The Poetry Foundation

Filter Results

Fable
By Ralph Waldo Emerson
The mountain and the squirrel
Had a quarrel;
And the former called the latter ‘Little Prig.’
Bun replied,
‘You are doubtless very big;
But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together,
To make up a year
And a sphere.
And I think it no disgrace
To...
On Quiet Feet
By Nikki Grimes
When my dad walks
into a room,
or down
the street,
he inches
up on me
silent
as shadow,...
Thanksgiving Day [“Over the river and through the wood”]
By Lydia Maria Child
Over the river and through the wood,
    To grandfather's house we go;
         The horse knows the way
         To carry the sleigh
    Through the white and drifted snow....
Ode on a Grecian Urn
By John Keats
Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:...
O Captain! My Captain!
By Walt Whitman
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and...
Casey at the Bat
By Ernest Lawrence Thayer
The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of...
The Charge of the Light Brigade
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
I
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

II
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though...
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
By Jane Taylor
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,...
Figs from Thistles: First Fig
By Edna St. Vincent Millay
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light!
Trees
By Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in...
- Classics
- Sports and Outdoor Activities
Mending Wall
By Robert Frost
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where...
To an Athlete Dying Young
By A. E. Housman
The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a...
Jack
By Jane Yolen
Jack was quite nimble,
Jack was quite quick,
Jack gave the beanstalk
A mighty big kick.

Down came the giant—
GIGANTIC fall—
Bottoms up in a crater,
Thus ending it all.
- Being Oneself
- Classics
If We Must Die
By Claude McKay
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our...
The Witch Has Told You a Story
By Ava Leavell Haymon
You are food.
You are here for me
to eat. Fatten up,
and I will like you better.

Your brother will be first,
you must wait your turn.
Feed him yourself, you will
learn to do it. You will take him

eggs with yellow sauce, muffins
torn apart and...
The Twelve Days of Christmas
By Anonymous
The first day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree.

The second day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
...
"Mary had a little lamb,"
By Sarah Josepha Hale
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow;
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rule;
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.

And...
- Relationships
- Home Life
- Pets
- Types/Modes
- Nursery Rhymes
- Animals
- Classics
- School
- Timeless Treasures
- + 2 more
Willie Winkie
By William Miller
Wee Willie Winkie
    Rins through the toun,
Up stairs and doun stairs
    In his nicht-gown,
Tirling at the window,
    Crying at the lock,
“Are the weans in their bed,
    For it’s now ten o’clock?

“Hey, Willie Winkie,
    Are ye coming ben?
The cat’s singing grey...
Little Boy Blue
By Mother Goose
Little boy blue,
Come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow,
The cow's in the corn.
But where is the boy
Who looks after the sheep?
He's under a haystack,
Fast asleep.
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
By Robert Browning
Hamelin Town's in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover city;
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its wall on the southern side;
A pleasanter spot you never spied;
But, when begins my ditty,
Almost five hundred years ago,
To see the...

Quick Tags

poetry-magazineFigs from Thistles: First Fig

poetry-magazineTrees

poetry-magazineThe Witch Has Told You a Story

Figs from Thistles: First Fig

Trees

The Witch Has Told You a Story