‘Bards of Passion and of Mirth’ by John Keats is one of the poet’s early odes. In it, Keats confirms that bards, or authors, have two souls, with one rising to heaven, and the other staying on earth.
Bards of Passion and of Mirth,
Ye have left your souls on earth!
Have ye souls in heaven too,
Doubled-lived in regions new?
‘June’ by James Russell Lowell is a religiously-charged romantic narrative poem about the overwhelming beauty and rejuvenating power of summer.
And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays:
‘Yes, Holy Be Thy Resting Place’ is one of Emily Brontë’s poems that visits the softly sentimental side of her poetic talent.
Yes, holy be thy resting place
Wherever thou may'st lie;
The sweetest winds breathe on thy face,
The softest of the sky.
‘In Heaven’ by Stephen Crane offers a parable-like anecdote that contrasts humility with self-righteous pride. It also challenges religion and those the poet’s speaker deemed hypocritical.
In Heaven,
Some little blades of grass
Stood before God.
“What did you do?”
‘The Woman and the Angel’ is an allegory by Robert Service that reflects on the evolving nature of ethics and morality in human society.
An angel was tired of heaven, as he lounged in the golden street;
His halo was tilted sideways, and his harp lay mute at his feet;
So the Master stooped in His pity, and gave him a pass to go,
For the space of a moon, to the earth-world, to mix with the men below.
‘On Being Human’ by C.S Lewis is incredibly unique and fascinating as it deals with both the physical and the spiritual realm as compared to one another.
Angelic minds, they say, by simple intelligence
Behold the Forms of nature. They discern
Unerringly the Archtypes, all the verities
Which mortals lack or indirectly learn.
‘Early Death’ by Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal is a haunting meditation on mortality and spiritual transcendence. Written in the mid-19th century, the poem’s evocative imagery and simple yet powerful language have made it a lasting contribution to the canon of Victorian poetry.
Oh grieve not with thy bitter tears
The life that passes fast;
The gates of heaven will open wide
And take me in at last.
‘Twas the old — road — through pain—’ by Emily Dickinson describes a woman’s path from life to death and her entrance into Heaven.
In Chambers bright —
Too out of sight — though —
For our hoarse Good Night —
To touch her Head!
‘Gradatim’ by Josiah Gilbert Holland is a poem about the lifetime of work it takes to climb the ladder to Heaven. One needs to dedicate themselves to a life of good deeds to reach God.
Heaven is not reached at a single bound;
But we build the ladder by which we rise
From the lowly earth, to the vaulted skies,
And we mount to its summit round by round.
‘Nobility’ by Alice Cary is a straightforward, inspirational poem about where honor and nobility truly come from.
True worth is in being, not seeming,—
In doing, each day that goes by,
Some little good—not in dreaming
Of great things to do by and by.
‘The Eternal Goodness’ by John Greenleaf Whittier is a relatively unknown 19th-century poem that explores religious themes and the various ways that God’s love comes through.
O friends! with whom my feet have trod
The quiet aisles of prayer,
Glad witness to your zeal for God
And love of man I bear.
The poem, A Dialogue Between the Soul and Body by Andrew Marvell describes the conflict between the human body and
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), the poet to ‘A Dream of the Unknown’, born the heir to rich estates and the
A Night-Piece is a 26 line poem without a regulated rhyme scheme. There are a number of half-rhymes and unstructured end
———The sky is overcast
With a continuous cloud of texture close,
Heavy and wan, all whitened by the Moon,
Which through that veil is indistinctly seen
Apostate’ by Léonie Adams describes the freedom a speaker sees in the joyful stars and how she aches to live as they do.
From weariness I looked out on the stars And there beheld them, fixed in throbbing joy, Nor racked by such mad dance of moods as mars For us each moment’s grace with swift alloy.
The poem’s title, ‘Ascetic’, is basically the practice of going without, usually this means leading a Spartan lifestyle and avoiding
Ballad of Worldly Wealth by Andrew Lang is a three-stanza poem. Each stanza is made up of eight lines and
‘Birches’ is one of the most famous, admired, and thoughtful Robert Frost poems. The poem profoundly describes something simple, an ordinary incident, in elevated terms.
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.
But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay
‘Consumption’ by William Cullen Bryant describes the fast-approaching death of a tuberculosis patient and her path to heaven.
‘De Profundis’ by Christina Rossetti describes a speaker’s longing for heaven, and the impossibility of reaching it during one’s lifetime.
Oh why is heaven built so far, Oh why is earth set so remote? I cannot reach the nearest star That hangs afloat.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poetry could range from amusingly whimsical to deeply thought-provoking almost unpredictably from poem to poem. One thing,
‘Holy Sonnet II’ by John Donne is the second in a series of religious sonnets that Donne is well-known for. This poem is directed to God and explores a speaker’s concerns about their fate.
As due by many titles I resign
Myself to thee, O God. First I was made
By Thee; and for Thee, and when I was decay’d
Thy blood bought that, the which before was Thine.
‘Holy Sonnet IX’ by John Donne, also known by its first line ‘If poisonous minerals, and if that tree’ is one of several “Holy Sonnets” the poet composed during his lifetime. This particular poem focuses on a dispute between the speaker and God.
If poisonous minerals, and if that tree,
Whose fruit threw death on (else immortal) us,
If lecherous goats, if serpents envious
Cannot be damn'd, alas ! why should I be ?
William Blake’s poem, ‘Holy Thursday,’ was first published in 1789. It was included in a poetry collection called ‘Songs of Innocence’.
‘Twas on a holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,
The children walking two and two in red and blue and green:
Grey-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow,
Till into the high dome of Paul’s they like Thames waters flow.
‘Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness’ by John Donne is written from the perspective of a dying man hoping to gain access to heaven.
Since I am coming to that holy room,
Where, with thy choir of saints for evermore,
I shall be made thy music; as I come
I tune the instrument here at the door,
‘I did not reach Thee’ by Emily Dickinson is a complex poem about a speaker’s journey through life. She expresses both optimism and hesitation in the face of her death and attempts to reach God.
I did not reach Thee
But my feet slip nearer every day
Three Rivers and a Hill to cross
‘I saw no Way – The Heavens were stitched’ by Emily Dickinson depicts heaven and the afterlife. The poet thoughtfully explores how she feels about the breadth of the universe.
I saw no Way—The Heavens were stitched—
I felt the Columns close—
The Earth reversed her Hemispheres— I
touched the Universe—
‘Lucifer in Starlight’ describes Lucifer’s power, past, attempted ascent from Hell back into Heaven, and the sights seen along the way.
‘Mad Girl’s Love Song’ by Sylvia Plath explores the truth of a relationship. The speaker wonders how deep and meaningful it really was.
"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
‘Mad Song’ by William Blake describes the intense madness a speaker feels and the frantic pain that accompanies the dawning of a new day.
The wild winds weep,
And the night is a-cold;
Come hither, Sleep,
And my griefs infold:
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