“Venice — Venus?” by Hilda Doolittle is an insightful poem about Doolittle’s reasons for writing despite critiques. Doolittle reveals that her ultimate source of inspiration is divine.
‘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.
‘Memorial’ by Amanda Gorman is a poem about the past and how poets are able to use their writing to help readers relive it.
‘Cottage Street, 1953’ by Richard Wilbur is a powerful poem based on the poet’s own experience. It depicts a simple social meeting between his family and the Plaths.
‘The Wind in the Dooryard’ by Derek Walcott was written after the death of Eric Roach, a well-respected poet who died by suicide in 1974. This poem is dedicated to his life and work.
‘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.
In ‘3 November 1984,’ Indian-English poet Sujata Bhatt shows how history plays a vital role in the process of writing poetry, and their interconnectedness.
‘A Minor Poet’ by Stephen Vincent Benét describes the speaker’s beliefs about his own work and how it compares to the work of the world’s greatest writers.
‘A Picture of Otto’ by Ted Hughes is addressed to Sylvia Plath’s father, Otto. It contains Hughes’ disagreements about how he and Otto were depicted in Plath’s work.
‘A Poppy Blooms’ by Katsushika Hokusai is a thoughtful poem about writing. The poet uses a metaphor to depict how his process works.
‘A still— Volcano —Life’ by Emily Dickinson is an unforgettable poem that uses an extended metaphor to describe the life of the poet. She compares herself to a volcano that erupts under the cover of darkness.
‘A Text About Reading The Letter’ by Riyas Qurana is a free verse poem with twelve stanzas dedicated to discussing a letter between a lover and his beloved.
Adrienne Rich’s ‘A Valediction Forbidding Mourning’ describes a speaker’s inability to express her thoughts in conventional poetic decorum. Rich wrote this piece in 1970.
‘American Poetry’ appears in Louis Simpson’s award-winning collection At the End of the Open Road (1963). This piece is about the nature and range of poems produced throughout America.
William Stafford’s ‘An Introduction to Some Poems’ is about the role of budding poets. The speaker says that every life is worth writing about, and a writer’s work is to share “authentic” human experiences.
‘Anne Hathaway’ by Carol Ann Duffy is told from the perceptive of Shakespeare’s wife who discusses their enduring love through the symbol of a bed.
‘Ars Poetica’ by Archibald MacLeish describes what the speaker believes to be the elements of successful and unsuccessful poetry.
‘Artist’s Life’ by Ella Wheeler Wilcox describes the personal and emotional connection a speaker has to Strauss’ composition, Artist’s Life.
‘Because You Asked about the Line Between Prose and Poetry’ by Howard Nemerov is a beautiful poem that uses birds and in climate to describe the difference between prose and poetry.
‘Bees’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a thoughtful poem that explores writing. The poet uses bee imagery to describe the process of creation.
‘Beware: Do Not Read This Poem’ by Ishmael Reed is a thoughtful poem about culture and how language is used to tell stories. The poem warns against becoming too consumed within one method of storytelling.
‘Breaking the Surface’ by Jean Bleakney is about the “art of skimming,” an extended metaphor for the art of writing poetry.
‘Constantly Risking Absurdity’ was first published in 1958 in his collection A Coney Island of the Mind: Poems. The speaker goes on to say that the poet is a “super realist” while at the same time making his way towards where “Beauty stands and waits”.
‘Diving into the Wreck’ by Adrienne Rich is an unforgettable poem. It uses diving as a metaphor to describe the fight for equal rights.
‘Dreamwood’ by Adrienne Rich jumps between the incredible imagination of a child to the wiser outlook of an older woman.
‘Exposure’ by Seamus Heaney discusses the poet’s role in a society and how he might contribute helpfully to the discourse of the time.