‘A name trimmed with colored ribbons’ by Lyn Hejinian is a Language Poem that requires the listener to use their imagination and creativity to reconstruct and interpret the poet’s childhood fantasies.
A name trimmed They are seated in the shadows
with colored husking corn, shelling peas. Houses
ribbons of wood set in the ground. I try to
‘Toilet’ by Hugo Williams is a humorous poem that describes a man’s struggles to speak to a beautiful woman on a train.
‘Each and All’ by Ralph Waldo Emerson depicts nature as interconnected and dependent on all other living and non-living things. The poet uses a few clever examples to demonstrate why he sees the world this way.
‘In Cold Storm Light’ by Leslie Marmon Silko is a beautifully written nature poem that focuses on a winter day. The poem uses multiple examples of imagery to describe the scene.
‘The Sheep Child’ by James L. Dickey is a surprising and memorable poem that describes a half-sheep, half-human child that frightens the local farm boys into controlling their sexual lust.
‘A Former Life’ by Charles Baudelaire speaks on a the poet’s own imagination and how his creative works are born there and are at his beck and call.
‘A Murmur in the Trees— to note’ by Emily Dickinson is a poem about nature’s magic. It includes mysterious images of fairy men, glowing lights in the woods, and the murmuring of trees.
‘A Route of Evanescence’ by Emily Dickinson describes its subject through a series of metaphors, allusions, and images. But, never actually states that the subject is a hummingbird.
‘At the Parrot House, Taronga Park’ by Vivian Smith is an interesting poem that uses personification to describe birds and their interactions.
‘Blackberrying’ by Sylvia Plath explores decaying and flourishing life and human mortality. It was published in 1971 in Crossing the Water, after the poet’s death.
‘Cartoon Physics, part 1’ appears in Nick Flynn’s Some Ether (2000). This poem mocks the humorous concepts of animation that defy real physics and biology.
‘De Profundis’ by Christina Rossetti describes a speaker’s longing for heaven, and the impossibility of reaching it during one’s lifetime.
‘Eel Tail,’ a poem by contemporary British poet Alice Oswald, is about the mysteriously beautiful eels and their swift movements in the water.
‘Elegy Before Death’ is a poem about the physical and spiritual impact of a loss and how it can and cannot change one’s world.
‘Fork’ by Charles Simic is a surprising and imaginative poem. In it, the speaker uses interesting examples of figurative language to depict a fork.
‘Fra Lippo Lippi’ by Robert Browning details the difficult, tumultuous, and sometimes scandalous life of the painter Fra Lippo Lippi.
In ‘Full Moon and Little Frieda,’ Ted Hughes describes his daughter’s observations of the world around her, reflecting on nature and family.
‘He ate and drank the precious words’ by Emily Dickinson is an uplifting poem. It celebrates the joys of reading by describing one man’s experience.
‘How Poetry Comes to Me’ by Gary Snyder is a thoughtful poem about receiving inspiration. The poet uses symbolism and other literary devices to depict poetic inspiration as an animal moving through the woods of his mind.
‘How We Made a New Art on Old Ground’ by Eavan Boland depicts the way that poetry can remake a landscape with dark history, if only for a few moments as one reads it.
‘I dwell in Possibility’ by Emily Dickinson is a short, memorable poem. It explores themes of writing, specifically poetic writing, and the power it has.
‘I Started Early – Took my Dog’ by Emily Dickinson personifies the sea. Dickinson depicts it as a lover and alludes to her speaker’s fears in regard to sex and love.
‘I tasted a liquor never brewed’ by Emily Dickinson celebrates life. The poet uses natural imagery, such as that of berries, and pearls, to depict it.
William Wordsworth’s literary classic, ‘Daffodils,’ also known as ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,’ is one of the most popular poems in the English language. It is a quintessential poem of the Romantic movement.
‘If I Were King’ by A.A. Milne is a highly entertaining poem. It contains the fantastical thoughts of a young boy who wants to be king.
‘In Your Mind’ by Carol Ann Duffy describes a detailed daydream in which the reader of the poem embarks on a strangely familiar trip.
‘Iris’ by Sujata Bhatt is a narrative poem with lyric qualities. It depicts an artist’s wait for the sun to come out and bring out the colors in a single iris.
‘Is it Still the Same’ is a brilliant, affirming poem that explores memory and its relationship to a particular place and time.