‘Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow’ by Robert Duncan is often regarded as the poet’s best work. It analyzes the poet’s dream of a meadow while also exploring the new technique of projective verse.
‘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.
‘The Confessional’ by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue following a woman who is betrayed for her blind faith.
In “Take me anywhere, anywhere;” by Hilda Doolittle, the poet-speaker addresses a lover, expressing the way in which she takes refuge in their affection.
‘Tell the truth but tell it slant’ by Emily Dickinson is one of Dickinson’s best-loved poems. It explores an unknown “truth” that readers must interpret in their own way.
“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.
‘Rowing’ by Anne Sexton is a moving and unforgettable poem about depression. It was written two years before Sexton took her life in 1974.
‘Let the world’s sharpness’ (Sonnet 24) is a poem that proposes a resolution to the world’s strife — all turn to, and accept, Love.
‘A Coffin—is a small Domain’ by Emily Dickinson explores death. It is characteristic of much of the poet’s work in that it clearly addresses this topic and everything that goes along with it.
‘A Different History’ by Sujata Bhatt is not a raging piece of protest, rather it teaches how to revisit one’s cultural past in a curious, sensible way.
‘A Hymn to God the Father’ by John Donne is a well-loved poem about God and religion. It contains a speaker’s prayers that he be forgiven a series of unnamed sins.
‘A Limb Just Moved’ is a poem attributed to Mirabai, a Hindu mystic and Bahkti saint who lived in the sixteenth century and was well-known for her incredible devotion to Krishna, and to her faith.
‘A Long Journey’ by Musaemura Zimunya is based on the changes that came to Rhodesia, a small country in southern Africa, after British colonial rule. The speaker explores the positive changes and the negative.
‘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 Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’ by John Donne is an incredibly famous poem. In it, Donne uses one of his famous conceits to depict the steadfast nature of his love.
‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ by Cecil Frances Alexander describes how God is responsible for creating all things, positive and negative, big and small, in the world.
‘As from a Quiver of Arrows’ by Carl Phillips is a thoughtful piece that presents readers with numerous questions around the rituals of death and loss.
‘Batter my Heart,’ also known as ‘Holy Sonnet 14,’ is one of Donne’s best religious poems. It is directed at God and asks him to take hold of the speaker.
‘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.
‘Christ of Everywhere’ by Henry Van Dyke is a poem about the presence of Christ in all living things. Throughout this piece, Van Dyke uses simple and relatable language that allows all readers to connect with his words.
‘Church Going’ by Philip Larkin is a thought-provoking poem about relgion and history. The speaker decides that no matter what churches represent, they should be perserved.
‘De Profundis’ by Christina Rossetti describes a speaker’s longing for heaven, and the impossibility of reaching it during one’s lifetime.
‘Despondency’ by Anne Brontë is a spiritual poem about rekindling one’s passion for God. The poem hinges on the speaker’s self-reflection and the emotions it stirs in them.
‘Don’t Despise Me’ by Akka Mahadevi is a plea to the listener. It showcases the poet’s devotion and adherence to her faith.
‘Done is a Battell on the Dragon Blak’ by William Dunbar is a medieval Easter poem of Scottish roots. It tells of Christ’s victory over Satan by his crucifixion, death, and resurrection.
Have you ever wondered how graciously an eagle floats in the sky by making circular movements? In ‘Eagle Poem,’ Joy Harjo depicts how it is similar to the cycle of life.