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Poetry Guides
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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 ...
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...
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...
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...
A Woman Speaks
by Audre Lorde
American poet and activist Audre Lorde's "A Woman Speaks" celebrates the unique power of Black women's voices while also lamenting their underrepresentation. The poem argues that Black women have a...
November Cotton Flower
by Jean Toomer
The sonnet "November Cotton Flower" appears in Jean Toomer's experimental collection Cane (1923). The book mixes poetry and prose, chronicling the experiences and histories of Black Americans in bo...
Mutability
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
"Mutability" is English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley's reflection on the power of change. Change is the only thing in the world that doesn't change, the poem suggests, and people get thrown a...
Howl
by Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" (1956) is the best-known poem produced by the literary movement called the Beat Generation—not to mention one of the most controversial and influential poems of the 20th cen...
Telegraph Wires
by Ted Hughes
"Telegraph Wires" was published in Ted Hughes's 1989 collection Wolfwatching. The poem examines the complex relationship between humankind and technology. On the one hand, the speaker seems to cons...
From Blossoms
by Li-Young Lee
The American poet Li-Young Lee published "From Blossoms" in his 1986 collection, Rose. In the poem, the speaker revels in the simple yet ecstatic experience of eating peaches bought from a roadside...
Mutability
by William Wordsworth
"Mutability" is William Wordsworth's reflection on the inevitability (and beauty) of change. Nothing in the world lasts forever, the poem argues, and "dissolution" and decay can be shocking. But th...
The Pride of Lions
by Joanna Preston
"The Pride of Lions" by the Australian poet Joanna Preston was first published in The Best Australian Poems (2005) and later collected in Preston's 2009 book The Summer King. The poem explores what...
Cat and Mouse
by Ted Hughes
In Ted Hughes's "Cat and Mouse," a mouse hopes to make a break for freedom but doesn't, for fear of being eaten by a cat. That predicament, the poem suggests, isn't just the mouse's: every living c...
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...
A Woman Speaks
by Audre Lorde
American poet and activist Audre Lorde's "A Woman Speaks" celebrates the unique power of Black women's voices while also lamenting their underrepresentation. The poem argues that Black women have a...
November Cotton Flower
by Jean Toomer
The sonnet "November Cotton Flower" appears in Jean Toomer's experimental collection Cane (1923). The book mixes poetry and prose, chronicling the experiences and histories of Black Americans in bo...
Mutability
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
"Mutability" is English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley's reflection on the power of change. Change is the only thing in the world that doesn't change, the poem suggests, and people get thrown a...
Howl
by Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" (1956) is the best-known poem produced by the literary movement called the Beat Generation—not to mention one of the most controversial and influential poems of the 20th cen...
Telegraph Wires
by Ted Hughes
"Telegraph Wires" was published in Ted Hughes's 1989 collection Wolfwatching. The poem examines the complex relationship between humankind and technology. On the one hand, the speaker seems to cons...
From Blossoms
by Li-Young Lee
The American poet Li-Young Lee published "From Blossoms" in his 1986 collection, Rose. In the poem, the speaker revels in the simple yet ecstatic experience of eating peaches bought from a roadside...
Mutability
by William Wordsworth
"Mutability" is William Wordsworth's reflection on the inevitability (and beauty) of change. Nothing in the world lasts forever, the poem argues, and "dissolution" and decay can be shocking. But th...
The Pride of Lions
by Joanna Preston
"The Pride of Lions" by the Australian poet Joanna Preston was first published in The Best Australian Poems (2005) and later collected in Preston's 2009 book The Summer King. The poem explores what...
Cat and Mouse
by Ted Hughes
In Ted Hughes's "Cat and Mouse," a mouse hopes to make a break for freedom but doesn't, for fear of being eaten by a cat. That predicament, the poem suggests, isn't just the mouse's: every living c...
A Woman Speaks
by Audre Lorde
American poet and activist Audre Lorde's "A Woman Speaks" celebrates the unique power of Black women's voices while also lamenting their underrepresentation. The poem argues that Black women have a...
November Cotton Flower
by Jean Toomer
The sonnet "November Cotton Flower" appears in Jean Toomer's experimental collection Cane (1923). The book mixes poetry and prose, chronicling the experiences and histories of Black Americans in bo...
Mutability
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
"Mutability" is English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley's reflection on the power of change. Change is the only thing in the world that doesn't change, the poem suggests, and people get thrown a...
Howl
by Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" (1956) is the best-known poem produced by the literary movement called the Beat Generation—not to mention one of the most controversial and influential poems of the 20th cen...
Telegraph Wires
by Ted Hughes
"Telegraph Wires" was published in Ted Hughes's 1989 collection Wolfwatching. The poem examines the complex relationship between humankind and technology. On the one hand, the speaker seems to cons...
From Blossoms
by Li-Young Lee
The American poet Li-Young Lee published "From Blossoms" in his 1986 collection, Rose. In the poem, the speaker revels in the simple yet ecstatic experience of eating peaches bought from a roadside...
Mutability
by William Wordsworth
"Mutability" is William Wordsworth's reflection on the inevitability (and beauty) of change. Nothing in the world lasts forever, the poem argues, and "dissolution" and decay can be shocking. But th...
The Pride of Lions
by Joanna Preston
"The Pride of Lions" by the Australian poet Joanna Preston was first published in The Best Australian Poems (2005) and later collected in Preston's 2009 book The Summer King. The poem explores what...
Cat and Mouse
by Ted Hughes
In Ted Hughes's "Cat and Mouse," a mouse hopes to make a break for freedom but doesn't, for fear of being eaten by a cat. That predicament, the poem suggests, isn't just the mouse's: every living c...
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