Quid Pro Quo by Paul Mariani
‘Quid Pro Quo’ by Paul Mariani is a confessional poem that narrates a speaker’s anger and frustration at God subsequent to his wife’s second miscarriage.
The Great Society by Robert Bly
Published in Robert Bly’s award-winning collection, The Light Around the Body (1967), ‘The Great Society’ satirizes the set of domestic programs launched by Democratic President Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964-65 by presenting contrasting imagery from contemporary American society.
Two Women by Marcus Wilcox
‘Two Women’ by Marcus Wilcox is a thoughtful and complex poem about identity. The speaker spends the text discussing the lives of two different women.
Middle Passage by Robert Hayden
‘Middle Passage’ by Robert Hayden is a narrative poem written in the 1940s. It describes the happenings of the Atlantic Slave Trade, as told from the perspective of several white narrators.
Sonnet 150 by William Shakespeare
‘Sonnet 150,’ also known as ‘O! from what power hast thou this powerful might,’ explores the ways the Dark Lady controls Shakespeare’s speaker. She makes him love her even though she’s cruel to him
Don’t kill yourself today by Hannah Dains
‘Don’t kill yourself today’ by Hannah Dains is a thoughtful and powerful poem about suicide. The poet explores all the reasons someone has to stay alive and expresses her love for those struggling with depression.
I Am! by John Clare
‘I Am!’ by John Clare is a powerful poem about a speaker’s struggle with depression, loneliness, and a desire to find peace in Heaven.
Standing Female Nude by Carol Ann Duffy
‘Standing Female Nude’ by ‘Carol Ann Duffy’ speaks on the roll of the artist model in the studio of a unfeeling painter who sees her only as a means to an end.
No worst, there is none by Gerard Manley Hopkins
‘No worst, there is none’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins describes the nature of a speaker’s depression and its highs and lows.
Unprofitableness by Henry Vaughan
‘Unprofitableness’ by Henry Vaughan is an extended conceit presenting a speaker’s unsuccessful efforts to thank God for his fresh and rejuvenating visits.
After Reading ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ by Robert Louis Stevenson
‘After Reading Antony and Cleopatra’ by Robert Louis Stevenson describes humankind’s unquenchable desire for “hopeless things” that stem from the past.
I Cannot Live With You by Emily Dickinson
‘I cannot live with You’ by Emily Dickinson is a poem about marriage. The speaker spends the lines declaring why she can’t “live with you” and her various related concerns.
Futility by Wilfred Owen
Despite Wilfred Owen’s prodigious writing, only five poems were ever published in his lifetime – probably because of his strong anti-war sentiment, which would not have been in line with British policy at the time, particularly in their attempt to gather rather more and more people to sign up for the war.
Counter-Attack by Siegfried Sassoon
‘Counter-Attack’ is perhaps Siegfried Sassoon’s longest poem that describes a failed counter-attack on the German line. From the very first stanza, a sense of hopelessness lurks in this poem.
