Category: Poem Analysis

The Chambered Nautilus

The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, Sails the unshadowed main,— The venturous bark that flings On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren…

The Landlord’s Tale. Paul Revere’s Ride

The Landlord’s Tale. Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that…

Fra Lippo Lippi

Fra Lippo Lippi by Robert Browning I am poor brother Lippo, by your leave! You need not clap your torches to my face. Zooks, what’s to blame? you think you see a monk! What, ‘tis past midnight, and you go…

The Sick Rose

The Sick Rose by William Blake O Rose thou art sick. The invisible worm, That flies in the night In the howling storm: Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy.…

Who Has Seen the Wind?

Who Has Seen the Wind? by Christina Rossetti Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you: But when the leaves hang trembling, The wind is passing through. Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I: But when the…

To — — –. Ulalume: A Ballad

To — — –. Ulalume: A Ballad by Edgar Allan Poe The skies they were ashen and sober; The leaves they were crispéd and sere— The leaves they were withering and sere; It was night in the lonesome October Of…

Carrion Comfort

Carrion Comfort by Gerard Manley Hopkins Not, I’ll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee; Not untwist — slack they may be — these last strands of man In me ór, most weary, cry I can no more. I…

This Is Just To Say

This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold Summary of This…

She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways

She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways by William Wordsworth She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove, A Maid whom there were none to praise And very few to love: A violet by a mossy stone Half…

Ode on Melancholy

Ode on Melancholy by John Keats No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist Wolf’s-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine; Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss’d By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine; Make not your rosary of yew-berries,…

An Essay on Man: Epistle I

An Essay on Man: Epistle I by Alexander Pope To Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things To low ambition, and the pride of kings. Let us (since life can little more supply Than…

Love Among The Ruins

Love Among The Ruins by Robert Browning Where the quiet-coloured end of evening smiles, Miles and miles On the solitary pastures where our sheep Half-asleep Tinkle homeward thro’ the twilight, stray or stop As they crop— Was the site once…

Song: To Celia

Song: to Celia by Ben Johnson Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And I’ll not look for wine. The thirst that from the soul doth…

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry by Walt Whitman 1 Flood-tide below me! I see you face to face! Clouds of the west—sun there half an hour high—I see you also face to face. Crowds of men and women attired in the usual…

The Death of the Hired Man

The Death of the Hired Man by Robert Frost Mary sat musing on the lamp-flame at the table Waiting for Warren. When she heard his step, She ran on tip-toe down the darkened passage To meet him in the doorway…

América

América By Richard Blanco I. Although Tía Miriam boasted she discovered at least half a dozen uses for peanut butter— topping for guava shells in syrup, butter substitute for Cuban toast, hair conditioner and relaxer— Mamá never knew what to make…

New Year’s Day

New Year’s Day by Kim Addonizio The rain this morning falls on the last of the snow and will wash it away. I can smell the grass again, and the torn leaves being eased down into the mud. The few…

Concord Hymn

Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence…