A Woman Waits for Me
by Walt Whitman
Formerly known as ‘Poem of Procreation,’ Whitman’s ‘A Woman Waits for Me’ is all about the power of regeneration, procreation, and creativity.
After Making Love We Hear Footsteps
by Galway Kinnell
Galway Kinnell’s ‘After Making Love We Hear Footsteps’ is a beautiful poem about parenthood and love. This piece presents a familiar scene that often occurs in a married couple’s life.
Answer
by Carol Ann Duffy
The poem, ‘Answer’ by Carol Ann Duffy gives an answer to an implied, rather enigmatic question: “Will I always love
If you were made of stone,
your kiss a fossil sealed up in your lips,
your eyes a sightless marble to my touch,
your grey hands pooling raindrops for the birds,
your long legs cold as rivers locked in ice,
if you were stone, if you were made of stone, yes, yes.
Break of Day
by John Donne
‘Break of Day’ by John Donne is an aubade told from a female perspective. It conveys a woman’s understanding of her relationship with a busy lover.
‘Tis true, ‘tis day, what though it be?
O wilt thou therefore rise from me?
Why should we rise because ‘tis light?
Did we lie down because ‘twas night?
Confessions
by Robert Browning
Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue ‘Confessions,’ as the title says, is written in the confessional mode and is about a speaker’s secretive meetings with a girl.
Down, Wanton, Down!
by Robert Graves
‘Down, Wanton, Down!’ is a direct address to “wanton” or the urge to have unrestrained sexual relationships. The speaker rebukes the desire/person by describing the value of “Love” and “Beauty.”
Gold
by Donald Hall
A golden poem out of Hall’s heart, ‘Gold’ is about the precious past and conjugal memories of a speaker. It appears in the collection Old and New Poems published in 1990.
Hour
by Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy, poet to ‘Hour’ never reveals the gender of either the narrator of the poem, nor their partner. Could
Love’s time’s beggar, but even a single hour,
bright as a dropped coin, makes love rich.
We find an hour together, spend it not on flowers
or wine, but the whole of the summer sky and a grass ditch.
I Gave Myself To Him
by Emily Dickinson
‘I Gave Myself To Him’ by Emily Dickinson is a clever love poem. It gives the readers a glimpse of the intensity of a relationship between the speaker and her subject.
I gave myself to Him --
And took Himself, for Pay,
The solemn contract of a Life
Was ratified, this way --
Like A Flower In The Rain
by Charles Bukowski
Bukowski’s ‘Like A Flower In The Rain’ is a clear-cut poem describing the odd lovemaking of a couple. Bukowski does not shy away from noting their raw conversation in the text.
Lonely Hearts
by Wendy Cope
Wendy Cope’s ‘Lonely Hearts’ appears in her poetry collection “Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis”. This ironic piece talks about a speaker’s desperation over finding a perfect match in a lonely heart’s column.
Meeting at Night
by Robert Browning
‘Meeting at Night’ by Robert Browning was originally featured in Dramatic Romances and Lyrics, which was published in 1845. Here, the poet narrates how the lyrical voice sails across the sea to reach his beloved.
New Year
by Carol Ann Duffy
The poem, ‘New Year‘ by Carol Ann Duffy, is from Duffy’s seventh collection ‘Rapture‘, which is something of a departure
I drop the dying year behind me like a shawl
and let it fall. The urgent fireworks fling themselves
against the night, flowers of desire, love’s fervency.
Out of the space around me, standing here, I shape
your absent body against mine. You touch me as the giving air.
One Word Is Too Often Profaned
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet to ‘One Word Is Too Often Profaned’, belonged to the younger generation of the Romantic poets. The
Rubbish At Adultery
by Sophie Hannah
‘Rubbish At Adultery’ is told by the “other woman”. The narrator is a woman sleeping with a guy who is
Sonnet 3
by William Shakespeare
‘Sonnet 3: Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest’ is a procreation sonnet within the fair youth sequence, a series of poems that are addressed to an unknown young man.
Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest,
Now is the time that face should form another,
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
Spare
by Joanna Klink
‘Spare’ appears in The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry edited by Rita Dove. This poem describes an unfulfilled love affair of a speaker and her feelings concerning the relationship.
Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known
by William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth mentions the character “Lucy” many times throughout his poems, such as in Strange Fits of Passion Have I
Strange fits of passion have I known:
And I will dare to tell,
But in the lover’s ear alone,
What once to me befell.
Talking in Bed
by Philip Larkin
‘Talking in Bed’ by Philip Larkin depicts the difficulties a speaker has talking in bed with his lover. It’s a poem about how loneliness can invade even the most initmate moments.
Talking in bed ought to be easiest,
Lying together there goes back so far,
An emblem of two people being honest.
Yet more and more time passes silently.
The Anniversary
by John Donne
The Anniversary by John Donne is a dramatic lyric in which the poet celebrates his love which is now one
All Kings, and all their favourites,
All glory of honours, beauties, wits,
The sun itself, which makes times, as they pass,
Is elder by a year now than it was
The Apparition
by John Donne
The poem, ‘The Apparition’, by John Donne is one of those lyrics wherein the mood of the poet has been
When by thy scorn, O murd'ress, I am dead
And that thou think'st thee free
From all solicitation from me,
Then shall my ghost come to thy bed,
The Convicts
by Kamala Das
The poem, ‘The Convicts’, by Kamala Das deals with the limitations of the life of lust. It is a purely
The Dalliance of the Eagles
by Walt Whitman
Whitman’s ‘The Dalliance of the Eagles’ depicts a fierce yet amorous scene of the birds of prey, briefly consummating in the open sky and then parting in their own ways. This poem was not received favorably due to its explicit depiction of sexuality.
The Ecstasy
by John Donne
The poem, ‘The Ecstasy’, is a clear and coherent expression of Donne’s philosophy of love. Donne agrees with Plato that
Where, like a pillow on a bed
A pregnant bank swell'd up to rest
The violet's reclining head,
Sat we two, one another's best.
The Flea
by John Donne
‘The Flea’ by John Donne is the poet’s most famous poem. In it, he uses one of his brilliant conceits to convince his love to sleep with him.
Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is;
It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;
The Flight of Love
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The poem, ‘The Flight of Love’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley, deals with the transience of love. Though it has a
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 Love Poem
by Carol Ann Duffy
Duffy’s ‘The Love Poem’ is a collection of verses from other love poems, composed by poets like Shakespeare, Sidney, Donne, Shelley, Barrett and Browning.
Till love exhausts itself, longs
for the sleep of words -
my mistress' eyes -
to lie on a white sheet, at rest
The Poem Unwritten
by Denise Levertov
Denise Levertov’s ‘The Poem Unwritten’ revolves around the extended metaphor for unconsummated love that is aptly portrayed in its very title. This piece fuses physicality with spiritual love.
The Stone Age
by Kamala Das
In ‘The Stone Age’ by Kamala Das, a frustrated speaker blames her husband for ruining her life by his unappeasable lust. This poem is addressed to the husband in a satirical manner.
