Song of the Powers
by David Mason
Published in 1996, in David Mason’s award-winning collection, The Country I Remember, ‘Song of the Powers’ uses a children’s game, “stone, paper, scissors,” in order to comment on the futility of power.
The Butterfly and the Bee
by William Lisle Bowles
‘The Butterfly and the Bee’ is a children’s poem written by the English poet William Lisle Bowles. This poem contrasts the life of a bee and that of a butterfly.
Methought I heard a butterfly
Say to a labouring bee:
'Thou hast no colours of the sky
On painted wings like me.'
The Hour is Come
by Louisa Lawson
‘The Hour is Come’ offers a heroic view of womanhood and celebrates those who are willing to fight for their rights and beliefs.
The Past is such a Curious Creature
by Emily Dickinson
‘The past is such a Curious creature’ by Emily Dickinson focuses on the past, and personifies it as a female character. The poet’s speaker puts the feeling of one’s past into a few simple, relatable words.
The past is such a curious creature,
To look her in the face
A transport may reward us,
Or a disgrace.
The Peninsula
by Seamus Heaney
‘The Peninsula’ is a beautiful and affirming poem that uses the imagery of the coast to represent the difficulties of artistic creation.
The Road
by Nancy Fotheringham Cato
‘The Road’ is simultaneously a thrilling car journey at night and a deeply personal mediation on time, humanity and the natural world.
The Sick Rose
by William Blake
‘The Sick Rose’ by William Blake describes the loss of a woman’s virginity through the metaphor of a rose and invisible worm.
O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:
Witness
by Eavan Boland
‘Witness’ is a thoughtful contemplation on the nature of memory, identity and guilt in the context of Boland’s Dublin.
