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in Just-
by E. E. Cummings
E. E. Cummings's "in Just-" celebrates the thrills, pleasures, and subtle dangers of spring—both the literal season and the symbolic time of life. Childhood, in this free verse poem, has a lot in c...
Design
by Robert Frost
Robert Frost's "Design," first published in a 1922 anthology of American poetry, reflects on the argument that the complexity of the world proves that a supernatural creator (i.e., God) must have d...
The Darling Letters
by Carol Ann Duffy
"The Darling Letters," by British poet Carol Ann Duffy, is about the way that relationships may change over time and how people often hang on to emblems of past love long after things have ended. T...
in Just-
by E. E. Cummings
E. E. Cummings's "in Just-" celebrates the thrills, pleasures, and subtle dangers of spring—both the literal season and the symbolic time of life. Childhood, in this free verse poem, has a lot in c...
Design
by Robert Frost
Robert Frost's "Design," first published in a 1922 anthology of American poetry, reflects on the argument that the complexity of the world proves that a supernatural creator (i.e., God) must have d...
The Darling Letters
by Carol Ann Duffy
"The Darling Letters," by British poet Carol Ann Duffy, is about the way that relationships may change over time and how people often hang on to emblems of past love long after things have ended. T...
Living in Sin
by Adrienne Rich
"Living in Sin" is an early-career poem by Adrienne Rich, first published in The New Yorker in 1954 and later collected in The Diamond Cutters and Other Poems (1955). It depicts a young woman "livi...
in Just-
by E. E. Cummings
E. E. Cummings's "in Just-" celebrates the thrills, pleasures, and subtle dangers of spring—both the literal season and the symbolic time of life. Childhood, in this free verse poem, has a lot in c...
Design
by Robert Frost
Robert Frost's "Design," first published in a 1922 anthology of American poetry, reflects on the argument that the complexity of the world proves that a supernatural creator (i.e., God) must have d...
The Darling Letters
by Carol Ann Duffy
"The Darling Letters," by British poet Carol Ann Duffy, is about the way that relationships may change over time and how people often hang on to emblems of past love long after things have ended. T...
Living in Sin
by Adrienne Rich
"Living in Sin" is an early-career poem by Adrienne Rich, first published in The New Yorker in 1954 and later collected in The Diamond Cutters and Other Poems (1955). It depicts a young woman "livi...
The Collar
by George Herbert
The British poet George Herbert first published "The Collar" in his famous 1633 collection of devotional verse, The Temple. In this autobiographical poem, a clergyman rages against all the limitati...
Siren Song
by Margaret Atwood
"Siren Song" is a poem by the Canadian poet and novelist Margaret Atwood. Told from the perspective of a siren—a half-woman, half-bird creature from Greek mythology whose singing lures sailors to t...
Living in Sin
by Adrienne Rich
"Living in Sin" is an early-career poem by Adrienne Rich, first published in The New Yorker in 1954 and later collected in The Diamond Cutters and Other Poems (1955). It depicts a young woman "livi...
The Collar
by George Herbert
The British poet George Herbert first published "The Collar" in his famous 1633 collection of devotional verse, The Temple. In this autobiographical poem, a clergyman rages against all the limitati...
Siren Song
by Margaret Atwood
"Siren Song" is a poem by the Canadian poet and novelist Margaret Atwood. Told from the perspective of a siren—a half-woman, half-bird creature from Greek mythology whose singing lures sailors to t...
Rite of Passage
by Sharon Olds
Published in The Dead and the Living in 1984, Sharon Olds's "Rite of Passage" is a poem about the roots of male violence. The poem's speaker, the mother of a boy in first grade, observes the aggres...
Sympathy
by Charles Mackay
The Scottish poet Charles Mackay's "Sympathy" is a fable-like poem with a strong moral lesson. The speaker, suffering from illness and poverty, receives help from two different people: a "proud man...
The Canonization
by John Donne
John Donne's witty, punny, passionate "The Canonization" was first published in his posthumous 1633 collection, Poems. The poem's speaker, a middle-aged man who has fallen deeply in love, tells a m...
Desert Places
by Robert Frost
"Desert Places" can be read both as a meditation on humanity's isolation in the grand scheme of the cosmos and as a reflection of the speaker's personal loneliness. This speaker, traveling at night...
The Planners
by Kim Cheng Boey
Singaporean-Australian poet Boey Kim Cheng's "The Planners" suggests that ceaseless expansion and development may cost a country its very heart and soul. The poem's speaker, disillusioned with the ...
Life Doesn't Frighten Me
by Maya Angelou
The American poet Maya Angelou's "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" was first published as a picture book (illustrated by the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat) in 1993. In this poem, a little girl claims that ...
Rooms
by Charlotte Mew
Charlotte Mew's "Rooms" is a weary look back at a life of confinement and discontent. Its speaker recalls a series of rooms they've lived in, providing either no detail or gloomy details about each...
Amoretti XXX: My Love is like to ice, and I to fire
by Edmund Spenser
"My Love is like to ice, and I to fire," also known as "Amoretti XXX," is number 30 in Edmund Spenser's 1595 sonnet sequence about his courtship and marriage to Elizabeth Boyle. In this poem, the s...
Head of English
by Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy's "Head of English" satirizes the dreary conventionality of a lot of poetry teaching (and poetry teachers). This dramatic monologue's speaker, the conservative old head of the Engli...
The Collar
by George Herbert
The British poet George Herbert first published "The Collar" in his famous 1633 collection of devotional verse, The Temple. In this autobiographical poem, a clergyman rages against all the limitati...
Siren Song
by Margaret Atwood
"Siren Song" is a poem by the Canadian poet and novelist Margaret Atwood. Told from the perspective of a siren—a half-woman, half-bird creature from Greek mythology whose singing lures sailors to t...
Rite of Passage
by Sharon Olds
Published in The Dead and the Living in 1984, Sharon Olds's "Rite of Passage" is a poem about the roots of male violence. The poem's speaker, the mother of a boy in first grade, observes the aggres...
Sympathy
by Charles Mackay
The Scottish poet Charles Mackay's "Sympathy" is a fable-like poem with a strong moral lesson. The speaker, suffering from illness and poverty, receives help from two different people: a "proud man...
The Canonization
by John Donne
John Donne's witty, punny, passionate "The Canonization" was first published in his posthumous 1633 collection, Poems. The poem's speaker, a middle-aged man who has fallen deeply in love, tells a m...
Desert Places
by Robert Frost
"Desert Places" can be read both as a meditation on humanity's isolation in the grand scheme of the cosmos and as a reflection of the speaker's personal loneliness. This speaker, traveling at night...
The Planners
by Kim Cheng Boey
Singaporean-Australian poet Boey Kim Cheng's "The Planners" suggests that ceaseless expansion and development may cost a country its very heart and soul. The poem's speaker, disillusioned with the ...
Life Doesn't Frighten Me
by Maya Angelou
The American poet Maya Angelou's "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" was first published as a picture book (illustrated by the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat) in 1993. In this poem, a little girl claims that ...
Rooms
by Charlotte Mew
Charlotte Mew's "Rooms" is a weary look back at a life of confinement and discontent. Its speaker recalls a series of rooms they've lived in, providing either no detail or gloomy details about each...
Amoretti XXX: My Love is like to ice, and I to fire
by Edmund Spenser
"My Love is like to ice, and I to fire," also known as "Amoretti XXX," is number 30 in Edmund Spenser's 1595 sonnet sequence about his courtship and marriage to Elizabeth Boyle. In this poem, the s...
Head of English
by Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy's "Head of English" satirizes the dreary conventionality of a lot of poetry teaching (and poetry teachers). This dramatic monologue's speaker, the conservative old head of the Engli...
Rite of Passage
by Sharon Olds
Published in The Dead and the Living in 1984, Sharon Olds's "Rite of Passage" is a poem about the roots of male violence. The poem's speaker, the mother of a boy in first grade, observes the aggres...
Sympathy
by Charles Mackay
The Scottish poet Charles Mackay's "Sympathy" is a fable-like poem with a strong moral lesson. The speaker, suffering from illness and poverty, receives help from two different people: a "proud man...
The Canonization
by John Donne
John Donne's witty, punny, passionate "The Canonization" was first published in his posthumous 1633 collection, Poems. The poem's speaker, a middle-aged man who has fallen deeply in love, tells a m...
Desert Places
by Robert Frost
"Desert Places" can be read both as a meditation on humanity's isolation in the grand scheme of the cosmos and as a reflection of the speaker's personal loneliness. This speaker, traveling at night...
The Planners
by Kim Cheng Boey
Singaporean-Australian poet Boey Kim Cheng's "The Planners" suggests that ceaseless expansion and development may cost a country its very heart and soul. The poem's speaker, disillusioned with the ...
Life Doesn't Frighten Me
by Maya Angelou
The American poet Maya Angelou's "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" was first published as a picture book (illustrated by the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat) in 1993. In this poem, a little girl claims that ...
Rooms
by Charlotte Mew
Charlotte Mew's "Rooms" is a weary look back at a life of confinement and discontent. Its speaker recalls a series of rooms they've lived in, providing either no detail or gloomy details about each...
Amoretti XXX: My Love is like to ice, and I to fire
by Edmund Spenser
"My Love is like to ice, and I to fire," also known as "Amoretti XXX," is number 30 in Edmund Spenser's 1595 sonnet sequence about his courtship and marriage to Elizabeth Boyle. In this poem, the s...
Head of English
by Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy's "Head of English" satirizes the dreary conventionality of a lot of poetry teaching (and poetry teachers). This dramatic monologue's speaker, the conservative old head of the Engli...
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