All Poems A–Z

Every poem in the archive, in full, from Shakespeare and Donne to Dickinson and Frost. Each comes with a plain summary and an original analysis. Browse by title, or narrow the list by era, form or theme.

186 poems

A

A Bird Came Down the WalkA Bird, came down the Walk – Emily Dickinson Lyric A BirthdayMy heart is like a singing bird Christina Rossetti Lyric A Dream within a DreamTake this kiss upon the brow! Edgar Allan Poe Lyric A Late Walk Robert Frost Lyric A Red, Red RoseO my Luve is like a red, red rose Robert Burns Ballad A Visit from St. Nicholas (’Twas the Night Before Christmas)’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Clement Clarke Moore Narrative Acquainted with the NightI have been one acquainted with the night. Robert Frost Sonnet Adonais (Selected Excerpts)I weep for Adonais—he is dead! Percy Bysshe Shelley Elegy After Apple-PickingMy long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree Robert Frost Lyric After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling ComesAfter great pain, a formal feeling comes— Emily Dickinson Lyric An Essay on CriticismSi quid novisti rectius istis, Alexander Pope Heroic Couplet Annabel LeeIt was many and many a year ago, Edgar Allan Poe Ballad Anthem for Doomed YouthWhat passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Wilfred Owen Sonnet Auld Lang SyneShould auld acquaintance be forgot, Robert Burns Song

B

Because I Could Not Stop for DeathBecause I could not stop for Death – Emily Dickinson Lyric BirchesWhen I see birches bend to left and right Robert Frost Blueberries“You ought to have seen what I saw on my way Robert Frost BootsWe’re foot—slog—slog—slog—sloggin’ over Africa! Rudyard Kipling Dramatic Monologue Bright StarBright star, would I were stedfast as thou art— John Keats Sonnet

C

Channel Firing Thomas Hardy ChicagoHog Butcher for the World, Carl Sandburg Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (Canto III — Selected Excerpts) Lord Byron Christmas Bells (I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day)I heard the bells on Christmas Day Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Lyric Christmas TreesThe city had withdrawn into itself Robert Frost Blank Verse Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 William Wordsworth Crossing the BarSunset and evening star, Alfred Tennyson Lyric

D

Daffodils (I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud)I wandered lonely as a cloud William Wordsworth Lyric Darkness Lord Byron Death Be Not Proud (Holy Sonnet 10)Death, be not proud, though some have called thee John Donne Sonnet Death Is Nothing at AllDeath is nothing at all. DesignI found a dimpled spider, fat and white, Robert Frost Sonnet Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Villanelle Don Juan (Canto I — Selected Excerpts) Lord Byron Dover Beach Matthew Arnold Dulce et Decorum EstBent double, like old beggars under sacks, Wilfred Owen

E

Eldorado Edgar Allan Poe Eloisa to Abelard Alexander Pope EndymionA thing of beauty is a joy for ever: John Keats Narrative

F

Fare Thee Well Lord Byron Fire and IceSome say the world will end in fire, Robert Frost Lyric FogThe fog comes Carl Sandburg For the FallenWith proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, Laurence Binyon Elegy

G

Ghost House Robert Frost Lyric Goblin MarketMorning and evening Christina Rossetti Narrative Poem God’s GrandeurThe world is charged with the grandeur of God. Gerard Manley Hopkins Going for Water Robert Frost Lyric GrassPile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo. Carl Sandburg

H

Hope Is the Thing with FeathersHope is the thing with feathers Emily Dickinson Lyric How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnet

I

I Am Not YoursI am not yours, not lost in you, Sara Teasdale Lyric I Dwell in PossibilityI dwell in Possibility – Emily Dickinson Lyric I Hear America SingingI hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Walt Whitman Free Verse I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –I heard a Fly buzz – when I died – Emily Dickinson Lyric I, TooI, too, sing America. Langston Hughes Free Verse If—If you can keep your head when all about you Rudyard Kipling Il Penseroso (Selected Excerpts) John Milton In Flanders FieldsIn Flanders fields the poppies blow John McCrae Rondeau In Memoriam A.H.H. (Selected Excerpts)Strong Son of God, immortal Love, Alfred Tennyson Elegy In the Bleak MidwinterIn the bleak mid-winter Christina Rossetti Lyric Into My Own Robert Frost Lyric InvictusOut of the night that covers me, Lyric I’m Nobody! Who Are You?I’m nobody! Who are you? Emily Dickinson Lyric

J

Jabberwocky’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Lewis Carroll Ballad Journey of the Magi‘A cold coming we had of it, T. S. Eliot Dramatic Monologue

K

Kubla Khan Samuel Taylor Coleridge

L

La Belle Dame sans MerciO what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, John Keats Ballad Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey William Wordsworth Lines Written in Early Spring William Wordsworth London, 1802 William Wordsworth Love and a Question Robert Frost Love Came Down at ChristmasLove came down at Christmas, Christina Rossetti Lyric Loveliest of TreesLoveliest of trees, the cherry now A. E. Housman Lyric Love’s Philosophy Percy Bysshe Shelley Lyric Lycidas (Selected Excerpts) John Milton L’Allegro (Selected Excerpts) John Milton Pastoral

M

Manfred (Selected Excerpts) Lord Byron Mending WallSomething there is that doesn’t love a wall, Robert Frost Blank Verse Michael William Wordsworth Mont Blanc (Selected Excerpts) Percy Bysshe Shelley Mowing Robert Frost My Heart Leaps Up William Wordsworth My Last DuchessThat’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, Robert Browning Dramatic Monologue My November Guest Robert Frost Lyric

N

Neutral TonesWe stood by a pond that winter day, Thomas Hardy Lyric No Man Is An IslandNo man is an island, John Donne Nothing Gold Can StayNature’s first green is gold, Robert Frost Lyric

O

O Captain! My Captain!O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, Walt Whitman Elegy Ode on a Grecian UrnThou still unravish’d bride of quietness, John Keats Ode Ode to a NightingaleMy heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains John Keats Ode to the West Wind (Selected Excerpts) Percy Bysshe Shelley Ode: Intimations of Immortality (Excerpt) William Wordsworth On First Looking into Chapman’s HomerMuch have I travell'd in the realms of gold, John Keats Sonnet On His Blindness (Sonnet XIX) John Milton Sonnet On the Morning of Christ’s NativityThis is the month and this the happy morn, John Milton Ode On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year William Wordsworth Once by the Pacific Robert Frost OzymandiasI met a traveller from an antique land, Percy Bysshe Shelley Sonnet

P

Paradise Lost (Selected Excerpts) John Milton PrometheusTitan! to whose immortal eyes Lord Byron Ode

R

Reluctance Robert Frost Lyric RememberRemember me when I am gone away, Christina Rossetti Revelation Robert Frost Lyric Ring Out, Wild BellsRing out wild bells to the wild sky, Alfred Tennyson Lyric

S

T

Tears, Idle TearsTears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Alfred Tennyson Lyric Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant Emily Dickinson Lyric The Ballad of the OystermanIt was a tall young oysterman lived by the river-side, Alfred Noyes Ballad The Bells Edgar Allan Poe The Charge of the Light BrigadeHalf a league, half a league, Alfred Tennyson The Darkling Thrush Thomas Hardy The Death of the Hired Man Robert Frost The EagleHe clasps the crag with crooked hands; Alfred Tennyson Lyric The Eve of St. Agnes (Selected Excerpts) John Keats The FleaMark but this flea, and mark in this, John Donne Lyric The Good-MorrowI wonder by my troth, what thou and I John Donne Lyric The Haunted Palace Edgar Allan Poe The HighwaymanPART ONE Alfred Noyes Ballad The KissI hoped that he would love me, Sara Teasdale Lyric The Lady of ShalottOn either side the river lie Alfred Tennyson Ballad The Lake Isle of Innisfree W. B. Yeats Lyric Poem The LambLittle Lamb who made thee William Blake Lyric The LookStrephon kissed me in the spring, Sara Teasdale Lyric The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockS’io credesse che mia risposta fosse T. S. Eliot Dramatic Monologue The Man He Killed“Had he and I but met Thomas Hardy Dramatic Monologue The Oven Bird Robert Frost The OxenChristmas Eve, and twelve of the clock. Thomas Hardy Lyric The PastureI'm going out to clean the pasture spring; Robert Frost Lyric The Phoenix and the Turtle William Shakespeare The Prisoner of Chillon (Selected Excerpts) Lord Byron The Rape of the Lock (Selected Excerpts)What dire offence from amorous causes springs, Alexander Pope The RavenOnce upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Edgar Allan Poe Narrative Poem The Red Wheelbarrowso much depends William Carlos Williams Free Verse The Road Not TakenTwo roads diverged in a yellow wood, Robert Frost Lyric The Second ComingTurning and turning in the widening gyre W. B. Yeats Blank Verse The SoldierIf I should die, think only this of me: Rupert Brooke Sonnet The Solitary Reaper William Wordsworth Lyric The Soul Selects Her Own SocietyThe Soul selects her own Society – Emily Dickinson Lyric The Sound of the Trees Robert Frost Lyric The Tuft of Flowers Robert Frost The TygerTyger Tyger, burning bright, William Blake Lyric The Vantage Point Robert Frost Lyric The Walrus and the Carpenter“The sun was shining on the sea, Lewis Carroll Ballad The Waste Land T. S. Eliot The White Man’s BurdenTake up the White Man’s burden— Rudyard Kipling Lyric The Wood-Pile Robert Frost The World Is Too Much With Us William Wordsworth Sonnet There Will Come Soft RainsThere will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, Sara Teasdale Lyric There’s a Certain Slant of LightThere's a certain Slant of light, Emily Dickinson Lyric TithonusThe woods decay, the woods decay and fall, Alfred Tennyson To a Skylark Percy Bysshe Shelley Ode To an Athlete Dying YoungThe time you won your town the race A. E. Housman Elegy To AutumnSeason of mists and mellow fruitfulness, John Keats Ode To His Coy MistressHad we but world enough, and time, Lyric To the Virgins, to Make Much of TimeGather ye rosebuds while ye may, Robert Herrick Lyric

U

Ulalume Edgar Allan Poe UlyssesIt little profits that an idle king, Alfred Tennyson Up-HillDoes the road wind up-hill all the way? Christina Rossetti Lyric

V

Venus and Adonis William Shakespeare

W

What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where, and WhyWhat lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, Edna St. Vincent Millay Sonnet When I Have Fears That I May Cease to BeWhen I have fears that I may cease to be John Keats Sonnet When I Heard the Learn’d AstronomerWhen I heard the learn'd astronomer, Walt Whitman When I Was One-and-TwentyWhen I was one-and-twenty A. E. Housman Lyric When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d (Selected Excerpts) Walt Whitman Elegy When We Two PartedWhen we two parted Lord Byron Lyric When You Are OldWhen you are old and grey and full of sleep, W. B. Yeats Lyric Wild Nights – Wild Nights!Wild nights – Wild nights! Emily Dickinson Lyric With Rue My Heart Is LadenWith rue my heart is laden A. E. Housman Elegy