Category: Poem Analysis

Our Deepest Fear

Our Deepest Fear By Marianne Williamson Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear in that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who…

Life Is Fine

Life Is Fine By Langston Hughes I went down to the river, I set down on the bank. I tried to think but couldn’t, So I jumped in and sank. I came up once and hollered! I came up twice…

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart By Kevin Young  I am hoping to hang your head on my wall in shame— the slightest taxidermy thrills me. Fish forever leaping on the living-room wall— paperweights made from skulls of small…

On The Sonnet

On The Sonnet by John Keats If by dull rhymes our English must be chain’d, And, like Andromeda, the Sonnet sweet Fetter’d, in spite of pained loveliness; Let us find out, if we must be constrain’d, Sandals more interwoven and…

Half-Caste

Half-Caste by John Agard Excuse me standing on one leg I’m half-caste Explain yuself wha yu mean when yu say half-caste yu mean when picasso mix red an green is a half-caste canvas/ explain yuself wha u mean when yu…

On the Beach at Fontana

On the Beach at Fontana By James Joyce Wind whines and whines the shingle, The crazy pierstakes groan; A senile sea numbers each single Slimesilvered stone. From whining wind and colder Grey sea I wrap him warm And touch his…

All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter

All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter By J. R. R. Tolkien All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by…

The Bean Eaters

The Bean Eaters By Gwendolyn Brooks They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair. Dinner is a casual affair. Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood, Tin flatware. Two who are Mostly Good. Two who have lived their day,…

Virtue

Virtue By George Herbert Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, The bridal of the earth and sky; The dew shall weep thy fall to-night, For thou must die. Sweet rose, whose hue angry and brave Bids the rash…

I started Early — Took my Dog —

I started Early — Took my Dog — By Emily Dickenson I started Early – Took my Dog – And visited the Sea – The Mermaids in the Basement Came out to look at me – And Frigates – in…

Fletcher McGee

Fletcher McGee By Edgar Lee Masters She took my strength by minutes, She took my life by hours, She drained me like a fevered moon That saps the spinning world. The days went by like shadows, The minutes wheeled like…

Sonnet 9

Sonnet 9 By William Shakespeare Is it for fear to wet a widow’s eye, That thou consum’st thy self in single life? Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap to die, The world will wail thee like a makeless wife; The…

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven By William Butler Yeats Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light, I…

When I am Dead, My Dearest

When I am Dead, My Dearest By Christina Rossetti When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers…

On Being Human

On Being Human By C. S. Lewis Angelic minds, they say, by simple intelligence Behold the Forms of nature. They discern Unerringly the Archtypes, all the verities Which mortals lack or indirectly learn. Transparent in primordial truth, unvarying, Pure Earthness…

I Know My Soul

I Know My Soul By Claude McKay I plucked my soul out of its secret place, And held it to the mirror of my eye, To see it like a star against the sky, A twitching body quivering in space,…

Lana Turner Has Collapsed

Lana Turner Has Collapsed By Frank Ohara Lana Turner has collapsed! I was trotting along and suddenly it started raining and snowing and you said it was hailing but hailing hits you on the head hard so it was really…

I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed

I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed By Emily Dickinson I taste a liquor never brewed – From Tankards scooped in Pearl – Not all the Frankfort Berries Yield such an Alcohol! Inebriate of air – am I – And Debauchee of Dew – Reeling – thro’ endless summer…