The Lie By Sir Walter Ralegh Go, soul, the body’s guest, Upon a thankless errand; Fear not to touch the best; The truth shall be thy warrant. Go, since I needs must die, And give the world the lie. Say…
Category: Poem Analysis
Birdshooting Season
Birdshooting Season By Olive Senior Birdshooting season the men make marriages with their guns My father’s house turns macho as from far the hunters gather All night long the contentless women stir their brews: hot coffee chocolata, cerassie wrap pone…
Winter Night: Edinburgh
Winter Night: Edinburgh By Andrew Forster Night falls quickly as turning back a clock But the City is alive with light Shops and cafes deny the darkness, throw light at the street like baited hooks. Offices spill workers onto pavements,…
Woman to Child
Woman to Child By Judith Wright You who were darkness warmed my flesh where out of darkness rose the seed. Then all a world I made in me; all the world you hear and see hung upon my dreaming blood.…
The United Fruit Company
The United Fruit Company By Pablo Neruda When the trumpet sounded, it was all prepared on the earth, the Jehovah parcelled out the earth to Coca Cola, Inc., Anaconda, Ford Motors, and other entities: The Fruit Company, Inc. reserved for…
The Thickness of Ice
The Thickness of Ice By Liz Loxley At first we’ll meet as friends (Though secretly I’ll be hoping we’ll become much more and hoping that you’re hoping that too) At first we’ll be like skaters testing the thickness of ice…
Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face
Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face By Jack Prelutsky Be glad your nose is on your face, not pasted on some other place, for if it were where it is not, you might dislike your nose a lot.…
You Will Never See Me Fall
You Will Never See Me Fall By Joyce Alcantara You may see me struggle but you won’t see me fall. Regardless if I’m weak or not I’m going to stand tall. Everyone says life is easy but truly living it…
Meeting Point
Meeting Point By Louis Macneice Time was away and somewhere else, There were two glasses and two chairs And two people with the one pulse (Somebody stopped the moving stairs): Time was away and somewhere else. And they were neither…
Wind and Window Flower
Wind and Window Flower By Robert Frost Lovers, forget your love, And list to the love of these, She a window flower, And he a winter breeze. When the frosty window veil Was melted down at noon, And the cagèd…
Visitors to the Black Belt
Visitors to the Black Belt By Langston Hughes You can talk about Across the railroad tracks— To me it’s here On this side of the tracks. You can talk about Up in Harlem— To me it’s here In Harlem. You…
Velvet Shoes
Velvet Shoes By Elinor Wylie Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space With footsteps quiet and slow, At a tranquil pace, Under veils of white lace. I shall go shod in silk, And you in wool,…
Winter Morning
Winter Morning By Ogden Nash Winter is the king of showmen, Turning tree stumps into snow men And houses into birthday cakes And spreading sugar over lakes. Smooth and clean and frosty white, The world looks good enough to bite.…
During Wind and Rain
During Wind and Rain By Thomas Hardy They sing their dearest songs— He, she, all of them—yea, Treble and tenor and bass, And one to play; With the candles mooning each face. . . Ah, no; the years O! How…
The Laboratory
The Laboratory By Robert Browning Now that I, tying thy glass mask tightly, May gaze thro’ these faint smokes curling whitely, As thou pliest thy trade in this devil’s-smithy— Which is the poison to poison her, prithee? He is with…
The Last Leaf
The Last Leaf By Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. I saw him once before, As he passed by the door, And again The pavement stones resound, As he totters o’er the ground With his cane. They say that in his prime,…
The Heaven of Animals
The Heaven of Animals By James L. Dickey Here they are. The soft eyes open. If they have lived in a wood It is a wood. If they have lived on plains It is grass rolling Under their feet forever.…
The Legend
The Legend By Garrett Hongo In Chicago, it is snowing softly and a man has just done his wash for the week. He steps into the twilight of early evening, carrying a wrinkled shopping bag full of neatly folded clothes,…
The History Teacher
The History Teacher By Billy Collins Trying to protect his students’ innocence he told them the Ice Age was really just the Chilly Age, a period of a million years when everyone had to wear sweaters. And the Stone Age…
The Dead
The Dead By Rupert Brooke These hearts were woven of human joys and cares, Washed marvellously with sorrow, swift to mirth. The years had given them kindness. Dawn was theirs, And sunset, and the colours of the earth. These had…