Poetry

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25 Classic Love Poems to Share on Valentine's Day

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Singing the Old Songs: Traditional and Literary Ballads

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Handed Down Through the Generations: Classic Nursery Rhymes

Poetry
The Latest in Poetry
Yeats' Last Poem Writes His Epitaph
The last poem by William Butler Yeats, "Under Ben Bulben," writes his epitaph and urges us to pursue an artistically integrated spiritual reality.
Lord Randall Tells a Tale of Poisoning
The border ballad "Lord Randall" tells the tale of a noble young man poisoned by this lover. This song has inspired artists such as Bob Dylan.
A Poem of the Last of the Picts
Robert Louis Stevenson's poem Heather Ale tells of the last of the Picts in Scotland, with a poetic refusal to divulge the secret of making the drink.
Maud Gonne: Irish Patriot Who Inspired Yeats to Write "No Second Troy"
This is the story of Maud Gonne, the Irish patriot who inspired Yeats's famous poem "No Second Troy".
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The Scottish Bard, Rabbie Burns
A biographical profile of Robert Burns, the national bard of Scotland and forerunner of the British Romantic poets.
Robert Burns portrait, 1785 engraving - FPG/Taxi Collection/Getty Images
Rabbie Burns and the Scots Language - The Vernacular Revival
A brief history of the Scots language, its subjugation and sublimation into standard English, and Robert Burns’ blending of Scots into English in his poetry, part of the “Vernacular Revival” in the 18th century.
Jumbled letterpress characters - Clint Hild/E+ Collection/Getty Images
Typos, Misprints and Broken Lines: Considering How Poems Get Mangled
Considering how poems get mangled in the move from poet’s notebook to printed book, from typed manuscript to computer screen, from paper book to e-book.
Pearls shine - Margarita Komine/Moment Collection/Getty Images
Emily’s Pearls Still Shine in the 21st Century - Reading her 19th century poems today
Emily Dickinson’s poems did not partake of the public life of her own day, yet contemporary readers cannot help but be struck by their breathtaking relevance to current events in the 21st century.
Emily Dickinson daguerrotype, c. 1847 - Original is in the Amherst College Library, Archives & Special Collections
Emily Dickinson in Photographs - Do we need to see the poet's face to understand the poems?
Until recently there was only one known photographic image of Emily Dickinson’s face, a single daguerreotype of the demure “Belle of Amherst” at the age of 16. In 2012, a second picture was revealed, a view of Emily at 30, her demeanor mature, confident and direct, sitting with her friend Kate Scott Turner.
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Amy Lowell - American Imagist, Formidable Eccentric, Oddball Modernist
A biographical profile of Amy Lowell, who was born into a prominent New England family, essentially educated herself and became a truly independent woman, Imagist poet, critic and biographer of Keats.
Belknap Press (Cover image courtesy of Pricegrabber)
Liu Xiaobo - Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is a poet in prison
A reference page on Liu Xiaobo, Chinese poet, literary critic and activist for democracy and free speech, who was imprisoned in 2009 and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.
Solitary figure in winter landscape, Bristol, England - James Osmond/Photolibrary/Getty Images
Sylvia Plath - Dazzling Brilliance, Maddening Sorrow, Young Motherhood and Suicide
Winter thoughts on the fate and the lingering influence of Sylvia Plath, the effect of her voice preserved after death, and the “Last Letters” between her and Ted Hughes, which came to light only after his death. Plath was born on October 27th, and she committed suicide on February 11th—between those two dates lies the heart of winter, the season that brings her always to mind.
Gerard Manley Hopkins - Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Gerard Manley Hopkins - The oddball Jesuit who invented “sprung rhythm”
Hopkins is known as the poet of “sprung rhythm,” a form of prosody based on speech—and his poems fairly demand to be spoken, rolled around in your mouth and throat.
Spirits of the Dead by Edgar Allan Poe
Halloween Poems: “Spirits of the Dead” by Edgar Allan Poe (from Tamerlane and Other Poems, 1827)
The Vampire by Conrad Aiken
Halloween Poems: “The Vampire” by Conrad Aiken (from Earth Triumphant, And Other Tales in Verse, 1914)
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