Poem Examples

"The Giving Tree" is one of Shel Silverstein’s most well-known works. It was written and illustrated by him in the year 1964. It is published as a children’s picture book. The poem celebrates nature’s giving, and laments humans’ taking, and reminds us about the little things in life that bring us the most happiness. The Giving Tree BY SHEL SILVERSTEIN...

"Annabel Lee" is the very last piece of poetry by the great Edgar Allen Poe. Here Poe gives his own voice to a lamenting narrator who dictates a heart-wrenching story of how the cruel nature had conspired to rob him of his love - Annabel Lee, but has failed as his love for her extends beyond her grave. Annabel Lee...

In the poem “Bluebird” Charles Bukowski, a German-born American poet, short story writer and novelist portrays the hardships of a man who has a troubled childhood, and the emotional rollercoaster he has to go through in his everyday life. The poet uses the phrase “men do not cry” to address the social stigma surrounding men. Bluebird BY CHARLES BUKOWSKI there's...

"I know why the caged bird sings" is Maya Angelou’s heart-wrenching poem that reflects on the mindless oppression that the Blacks were subjected back in the olden days. Her portrayal of the injustice using a "free bird" and a "caged bird" leaves us with a bitter taste that reminds us of the long abolished slavery. I Know Why the Caged Bird...

In the poem “Life is Fine”, Langston Hughes, the poet, also a novelist, fiction writer, and playwright, expresses his optimism after his attempts of ending his life which in turn end up making him feel alive. He comments “Since I’m still livin’ here, I guess I’ll live on” meaning he wants to live more. Life is Fine BY LANGSTON HUGHES...

The poem Clair de lune (Moonlight) is from Paul Verlaine’s collection of poems “Fetes Galantes” dating back to 1869. The French poet was associated with the Symbolist Movement; and the poem is a mixture of Romance and Impressionism. Clair De Lune BY PAUL VERLAINE Your soul is as a moonlit landscape fair, Peopled with maskers delicate and dim, That play...

“Let America Be America Again” is a poem dedicated to and inspired by the political subjects written by Langston Hughes in 1935 and published in the Esquire issue in the summer of 1936. The poem is about how America must fulfil the promises it gave earlier to the people inhabiting it as it once did to its Founding Fathers, Puritans,...

Ezra Weston Loomis Pound, the great expatriate American poet and critic, used his iconic Imagism to write the poem ‘A girl’ where he used the mythical characters of Apollo and Daphne to showcase the creative imaginations of a girl from two different perspectives; an older child and an adult, where the girl transforms herself into a tree. A Girl BY...

After Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865, Walt Whitman wrote "O Captain My Captain." The poem is written in a form of an elegy and is aimed to honor the sixteenth president of the United States. The entire poem itself provides extended metaphor that implies comparisons between seemingly dissimilar things, for the U.S. after the Civil War and the killing of...

Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "The Blessed Damozel" is about a woman looking down upon her lover from heaven. The woman wants to be with her lover for eternity but knows that it can never happen. She feels that if the two of them unite in one and pray, then every wish can come true. The Blessed Damozel BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI...