Poems Flashcards
Raven, The
Edgar Allan Poe, 1845. A poem centered around an unnamed narrator’s journey into madness after realizing he will never forget his lost Lenore.
Edgar Allan Poe, 1845. A poem centered around an unnamed narrator’s journey into madness after realizing he will never forget his lost Lenore.
Raven, The
Because I Could Not Stop For Death
Emily Dickinson, 1890. The personification of Death visits the poem’s speaker and takes her on a carriage ride to the afterlife.
Emily Dickinson, 1890. The personification of Death visits the poem’s speaker and takes her on a carriage ride to the afterlife.
Because I Could Not Stop For Death
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou, 1978. In the poem, Angelou reveals how she will overcome anything through her self-esteem. She shows how nothing can get her down. She will rise to any occasion and nothing, not even her skin color, will hold her back.
Maya Angelou, 1978. In the poem, Angelou reveals how she will overcome anything through her self-esteem. She shows how nothing can get her down. She will rise to any occasion and nothing, not even her skin color, will hold her back.
Still I Rise
Ozymandias
Percy Shelley, 1818. A crumbling statue of a ruler as a way to portray the transience of political power and to praise art’s ability to preserve the past.
Percy Shelley, 1818. A crumbling statue of a ruler as a way to portray the transience of political power and to praise art’s ability to preserve the past.
Ozymandias
Road Not Taken, The
Robert Frost, 1915. A poem that describes the dilemma of a person standing at a road with diversion.
Robert Frost, 1915. A poem that describes the dilemma of a person standing at a road with diversion.
Road Not Taken, The
O Captain! My Captain!
Walt Whitman, 1865. A elegy in memory of deceased American President Abraham Lincoln.
Walt Whitman, 1865. A elegy in memory of deceased American President Abraham Lincoln.
O Captain! My Captain!
To Time
Sylvia Plath, 1952. The Poem depicts time as a great machine that moves through history confining and draining all life of its essence and matter.
Sylvia Plath, 1952. The Poem depicts time as a great machine that moves through history confining and draining all life of its essence and matter.
To Time
I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain
Emily Dickinson, 1861. The speaker experiences the loss of self in the chaos of the unconscious, and the reader experiences the speaker’s descending madness and the horror most of us feel about going crazy.
Emily Dickinson, 1861. The speaker experiences the loss of self in the chaos of the unconscious, and the reader experiences the speaker’s descending madness and the horror most of us feel about going crazy.
I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain
Song of Wandering Aengus, The
William Butler Yeats, 1897. A poem about the magic and dangers of infatuation. Its speaker, Aengus, catches an enchanted fish that turns into a beautiful young woman who calls Aengus’s name and then runs away. The smitten Aengus tries, and fails, for years to find her.
William Butler Yeats, 1897. A poem about the magic and dangers of infatuation. Its speaker, Aengus, catches an enchanted fish that turns into a beautiful young woman who calls Aengus’s name and then runs away. The smitten Aengus tries, and fails, for years to find her.
Song of Wandering Aengus, The
Do Not Stand At my Grave and Weep
Mary Elizabeth Frye, 1932. In this touching poem the poet offers words of comfort for those who would mourn for her at her passing, and she seems to welcome death not as the ending of a life, but as the beginning of another.
Mary Elizabeth Frye, 1932. In this touching poem the poet offers words of comfort for those who would mourn for her at her passing, and she seems to welcome death not as the ending of a life, but as the beginning of another.
Do Not Stand At my Grave and Weep
If
Rudyard Kipling, 1895. An inspirational poem that provides advice on how one should live one’s life. The poem takes the reader through various ways in which the reader can rise above adversity that will almost certainly be thrown one’s way at some point.
Rudyard Kipling, 1895. An inspirational poem that provides advice on how one should live one’s life. The poem takes the reader through various ways in which the reader can rise above adversity that will almost certainly be thrown one’s way at some point.
If
This World is not Conclusion
Emily Dickinson, 1862. The poet exploring and analyzing our attitudes to death and what awaits us beyond.
Emily Dickinson, 1862. The poet exploring and analyzing our attitudes to death and what awaits us beyond.
This World is not Conclusion
Trees
Joyce Kilmer, 1913. In twelve lines of rhyming couplets of iambic tetrameter verse, describes what the author perceives as the inability of art created by humankind to replicate the beauty achieved by nature.
Joyce Kilmer, 1913. In twelve lines of rhyming couplets of iambic tetrameter verse, describes what the author perceives as the inability of art created by humankind to replicate the beauty achieved by nature.
Trees
Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare, 1609. In the sonnet, the speaker asks whether he should compare the Fair Youth to a summer’s day, but notes that he has qualities that surpass a summer’s day, which is one of the themes of the poem.
William Shakespeare, 1609. In the sonnet, the speaker asks whether he should compare the Fair Youth to a summer’s day, but notes that he has qualities that surpass a summer’s day, which is one of the themes of the poem.
Sonnet 18
Byzantium
William Butler Yeats, 1983. The imagined spiritual and artistic rebirth of humanity, which involves the purging of spirits as midnight arrives and their final journey to enlightenment on dolphins across the sea.
William Butler Yeats, 1983. The imagined spiritual and artistic rebirth of humanity, which involves the purging of spirits as midnight arrives and their final journey to enlightenment on dolphins across the sea.
Byzantium
Ode on Intimations of Immortality
Williams Wordsworth, 1807. The poem begins with the speaker mourning the loss of his youth and the deeper connection he used to have to the natural world. He tries to touch the emotion of the past but is unable. There’s always something missing. The speaker reflects on what it means to age, and in the fifth stanza declares that we come from a world that is more heavenly than earth. It is with the memory of this place that we see the earth, at least at first. Eventually, we grow older, forget these experiences and are taken in by the earth itself.
Williams Wordsworth, 1807. The poem begins with the speaker mourning the loss of his youth and the deeper connection he used to have to the natural world. He tries to touch the emotion of the past but is unable. There’s always something missing. The speaker reflects on what it means to age, and in the fifth stanza declares that we come from a world that is more heavenly than earth. It is with the memory of this place that we see the earth, at least at first. Eventually, we grow older, forget these experiences and are taken in by the earth itself.
Ode on Intimations of Immortality
Love After Love
Derek Walcott, 1976. A poem of consolation addressed to anyone who’s suffered a breakup or other romantic disappointment. Assuring such sufferers that things will get better, the speaker depicts the recovery process as one of reconnecting with—and relearning to love—one’s inner self.
Derek Walcott, 1976. A poem of consolation addressed to anyone who’s suffered a breakup or other romantic disappointment. Assuring such sufferers that things will get better, the speaker depicts the recovery process as one of reconnecting with—and relearning to love—one’s inner self.
Love After Love
Bonedog
Eva H.D., 2023. The Poem considers the process of coming home every day and how terribly lonely it is. In the first lines the speaker begins by stating that arriving home from anywhere can be painful, even if home was where “you” wanted to be all day. It’s the same thing every day.
Eva H.D., 2023. The Poem considers the process of coming home every day and how terribly lonely it is. In the first lines the speaker begins by stating that arriving home from anywhere can be painful, even if home was where “you” wanted to be all day. It’s the same thing every day.
Bonedog
Song of Myself
Walt Whitman, 1855. An ode to individuality and originality. As the end of the poem suggests, the author is not to be defined or tied down. He is immortal in the sense that even after he dies, his matter will meld into the earth, growing forth so many leaves of grass.
Walt Whitman, 1855. An ode to individuality and originality. As the end of the poem suggests, the author is not to be defined or tied down. He is immortal in the sense that even after he dies, his matter will meld into the earth, growing forth so many leaves of grass.
Song of Myself
Man with the Blue Guitar, The
Wallace Stevens, 1937. A statement about the relations between reality (often symbolized by green), imagination (symbolized by blue), and understanding or interpretation through art. “Things as they are Are changed upon the blue guitar.”
Wallace Stevens, 1937. A statement about the relations between reality (often symbolized by green), imagination (symbolized by blue), and understanding or interpretation through art. “Things as they are Are changed upon the blue guitar.”
Man with the Blue Guitar, The
Swan at Edgewater Park
Ruth L. Schwartz, 2012. This poem uses the swan as a metaphor for Lorie at 27 with all her mistakes and bad choices taking away her likelihood of a good life. At 16, she was full of promise, the world awaiting. Now, like a once magnificent swan, her chances of escaping the dirt and detritus, seem dim.
Ode On A Grecian Urn
John Keats, 1819. Art, Beauty, and Truth. This poem examines the close relationship between art, beauty, and truth. For the speaker, it is through beauty that humankind comes closest to truth—and through art that human beings can attain this beauty (though it remains a bittersweet achievement).
John Keats, 1819. Art, Beauty, and Truth. This poem examines the close relationship between art, beauty, and truth. For the speaker, it is through beauty that humankind comes closest to truth—and through art that human beings can attain this beauty (though it remains a bittersweet achievement).
Ode On A Grecian Urn
Ruth L. Schwartz, 2012. This poem uses the swan as a metaphor for Lorie at 27 with all her mistakes and bad choices taking away her likelihood of a good life. At 16, she was full of promise, the world awaiting. Now, like a once magnificent swan, her chances of escaping the dirt and detritus, seem dim.
Swan at Edgewater Park
Break, Break, Break
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1842. The poem is an elegy that describes Tennyson’s feelings of loss after Arthur Henry Hallam died and his feelings of isolation while at Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1842. The poem is an elegy that describes Tennyson’s feelings of loss after Arthur Henry Hallam died and his feelings of isolation while at Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire.
Break, Break, Break
London
William Blake, 1794. A poem that illustrates how London, the city he loved, was changing beyond recognition due to its industrialization. He also wanted to show how many people living in the city were being forgotten by those with wealth and power.
William Blake, 1794. A poem that illustrates how London, the city he loved, was changing beyond recognition due to its industrialization. He also wanted to show how many people living in the city were being forgotten by those with wealth and power.
London
