Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in…
Tag: poem analysis
Home Burial
Home Burial by Robert Frost He saw her from the bottom of the stairs Before she saw him. She was starting down, Looking back over her shoulder at some fear. She took a doubtful step and then undid it To raise…
Thanatopsis
Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language; for his gayer hours She has a voice of gladness, and a smile And eloquence of…
The Flea
The Flea by John Donne Mark but this flea, and mark in this, How little that which thou deniest me is; It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea our two bloods mingled be; Thou know’st that…
My Parents
My Parents by Stephen Spender My parents kept me from children who were rough Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes Their thighs showed through rags they ran in the street And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country…
Auguries of Innocence
Auguries of Innocence by William Blake To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour A Robin Red breast in…
Not Waving but Drowning
Not Waving but Drowning by Stevie Smith Nobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought And not waving but drowning. Poor chap, he always loved larking And now he’s…
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The tide rises, the tide falls, The twilight darkens, the curlew calls; Along the sea-sands damp and brown The traveler hastens toward the town, And the tide rises, the tide…
When You Are Old
When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats When you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once,…
Silence
Silence by Thomas Hood There is a silence where hath been no sound, There is a silence where no sound may be, In the cold grave—under the deep deep sea, Or in the wide desert where no life is found, Which…
The Voice
The Voice by Thomas Hardy Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me, Saying that now you are not as you were When you had changed from the one who was all to me, But as at…
Old Ironsides
Old Ironsides by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Ay, tear her tattered ensign down! Long has it waved on high? And many an eye has danced to see That banner in the sky; Beneath it rung the battle shout, And burst…
Miniver Cheevy
Miniver Cheevy by Edwin Arlington Robinson Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn, Grew lean while he assailed the seasons; He wept that he was ever born, And he had reasons. Miniver loved the days of old When swords were bright and…
Ode to the West Wind
Ode to the West Wind by Percy Bysshe Shelley O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, Yellow, and black, and pale, and…
To His Coy Mistress
To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell Had we but world enough and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime. We would sit down, and think which way To walk, and pass our long love’s day. Thou by the Indian…
Lights Out
Lights Out by Edward Thomas I have come to the borders of sleep, The unfathomable deep Forest where all must lose Their way, however straight, Or winding, soon or late; They cannot choose. Many a road and track That, since the…
One Art
One Art by Elizabeth Bishop The art of losing isn’t hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door…
The Lamb
The Lamb by William Blake Little Lamb who made thee Dost thou know who made thee Gave thee life & bid thee feed. By the stream & o’er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing wooly bright; Gave thee…
The Tyger
The Tyger by William Blake Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings…
My Papa’s Waltz
My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy. We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother’s…