Poem Guides Poem Guides Poem GuideRae Armantrout: “Our Nature”By Stephanie BurtHow did you become who you are?Poem GuideRobert Frost: “Mending Wall”By Austin AllenHow a poem about a rural stone wall quickly became part of debates on nationalism, international borders, and immigration.Poem GuideW.S. Merwin: “Berryman”By Stephanie BurtA poet revisits his legendary teacher’s advice.Showing 1-20 of 102 poem guidesPoem Guide“Fragment Thirty-six” by H.D. & SapphoBy Dan Beachy-QuickTranslation as PermissionPoem GuideAriana Brown: “A Division of Gods”By Remica Bingham-RisherWhat do we uncover when we try to salvage history?Poem GuideT.S. Eliot: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”By Peter O’LearyOne of the most famous poems in English, one of the first encounters readers have with modern poetry—and may have even invented modern poetry.Poem GuideRobert Frost: “Nothing Gold Can Stay”By Tyler MaloneFor a poem about the brevity of every state of being, the single octave perfectly enacts its themes through its form.Poem GuideFederico García Lorca: “Dreamwalking Ballad”By Sarah ArvioMetaphor in Lorca is a form of gorgeous shorthand.Poem GuideTristan Tzara: “Speaking Alone”By Heather GreenSilence and speech in post-war FrancePoem GuideJohn Tickhill: “A Bird in Bishopswood”By Eric WeiskottA melancholy medieval rent collector’s sorrows, scribbled on the back of a legal documentPoem GuideMetamorphoses: “Erysichthon” by Ovid and “Erysichthon’s Seed” by Shanta LeeBy Shanta LeeRace, Class, Gender, and the Imperial BodyPoem GuideMargaret Walker: “For My People”By CM BurroughsThere is lightness within these downtrodden lives!Poem GuideGwendolyn Brooks: “the mother”By Annie FinchWhat does it mean if a poem is “neither pro nor con abortion”?Poem GuideSylvia Plath: “The Applicant”By Julie IrigarayA hymn to female independence in the form of a withering critique of marriagePoem GuideT.S. Eliot: The Waste LandBy Tyler MaloneWho are all these people? Where is this waste land they inhabit? What is this chaos of impressions we are privy to? Wherefore such madness?Poem GuideAnne Carson: “Red Meat: Fragments of Stesichoros”By Kristi MaxwellAre these pieces translations, inventions, or interventions that add to a story that has been lost to us?Poem Guidesam sax: “LISP”By Jeffrey CareyvaA queer childhood and the demand to “sound straight.”Poem GuideHarryette Mullen: “Elliptical”By Austin AllenWhen polite prejudice makes for scathing satire.Poem GuidePercy Bysshe Shelley: “England in 1819”By Christopher SpaideA letter, a list, a sonnet, and the state of a nation.Poem GuideRhina P. Espaillat: “Bilingual/Bilingüe”By Austin AllenBridging two languages and generations in one intricate poem.Poem GuideLangston Hughes: “Harlem”By Scott ChallenerThis short poem about dreams is one of the most influential poems of the 20th century.Poem GuideRobert Frost: “Mending Wall”By Austin AllenHow a poem about a rural stone wall quickly became part of debates on nationalism, international borders, and immigration.Poem GuideMarilyn Nelson: “Daughters 1900”By Austin AllenFamily, culture, and history converge in a deft poetic portrait.12345Jump to:
Poem GuideRobert Frost: “Mending Wall”By Austin AllenHow a poem about a rural stone wall quickly became part of debates on nationalism, international borders, and immigration.
Poem GuideAriana Brown: “A Division of Gods”By Remica Bingham-RisherWhat do we uncover when we try to salvage history?
Poem GuideT.S. Eliot: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”By Peter O’LearyOne of the most famous poems in English, one of the first encounters readers have with modern poetry—and may have even invented modern poetry.
Poem GuideRobert Frost: “Nothing Gold Can Stay”By Tyler MaloneFor a poem about the brevity of every state of being, the single octave perfectly enacts its themes through its form.
Poem GuideFederico García Lorca: “Dreamwalking Ballad”By Sarah ArvioMetaphor in Lorca is a form of gorgeous shorthand.
Poem GuideJohn Tickhill: “A Bird in Bishopswood”By Eric WeiskottA melancholy medieval rent collector’s sorrows, scribbled on the back of a legal document
Poem GuideMetamorphoses: “Erysichthon” by Ovid and “Erysichthon’s Seed” by Shanta LeeBy Shanta LeeRace, Class, Gender, and the Imperial Body
Poem GuideMargaret Walker: “For My People”By CM BurroughsThere is lightness within these downtrodden lives!
Poem GuideGwendolyn Brooks: “the mother”By Annie FinchWhat does it mean if a poem is “neither pro nor con abortion”?
Poem GuideSylvia Plath: “The Applicant”By Julie IrigarayA hymn to female independence in the form of a withering critique of marriage
Poem GuideT.S. Eliot: The Waste LandBy Tyler MaloneWho are all these people? Where is this waste land they inhabit? What is this chaos of impressions we are privy to? Wherefore such madness?
Poem GuideAnne Carson: “Red Meat: Fragments of Stesichoros”By Kristi MaxwellAre these pieces translations, inventions, or interventions that add to a story that has been lost to us?
Poem GuideHarryette Mullen: “Elliptical”By Austin AllenWhen polite prejudice makes for scathing satire.
Poem GuidePercy Bysshe Shelley: “England in 1819”By Christopher SpaideA letter, a list, a sonnet, and the state of a nation.
Poem GuideRhina P. Espaillat: “Bilingual/Bilingüe”By Austin AllenBridging two languages and generations in one intricate poem.
Poem GuideLangston Hughes: “Harlem”By Scott ChallenerThis short poem about dreams is one of the most influential poems of the 20th century.
Poem GuideRobert Frost: “Mending Wall”By Austin AllenHow a poem about a rural stone wall quickly became part of debates on nationalism, international borders, and immigration.
Poem GuideMarilyn Nelson: “Daughters 1900”By Austin AllenFamily, culture, and history converge in a deft poetic portrait.