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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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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When Do Poems Arrive? A Moment’s Inspiration at Twilight, or a Cultivated Morning Routine?
Do poems come as a flash of inspiration in the dark, or even in sleep, that must be seized upon immediately and captured in words that very moment? Or are they the result of a cultivated routine of writing, spurred by exercises and prompts, requiring the poet to sit down every morning and write? What time of day do poems arrive?
My November Guest by Robert Frost
Autumn Poems: “My November Guest” by Robert Frost (from A Boy’s Will, 1915)
October by Robert Frost
Autumn Poems: “October” by Robert Frost (from A Boy’s Will, 1915)
God's World by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Autumn Poems: “God’s World” by Edna St. Vincent Millay (from Renascence and Other Poems, 1917)
Liu Xiaobo & other dissidents on banner at protest rally, 2010 - Alex Wong/Getty Images News
Poets Imprisoned for Speaking Out - Some contemporary poets whose poems or public speech put them in jail
Way too many news stories in recent years have featured poets being thrown into jail in government attempts to suppress their poems, or to punish the authors for speaking out. Here are some of the contemporary poets whose poems or public speech put them in jail.
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