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He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven
"Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, I would spread the cloths under your feet." A beautiful, wistful love poem.
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O Captain! My Captain!
Whitman's tribute poem to Abraham Lincoln, memorably recited by John Keating in the movie, Dead Poets Society.
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The Road Not Taken
A celebrated poem that explores the theme of choice through the metaphor of diverging paths in a forest. The speaker contemplates a fork in the road, reflecting on the uncertainty and consequences of decisions, ultimately acknowledging that the path taken has shaped his life, even as the two roads were actually quite similar.
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Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." Frost's most beloved poem, a quiet meditation on duty, temptation, and the pull of rest against life's obligations.
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Fire and Ice
Frost takes the end of the world and makes it weirdly intimate—will we go out in fire (desire) or ice (hate)? Frost gives the question of the apocalypse a brilliant treatment, approaching it like a casual dinner conversation, weighing destruction with the same tone you'd use to debate coffee versus tea. The poem's just nine lines, but that final verdict will stay with you.
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Mending Wall
Two neighbors meet each spring to repair a stone wall between their properties. One keeps asking 'why do we even need this?' while the other just repeats his father's old saying, 'Good fences make good neighbors'—which is where that famous expression comes from. But the speaker questions whether it's true at all, and suddenly you're reading a poem about whether we build walls out of wisdom or just stubborn habit.
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To the Spring. Or of the Fables of the Ancients.
"Say, O gentle Spring, canst thou this icy heart inspire, and melt, that in the bloom of youth, the frost of age hath felt?"
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Pastoral
"The little sparrows hop ingenuously about the pavement quarreling with sharp voices over those things that interest them."
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Because I Could Not Stop for Death
One of Dickinson's most celebrated poems for its symbols, imagery, and imperfectly rhyming quatrains.
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Do not go gentle into that good night
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light." Dylan Thomas' powerful villanelle confronting death with fierce defiance.
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Paris in Spring
"But the rain-drops still are clinging and falling one by one. Oh, it's Paris, it's Paris, and spring-time has begun."
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A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever
"Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness; but still will keep a bower quiet for us, and a sleep full of sweet dreams..."
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The Song of Hiawatha
"Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple, who have faith in God and Nature, who believe that in all ages every human heart is human, that in even savage bosoms there are longings, yearnings, strivings."
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Chuang Tzu and the Butterfly
"Chuang Tzu in dream became a butterfly, and the butterfly became Chuang Tzu at waking. Which was the real-- the butterfly or the man?"
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When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom'd
Whitman wrote this poem in 1865, juxtaposing Lincoln's death with Spring's bursting forth of life and renewal.
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The Walrus and the Carpenter
This memorable poem is recited by Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Through the Looking Glass.
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Jabberwocky
"'Twas brilling, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe..." [It's just fun to read aloud!]
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The More Loving One
Auden confronts indifference by the Universe: "If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me."
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The Raven
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary..." Poe's masterpiece of gothic poetry follows a grieving man haunted by a mysterious raven that speaks only one word: "Nevermore." The hypnotic rhythm, internal rhyme, and mounting dread set the standard for atmospheric horror in verse. This is the poem that made Poe famous overnight and remains one of the most recited works in American literature.
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The Song of Wandering Aengus
Yeats offers vivid hyperbole and the literary devices, and explore the relationship between poetry and music.
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Hope Is the Thing with Feathers
"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul..."
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Invictus
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." A powerful poem of resilience and unconquerable spirit. Henley wrote "Invictus" in 1875 while recovering from a severe illness and amputation, lending its words unique authenticity and power. The poem's four quatrains detail an unwavering refusal to be bowed by hardship.
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Acquainted With The Night
Frost walks us through a city at night, completely alone, and there's something quietly devastating about it. The whole poem moves with this restless, circular energy—he borrows Dante's rhyme scheme, which tells you something about the weight he's carrying. Some students may identify with the restless solitude that is often part of the transition to maturity and adulthood.
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Little Women (poem)
As in Little Women, one of Louisa's sisters died. "Four sisters parted for an hour, none lost, one only gone before, made by love's immortal power, nearest and dearest evermore."
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The Battle Hymn of the Republic
What became the most popular song for the Union during the Civil War, Howe wrote the acclaimed lyrics, "Mine eyes have seen the glory" after an inspiring visit with President Lincoln in 1862. Includes Johnny Cash recording, featured in Civil War Songs
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The Minstrel Boy
"But his harp belongs to the brave and free, and shall never sound in slavery!" This popular Irish folk song written after the Irish Rebellion of 1798 was revived during the American Civil War with a new third verse. Featured in Civil War Songs
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Big Grand Coolee Dam
"She heads up the Canadian Rockies where the rippling waters glide, comes rumbling down the canyon to meet that salty tide."
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First Fig
"My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night." In just four lines, Millay captures the defiant joy of living intensely, even recklessly. This tiny poem became an anthem for the Jazz Age and remains a touchstone for anyone who's ever chosen passion over prudence.
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In Flanders Fields
"In Flanders fields the poppies grow between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky the larks, still bravely singing, fly scarce heard amid the guns below."
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The Charge of the Light Brigade
"Their's not to reason why, Their's but to do and die, Into the valley of Death."
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The Second Coming
"Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer, things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
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Perplexed Music
"Experience, like a pale musician, holds a dulcimer of patience in his hand, whence harmonies we cannot understand."
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Paul Revere's Ride
"Listen, my children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere..." is a poem that canonized this legendary event in history.
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Nothing Will Die
This metaphysical verse will cheer you up after reading his last one, The Charge of the Light Brigade.
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I, Too, Sing America
Hughes launched jazz poetry during the Harlem Renaissance and shed light on the black experience between 1920 to 1960.
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Song of Myself
One of the most influential and greatest poems of all times, from Whitman's collection, Leaves of Grass. Enjoy our helpful Study Guide
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Ozymandias
"Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Shelley's iconic sonnet uses a shattered statue of Ramses II to expose the irony of power and pride. A traveler describes a crumbling monument in an empty desert—all that remains of a king who once commanded empires. The poem's meditation on impermanence has made "Ozymandias" synonymous with the hubris of tyrants.
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Ode to the West Wind
"O WILD West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, pestilence-stricken multitudes!"
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There Will Come Soft Rains
One of Teasdale's best known poems about nature's resilience after the Great War's destruction. "Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, if mankind perished utterly."
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To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time
You know this one from Dead Poets Society: "Gather yee rosebuds while yee may..." A carpe diem theme poem.
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Song: Go and catch a falling star
A metaphysical poem chalk-full of spiritual metaphors.
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Each and All
The transcendalist who wrote the essay, Self-Reliance offers this poem steeped in nature, "Beauty through my senses stole; I yielded myself to the perfect whole."
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In Praise of Solid People
"O happy people! I have seen no verse yet written in your praise, and, truth to tell, the time has been I would have scorned your easy ways."
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New Hampshire
Frost's poem won the Pulitzer Prize in 1924.
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How Do I Love Thee?
Remember that Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd spoof? Here's the source: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."
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All the World's a Stage
This oft-quoted sonnet is excerpted from Shakespeare's comedy, As You Like It.
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My Heart and I
Barrett's poems are described as a fresh, strange music. She expresses her love and loss of her dear friend, and coming to terms with her own imminent death.
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Sonnet 73
Each quatrain artfully applies different metaphor to the experiences of growing old.
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A Shropshire Lad - II - Loveliest of Trees
A lovely poem marking the seasons of pastoral beauty compared to fleeting youth and growing old.
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Doubt No More That Oberon
A tribute to the king of the fairies, Shakespeare's character in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
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A Day of Sunshine
It's one of those days that makes you feel exhilarated! "I feel the electric thrill, the touch / Of life, that seems almost too much."
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She Walks in Beauty
One of England's greatest poets and leader of the romantic movement, Byron composed this piece in 1813 after being mesmerized by a lady dressed in black at a ball, his cousin by marriage.
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Our Country
"Let Justice with the faultless scales hold fast the worship of they sons."
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A Nameless Grave
"A soldier of the Union mustered out," is the inscription on an unknown grave in Newport News, Virginia.
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Daybreak
You may not think of Jack London as a poet, acclaimed for The Call of the Wild and man versus nature themes; which makes this tender poem an unexpected treat.
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Ebb Tide
"To the empty beach at ebb tide, bare with its rocks and scars, come back like the sea with singing, and light of a million stars."
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When You Are Old
"When you are old and grey and full of sleep..." Yeats' tender meditation on love, aging, and the passage of time.
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Magdalen Walks
Wilde's poem simply "pops" with the joy of the Spring!
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The River Merchant's Wife
Li Bai wrote and Ezra Pound skillfully translated this poem rich in allegory, metaphor and symbols. A must read.
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A Poem of Changgan
Written from the voice of an 8th century Chinese woman, Bai juxtaposed images to convey emotions.
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A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
This is a metaphysical poem you should know, John Donne's finest.
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Song of the Witches
Three witches make an evil potion with poisoned entrails, toe of frog, fillet of fenny snake, while chanting: "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble."
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Goblin Feet
"They are fading round the turn, where the glow worms palely burn, and the echo of their padding feet is dying!"
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Ultimately
"He tried to spit out the truth, dry mouthed at first..."
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We Grow Accustomed to the Dark
A powerful poem using the end-of-the-day as a metaphor for life's struggles.
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A November Night
The imagery of lights and love are simply elegant.
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A Pinch of Salt
"When a dream is born in you with a sudden clamorous pain, when you know the dream is true and lovely, with no flaw nor stain..."
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The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Imagine a man so trapped in his own thoughts that every glance, every word, feels like a test he's doomed to fail. T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is the anthem of overthinkers—a haunting, witty portrait of a man paralyzed by self-doubt in a world that demands confidence. With coffee spoons, masks, and mermaids, Eliot captures the ache of wanting to live fully but never daring to step forward. It's a poem that speaks to anyone who's ever asked, "Do I dare?"—and hesitated.
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Ode on a Grecian Urn
The biggest of Keats' "odes": "Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
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I Taught Myself to Live Simply
The acclaimed Russian modernist poet, having survived a totalitarian regime, offers verses to keep us from "superfluous worry."
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I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
You can almost see those daffodils fluttering and dancing in the breeze with Wordsworth's skillful similes!
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Winter in the Boulevard
"Their abundant summery wordage silenced, caught in the grim undertow; naked the trees confront implacable winter's long, cross-questioning brunt."
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The World is Too Much With Us
An environmentalist's cautionary tale: "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours;..."
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Dreams
"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly."
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Let America Be America Again
"O, let my land be a land where Liberty is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, but opportunity is real, and life is free, equality is the air we breathe."
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The Waste Land
Considered one of the most influential modernist poems of the twentieth century for its cerebral, sparse, and haunting vision of society after the First World War. "I will show you fear in a handful of dust."
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Awake! Young Men of England
The author of 1984 was an activist committed to democratic socialism, and is credited with introducing the terms "cold war," "thought police," and "big brother." What was his intention with this poem?
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A Little Poem
Orwell's poem provokes social commentary, "It is forbidden to dream again; We maim our joys or hide them;..."
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The Rape of the Lock
This mock-heroic poem diffused an actual feud between two aristocratic families subject to the Test Act, which imposed harsher penalities on non-Anglicans.
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Bless God, he went as soldiers
Though her work was most intense and prolific during the Civil War, she rarely wrote explicitly about it. There's no ambiguity in this poem's references.
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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Read where these expressions came from: "having an albatross around one's neck" and "water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink."
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I Cannot Live Without You
Her similes and metaphors are so riveting; giving the impression of straddling between life and death.
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If
Kipling offers such a large body of work; this poem offers provocative "if" statements: "If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken / Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,..."
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A Dream Within a Dream
Poe's metaphysical reality is worth pondering: "All that we see or seem / Is but a dream within a dream."
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The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver
Millay's poem won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, along with Eight Sonnets.
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Love and Friendship
Bronte, author of Wuthering Heights, offers similes using the wild rose-briar and the holly-tree to contrast the endurance of both types of relationships.
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A Poison Tree
Author of Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, you don't want to be Blake's foe in this poem.
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To the Friend of My Youth: To Kitty
This may be Chopin's final poem, a lovely tribute to an enduring friendship.
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Paradise Lost
The granddaddy of them all is last, Milton's ten thousand lines of verse, published in ten books, in which he justifies the existence of God and man.
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