Theme
5 poems
An American master of the short lyric, Teasdale won the prize that became the Pulitzer and wrote some of the most quietly haunting poems of her age — from “There Will Come Soft Rains” to “Barter” — on love, beauty, and loss.
Written as World War I raged, Sara Teasdale’s twelve-line lyric pictures nature carrying on in perfect indifference to human catastrophe — and asks how little our extinction would cost the spring.
She got the kiss she hoped for and found it wasn’t enough. Teasdale’s tiny poem isn’t about a bad kiss, but about the kind of person for whom the dream always outshines the real thing.
Teasdale’s classic love lyric balancing the hunger to yield with the need to remain oneself.
Strephon and Robin kissed her in jest and play, and both are gone. Colin only looked, and that look stays. Teasdale’s tiny song makes the unspoken glance outweigh two real kisses.