A Time to Talk by Robert Frost When a friend calls to me from the road And slows his horse to a meaning walk, I don’t stand still and look around On all the hills I haven’t hoed, And shout…
Category: Poem Analysis
After the Lunch
After the Lunch by Wendy Cope On Waterloo Bridge, where we said our goodbyes, the weather conditions bring tears to my eyes. I wipe them away with a black woolly glove And try not to notice I’ve fallen in love.…
Richard Cory
Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim. And he was always quietly arrayed, And…
We Real Cool
We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel. We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon. Meanings…
Young and Old
Young and Old by Charles Kingsley When all the world is young, lad, And all the trees are green; And every goose a swan, lad, And every lass a queen; Then hey for boot and horse, lad, And round the…
Snake
Snake by D. H. Lawrence A snake came to my water-trough On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat, To drink there. In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob tree I came…
On The Life of Man
On The Life of Man by Sir Walter Ralegh What is our life? a play of passion, Our mirth the musicke of division, Our mothers wombes the tyring houses be, When we are drest for this short Comedy, Heaven the…
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.…
The Weary Blues
The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other night By the pale dull pallor of an old gas…
The Black-Faced Sheep
The Black-Faced Sheep by Donald Hall Ruminant pillows! Gregarious soft boulders! If one of you found a gap in a stone wall, the rest of you—rams, ewes, bucks, wethers, lambs; mothers and daughters, old grandfather-father, cousins and aunts, small bleating…
Swan Song
Meanings of “Swan Song” The phrase “swan song” refers to a final performance or composition given before retirement, or death, or closure, etc. Origin of “Swan Song” The phrase “swan song” was initially used in ancient Rome about the legendary…
There is No Frigate like a Book
There is No Frigate like a Book by Emily Dickinson There is no Frigate like a Book To take us Lands away Nor any Coursers like a Page Of prancing Poetry – This Traverse may the poorest take Without oppress…
After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes
After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes by Emily Dickinson After great pain, a formal feeling comes – The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs – The stiff Heart questions ‘was it He, that bore,’ And ‘Yesterday, or Centuries before’? The…
Tell all the Truth but Tell it Slant
Tell all the Truth but Tell it Slant by Emily Dickinson Tell all the truth but tell it slant — Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth’s superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased…
The Hunting of the Snark
The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll Fit the First The Landing “Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried, As he landed his crew with care; Supporting each man on the top of the tide By a…
Lycidas
Lycidas by John Milton Yet once more, O ye laurels, and once more Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere, I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, And with forc’d fingers rude Shatter your leaves before the mellowing…
Eloisa to Abelard
Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope In these deep solitudes and awful cells, Where heav’nly-pensive contemplation dwells, And ever-musing melancholy reigns; What means this tumult in a vestal’s veins? Why rove my thoughts beyond this last retreat? Why feels my…
The Wild Swans at Coole
The Wild Swans at Coole by William Butler Yeats The trees are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry, Under the October twilight the water Mirrors a still sky; Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine-and-fifty…
Christabel
Christabel by Samuel Taylor Coleridge PART I ‘Tis the middle of night by the castle clock, And the owls have awakened the crowing cock; Tu—whit! Tu—whoo! And hark, again! the crowing cock, How drowsily it crew. Sir Leoline, the Baron…
Que Sera Sera
Que Sera Sera by A. Van Jordan In my car, driving through Black Mountain, North Carolina, I listen to what sounds like Doris Day shooting heroin inside Sly Stone’s throat. One would think that she fights to get out, but…