Charlotte Mew: “The Trees Are Down”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
A poet anticipates the contemporary narrative lyric—and her own unfortunate end.
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
A poet anticipates the contemporary narrative lyric—and her own unfortunate end.
Josephine Miles: “Cage”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
An overlooked masterpiece depicts a feuding couple and the dreamy freedom just outside their door.
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
An overlooked masterpiece depicts a feuding couple and the dreamy freedom just outside their door.
Margaret Avison: “New Year's Poem”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
How to balance image, thought, and story to convey the numinous.
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
How to balance image, thought, and story to convey the numinous.
Seamus Heaney: “Casualty”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
In this “Troubles” elegy, the poet revisits a fisherman and pub-goer he once knew.
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
In this “Troubles” elegy, the poet revisits a fisherman and pub-goer he once knew.
Emily Dickinson: “It was not death, for I stood up,”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
Music and adolescent angst in the (18)80s.
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
Music and adolescent angst in the (18)80s.
Stevie Smith: “Not Waving but Drowning”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
This poem finds its author not raving but frowning.
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
This poem finds its author not raving but frowning.
Walt Whitman: “A Passage to India”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
Exploring the spiritual in the great master's ode to architecture.
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
Exploring the spiritual in the great master's ode to architecture.
William Carlos Williams: “To a Poor Old Woman”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
A poem from the Great Depression reveals the egalitarian nature of pleasure—and the formal innovation of a modernist master.
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
A poem from the Great Depression reveals the egalitarian nature of pleasure—and the formal innovation of a modernist master.
Sylvia Plath: “Fever 103º”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
Like Hiroshima ash and eating in”—the incinerating vision of “Fever 103º.
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
Like Hiroshima ash and eating in”—the incinerating vision of “Fever 103º.
Gerard Manley Hopkins: “The Windhover”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
A rapturous re-reading of the poet's love poem to life.
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
A rapturous re-reading of the poet's love poem to life.
Lucille Clifton: “won't you celebrate with me”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
Lucille Clifton celebrates self-discovery in “won’t you celebrate with me.”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
Lucille Clifton celebrates self-discovery in “won’t you celebrate with me.”
Emily Dickinson: “I Started Early — Took my Dog —”
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
The poet puts her vast imagination on display at the beach.
POEM GUIDE SYNOPSIS
The poet puts her vast imagination on display at the beach.
