so long. Of course pain is always gonna be there, But as I played a soft note on the piano, All of it seemed to disappear. It was as if all the weight on my shoulders got lifted. The melodious notes resonated around the hall. And for a few moments, I forgot about all the pain. I forgot about the tears. I forgot about the heartache. And as the last notes echoed around the hall, I was truly happy.

Prompt #92: Coming home with secrets

My mother’s radio sits in the balcony And it greets me with electric static Coming to this sheltering home is somewhat problematic Cause the walls are too thin, and it’s back to reality. Back to the running water that conceals the noise of cracks Crumbling behind my peeling mask, holding my face with wax An unraveled thread masking the makeup smile of a wakeup call That runs down to my chin and I keep under wraps. I take invitations to the mall, yet the space around me seems so small Nevertheless, I show my teeth with a big, shiny grin And suck a trembling breath through their thin slit Happy to wear tight jeans, to stop me from an embarrassing fall. The bath hurts on my skin, but even more to protect screams from the halls My head floats in the water, but feels trapped in its walls It cracks my head open with all these secrets inside me Before a blink of an eye, to my room I’d already flee. Not to the radio playing static or streets that won’t let me be But to under the blankets, where no one can really see The struggle to be a walking, talking, breathing secret That was thrown to the ocean in a bottle, wishing to be free. However, the words untold keep coming like ever so frequent Like adrenalized filled cops in pursue of an escapee delinquent All the more, my doppelganger and I have come to an agreement To take these secrets to our grave, that we nowadays call home.

Recipe for Happiness

Start with friendship, Then add time, A dash of humor, And forgotten binds. Mix it up, Till blended well, And make sure, To remember the smell. Put that bowl, To the side, Grab a new one, Add grateful sighs. Then add family, And a smile, Then sit back, And mix awhile. To that bowl, Add a laugh, A cheerful cry, And blissful past. Whip until, There’s heavy peaks, Then pour in, What we all seek. Combine the two, Then mix it well, Spray the pan, And pour it out. Cherish the memory, The beautiful scent, Of unity, And happiness.

My mother died when I was younger so this poem is about me sitting on the lawn at night shortly after she passed away. I was imagining better times, which is why in my poem I talk about how the girl is imagining ‘walking on the moon’ and she is gripping the grass tight and trying to remember the warmth of her mothers palms.

Sitting in the blue black grass She’s walking on the moon Watching specks of silver dance To the mellow tune Her fingers gripping the grass so tight She can almost feel The warmth of her mothers palms

The winds cold fingers

The winds cold fingers Tousle with my hair Loosening the soil My sobs are carried away on the wind

I would love to share this list (credited to you) with students participating in a virtual library program on poetry. Would that be possible/acceptable? These are great!

Wow! Thank you so much for all these awesome prompts! I’ve written two poems already!

Prompt #1 AND #15, untouchable and less than 25 words. i’m lowk popping off??

Apollo Commands the sun, which squints so brightly, scorches and freckles. i want her hand on mine. searing pain fears, still i reach out, and bubble.

I looked at the word “Duct tape” And thought about it. Its not anywhere in this poem at all but it inspired it yk?

Feathers are Soft

Feathers are soft People aren’t

Plushies are soft People aren’t

Pillows are soft People aren’t

People are mean Not nice Not joyful

well my poem is only loosely based on the second prompt because I found I had too much to say about Sundays. I would love to share it with you but these comments don’t support links.

Inspired by number 55 in list of poetry suggestions. Poem to song guitar chords. —————————————————-

Carnegie Hall

D I was feeling ecstatic G when I went to the attic A and found my auld busking D guitar

D But I felt consternation G I disturbed hibernation A at first it seemed quite D bazaar

D When I blew off the dust G it smelt like old must A but t’was time to give it a D bar

D It was then I heard flapping G which sounded like clapping A my first ever round of D applause

D It stayed with the beat G while tapping my feet A I kept playing despite all my D flaws

D I took early retirement G though not a requirement A “Bad Buskers” all get D menopause

D I’m strumming the strings G and the echo it rings A but no jingling of coins as they D fall

D So I play here alone G as to what I was prone A never made it to Carnegie D Hall

D Time to call it a day G as they used to say A for no encores or no curtain D call

D There’s a butterfly G in my guitar

D There’s a butterfly G in my guitar.

Finn Mac Eoin

23rd July 2022

I love this Finn, where can we listen to your song?

Hello I wrote this in remberence of 9/11. Its now sitting in ground zero. A ordinary day to start  Same as any other Dad goes off to work again, Child goes with their mother. Vibrant busy city,  busses, cars galore Workers in the offices, from bottom to top floor. Throughout our life situations Hard times often do arise, Unfortunatly we never think of saying last goodbyes. That’s exactly what happened on September 11th 2001 A day that turned the world so cold When tragedy begun. Twin towers has exploded Co ordinate attacks, Al-Qaeda behind the planes That seemed to be hijacked. Thousands were killed instantly Some lives hang by a thread, Calls were made to loved ones Onlookers face of dread. Fears & screams while running As smoke fills up the air, News reports on live tv Helplessly they stare. On the news we hear the voices of all who are caught inside, Lying next to injured ones Or sadly ones who died. One man makes a phone call My darling wife it’s me, I’m sorry that I upset you And that we disagreed. My offices have been attacked they’re crumbling to the ground, A massive explosion hit our floor then instantly no sound. If I do not make it I’m stating from the heart, I love you darling, & in your life I’m glad to play a part. Tell the kids daddy loves them Continue well at school, Stand up for all your beliefs Don’t be taken for a fool. The wife is crying down the line Darling please don’t go, I love you darling so so much I’ve always told you so. He replied my darling im feeling really kind of weak, Breathlessly he’s coughing, he can hardly speak. If you ever need me just look up to the stars, I will hear your voices And heal up any scars. Suddenly all was quiet The wife screams down the fone, Darling can you hear me, don’t leave me here alone. The towers live on tv start to crumble to the ground, Clouds of smoke then fill the air The world in shock no sound. Crying at the images of all who has lost their lives , Mums,dad’s , Nan’s & grandads, husbands & wives. Rescue teams included and all those left behind To All who were among them,  all who did survive, All who were injured All who sadly died. Never in this lifetime that day will be the same For ground zero holds the memories Of every single name.

Those hero’s on that awful day who never thought about their life Who fought to save the innocent To keep each sole alive Those who were pulled to safety Those we lost in vein, Never be forgotten The pain will still remain We will never forget that tragedy For the days will never be the same. But may I say with all my heart In God we put our faith United we stand For eternity were safe Amen

This is a beautifully sad poem. You really wrote your way into my heart. <3

I wrote a poem inspired by number 72. Not really sticking to what it said but thought this was kinda close to what it said…

After dusk, the almost eternal night. The dark, winter sky, full of millions of tiny stars. The sky, a color of blue that seems darker than black.

Sunset, full of an array of colors. Purple, orange, pink, and yellow. Nearly all dark blue.

Right as dawn appears, practically the same sunset hours later. Light wispy clouds fill the sky. Orange, pink, and light blue diffuse in the sky as the sun awakens

Wrote one based off the recipe one (I don’t remember which number)

From the Kitchen of: any teenager ever For: Disaster Ingredients: Social anxiety Existential dread A crush Zero sense of self worth A single class together And no social cues

Steps: (Warning: Do NOT do this if your crush is not single) You’re going to try to talk to your crush. Just say hi. If that doesn’t work, don’t go forward with the rest of these steps. Once you’ve talked to your crush, overthink every single thing you said to them. Do it. Then you’re going to decide you’re stupid for overthinking it. Next, you’re going to wait until they begin speaking to you on their own accord. If they don’t, overthink some more. One day you will think your crush is waving to you in the hallway. They won’t be. They’ll be waving to their friends behind you. Play it cool and pretend you’re doing the exact same thing. Run into the bathroom and cringe at yourself. Keep talking to them and try to partner up with them for a project. If they say no, don’t continue further; you’ll only embarrass yourself. If they say yes, say you need their number for the project. Call them “about the project” and eventually segway into other topics. Continue doing this until you guys eventually call all the time for no reason. Ask them out. If they say no, do not, I repeat, do not act like it was a dare or a joke. It ruins everything. Say “oh okay. Well, can we still be friends?” and continue from that point. If they say yes, go on a date with them outside of school before asking them to be your partner. Eventually break up and either get your heartbroken or break someone else’s heart.

And that is how you make an average teenage disaster. Enjoy!

i wrote a poem from number 73: its tiled “perfect” I tried to be perfect I stared counting my calories And eating less And working out more I even spent time heaving over the toilet I tried to be perfect But every calorie i counted Every time I ate less everyday I spent working out and every moment I spent heaving over the toilet ended up turning to counting every calorie and heaving over that toilet after every meal trying to be perfect is pointless I don’t ever wish to be perfect again I don’t want to spend time heaving over that toilet again or counting those calories or eating less everyday to just try to be something that doesn’t exist anyone who try’s to be perfect will just be ruined like I was

#47 “overgrown” The roses look beautiful But they are so overgrown There’s weeds all around it Some are dying Some are living But they are so overgrown If I could pick the weeds And putting down weed killer Will it look better Will it help the ones that are dying But they are so overgrown The living ones are slowly dying Do I pick the weeds Or just leave them But they that will leave them to be so overgrown All the roses are dead now I killed them They were so overgrown that it killed them I should’ve picked the weeds So that they wouldn’t have been so overgrown

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Guides • Perfecting your Craft

Last updated on Nov 23, 2022

How to Write a Poem: Get Tips from a Published Poet

Ever wondered how to write a poem? For writers who want to dig deep, composing verse lets you sift the sand of your experience for new glimmers of insight. And if you’re in it for less lofty reasons, shaping a stanza from start to finish can teach you to have fun with language in totally new ways.

To help demystify the subtle art of writing verse, we chatted with Reedsy editor (and published poet) Lauren Stroh . In 8 simple steps, here's how to write a poem:

1. Brainstorm your starting point

2. free-write in prose first, 3. choose your poem’s form and style, 4. read for inspiration, 5. write for an audience of one — you, 6. read your poem out loud, 7. take a break to refresh your mind, 8. have fun revising your poem.

If you’re struggling to write your poem in order from the first line to the last, a good trick is opening with whichever starting point your brain can latch onto as it learns to think in verse.

Your starting point can be a line or a phrase you want to work into your poem, though it doesn’t have to take the form of language at all. It might be a picture in your head, as particular as the curl of hair over your daughter’s ear as she sleeps, or as capacious as the sea. It can even be a complicated feeling you want to render with precision — or maybe it's a memory you return to again and again. Think of this starting point as the "why" behind your poem, your impetus for writing it in the first place.

If you’re worried your starting point isn’t grand enough to merit an entire poem, stop right there. After all, literary giants have wrung verse out of every topic under the sun, from the disappointments of a post- Odyssey Odysseus to illicitly eaten refrigerated plums .

As Lauren Stroh sees it, your experience is more than worthy of being immortalized in verse.

"I think the most successful poems articulate something true about the human experience and help us look at the everyday world in new and exciting ways."

It may seem counterintuitive but if you struggle to write down lines that resonate, perhaps start with some prose writing first. Take this time to delve into the image, feeling, or theme at the heart of your poem, and learn to pin it down with language. Give yourself a chance to mull things over before actually writing the poem. 

Take 10 minutes and jot down anything that comes to mind when you think of your starting point. You can write in paragraphs, dash off bullet points, or even sketch out a mind map . The purpose of this exercise isn’t to produce an outline: it’s to generate a trove of raw material, a repertoire of loosely connected fragments to draw upon as you draft your poem in earnest.

Silence your inner critic for now

And since this is raw material, the last thing you should do is censor yourself. Catch yourself scoffing at a turn of phrase, overthinking a rhetorical device , or mentally grousing, “This metaphor will never make it into the final draft”? Tell that inner critic to hush for now and jot it down anyway. You just might be able to refine that slapdash, off-the-cuff idea into a sharp and poignant line.

Whether you’ve free-written your way to a beginning or you’ve got a couple of lines jotted down, before you complete a whole first draft of your poem, take some time to think about form and style. 

The form of a poem often carries a lot of meaning beyond the structural "rules" that it offers the writer. The rhyme patterns of sonnets — and the Shakespearean influence over the form — usually lend themselves to passionate pronouncements of love, whether merry or bleak. On the other hand, acrostic poems are often more cheeky because of the secret meaning that it hides in plain sight. 

Even if your material begs for a poem without formal restrictions, you’ll still have to decide on the texture and tone of your language. Free verse, after all, is as diverse a form as the novel, ranging from the breathless maximalism of Walt Whitman to the cool austerity of H.D . Where, on this spectrum, will your poem fall?

Choosing a form and tone for your poem early on can help you work with some kind of structure to imbue more meanings to your lines. And if you’ve used free-writing to generate some raw material for yourself, a structure can give you the guidance you need to organize your notes into a poem. 

A poem isn’t a nonfiction book or a historical novel: you don’t have to accumulate reams of research to write a good one. That said, a little bit of outside reading can stave off writer’s block and keep you inspired throughout the writing process.

Build a short, personalized syllabus around your poem’s form and subject. Say you’re writing a sensorily rich, linguistically spare bit of free verse about a relationship of mutual jealousy between mother and daughter. In that case, you’ll want to read some key Imagist poems , alongside some poems that sketch out complicated visions of parenthood in unsentimental terms.

And if you don’t want to limit yourself to poems similar in form and style to your own, Lauren has you covered with an all-purpose reading list:

• The Dream of a Common Languag e by Adrienne Rich
• Anything you can get your hands on by Mary Oliver
• The poems “ Failures in Infinitives ” and “ Fish & Chips ” by Bernadette Mayer.
• I often gift Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara to friends who write.
• Everyone should read the interviews from the Paris Review’s archives . It’s just nice to observe how people familiar with language talk when they’re not performing, working, or warming up to write.

Even with preparation, the pressure of actually producing verse can still awaken your inner metrophobe (or poetry-fearer). What if people don’t understand — or even misinterpret — what you’re trying to say? What if they don’t feel drawn to your work? To keep the anxiety at bay, Lauren suggests writing for yourself, not for an external audience.

"I absolutely believe that poets can determine the validity of their own success if they are changed by the work they are producing themselves; if they are challenged by it; or if it calls into question their ethics, their habits, or their relationship to the living world. And personally, my life has certainly been changed by certain lines I’ve had the bravery to think and then write — and those moments are when I’ve felt most like I’ve made it."

You might eventually polish your work if you decide to publish your poetry down the line. (If you do, definitely check out the rest of this guide for tips and a list of magazines to submit to.) But as your first draft comes together, treat it like it’s meant for your eyes only.

A good poem doesn’t have to be pretty: maybe an easy, melodic loveliness isn’t your aim. It should, however, come alive on the page with a consciously crafted rhythm, whether hymn-like or discordant. To achieve that, read your poem out loud — at first, line by line, and then all together, as a complete text.

Trying out every line against your ear can help you weigh out a choice between synonyms — getting you to notice, say, the watery sound of “glacial”, the brittleness of “icy,” the solidity of “cold”.

Reading out loud can also help you troubleshoot line breaks that just don't feel right. Is the line unnaturally long, forcing you to rush through it or pause in the middle for a hurried inhale? If so, do you like that destabilizing effect, or do you want to literally give the reader some room to breathe? Testing these variations aloud is perhaps the only way to answer questions like these. 

While it’s incredibly exciting to complete a draft of your poem, and you might be itching to dive back in and edit it, it’s always advisable to take a break first. You don’t have to turn completely away from writing if you don’t want to. Take a week to chip away at your novel or even muse idly on your next poetic project — so long as you distance yourself from this poem a little while. 

This is because, by this point, you’ve probably read out every line so many times the meaning has leached out of the syllables. With the time away, you let your mind refresh so that you can approach the piece with sharper attention and more ideas to refine it. 

At the end of the day, even if you write in a well-established form, poetry is about experimenting with language, both written and spoken. Lauren emphasizes that revising a poem is thus an open-ended process that requires patience — and a sense of play. 

"Have fun. Play. Be patient. Don’t take it seriously, or do. Though poems may look shorter than what you’re used to writing, they often take years to be what they really are. They change and evolve. The most important thing is to find a quiet place where you can be with yourself and really listen."

Is it time to get other people involved?

Want another pair of eyes on your poem during this process? You have options. You can swap pieces with a beta reader , workshop it with a critique group , or even engage a professional poetry editor like Lauren to refine your work — a strong option if you plan to submit it to a journal or turn it into the foundation for a chapbook .

Want a poetry expert to polish up your verse?

Professional poetry editors are on Reedsy. Sign up for free to meet them!

Learn how Reedsy can help you craft a beautiful book.

The working poet's checklist

If you decide to fly solo, here’s a checklist to work through as you revise:

✅ Hunt for clichés. Did you find yourself reaching for ready-made idioms at any point? Go back to the sentiment you were grappling with and try to capture it in stronger, more vivid terms.

✅ See if your poem begins where it should. Did you take a few lines of throat-clearing to get to the actual point? Try starting your poem further down.

✅ Make sure every line belongs. As you read each line, ask yourself: how does this contribute to the poem as a whole? Does it advance the theme, clarify the imagery, set or subvert the reader’s expectations? If you answer with something like, “It makes the poem sound nice,” consider cutting it.

Once you’ve worked your way through this checklist, feel free to brew yourself a cup of tea and sit quietly for a while, reflecting on your literary triumphs. 

Whether these poetry writing tips have awakened your inner Wordsworth, or sent you happily gamboling back to prose, we hope you enjoyed playing with poetry —  and that you learned something new about your approach to language.

And if you are looking to share your poetry with the world, the next post in this guide can show the ropes regarding how to publish your poems! 

Anna Clarke says:

29/03/2020 – 04:37

I entered a short story competition and though I did not medal, one of the judges told me that some of my prose is very poetic. The following year I entered a poetry competition and won a bronze medal. That was my first attempt at writing poetry. I am more aware of figurative language in writing prose now. I am learning to marry the two. I don't have any poems online.

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How to Write a Poem: In 7 Practical Steps with Examples

Learn how to write a poem through seven easy to follow steps that will guide you through writing completed poem. Ignite a passion for poetry!

This article is a practical guide for writing a poem, and the purpose is to help you  write a poem!  By completing the seven steps below, you will create the first draft of a simple poem. You can go on to refine your poetry in any way you like. The important thing is that you’ve got a poem under your belt. 

At the bottom of the post, I’ll provide more resources on writing poetry. I encourage you to explore different forms and structures and continue writing poetry on your own. Hopefully, writing a poem will spark, in you, a passion for creative writing and language. 

Let’s get started with writing a poem in seven simple steps: 

• Brainstorm & Free-write
• Develop a theme
• Create an extended metaphor
• Add figurative language
• Plan your structure
• Write your first draft
• Read, re-read & edit

Now we’ll go into each step in-depth. And, if your feeling up to it, you can plan and write your poem as we go.

Step 1: Brainstorm and Free-write 

Find what you want to write about 

Before you begin writing, you need to choose a subject to write about. For our purposes, you’ll want to select a specific topic. Later, you’ll be drawing a comparison between this subject and something else. 

When choosing a subject, you’ll want to write about something you feel passionately about. Your topic can be something you love, like a person, place, or thing. A subject can also be something you struggle with . Don’t get bogged down by all the options; pick something. Poets have written about topics like: 

And of course…  cats   

 Once you have your subject in mind, you’re going to begin freewriting about that subject. Let’s say you picked your pet iguana as your subject. Get out a sheet of paper or open a word processor. Start writing everything that comes to mind about that subject. You could write about your iguana’s name, the color of their skin, the texture of their scales, how they make you feel, a metaphor that comes to mind. Nothing is off-limits. 

Write anything that comes to mind about your subject. Keep writing until you’ve entirely exhausted everything you have to say about the subject. Or, set a timer for several minutes and write until it goes off. Don’t worry about things like spelling, grammar, form, or structure. For now, you want to get all your thoughts down on paper. 

ACTION STEPS: 

• Grab a scratch paper, or open a word processor 
• Pick a subject- something you’re passionate about
• Write everything that comes to mind about your topic without editing or structuring your writing 
• Make sure this free-writing is uninterrupted
• Optional-  set a timer and write continuously for 5 or 10 minutes about your subject 

Step 2: Develop a Theme 

What lesson do you want to teach? 

Poetry often has a theme or a message the poet would like to convey to the reader. Developing a theme will give your writing purpose and focus your effort. Look back at your freewriting and see if a theme, or lesson, has developed naturally, one that you can refine. 

Maybe, in writing about your iguana, you noticed that you talked about your love for animals and the need to preserve the environment. Or, perhaps you talk about how to care for a reptile pet. Your theme does not need to be groundbreaking. A theme only needs to be a message that you would like to convey. 

Now, what is your theme? Finish the following statement: 

The lesson I want to teach my readers about  (your subject)  is ______

Ex. I want to teach my readers that spring days are lovely and best enjoyed with loving companions or family. 

• Read over the product of your free-writing exercise.  
• Brainstorm a lesson you would like to teach readers about your subject. 
• Decide on one thing that is essential for your reader to know about your topic.
• Finish the sentence stem above. 

Step 3: Create an (extended) Metaphor 

Compare your subject to another, unlike thing. 

To write this poem, you will compare your subject to something it, seemingly, has nothing in common with. When you directly compare two, unlike things, you’re using a form of figurative language called a metaphor. But, we’re going to take this metaphor and extend it over one or two stanzas- Stanzas are like paragraphs, a block of text in a poem- Doing this will create an extended metaphor. 

Using a metaphor will reinforce your theme by making your poem memorable for your reader. Keep that in mind when you’re choosing the thing you’d like to compare your subject to. Suppose your topic is pet iguanas, and your theme is that they make fantastic pets. In that case, you’ll want to compare iguanas to something positive. Maybe you compare them to sunshine or a calm lake. This metaphor does the work or conveying your poem’s central message. 

• Identify something that is, seemingly, unlike your subject that you’ll use to compare.
• On a piece of paper, make two lists or a Venn diagram. 
• Write down all the ways that you’re subject and the thing you’ll compare it to are alike. 
• Also, write down all the ways they are unalike.
• Try and make both lists as comprehensive as possible.  

Step 4: Add more Figurative Language 

Make your writing sound poetic. 

Figurative language is a blanket term that describes several techniques used to impart meaning through words. Figurative language is usually colorful and evocative. We’ve talked about one form of figurative language already- metaphor and extended metaphor. But, here are a few others you can choose from.

This list is, by no means, a comprehensive one. There are many other forms of figurative language for you to research. I’ll link a resource at the bottom of this page. 

Five types of figurative language:

• Ex. Frank was as giddy as a schoolgirl to find a twenty-dollar bill in his pocket. 
• Frank’s car engine whined with exhaustion as he drove up the hill.  
• Frank was so hungry he could eat an entire horse. 
• Nearing the age of eighty-five, Frank felt as old as Methuselah.  
• Frank fretted as he frantically searched his forlorn apartment for a missing Ficus tree. 

There are many other types of figurative language, but those are a few common ones. Pick two of the five I’ve listed to include in your poem. Use more if you like, but you only need two for your current poem.   

• Choose two of the types of figurative language listed above 
• Brainstorm ways they can fit into a poem 
• Create example sentences for the two forms of figurative language you chose

Step 5: Plan your Structure 

How do you want your poem to sound and look? 

If you want to start quickly, then you can choose to write a free-verse poem. Free verse poems are poems that have no rhyme scheme, meter, or structure. In a free verse poem, you’re free to write unrestricted. If you’d like to explore free verse poetry, you can read my article on how to write a prose poem, which is a type of free verse poem. 

Read more about prose poetry here.  

However, some people enjoy the support of structure and rules. So, let’s talk about a few of the tools you can use to add a form to your poem. 

Tools to create poetic structure:

Rhyme Scheme – rhyme scheme refers to the pattern of rhymes used in a poem. The sound at the end of each line determines the rhyme scheme. Writers label words with letters to signify rhyming terms, and this is how rhyme schemes are defined. 

If you had a four-line poem that followed an ABAB scheme, then lines 1 and 3 would rhyme, and lines 2 and 4 would rhyme. Here’s an example of an ABAB rhyme scheme from an excerpt of Robert Frost’s poem,  Neither Out Far Nor In Deep: 

‘The people along the sand (A)

All turn and look one way. (B) 

They turn their back on the land. (A) 

They look at the sea all day. (B) 

Check out the Rhyme Zone.com if you need help coming up with a rhyme!

Read more about the ins and outs of rhyme scheme here.

Meter – a little more advanced than rhyme scheme, meter deals with a poem’s rhythm expressed through stressed and unstressed syllables. Meter can get pretty complicated ,

Check out this article if you’d like to learn more about it.

Stanza – a stanza is a group of lines placed together as a single unit in a poem. A stanza is to a poem what a paragraph is to prose writing. Stanzas don’t have to be the same number of lines throughout a poem, either. They can vary as paragraphs do. 

Line Breaks – these are the breaks between stanzas in a poem. They help to create rhythm and set stanzas apart from one another. 

• Decide if you want to write a structured poem or use free verse
• Brainstorm rhyming words that could fit into a simple scheme 
• Plan out your stanzas and line breaks (small stanzas help emphasize important lines in your poem) 

Step 6: Write Your Poem 

Combine your figurative language, extended metaphor, and structure.

Poetry is always unique to the writer. And, when it comes to poetry, the “rules” are flexible. In 1965 a young poet named Aram Saroyan wrote a poem called  lighght.  It goes like this- 

That’s it. Saroyan was paid $750 for his poem. You may or may not believe that’s poetry, but a lot of people accept it as just that. My point is, write the poem that comes to you. I won’t give you a strict set of guidelines to follow when creating your poetry. But, here are a few things to consider that might help guide you:

• Compare your subject to something else by creating an extended metaphor 
• Try to relate a theme or a simple lesson for your reader
• Use at least two of the figurative language techniques from above 
• Create a meter or rhyme scheme (if you’re up to it) 
• Write at least two stanzas and use a line break 

Still, need some help? Here are two well-known poems that are classic examples of an extended metaphor. Read over them, determine what two, unlike things, are being compared, and for what purpose? What theme is the poet trying to convey? What techniques can you steal? (it’s the sincerest form of flattery) 

“Hope” is a thing with feathers  by Emily Dickenson.

“The Rose that Grew From Concrete”  by Tupac Shakur. 

• Write the first draft of your poem.
• Don’t stress. Just get the poem on paper. 

Step 7: Read, Re-read, Edit 

Read your poem, and edit for clarity and focus .

When you’re finished, read over your poem. Do this out loud to get a feel for the poem’s rhythm. Have a friend or peer read your poem, edit for grammar and spelling. You can also stretch grammar rules, but do it with a purpose. 

You can also ask your editor what they think the theme is to determine if you’ve communicated it well enough. 

Now you can rewrite your poem. And, remember, all writing is rewriting. This editing process will longer than it did to write your first draft. 

• Re-read your poem out loud. 
• Find a trusted friend to read over your poem.
• Be open to critique, new ideas, and unique perspectives. 
• Edit for mistakes or style.

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Continued reading on Poetry

A Poetry Handbook

“With passion, wit, and good common sense, the celebrated poet Mary Oliver tells of the basic ways a poem is built—meter and rhyme, form and diction, sound and sense. She talks of iambs and trochees, couplets and sonnets, and how  and why  this should matter to anyone writing or reading poetry.”

Masterclass.com- Poetry 101: What is Meter?

Poetry Foundation- You Call That Poetry?!

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To learn how to write a poem step-by-step, let’s start where all poets start: the basics.

This article is an in-depth introduction to how to write a poem. We first answer the question, “What is poetry?” We then discuss the literary elements of poetry, and showcase some different approaches to the writing process—including our own seven-step process on how to write a poem step by step.

So, how do you write a poem? Let’s start with what poetry is.

How to Write a Poem: Contents

What Poetry Is

• Literary Devices

How to Write a Poem, in 7 Steps

How to write a poem: different approaches and philosophies.

• Okay, I Know How to Write a Good Poem. What Next?

It’s important to know what poetry is—and isn’t—before we discuss how to write a poem. The following quote defines poetry nicely:

“Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.” —Former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove

Poetry Conveys Feeling

People sometimes imagine poetry as stuffy, abstract, and difficult to understand. Some poetry may be this way, but in reality poetry isn’t about being obscure or confusing. Poetry is a lyrical, emotive method of self-expression, using the elements of poetry to highlight feelings and ideas.

A poem should make the reader feel something.

In other words, a poem should make the reader feel something—not by telling them what to feel, but by evoking feeling directly.

Here’s a contemporary poem that, despite its simplicity (or perhaps because of its simplicity), conveys heartfelt emotion.

Poem by Langston Hughes

I loved my friend. He went away from me. There’s nothing more to say. The poem ends, Soft as it began— I loved my friend.

Poetry is Language at its Richest and Most Condensed

Unlike longer prose writing (such as a short story, memoir, or novel), poetry needs to impact the reader in the richest and most condensed way possible. Here’s a famous quote that enforces that distinction:

“Prose: words in their best order; poetry: the best words in the best order.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge

So poetry isn’t the place to be filling in long backstories or doing leisurely scene-setting. In poetry, every single word carries maximum impact.

Poetry Uses Unique Elements

Poetry is not like other kinds of writing: it has its own unique forms, tools, and principles. Together, these elements of poetry help it to powerfully impact the reader in only a few words.

The elements of poetry help it to powerfully impact the reader in only a few words.

Most poetry is written in verse , rather than prose . This means that it uses line breaks, alongside rhythm or meter, to convey something to the reader. Rather than letting the text break at the end of the page (as prose does), verse emphasizes language through line breaks.

Poetry further accentuates its use of language through rhyme and meter. Poetry has a heightened emphasis on the musicality of language itself: its sounds and rhythms, and the feelings they carry.

These devices—rhyme, meter, and line breaks—are just a few of the essential elements of poetry, which we’ll explore in more depth now.

Understanding the Elements of Poetry

As we explore how to write a poem step by step, these three major literary elements of poetry should sit in the back of your mind:

• Rhythm (Sound, Rhyme, and Meter)

1. Elements of Poetry: Rhythm

“Rhythm” refers to the lyrical, sonic qualities of the poem. How does the poem move and breathe; how does it feel on the tongue?

Traditionally, poets relied on rhyme and meter to accomplish a rhythmically sound poem. Free verse poems —which are poems that don’t require a specific length, rhyme scheme, or meter—only became popular in the West in the 20th century, so while rhyme and meter aren’t requirements of modern poetry, they are required of certain poetry forms.

Poetry is capable of evoking certain emotions based solely on the sounds it uses. Words can sound sinister, percussive, fluid, cheerful, dour, or any other noise/emotion in the complex tapestry of human feeling.

Take, for example, this excerpt from the poem “Beat! Beat! Drums!” by Walt Whitman:

Red — “b” sounds

Blue — “th” sounds

Green — “w” and “ew” sounds

Purple — “s” sounds

Orange — “d” and “t” sounds

This poem has a lot of percussive, disruptive sounds that reinforce the beating of the drums. The “b,” “d,” “w,” and “t” sounds resemble these drum beats, while the “th” and “s” sounds are sneakier, penetrating a deeper part of the ear. The cacophony of this excerpt might not sound “lyrical,” but it does manage to command your attention, much like drums beating through a city might sound.

To learn more about consonance and assonance, euphony and cacophony, onomatopoeia , and the other uses of sound, take a look at our article “12 Literary Devices in Poetry.”

https://writers.com/literary-devices-in-poetry

It would be a crime if you weren’t primed on the ins and outs of rhymes. “Rhyme” refers to words that have similar pronunciations, like this set of words: sound, hound, browned, pound, found, around.

Many poets assume that their poetry has to rhyme, and it’s true that some poems require a complex rhyme scheme. However, rhyme isn’t nearly as important to poetry as it used to be. Most traditional poetry forms—sonnets, villanelles , rimes royal, etc.—rely on rhyme, but contemporary poetry has largely strayed from the strict rhyme schemes of yesterday.

There are three types of rhymes:

• Homophony: Homophones are words that are spelled differently but sound the same, like “tail” and “tale.” Homophones often lead to commonly misspelled words .
• Perfect Rhyme: Perfect rhymes are word pairs that are identical in sound except for one minor difference. Examples include “slant and pant,” “great and fate,” and “shower and power.”
• Slant Rhyme: Slant rhymes are word pairs that use the same sounds, but their final vowels have different pronunciations. For example, “abut” and “about” are nearly-identical in sound, but are pronounced differently enough that they don’t completely rhyme. This is also known as an oblique rhyme or imperfect rhyme.

Meter refers to the stress patterns of words. Certain poetry forms require that the words in the poem follow a certain stress pattern, meaning some syllables are stressed and others are unstressed.

What is “stressed” and “unstressed”? A stressed syllable is the sound that you emphasize in a word. The bolded syllables in the following words are stressed, and the unbolded syllables are unstressed:

• Un• stressed
• Plat• i• tud• i•nous
• De •act•i• vate
• Con• sti •tu• tion•al

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables is important to traditional poetry forms. This chart, copied from our article on form in poetry , summarizes the different stress patterns of poetry.

2. Elements of Poetry: Form

“Form” refers to the structure of the poem. Is the poem a sonnet , a villanelle, a free verse piece, a slam poem, a contrapuntal, a ghazal , a blackout poem , or something new and experimental?

Form also refers to the line breaks and stanza breaks in a poem. Unlike prose, where the end of the page decides the line breaks, poets have control over when one line ends and a new one begins. The words that begin and end each line will emphasize the sounds, images, and ideas that are important to the poet.

To learn more about rhyme, meter, and poetry forms, read our full article on the topic:

https://writers.com/what-is-form-in-poetry

3. Elements of Poetry: Literary Devices

“Poetry: the best words in the best order.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

How does poetry express complex ideas in concise, lyrical language? Literary devices—like metaphor, symbolism , juxtaposition , irony , and hyperbole—help make poetry possible. Learn how to write and master these devices here:

https://writers.com/common-literary-devices

To condense the elements of poetry into an actual poem, we’re going to follow a seven-step approach. However, it’s important to know that every poet’s process is different. While the steps presented here are a logical path to get from idea to finished poem, they’re not the only tried-and-true method of poetry writing. Poets can—and should!—modify these steps and generate their own writing process.

Nonetheless, if you’re new to writing poetry or want to explore a different writing process, try your hand at our approach. Here’s how to write a poem step by step!

1. Devise a Topic

The easiest way to start writing a poem is to begin with a topic.

However, devising a topic is often the hardest part. What should your poem be about? And where can you find ideas?

Here are a few places to search for inspiration:

• Other Works of Literature: Poetry doesn’t exist in a vacuum—it’s part of a larger literary tapestry, and can absolutely be influenced by other works. For example, read “The Golden Shovel” by Terrance Hayes , a poem that was inspired by Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool.”
• Real-World Events: Poetry, especially contemporary poetry, has the power to convey new and transformative ideas about the world. Take the poem “A Cigarette” by Ilya Kaminsky , which finds community in a warzone like the eye of a hurricane.
• Your Life: What would poetry be if not a form of memoir? Many contemporary poets have documented their lives in verse. Take Sylvia Plath’s poem “Full Fathom Five” —a daring poem for its time, as few writers so boldly criticized their family as Plath did.
• The Everyday and Mundane: Poetry isn’t just about big, earth-shattering events: much can be said about mundane events, too. Take “Ode to Shea Butter” by Angel Nafis , a poem that celebrates the beautiful “everydayness” of moisturizing.
• Nature: The Earth has always been a source of inspiration for poets, both today and in antiquity. Take “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver , which finds meaning in nature’s quiet rituals.
• Writing Exercises: Prompts and exercises can help spark your creativity, even if the poem you write has nothing to do with the prompt! Here’s 24 writing exercises to get you started.

At this point, you’ve got a topic for your poem. Maybe it’s a topic you’re passionate about, and the words pour from your pen and align themselves into a perfect sonnet! It’s not impossible—most poets have a couple of poems that seemed to write themselves.

However, it’s far more likely you’re searching for the words to talk about this topic. This is where journaling comes in.

Sit in front of a blank piece of paper, with nothing but the topic written on the top. Set a timer for 15-30 minutes and put down all of your thoughts related to the topic. Don’t stop and think for too long, and try not to obsess over finding the right words: what matters here is emotion, the way your subconscious grapples with the topic.

At the end of this journaling session, go back through everything you wrote, and highlight whatever seems important to you: well-written phrases, poignant moments of emotion, even specific words that you want to use in your poem.

Journaling is a low-risk way of exploring your topic without feeling pressured to make it sound poetic. “Sounding poetic” will only leave you with empty language: your journal allows you to speak from the heart. Everything you need for your poem is already inside of you, the journaling process just helps bring it out!

Learn more about keeping a daily journal here:

How to Start Journaling: Practical Advice on How to Journal Daily

3. Think About Form

As one of the elements of poetry, form plays a crucial role in how the poem is both written and read. Have you ever wanted to write a sestina ? How about a contrapuntal, or a double cinquain, or a series of tanka? Your poem can take a multitude of forms, including the beautifully unstructured free verse form; while form can be decided in the editing process, it doesn’t hurt to think about it now.

4. Write the First Line

After a productive journaling session, you’ll be much more acquainted with the state of your heart. You might have a line in your journal that you really want to begin with, or you might want to start fresh and refer back to your journal when you need to! Either way, it’s time to begin.

What should the first line of your poem be? There’s no strict rule here—you don’t have to start your poem with a certain image or literary device. However, here’s a few ways that poets often begin their work:

• Set the Scene: Poetry can tell stories just like prose does. Anne Carson does just this in her poem “Lines,” situating the scene in a conversation with the speaker’s mother.
• Start at the Conflict : Right away, tell the reader where it hurts most. Margaret Atwood does this in “Ghost Cat,” a poem about aging.
• Start With a Contradiction: Juxtaposition and contrast are two powerful tools in the poet’s toolkit. Joan Larkin’s poem “Want” begins and ends with these devices. Carlos Gimenez Smith also begins his poem “Entanglement” with a juxtaposition.
• Start With Your Title: Some poets will use the title as their first line, like Ron Padgett’s poem “Ladies and Gentlemen in Outer Space.”

There are many other ways to begin poems, so play around with different literary devices, and when you’re stuck, turn to other poetry for inspiration.

5. Develop Ideas and Devices

You might not know where your poem is going until you finish writing it. In the meantime, stick to your literary devices. Avoid using too many abstract nouns, develop striking images, use metaphors and similes to strike interesting comparisons, and above all, speak from the heart.

6. Write the Closing Line

Some poems end “full circle,” meaning that the images the poet used in the beginning are reintroduced at the end. Gwendolyn Brooks does this in her poem “my dreams, my work, must wait till after hell.”

Yet, many poets don’t realize what their poems are about until they write the ending line . Poetry is a search for truth, especially the hard truths that aren’t easily explained in casual speech. Your poem, too, might not be finished until it comes across a necessary truth, so write until you strike the heart of what you feel, and the poem will come to its own conclusion.

7. Edit, Edit, Edit!

Do you have a working first draft of your poem? Congratulations! Getting your feelings onto the page is a feat in itself.

Yet, no guide on how to write a poem is complete without a note on editing. If you plan on sharing or publishing your work, or if you simply want to edit your poem to near-perfection, keep these tips in mind.

• Adjectives and Adverbs: Use these parts of speech sparingly. Most imagery shouldn’t rely on adjectives and adverbs, because the image should be striking and vivid on its own, without too much help from excess language.
• Concrete Line Breaks: Line breaks help emphasize important words, making certain images and themes clearer to the reader. As a general rule, most of your lines should start and end with concrete words—nouns and verbs especially.
• Stanza Breaks: Stanzas are like paragraphs to poetry. A stanza can develop a new idea, contrast an existing idea, or signal a transition in the poem’s tone. Make sure each stanza clearly stands for something as a unit of the poem.
• Mixed Metaphors: A mixed metaphor is when two metaphors occupy the same idea, making the poem unnecessarily difficult to understand. Here’s an example of a mixed metaphor: “a watched clock never boils.” The meaning can be discerned, but the image remains unclear. Be wary of mixed metaphors—though some poets (like Shakespeare) make them work, they’re tricky and often disruptive.
• Abstractions: Above all, avoid using excessively abstract language. It’s fine to use the word “love” 2 or 3 times in a poem, but don’t use it twice in every stanza. Let the imagery in your poem express your feelings and ideas, and only use abstractions as brief connective tissue in otherwise-concrete writing.

Lastly, don’t feel pressured to “do something” with your poem. Not all poems need to be shared and edited. Poetry doesn’t have to be “good,” either—it can simply be a statement of emotions by the poet, for the poet. Publishing is an admirable goal, but also, give yourself permission to write bad poems, unedited poems, abstract poems, and poems with an audience of one. Write for yourself—editing is for the other readers.

Poetry is the oldest literary form, pre-dating prose, theater, and the written word itself. As such, there are many different schools of thought when it comes to writing poetry. You might be wondering how to write a poem through different methods and approaches: here’s four philosophies to get you started.

How to Write a Poem: Poetry as Emotion

If you asked a Romantic Poet “what is poetry?”, they would tell you that poetry is the spontaneous emotion of the soul.

The Romantic Era viewed poetry as an extension of human emotion—a way of perceiving the world through unbridled creativity, centered around the human soul. While many Romantic poets used traditional forms in their poetry, the Romantics weren’t afraid to break from tradition, either.

To write like a Romantic, feel—and feel intensely. The words will follow the emotions, as long as a blank page sits in front of you.

How to Write a Poem: Poetry as Stream of Consciousness

If you asked a Modernist poet, “What is poetry?” they would tell you that poetry is the search for complex truths.

Modernist Poets were keen on the use of poetry as a window into the mind. A common technique of the time was “Stream of Consciousness,” which is unfiltered writing that flows directly from the poet’s inner dialogue. By tapping into one’s subconscious, the poet might uncover deeper truths and emotions they were initially unaware of.

Depending on who you are as a writer, Stream of Consciousness can be tricky to master, but this guide covers the basics of how to write using this technique.

How to Write a Poem: Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a practice of documenting the mind, rather than trying to control or edit what it produces. This practice was popularized by the Beat Poets , who in turn were inspired by Eastern philosophies and Buddhist teachings. If you asked a Beat Poet “what is poetry?”, they would tell you that poetry is the human consciousness, unadulterated.

To learn more about the art of leaving your mind alone , take a look at our guide on Mindfulness, from instructor Marc Olmsted.

https://writers.com/mindful-writing

How to Write a Poem: Poem as Camera Lens

Many contemporary poets use poetry as a camera lens, documenting global events and commenting on both politics and injustice. If you find yourself itching to write poetry about the modern day, press your thumb against the pulse of the world and write what you feel.

Additionally, check out these two essays by Electric Literature on the politics of poetry:

• What Can Poetry Do That Politics Can’t?
• Why All Poems Are Political (TL;DR: Poetry is an urgent expression of freedom).

Okay, I Know How to Write a Poem. What Next?

Poetry, like all art forms, takes practice and dedication. You might write a poem you enjoy now, and think it’s awfully written 3 years from now; you might also write some of your best work after reading this guide. Poetry is fickle, but the pen lasts forever, so write poems as long as you can!

Once you understand how to write a poem, and after you’ve drafted some pieces that you’re proud of and ready to share, here are some next steps you can take.

Publish in Literary Journals

Want to see your name in print? These literary journals house some of the best poetry being published today.

https://writers.com/best-places-submit-poetry-online

Assemble and Publish a Manuscript

A poem can tell a story. So can a collection of poems. If you’re interested in publishing a poetry book, learn how to compose and format one here:

https://writers.com/poetry-manuscript-format

How to Write a Poem: Join a Writing Community

Writers.com is an online community of writers, and we’d love it if you shared your poetry with us! Join us on Facebook and check out our upcoming poetry courses .

Poetry doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it exists to educate and uplift society. The world is waiting for your voice, so find a group and share your work!

Sean Glatch

36 comments.

super useful! love these articles 💕

Finally found a helpful guide on Poetry’. For many year, I have written and filed numerous inspired pieces from experiences and moment’s of epiphany. Finally, looking forward to convertinb to ‘poetry format’. THANK YOU, KINDLY. 🙏🏾

Indeed, very helpful, consize. I could not say more than thank you.

I’ve never read a better guide on how to write poetry step by step. Not only does it give great tips, but it also provides helpful links! Thank you so much.

Thank you very much, Hamna! I’m so glad this guide was helpful for you.

Best guide so far

Very inspirational and marvelous tips

Thank you super tips very helpful.

I have never gone through the steps of writing poetry like this, I will take a closer look at your post.

Beautiful! Thank you! I’m really excited to try journaling as a starter step x

[…] How to Write a Poem, Step-by-Step […]

This is really helpful, thanks so much

Extremely thorough! Nice job.

Thank you so much for sharing your awesome tips for beginner writers!

People must reboot this and bookmark it. Your writing and explanation is detailed to the core. Thanks for helping me understand different poetic elements. While reading, actually, I start thinking about how my husband construct his songs and why other artists lack that organization (or desire to be better). Anyway, this gave me clarity.

I’m starting to use poetry as an outlet for my blogs, but I also have to keep in mind I’m transitioning from a blogger to a poetic sweet kitty potato (ha). It’s a unique transition, but I’m so used to writing a lot, it’s strange to see an open blog post with a lot of lines and few paragraphs.

Anyway, thanks again!

I’m happy this article was so helpful, Eternity! Thanks for commenting, and best of luck with your poetry blog.

Yours in verse, Sean

One of the best articles I read on how to write poems. And it is totally step by step process which is easy to read and understand.

Thanks for the step step explanation in how to write poems it’s a very helpful to me and also for everyone one. THANKYOU

Totally detailed and in a simple language told the best way how to write poems. It is a guide that one should read and follow. It gives the detailed guidance about how to write poems. One of the best articles written on how to write poems.

what a guidance thank you so much now i can write a poem thank you again again and again

The most inspirational and informative article I have ever read in the 21st century.It gives the most relevent,practical, comprehensive and effective insights and guides to aspiring writers.

Thank you so much. This is so useful to me a poetry

[…] Write a short story/poem (Here are some tips) […]

It was very helpful and am willing to try it out for my writing Thanks ❤️

Thank you so much. This is so helpful to me, and am willing to try it out for my writing .

Absolutely constructive, direct, and so useful as I’m striving to develop a recent piece. Thank you!

thank you for your explanation……,love it

Really great. Nothing less.

I can’t thank you enough for this, it touched my heart, this was such an encouraging article and I thank you deeply from my heart, I needed to read this.

great teaching Did not know all that in poetry writing

This was very useful! Thank you for writing this.

After reading a Charles Bukowski poem, “My Cats,” I found you piece here after doing a search on poetry writing format. Your article is wonderful as is your side article on journaling. I want to dig into both and give it another go another after writing poetry when I was at university. Thank you!

Thanks for reading, Vicki! Let us know how we can support your writing journey. 🙂

Thank you for the nice and informative post. This article truly offers a lot more details about this topic.

Very useful information. I’m glad to see you discussed rhyming, too. I was in the perhaps mistaken idea that rhyming is frowned upon in contemporary poems.

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Poem Analysis Essay Guide: Outline, Template, Structure

Poetry analysis, which is similar to poetry review, involves analyzing the language and figures of speech used by a poet. It also entails sharing personal views regarding the poem and breaking down the poetic instruments utilized by the said poet. However, it’s not just about the words used (Headrick, 2014). It entails reading between the lines and understanding what made the poet come up with a particular poem. So it may require some background research on the author and history behind the creation of the poem.

Do not worry; we can take care of your academic needs! If you do not have enough time to complete the assignment, get help from EssayService. Our " pay for essay " service has vast experience with this type of work. We have a wide range of free guides and blogs to help you so that you will have more time for the important things.

What Is A Poetry Analysis?

Poetry analysis may define as a critical review given on a poem, a reflection on the depth and gravity of a poem. It revolves around multiple aspects of a poem starting from the subject of a poem, its theme (meaning), tone, literary devices or speech figures, form to the feeling of the poet to how a reader feels about the poem. It is not only the analysis of techniques used in a poem, but poetry analysis provides a broader and wider picture of the poem, its reality, its hidden meanings between the lines, a study of poet’s mind, feeling and intention behind a poem. Different techniques used in poetry analysis are helpful tools in investigating and reviewing the poem. Behind every review or analysis vital research on poet (author), era (time frame), possible reasons, the background behind the conceptualization poem is vital.

If you have been asked to write a poem analysis essay, then it means to examine the piece and further dissect it into key elements including its form, techniques used and historical value. Then further appreciating the poem and highlighting to others these points, and gaining a better understanding.

It is also important to show as many ideas as possible that relate to the poem and then create conclusions on this.

To start writing a poetry analysis essay let's look at the prewriting stage.

How to Choose a Topic for a Poetry Analysis Essay?

• In the subject of the poem we mainly focus on the reasons such as why is the poem written or what is it all about?
• What is the context, the central content of the poem?
• Who wrote the poem and why?
• When and where the poet did write the poem, what or who has influenced the poet and what are the key features of the poem?

A topic should be chosen based on the theme you want to write. The theme is the message that the poem is trying to convey. You need to look therefore for concepts and notions that pop up in the poem and come up with an appropriate theme based on those perceptions or "feelings". If you can’t still figure out what topic you should choose for your analysis, it is recommended that you go through other poems similar poems and get a suitable topic for your analysis. Don’t also forget to cite your poem well. And also use in-text citations while quoting from the poem.

Poem Analysis Essay Outline

To create a good essay, it is needed to plan out the structure of a poem analysis essay so the writing stage will be easier and faster.

Here is an outline of a poem analysis essay to use:

Opening paragraph - Introduce the Poem, title, author and background.

Body of text - Make most of the analysis, linking ideas and referencing to the poem.

Conclusion - State one main idea, feelings and meanings.

Poem Analysis Essay Introduction

To start an introduction to a poem analysis essay, include the name of the poem and the author . Other details like the date of when it was published can also be stated. Then some background information and interesting facts or trivia regarding the poem or author can also be included here.

Poem Analysis Essay Body

When writing the main body of text keep in mind you have to reference all ideas to the poem so include a quotation to back up the sentence, otherwise, it will be a wasted comparison and not count. Be clear with your statements.

Poem Analysis Essay Conclusion

Now, this is where you should take a step back from analyzing the individual elements of the poem and work out its meaning as a whole. Combine the different elements of the analysis and put forward one main idea.

What is the poet trying to say, and how is it enforced and with what feeling? Then look at the meaning and what timeframe does this evolve over?

For example, is it obvious from the start, or does it gradually change towards the end? The last few lines can be very significant within a poem and so should be included in the poem analysis essay conclusion and commented on the impact on the piece.

Remember that you can always send us a " write an essay for me " text and have your assignment done for you.

How to Analyze a Poem?

Before even thinking about your first draft, read the poem as much as possible. If it's possible, listen to it in the original form. This depends on many factors which include if the poet is still alive?

Also reading aloud can help identify other characteristics that could be missed and even to a friend or colleague will give a chance to more insight. It is important to remember that poetry is a form of art painted with only words, this said it could take time to fully appreciate the piece. So take note of any first thoughts you have about the poem, even if they are negative.

Your opinions can change over time but still mark these first thoughts down.

So that to analyze a poem properly, you have to pay attention to the following aspects:

Title of the Poem

So let's go deeper into the poem analysis essay and look at the title. The poet may have spent a lot of time thinking about naming the piece so what can be observed from this and what further questions can be asked?

• What are your expectations? For example, the poem could be titled “Alone” written by Edgar Allan Poe and from this it is natural to assume it will be sad. After reading further does the reality turn out to be different?
• What is the literature style used? So for example, the work could be called “His last sonnet” by John Keats. From appearance, it is possible to deduce that it could be in sonnet form and if not why did the poet choose to mislead the audience?
• What is the poem about? In the poem, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” by Elizabeth Barrett, it already states what could be included and what to expect but if it differs from the title what would this suggest?

Literal Meaning of the Poetry

According to our  to fully appreciate a piece, it is needed to understand all the words used. So, for example, get a good dictionary and look up all the unknown words. Then go through partly known words and phrases and check these too. Also, maybe check the meaning of words that are used a lot, but remember some text may have had a different meaning a century ago, so use the internet to look up anything that is not clear. Furthermore, people and places and any cultural relevance of the time should be researched too to get a deeper look at the poet's attitude towards the piece. Patterns might become visible at this point and maybe the theme of the poem.

Structure of the Poem

When looking at the structure of the piece this will reveal more information so pay close attention to this. Look at the organization and sections, this will unlock more questions:

• What does each part discuss?
• How do the parts relate to each other?
• Can you see formal separations?
• What logical sense does it have?
• Is there emotional sense that can be evaluated?
• Does having a strict format say anything about the poet?
• Also failing to have a strict structure does this reveal something?

Once you have observed the structure, it is possible to go deeper into the poem analysis essay and investigate how the speaker communicates the poem to the reader.

Tone and Intonation of the Poetry

So now it is possible to look at the poet and see what details can be obtained from them. Is it possible to see the gender or age of the speaker? Is there some race or religious references to pick up on? Then can we see if the speaker is directly communicating their thoughts and ideas to the reader? If not, what is the character the poet has created to convey the ideas or messages? Does the poet's persona differ to the character created and what can be analyzed from this? Also the mood of the speaker could be available now, are they happy or sad, and how can you find out this from the poem?

Once the poet is understood it is possible to move onto who or what the poem is designed for. Then you can see the purpose of the poetry, what does the poet want from the reader? It is also possible that the poet does not desire a response from the audience and is simply making a statement or expressing themselves.

For example, a poem about spring could just be a happy statement that winter has ended. Looking from the other side, this could be an attempt to attract someone's attention or maybe just an instruction to plow the field.

Purpose of the Poem

The subject of the poem can help identify the purpose, as this usually will be what the poet is describing. Then the theme can be identified also, and what does it say about the work? Are there any links between the theme and the subject and what can analyzed from that? The timeframe is also an important factor to consider, for example, the poet's goal back when it was written, may have changed and why? Furthermore, has the original purpose survived the test of time and can it be said to be the best indicator of success?

Language and Imagery of the Poetry

Until this point it was only possible to analyze the literal information available which is the denotative meaning.’ Now let's look at the imagery, symbolism and figures of speech, this is the connotative meaning.

This is where you should look for pictures described within the text and analyze why they have been depicted? So for example, if the poet thas decided to describe the moon this could set the time in the work or maybe the mood of the poem. Also look for groups of images described and patterns within this, what can be deducted from that?

So when looking for symbolism within the text this could be an event or physical object, including people and places that represent non-physical entities like an emotion or concept. For example, a bird flying through the air can be seen as freedom and escaping usual conforms.

Poetic devices

In your analysis you will look at techniques like metaphors, similes, personification and alliteration to include just a few. It's important to identify the actual device used and why it was chosen. For example, when comparing something within the text using a metaphor then look at how they are connected and in what way they are expressed? Try to use all available clues to gain better insight into the mind of the poet.

Music of the Poem

Poetry and music have deep connections and can be compared together due to the history and uses throughout the ages.

Here are some things to look out for to help with those comparisons:

• Meter - This can be available to investigate in different ways, for example, iambic pentameter has a strict five beats per line just like a musical score if used what does it say?
• Rhythm - Just like with music, poem can have a rhythm but if there is no given meter, it is needed to look closer and observe what this does to the work. For example, a particular beat that is fast could make the poem happy.
• Special effects - Looking for not so obvious signs where the poet has written in a way so you take longer to pronounce words. Also it is possible to grab your attention in other ways, for what reason has the writer done that?
• Rhyme - There are many different types of rhyming techniques used within poetry, once identified look at how it impacts on the work like make it humorous for example? Be careful to look for unusual patterns for example rhymes within the lines and not just at the end of the sentences, even reading out aloud might help find these and then what does it this say about the poem?
• Sound effects - The depiction of different sounds can be powerful and also using different voices, look at what impact this has on the piece and why?
• Breaking Rules - Rhyme and meter for example can have very specific rules but what if the poet decided to break these conventional techniques and make something new, what does this add to the work and why

How to Write a Poem Analysis Essay?

Below you will find a compelling guide on how to analyze poetry with handy writing tips:

• Choose a suitable poem - If possible, before you start, pick the main subject of your essay, a poem that you would like to analyze. The more you find it interesting, the easier it will be to handle the task.
• Read it fully - If you are wondering how to analyse poetry, the first step you can’t go without is carefully reading the chosen poem multiple times and, preferably, out loud.
• Always double-check the meanings - When reading a poem, don’t forget to check for the meanings of unknown (and known as well) words and phrases.
• Collect all the details you need - To write a compelling essay, you need to study the poem’s structure, contents, main ideas, as well as other background details.
• Explore hidden meanings - When analyzing poem, be sure to look beyond the words. Instead, focus on finding broader, hidden ideas that the author wanted to share through his piece.
• Make an outline - Once you have analyzed poem, outline your essay and write it following the plan.
• Proofread and edit - Finally, once your essay is ready, take your time to revise and polish it carefully.

Poetry Analysis Template

To write a winning poem analysis essay, use the template below or order an essay from our professionals.

Introduction

• Name of Poem
• Name of Poet
• Date of Publication
• Background or any relevant information

Form of poem

• Structure of poem
• Rhyme of poem

Meaning of poem

• Overall meaning
• How can we relate the poem to our life

Poetic Techniques

• Literary devices

Form of the Poem

Poems are written in some ways, here one need to identify which structure the poet has used for the poem. The forms of poems broadly are stanzas, rhythm, punctuation and rhymes. Carefully analyze the length and number of stanzas , does the rhythm impacts the meaning of the poem, is there many punctuations or little, either the rhyme is consistent, or it’s breaking and what is the rhyme contributing to the meaning of the poem or is it random.

Theme, Meaning or Message of the Poem

In this part, we focus on the topic, main issue or idea of the poem. There are layers of meaning hidden in a poem.

• Meaning: surface meaning that what is actually or physically happening in the poem which a reader can sense.
• Deeper Meaning: the central idea of the poem or what is it actually about.
• Theme: in poetry, there is always a hidden meaning in every line, which depicts the message about life.

Numerous topics can be covered in poems such as love, life, death, birth, nature, memory, war, age, sexuality, experience, religion, race, faith, creator and many others.

Tone of the Poem

The tone of the poem shows attitude or mood of the language used by the poet. Analyze the different shades of the language used in the poem for example; is it formal, judgmental, informal, critical, positive, bitter, reflective, solemn, frustrated, optimistic, ironic, scornful, regretful or morbid.

Literary Device used in the Poem

Find out what the different literary devices are or what sort of figures of speech is used by the poet . Analyze these techniques and suggest their use in the poem by the poet. The poem can contain a symbol, similes, metaphor, alliteration, allegories, oxymoron, assonances, dissonances, repetition, hyperbole, irony.

Conclusion or Feel of the Poem

Lastly, analyze the emotions and feelings linked with the poem; of the poet and what do you feel when you read the poem. This is the very critical part of reviewing a poem because we analyze the inner depth of the poem, the intention & feelings of the poet, the targeted audience, does the poem reflect the poet’s persona, perspective or it does not match with the poet.

Poetry Analysis Essay Example

Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s Poem “Annabel Lee”

Written in 1849 and first published after the author’s death, Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe is a beautiful story of true love that goes beyond life. In the poem, the author is commemorating the girl named Annabel Lee, whom he knew since childhood. Despite the young age, the love between the narrator and Annabel was so deep and true that even angels were jealous, and, according to Edgar Allan Poe, their jealousy was so severe that they killed the love of his life. The poem ends with young Annabel Lee being buried in a tomb, leaving the readers with a feeling that the author kept holding on to his love for her for many years after her death.

The two evident topics in the poem are love and loss. The entire narration revolves around the author’s agonizing memory, at the same time demonstrating to the readers the purity and power of true love that makes him cherish the memory of his beloved one even after she is gone. Apart from that, Edgar Allan Poe also discusses such issues of love as jealousy and envy. The author states that the love of the two teens was so strong that even angels in heaven were not half as happy as Annabel and Edgar, which caused them to invade the teens’ romantic “kingdom by the sea” and kill the girl.

The topics discussed in the poem, as well as the style of narration itself, give the poem a very romantic atmosphere. It follows the main principles of the romantic era in poetry in the 18th and 19th centuries, which Edgar Allan Poe was representing. At the same time, the author also gives his poem a sense of musicality and rhythm. The poem’s rhyme scheme puts emphasis on the words “Lee”, “me”, and “sea”. The repetition of these words gives the poem a song-like sound.

A significant role in Edgar Allan Poe’s poem is played by imagery, which emphasizes the author’s unique style. The main imagery used by Allan Poe in Annabel Lee is the Kingdom. The author uses this imagery to set the right tone for his poem and give it a sort of a fairytale feel. At the same time, this imagery is used to take the reader to a different place, though not specifying what exactly this place is. To confirm this - the author uses the phrase “the kingdom by the sea” multiple times in his piece, never specifying its meaning. This trick enables the readers to leave this to their own imagination.

Apart from the Kingdom, the author also operates with the imagery of angels and demons. The narrator blames them for their envy for their deep love, which resulted in the death of Annable Lee. Thus, the author gives a negative attitude towards this imagery. This brings us to another big topic of good and evil discussed in the poem.

Nevertheless, even though the angels’ intervention seems to be clear to the reader from what the author says, Poe’s choice of words doesn’t directly implicate their responsibility for the girl’s death. The narrator blames everybody for his loss. However, he does this in a very tactical and covert way.

In conclusion, it becomes clear that the narrator in Annabel Lee did not only pursue a goal to share his pain and loss. He also emphasizes that true love is everlasting by stating that his love for the gone girl lives with him after all these years. With all its deep topics, imagery, and musicality, Annabel Lee is now considered one of the best works by Edgar Allan Poe.

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More From Forbes

25 famous poems that everyone should read.

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A framed poster of a stamp depicting Langston Hughes, who wrote some of the best poems in American ... [+] history.

Poetry provides the perfect way to indulge in the escapism of reading without the commitment required to finish a novel. You can read most famous poems in a single sitting, some taking just a minute or two, and they give you a window into a new way to think. The best poems and poetry employ imagery as well as gorgeous, creative language designed to make you think and help draw conclusions about greater themes. In most poems, a bird is never just a bird, and you can learn a lot about life by thinking about the symbolic meaning of the themes explored, from romance to politics. This list includes poems from the best poetry books of all time and other more recent poems that examine contemporary events.

Some of the most popular, well-known poets include modern geniuses such as Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Allen Ginsberg and Sylvia Plath. Other famed poets date back centuries, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. And yet others still write today, like Amanda Gorman.

The poems on this list are ranked based on popularity, how the themes hold up over time, use of language and imagery, reputation of the poet and critical reaction to the poem. It includes poems from as recent as 2021 and ones as old as 1798. You will find a lot to enjoy on this list.

25. "Flowers from the Volcano" by Claribel Alegría (2013)

Claribel Alegría (1924-2018), a Latin American poet who moved to the U.S. during World War II, was a committed pacifist who returned to Nicaragua to help the country rebuild in 1985. In this poem, she recounts memories of Central America and uses incredible imagery to link it to the rest of the world.

This poem is best for people who have some understanding of metaphor in poetry. You can read "Flowers from the Volcano" by Claribel Alegría in Halting Steps: Collected and New Poems from publisher Northwestern University Press .

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, 24. "paul revere's ride" by henry wadsworth longfellow (1860).

This famed poem begins with the lines, “Listen, my children, and you shall hear/Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.” It goes on to narrate Revere’s ride to warn Massachusetts residents of the approach of British soldiers—though, as scholars have pointed out, it’s not historically accurate. Still, it’s an exciting story.

This poem is best for novice poetry readers. You can read "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which is old enough to have shifted into the public domain, on the Academy of American Poets website.

Artist Robert Guillemin known popularly as "Sidewalk Sam" puts the finishing touches on a portrait ... [+] of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow at the foot of the Longfellow Bridge spanning the Charles River, which completes his project painting the poem "Paul Revere's Ride."

23. "A Dog Has Died" by Pablo Neruda (1974)

Published after Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s death, “A Dog Has Died” pays tribute to a loyal pet in plain, unsentimental language. He describes the dog’s personality and their bond, though it’s clear the narrator has a reserved personality and never fully felt the joy his pet chased in life.

This poem is best for anyone who has experienced the grief of losing a pet. You can read "A Dog Has Died" by Pablo Neruda in Winter Garden from publisher Copper Canyon Press .

22. "Heartbeats" by Melvin Dixon (1995)

The staccato rhythm of this poem feels like a heartrate monitor—appropriate, since the narrator is struggling with an illness. The person wonders how long they have to live while also detailing their care and treatment. Of note, the poet was HIV positive and often wrote about black gay men like himself.

This poem is best for anyone new to poetry looking for an accessible place to start. You can read "Heartbeats" by Melvin Dixon in Love’s Instruments from publisher Northwestern University Press .

21. "A Carafe, that is a Blind Glass" by Gertrude Stein (1914)

Gertrude Stein is better known for her prose, but her sparse poetry is also worth reading. This is the shortest poem on the list, just three lines and written as sentences. Yet the poem is open to interpretation, and the meaning of the “blind glass” often reflects the reader’s own experience.

This poem is best for those who are short on time yet still want an impactful read. You can read "A Carafe, that is a Blind Glass" by Gertrude Stein, which is old enough to have shifted into the public domain, on the Poetry Foundation website.

20. "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll (1871)

Lewis Carroll loved his creatures, and this poem warns readers, “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!/The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!” It creates a classic good vs. evil scenario, in which the hero sets out to slay the Jabberwocky. It’s certainly no coincidence Carroll named his creature a word that now means “meaningless.”

This poem is best for those who enjoyed Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and similarly wild adventures. You can read "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, which is old enough to have shifted into the public domain, on the Poetry Foundation website.

The grave of Lewis Carroll, who wrote "Jabberwocky," at Mount Cemetery.

19. "She Was Fed Turtle Soup" by Lois Red Elk (2015)

An enrolled member of the Fort Peck Sioux, Lois Red Elk uses her experience as a teacher, actor and technical advisor on Hollywood films to create vivid poetry. This one follows a girl's journey to mature and partake in the ritual of eating turtle soup.

This poem is best for more experienced poetry readers searching for denser poems. You can read "She Was Fed Turtle Soup" by Lois Red Elk, which is no longer available in a print edition, on the Academy of American Poets website.

18. "what if" by Claudia Rankine (2020)

Claudia Rankine’s poem opens with an insightful question: "What does it mean to want an age-old call/for change/not to change/and yet, also,/to feel bullied/by the call to change?" Her awesome command of language (see, among other wordplay, the phrase “historied out”) makes this poem about modern living a must-read.

This poem is best for anyone ready for more complex, challenging and gorgeously written poetry. You can read "what if" by Claudia Rankine in Just Us from publisher Graywolf Press .

17. "A Memory" by Saeed Jones (2018)

If you don’t follow Saeed Jones on social media or listen to his podcast, you’re missing out. He has a unique ability to synthesize pop culture with humor and truth. “A Memory” is the poet at his best, including the line, “When I’m back, I want a body like a slash of lightning.”

This poem is best for anyone who wants to read contemporary poetry. You can read "A Memory" by Saeed Jones, which was published as part of the Poem-A-Day project, on the Academy of American Poets website.

16. "Sick" by Shel Silverstein (1970)

Shel Silverstein’s playful children’s poems get to the heart of what it is to be a kid. In “Sick,” a little girl insists she has all manner of illnesses before realizing she’s pulling her fake on a weekend—not a school day. Miraculously, she’s feeling much better! It’s a well-imagined, well-executed story.

This poem is best for adults who want to read poetry with their kids. You can read "Sick" by Shel Silverstein in Where the Sidewalk Ends from publisher Harpercollins .

Shel Silverstein, left, appearing on "The Johnny Cash Show" with Johnny Cash. Silverstein wrote some ... [+] of the best children's poems.

15. "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou (1995)

One of Maya Angelou’s best-known poems, “Phenomenal Woman” pays tribute to the power of self-love, especially for Black women who have long been othered and intentionally excluded from societal beauty standards. The poem pushes back against what society sees as a remarkable woman and creates a new standard.

This poem is best for anyone who has ever felt less-than or isn’t finding the right answers in a self-help book . You can read "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou in And I Still Rise from publisher Penguin Random House .

14. "'Hope' is the thing with feathers" by Emily Dickinson (1891)

One of famed poet Emily Dickinson’s best-known poems, “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” follows the narrator’s encounter with a bird. However, like most poems, this one is about so much more. It also explores our capacity for hope, when it is misguided and when it is not.

This poem is best for anyone looking for a Dickinson poem to begin with. You can read "‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers" by Emily Dickinson, which is old enough to have shifted into the public domain, on the Poetry Foundation website.

13. "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Thayer (1888)

Ernest Thayer’s 19th-century classic takes readers through the suspenseful final inning of a baseball game with the Mudville nine hoping their star player, Casey, would get to the plate. Of course, as nearly everyone knows (spoiler alert!) from the famous last line, “there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.”

This poem is best for sports fans and novice poetry readers. You can read "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Thayer, which is old enough to have shifted into the public domain, on the Academy of American Poets website.

12. "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman (1855)

Another poem that celebrates the value of individualism and releasing yourself from societal standards is Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” He uses grass to symbolize rebirth—as the famous line goes, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,/If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.”

This poem is best for readers with a firm grasp of symbolism and imagery. You can read "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman, which is old enough to have shifted into the public domain, on the Poetry Foundation website.

11. "American History" by Michael S. Harper (2000)

In just nine lines, Michael S. Harper calls out the violence perpetrated against Black people from the founding of the United States, juxtaposing a horrific past historical event with a horrific more recent one. His poem is frequently cited in conversations about social justice and racial inequities.

This poem is best for anyone and should be required reading for Americans. You can read "American History" by Michael S. Harper in Songlines in Michaeltree from publisher University of Illinois Press .

10. "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath (1962)

Sylvia Plath explored her issues with her father and her estranged abusive husband in the poem “Daddy,” which questions why women must deal with violence from men. Due to her own father’s early death, she argues she never developed tools to tell the good men from the bad men. This was published after Plath died.

This poem is best for anyone looking to begin reading Plath’s poetry. You can read "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath in The Collected Poems from publisher HarperCollins .

Stencil graffiti street art featuring a Sylvia Plath in a dress with her bicycle and panniers on in ... [+] Hebden Bridge, United Kingdom.

9. "In Flanders Field" by John McCrae (1915)

There’s no way to repay or adequately honor soldiers who give their lives for their country. This poem published during the then-unprecedented bloodshed of World War I is set in a graveyard in Belgium, where fallen soldiers implore those reading to ensure their sacrifice is not in vain.

This poem is best for anyone interested in military history who wants to see another aspect of war’s impact. You can read "In Flanders Field" by John McCrae, which is old enough to have shifted into the public domain, on the Poetry Foundation website.

8. "The Hill We Climb" by Amanda Gorman (2021)

It was one of the most memorable inauguration moments in recent memory: 22-year-old poet Amanda Gorman becoming the youngest-ever inaugural poet while reading her work about racial justice and the challenges to uniting America. It soon became a bestselling book, and Gorman has skyrocketed to fame for her wise words.

This poem is best for anyone interested in contemporary poetry or politics. You can read "The Hill We Climb" by Amanda Gorman in The Hill We Climb from publisher Penguin Random House .

7. "We Real Cool," by Gwendolyn Brooks (1963)

Gwendolyn Brooks, the first Black winner of the Pulitzer Prize, often used poetry to convey the Black experience in America. In “We Real Cool,” she describes a group of teens like most others in the prime of life—buoyant, slightly rebellious, feeling invincible. That’s sadly proven wrong due to their skin color, the poem foreshadows.

This book is best for people looking for short poems that deliver a punch to the gut. You can read "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks in Selected Poems from publisher HarperCollins .

6. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1798)

We have all committed thoughtless acts that come back to haunt us. Thus, it feels relatable when the Ancient Mariner, the protagonist of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s enduring poem, kills an albatross and later must pay for it. The poem also reminds readers not to take the carefree times in life for granted.

This poem is best for anyone who’s ever wondered about the origin of albatrosses as symbols of regret and woe. You can read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is old enough to have shifted into the public domain, on the Poetry Foundation website.

5. "Diving into the Wreck" by Adrienne Rich (1973)

Adrienne Rich uses a well-constructed, in-depth metaphor to explore women’s place in society in “Diving into the Wreck.” Even the word “wreck” can be taken two ways—the ruined ship a diver explores or the muddle women’s everyday lives become amid the patriarchy. Rich uses the diver’s journey to parallel women’s self-discovery.

This poem is best for fans of extended allegories. You can read "Diving into the Wreck" by Adrienne Rich in Diving into the Wreck from publisher W.W. Norton .

Adrienne Rich, author of "Diving into the Wreck," one of the greatest poems ever written.

4. "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg (1956)

Beat poet Allen Ginsberg and his contemporaries wanted to blow things up—from societal norms to traditional writing practices. Ginsberg touched on both in his controversial poem “Howl,” which authorities in the UK called obscene due to references to sex and drugs. The poet also calls out capitalism and war for destroying culture.

This poem is best for anyone curious about counterculture or beat poetry. You can read "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg in Selected Poems 1947-1995 from publisher HarperCollins .

3. "A Thousand Mornings" by Mary Oliver (2012)

Mary Oliver may be the most widely read poet due to her popularity among non-poetry readers. Her simple vocabulary and straightforward questions make her accessible, such as in “A Thousand Mornings.” She urges readers to lose themselves in the presence of nature and appreciate the moment—simple as that.

This poem is best for anyone looking to begin their poetry journey. You can read "A Thousand Mornings" by Mary Oliver in A Thousand Mornings from publisher Penguin Random House .

2. "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost (1920)

Robert Frost wrote many exceptional poems. Though this was composed more than a century ago, that dichotomy between hot and cold, symbolizing desire and hatred, remains relevant today. The poem doesn’t argue for or against either, which makes it more interesting. It uses natural symbolism to illustrate the dangers of each.

This poem is best for anyone searching for a good first Robert Frost poem. You can read "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost in New Hampshire from publisher Penguin Random House .

Robert Frost, poet of Amherst, New Hampshire, and author of one of the best poems, "Fire and Ice."

1. "I, Too" by Langston Hughes (1926)

Langston Hughes used his poetry to illustrate the struggles Black people faced in America during the Harlem Renaissance (and well beyond, as many of the same issues persist today). “I, Too” explores Hughes’s dream of ending segregation and uniting people of all colors. It argues for equality and against ignorance.

This poem is best for everyone as it can spark critical conversations and reflections on racism. You can read "I, Too" by Langston Hughes in The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes from publisher Penguin Random House .

Bottom Line

Poetry offers an escape, an opportunity to, however briefly, imagine yourself as part of another world. So much of poetry is subjective, and no two people interpret it exactly the same, which is part of the fun. Dive into a new poem on this list today!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are great poems for friends.

Great poems for friends illustrate what it means to be devoted to one another and share a special bond. Some poems use the absence of fellowship to underscore why friends are important. Two great poems for friends are: 

Maya Angelou’s “ Alone ” (1975), which explores why we all need friends, no matter how much money or privilege we have. 

May Yang’s " To All My Friends " (2017), which pays tribute to the people who have supported the Hmong American poet (who writes under the pseudonym Hauntie) throughout her times of anguish, rage and weakness.  

What Are The Best Poems About Nature?

The best poems about nature make you want to go outside and see something living or green. They use imagery, metaphor and description to set the scene. Two of the best poems about nature are: 

Robert Frost’s " Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening " (1923), which paints a parallel between the dark woods and death. 

Emily Dickinson’s " A Bird, came down the Walk " (1891), about a chance encounter with a bird in which the narrator ponders the wonder, and almost terrifying scope, of nature. 

What Are The Best Love Poems?

The best love poems capture the excitement, lust, desire and often heartbreak of being in love. Whether chronicling an unrequited flame or depicting a perfect relationship, love poems cover a gauntlet of emotions. Two of the best love poems are: 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's " Sonnets from the Portuguese 43 " (1850), which paints a picture of all-consuming, hot-burning love and opens with one of the most famous lines in history (“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”).

William Shakespeare's " Sonnet 18 ” (1609), which perfectly captures the optimism of early love and also has a famous opening line (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?").

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How to Write Good Poetry: 7 Tips for Aspiring Poets

by little infinite ( @LittleInfinite )

Did you know writing poetry can improve your overall writing skills? Even if you don’t consider yourself a poet, writing poetry challenges your diction; ability to be concise, use of imagery, rhythm and storytelling skills.

If the idea of writing poetry seems a little intimidating, you’re not alone. Poetry has exploded in the last few years, especially since Instagram poets started to win over new poetry fans by filling timelines with relatable pieces of verse. In the ever-evolving world of poetry, it can be challenging to figure out where to start. Don’t worry, little infinite has you covered with something for everyone.

We believe that everyone can express themselves through poetry. All you have to do is take the first step. Here, we’ve outlined our top seven steps to writing good (or better) poetry.

How to Start Writing Good (or Better!) Poetry

• Read Poetry
• Read about Writing Poetry
• Use Poetry Journals and Prompts
• Experiment with Writing
• Find Your Writing Style
• Learn to Edit

1. Read Poetry

This step tends to be underestimated but it’s foundational. How can you know what to write if you don’t read what is out there first?

Reading poetry, especially by poets that resonate with you, shows you how to use meter, imagery, and tone to connect with your readers. Revisit old favorites like Pierre Alex Jeanty and Nikita Gill , and try out debut poetry by up-and-coming authors.

It's important to diversify what types of poetry you read and the poets you consume it from. See how other poets structure their poems and books. Explore and sample genres out of your comfort zone.

Pro tip: try writing down what speaks to you and why, then see if there are any patterns in your preferences.

2. Read about Writing Poetry

You are already doing your research, and we’re impressed! Now, meet little infinite’s must-do step: utilize the resources that industry insiders have shared. Most popularly, in the form of books.

Do you know what figurative language is? Do you know what a simile is? These books will help refresh your knowledge.

Reading about how to write poetry can be just as inspiring as reading poetry itself. Luckily, there are various resources out there to help you nail the basics. Indulge in few of little infinite’s favorite informational reads, 5 Books that Will Help you Hone your Poetry Writing .  

3. Use Poetry Journals and Prompts

There are few better ways to break through writer’s block than indulging in unique poetry prompts. If you’re craving to create beyond poetry, opt for a guided writing journal. By the way, these types of journals vary widely . Some journals schedule you to write daily, some provide to-do calendars, while others are there for when you need them. Either way, writing prompts are a reliable way to get you thinking outside the box.

We love a good poetry prompt! You never know what angle each prompt will take.

Here are a few helpful (and free!) guided poetry writing resources:

• Poetry Prompts: A Week of Prompts to Refresh your Poetry Muse : For the sake of creation, try these seven days of wildly different prompts.
• 365 Days of Poetry Prompts : A  convenient downloadable, so you can start it right now if you want.
• 4 Poetry Rules Every Poet Should Break Immediately :   Learn how to avoid these common mistakes that hold writer’s back.

          View this post on Instagram                   Get your free 365 Poetry Prompt Journal today!💥 Perfect for #NaPoWriMo, full of creative and trendy prompts for EVERY DAY of the year. ➡️ Link in bio! Don't forget to use our Poetry Prompt hashtag: #poetryeverydamnday to enter to be featured on @littleinfinitepoetry's Instagram. 💓 We will be choosing three poems to feature per week this month. 📝⁠ .⁠ ⁠ .⁠ ⁠ .⁠ ⁠ #poetryeverydamnday #littleinfinite #littleinfinitepoetry #poetryforlife #poets #writersofinstagram #nationalpoetrymonth #poetryprompts #freepoetryprompts #journalprompts #writerscommunity #poetryfoundation #poem #poetryislife #poetrycommunity #poetrylover #poetsofinstagram #poetry #poetryofinstagram #spokenword #poems #poetrybooks #modernpoetry #instamood#bookstagram #poetryinmotion #poetrygram #lovepoem A post shared by Little Infinite (@littleinfinitepoetry) on Apr 23, 2020 at 10:01am PDT

Full of unique and fun prompts, these are sure to get your creative ideas flowing. 

4. Just Write

Write some really bad poems. Write some really embarrassing poems. Write micro-poems. Just write. Remember that notebook you said would never see the light of day again? Well, it is time to start another one.

You've got to write a whole bunch of really, really—like, really —bad poems. Writing a bunch of bad poems is the best way to get to the good stuff, especially when exploring your poetic potential.

Sometimes getting to the good stuff won't take long, other times it could take hours. There might even be days where you don't write anything you love at the moment. We’re here to confirm the rumors are true: it’s just part of the writing process. The fun part is, you’ll end up crafting poems that even surprise yourself!

5. Experiment with Writing

This should probably be considered Step 4.5. A huge part of experimenting with different types of poetry means you just have to try it. Experiment with things like spoken word poetry, structure, and length. Try a haiku or a free verse poem. Fill up that notebook of poetry! Experimenting with poetry will help pave the path to a more concise personal writing style.

6. Find Your Writing Style

You have learned the basics of poetry. You’ve written some poems you’re obsessed with and some, well, you plan on re-visiting. You experimented with different forms and styles. Now, you can start to define your own poetic style.

Right now, micropoetry is trending. This style is known to be short, simple, and to the point. Are you having a hard time being blunt and to the point? Try using figurative language, metaphor, and imagery in your verse. Do your poems not fit in one style? Welcome to the club. Good news, there aren’t strict rules in poetry! Use it as a way to express yourself creatively and make it your own.

Pro tip: try out our Self-Discovery Workbook  for free! Packed with guided journals, prompts, affirmations, and more.

          View this post on Instagram                   What would happen if you discovered your deeper self? 🦋 Get @littleinfinitepoetry's free Self-Discovery Guide today via the link in our bio! 🙌 Full of guided journals, poetry prompts, and our favorite resources for self-discovery! ⬇️ 🔮 What is your favorite tool in the guide?!⁠ .⁠ ⁠ .⁠ ⁠ .⁠ ⁠ #littleinfinite #littleinfinitepoetry #poetryforlife #poets #writersofinstagram #selfdiscovery #selflovequotes #writerscommunity #poetryfoundation #poem #poetryislife #poetrycommunity #poetrylover #poetsofinstagram #poetry #poetryofinstagram #spokenword #selfdiscoveryquotes #poems #igwriters #poetrybooks #bookworm #modernpoetry #writer #instapoet #bookstagram #poetryinmotion #poetrygram #lovepoem A post shared by Little Infinite (@littleinfinitepoetry) on May 9, 2020 at 4:55pm PDT

7. Learn to Edit

Time to put on your editor’s blazer, this is where things come together. Whether you are editing one poem or a collection of 35 poems, editing is a magically crucial step.

Think of editing as polishing your poetry so it can shine brighter. The key to editing is time . How much time? It could be an hour or a day, this is personal to each occasion. Take a step away from your work, think on it, and re-visit with fresh eyes. When in doubt, phone a friend.

When you re-visit your work, consider questions like:

• Could your diction be more concise to convey the message the way you intend?
• Is the order of your poems (or lines) best organized to tell the story you want to tell?
• Should this line end here?

Wan t to learn more about poetry?  

Sign up for little infinite poetry’s VIP weekly newsletter, here. Each week you’ll get the latest in poetry, writing trends, book recommendations, free guides, and more straight to your inbox. When you're ready to share your poetry with the world, learn how IngramSpark's free guide: How to Self-Publish a Book .

little infinite is your go-to poetry lifestyle site that celebrates the intersection between classic prose and modern explorations of life through verse. Keeping you up-to-date with the evolving world of poetry and your favorite creators. little infinite's commitment to their readers is that their contributions to the community will be informed, well-crafted, and aesthetically-minded. To learn more about little infinite and what they offer, visit www.littleinfinite.com , or join them on social with a community of 45,000+ and growing!

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Whether you’re writing poetry for a class or as a hobby, it can be difficult to get started. Precisely how do you write a poem, and how to write a good poem at that? Do poems have to rhyme? How to write a free verse poem? The questions are endless, but the process is more or less the same.

So let’s unravel the art of poem-writing! We’ll tell you everything from how to start a poem to how to end one. But first, you’d probably want to go through our article on what a poem is , its elements, and its types. Now, let’s get started!

Enhance your poetry with an expert review! Learn more

Here’s how to write a poem:

• Read at least ten other poems
• List topics you feel passionate about
• Consider poetic form, but not too much
• Start writing, prioritizing sound
• Google synonyms, antonyms, and rhyming words
• Create original and striking imagery
• Use literary devices
• Choose an appropriate title
• Edit and proofread your poem

As you can see, this is a complete guide on how to write a poem for beginners. Let’s take an in-depth look.

1. Read at least ten other poems

All good poem writing comes from reading. If you want your poem to resonate with readers, you need to find out what resonates with you. Ideally, you should be a habitual reader of poetry. But if you’re writing a poem for class or tying it out as a hobby, try reading at least ten different types of poems . 

Here are some poems you should read as a beginner:

• The Sun Rising by John Donne (Metaphysical poem)
• In Kyoto… by Matsuo Basho (Haiku)
• Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare (Sonnet)
• I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth (Pastoral lyric)
• Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson (Lyrical poem)
• The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (Narrative poem)
• Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll (Nonsense poem)
• Howl by Allen Ginsberg (Free verse, “Beat epic”)
• Tonight by Agha Shahid Ali (Ghazal)
• Concrete Cat by Dorthi Charles (Concrete poetry)

Likely, you won’t understand many of these poems on the first read; most readers don’t. Read them three or four times and once you get the gist, look up their explanations. That’ll clear things up and show you the possibilities in every type of poetry.

2. List topics you feel passionate about

Do you want to know how to write good poetry? Know what you’re writing about. Your poem will ring hollow if you write from a shallow state of mind.

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” —William Wordsworth

Now, emotion is quite important in poetry, but your poem doesn’t always have to come from an emotional place. You should, however, care deeply about your topic. You can write a good poem only if the topic matters to you.

Here’s how you can narrow down some topics:

• Reflect on your life experiences, friendship, family, romance, joy, and heartbreak.
• Think about philosophy: What are your big existential questions?
• Observe plants, animals, and natural phenomena and document how they make you feel.
• Ponder upon the social issues around you.
• Try freewriting and journaling.
• If you want to challenge yourself, use poetry writing prompts .

3. Consider poetic form, but not too much

The type of poem you write can affect your poem-writing process. A haiku, for example, dwells on stark images whereas a limerick is likely to be funny. If you really want to try your hand at a concrete poem, your theme, word choice, and tone will change accordingly. Plus, some forms like sonnet or ghazal are inherently trickier than a haiku or free verse.

So, you should consider the poetic form you’d be most comfortable with. Make sure not to get caught up in the rules, though. Everyone’s creative process is different. Some poets thrive under the limits of form while others prefer the freedom of composition. Find what works for you and practice it a few times.

4. Start writing, prioritizing sound

Sound is incredibly important in a poem: It’s responsible for rhythm, which makes poetry pleasing to read. So when you begin to write, pay attention to how your words sound together. Try to create rhyming words, consonance, and assonance as you write. If you’re unsure about this, watch some poetry recitations online and compare them to written poems. This will help you “hear” the words as you write them down.

Consonance:

“Na r y a g r in g r inne d R u d olph R ee d ” — The Ballad of Rudolph Reed by Gwendolyn Brooks

“The lady is a s i ght

        a m i ght

        a l i ght” — Le sporting-club de Monte Carlo by James Baldwin

You’re probably wondering how to start a poem when you’ve never done it before. It’s simple, really: Just start! No one’s first attempt is Nobel-worthy, but that’s not the point. Simply focus on getting your words out as creatively as you can. If you happen to use a startling image or a tender metaphor while you’re at it, all the better!

It’s best to use pen and paper on your first try. It’s not only easier to organize your thoughts and cancel out lines, but also quicker. Plus, physical activity can help you focus better. 

Does poetry have to rhyme? No, poetry does not have to rhyme. Many poems achieve a musical effect through assonance alone while many others don’t have a musical effect at all. It all depends on your taste and preference while writing poems!

5. Google synonyms, antonyms, and rhyming words

As beginners, it’s difficult to find the right words for your poem. So it’s perfectly fine to use Google or other tools to look for rhyming words, synonyms, or homophones . Even seasoned poets sometimes have to google synonyms while writing poems!

Make sure you’re not asking an AI to produce a poem for you, though. That would defeat the purpose of the exercise! (Not to mention, AI-written poems lack originality, nuance, and soul.) But AI tools can be extremely useful while hunting for that slippery word that’s just the right fit in your line.

6. Create original and striking imagery

Imagery is the art of painting a picture using words, and you’re likely to do this in your poem without even realizing it. So pay attention to the images you create and make sure they’re not typical. This is quite important when learning how to write poetry for beginners. Images like a rose, the moon, and the nightingale are so overdone in poetry that they can cheapen your poem.

Depending on the tone and theme of your poem, imagery can even be jarring and disturbing. Here’s an example of how to write such a poem:

“What a thrill –

My thumb instead of an onion.

The top quite gone

Except for a sort of hinge

A flap like a hat,

Dead white.

Then that red plush.” — Cut by Sylvia Plath

Observe how Plath creates the original and raw image of the cut thumb. She uses metaphor (hinge of skin), simile (a flap like a hat), and color (dead white, red plush). You can also describe the senses of sound, smell, taste, and touch to create unique images.

So, make sure that the images you use are vivid and striking. Also, check whether they’re appropriate for your poem: Your images shouldn’t stick out for the wrong reason!

7. Use literary devices

Remember consonance and assonance? Those are literary devices or tools that make your writing more interesting to read. There are more of these, and you should use them in your poem:

Simile: Comparing dissimilar objects using “as” or “like”.

“O my Luve is like a red, red rose” — A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns

Metaphor: Comparing two objects by saying that one thing is another.

“‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers -” — “Hope” is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson

Personification : Giving human characteristics to non-human entities.

“The fog comes

on little cat feet.” — Fog by Carl Sandburg

Symbolism: Using symbols to depict ideas or qualities.

The raven in Edgar Allen Poe’s poem The Raven symbolizes the narrator’s descent into madness.

Oxymoron: Placing contradictory terms together.

“Parting is such sweet sorrow.” — Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Hyperbole: An exaggerated statement.

“Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay.” — The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope

Repetition: Repeating a word or phrase for impact.

“Break, break, break,

On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!” — Break, Break, Break by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Juxtaposition: Placing two things together for a direct comparison.

“Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.” — Fire and Ice by Robert Frost

Of all the tips on how to write a poem, this can be the toughest for beginners. In the beginning, using these poetic devices may come off as crafty or put-upon, but you’ll get better at it with practice. When in doubt, think of proverbs and adages: You’ll find the best figures of speech used naturally!

8. Choose an appropriate title

A poem deserves a fitting title; it’s sort of a crowning moment while writing poetry! If you’ve got a strong first line in your poem, you can just use that as the title. Another method is to use the central image, symbol, or theme of your poem as the title. You can even use an interesting line connected to your poem, so your title starts the poem before your first line does.

Whatever route you choose, the title of your poem should be impactful and fitting for the poem. Here are some great examples:

• Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong
• Wild nights – Wild nights! By Emily Dickinson
• The Language of Dust by Asotto Saint
• A Small Needful Fact by Ross Gay
• [Didn’t Sappho say her guts clutched up like this?] by Marylyn Hacker

9. Edit and proofread your poem

The biggest rule of editing any document is to leave it alone for at least a week. This way, you can come back to your poem with a fresh, (slightly more) objective perspective. If you spend this time reading, you’ll have many examples of how to use literary devices in a poem. Enriched with this new knowledge, you can examine your poem and improve it further.

Here’s a poetry editing checklist for your poem:

• Read your poem aloud. Can you improve its rhythm and sound?
• If you’ve followed a meter, count the syllables and check the stress pattern.
• Check line breaks and stanzas to see if the poem can be more impactful if it’s structured differently.
• Examine your word choice and try out variations and synonyms where you’re unsure.
• Check your images: Are they vivid? Are they appropriate?
• Ensure you aren’t using any cliches.
• Remove all spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors .

The last step can be tricky for new poets since you have to balance poetic license with readability. This is precisely where poetry editing services can step in, helping you refine your poem with expert advice. If you can’t hire an editor, seek feedback on your poem from family, friends, or teachers.

That’s about everything you need to know about how to write a poem! Now, start reading poems so you can start writing one. You can begin brainstorming and list down all ideas for poem writing. If you’d like some more writing tips, here are some resources that can help:

• What Is Show, Don’t Tell? (Meaning, Examples & 6 Tips)
• How to Write a Novel in Past Tense? 3 Steps & Examples

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i end a poem, how do i get started with writing a poem, how can i make a poem more rhythmic and musical.

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Written by A Guest Author June 27th, 2024

We’re Not Robots: Why AI Chatbots Can’t Replace Good Writing

by Fiona M Jones

I’ll always remember 2023 as the year when the manure hit the rotating blades with regard to AI-generated content.

For the first time, AI chatbots showed that they could produce, on demand, sentences and paragraphs in response to a given prompt. To all appearances, robots were writing articles, verses, narratives—and doing it a lot faster than human authors. Some writers felt genuinely threatened. Was AI about to render human authorship obsolete?

AI can beat humans on quantity of output, but can AI beat an experienced author on quality? Is there any real qualitative difference between material written by humans and content produced by AI apps? AI is speedier; AI is relatively accurate in the basic mechanics of text—spelling, punctuation, grammar. Of course AI will continue to improve in what it can churn out. But is there any realistic prospect of AI “improving” to a point where it becomes indistinguishable from the work of creative writers? Maybe you can imagine it. I can’t. 

The argument continues. As AI-generated content begins to crowd the Internet, many people say they find it hard to spot the difference. I’m surprised by this. As an experienced reader and literary writer, I can sense pretty quickly when I’m reading an AI-generated article, even if it is a short informational piece that doesn’t attempt too much. It has an eerie blandness about it—every statement just a little too obvious, every paragraph following on by word association rather than progression of ideas. Reading it feels like chewing cardboard.

And of course that’s precisely what it is: cardboard. The AI apps are not thinking or composing; they are merely pulping up ever larger volumes of whatever’s already been written, then rolling it out into grey and flavourless prose, uniform in tone and utterly lacking in flair or freshness.

As a living human being with a mind and imagination all your own, you are able to create something no AI can create (and I believe never will). You may have errors in your punctuation and plotholes in your stories, but your work is something individual, organic, original.

On the most basic level, here are some of the things you are doing that no AI can even approach to:

1. Humour. You can set up a disconnect between action and result, or between two characters’ expectations, in a nuanced and relatable way, giving your story a momentary shift from tension to laughter. AI can run through its word banks, sort words by pronunciation and parts of speech, and come up with a pun that has no resonance outside of itself.

2. Dialogue. You can make characters sound like real people, not because you have ingested large volumes of text, but because you are a real person yourself. Your various characters may each have their own vocabulary and speech mannerisms. You can work techniques such as “unreliable narrator”, in which one character’s expression of their partial point of view tells the reader more than any of the characters are aware. Meanwhile, an AI can search its word banks for common idioms or swap out “he will” for “he’ll” in order to follow an instruction to choose more informal language.

3. Rule-breaking. You know when a grammatically irregular construction will work in favour of what you’re trying to achieve—whether it’s humour, sadness or irony. If you’re writing a rhyming poem, you know where to suddenly break the pattern you’ve built up. If you’re writing an opinion-piece, you know how to deconstruct a common cliché in order to underline your point. AI, however, can only work according to rules. If you did program it to break rules in its sentences, the best it could do is to search through a list of common spelling errors and stick one in somewhere. It cannot break the rules with creative intent.

4. Character development. Real people are multi-dimensional in personality—complex, often self-conflicted, with nuanced motives and small cumulative changes of focus. Well-written fictional characters resonate with all of this. Have you ever found, when working on a story, that your characters seem to “take over”, forcing you to rethink your plot to accommodate their emerging interactions? I don’t think an AI entity is ever going to experience the problem of its fictional characters becoming too lifelike.

5. Reasoning. We may not think of ourselves as logical thinkers, but if you’re writing a persuasive essay, you instinctively aim to suit your appeal to your readership. You have a sense of what will be your weightiest argument, and where to position it within your piece. While AI is raking through secondhand material to string keywords into all the most standard assertions on the topic and all the most unexceptional conclusions, you will be giving personal illustrations and reasons for your beliefs.

6. The read-aloud quality. Not every new writer’s sentences flow like a river; not every novice poet’s lines fall trippingly off the tongue. But at least we are aspiring towards effective prose or well-conceived verse. When we read it aloud, we can feel whether we achieve this or not, and we can look for ways to improve. I cannot envision any way that AI could be made aware of the aesthetics of writing: the joy of reading well-written words, the visceral pleasure or displeasure of a syntactical jolt.

7. Freshness. New thoughts, new ideas, new points of view. Quirky takes, flights of fancy, original imagery. You can write things that haven’t been written before, because your mind is more than the sum of information fed into it. Even if you decide to jump off a literary allusion, you’ll find yourself diverting it, subverting its subtexts into something it hasn’t been before. An erasure poem using Robert Frost’s words, repurposed into a 21st-century ecological message, for instance? I’ve tried that (it’s somewhere deep inside someone’s publishing pipeline somewhere). Even using a patchwork of someone else’s words, you cannot help writing something that’s yours and not theirs. You cannot write the same piece someone else is writing, even if you’ve both read all the same books. You are not a robot; you are a unique entity; you have something to say that no-one else has.

This is not an exhaustive list. It’s a brief collection of examples: the things we do that make our writing our own. This is why I am not afraid that AI bots will take my place as a writer.

Bio: Fiona M Jones writes short-form fiction, CNF and poetry. Her published work is linked from her website, https://fionamjones.wordpress.com/ .

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THF Monthly Kukai — July 2024

• July 1, 2024

Tom Borkowski

• THF Monthly Kukai

    Welcome to the THF Monthly Kukai.

This month’s theme: green       Note: Anonymity is an essential part of any kukai. Please respect this to offer the reader (and voter) the opportunity to choose only the poem.

The THF Kukai Overview

A kukai is a (usually quite casual) poetry contest. The administrator of the kukai (that’s us) assigns a theme for a given writing period and posts to Troutswirl (The Haiku Foundation blog) on the THF site, which is then redirected outward through our various media outlets. Poets write work to this theme during the allotted time and submit it to the administrator. The work submitted is gathered into an anonymous roster and posted to Troutswirl (The Haiku Foundation blog) for public viewing. At that time all participating poets and other interested readers may vote for their favorites. Votes are tallied and the results made public. The top winners will be acknowledged each month, and offered their choice of prizes from a list compiled by the Foundation. Please remember that everyone who votes is a winner — the process of choosing your personal favorites is not just fun, but also one of the best ways to improve your own haiku practice!

Results of Last Month’s THF Kukai

theme: corn

In June there were 164 submissions from twenty-eight countries across four continents. One hundred three voters casting ballots determined the following results.

Before my comments on this month’s poems, I want to thank you for the kind words of welcome last month. It’s been a joy to see the creativity and range in responses to each month’s theme, and I look forward to reading your haiku in the months to come. — Bev First Prize   empty cornfield the scarecrow’s shadow growing longer — Neil Clarke (62 points - 4; 6; 3; 4; 1)   The purpose of scarecrows is to discourage crows and other birds from feeding on crops. When the cornfield is bare — all the corn harvested — it serves no purpose. Its day has passed. In this haiku, that passing is reflected not only in the bare field but also — and most effectively — in the lengthening shadow. Shadows change throughout the day and with the seasons. They're also more apparent when not obscured by ripening corn stalks. The long shadow in the last line deepens the autumnal feeling created in the first line.   Second Prize (tie)   buttered cobs . . . sinking our teeth into summer — Barrie Levine (55 points - 1; 8; 2; 5; 2)   What a delicious experience! Anyone who has tasted corn fresh from the field, slathered with butter, immediately gets this haiku. It is the epitome of summer, as the last line asserts. This haiku also brings multiple senses to bear: taste in the richness of the butter and the crunch of the corn; touch or a tactile response to the butter’s slickness (no one can eat corn on the cob without getting greasy fingers!); and sight in the golden yellows of butter, corn, and sun.   Second Prize (tie)   corn rows the hairstylist talks her ears off — Yvonne Cabalona (55 points - 3; 6; 3; 2; 3)   This made me laugh out loud. From what I understand, it can take hours to create or style a head of cornrows, carefully plaiting hair in patterns, close against the head. I imagine a young girl — perhaps her first time having it professionally done — a captive audience. But this could be any age. Having your hair done is a luxurious experience. What fills that time? Gossip, sharing life stories . . . and different hairstylists have different approaches to putting people at ease. Some are talkers, some draw their clients out. Also, I loved the wordplay here — corn rows call to mind ears of corn, which is picked up in that last line. Some would consider this a senryu rather than a haiku — either way, a witty and feel-good poem.   Second Prize (tie)   grandpa’s funeral the cornfield murmurs in the wind — Melissa Leaf Nelson (55 points - 6; 2; 3; 4; 0)   This is a gentle and moving haiku. After the emotional tug of the first line, it draws on our senses: we hear the soft sound of wind through the corn and feel the easy embrace of the breeze. I can imagine that the grandpa of this haiku was a farmer, that this was the land he worked. His passing is a loss, but the wind and the fields are reassuring to those who remain.     Honorable Mentions   corn tassels a bush warbler’s song rides the sunbeams — Mona Bedi   Can a bird’s song ride a sunbeam? I am willing to make the leap to that surprising last line. It’s a dazzling, brilliant day, with corn tassels reflecting the sun’s light and the brightness of the bush warbler’s song.   blues sung along the railroad tracks cornflowers — Eavonka Ettinger   This is a very evocative haiku, working on many levels. Cornflowers are blue, they grow easily, and they are resilient. Blues music has a long lineage that includes work/field songs, as well as songs of migration, melancholy, and yearning. I can imagine masses of sturdy blue flowers lining the train tracks, a fitting setting for the blues.   butter on corn the pitch of a salesgirl — Ravi Kiran   Another buttered corn haiku, but with a twist — here it is juxtaposed with a salesgirl’s spiel. The tempting taste of butter calls to mind the slick and easy words of the young woman’s sales pitch.   out of the corn stalks nobody’s dog wants to be my friend — Randy Brooks   A strange dog appears suddenly at the edge of a corn field, wagging its tail. This poem had me at the second line: “nobody’s dog” is such a moving way to describe an animal looking for a friend.

Beverly Acuff Momoi is THF Monthly Kukai Commentator. She is an award-winning poet and author of how the wind sighs and Lifting the Towhee’s Song . From 2019 to 2021 Beverly served as a panelist for the Touchstone Distinguished Book Awards .

Writing for The Haiku Foundation Monthly Kukai

On the first day of each month The Haiku Foundation will announce the kukai theme for that month. This theme should be the topic of your poem, and may be stated (by using the theme word or words) or implied. Form may be traditional (three-line, 5-7-5) or free (various numbers of lines and/or syllables). Season words ( kigo ) may or may not be used at the poet’s discretion. A poet may submit one poem per theme. All poems must be the original, unpublished work of the author. In order to maintain the spirit and fairness of the kukai, a poem that has appeared anywhere with its author’s name cannot be allowed for submission.

Please use the Kukai submission form below to enter your poem, and then press Submit to send your entry. No other submissions will be recognized or honored. Once a poem is submitted it cannot be revised. All poems must be signed (that is, no “anonymous” poems will be accepted, and the Submit button will not be available until both Name, Email, and Place of Residence fields are filled in). Poets will not receive acknowledgment of their submissions. Poems will be accepted from the announcement of the theme through midnight of the 15th of that month. All poets are eligible to participate. Administrators of the kukai are ineligible to submit poems. Your submission form to us should look something like this:

line one followed by line two and then line three or this poem is all in one line or jjjjjjjjjjj kkkkkkkkkk lll mmmmm [all lines right-justified] If your poem has special formatting requirements you should note them as in the third example above.

Kukai submission

• Name * First Last
• Place of Residence *

Good luck, and have fun!

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The best poetry books of 2024 so far

Our Poetry Book of the Month reviews include an extraordinary posthumous collection from Gboyega Odubanjo and JH Prynne’s unlikely lullabies

July : Adam by Gboyega Odubanjo

Adam is Gboyega Odubanjo’s first full-length book of poetry. As far as I know, unless there is another completed manuscript waiting to be published, it will be his last until a collected poems is put together, which ought to happen sooner rather than later. Born in east London in 1996, Odubanjo died last August aged 27 , in the midst of revising Adam for publication. In it, he tells both the few known actual facts and the imagined facts of the story of “Adam”, birth name unknown, a boy between four and eight years old, whose dismembered body was found in the Thames on September 21, 2001. 

A prefatory poem, “The Garden”, serves as both a stage-setting and a reckoning – “your uncle’s adam. your mother – adam floating. your cousin – adam bleeding in the masquerade”, Odubanjo writes. A few pages later, the title poem “Adam” begins “first and foremost thank you to the coast”, going on to thank “ceremony”, “tradition” and the Thames, addressing each directly, as if these things were the poem’s audience. 

In this way, it positions the reader as a spectator to a performance – an observer of the “masquerade”. And the varied poems that follow act as a kind of masquerade; rather than a single continuous narrative, or a straightforward character study, they give us a series of glimpses – “The Many Adams of Adam” (as one poem’s title puts it).

Because we know almost nothing about Adam, if he is to be remembered, he must first be imagined. Adam the book is a performance of Adam the child, a writing of that child into posthumous being. And if Adam must be performed, something like a history of immigration to the UK must be performed as well, since Adam – who is believed to have come from Benin City, Nigeria – here becomes a symbolic figure, one connected to every arrival. In “The Garden”, “arrivals… [are] greeted with cups of river / and given a week to change their names to adam”. 

To that end, a few pages after “Adam” the poem, one encounters what seems to me the strongest poem in a book full of strong poems, “A Potted History of East”, a dramatic monologue which seems to encapsulate the East End’s long history of immigration (“in the beginning. / it was a gush of us and we came from all over”). It concludes:

is this where eden is. where the sun rises. developers calling it barcelona on thames now. council say dagenham leo is alive and well. it’s cold as chips but the ice cream van is still going off and we’re laughing. we never unpacked. so far east it’s west to another man. no bells here. still we move. almost back where we left now.

Even though he was just getting started, Odubanjo was already a master of making poetry out of speech. One hears a living voice in these lines – one overhears the speaker on the next bench, say, as one checks one’s phone – but it is never a voice that sounds as if it were trying to say a poem. Add or remove a word, and the lines would lose their colloquial flow, and the whole would be weakened. 

That’s how you know the lines are poetry, though they don’t call attention to themselves as such. Though they’re aching and joyful and beautiful and final all at once, they’re still grounded in everyday life. The lyrical question “is this where eden is” comes immediately after a deadpan observation – “someone’s left their lamb leg in the pub again”. 

Odubanjo’s art was – and is, in the never-ending presentness of his book – an art of the impossibly perfected everyday. He makes a person who speaks poetry a real person, a person with whom the reader yearns. But Adam grants its readers extraordinary perceptions throughout – it’s a light, keeping visible a story too likely to fade from view, and making more visible a poet who must be read. SMC

Shane McCrae’s latest poetry collection is The Many Hundreds of the Scent . Adam is published by Faber at £12.99. To order your copy for £10.99 call 0808 196 6794 or visit Telegraph Books

June : Poems 2016-2024 by JH Prynne

There’s a squib by James Fenton that runs “Jeremy Prynne, Jeremy Prynne, isn’t your oeuvre rather thynne?” It was already a hostage to fortune in 2001, when Fenton composed it – Prynne’s oeuvre was expanding slowly but steadily, a short text every other year or so. The collected Poems of 2015 ran to a hefty 688 pages, the work of 30 years. Now, in a massive new volume collecting some 36 recent pamphlets, this has been more than doubled.

J H Prynne’s work is difficult, but (unlike the work of many other difficult poets) it is not at all cryptic. There’s no sense of meaning being withheld or obscured; nothing cries out for elucidation. It doesn’t mean, in that sense, at all, and if instead of getting annoyed by it you allow yourself to be swept away, it is buffeting and exhilarating, not at all like any other poetry in the world. Instead of being cryptic it’s resistant, undercutting sentence by sentence or word by word anything you could find to say about it.

Prynne taught at Cambridge for many years, and part of his work’s strangeness might be traced back to the Practical Criticism element of the English syllabus there, brought in by I A Richards, which involves analysing anonymised poems from any genre or era. “Stock responses”, critical clichés or ready-made opinions were Richards’s particular bugbear, and Prynne’s poetry is Teflon to them; more than any other poetry I know, when you read Prynne you are on your own.

At its best it is like being given a back-door key into the language. Here’s the opening to “Inshore Horizon”:

On line beside the sea quietly, once is enough to match up to relish famous skies, the harbour clear and evenly displayed. Flowers of sulphur, salt caught in sunlight shone across dark lift canopies, distant voices indistinct…

The gorgeous lyric voice combines with shimmery grammatical uneasiness – there are several possible resolutions of the grammar, depending on whether “canopies” is noun or verb. More often, syntax is no guide at all, and the lines jump spark-like from word to word: “Bit brittle bract ruffle backup, chieftain tic / fat chance advance blind guess invested” is a typical beginning. The connections are sonic rather than syntactic – at his most obscure Prynne still moves at a tearing pace, there is no sense of wallowing.

Like the work of other modernist poets, all Prynne’s work has involved collage in one form or another, often of ­elements too small to be detected. (Bloodaxe’s recent edition of Prynne’s long 1983 poem The Oval Window carefully elucidates all its sources: they include Times editorials, programming manuals, textbooks on optics and articles from the Cambridge Evening News.) 

This practice is continued throughout the more recent work, but there are also many echoes and borrowings that the lay reader will find more familiar. Nursery rhymes, especially, have become central; in the 2020 collection Orchard, featur­ing 25 poems each named after a different fruit, “Here we go round the mulberry bush” gets quarried and transformed:

ripe to shake to fallen spread here go round bush like tree way, foolhardy off piste silken sleeve woven mull sheen motile mulatto mercy be eristic fit cold and frosty, trusty merry ultimate branch age seize rich colourant fool

Other poems Prynne-ify “The Owl and the Pussycat”, the ballad of “Molly Malone”, and (memorably and unexpectedly) “Just One Cornetto”. A whole book, 2021’s Snooty Tipoffs, is made up of improvised rhymes, lullabies and children’s songs – all of which are both recognisably Prynne’s work and could be enjoyed by very young readers. I’ve tested some of the lullabies on my own daughter with great success.

As with the earlier Poems, this is a book that rewards many different directions of approach. “The way, forward step-fast, / hand by clue in hand”, he writes; “step-fast”, I think Prynne’s own coinage, conjoins “quick-step” and “steadfast” (pivoting on the English contranym “fast”, meaning both rapid and fixed): we are moving forward quickly, but with our hearts in it. And “...hand by clue in hand” is likewise two phrases grafted together, “hand in hand” and “by clue”, “clue” with its original meaning of “ball of thread”, the thread that led Theseus out of the labyrinth. 

The whole sentence, the final sentence of the final poem of the 2018 collection Or Scissel, gives an account of how to read what’s come before: to move forward through it wholeheartedly and rapidly, without getting bogged down, in communion with the author while at the same time working our way out of something; the same author who built the labyrinth has at least given us the thread. JC

John Clegg’s latest poetry collection is Aliquot . Poems 2016-2024 is published by Bloodaxe at £35 in hardback, and £30 in paperback. To order your copy call 0808 196 6794 or visit Telegraph Books

May : The Strongbox by Sasha Dugdale

There has been so much recent poetry inspired by ancient Greece that I’ve wondered whether there’s anything left to say about the myths at all. Alice Oswald’s Nobody (2019) drew on her beloved Homer; Anne Carson’s H of H Playbook (2021) was a wildly inventive translation of Euripides’s Herakles; Fiona Benson’s Ephemeron (2022) deftly retold the Minotaur myth.

I always approach these collections with some trepidation. I’m not so clued up on the myths, and fit into a trend Andrew Motion has said he’s noticed in his students: that as the years go by, he increasingly has to explain what a poem’s classical references meant. 

It’s a relief, then, that Sasha Dugdale doesn’t expect readers to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Homer. Like her last collection, 2020’s Deformations, her sixth volume The Strongbox is heavily inspired by Greek mythology, but draws on easily recognisable figures (Helen, Paris, Cassandra), and with playfulness, not impenetrability. It’s an ambitious work, with 14 sections ranging from reimaginings of Helen of Troy to the rape of Europa by Zeus. 

That 14-part structure isn’t as much of a “strongbox” as it looks on the contents page: the narrative thread keeps threatening to escape. “Narrative appals me,” Dugdale writes, “To lay such details out in print / I want to let it wander off the page / But it can only be as it is.”

She has fun with transposing mythological characters to our modern world; the Fates become “three old women” weaving by the “shapeshifting beam of the telly”, while a retelling of the myth of Persephone slips from beautiful lyricism – “Let me exist underground with the iris / slowly opening my pale hands” – to tabloid-esque headlines: “THE DOWNFALL OF A DIVA … DARK TRUTH A MOTHER HID FROM THE WORLD.”

The first section, “Anatomy of an Abduction”, however, feels directly drawn from our world. “With the sun / appearing over the plane wing”, an abducted girl bears strong resemblance to the Isis bride Shamima Begum, “sitting bolt upright / phrasebook on her lap”. As she tries to get inside the girl’s head, Dugdale’s off-rhymes (thanks/phalanx, marriage/hostage) have an appropriately violent feel in the mouth: 

did she offer prayers of thanks  did she pass between childhood and marriage like a hostage thrown from one phalanx onto the sand. 

In her academic life, Dugdale is a translator of Russian and Ukrainian literature, and the “troops” and “drones” that follow feel particularly close to our current moment.

Other sections are more absurd, often told in the form of playscripts: Helen recounts to Paris her dreams; Hermes washes up in our world and is spoken to by a trippy, Keatsian “pair of livid lips”; Menelaus and his wife Helen have an odd arithmetic class. It’s all part of Dugdale’s rejection of narrative as the only means to tell a story, but this experiment might occasionally lose some readers. She pulls off the point better when she directly addresses it, as when an am-dram group gathers in the second section, this “early stage in the rehearsal process”, to decode the first.

Dugdale is at her best when she writes about memory and déjà vu, “the aching sense … Like water / she has been here before”. What if, The Strongbox asks, all our mistakes are just iterations of previous stories, and women like Begum are in some sense successors of Helen? Consider this one beautiful stanza:

And is remembering merely the sudden exposure of a dream? As when the border guard drags film from the camera’s body—is recall the fatal undoing of the sealed?

Such philosophical questions can only be asked sparingly. Another poet might have tried to unify the disparate parts of this collection by deploying more of them, but it’s good that Dugdale didn’t. There can only be a few echoes before a poem becomes lost in its own reverberating cave. It’s this restraint and carefulness that makes Dugdale’s work as strong as its title. LT

April : The Palace of Forty Pillars by Armen Davoudian

Isfahan – currently in the news as the target of Israeli missile strikes – is home to some of Iran’s greatest architectural jewels, among them the misleadingly named “Palace of 40 Pillars”. It has only half that many. The other 20 are an optical illusion, reflections floating in the lake it faces.

There’s a similar architectural sleight-of-hand to Armen Davoudian’s first book. The contents page lists 20 poems, but the title-poem turns out to contain 20 sonnets all on its own – and some of the best I’ve read in quite some time. The book is filled with mirrors and doubles, recurring images (swans abound), divided halves and unusual perspectives.

It’s a reflective collection in every sense; Davoudian looks back on his childhood in Iran, his Armenian family’s history, and a sexual awakening, from the distance of his new life in America. One sonnet begins by describing his grandfather in Iran, before a poignant shift in perspective reveals that he’s only looking at a framed photo: “I mist the glass and clean / away last summer’s promise to return / the coming summer. I’m always going back / on going back.” 

Yes, a bunch of who-I-am-and-where-I-come-from poems: so far, so typical for a debut. But as with all good poetry, what matters isn’t so much what is said as how it’s said. And here the how perfectly matches the what, through the formal devices Davoudian deploys, both in his stanzaic forms – the rubaiyat, the ghazal – and line-by-line, where half-rhymes and subtle metrical effects show a good ear that’s only matched by his good nose. (“Saffron Rice” wryly contrasts the “rosewater” worn by a group of “eligible girls” with “the mulish reek / of stiff-necked single young men gangling // over the tittering crowd for O a glimpse / of that one’s ankle”). 

The first sonnet from the “Forty Pillars” sequence begins: 

Twenty pillars drip into the pool their likenesses, where the likeness of a boy wavers among the clouds, eyeing the boy who’s waiting for another. All is dual: two rows of roses frame the pool, in twos the swans glide, each on another’s breast, then fuse in a headless embrace. 

Isn’t there something wickedly audacious about rhyming “boy” with “boy”? The reflection in the water becomes an exact repetition, while the image of one boy looking at another echoes his poems elsewhere about same-sex desire. Throughout, there’s a sense of wanton pleasure in language. Just listen to the line he summons up to describe walking on a Persian rug: “Redundant roses kiss our sockless feet.”

In one sonnet, his car-mechanic father “bends under the open hood, comes up // twenty years younger in another shop.” Davoudian’s not above nicking a good move, in this case from Seamus Heaney. It’s a nod to “Digging”, and Heaney’s father, whose “straining rump among the flowerbeds / Bends low, comes up twenty years away”. 

Davoudian wears his literary loves on his sleeve. Heaney is joined in his personal pantheon by the sometimes dandyish, sometimes devastating formalism of James Merrill (he replicates the intricate stanza-form of Merrill’s “The Black Swan”); the 20th-century ghazals of Mehdi Hamidi Shirazi (he translates one); and late Auden , who here shares a page, perhaps for the first time, with Osama bin Laden (Davoudian mentions both in a sonnet about “my ill-matched countries”). 

One breathless cover-blurb calls this book “formally radical”, which is ridiculous. Aside from the odd gimmick (such as a lipogram written using only the letters of the word “pomegranate”), what’s striking is how un -radical it is.  Davoudian writes almost exclusively in traditional metres. The opening poem adopts a form you’d have been more likely to find poets using in Donne’s day: quatrains of rhyming couplets, alternating between three-, four- and five-beat iambic lines in a fixed pattern. Out of the 30 or so poetry collections published this April which I’ve leafed through so far, Davoudian’s is the only one making hay with metrical patterns in this way.

Why is this so rare? Perhaps there’s some kind of stigma attached to it. “Form has become such a bête noire that I don’t even like calling it that,” Davoudian has said. He prefers the term “music”. A generation ago, it was a cliché that America – Land of the Free – was by necessity Land of the Free Verse, too. But that’s changing: you couldn’t make a list of great poets living in the US today that omitted the form-fixated Shane McCrae and Terrance Hayes .

Here on the Telegraph Poetry Desk – turn left at the washrooms, ignore the mice – we often receive letters asking why, or sometimes “why oh why”, poetry “doesn’t rhyme and keep a beat any more”. Those correspondents might be pleased to learn that much of the best recent poetry does. Rhyme, complex fixed forms such as the sonnet corona, and the unkillable iambic pentameter are making a minor comeback – and, intriguingly, particularly in the work of poets with one foot in another land or language. 

You can add Davoudian’s name to a list that includes AE Stallings (American, writing in Greece) and Kayo Chingonyi (born in Zambia, writing in England). In his gentler, Heaneyish moments, Davoudian’s style has much in common with Zaffar Kunial , whose work nods to his parents’ regional dialects (English Midlands and Pahari-Potwari). 

Davoudian previously wrote in Farsi, and has published a book of translations from Persian. In one sonnet, he recalls his younger self finding a sensual, even sexual enjoyment in a bilingual facing text (another kind of mirror-image): “When I close the book, two tongues touch.” Poets can sometimes be insular creatures, so it’s always refreshing to find one reading and writing across cultures, open to other perspectives. In a 2022 interview, Davoudian said:

Every poetic tradition is bound to tie itself up in ridiculous parochial debates that just pass you by, decade by decade. You know, ‘Is it morally alright to write in other people’s voices, or use similes, or write in metre?’ And then you read in another tradition, and it often turns out these are not questions essential to the art. They seem that way from the inside, but they’re not. TFS

Tristram Fane Saunders’s debut poetry collection is Before We Go Any Further . The Palace of Forty Pillars is published by Corsair at £10.99. To order your copy call 0808 196 6794 or visit Telegraph Books

March : After You Were, I Am by Camille Ralphs

If there’s one art form which ought to be proudly out of step with the zeitgeist it is poetry. I might go further and call this a duty: stripped of commercial concerns, poetry is at its best when it pursues the artist’s vision as idiosyncratically as possible. Still, in debates about the state of poetry, we often hear from a loud faction of authoritarian formalists who are only happy when attacking contemporary verse for its lack of discipline or metric principle, even while their own work tends towards moralistic doggerel. It’s refreshing, then, to encounter in Camille Ralphs a boldly formalist technician whose poetry is innovative, whose phrasing sings. Ralphs is exceptionally skilled in prosody, but it’s worn lightly, or outweighed by an urgent artistry. 

It’s a rare debut collection today that dares to be difficult, to be theologically complex, to be theological at all. Yet After You Were, I Am showcases an ambition, seriousness and wit that make it strangely timeless – one feels it could have been published in any era and be worthy of a readership.

Its first section, “Book of Common Prayers”, rewrites canonical devotions from sources as diverse as Job, St Augustine and Rumi, and does so with a rare panache and integrity. A poem titled “after Mechthild of Magdeburg” takes off from the 13th-century German mystic’s rhapsodic ode to the Almighty, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more seamless and beautiful combination of neologism and anachronism: 

O arch as high as Maslow’s hierarchy, O I-wide-eye, surround-soundness of oh what’s happened this time, yet O timeless bigtime, day that lasts forever and a day,  O, you, beforehand of all forehands

I’m in awe of the effect, not so much a collage as an entirely new creation in reaction to the old.

What sets this work apart is that Ralphs manages to be irreverent and reverent at the same time; alive to the fact that we can’t really have one without the other. If the wordplay is something of a motif it never becomes tired – and wordplay was, after all, good enough for the Metaphysicals. For Ralphs, a pattern of speech is a pattern of thought is a pattern of being. Her poems crack words open, spoonerising and subverting our proverbs and buzz-phrases to ask: what are we really saying? A careful and stricken theology emerges, perhaps best summed up in “after St Francis of Assisi”: “cursed are we who know it’s hard to save the world from everyone who wants to save the world.”

The middle section, “Malkin”, dramatises the 1612 Pendle witch trials in a series of lyrical monologues. The narrative of condemnation and murder by the state comes through in terrifying fragments of speeches under duress, with period-appropriate inconsistencies of spelling and syntax, a wild language yet to crystallise: 

I felt the valleys shrunc to gutters cloggd  wth sky I saw a hare uneating embers  in th tumbledown of darck and the rains spalling  the Heavens as I stolle a littl lamb

It’s impeccably researched, and avoids familiar territory or historical cosplay in favour of a layered, linguistic intensity. “Malkin” is about rumour, calumny, the exploitation of the weak to curry favour with the whims of those in power. Ralphs doesn’t point out crass parallels in our own time, and doesn’t need to: the voices of the dead (all of our voices, in time) persist in our supposedly rational age. We cannot deny our place in historical atrocities because they’re part of why we’re here; they’re in our dictionaries, our language, our thought. “Oh what’s happened this time”, indeed.

The collection concludes with “My Word”, a jaw-dropping evocation of Dr John Dee, chief astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, drawing on his own “spiritual diary” of his somewhat quixotic mission to discover the true Word. Again, this is challenging stuff (I expect the most erudite reader will still be thankful for the notes), but intellectually generous enough to show us a good time in recreating an era of gravely serious magic, when metaphysical ambition had a place in the civil service: “he who knew annihilation’s knothing, in a daisy is the daye’s eye, / flattened”. It’s impossible to do it justice in less than a dissertation, but – as with this whole collection – I expect to be re-reading it for years to come. LK

Luke Kennard’s poetry collections include Cain and Notes on the Sonnets . After You Were, I Am is published by Faber at £12.99. To order your copy for £10.99 call 0844 871 1514 or visit Telegraph Books

February : Wrong Norma by Anne Carson

The literary world – well, the bit of it on X/Twitter – had a small conniption recently. One American poet claimed that another’s unrhymed, unmetered sonnets were “not poetry”, merely “prose”. According to the site, their spat drew the attention of a quarter of a million people, far more than will ever buy either writer’s books.

Why does the “Is this a poem?” debate still get people so worked up? Everyone agrees Anne Carson is a poet – to some, the greatest living poet – and her poetry is often in prose. In 40 years of publications, she has consistently answered “yes, both” to either/or questions: fiction or nonfiction, prose or verse, translation or original writing. Her books include verse novels, a poem-essay on Proust, a comic-book version of a Greek tragedy, and a bundle of pamphlets designed to fall out of their box onto the floor in a random order.

Now comes Wrong Norma: reassuringly book-shaped on the outside, 200 pages of uncategorisable “pieces” on the inside, united only by the fact they’re all somehow uncompromisingly intelligent while being effortlessly readable, and – a word critics don’t often use about Carson – fun.

“The pieces are not linked. That’s why I’ve called them wrong,” Carson is quoted as saying on Wrong Norma’s back cover. (Weird, an author who blurbs herself.) “Not linked” is either a fib or a failing. Ideas and characters recur in a way that’s intriguing if by design – it must be – but would be unthink­ably sloppy if by mistake. “Eddy”, in an early short story of that name, feeds his pet crow toast, and analyses bloodstains professionally. So, too, does the unnamed narrator seeking revenge on gangsters in “Thret” – a blackly comic study in unease. ( Martin McDonagh should film it.) Surely he’s Eddy. Then again, the chap in “Thret” is paranoid, and it’s a story filled with doubles, so who knows?

“An Evening with Joseph Conrad” begins with the poet seeing a man in an elevator who looks a bit like Conrad. Its four pages name-drop (among others) Hardy, Euripides, “the Gorkys”, Eugene Lyons, Goethe, Freud, the poet HD, Achilles and Lacan, who’s quoted in French. This should be insuffer­able, but miraculously isn’t. What sticks with you aren’t the allusions, but the warm, thoughtful voice, and the witty phrasemaking – ­Conrad’s “virtuosic goatee”, congregants in church “sat packed like teeth”, piles of sliced bread “as white as its own piety”.

There’s some sombre work here, including a powerful piece about Faisal bin Ali Jaber, a Yemeni engineer whose law-abiding relatives were killed in 2012 by US drone strikes. (Carson keeps returning to his case; she published a poem about him in The Telegraph last year.) But there’s also a silly streak. “Lecture on the History of Skywriting” is narrated by the sky, who picks up the phone to Beckett’s Godot (“Rusty” to friends, and those friends include Yoko Ono). The silliness doesn’t always gel: in “Getaway”, a woman’s “weekend getaway” takes place inside a honey­comb, a surreal conceit that feels patched-on, rather than fully integrated into the piece. 

But Carson’s jokes aren’t just jokes. There’s a lightly worn authority behind them, an honesty: you can be funny and serious. “I have a sense most grief is also deeply and horribly humorous but we’re not supposed to say so.” Grief and wordplay work together in “Snow”, one of the most poignant pieces. It’s a quintessentially Carson-ish ­balance of thought and feeling. In it, she recalls struggling to write a lecture about “the idea of the university” in the week of her mother’s death. Memories of the latter blur with lecture notes, thoughts on the Bible, storytelling, etymology: “Forbidden by her doctor from her nightly glass of Armagnac she’d taken to dabbing it behind her ears. The word ‘idea’ comes from ancient Greek, ‘to see’.” Few writers are better at capturing how the mind can flit between four things at once.

“Down the road from the summer cottage of my friend Stanley Lombardo is a farm where emus and llamas graze,” Carson writes. “Llamas are stately, with an air of deep comedy, and larger than they seem.” Are these poems, stories, essays, philosophy? No – Anne Carson is a writer of llamas. TFS

Wrong Norma is published by Jonathan Cape at £14.99. To order your copy for £12.99, call 0844 871 1514 or visit Telegraph Books

January : Top Doll by Karen McCarthy Woolf

On her death in 2011, at the age of 104, the reclusive heiress Huguette Clark left behind an estate worth more than $300 million – and a vast collection of dolls, one of which ended up in the hands of the poet Karen McCarthy Woolf. The latter gives it, and dozens of its big-eyed companions, a fictionalised voice in her third book, a verse novel as eccentric as Clark herself.

If you want a straight account of Clark’s life, there are biographies; Atonement’s Joe Wright is adapting one for TV. In Top Doll, Clark is only glimpsed, a silent, pitiful enigma shuffling from room to room, her elderly face disfigured by “carcinoma-nasty” (as the dolls call it). Her toys, by contrast, won’t shut up, nattering in a cacophonous mix of dialects and verse styles as they prepare for Clark’s departure for “the hospital”.

Miss Ting speaks in Jamaican patois; Lady Mamiko glides between prose and haiku; the Barbies all boast in abecedarians, a silly, irritating poetic form exactly suited to them. They’re all stock types, apart from the anxious, bossy, distractible Top Doll, simply known as “Dolly”, who pipes up in sonnets with runs of skewed half-rhyme (“chandelier” and “derrière”, “Rockefeller” and “America”), in a Franglais voice halfway between Miss Piggy and the TV meerkat: “This is maximums accurate blurbs!”

Well, you don’t expect verisimilitude from a bunch of mass-produced air-headed dolls. Their lives, meanwhile, include rather more sex and drugs than you might imagine, and internecine intrigue, with a tangled subplot involving double-crossing and a heist of cherry-blossom powder (used for make-up, but also snorted as dollkind’s version of cocaine). But aside from Dolly, “myopic in her loyalties” and poignantly obsessed with protecting her “maman”, their love-triangles and machinations for the powder can feel insubstantial. 

Despite McCarthy Woolf’s impressive way with verse forms, the most compelling parts are prose passages narrated by a 19th-century doll, the General, which give us something resembling a plot, via his recollections of his owners’ lives, including the enslaved plantation girl for whom he was originally made, who survives sexual abuse, runs away, and eventually becomes Lt Col Custer’s cook.

Top Doll is a strange picaresque, with its main players all trapped in one New York apartment. What does it all add up to? I’m not sure, but I’ve not read anything quite like it. And to ask for more than that would be “maximum ungratefuls” – as Dolly would say. TFS

Top Doll is published by Dialogue at £20. To order your copy for £16.99, call 0808 196 6794 or visit Telegraph Books

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