Category: Poem Analysis

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep by Mother Goose Baa, baa, black sheep, Have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full. One for the master, And one for the dame, And one for the little boy Who lives down…

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes I have known rivers. I have known rivers, ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in the human veins. My soul has grown deep, like the rivers.…

The Conqueror Worm

The Conqueror Worm by Edgar Allan Poe Lo! ’t is a gala night Within the lonesome latter years! An angel throng, bewinged, bedight In veils, and drowned in tears, Sit in a theatre, to see A play of hopes and…

Ode

Have you ever felt so inspired by something, a beautiful sunrise, a cherished friend, or a simple object, that you wanted to express your feelings in a particularly elevated and celebratory way? That’s often where the literary form known as…

The Bridge Builder

The Bridge Builder by Will Allen Dromgoole An old man going on a lone highway, Came at the evening cold and gray, To a chasm vast and deep and wide. Through which flowed a sullen tide The old man crossed…

The Arrow and the Song

The Arrow and the Song by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. I breathed…

See It Through

See It Through by Edgar Albert Guest When you’re up against a trouble, Meet it squarely, face to face; Lift your chin and set your shoulders, Plant your feet and take a brace. When it’s vain to try to dodge…

Hey, Diddle, Diddle

Hey, Diddle, Diddle Traditional nursery rhyme Hey, diddle, diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon; The little dog laughed To see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon. Understanding “Hey, Diddle, Diddle”…

This Little Piggy

This Little Piggy by Mother Goose This little piggy went to market, This little piggy stayed home, This little piggy had roast beef, This little piggy had none. This little piggy went ‘wee wee wee’ all the way home! Summary…

Tulips

Tulips by Sylvia Plath The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here. Look how white everything is, how quiet, how snowed-in. I am learning peacefulness, lying by myself quietly As the light lies on these white walls, this bed,…

Trees

Trees by Joyce Kilmer I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts…

Still I Rise

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you…

The Chimney Sweeper

The Chimney Sweeper When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry “’weep! ’weep! ’weep! ’weep!” So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep. There’s little Tom…

Jabberwocky

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!…

Famous

Famous by Naomi Shihab Nye The river is famous to the fish. The loud voice is famous to silence, which knew it would inherit the earth before anybody said so. The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the…

In the Bleak Midwinter

In the Bleak Midwinter by Christina Rossetti In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan Earth stood hard as iron Water like a stone Snow had fallen Snow on snow Snow on snow The church was bright Summary of In…

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes…

Hush Little Baby, Don’t Say a Word

Hush Little Baby, Don’t Say a Word Traditional nursery rhyme Hush little baby, don’t say a word, Papa’s gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird won’t sing, Papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring. And if that diamond…