Gretel in Darkness By Louise Gluck Gretel This is the world we wanted. All who would have seen us dead are dead. I hear the witch’s cry break in the moonlight through a sheet of sugar: God rewards. Her tongue…
Category: Poem Analysis
The Dash
The Dash By Linda Ellis I read of a man who stood to speak At the funeral of a friend He referred to the dates on the tombstone From the beginning…to the end He noted that first came the date…
Dreams
Dreams By Langston Hughes Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow. Summary of Dreams Popularity…
Footsteps of Angels
Footsteps of Angels By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow When the hours of Day are numbered, And the voices of the Night Wake the better soul, that slumbered, To a holy, calm delight; Ere the evening lamps are lighted, And, like phantoms grim and tall, Shadows from the fitful firelight Dance upon the parlor wall; Then the forms of the departed Enter at the open door; The beloved, the true-hearted, Come to visit me once more; He, the young and strong, who cherished Noble longings for the strife, By the roadside fell and perished, Weary with the march of life! They, the holy ones and weakly, Who the cross of suffering bore, Folded their pale hands so meekly, Spake with us on earth no more! And with them the Being Beauteous, Who unto my youth was given, More than all things else to love me, And is now a saint in heaven. With a slow and noiseless footstep Comes that messenger divine, Takes the vacant chair beside me, Lays her gentle hand in mine.…
Strange Fruit
Strange Fruit by Abel Meeropol Southern trees bear a strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swingin’ in the Southern breeze Strange fruit hangin’ from the poplar trees Pastoral scene of the gallant South…
Patterns
Patterns by Amy Lowell I walk down the garden paths, And all the daffodils Are blowing, and the bright blue squills. I walk down the patterned garden paths In my stiff, brocaded gown. With my powdered hair and jewelled fan,…
Ode on Solitude
Ode on Solitude by Alexander Pope Happy the man, whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound, Content to breathe his native air, In his own ground. Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Whose flocks supply him…
Now
Now by Robert Browning Out of your whole life give but one moment! All of your life that has gone before, All to come after it, – so you ignore, So you make perfect the present, – condense, In a…
For Whom the Bell Tolls
For Whom the Bell Tolls by John Donne No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the…
The Tiger Who Wore White Gloves
The Tiger Who Wore White Gloves by Gwendolyn Brooks There once was a tiger, terrible and tough, who said “I don’t think tigers are stylish enough. They put on only orange and stripes of fierce black. Fine and fancy fashion…
Two Butterflies Went Out at Noon
Two Butterflies Went Out at Noon by Emily Dickinson Two Butterflies went out at Noon— And waltzed above a Farm— Then stepped straight through the Firmament And rested on a Beam— And then—together bore away Upon a shining Sea— Though…
It Was Not Death for I Stood Up
It Was Not Death for I Stood Up by Emily Dickinson It was not Death, for I stood up, And all the Dead, lie down – It was not Night, for all the Bells Put out their Tongues, for Noon.…
I Like a Look of Agony
I Like a Look of Agony by Emily Dickinson I like a look of Agony, Because I know it’s true— Men do not sham Convulsion, Nor simulate, a Throe— The Eyes glaze once—and that is Death— Impossible to feign The…
I Felt a Funeral in My Brain
I Felt a Funeral in My Brain by Emily Dickinson I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, And Mourners to and fro Kept treading – treading – till it seemed That Sense was breaking through – And when they all…
Fall, Leaves, Fall
Fall, Leaves, Fall by Emily Bronte Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away; Lengthen night and shorten day; Every leaf speaks bliss to me Fluttering from the autumn tree. I shall smile when wreaths of snow Blossom where the rose should…
Good Timber
Good Timber by Douglas Malloch The tree that never had to fight For sun and sky and air and light, But stood out in the open plain And always got its share of rain, Never became a forest king But…
A Former Life
A Former Life by Charles Baudelaire Long since, I lived beneath vast porticoes, By many ocean-sunsets tinged and fired, Where mighty pillars, in majestic rows, Seemed like basaltic caves when day expired. The rolling surge that mirrored all the skies…
Grass
Grass by Carl Sandburg Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo. Shovel them under and let me work— I am the grass; I cover all. And pile them high at Gettysburg And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.…
Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit
Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit by Alice Walker Did you ever understand this? If my spirit was poor, how could I enter heaven? Was I depressed? Understanding editing, I see how a comma, removed or inserted with careful plan,…
I Loved You
I Loved You by Alexander Pushkin, translated by Babette Deutsch I loved you; and perhaps I love you still, The flame, perhaps, is not extinguished; yet It burns so quietly within my soul, No longer should you feel distressed by…