The Map by Elizabeth Bishop
‘The Map,’ written in 1934, is the signature poem of Elizabeth Bishop that transcends the boundaries of the real and imaginatively inspects the topographical features within a map.
‘The Map,’ written in 1934, is the signature poem of Elizabeth Bishop that transcends the boundaries of the real and imaginatively inspects the topographical features within a map.
‘The Writer’ by Richard Wilbur depicts a father watching his daughter create her first piece of writing. The poet uses clever and creative examples of figurative language in order to depict the struggle new and experienced writers go through.
‘Our revels now are ended’ is the name given to one of the best-known speeches from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. It can be found in Act IV, Scene 1, and is spoken by Prospero.
Gary Soto’s ‘Teaching English from an Old Composition Book’ is about a teacher instructing some Mexican-American immigrant students in a night school. Soto portrays their harsh living conditions and the struggle to cope in a new culture.
In ‘Let Me Tell You,’ Miller Williams suggests prospective poets aspiring to express their thoughts through imaginative works. His suggestion is to devour each detail from the commonplace.
Ted Berrigan’s poem ‘Wrong Train’ connects a speaker’s experiences while waiting for a train to the afterlife. Berrigan presents this idea with vivid imagery.
Mark Strand’s poem ‘The Prediction’ is about the inevitability of death. It depicts a moonlit night where a lady anticipates her imminent death.
‘Two or Three Wishes’ belongs to Carl Dennis’s poetry collection Ranking the Wishes (1997). This piece is about the veracity of imagination and the role of truth.
‘What is Poetry?’ by John Ashbery is a complex poem about poetry and what exactly it is. It uses Ashbery’s traditional obscure language and meaning.
‘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.
‘Stone’ by Charles Simic is a short and impactful poem. In it, the speaker describes why he’d like to be a stone more than another living creature, like a dove or tiger.
‘Why I Am Not a Painter’ by Frank O’Hara is a poem inspired by O’Hara’s experience with painters in New York. It details an interaction with Michael Goldberg.
‘Fork’ by Charles Simic is a surprising and imaginative poem. In it, the speaker uses interesting examples of figurative language to depict a fork.
‘The Plain Sense of Things’ by Wallace Stevens is a thoughtful poem about creativity. The speaker notes the “plain” times when one is forced to contend with a weakened imagination.
‘The Secret Sits’ by Robert Frost is a thoughtful, short poem about life and its secrets. Its only two lines long, but packs a punch in its use of imagery and allusion.
‘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.
‘The Sugar-Plum Tree’ by Eugene Field is an image-rich poem that describes a colorful and entertaining dream world. It depicts a specific tree and how children can get sweets from its branches.
‘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.
‘Waiting at the Window’ by A. A. Milne is a memorable children’s poem. It focuses on the simple pleasures found in the natural world.
‘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.
‘somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond ‘ describes the control a fragile and gentle lover has over a speaker’s state of mind.
‘To Althea, from Prison’ by Richard Lovelace describes a poet’s attempts at maintaining his freedom while imprisoned in Gatehouse Prison in 1642.
‘Meru’ by William Butler Yeats describes the illusion of civilization and the importance of embarking on a spiritual journey.
‘In Your Mind’ by Carol Ann Duffy describes a detailed daydream in which the reader of the poem embarks on a strangely familiar trip.
‘The Three Fates’ by Rosemary Dobson describes the life of a man who is forced to live through the same events, in reverse, for eternity.
‘There Will Come Soft Rains’ is a beautiful, image-rich poem. In it, Teasdale describes the impact, or lack thereof, that humanity really has on the natural world.
‘Lioness Asleep’ by Babette Deutsch describes the plight of a captive lioness who’s only temporary escape is through her dreams.
‘Fra Lippo Lippi’ by Robert Browning details the difficult, tumultuous, and sometimes scandalous life of the painter Fra Lippo Lippi.
‘De Profundis’ by Christina Rossetti describes a speaker’s longing for heaven, and the impossibility of reaching it during one’s lifetime.
‘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.