Steps
by Frank O’Hara
‘Steps’ by Frank O’Hara is one of the poet’s many pieces that explores life in New York City. It is written in his characteristic style and is filled with allusions that are sometimes hard to interpret.
Claudette Colvin Goes to Work
by Rita Dove
‘Claudette Colvin Goes to Work’ by Rita Dove depicts the life and struggles of Claudette Colvin, who is best known as a civil rights activist.
In This Place (An American Lyric)
by Amanda Gorman
‘In This Place (An American Lyric)’ is a moving poem about American life and the tragedies, acts of bravery, and hope that shape the nation.
[London, my beautiful]
by F.S. Flint
‘[London, my beautiful]’ by F.S. Flint describes one speaker’s love for the city of London and how he feels the city improves others and himself.
A Description of the Morning
by Jonathan Swift
‘A Description of the Morning’ by Jonathan Swift describes the various events happening one morning in London’s West End in the early 1700s.
A Long Journey
by Musaemura Zimunya
‘A Long Journey’ by Musaemura Zimunya is based on the changes that came to Rhodesia, a small country in southern Africa, after British colonial rule. The speaker explores the positive changes and the negative.
After the Last Bulletins
by Richard Wilbur
‘After the Last Bulletins’ by Richard Wilbur is about the human race’s ability to discard at night what was deemed important in the morning.
And Soul
by Eavan Boland
‘And Soul’ by Eavan Boland is a poem about death and a body’s dissolution into the elements that it is made up of. The poet emphasizes the connection between a human being made nearly entirely of water and a city that’s drenched by a particularly rainy summer season.
Broadway
by Walt Whitman
‘Broadway’ by Walt Whitman is a short, effective poem that speaks to the nature of contemporary life. It focuses in on one street in New York City.
Cityscape
by Eavan Boland
‘Cityscape’ by Eavan Boland is a complex, allusion-filled poem that describes Dublin and the Blackrock Baths, and presents contrasting images of past and present.
For Sidney Bechet
by Philip Larkin
‘For Sidney Bechet’ is a poetic tribute to Sidney Bechet, one of the early jazz maestros that poet Philip Larkin admired the most.
Foreign
by Carol Ann Duffy
‘Foreign’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem which casts the reader as an alienated foreigner in the city they’ve live in for twenty years.
Heron at Port Talbot
by Gillian Clarke
‘Heron at Port Talbot’ describes the relationship between the industrial world and the natural and how the two collide on a snowy road at night.
Hours
by Hazel Hall
‘Hours’ by Hazel Hall describes how a speaker experinces hours which are like “cities,” “forbidden music” and “mellow” in tone.
I Remember, I Remember
by Philip Larkin
‘I Remember, I Remember’ by Philip Larkin contains a speaker’s thoughts about his home. He expresses what he thinks is an idealized childhood and how it doesn’t match up to it.
In Your Mind
by Carol Ann Duffy
‘In Your Mind’ by Carol Ann Duffy describes a detailed daydream in which the reader of the poem embarks on a strangely familiar trip.
Karachi
by Toufiq Rafat
‘Karachi’ by Toufiq Rafat describes the natural forces that besiege the city of Karachi and the ongoing fight for survival that occurs within it.
London
by William Blake
Imagine waking up in London in the 1800s. You might find yourself surrounded by prostitutes, the homeless, and many more suffering in dilapidated housing. These are only a few of the haunting sights William Blake documents in ‘London.’
Love Among the Ruins
by Robert Browning
‘Love Among the Ruins’ by Robert Browning is a Victorian, dramatic poem that uses the metaphor of a destroyed city to speak on love and nature.
Monuments
by Kamala Wijeratne
‘Monuments’ by Kamala Wijeratne describes the depressed state of a Sri Lankan community in the midst of the Civil War which lasted from 1983 to 2009.
Partition
by Sujata Bhatt
‘Partition’ by Sujata Bhatt depicts the simple tale of a woman going to a “railway station” to provide for distressed people, while her niece stays “in her garden” and “wish[es]” “she” could be brave enough to do the same.
Passers-by
by Carl Sandburg
‘Passers-by’ by Carl Sandburg describes the emotions interpreted and the sights seen by speaker after a walk through the streets of a city.
pity this busy monster, manunkind
by E.E. Cummings
‘pity this busy monster, manunkind’ by E.E. Cummings describes the destructive nature of progress and how it has damaged humankind’s view of the world.
Skunk Hour
by Robert Lowell
‘Skunk Hour’ by Robert Lowell describes a speaker’s fascination with a town in Maine as well as the secret night-time activities he participates in.
Skyscraper
by Carl Sandburg
‘Skyscraper’ is about the monumental modern wonder that, according to poet Carl Sandburg, “has a soul.” It’s the people working there who keep the frame of steel and mortar alive.
Synopsis of the Great Welsh Novel
by Harri Webb
‘Synopsis of the Great Welsh Novel’ by Harri Webb describes, through humorous verse, the state of Welsh society and culture.
The Chimney Sweeper: When my mother died I was very young
by William Blake
In 1789 (the year of the beginning of the French Revolution), Blake brought out his Songs of Innocence, which included ‘The Chimney Sweeper.’
The Ghost
by Sara Teasdale
‘The Ghost’ by Sara Teasdale describes a speaker’s unwelcome experience after reuniting with two ex-lovers in a city she used to know.
The Instruction Manual
by John Ashbery
‘The Instruction Manual’ by John Ashbery is poem that is constructed to express the struggles of a creative thinker in a factual, mundane task.