Poetry Archives

Introduction Why Poets Write About War You may also enjoy: Patriotic and Heroic War Poems “The Charge of the Light Brigade” — Alfred, Lord Tennyson I Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death    Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!” he … Read more

Introduction Why Poets Write About Freedom You may also enjoy: Political and National Freedom “Concord Hymn” — Ralph Waldo Emerson By the rude bridge that arched the flood,    Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood    And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept; … Read more

Introduction Why Poets Write About Friendship You may also enjoy: Celebrating Friendship “A Time to Talk” — Robert Frost When a friend calls to me from the roadAnd slows his horse to a meaning walk,I don’t stand still and look aroundOn all the hills I haven’t hoed,And shout from where I am, What is it?No, … Read more

Introduction Why Poets Write About Motherhood You may also enjoy: Poems of Maternal Love “To My Mother” — Edgar Allan Poe Because I feel that, in the Heavens above, The angels, whispering to one another, Can find, among their burning terms of love, None so devotional as that of “Mother,” Therefore by that dear name … Read more

Introduction The following famous poems about time reflect on its passage, its power, and the human desire to endure beyond it. Time and Mortality you may also enjoy: Sonnet 60 (“Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore”) — William Shakespeare Like as the waves make towards the pebbl’d shore, So do our minutes … Read more

Introduction Philosophical Reflections on Meaning You may also enjoy: O Me! O Life! — Walt Whitman Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring, Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish, Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?) Of … Read more

Introduction Classic Poems About Death You may also enjoy: The Raven — Edgar Allan Poe Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—     While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at … Read more

Introduction Why Poets Write About Life Famous Poems About Life You may also enjoy: “O Me! O Life!” — Walt Whitman Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring, Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish, Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, … Read more