Permanently
by Kenneth Koch
‘Permanently’ by Kenneth Koch is a poem that compares the speaker’s love to the part of speech they view as the most essential.
Love Poem
by Gregory Orr
‘Love Poem’ by Gregory Orr is a short poem about a speaker’s imaginative telling of asking for someone’s phone number.
My True Love Hath My Heart
by Philip Sidney
‘My True Love Hath My Heart’ by Sir Philip Sidney is a Shakespearean sonnet. It captures the intensity and depth of two people who experience love at first sight.
A Thunderstorm In Town
by Thomas Hardy
‘A Thunderstorm In Town’ by Thomas Hardy presents two contrasting scenes: the dry interior of a carriage and the havoc of a thunderstorm outside. But the powerful imagery and symbolism mainly illustrate a memory of lovelorn regret by the speaker.
A Dream Girl
by Carl Sandburg
‘A Dream Girl’ by Carl Sandburg is a romantic poem that expresses the author’s hope that he will one day find the woman of his dreams.
I am very bothered
by Simon Armitage
In ‘I am very bothered’, the Speaker takes on the role of confessor, as he shares a shameful event from his past and offers it up to the Reader to make up their minds about the misdemeanor.
I Looked Up from My Writing
by Thomas Hardy
‘I Looked Up from My Writing’ by Thomas Hardy is a existentially contemplative piece in which a writer is confronted with his own ignorance and irresponsibility.
Living in Sin
by Adrienne Rich
‘Living in Sin’ by Adrienne Rich is a deeply evocative poem. In it, the poet depicts a woman’s exceptions and contrasts them with reality.
Love and Friendship
by Emily Brontë
‘Love and Friendship’, by Emily Brontë, is a three-stanza poem that functions as a compare/contrast piece between “love and friendship.”
Love is…
by Adrian Henri
‘Love is…’ by Adrian Henri provides readers with various ways to consider love and how it tints even the smallest objects and experiences with more meaning.
My Box
by Gillian Clarke
‘My Box’, by Gillian Clarke, explores the themes of relationships, strength, love and eternity in this poem with the metaphor of the box.
My Fancy
by Lewis Carroll
‘My Fancy’ by Lewis Carroll is a poem where confusion and exaggeration are offered to show a distinct variation between expectation and reality.
My Heart Leaps Up
by William Wordsworth
On the surface, William Wordsworth’s ‘My Heart Leaps Up’ is about the simple beauty of a rainbow. Looking at it more closely, the poet is saying people should maintain their sense of childlike wonder well into adulthood and old age.
Piteous My Rhyme
by Christina Rossetti
‘Piteous My Rhyme’ contains a speaker’s musings on the nature of love and the different forms, all immortal, that it can take.
Sonnet 1
by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s first sonnet, ‘From fairest creatures we desire increase,’ serves to introduce many of the themes which echo through the rest of the collection.
Sonnet 18
by William Shakespeare
Read Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?,’ with a summary and complete analysis of the poem.
Sonnet 54
by Edmund Spenser
‘Sonnet 54’ is part of Spenser’s Amoretti and is a Spenserian sonnet, formed by three interlocked quatrains and a couplet.
Sonnet 8
by Louise Labé
The French poet Louise Labé, who wrote Sonnet 8, lived as a middle-class citizen in 16th century France. In this poem, she used the Petrarchan form to explain the positive and negative effects of love.
The Indian Serenade
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
‘The Indian Serenade’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley is a dreamlike, lyrical love poem told from the perspective of a desperate lover.
The Triple Fool
by John Donne
In ‘The Triple Fool’, Donne deals with unrequited love. Heartbroken, he writes poetry to alleviate the pain.
To My Dear and Loving Husband
by Anne Bradstreet
‘To My Dear and Loving Husband’ by Anne Bradstreet is like a breath of fresh air. Her deep and genuine love for her husband is clear and evident in this poem.