Stars are a timeless and evocative theme in literature, especially in poetry. They represent a symbol of beauty, wonder, and transcendence, inspiring poets to explore the relationship between humanity and the natural world.
At a high level, poems about stars offer a way to grapple with the limitations of human knowledge and experience and celebrate the majesty and vastness of the universe.
Poets use stars to evoke emotions such as love, hope, and inspiration, drawing comparisons between the twinkling lights in the night sky and the depths of human emotion. Whether exploring themes of earthly or heavenly nature, stars offer a rich and diverse tapestry of ideas and emotions, making them a continuous popular theme in literature.
‘Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art’ is one of John Keats’ best-loved poems. It uses a star as an image of steadfastness to depict the enduring nature of a lover’s heart.
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
It’s much more than the dry figures to study or embracing the moist air of nature. In ‘When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,’ Walt Whitman emphasizes the importance of studying nature that can tap into deeper thoughts and knowledge.
When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
‘The lamp once out’ by Natsume Sōseki is a beautiful and thoughtful poem about the way that, once a lamp is out, one can actually see more. The stars appear in the window frame, something you can’t see with the lamp on.
The lamp once out
Cool stars enter
The window frame.
Thou brightly-glittering star of even,
Thou gem upon the brow of Heaven
Oh! were this fluttering spirit free,
How quick 't would spread its wings to thee.
‘Stars’ by Sara Teasdale is a beautiful and easy-to-read poem. In it, Teasdale spends five stanzas describing and appreciating the stars in the sky.
And a heaven full of stars
Over my head
White and topaz
And misty red;
There is no light in earth or heaven
But the cold light of stars;
And the first watch of night is given
To the red planet Mars.
Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.
‘Darkness’ by Lord Byron serves as a warning against the growing inequality in Byron’s time and a prediction for what will happen to the planet if the human race does not change.
I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Read Shakespeare’s Sonnet 14, ‘Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck,’ with a summary and complete analysis of the poem.
Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck;
And yet methinks I have Astronomy,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality;
‘Winter Stars’ by Larry Levis tries to reconcile the estranged relationship between a son and their dying father.
My father once broke a man’s hand
Over the exhaust pipe of a John Deere tractor. The man,
Rubén Vásquez, wanted to kill his own father
With a sharpened fruit knife, & he held
Twinkle twinkle little star.
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high.
Like a diamond in the sky.
Look at the stars! look, look up at the skies!
O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air!
The bright boroughs, the circle-citadels there!
Down in dim woods the diamond delves! the elves'-eyes!
‘Teach me your mood, O patient stars!’ by Ralph Waldo Emerson is a beautiful short poem about the nature of life and death. The speaker addresses the stars and discusses their “mood.”
Teach me your mood, O patient stars!
Who climb each night the ancient sky,
Leaving on space no shade, no scars,
No trace of age, no fear to die.
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.
‘Stars Over the Dordogne’ by Sylvia Plath is a personal, confessional poem. It provides the reader insight into the poet’s battle with depression.
Stars are dropping thick as stones into the twiggy
Picket of trees whose silhouette is darker
Than the dark of the sky because it is quite starless.
The woods are a well. The stars drop silently.
‘Ah, Moon–and Star!’ by Emily Dickinson is an unforgettable love poem. The poet skillfully uses the universe to depict what it’s like for two lovers to be separated.
Ah, Moon — and Star!
You are very far —
But were no one
Farther than you —
If a human body has two-hundred-and-six bones and thirty trillion cells, and each cell has one hundred trillion atoms, if the spine has thirty-three vertebrae—
‘Week-night Service’ creates a vivid scene of a church at night. The sound of bells disturbs the otherwise quiet church yard and the nature that surrounds it.
The five old bells
Are hurrying and eagerly calling,
Imploring, protesting
They know, but clamorously falling
‘The Road Goes Ever On’ by J.R.R. Tolkien consists of only two verses, but the structure and approach within them are sufficient to highlight the epic journey before and after the song surfaces in the book.
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
‘Winter’ by Walter de la Mare tells of the stark beauty of the winter months and how the constellations look down upon the cold earth.
And the robin flew Into the air, the air, The white mist through; And small and rare
‘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.
‘Sympathy’ describes a speaker’s expanding view of the world and how a new ability to see has brought her closer to civilization.
As one within a moated tower, I lived my life alone; And dreamed not other granges’ dower, Nor ways unlike mine own.
‘What Though the Dark Come Down’ by Annette Wynne is a powerful, four-stanza poem that explores the power, or lack thereof, darkness holds.
What though the dark come down,
What though the shadows fall,
What though the dark come on the sea,
And the ships and the hills and all?
‘The Blessed Damozel’ by Dante Gabriel Rossetti is a ballad that is dedicated to the love between a woman trapped in heaven and a man stuck on Earth.
The blessed Damozel lean'd out From the gold bar of Heaven: Her blue grave eyes were deeper much Than a deep water, even.
‘Solar’ by Philip Larkin is an unlikely Larkin poem that depicts the sun. The poet uses lyrical language to describe the sun through a series of metaphors and similes.
Suspended lion face
Spilling at the centre
Of an unfurnished sky
‘Song: Go and catch a falling star’ by John Donne tells of a speaker’s belief that there are no women in the world who are both beautiful and faithful.
Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the devil's foot,
Forty-two years ago (to me if to no one else The number is of some interest) it was a brilliant starry night And the westward train was empty and had no corridors
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