Extended Poetry

"Child on top of a Greenhouse" - Theodore Roethke (Modenist)

Plot: A childhood experience that is filled with imagery of nature. Theme: Curiosity - It explore the concept of how kids are curious of the things around them and also fascinated.

"Lady Lazarus" - Sylvia Plath (Modernist, 1965)

Plot: A dramatic monologue It was published two years after her death by suicide. The poem gives hints to multiple suicide attempts of the tormented speaker It also highlights the role of power and oppression in one's life. Theme: Depression - The disheartened speaker talks about her failed suicide attempts and give reasons for her resentment. She also expresses her anger for those who saved her from dying. Despite every effort to die she still survived. Moreover, the people, with their fake sympathies, are contributing more in her pain, and they are not allowing her to be free.

"Dockery and Son" - Philip Larkin (Modernist - 1963)

Plot: A poem not about either Dockery or his son; it is about the speaker, who is a typical persona of Larkin. Larkin's stock persona is someone unsuccessful in love, someone whom life has passed by. Theme: Transience - produces a sense of life drifting away and considers "how much had gone of life, / How widely from the others."

"A Defense of Poetry" - Bysshe Shelley (Romantic, 1840)

Plot: An essay - Shelley argues that poetry brings about moral good. Poetry, Shelley argues, exercises and expands the imagination, and the imagination is the source of sympathy, compassion, and love, which rest on the ability to project oneself into the position of another person. Poetry strengthens the faculty which is the organ of the moral nature of man, in the same manner as exercise strengthens a limb.

"My Papa's Waltz" - Theodore Roethke (Modernist, 1942)

Plot: Daddy's had a little too much whiskey, and now he's waltzing around the kitchen with his son. Their waltz is pretty clumsy - the pans are sliding from the shelf, and mom's not too happy about that. The father must be a guy who works with his hands, because his knuckles are rough, and he deals with a lot of dirt. This dance may not be all fun and games for the boy - he keeps scraping his ear on his dad's belt buckle! And his dad is keeping time, perhaps not so gently, on the boy's head. In the end, the father dances the boy off to bed. Theme: Admiration - Even though the son is dizzy, and keeps getting his ear scraped by his dad's belt, he clings to his father. This shows that he really looks up to and loves his father. We bet even mom gets some respect - her son is worried about that persistent frown on her face as the father-son romp makes pans go flying off the kitchen shelves.

"On first Looking into Chapman's Homer" - John Keats (Romantic - 1816)

Plot: Essentially, it is a poem about poetry itself, describing a reading experience so profound (Chapman's translation of Homer's work) that an entire world seems to come to life. Theme: Exploration - It applies to a young Keats who is trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life and trying to figure out what it would mean to be a poet. It's also about the exploration that everyone makes to discover something. We all have the impulse to find something new and share it with the world.

"To John Donne" - Ben Johnson (Founder of Neoclassicism)

Plot: From one legendary poet to another. Here Jonson is writing that he values the opinion of a master of letters on the worth of his epigrams by flattering Donne's own talent which rises far above all others. Theme: Praising Art/Donne - He states how much he honors Donne's work.

"The Eagle" - Alfred Lord Tennyson (Victorian, 1851)

Plot: He is describing an eagle on the top of a cliff, and is able to dive down. Even though the eagle seems to be portrayed as "old," it is still able to be graceful w/ nature. Theme: Appreciation of Nature - The eagle lives in a place that cannot be easily reached by human beings, and the speaker is definitely aware of this. The poem imagines what the eagle's world is like, and by extension imagines a world without people. Still, the speaker can only describe the landscape using human or human-like attributes. It is a classic case of a nature poem that ends up being just as much about the person describing the scenery as anything else.

Sonnet 130 - Shakespeare (Renaissance, 1609)

Plot: He spends this poem comparing his mistress's appearance to other things, and then telling us how she doesn't measure up to them. He goes through a whole laundry list, giving us details about the flaws of her body, her smell, even the sound of her voice. At the end, he says despite all of her flaws, he loves her. Theme: Love and Appearance - It's about finding love in spite of (or maybe even because of) physical flaws.

"To Lucasta, Going to the Wars" - Richard Lovelace (Cavalier Poet - 1649)

Plot: In the poem, Lovelace defends his decision to take up his sword and head off to battle, arguing with his beloved that it is honor which calls him away from her. He could not love her as much as he does if he didn't love/value his own honor even more. Theme: Honor/Love - In the concluding lines the speaker comes right out and says that he loves Lucasta; the poem is also full of words normally associated with love and affection (adore, embrace, sweet, dear). It is not only love for a woman that is a theme in this poem; love of honor also plays an important part, and appears to supersede love for a woman.

"Epitaph on Sir Thomas Wyatt" - (Surrey's version of Petrarch's Rime 140) - Henry Howard (A founder of English Renaissance Poetry - 1542)

Plot: Instead of a statement of personal loss, the stanzas present a blazon, or catalogue, of Wyatt's physical traits and virtues. Surrey praises Wyatt's "hed", "hand", and "tongue" among other parts, arguing that the departed poet used his poetic skill, good judgment, and moral strength for the good of his king and country and to inspire England's young people "unto fame" At the end, Surrey suggests that Wyatt was not defeated but instead made stronger by his experiences with these adversaries. Theme: Praising a Poet/Art - He may have died, but his works will live on

"Among School Children" - William Butler Yeats (Romantic/Modernist, 1926)

Plot: It is about a visit made by the ageing Yeats to a convent school in Waterford, Ireland in February 1926. As a Senator, Yeats is visiting the school as a public figure, but the poem is a record of his private thoughts. Theme: Innocence VS Experience/Wisdom

Aeneid, Book 1 (Aeneid arrives in Carthage) - Virgil (Ancient Rome)

Plot: The man in question is Aeneas, who is fleeing the ruins of his native city, Troy, which has been ravaged in a war with Achilles and the Greeks. The surviving Trojans accompany Aeneas on a dangerous journey to establish a new home in Italy, but they must contend with the vindictive Juno (goddess of love/mariage).

"This is Just to Say" - William Carlos Williams (Modernism/Imagist, 1934)

Plot: The poem speaks about a person who eats some plums saved for breakfast. It also illustrates how he feels guilty about his hasty action. Theme: Flaws of Human Nature - The choice of words suggests that his apology is not sincere or genuine. Instead of feeling sorry, he attempts to describe the sweet and unforgettable taste of those plums. It is through this simple text, the speaker comments upon the flaw of human nature. Sometimes, we intentionally perform certain acts that make us stand on the verge of embarrassment.

"On the Road to Mandalay" - Rudyard Kipling (Victorian - 1890)

Plot: The poem was from the point of view of a Victorian era British soldier who, like most people of those days, could only travel to exotic climes due to work requirements. The cockney soldier, now back in cold, dank London, is reminiscing of the time he spent in Burma and visited a famous landmark pagoda where he met, flirted, and had something of a romantic time with a local girl, similar to many romances between local girls and stationed soldiers all over the world. Theme: Appreciation for Beauty - In the poem a young man details his awe for both the natural beauty of the land and for the beauty of a particular Burmese girl.

"The Long Love that in My Thought Doth Harbor" - Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder (Renaissance, 1557)

Plot: There is a man who thinks he has love figured out. He falls in love with a woman, but she dumps him. He gets scared and decides never to try and figure out love again. Theme: Non-reciprocal Love/Individualism - He is heartbroken when he did not feel love in return. / Men can also show their feelings during the Renaissance.

"We are Seven" - William Wordsworth (Romantic, 1798)

Plot: This poem is based on an argument between the speaker and a little girl. On hearing about the loss of two siblings, he questions her calculation, saying if two are in the churchyard, they could not be seven in total. But the girl reassures with confidence that even the two are dead, they are still counted as her siblings. She points out that she often spends her time near their graves. At last, the speaker gets irritated and attempts to make her realize that her two siblings are dead; their souls are in heaven. Now, they are only five, but the innocent girl denies it. She offers her explanation and says that they are still seven. The poem is meant to express that when a person or a loved one dies, we can keep them alive in our memories. Theme: Childhood Innocence/Grieving - The speaker believes that her siblings are gone, whereas the girl's argument represents that they are alive in her heart. The little girl still goes to their graves to eat dinner, sing songs, and knit by their graves.

"Ariel" - Sylvia Plath (Modernist, 1965)

Plot: When the poem starts out, the speaker is in quiet, still, early morning darkness. Then she, and we, are jerked to attention. The speaker's horse, Ariel, takes off at a crazy gallop, and the speaker is "haul[ed] through air." At first, she seems scared, but as she begins to take in the world flashing around her, she seems to develop a deep appreciation of her wild ride. She's lost control, but by the end of the poem, the speaker is "at one" with the drive of her wildly galloping Ariel. Theme: Power - When "Ariel" begins, the speaker is powerless. Ariel takes off at a wild gallop, and the speaker can't control her horse at all. The cool thing about the poem, though, is that instead of gaining power by taking control of the horse, the speaker gains her power by submitting to the horse, by becoming "at one" with the horse's will. By giving up her desire and need for control, and learning to let loose, the speaker is able to channel the power of the natural world.

"Danse Russe" (Russian Dance) - William Carlos William (Modernist/Imagist, 1933)

Plot: While his wife is still sleeping, he creeps out into another room and begins to dance in front of a mirror while completely naked. The sun is shining through the windows, it is a beautiful day, and WCW takes this moment of solitude to joyfully prance around his room. He admires his body and then pronounces himself 'the happy genius of my household'. It is a comic, enjoyable and lighthearted poem with Williams overcoming the lack of connection he tends to feel with others and focusing on his own sense of self. Theme: Isolation/Nature - He wants to have time for himself and enjoy that moment with just his self and nature. Nothing is bothering him.

"Expostulation and Reply" - William Wordsworth (Romantic, 1798)

Plot: a poem that expresses a principle of the Romantic Movement (or romanticism)—namely, that nature and human instinct impart a kind of knowledge and wisdom not found in books and formal education. (A lyric poem presents the deep feelings and emotions of the poet rather than telling a story or presenting a witty observation.) Theme: Nature/Romanticism - Nature nurtures the mind with a wisdom of its own. A man has only to sit passively in its presence, and it will stimulate his senses in profound ways. The idea that nature is a teacher is the theme of the poem and one of the tenets of the Romantic Movement in literature.

"Surprised by Joy" - William Wordsworth (Romantic, 1812)

Plot: an elegy for Wordsworth's daughter Catherine, who died in 1812, aged just three. The poem sees Wordsworth reflecting on how during a moment of happiness he instinctively thought of sharing his joy with his daughter, only to realize that he could no longer do so, since Catherine is now 'long buried in the silent tomb' where nothing can reach her. Theme: Death of a Child - The elegy is grieving the fact that he will never see her beautiful face again.

"Barbara Frietchie" - John Greenleaf Whittier (Fireside Poet, 1862)

Plot: Whittier freely embellished the story of a courageous ninety-year-old woman who dared to wave the Union flag from her second-story window in the face of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson as his troops marched through the small Maryland town. Theme: Sacrifice/Patriotism - She was willing to sacrifice her own life to restore order for the country.

"Dust of Snow" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1921)

Plot: A positive change can take place through negativity also. The little thing can bring big change in life. (The crow has a negative connotation, but it actually helped him feel better on a blah day). Theme: Nature - Nature can help heal negative human emotions by just observing

"Work without Hope" - Samuel Coleridge (Romantic - 1825)

Plot: A sonnet - the speaker observes nature at work, and uses the activity to set up a contrast between himself and a busy natural world. Theme: Motivation/Hope - There is no reason to work towards something if you are not motivated or hopeful to produce something. We need reason to do something.

"Love That Doth Reign and Live Within My Thought" (Surrey's version of Petrarch's Rime 140) - Henry Howard (A founder of English Renaissance Poetry - 1557)

Plot: First, you have to realize that love is personified (made human, a character) in the poem. It is the lord that reigns and builds his seat (his thrown) in the speaker's breast. The speaker is saying that he/she is subservient to love and that this love is so profound that it shows visibly in his/her person (perhaps, as indicated by others, in a blush). The object of the speaker's desires sees this on his/her face, and she rejects that love. Then love removes itself from its visible manifestation on the speaker's face and hides in his/her heart. The speaker is hurt by this love, but he/she will not abandon it. The speaker ends the poem by stating that death brought on by love is sweet. This is used to show the conflict that love creates within the speaker. Reign, seat (in this context), captive, coward, lord, and banner all add to the idea that the speaker is a kind of soldier being lead by love, and though it may cause him/her pain and though it may bring about his/her death, the speaker will continue to love. Theme: Death is okay with love - He is willing to die... as long as he is loved

"The Chimney Sweeper" (From Songs of Innocence) - William Blake (Romantic - 1789)

Plot: The poem comprises the agony of children who were forced to live a miserable life. The children had to survive and earn their livelihood by sweeping chimney at a very young age during the time of William Blake. Theme: Maintain religious hope while suffering - The poem presents the miseries of children as chimney sweepers and their contentment in life. It is through the mouth of two young speakers the poet conveys his idea that one should not lose hope. First, they are seen unhappy with their job, but later they accept their fate after having that vision and, somehow their lives become easy for them. They believe that their hard work would surely pay them in the long run.

"Death, Be Not Proud" - John Donne (Metaphysical - 1633)

Plot: a masterful argument against the power of Death. The theme, or the message, of the poem is that Death is not some all-powerful being that humans should fear. Instead, Death is actually a slave to the human race and has no power over our souls. Theme: Powerlessness of death - death is only a pathway to the eternal life. A paradoxical statement: mortality is itself mortal.

"I sing of Olaf glad and big" E.E. Cummings (Modernist - 1931)

Plot: based on Cummings's experience in the army. It is an ironic retelling of the torture and death of a conscientious protester during World War I. Theme: The Cruelty of War/Hypocrisy - Americans torturing and abusing their own soldiers for not fighting through physical and psychological means. The "well-beloved" colonel and prototypical good-willed, blonde-haired Christian soldiers are those torturing their own comrades in very despicable ways.

"Musee des Beaux Arts" - W.H. Auden (Modernist - 1938)

- Plot: He is looking at a painting ("Landscape with the Fall of Icarus") with pretty images surrounding it, but a man (Icarus) is drowning in the ocean as people go about their day. French Title = Museum of fine arts Theme: Human Suffering - Humanity is apathetic towards other's suffering/joy because they're consumed in their own lives.

The Iliad - Homer (Greek Epic - 8th century BC)

Plot: An epic poem that covers the quarrels and fighting near the end of the Trojan War. The story opens nine years into the war, which basically started because Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, kidnapped Helen from Menelaus, a Greek and brother of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae. Theme: The Glory of War - One can make a strong argument that The Iliad seems to celebrate war. Characters emerge as worthy or despicable based on their degree of competence and bravery in battle. To fight is to prove one's honor and integrity, while to avoid warfare is to demonstrate laziness, ignoble fear, or misaligned priorities.

"Come In" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1943)

Plot: The poem is about the contrast of nature as well as the general darker and lighter side of life. Theme: Fighting Depression - He feels dark on the inside, but he insists on going outside to the stars (light). He will not sink into depression.

"Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" - Thomas Grey (Romantic Precursor - 1757)

Plot: the poet returns to a place after an interval of years; he feels the change as a loss; he recollects the past and looks to the future. Theme: Unhappiness for humankind - Gray tempers it with his own father like concern in keeping this knowledge from the children. Because he knows that the "paradise" of their youth is brief, he tenderly allows them to enjoy it.

"The Shield of Achilles" - W.H. Auden (Modernist - 1952)

Plot: From Auden's point of view - he recreates the scene from The Illiad - Homer. Instead of Achille's shield being glorified w/ images, Auden does the exact opposite Theme: The Reality of warfare - Thetis is expecting to see a "colorful" shield depicting "men and women in a dance" for instance, but the shield has negative connotations to it (e.g., "that girls are raped")

"The Collar" - George Herbert (Metaphysical - 1633)

Plot: The poem depicts a man who is experiencing a loss of faith and feelings of anger over the commitment he has made to God. Theme: Religious Doubt - An allegory of religious doubt. It begins after the speaker has already had a crisis of faith. He recounts an out-loud, raving internal struggle, during most of which he expresses doubt. In particular, he is fed up by a life he finds constrained, unpleasurable, and in fact, sad. However, while he has strong doubts, they are eventually overcome by his other half—the second voice in the poem, sometimes referred to by critics as "the will." The will to follow God, then, overcomes the heart's naturally self-serving rebellion.

"A Poison Tree" From Songs of Experience - William Blake (Romantic - 1794)

Plot: A short and deceptively simple poem about repressing anger and the consequences of doing so. The speaker tells of how they fail to communicate their wrath to their foe and how this continues to grow until it develops into poisonous hatred. Theme: Anger - A poem about anger, and, more importantly, some of the destructive consequences that can result when we cultivate our anger, rather than try a more productive outlet for this potentially dangerous emotion (like stamp collecting!). The fact that Blake refers to anger as "wrath" suggests that the poem is about a more serious type of anger, a vengeful or spiteful feeling of biblical magnitude ("wrath" is commonly used in the Bible to refer to the anger of Old Testament God). In other words, this is seriously powerful stuff that must be carefully guarded against.

"The Lamb" (From Songs of Innocence) - William Blake (Romantic - 1789)

Plot: Blake speaks directly to a lamb, playing on the animal representation for the Lord Jesus Christ. The first stanza focuses on the question of who created the animal and the second contains the answer. Blake compares the lamb to Jesus, the Lamb of God. Theme: A praise to God's creations (Jesus is portrayed as a giving, loving, peaceful deity) 1st stanza - Blake asks the lamb if it knows who gave it life/ 2nd stanza - Blake reveals that Christ created the lamb with all of his positive qualities

"in Just-spring" E.E. Cummings (Modernist - 1920)

Plot: Chock-full of words like "mud-luscious" and "puddle-wonderful," the poem seems to be bursting with descriptions of the way that a spring day in the park looks and feels and sounds and smells. And because the poem repeats itself several times (in fancy technical terms, we'd call that a "refrain,") it emphasizes the way that all the tiny details of the poem actually contribute to one overarching image: the park in spring. Theme: Innocence/Youth - The children in "in Just-" are so innocent that they don't even bother to be offended by the fact that their names are strung together in clumps of words. Only mature (or self-centered) folks would get concerned about things as silly as self-identity.

"Absalom and Achitophel" - John Dryden (Restoration - 1681)

Summary: The poem tells the Biblical tale of the rebellion of Absalom against King David; in this context it is an allegory used to represent a story contemporary to Dryden, concerning King Charles II and the Exclusion Crisis (1679-1681). The poem also references the Popish Plot (1678) and the Monmouth Rebellion (1685). Theme: Desire for Power - Dryden's poem suggests that the desire for power is a common one in the hearts of men. Almost all men want it in some fashion or another, and they are easily swayed from their rightful place and beliefs if given the opportunity to amass it.

"So we'll go no more a-roving" - Lord Byron (Romantic - 1830)

Plot: The speaker has decided to call it a day, with his partying and wandering around at night, that is. He still sort of wants to be out there, having a great time, and darn, that moon is still beckoning to him. At some point, though, it gets old. It's kind of like getting new shoes when you're young; your feet get bigger, and it's time to get new ones. Same idea here, only instead of new shoes, it's new ways to spend one's time ("older" ways). Theme: Death/Brevity of Life - If a sword outwears its sheath, that's pretty much it for the sheath right? And if that wasn't clear enough, the speaker talks in the next line about the soul wearing out the body—in some religions, when the body dies, the soul leaves. So, it is about death. Now how does roving fit into all this? Well, the speaker wants to stop roving because he can sense that he's getting older, that death will eventually come, and he doesn't want to be roving around like a crazy frat guy when he should be doing more serious things leading up to the end of his life.

"Life's Tragedy" - Paul Lawrence Dunbar (African American - Civil War / Romantic)

Summary: Dunbar explains what is truly tragic is not the absence of what we want but failing to attain perfection. Theme: Perfection and Happiness - We measure our happiness by our attempt to reach the perfect thing, which is not healthy. It only causes sorrow.

"The World is Too Much with Us" - William Wordsworth (Romantic, 1807)

Plot: He claims that the materialistic approach of mankind has transformed human beings into senseless individuals. He further adds that humans do not realize their loss as they are obsessed with money, power, and possessions, and fail to perceive beauty in nature. Theme: Loss of Nature - The poet argues that people have forsaken their souls for material gains. In fact, the whole text of the poem denounces materialism which the poet has seen around him. To him, this approach of mankind deprives them of the true purpose of their life.

"Byzantium" - William Butler Yeats (Romantic/Modernist, 1928)

Plot: He'd long been an admirer of Byzantine art and culture and wanted to combine this passion with his belief in the spiritual journey of the artistic human soul. Theme: Nature VS Art

"Life is Fine" - Langston Hughes (Harlem Renaissance - 1951)

Plot: Hughes is bringing out the significance of life which is often reinforced by the obstacles (black) people encounter. It tells the story of a man facing his personal despair but with each scenario of facing death, he finds a way to become more optimistic. Theme: Perseverance -He understands the difficulty of his people and crafts a vulnerable character here who often considers giving up on life, but can never quite follow through - meaning that he still has something to live for. By coming so close to death, the speaker finds a renewed desire to live.

Sonnet 147 - Shakespeare (Renaissance, 1609)

Plot: The image of feeding in Sonnet 146 continues in Sonnet 147, only now the feeding is not on death but on illness, and there is no possibility of immortality from lusting after the mistress: "My love is as a fever . . . / . . . / Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill, / Th' uncertain sickly appetite to please." Completely apparent is the poet's inability to separate himself from the relationship. Theme: Lust - The speaker describes his sexual desire as a "disease" that's killing him inside because he can't get it under control, even though he knows he's involved with a woman who's no good for him. The overall message? Lust is super unhealthy and can be destructive when it goes unchecked.

"The Little Black Boy" (From Songs of Innocence) - William Blake (Romantic - 1789)

Plot: The poem begins with a stark comparison of an African boy with an English Boy. Although his skin is dark, his soul is as pure as the English child's soul. As the poem continues, the mother tries to teach his son the power of love. To her, humans are provided with little space to understand the huge phenomenon of love. The tanned-color, she describes, is a temporary cloud that vanishes when we learn to adore God's love. he poem shows injustices against the African community in the UK and the US during those times. Theme: By God's grace, we need to treat everyone equally - race does not matter

"She Walks in Beauty" - Lord Byron (Romantic - 1814)

Plot: The poem is about an unnamed woman. She's really quite striking, and the speaker compares her to lots of beautiful, but dark, things, like "night" and "starry skies." The second stanza continues to use the contrast between light and dark, day and night, to describe her beauty. Theme: Appearances - We know that appearances are going to be important in "She Walks in Beauty" from line 1 - after all, the fourth word of the poem is "beauty." The entire poem is one long description of a woman's beauty. How many different ways can the poet come up with to say, "she is so gorgeous"? Quite a few, as it turns out. But not all of them are conventional, so watch out.

"A Noiseless Patient Spider" -- Walt Whitman (Transcendentalism/Realism, 1868)

Plot: The speaker illustrates two things; the struggle of the lonely spider and the condition of his soul. At the outset, he provides a graphic picture that the spider, all alone on a little cliff, casts out its web-threads in a vast surrounding. He discusses its isolation and detachment from the rest of the world. Later, he compares his soul with that spider. He says that his soul is also struggling to seek spheres that can connect the speaker to the immeasurable world. Unlike spider, his soul is a seeker trying to attach itself to the vacant surroundings. Theme: Patience/Duty - The poet contrasts the battle of his soul with a tiny spider. He explicitly unfolds the effort of the spider and explores the idea that only those who work tirelessly and hold patience connect themselves to the mysterious world.

"Good-bye, proud world" - Ralph Waldo Emerson (Transcendentalist)

Plot: The speaker is scolding false pride and flattery of the world, as he announces his retirement from life's changes; he plans to withdraw to his sylvan home as a hermit and contemplate the ways of the Divine Reality. Theme: Religion/Afterlife - It is about dying and going "home" to be with God. He is excited to leave this earth and go on to the afterlife. He describes different types of men he has encountered, but laughs at their pride, because they cannot carry money with them to heaven, nor does God care how much money they had on earth.

Volpone - Ben Johnson (Founder of Neoclassism - 1606)

Plot/Theme: PLAY - A savage portrayal of human greed, self-interest, selfishness and lust. Learning that Corvino has a beautiful wife, Celia, Volpone visits her in disguise and decides to seduce her.

"Mirror" - Sylvia Plath (Modernist, 1961)

Plot: A poem told from the point of view of the mirror. The mirror watches a woman's youth pass her by, and it appears that the woman gauges her worth based on what she sees there. Theme: Appearances - A poem written from the point of view of a mirror is practically required to be, to some extent, about appearances. This mirror tells us repeatedly about how accurate and unbiased it is in showing appearances - which doesn't work out so well for the aging woman in the second stanza, who seems very concerned with the way that she looks. This poem explores the importance and transience of appearances.

"Posterity" - Philip Larkin (Modernist - 1968)

Plot: Discusses how poetry/art has changed overtime. Posterity = all future generations of people Theme: Appreciation of Art/Time - Poetry can be anything?

"To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare" - Ben Johnson (Founder of Neoclassism -1623)

Plot: Elegy - Great rivals for the title of the greatest dramatist in the English language, Jonson uses this poem to publicly declare with great sincerity his admiration for Shakespeare. Theme: Admiration - Regardless of what Jonson may have said about Shakespeare before he died, he wanted to go on record, at least publicly, as a fan of his work. Shakespeare is his beloved, after all.

"Dawn" ["Aube"] - Arthur Rimbaud (Symbolist, 1871)

Plot: It is a climax as the speaker catches a glimpse of the "goddess." Rimbaud uses a neologism in French, wasserfall, for waterfall, and the strange but comprehensible word renders the goddess exotic, yet accessible. Personification is still present, for the waterfall is "blond" and "tosses its hair." Theme: Desire - rendered by the image of pursuit of the object

Sonnet 87 - Shakespeare (Renaissance, 1609)

Plot: Sonnet 87 is the first sonnet after the rival poet sequence (sonnets 79-86). It begins a new sequence of sonnets dealing with the narrator's "breakup" with the fair lord. The narrator thereby acknowledges his unworthiness and presents that as justification for the fair lord's rejection. Theme: Departure of a Friendship - When the friendship between the poet and the young man collapses, only then does the poet discover that the young man was merely a "dream." He concedes defeat and bids the youth a regretful goodbye.

"The Fish" - Elizabeth Bishop (Modernist - 1846 Free Verse)

Plot: The Fish displays her ecological awareness that leads her to accept a relationship of coexistence between human beings and nonhuman beings. This ecological awareness in the poem is reflected when she leaves the fish free. Theme: Man and the Natural World - Appreciating/Respecting Nature (The speaker catches the fish (though the fish doesn't fight), then holds the fish out of the water for a bit (the fish is still not fighting), and ultimately lets him go.)

"When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" - Walt Whitman (Transcendentalism/Realism, 1867)

Plot: The poem gives an account of the speaker's experience of listening to a tiring lecture of an astronomer. It also illustrates that the mystery of nature cannot be summed up in facts and figures. The poet explains that true knowledge can be gained when we observe the sky in solitude. Theme: Nature/Observing VS Knowledge/listening - The poem conveys that wisdom does not rely on manmade mathematical interpretations. One must walk into the lap of nature to understand its mystery. On a deeper level, the poem elaborates how people can appreciate certain things in the presence of nature.

Sonnet 30 - Shakespeare (Renaissance, 1609)

Plot: This poem recounts the speaker's regrets on his past failures. Although his heart is filled with intense emotions, yet the remembrance of his dear friend rejuvenates his doleful heart and provides him with the strength to cope with the challenges of life. Theme: Friendship - Throughout the poem, the speaker looks back on his life and regrets his failure to achieve many things he desired for. However, the memory of his dear friends steal all these sorrows and still provides him hope to get along in his life.

Sonnet 106 - Shakespeare (Renaissance, 1609)

Plot: the speaker calls upon the glories of the past to illustrate the present. He perceives that the beauty of his lover has been prophesied by the pens of authors who are now long dead. Theme: Art and Beauty - he feels that the beauty of his beloved is, in fact, beyond the skill of human writers to capture—it is not possible to "praise" it adequately with human "tongues." The beauty of the speaker's beloved is a "wonder," something which draws artists over and over again like a muse, but which is in the end impossible to capture.

"There was a Child Went Forth" - Walt Whitman (Transcendentalism/Realism, 1855)

Plot: A child inspects the objects (and people) he encounters in the world and as he does, he becomes them. Some objects stay with him "for many years or stretching cycles of years" and others fade after a day or a moment. Whitman's speaker catalogs these objects, as varied as "early lilacs" and "the old drunkard staggering home from the outhouse." After cataloging them, the child feels they are a part of him. These objects are also now a part of the reader. Theme: Childhood Experiences Molding a Child's Growth/Personality - This poem tells of the experiences of a growing child who incorporates all new sights and events into his own frame of reference.

"Ode on Melancholy" - John Keats (Romantic, 1820)

Plot: A poem that offers a way of responding to deep despair. Put simply, it encourages people to embrace sadness, not by seeking to end or soften it, but by living within it—that is, by actively acknowledging its presence. Theme: Embracing Sadness - it's actually about how to embrace melancholy and depression and how to make the most of it. According to the speaker, melancholy and sadness are part of the natural human range of emotion, and in order to really experience joy, you have to allow yourself to experience sorrow, as well.

"On My First Son" - Ben Johnson (Founder of Neoclassism - 1616)

Plot: An elegy - It is a deeply heart-moving epitaph for his son Benjamin who died a victim of the plague. The speaker then envies his son, who (since he's dead) is free from both the physical and the mental pains of life. The son also won't have to worry about the hassles of getting old, either. Theme: Death - The poem attempts to explain death, but like any poem worth reading, it goes beyond what's expected. It also tries to find something good in death. Our speaker suggests that death is an escape from a world that really isn't that pleasant.

Sonnet 10 - Sir Philip Sidney (Renaissance, 1580)

Plot: Astrophel mocks Reason for its attempt to cultivate his loving mind. He urges Reason to climb the Muses' hill or seek the inside of Heaven rather than waste time attempting to instill rationality in Astrophel's mind. Even if Reason did continue to fight, Astrophel declares, as soon as he was faced with Stella's eyes he would fall to his knees. Immediately, even Reason would be so overcome by Stella's beauty that Reason would give himself up in her name. Theme: Reason/Rationalizations VS Love - Even the most intelligent person can succumb to rationalizations, putting reason in the service of desire. Astrophel emphasizes that public standards of reason and virtue are irrelevant in the private world of love.

Selections from Book 1 of The Faerie Queene: Cantos 1 & 2 - Edmund Spencer (Renaissance, 1590)

Plot: Epic Romance/Allegory - it tells a story about the foundation and construction of the England in which Spenser lived. In Books I and III, the poet follows the journeys of two knights, Redcrosse and Britomart, and in doing so he examines the two virtues he considers most important to Christian life--Holiness and Chastity. Theme: Duty - Spenser emphasizes the importance of performing one's duty and accepting responsibility to complete the quest. Several heroic figures emerge during the course of the poem and each is given a question to undertake, a monster or demon to extinguish.

"Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" - Bysshe Shelley (Romantic, 1817)

Plot: The poem contains 7 stanzas in which Shelley praises the mysterious force that touches the world and human thought, the power that makes all things beautiful: 'Spirit of beauty that dust consecrate with thine own use all thou dust shine upon' Theme: Nature/Unknown - It is a reminder to himself that mystery has to be at the heart of beauty, grace, truth and love, that the unseen Power can never be reduced to its constituent parts but only ever felt.

"A Psalm of Life" - Henry Longfellow (Fireside Poet/Romantic, 1838)

Plot: The poem deals with the subject of life and the possibilities it offers to human beings. He states that we should not spend life waiting for death. Rather, we should work diligently and devotedly to leave our name in the world. Theme: Optimistic Outlook on Life, Growth - Throughout the poem, he intends to encourage the readers and urges them not to let the precious moments of life go in vain. He instructs them to keep a balance between happiness and sorrows and carve a better future for themselves.

"Ode to the West Wind" - Bysshe Shelley (Romantic, 1820)

Plot: The poem illustrates the most powerful impact of a specific wind. Also, it exhibits the poet's desire to utilize the mighty West Wind as a medium to make people realize the importance of this natural blessing. Theme: Power of the natural world - The poet adores the power and grandeur (splendor) of the west wind, and also wishes that revolutionary ideas could reach every corner of the universe.

"Song to the Men of England" - Bysshe Shelley (Romantic, 1839)

Plot: The poet calls upon the people on England to understand and do something about their state of oppression. People plow for the sake of the lords, who are like drone bees that do no work but live off of the work of others. The people of England are doing the real work—but, the poet asks, are they gaining any benefit from this system? They are not enjoying the fruits of their labor, and the tyrants are taking their wealth and very lives without giving them the recompense they deserve. The call is to sow their own seed, weave their own robes, and forge their own arms in their own defense. Otherwise, the people are merely digging their own graves. Theme: Politics - The majority of the workforce in England is being exploited. The poem is a call to action to the ordinary worker to stop allowing himself to be exploited and to work for his own profit instead of benefiting someone else.

"Lapis Lazuli" - William Butler Yeats (Romantic/Modernist, 1933)

Plot: Yeats composed "Lapis Lazuli" in 1938 as WWII was gearing up in Europe; thus, the women are afraid that they will become targets of the Zeppelins and airplanes that were employed to bomb London in WWI. Something 'drastic' should be done to prevent a war; art that is happy and uplifting has no place at such a time. But Yeats responds with several counterarguments. Theme: Appreciation of Art - Yeats is pointing out that the threat of death is the constant human condition, neither more nor less tragic than it ever was. What is needed is courage and a way to contemplate disaster with some measure of equanimity. Art, which may indeed seem to pull one into a different reality, may help one to "transfigure all that dread."

Sonnet 129 - Shakespeare (Renaissance, 1609)

Plot: a description of the "physical and psychological devastation of 'lust'". Lust is a powerful emotional and physical desire that feels overwhelmingly like heaven in the beginning but can, and often does, end up being more like its own torturous hell in the end. Theme: Lust - more specifically the remorse that comes with sexual longing. He takes the reader through the stages of lust before the act, during, and after.

"On My First Daughter" - Ben Johnson (Founder of Neoclassism - 1616)

Plot: an elegy - the speaker expresses his grief over his infant daughter's tragically early death and attempts to find comfort in Christian beliefs about heaven Theme: Religion as Comfort - the speaker laments the loss of his infant daughter. Throughout the poem, the speaker's religious beliefs about a heavenly afterlife act as a form of consolation. The poem, then, ultimately suggests the power of religion to comfort people in times of great loss.

"The Charge of the Light Brigade" - Alfred Lord Tennyson (Victorian, 1854)

Plot: the 600 horsemen of the Light Brigade are ordered to charge forward into a valley, with guns on all sides. They do, and they meet heavy fire. When they encounter their Russian enemies, they attack them, kill some of them, and then retreat down the valley. The gunfire on the way back is just as bad, and many of these heroic soldiers die. Theme: Ultimately, it is a poem about a battle. It spends a lot of time describing the confusion, the terror, the bloodshed, and, yes, also the heroism and excitement of armed combat. Notice that most of the images and descriptions in the poem relate to warfare: cannon, bullets, smoke, sabres, etc.

Sonnet 116 - Shakespeare (Renaissance, 1609)

Plot: true love always perseveres, despite any obstacles that may arise. He goes on to define love by what it doesn't do, claiming that it stays constant, even though people and circumstances may change. Love never dies, even when someone tries to destroy it. Rather than being something that comes and goes, love is eternal and unchanging - so much so that the poet compares it to the North Star Theme: Love is immortal - Love is seen as a truly powerful, unstoppable force of nature. It's the only constant in a tumultuous and confusing world, and it's a guiding star for all of us who are lost out there.

Aeneid, Book 6 (Aeneas in the Underworld) - Virgil (Ancient Rome)

Plot: Aeneas spots a number of men from his fleet who have died, but they cannot cross because their bodies remain unburied. The Sibyl assures Aeneas's pilot, Palinurus, that strangers will bury his body soon. Charon, ferryman of the dead, challenges them, but the golden bough allows them to pass into the Underworld.

"Encouragement" - Paul Lawrence Dunbar (African American-Civil War / Romantic)

Summary: It about a male/female relationship. The speaker is a woman who loves a man, but he is silent about his feelings. She is vocal about her feelings towards him, but he says nothing. Theme: Love/Confusion - Love can be a confusing feeling, especially if one does not love your back?

"Mending Wall" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1914)

The poem is about two neighbors who meet in spring every year to mend the stone wall that separates their farms. It illustrates how good fences make good neighbors, and how we can maintain long-lasting relations with neighbors by establishing such walls. Theme: Self-imposed barriers - It concerns the self-imposed barriers that prevent human interaction. In the poem, the speaker's neighbor keeps pointlessly rebuilding a wall. More than benefiting anyone, the fence is harmful to their land.

"In Memory of W.B. Yeats" - W.H. Auden (Modernist - 1940)

Plot - 3-part elegy: 1) sad, talking about his passing 2) Yeats is dead, but his poetry will live on 3) rhyme scheme - honors him as a poet/person Theme: Admiring a Poet - it is about death, yet he discusses how Yeats left a positive impact for him and others

Sonnet 29 - Shakespeare (1609, Renaissance)

Plot: - The poem speaks about an unfortunate man, frustrated with the present state of his life. It also illustrates the power and impact of true love. After cursing his present sad state, he suddenly talks about a special person, and his mood changes in a dramatic way. This thought of love provides him immense pleasure and removes his negative feelings. Theme: Power of Love - The poet discusses his miserable plight and the impact of love. The poem also explains how love brings optimism and hope for people who feel lonely and oppressed.

"Porphyria's Lover" - Robert Browning (Victorian - 1836)

Plot: A dramatic monologue which deals with the abnormal psychology of the lover. The lover strangles his beloved with her hair and describes the perfect happiness he finds through the killing of his beloved. Theme: The speaker ends up killing Porphyria, but the poem includes "lover" in the title, so you have to figure that "love" is going to play some kind of role. You're right, though what passes for "love" in the world of this poem isn't going to win you any prom dates. After reading this poem, you'll likely feel that the speaker has earned a one-way trip to a federal prison - he strangles her w/ her hair.

"I died for Beauty-but was scarce" - Emily Dickinson (Romantic

Plot: A poem in which the speaker is dead. The speaker says she died for her beauty, but that beauty is not common. The speaker then says a man who died for truth is then laid to rest in a room across the way. The man asks the woman why she failed, she replies "for beauty". Theme: Death - Death consumes everyone and anyone. No matter how beautiful or truthful one is on the inside. Death always has the last word.

Aeneid, Book 4 (Aeneas Abandons Dido) - Virgil (Ancient Rome)

Plot: The flame of love for Aeneas that Cupid has lit in Dido's heart only grows while she listens to his sorrowful tale. She hesitates, though, because after the death of her husband, Sychaeus, she swore that she would never marry again. Juno sees Dido's love for Aeneas as a way to keep Aeneas from going to Italy.

Preface to Lyrical Ballads - William Wordsworth (Romantic, 1802)

Plot: Wordsworth outlines his principles for the composition of lyrical ballads. He asserts that poetry must concern itself primarily with nature and human experience. He argues that literary devices such as personification make it difficult for writers to communicate effectively.

"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" - Walt Whitman (Transcendentalism/Realism, 1859)

Plot: The poem speaks about the speaker's childhood memories and the moment he decided to be a poet. It also illustrates how his early experiences shaped his life. Theme: Transience - The poem presents two things; the speaker's meaningful transformation from an immature child to a mature poet, and the transience of life. Through the images of tiny creatures, the speaker reflects on the secrets of life and death. Life, no matter how enchanting and vibrant, has to come to an end. Every living creature has to taste death.

"Crossing the Bar" - Alfred Lord Tennyson (Victorian, 1832)

Plot: The speaker, who's headed out to sea soon, hopes that the tide will be calm, cool, and collected. He also hopes that when he sets sail, no one's going to make a big, sad show of saying adios. That's because, while he might be headed into some dark times, he knows he's about to meet his Pilot (death), and that's a very good thing. Theme: Accepting Death - If the sandbar is Tennyson's metaphor for the boundary between life and death, then it is all about crossing from life to death. This poem is all about accepting and embracing death, rather than fearing the dark unknown.

"Old Ironsides" - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (Fireside - 1830)

Plot: This poem is about the historical ship that won a commendable victory for the US (the war of 1812). According to the poet, this ship has outlived many adversities and stood as a symbol of reassurance for those who depended on it during the war. While commenting on its lost glory, he highlights how it has survived the hostile weather and served as a home for the heroes. As it has fought many historical battles, the best end of this noble ship is to give it to the sea, instead of throwing it away in the scrapyard. Theme: Victory/Pride - The poem centers on the holy ship that has served in various battles. Throughout the poem, he expresses that the ship's history and its exemplary services should not be disregarded. Therefore, he calls for the people to give this heroic ship an honorable retirement.

"To an Athlete Dying Young" - A.E. Housman (Victorian - 1896)

Plot: This poem presents a young man who details short but glorious life of an athlete. First, the poet talks about his youthful accomplishments. He addresses a young athlete and reminds him of how he won the race for the people of his town. It was the time of merriment, and the townsmen celebrated his victory with excitement. Now the same people are carrying him on their shoulders and taking him to his final destination. Although his life was short, the glory and the record he set would stay there forever. For him, the athlete is not going to witness the bitterness of his downfall. Theme: Transience of Life/Dying w/ glory - his death will not make people forget the peak of his power or fame. His legacy will remain, and he will always stay in the hearts of the people.

"The Circus Animals' Desertion" - William Butler Yeats (Romantic/Modernist, 1933)

Plot: Yeats's speaker (who, let us face it, is remarkably similar to the poet himself), sits down to write a poem and nothing happens. Well, not exactly. As our speaker decides, the inspiration for all of his previous poems just don't cut it any more. As the poet starts to think back on his former inspirations, he pulls the reader along with him on a journey that takes them through Irish legends and Irish political activists. They're all great stories, but they just don't seem to inspire our speaker anymore. Well, he's starting over. He's facing all the dirt and mess head-on. No more myths. No more illusions. In other words, he's moving past the Modern and into the Postmodern. It's a whole new world - and he's about to write the poetry to prove it. Theme: Perseverance - Yeats has been writing for the last 50 years and he's pegging away at yet another poem, which is all about sticking with it until you find the right poetic inspiration. Given the difficulties he's having coming up with any ideas at all, we think he deserves some serious props for the perseverance that kind of dedication to writing must take.

Canto 1 of Don Juan - Lord Byron (Romantic - 1819)

Plot: Don Juan is hiding in the sheets that are heaped up in Julia's bed. Alfonso and his mob leave, but Alfonso comes back a few minutes later and finds Don Juan's shoes. Alfonso runs to get his sword and a scuffle ensues. Don Juan manages to get away and runs naked into the night. Theme: Youth/Innocence - On several occasions in Don Juan, Byron makes a point of reminding us that DJ is just a young and inexperienced man. He does this to make Don Juan come across as an innocent observer in a world that Byron is dead-set on ridiculing at every turn. Wherever we look, we find older people who are hypocrites, murderers, and cheats. But Don Juan always seems to rise above this stuff because he's so young and removed from all the corruption of the nineteenth-century world.

"Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie" - Henry Longfellow (Fireside Poet/Romantic, 1847)

Plot: It tells the story of Evangeline and Gabriel, two young people separated at the time of the Acadian exile. As the British begin deporting Acadians from their ancestral homeland, the young lovers are torn apart on their wedding day. Theme: Love - One minute, you're about to embark on a lifetime of wedded bliss, and then the next, you're viciously torn about by the whims of colonial politics—bad times. All the same, we get a glimpse in "Evangeline" of the true power of love. It sustains her throughout years of hardship, and it never wavers. Sure, it's not like E. and G. ride off into the sunset together, but we're still left in awe of the way their connection remains strong.

"Mont Blanc" - Bysshe Shelley (Romantic, 1817)

Plot: Looking down on a ravine, the speaker of this poem is taken into that exalted state: the sublime. Shelley's description shows us that actually the sublime is about an interaction between nature and the mind. It isn't just one thing and the other; it's both. Theme: Perception/Nature - It examines the relationship between the human mind and the universe; the poem discusses the influence of perception on the mind, and how the world can become a reflection of the operation of the mind.

"They Flee from Me" - Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder (Renaissance, 1535)

Plot: Our speaker complains about the fact that "they" keep running away from him. He describes this mysterious group as if they're birds, or some sort of animal. They used to stalk his chamber, barefoot, and take bread from his hand, but now they don't come around anymore. Instead, they roam free, seeking change. But there was one, once, who was a little different. She (it turns out the mysterious "they" refers to women, who used to visit his bedroom at night) came to him, scantily clad, and kissed him. It wasn't a dream (he swears, you guys!), but it was a strange encounter nonetheless. After all, she just leaves him there, and goes off in search of other, new men. When all is said and done, he's not sure how this woman should be treated. Theme: Sex/Masculinity - The speaker tells us he used to get lucky all the time, but now he's in a bit of a dry spell. But it's about more than just the physical act. There are power plays involved. At first, our guy's in charge. These women come to him, and he seduces them. But suddenly, the tables turn, and the seducer becomes the seduced. So how does a Renaissance man like our speaker - who used to have all the power - handle a sexually assertive woman? The answer to that question remains a mystery.

"Adonais" - Bysshe Shelley (Romantic, 1821)

Plot: Shelley's speaker laments the passing of Adonais (persona of Keats), calling the forces of nature, the gods of Greek and Roman mythology, and the great figures of history to share in the speaker's sorrow. He convicts those he blames for Adonais' death, with Shelley alluding to the critics who had mocked Keats' work. Theme: Death - Death has taken Adonais, the beautiful youth who represents Keats, before the poem's beginning. Shelley doesn't necessarily think that death is the end, especially not for a youth so beautiful and pure. Is it possible that the youth lives on somewhere else? What does this life after death look like, exactly? Adonais explores several theories about just what happens after mortal death, and comes to a pretty comforting conclusion.

"Terence, This is Stupid Stuff" - A.E. Housman (Victorian - 1895)

Plot: The poem starts out with a jolly (and maybe slightly drunk) guy complaining to a poet named Terence about his poems. To drive the point home, Terence finishes by telling the fable of King Mithridates, who gradually developed an immunity to poison. The idea is that swallowing a little bit of sadness in poetry, a little bit at a time, can make you stronger and more resistant to the pain of life. Theme: Stoicism - Housman emphasizes his theme of stoicism and suggests, once again, that life is made bearable by concentrating on its tragedies, and by doing so, one learns to live in the face of adversity.

"God's Grandeur" - Gerard Hopkins (Victorian - 1918)

Plot: The sonnet illustrates the poet's excitement on the everlasting presence of God and his resentment on the destruction of the world caused by people. He argues that the world is filled to the brim with God's splendor and glory. Later, he comments upon the approach of a modern man whose involvement and labor has corroded the real beauty of the earth. And, now, the earth smells of the toil of man. Despite being destroyed by man, it still harbors life because God always restores it. However, what enchants the readers is the way he sees hope and God's everlasting presence in the world. Theme: Materialism VS God's Glory - To him, man is responsible for the omission of natural beauty. He adds people are too busy in their lives that they do not have time to see what damage they have done to the place they live in. However, nature cannot be destroyed, and it will always shine because God's presence and love will continually restore it.

"My Heart Leaps Up" - William Wordsworth (Romantic, 1807)

Plot: The speaker is telling us about the feeling he gets, has always gotten, and will always get when he sees a rainbow in the sky: his heart rejoices. He says that if he were ever to stop feeling this joy, he'd want to die. He presents the paradox (contradictory statement) that the child is the father of the man. In other words, our adult selves still contain the kernel of our childhood selves. He wants his days to be, perhaps, like the days of a child, filled with—and tied together by—a reverence for nature. Theme: The speaker loves nature so much that he would rather die than lose the capacity to feel joy at the sight of a rainbow. He's loved nature since he was born and wants to keeping loving it until he dies. He views nature as a way to tie together every day of his life in peace and in joy.

"London, 1802" - William Wordsworth (Romantic, 1807)

Plot: The speaker laments the fact that Milton isn't around anymore, since, as he sees it, England needs a guiding voice. The speaker flat-out condemns the state of the nation, saying that the English people have forgotten all the things that used to make them so glorious, including religion, military might, and literature. The poet is certain that Milton could inspire England to greatness once again, and mold its inhabitants into more noble creatures. Then, he goes on to praise Milton: Not only is Milton's writing admirable, apparently, so was his character. Theme: Admiration/Patriotism - Wordsworth invokes the noble spirit of Milton, who he sees as an incredibly powerful moral and poetic force. However, this poem isn't only concerned with Milton's prowess as a writer; there's also a profound admiration expressed for the man's character. Wordsworth piles praise upon the earlier writer for his goodness of heart and moral superiority, and raises him up as an example to all of the depraved people of contemporary England.

"La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad" - John Keats (Romantic, 1819)

Plot: The speaker of the poem comes across a "knight at arms" alone, and apparently dying, in a field somewhere. He asks him what's going on, and the knight's answer takes up the rest of the poem. The knight says that he met a beautiful fairy lady in the fields. He started hanging out with her, making flower garlands for her, letting her ride on his horse, and generally flirting like knights do. Finally, she invited him back to her fairy cave. But after they were through smooching, she "lulled" him to sleep, and he had a nightmare about all the knights and kings and princes that the woman had previously seduced - they were all dead. And then he woke up, alone, on the side of a hill somewhere. Theme: Fear of Isolation - It is about being abandoned by the one you love. The knight gets abandoned and left on a "cold hill's side," even though he appears to be at death's door. The beautiful fairy lady, we know from the title, is "sans merci," or merciless (cruel). She abandons him without pity, and the knight's solitude becomes the framing image of the poem.

"The Bishop Orders his Tomb" - Robert Browning (Victorian - 1845)

Plot: A bishop is lying on his deathbed. It sounds like the set-up to a joke, but it's really just the start of this poem. Then he asks his sons—as the bishop starts to refer to them—to go dig him up a giant piece of lapis lazuli stone. He wants to decorate his tomb with it, so he can look like God holding the world. Theme: Competition - We don't know when he died, what he did, or who he even was, really. All we know is that he was jealous of our bishop's now-dead mistress (or wife) and that he built his tomb in the best spot in St. Praxed's church. That's enough, though, to set the bishop off on an epic plan to outduel Gandolf—from the grave. The competition between the two looks like it will last long after both competitors have died, which shows us really just how silly competition can be.

"The Snow Man" - Wallace Stevens (Modernist, 1921)

Plot: The poem reflects on how winter should be celebrated with full spring. It also illustrates that we should keep our emotions aside to adore the true beauty of nature. To adore these enchanting sights of nature, one must leave the miseries, harshness, and chaos of the world aside. We should not associate any pain, misery or sorrowful memories with the sound of the cold wind. Theme: Appreciation of Winter/Nature - the poem presents an actual man standing in the midst of snow and enjoying the beauties of the winter season. Mostly, the winter season is associated with some bad experiences of life, but, in this poem, the speaker wants us to liberate ourselves from the clutches of the unruly world and enjoy the beauty of nature with a positive mind.

"The Good Morrow" - John Donne (Metaphysical - 1633)

Plot: The speaker describes love as a profound experience that's almost like a religious epiphany. Indeed, the poem claims that erotic love can produce the same effects that religion can. Theme: Love - sheds light on a love that's so intense it zaps out the rest of reality. This stuff is ripped. Not only does it devastate a lifetime of other memories; it also destroys the desire to travel or explore, making one room (and one girl) seem cooler than anything else in the world.

"There's a certain Slant of Light" - Emily Dickinson (Romantic - 1861)

Plot: like much of Dickinson's poetry, it is deeply ambiguous. Put simply, the poem describes the way a shaft of winter sunlight prompts the speaker to reflect on the nature of religion, death, and despair. Perhaps, the poem suggests, such feelings are in fact part of a message from God; in any case, seeing this "Slant of light" utterly transforms the speaker's understanding of the world itself. Theme: Awe and Amazement of Mystery/Vagueness - We're not talking about the kind of awe and amazement that comes from looking at something really beautiful. In "There's a certain Slant of light," the speaker's amazement comes from the mysteriousness of that slant of light. In fact, even the landscape is amazed by the light and "listens" upon its approach while the shadows "hold their breath."

"Root Cellar" - Theodore Roethke (Modernist, 1948)

Plot: The tone of the speaker in this poem expresses wonder. He is in wonder about the plants in the root cellar because of their stubborn determination to survive and generate new life. The speaker's attitude is in a state of amazement for the plants in the cellar. Theme: Appreciation of Nature - The theme of this poem is that living things are provided with enough beauty and determination to survive in the darkest, most inhospitable environments.

"Ophelia" [Ophelie] - Arthur Rimbaud (Symbolist)

Plot: There is a beautiful and innocent young girl, Ophelia, who was in love with a man named Hamlet. He didn't love her back, and her dad had just died. She became so confused and depressed that she decided to kill herself by jumping off the cliffs of Norway. Ever since, her spirit has haunted the river she died in. Theme: Mournful over death - The speaker of the poem is lamenting over the death of Ophelia, and her choice to commit suicide because of her heartache. Bruised your child's heart, too sweet and too human; Heaven!

"Channel Firing" - Thomas Hardy (Victorian Realist/Naturalist/Romantic - 1914)

Plot: Written months before WW1 began - The poem imagines a graveyard that is disturbed by the noise of warships firing their guns out at sea. Although the firing is only practice, not an actual battle, the noise is enough to wake the dead in the graveyard. They think it is Judgement Day (i.e., the Apocalypse), but God reassures them that it's just business as usual here on Earth. Theme: The pointlessness of war - a bleak, satirical critique of war and particularly of arms races—the rush for nations to build increasingly devastating weapons of war. In the poem, the advancement of modern technology has simply allowed countries to "make / Red war yet redder" (i.e., to make warfare bloodier) at a much faster rate. The speaker doesn't look on these advances with patriotic pride, nor as forces with any potential to make the world a better place. Instead, the speaker sees countries as making the same mistakes they've made throughout history. War is utterly misguided "madness," the poem argues.

Aeneid, Book 2 (The Fall of Troy) - Virgil (Ancient Rome)

Plot: Fulfilling Dido's request, Aeneas begins his sorrowful story, adding that retelling it entails reexperiencing the pain. He takes us back to ten years into the Trojan War: at the moment the tale begins, the Danaans (Greeks) have constructed a giant wooden horse with a hollow belly.

Sonnet 2 - Sir Philip Sidney (Renaissance, 1580)

Plot: The author describes the slow progression of love into his life. Love did not come quickly or at first sight. Instead, the author's love for Stella began slowly and infiltrated his heart before he realized what was happening. He began by viewing her in a purely platonic way, and he then began to appreciate her more-and he finally fell in love with her. At first he bemoaned his loss of liberty at the hands of love, but now, his emotions run too deep. Theme: Power of Love - Sidney presents himself as a passive participant in the progression of love. He has no control over his emotions. Moreover, because of the slow and steady progression of his emotions, he was unable to guard himself in any way. He is a slave to love and has no power to escape it.

"Delight in Disorder" - Robert Herrick (Cavalier Poet - 1648, opposed Metaphysical)

Plot: a poem in praise of disorderliness. The poet states that clothes worn in a state of dishevelment have a certain charm - indeed, more so than when they are simply worn in a state of perfect precision. Theme: Beauty = Disarray (a mess)- Herrick presents the theme that beauty is at its most attractive when it is in disarray, like flaming October leaves along a footpath or a "winning wave (deserving note) / In the tempestuous petticoat"

"A Virginal" - Ezra Pound (Modernist, 1922)

Plot: a short love poem that expresses a man's love for a virgin girl and his temptation of another women. The speaker is presumed to be a man shouting at a women to leave him because he does not want to spoil his love for his virgin girl. Theme: Innocence/Purity - The speaker orders the woman to leave him because he does not want to be tempted by her promiscuous ways. In his eyes, the virgin's virtue and morality is worth more to him than what the other woman can offer.

"Dulce et Decorum Est" - Wilfred Owen (Romantic, 1920)

Plot: A poem about the horrors of war as experienced by a soldier on the front lines of World War I. The speaker depicts soldiers trudging through the trenches, weakened by injuries and fatigue. Suddenly, the men come under attack and must quickly put on their gas masks. Theme: Warfare/Suffering - As Owen describes it, war becomes a never-ending nightmare of muddy trenches and unexpected gas attacks. Interestingly, with the new-fangled technology of WWI, there doesn't even need to be a real enemy present to create the devastation and destruction. Set in the middle of a gas attack, this poem explores the intense agony of a world gone suddenly insane - and the unfortunate men who have to struggle through it. As the poem itself asks, how can anyone condone so much suffering?

Sonnet 81 - Sir Philip Sidney (Renaissance, 1580)

Plot: Astrophel continues to dwell on his kiss with Stella, praising it as much as he can. In this sonnet, he reveals that Stella wants "higher seated praise." His compliments of her beauty are not the compliments of virtue, she maintains with a blush. Astrophel makes a bargain with her, declaring that if she objects to his kiss-inspired poetry, she should "stop" his mouth with more kisses. Theme: Power of Lust - Stella attempts to keep the higher ground in this situation, informing Astrophel that his praise for her kiss is inappropriate. Giddy with happiness, Astrophel once again incorporates his bargaining technique. In a witty twist, he promises that he will only stop praising her kisses with his mouth if she literally stops his mouth with more kisses. Unfortunately, Stella will not agree.

Letters: To George and Thomas Keats on Negative Capability - John Keats (Romantic, 1817)

Plot/Theme: LETTERS - In the letters, he writes about beauty, the imagination, and the concept of "Negative Capability"—"when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason." (characterize the capacity of the greatest writers to pursue a vision of artistic beauty even when it leads them into intellectual confusion and uncertainty) Keats also address the merits of other poets, including Milton, Keat's contemporary Wordsworth, and Shakespeare, who Keats admired above all other writers.

"The Flea" - John Donne (Metaphysical - 1633)

Plot: uses a flea as a metaphor to explore the sexual union between a man and a woman. The speaker in the poem shows a flea to a young lady that has apparently bitten both of them. Theme: Sex - The flea has bitten them both, and now their blood is mixed inside the flea. He says that no one would consider it a sin or shameful for their bodily fluids to mix inside a bug, so why don't they just swap fluids in bed? The fact that she hasn't suffered from the death of the flea in which their bloods were mixed means that "swapping fluids" isn't so dangerous to her honor as she thinks. In straightforward terms, his point is: "You have nothing to fear from having sex with me."

"The Drunken Boat" ["Le Bateau Ivre"]- Arthur Rimbaud (Symbolist, 1871)

Poem: It was written in the first person from the point of view of a boat that is adrift after all of its passengers have been massacred. The description of the vessel's erratic course, its assault by storms, and the vast wastes of the ocean reflect the torment of the poet's soul. Theme: Devasting journey - The boat's journey symbolizes how the man's life has been?

"Ships that Pass in the Night" - Paul Lawrence Dunbar (African American - Civil War / Romantic)

Summary: Although the African Americans were free, they were still discriminated against and had less chances to do things than the white people did. "Pregnant night" to me means that they have hope and expectation that the opportunities will come to them (Line 2). And anyways, we also say a woman is expecting when she is pregnant. He simply wants to do what the others, the white people, can; and this is the wish of every black person during that time. Theme: Oppression/Opportunities - Dunbar catches "the gleaming of a random light" (Line 4). This means that he is sensing the opportunity is nearby but not in his grasp as "the ship I [Dunbar] seek[s] is passing, passing," and the opportunity passes him by (Line 5). The concept of opportunity is represented by the ship.

"Mutability" - Bysshe Shelley (Romantic, 1816)

Plot: A first-person poetic persona compares people to restless clouds. Clouds speed brightly across the sky but disappear at night, presumably like a human life. The persona then compares people to lyres, stringed instruments, that are always playing different tunes based on different experiences. The persona then complains that whether we are asleep or awake, a bad dream or a "wandering thought" interferes with our happiness. Whatever we think, however we feel, "It is the same," meaning that all will pass away and people will change. Theme: Transience of feelings/life- The perpetual change that humans struggle with in their lives. He portrays this in various ways, with comparisons of humans to clouds and to lyres being present.

Sonnet 52 - Sir Philip Sidney (Renaissance, 1580)

Plot: A legal dispute has arisen between Virtue and Love, with each claiming that Stella belongs to him. Love argues that Stella's lips and eyes prove his ownership because they wear his badge of livery. Virtue counters by arguing that Stella is wholly virtuous in her soul. Although Love may lay claim to her exterior beauty, Virtue owns her inner beauty, which is what actually stirs people's hearts. Astrophel then intervenes in the dispute, declaring that Virtue can have Stella's inner soul as long as he and Love can have her body. Theme: Sexuality/Appearances - This sonnet contains clear evidence of Astrophel's physical desire for Stella. The explicit sexuality in the lines undercuts Astrophel's expression of virtue and chastity in previous sonnets in the sequence. Astrophel is willing to sacrifice Stella's inner beauty to the call of Virtue, presuming it is possible, as long as he can still desire and possible possess her physical body.

"Pied Beauty" - Gerard Hopkins (Victorian - 1918)

Plot: As this poem is about the celebration of various things created by God, the speaker praises God for creating spotted and dappled things. He comments on the changeable nature of the world and argues that everything in the universe is destined to alter except God's beauty. As an act of prayers, he thanks God and provides a list of things He has created for mankind. He catalogs God's variety in the creation and symbolically encapsulates the existences of all species on earth. Theme: Praising God's Creation/Nature - He begins his poem by praising God for creating colorful and multiple things in nature and then provides a list. His discussion about nature and God's creation reflects that every entity present in the universe is beautiful in its own way.

"Spring and All" - William Carlos Williams (Modernist/Imagist - 1923)

Plot: For most people, Springtime is a time that new life is born and the weather is warmer. To Williams, Spring is not an instant reveal of these changes to it's beautiful state, but a slow and gradual one. This person (the speaker of the poem) begins by describing the scene: the dead plants that cover everything at the end of winter. Then, the poem shifts, and the speaker describes the coming of spring, imagining how new life will emerge from this landscape as it begins to wake up. Theme: Transformation/Mortality of Nature - Death opens this poem in a big way. It's hard to think about a contagious hospital without thinking about the possibility of death. If that wasn't enough, the landscape turns out to be dead, too. Check out the "dried weeds, standing and fallen," and the "dead, brown leaves." Ultimately, the whole world we see in this poem is "lifeless in appearance." That last word is key, though. While a disease might make you really dead, the land only "appears dead." The payoff in the poem, the heartwarming conclusion, is that this isn't the scary kind of death, but the kind that leads to rebirth.

"Ulysses" - Alfred Lord Tennyson (Victorian, 1833)

Plot: It details Ulysses' (from The Odyssey) intense dissatisfaction and boredom on his island home of Ithaca. The poem is a monologue spoken by him, where he not only expresses his discontent, but also describes his desire to keep sailing. He's getting older and doesn't have a lot of time left, so he wants to get busy living rather than busy dying. The poem concludes with his resolution to "strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Theme: Dissatisfaction -He can't stand just sitting around the house with his wife all day, eating and sleeping and settling disputes every once in a while. He is getting a craving for adventure. After visiting all kinds of strange places, Ulysses has to go back to Ithaca where, since he's the king, he doesn't really have to do a whole lot. He's still in good physical shape, and he can't stand it that he doesn't get to put that body to use.

Sonnet 55 - Shakespeare (Renaissance, 1609)

Plot: The poem speaks about the immortality of words: nothing can outshine the power and charm of words. It also illustrates how the speaker is proud of his immortal work. Since his friend is preserved in the form of words, therefore he will not face a fall. Theme: Immortality of Art/Friend - The poem presents the heartfelt burst of confidence as the poet possesses the power to preserve his friend's memory in his verses. He argues that everything in the world loses its charm and beauty, but nothing can destroy his friend's glory and charm.

"Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802" - William Wordsworth (Romantic, 1807)

Plot: The poem speaks about the speaker's beautiful encounter with nature in a fine morning. It also illustrates how it puts a sweet pause in our busy lives and provides us with a chance to breathe in harmony. The poem tells about nature and its pivotal role in man's life. Theme: Appreciation of Nature - The speaker, being a lover of nature, not only stops to adore the glories of nature. However, he also feels sorry for those who have missed this delight. He catches these wonders early in the morning when the world is at rest, and there is no hustle or bustle around. Moreover, the uncontaminated environment allows him to get a clear glimpse.

"The Windhover" - Gerard Hopkins (Victorian - 1918)

Plot: The speaker of the poem looks up and sees a windhover (a kind of falcon). Windhovers have the ability to hover in place in the air while they scan the ground for prey. The speaker watches the windhover ride the wind like it's a horse, and then wheel around in an arc like a skater, then hover some more. The beauty and power of the bird totally blow his mind, and he's got the exclamation marks to prove it. Theme: Praising God's Creations - (He dedicates the poem to God). The speaker's awe and amazement at the windhover's awesome and amazing skill at hovering on the wind, so you better believe that he's more than a little impressed. One of Hopkins's goals in writing poetry was to inspire his readers with the same kind of awe and amazement that he felt when looking at simple, everyday objects—like a bird in flight.

"To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" - Robert Herrick (Cavalier Poet - 1648, opposed Metaphysical)

Plot: A carpe diem poem in which the speaker urges virgins to seize the day by taking advantage of their youth. Like roses, their beauty is fleeting, and they should capitalize on it while they can - in their youth/prime. Theme: Fleeting Time - People have often seen this as a poem that exemplifies carpe diem. That's Latin for "seize the day," a phrase meaning "make the most of the time you have." The poem is about making the most of one's time, but it's also about the passage of time, and the fact that as we get older we change. We become less healthy and vigorous, less "warm" and, eventually, die.

"My Last Duchess" - Robert Browning (Victorian - 1842)

Plot: A dramatic monologue. In the poem, the Duke of Ferrara uses a painting of his former wife as a conversation piece. The Duke speaks about his former wife's perceived inadequacies to a representative of the family of his bride-to-be, revealing his obsession with controlling others in the process. Browning uses this compelling psychological portrait of a despicable character to critique the objectification of women and abuses of power. Theme: Power - the political and social power wielded by the speaker (the Duke) and his attempt to control the domestic sphere (his marriage) in the same way that he rules his lands. He rules with an iron fist. The Duke views everything that he possesses and everyone with whom he interacts as an opportunity to expand his power base. Wives need to be dominated; servants need to understand his authority; and fancy objects in his art gallery display his influence to the world - if he decides to show them. Kindness, joy, and emotion are all threats to his tyrannical power.

"Birches" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1916)

Plot: A man is walking through the woods, looking at the top of the tree line. He sees some trees swaying in the wind and he starts to imagine things about the trees. He thinks about how the ice covering the trees cracks when they bend. Then he thinks about how heavy ice and snow will bend thin trees to the ground. This gets him imagining a boy climbing to the top of trees and bending them down until he can let go and fall safely to the ground. He remembers doing this when he was a kid and wishes that when he felt trapped in his adult life he could climb trees. This memory makes him feel like life isn't a trap, because his youthful imagination can free him at any moment. Theme: Youth - The speaker never sees a boy or comes across one. He only imagines one, and the boy that he does imagine is himself at a younger age. These boys have their own rules and wisdom that they can pass on to the older men and women around them. They are ready for adventures in nature and represent the wild, untamed state of "man" that remains good and moral even though no one is there to govern him.

"The Tyger" From Songs of Experience - William Blake (Romantics - 1794)

Plot: A poem about the nature of creation, much as is his earlier poem from the Songs of Innocence, "The Lamb." However, this poem takes on the darker side of creation, when its benefits are less obvious than simple joys. Theme: Religion - Blake questions who "could" create the Tyger, casting aside the notion that such a being is omnipotent (all-powerful). He also challenges he who "dares" forge the Tyger, and contain ("frame") its "fearful symmetry." Blake is not afraid of religious visions, since this poem is full of them, but he's not interested in simply rehashing the Christian doctrine. Rather, he interacts with Christian religion by challenging its assumptions.

"Concord Hymn" - Ralph Waldo Emerson (Transcendentalism - 1837)

Plot: A song or a poem about the first shot that was fired by the minutemen in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1775. The song eloquently explains the volatile time in American history when the patriots fought the first battles against the British in the American Revolutionary War. Theme: War/Nature - The motif of a river exists throughout this poem, beginning on the first line when the imagistic "flood" first appears. Emerson compares the battle to nature, as the battle took many lives, the bridge was assaulted by a flood.

"Those Winter Sundays" - Robert Hayden (Black Arts Movement - 1962)

Plot: An adult speaker reflects on how, when he was a child, his father would get up early on Sunday mornings throughout the winter in order to light a fire and warm up the house before anyone else got out of bed. At the time the speaker failed to appreciate this, as well as the other ways his father expressed affection for his family. Only upon looking back at these memories as an adult does he understand the often selfless and thankless nature of love. Theme: Family/Parenting - It highlights the sacrifices—often unseen—that parents make for their children. Written from an adult perspective, the poem sees the speaker reflecting on the parenting style of his father. He realizes that his father made sacrifices for him without expecting anything return, acting only out of love for his family. The poem thus presents parenting as selfless and often thankless work.

Don Juan - Lord Byron (Romantic - 1819)

Plot: An epic satire about a young man who is matured sexually and has an affair with a friend of his mother. The husband finds out, and Don Juan is sent away to Cádiz. On the way, he is shipwrecked, survives and meets the daughter of a pirate, whose men sell Don Juan as a slave. Theme: Sex - Traditional stories tend to show the character of Don Juan as a middle-aged womanizer, but Byron turns the story on its head to show Don Juan as an innocent young man who has trouble fighting off the advances of women. That's Byron's sense of humor for you. In a time when men were clearly the sexual aggressors, Byron saw fit to make his main male character into the object of women's sexual desire. Don Juan can only resist for so long before he gives into some of these women. But who are we to judge him? Byron asks.

"Acquainted with the Night" - Robert Frost (Modernist - 1928)

Plot: As this poem is about isolation, the lonely speaker walks the city streets at night, trying to escape from his anxiety and unexpressed fear. He also tries to find something to confront him but fails. Finally, he gazes up at the moon and says time has no meaning for him. He is wrapped in never-ending sorrow. Theme: Depression/Isolation - The speaker is acquainted with the night, his surroundings are all very distant, and, in the poem, he has no friends or family. He avoids the watchman, who is the only other human being in the poem. He hears a cry, but the poem becomes even more lonely and isolated when he reflects that the cry is not for him. It seems that the speaker is acquainted with the night, but he is not friends with anything in this world.

"Fra Lippo Lippi" - Robert Browning (Victorian - 1855)

Plot: Basically means "Brother" Lippo Lippi, is a monk who has been up to some rather un-monk-like activities. The guardsmen of the powerful (and don't forget rich) house of Medici catch him out, partying it up on the streets, and so they roughly interrogate him. Theme: Freedom and Confinement - In "Fra Lippo Lippi," that's the situation we find Bro Lippo in. He's taken the vows of a monk to get himself out of a life of poverty (he's literally starving, which is itself a type of confinement). Confinement works on two levels here. On the literal level, Lippo is confined to the monastery and its rules. On a more figurative level, though, he's confined by the artistic philosophy of the Church and can't really let his painter's flag fly high. And while being patronized by the Medicis (a very rich and powerful Italian family), this too is a type of confinement. He's also bounded by their desires when it comes to art.

"I like to see it lap the Miles" - Emily Dickinson (Romantic - 1891)

Plot: Basically, there's not much "plot" in this brief, riddle-like poem. In it, Dickinson describes the progress of a strange creature (which astute readers discover is a train) winding its way through a hilly landscape. The speaker admires the train's speed and power as is goes through valleys, stops for fuel, then "steps" around some mountains. The animal-like train passes by human dwellings and, though it observes them, doesn't stop to say hello. Instead, it goes on ahead, chugging loudly as it passes through a tunnel, and steams downhill. Finally, the train (compared in the end to a powerful horse) stops right on time at the station, its "stable." Theme: Power - In the nineteenth century, the newfangled steam engine was a byword for power. Just imagine living in a world without planes, trains, and automobiles, where the fastest thing going was a speedy horse. Suddenly, the steam train shows up - and everything is different. "I like to see it lap the Miles" captures both the beauty and the menace of this new technology by emphasizing just how strong and mighty it is. After all, something powerful enough to devour landscapes and plow through mountains is certainly deserving of careful observation and meditation. What makes this new "creature" especially fascinating is the fact that it's manmade - and this child of industry far surpasses its human parents in strength.

"Choruses from the Rock" - T.S. Eliot (Modernist - 1909)

Plot: Eliot's poem, Choruses from "The Rock," one must first understand Eliot's views on contemporary theology and spirituality. He felt as if people were moving away from the Church and were losing their religion in favor of more nonspiritual worship. Theme: Ignorance - We take everything for granted but we don't stop to look at the little things in life, the best things. He seems pessimistic towards other people.

"After Apples-Picking" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1914)

Plot: Frost's poem focuses on someone who's exhausted after a long day's work in an apple orchard. Drifting between wakefulness and sleep, the poem's speaker replays the day's events while feeling anxious about all the apples left unpicked. Theme: Sin - The biggest "sin" in this poem is dropping an apple, but the wider concept of sin, corruption, and the Fall of Man (from the Book of Genesis) seems to be hinted at strongly in the language and images. The speaker feels bad for the apples that have touched the ground and are consequently smushed up to make juice instead. This attitude suggests that he might feel bad for the human race as a whole, which often aims for lofty spiritual goals, only to get bruised - or worse - by earthly flaws.

"Convergence of the Twain" - Thomas Hardy (Victorian Realist/Naturalist/Romantic - 1912)

Plot: Hardy describes the sinking of the Titanic by first describing the ship at the bottom of the ocean. All of the steel chambers, mirrors, jewels and other pretty things are at the bottom too, only this time they're surrounded by curious fish and sea-worms that are none too impressed. The speaker then goes on to tell the story of the Titanic's construction that was simultaneously underway while the iceberg was growing too. So the two are kind of cosmically connected, but not in a good way. When the two do eventually meet, these worlds collide with some awfully tragic circumstances. Theme: Man's Pride and Nature - Human beings come from the natural world but sometimes we have a bad habit of convincing ourselves otherwise. Usually that kind of convincing involves things like pride and vanity and choosing to ignore the natural order of things. The speaker emphasizes those differences between what humanity values and what nature reminds us isn't so important in the end. All of our pretty things like jewels and mirrors end up useless and lightless at the bottom of the sea, which tells us that we ought to reevaluate things like luxury and vanity. After all, jewels and luxury ships can't help us when we're alone with some dim moon-eyed fishes.

"The Flower" - George Herbert (Metaphysical - 1633)

Plot: He compares himself with a flower that shrivels and disappears from the face of the earth when it is cold and prospers again when the earth is warm. Unlike the flower, his shriveled heart recovers in spring. As the poem continues, he expresses his gratitude for the Lord for constantly renewing the created world. He admires the way God uses His power to change the cycle of nature. The spring is a season of God's grace, so the poet tries to enlighten his soul in spring every year. However, unfortunately, when he tries to direct his path towards heaven, God's anger arrives in the form of winter, and he loses hope. Theme: Humans/Nature VS Spirituality - Throughout the poem, the speaker tries to explain the changing cycle of nature that shows the power and glory of God. Unlike natural objects, humans also suffer emotionally and spiritually in winter until spring comes and restores life on earth.

"Redemption" - George Herbert (Metaphysical)

Plot: He speaks on one man's long journey to find God amongst the secular (nonreligious), and therefore the ability to start a new life. The poem begins with the speaker stating that for a long time he has been the tenant (inhabitant) of a great lord. Theme: God's love and mercy - The parable echoes Jesus' dying words on the cross when he says to the penitent thief: 'To-day you shall be with me in paradise' (Luke 23:43). In other words, at the moment of dying, his thoughts are for those he wishes to rescue.

"His Prayer to Ben Johnson" - Robert Herrick (Cavalier Poet - 1648, opposed Metaphysical)

Plot: Herrick establishes Jonson as a saint figure. Because individuals were encouraged to pray to saints for protection and intercession, that metaphor allowed Herrick to depict Jonson as not only a mentor, but also a type of divine inspiration. Theme: Praising a Mentor - It seems that if Herrick did not have Johnson as a mentor, Herrick would not be the poet he was during that time.

"Go and Catch a Falling Star" - John Donne (Metaphysical - 1633)

Plot: In the poem, a speaker tells a listener that he can look the whole world over, but finding a woman who'll be faithful to him is about as unlikely as finding a mermaid or meeting the devil. Theme: Women's Infidelity - The poem explores a traditional (and misogynistic) literary theme of Donne's era: women's romantic infidelity. Using vivid images of magic and mystery, the speaker insists that a faithful woman is so hard to find, she might as well be the stuff of legends!

"A Bird came down the walk" - Emily Dickinson (Romantic - 1891)

Plot: In this poem, the simple experience of watching a bird hop down a path allows her to exhibit her extraordinary poetic powers of observation and description. Dickinson keenly depicts the bird as it eats a worm, pecks at the grass, hops by a beetle, and glances around fearfully. Theme: The beauty of nature/human connection w/ it - In this poem, the simple experience of watching a bird hop down a path allows her to exhibit her extraordinary poetic powers of observation and description.

"Love [III]" - George Herbert (Metaphysical)

Plot: In this three-stanza poem, the speaker converses with Love. In the first stanza, he states that he is unworthy to be welcomed by Love. In the second stanza, Love tells the speaker that, because Love/God is his creator, he has nothing to be ashamed of. Although the speaker continues to protest that he is guilty of sin, in the third stanza, he ultimately stops resisting Love's invitations, and "sit[s] and eat[s]" Love's "meat." Theme: The Nature of Divine Love - Herbert uses biblical allusions to establish God's all-forgiving, limitless capacity for love. In Christianity, mankind has fallen due to original sin; however, through good works and devotion, mankind can regain paradise. Although the speaker in this poem believes that he is still unworthy of God's love, Love convinces him that all men are worthy of receiving divine love. He reminds that speaker that Love/God created his eyes; if the speaker has "marred" them with sin, that does not mean the blame necessarily resides with him. Rather, God as creator bears responsibility for all his creations. Love thus convinces the speaker to accept his place at God's table and dine. This can also be viewed as an allegory for entering heaven.

"Directive" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1946)

Plot: It begins when a self-proclaimed guide meets you at the gate, shows you how to back out of your old crowded life into a past that is a bit blurry with age and weather. He stops to comment on a house and farm and town—none of which are there still. But there's a road etched by wagon wheels and a glacier's chisel, and the coolness of the mountain air, so that's something. When you're passing the relics of an old homestead and the kids' playhouse, things get a little strange, especially since your guide really just wants you to get lost. He takes you beyond the old orchard, beyond the overgrown field, beyond the house and the playhouse, beyond even your own deepest confusion, and there you'll find a watering hole of sorts. Theme: Memory and the past - The speaker asks you to travel "back out of all this now too much with us." Thus, we've got to go back to simpler times, when the apples were ripe and the brooks were babbling. Why? Because he said so. But also because if we do so—if we travel back through memory and the past—we'll find the waters that heal us. In other words, the pasts holds the secrets to our recovery.

"Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" - Robert Browning (Victorian - 1842)

Plot: It centers around the speaker's hatred for "Brother Lawrence", a fellow monk in the cloister. The speaker notes the trivial ways in which Brother Lawrence fails in his Christianity, and then plots to murder, or damn the soul of, Brother Lawrence. Theme: Hate/Hypocrisy - The speaker describes the supposed sins of Brother Lawrence in great detail, showing so much expertise in these various sins that it's clear he really knows what he's talking about! The speaker is guilty of many of the sins of which he accuses Brother Lawrence, despite his frequent claims of religious and moral superiority. Robert Browning is famous for allowing the speakers of his dramatic monologues to condemn themselves - they expose their own sins and vices through their own speech, rather than through a narrator's description. The speaker is no exception: he inadvertently shows himself to be a religious hypocrite.

"Easter Wings" - George Herbert (Metaphysical - 1633)

Plot: It discusses man's fall from grace and attempt at salvation. The poem provides a description of the result of man's sins, as well as his attempt at redemption (recovery) through his devotion to God. In this poem, not only the words, but the actual shape of the poem provides meaning (wings) Theme: Religious Transformation - You can't even read two lines without "Easter Wings" transforming before your very eyes, dropping syllables right and left as it shapes itself into a pair of wings. Even on a smaller scale, Herbert matches the stanza's transformation with the theme of transformation. As Adam falls from comfort to poverty and the speaker goes from sad to saddest, the lines follow the same pattern, contracting into two syllables. And when the speaker looks forward to rising out of this mess, the lines expand just as joyously as his hope. Herbert's bird imagery, expressed through similes and metaphor, gives the idea of transformation an extra, feathered dimension.

"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" - Thomas Grey (Romantic Precursor - 1751)

Plot: It mourns the death not of great or famous people, but of common men. The speaker of this poem sees a country churchyard at sunset, which impels him to meditate on the nature of human mortality. Theme: Inevitability of death - It is a reminder of our own mortality.

"The Gift Outright" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1942)

Plot: It presents briefly the history of colonization in America by English and European settlers. It tells how these settlers made this land their own by mark of their love of, and devotion to it. Theme: Patriotism - The poem comprises the historical and political background of America, and the national pride its people feel in their adopted land.

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" - Samuel Coleridge (Romantic - 1798)

Plot: It relates the experiences of a sailor who has returned from a long sea voyage. The mariner stops a man who is on his way to a wedding ceremony and begins to narrate a story. He was on a voyage where all his men died once he killed an albatross (bird, metaphorically it is a psychological burden/curse). Theme: Isolation - The Mariner in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner seems to have been a pretty sociable guy before he took that fateful trip down to the Antarctic, but now he travels the country looking for former lost souls like himself. His best friend in the poem is a hermit, if that tells you anything. After the experience he has been through, he can't just return to normal society. The idea of going to a wedding is very distasteful to him, for example. The low point of the story he tells is when he is left the only man standing on the ship and must suffer the cursing stares of all the dead men.

"Thanatopsis" - William Cullen Bryant (Romanticism - 1819)

Plot: It starts by talking about nature's ability to make us feel better. The speaker tells us that nature can make pain less painful. It can even lighten our dark thoughts about death. He tells us that, when we start to worry about death, we should go outside and listen to the voice of nature. That voice reminds us that we will indeed vanish when we die and mix back into the earth. The voice of nature also tells us that when we die, we won't be alone. Theme: a poem about death, but it's also a nature poem. Human beings come and go, but nature is always there. The hills and rivers are eternal, huge, and almost intimidating. Just vast, powerful forces that swallow us up and keep right on moving. Nature isn't all cold and indifferent, though. The poem starts out with the idea that nature is like a nurturing, caring woman who comforts us when we start to fear death.

"The Canonization" - John Donne (Metaphysical - 1633)

Plot: It starts with the poem's speaker wanting to be left alone. He addresses some unnamed person and demands that he (or she) shut their big yapper and leave him in peace—to love. The speaker offers up plenty of other stuff for this other person to make fun of, like his tremors, gray hair, thin wallet, or even his gout. Theme: Love - It's such a big deal to the speaker, in fact, that someone (we never find out who) has been harassing him about it. It's true that there's a case to be made here that harassment is a deserved reaction to a guy who's clearly too full of his own relationship for his own good. Though, it's also worth asking: have we really gotten to the point where being in love is something to hold against someone? More pointedly, love in this poem allows the speaker to put forward a pretty radical proposal—namely, that romantic love is just as deserving of sainthood as love of God or fellow human beings. "Where's the love for the lovers?" he seems to be asking in this poem.

"Pied Piper of Hamelin" - Robert Browning (Victorian - 1842)

Plot: Relates the classic legend of the town of Hamelin and its burghers, who, desperate to rid the town of the rats that are overrunning it, engage the mysterious pied piper to lure the town's vermin to their death in the river. Theme: Value on the arts - May have focused on the role of the musician in the poem, with some viewing the poem as Browning's commentary on the value of the arts. In this sense, the narrator's comment that debts should be paid to everyone, "especially pipers," could suggest that artists had been marginalized by society at the time and their contributions to the common good should not be underestimated.

"At half-past three, a single bird" - Emily Dickinson (Romantic)

Plot: She maps the experiences of being a poet onto the creativity of a singing bird in her poem. By referencing 3 different times of day, she crafts a story that celebrates the will to create. She employs scientific terms to represent the curiosity-driven nature of the poet. She uses the term "circumference" to define human experience. Theme: Appreciation of Poetry/Creativity - With poetry, one is able to create anything (whether it be nature or anything else). She personifies the bird by attributing caution to its actions.

"Out, Out -" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1916)

Plot: Tells the tragic tale of a boy injured in an accident. Just as he is about to go in for his dinner, his arm gets caught in a buzz saw—he loses his hand, and subsequently dies from blood loss. Theme: Value of Life - The poem is thus a stark reminder of the fragility of life, and that tragedy can happen to anyone at any time. But the poem doesn't simply lament this sad loss—it also hints at the way life moves on after people die, gently questioning the value of life in the first place.

"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" - John Donne (Metaphysical - 1675)

Plot: The poem appreciates the beauty of spiritual love. Donne has painted a vivid picture of his eternal bond that keeps him attached with his beloved even when they are apart. The popularity of the poem lies in the fact that it represents love in its most pure form. Theme: Love/Separation - The poem is primarily concerned with the love of the speaker with his significant other. Though they are going to part due to circumstances, yet their love will remain pure and true. He further supports his ideas by crafting many metaphors to explain that their love is not limited to physical attraction. It rather rests in their souls. Therefore, sadness, tears, and mourning are not appropriate for them.

"Holy Thursday" (From Songs of Innocence) - William Blake (Romantic - 1789)

Plot: The poem describes a ceremony called Ascension Day in England and the presence of children in a cathedral to celebrate and do their singing activities. Theme: Appreciation of children's innocence - they are just singing and appreciating the time

"The Darkling Thrush" - Thomas Hardy (Victorian/Realist/Naturalist/Romantic - 1900)

Plot: The poem describes a desolate world, which the poem's speaker takes as cause for despair and hopelessness. However, a bird (the "thrush") bursts onto the scene, singing a beautiful and hopeful song—so hopeful that the speaker wonders whether the bird knows something that the speaker doesn't. Theme: Perseverance - the story of a little bitty bird taking on the big, bad world. It's cold and gray and awful out there - as our speaker makes abundantly clear every chance that he gets. But what does the bird have to lose? He's on his way out, anyway. Might as well sing a little song to pass the time. We get a sense of just how miraculous the bird's perseverance is by comparing him to our less-than-hopeful speaker. The thrush is cheerful enough on his own, but next to our speaker, this little guy is the Miss Congeniality of the century!

"London" From Songs of Experience - William Blake (Romantic - 1794)

Plot: The poem describes a walk-through London, which is presented as a pained, oppressive, and impoverished city in which all the speaker can find is misery. Theme: Hearses, bloody palace walls, blights, and plagues—death is everywhere. In this poem's universe, all this death is the result of war-mongering governments ("palace") and corrupt institutions like the church ("blackning church"), which allow child labor, prostitution, and war. Things that formerly promoted life and unity, like marriage, now only create more death ("hearse").

"Frost at Midnight" - Samuel Coleridge (Romantic - 1798)

Plot: The poem discusses Coleridge's childhood experience in a negative manner and emphasizes the need to be raised in the countryside. He hopes his son will grow up in tune with nature unlike him. He believes God communicates w/ humans through nature. Thus, his son will be able to find happiness in life no matter what season, even winter. Theme: Nature and Wisdom - Coleridge views Nature as a source of wisdom for humanity. What he wasn't able to find in his boring classroom, he thinks his son will be able to find in Nature. Humans have made everything in the city, but God has made everything in Nature, which, in Coleridge's view, makes it a superior source of instruction and knowledge. Even if something in Nature seems unpleasant or weird or mildly creepy or hostile to life—like the frost, arguably—it is still testifying to God's creative power. Since God has "all things in himself," says Coleridge, people should be able to find evidence of God in all things.

"Much madness is divinest Sense" - Emily Dickinson (Romantic 1890)

Plot: The poem is about divine wisdom and madness towards religion. The poem illustrates how society deals with spiritual people who do not follow their norms. Theme: Society/Self-reliance - The writer states how society forces people to join them and follow the norms blindly. She speaks about those who rebel against society and prefer isolating themselves from their rigidity. It is due to their indifferent behavior, they face hatred and severe criticism. If you don't conform, you are judged negatively. Society does not allow people freedom of the mind.

"The Sick Rose" From Songs of Experience - William Blake (Romantic - 1794)

Plot: The poem mentions through the symbols of the rose and the worm, how intense experience preys upon unpolluted innocence. Theme: Love - love isn't what we expect it to be; it's not that timeless, unified force that other poets always talk about. It's "dark" and "secret" and doesn't really do anything good for the rose; it's almost like a disease that infects the rose and destroys it.

"The Snow-Storm" - Ralph Waldo Emerson (Transcendentalist - 1856)

Plot: The poem revolves around the grand event of a snowstorm. It illustrates how the storm limits the healthy activities of people. Its popularity, however, lies in that it deals with the phenomenon of life during difficult times. Theme: Power of Nature/Beauty - He discusses the devastating qualities of a snowstorm and also talks about its fanciful, elegant, and attractive attributes. He has actually used the snowstorm as a symbol of obstacles and challenges in life that do not last forever.

"After great pain, a formal feeling comes" - Emily Dickinson (Romantic - 1890)

Plot: The poem tells us that big traumas are often followed up by periods of numbness. (Is that good or bad? Hard to tell.) The whole thing is this crazy kaleidoscope of contradictory images. Numb nerves, a confused heart, robot feet, people dying in the snow— all of these images come together to paint a vivid picture of the inner life of somebody who's totally messed up after experiencing something awful. Theme: Suffering - it delves into what it's like after we've experienced a major pain. Sometimes this includes physical pain, but it seems like the poem is a lot more concerned with pain that's emotional. After an emotional trauma, many of us can feel numb, and the poem captures that beautifully—if you can call it beautiful at all. The poem's disjointed images take us to that dark, numb place where our bodies might not even feel like our own. This is a poem for those who know what it's like to silently suffer after all the screaming is done.

"The Death of the Hired Man" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1914)

Plot: The poem, written in blank verse, consists of a conversation between the farmer Warren and his wife, Mary, about their former farmhand Silas, an elderly man who has come "home" to their farm to die. Theme: Traditions of duty/hard work - Silas returns to the farm so that he can fulfill his broken contract to Warren and die honorably, having fulfilled his duty to the family and to the community.

"Hap" - Thomas Hardy (Victorian Realist/Naturalist/Romantic - 1890)

Plot: The sonnet is basically constructed around a simplistic metaphor: Life is a pilgrimage through which Hardy journeys, experiencing pain and suffering only. While making this journey, the poet is aware of the existence of God, but he is seemingly unable to determine whether he is a "vengeful" one. Theme: Random Chance - Hardy wishes that god exist but sadly, he doesn't. Because all the good things and bad things that happen to us aren't based, created or assigned by a powerful being at all. It all depends on luck, chance or Hap.

"Batter My Heart" - John Donne (Metaphysical - 1633)

Plot: The speaker begins by asking God (along with Jesus and the Holy Ghost; together, they are the Trinity that makes up the Christian "three-personed God") to attack his heart as if it were the gates of a fortress town. The speaker wants God to enter his heart aggressively and violently, instead of gently. He tries to let God enter, but has trouble because the speaker's rational side seems to be in control. The speaker admits that he loves God, and wants to be loved, but is tied down to God's unspecified "enemy" instead, whom we can think of as Satan, or possibly "reason." He then explains why he wants all of this, reasoning with double meanings: he can't really be free unless God enslaves and excites him, and he can't refrain from sex unless God carries him away and delights him. Theme: Religion - The subject of Donne's Holy Sonnet 14 is religion, even if it's masked by love, sex, and general mayhem. At the most basic level, this is a poem in which a man asks for forgiveness and salvation from God, but he expresses his frustration that God hasn't revealed himself forcefully enough. The speaker, though, is unclear on what the forgiveness and salvation will entail, and how to make sure that God's message gets through to him.

"Two Tramps in Mud Time" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1934)

Plot: The speaker dramatizes his encounter with two unemployed lumberjacks who want the speaker's wood-splitting task. He offers an interesting take on why he chooses to continue his chore, instead of turning it over to these two needy individuals. Theme: Dignity of work - Pride in work - It enhances the dignity of work. The poet had been a farmer in his life, and that spirit and love of hard work

"The Brain - is wider than the sky" - Emily Dickinson (Romantics - 1862)

Plot: The speaker kicks the poem off by bragging about the scope of human imagination. Of course, she does it all poetically by talking about how much wider the brain is than the sky. She goes on to talk about the human brain's amazing ability to absorb information by saying that the brain is deeper than the sea. Last, she declares that our amazing brains give us god-like powers and tries to prove her theory with the following equation: the brain = the weight of God. Theme: Wisdom and Knowledge - it is all about the human brain. The speaker is basically saying that our ability to imagine and accumulate new knowledge is the best thing ever. Though our brains are only about the size of a small rotisserie chicken, they have the ability to dream of the infinite and to constantly accumulate new knowledge.

"Mowing" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1915)

Plot: The speaker muses about the sound a scythe makes mowing hay in a field by a forest, and what this sound might signify. He rejects the idea that it speaks of something dreamlike or supernatural, concluding that reality of the work itself is rewarding enough, and the speaker need not call on fanciful invention. Theme: Simplicity of Art - As a statement about art in general and poetry in particular, the poem tells us that the Real, the common voice, the realities of work and labor—these are sweet; poetry exists in these things and need not be invented through willful imagining, flights of fancy (elves), or an abandonment of the everyday. In fact, anything "more than the truth" is devastating to art.

"The Man He Killed" - Thomas Hardy (Victorian Realist/Naturalist/Romantic - 1909)

Plot: The speaker recalls a time when he shot a man in war, and realizes that if they had met at a bar instead of on the battlefield, they could have had a grand ol' time. The speaker then goes on to describe how he killed the guy and tries to explain why. But in the end, the speaker doesn't have a good reason for killing the man, because the other man was a complete stranger, and what did he ever do to this guy? Theme: Warfare and Guilt - It's personal, brief, and haunting. There are no grand generalizations, no waxing poetic about glory and sacrifice, and no grisly, graphic battlefield scenes. It's just a guy, telling someone about the fact that one time, he shot a man down. It's as simple as that. Except that it isn't.

"The soul selects her own Society" - Emily Dickinson (Romantic - 1890)

Plot: The speaker says that "the Soul selects her own Society—" and then "shuts the Door," refusing to admit anyone else—even if "an Emperor be kneeling / Upon her mat—." Indeed, the soul often chooses no more than a single person from "an ample nation" and then closes "the Valves of her attention" to the rest of the world. (It describes choosing a friend/lover, and rejecting (excluding) all others. Theme: Self-reliance: it doesn't matter what others want or expect of you, only what you want and expect of yourself. This poem is about the decision the soul made about the society she wanted to be a part of.

"I dwell in Possibility" - Emily Dickinson (Romantics - 1890)

Plot: The speaker tells us that she lives in a house with lots of doors and windows, which just so happens to be a way prettier house than "Prose." So we assume this house is a metaphor for poetry. The speaker goes on to describe her poetry-house with lots of nature imagery. It's got trees for rooms, the sky for a roof—cool stuff like that. She ends by telling us how awesome the visitors to the house (readers of her poetry) are. Then she tells us that writing poems—or the life of the mind—is the best way she knows to reach for the divine. Theme: Appreciation of poetry - It can be read as a valentine to poetry itself. To the speaker, poetry isn't just a passel of pretty words: it's a way for us lowly human beings to reach out and touch the infinite universe around us. But this poem puts its money were its mouth is and shows us just how powerful poetry can be. If you want to dig deeper into it, we could even say that poem uses poetry itself as a metaphor for the power of the human mind. No matter how our personal lives trap us, our minds have the ability to escape, to imagine other places and to search for higher truths than what's right in front of our noses. In other words, they're all about possibility.

"The Sun Rising" - John Donne (Metaphysical - 1633)

Plot: The speaker wants to bend the rules of the universe. Rather than allowing the sun's "motions" across the sky to govern the way the speaker spends his time; the speaker challenges the sun's authority and claims that love gives him (the speaker) the power to stay in bed all day with his lover. Theme: Love - An immediate and romantic; remember, he is writing this just as he is waking up with his beloved. It's also the sort of love that makes you feel invincible, like you could throw down with an MMA champ or the Hulk. After all, we're talking about the kind of love that makes the speaker feel like he can pick a fight with the sun. The dude literally thinks that he and his lover are the center of the universe.

"Fire and Ice" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1920)

Plot: The speaker's experience with romantic desire has taught him that passionate or "hot" emotions like love and lust would probably have the power to turn the earth into a big fireball. But he has also experienced the other extreme, and he knows that colder emotions like hate have great destructive power. Love gets all the publicity, but hate is the silent killer. It may not have the same grandeur as the fireball ending, but it'll do the trick. Theme: Power of Emotions - The poet discusses the destructive features of human emotions. He uses the symbol of fire and ice to show how desires and hatred contribute to making the world stand at the verge of chaos. Also, these powerful emotions will eventually drag the world toward a catastrophic end.

"Kubla Khan; or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment" - Samuel Tyler Coleridge (Romantic - 1816)

Plot: This poem describes Xanadu, the palace of Kubla Khan, a Mongol emperor and the grandson of Genghis Khan. The poem's speaker starts by describing the setting of Emperor's palace, which he calls a "pleasure dome." He tells us about a river that runs across the land and then flows through some underground caves and into the sea. He also tells us about the fertile land that surrounds the palace. The nearby area is covered in streams, sweet-smelling trees, and beautiful forests. Theme: Versions of Reality/Escape of reality - Coleridge makes this one easy for us since the subtitle of the poem is "a Vision in a Dream." This poem is meant to make us feel like we are in an alternate reality. We recognize all the objects he describes, but the images he creates move in ways we don't expect. People appear and disappear strangely, just like in a dream or a hallucination. Think of it as a scary Alice in Wonderland.

"Virtue" - George Herbert (Metaphysical - 1663)

Plot: This poem, as the title implies, is ultimately concerned with virtue (goodness) and the idea of a virtuous soul which will survive forever and will not "give" as earthly beautiful things do. In order to better establish this contrast, however, he begins with three stanzas in which he describes the way that brief "sweets" on earth all succumb, ultimately, to decay as part of the natural order of things. Theme: Nature VS Spirituality - It focuses mainly on the fragile and temporary nature of human lives, noting that all things pass away and succumb to death. However, the virtuous soul will always live on.

"Holy Thursday" From Songs of Experience - William Blake (Romantic - 1794)

Plot: This poem, unlike its companion poem in "Songs of Innocence" (1789), focuses more on society as a whole than on the ceremony held in London. Blake subtly critiques the treatment of poor children by English society. Here, he is more direct, questioning the holiness of a day that essentially celebrates the existence of poverty. Theme: Social Reform - Both "Holy Thursday" poems criticize the obvious display of the poor as a display of forgiveness for the wealthy and affluent. Blake's poetry focuses on leaving behind the material world in favor of a more perfect spiritual nature, his poetry nonetheless offers realistic and socially conscious critiques of existing situations.

"The Draft Horse" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1942)

Plot: Two people are traveling through the forest in a frail buggy drawn by a draft horse. A man abruptly springs out of the trees by the side of the road, stabs their horse to death, and departs. Theme: Brevity/Fragility of Life - our fates can come at us anytime, but especially when we grow older

"The Hollow Men" - T.S. Eliot (Modernism - 1925)

Plot: Uncanny and dream-like, it describes a desolate world, populated by empty, defeated people. Though the speaker describes these people as "dead" and the world they inhabit as the underworld ("death's twilight kingdom"), the poem shouldn't be read simply as a description of life after death. Theme: Dissatisfaction - You can't blame the Hollow Men for being dissatisfied. They are trapped in the desert on the bank of a river they can't get across. In fact, you would expect them to be even more ticked off than they are. But quite frankly, they can't even muster the enthusiasm to complain. They try not to say anything at all. (When you don't have a proper soul, it's harder to get worked up about soul-crushing misery.) The Hollow Men are like the souls in Canto 3 of Dante's Inferno, who are so bland and cowardly that they are excluded even from the fantastically grotesque torments of Hell.

"Because I could not stop for Death" - Emily Dickinson (Romantic - 1890)

Plot: a female speaker tells the story of how she was visited by "Death"—personified as a "kindly" gentleman—and taken for a ride in his carriage. This ride appears to take the speaker past symbols of the different stages of life, before coming to a halt at what is most likely her own grave—indeed, it seems she herself is already dead. Much of the poem's power comes from its refusal to offer easy or simplistic answers to life's greatest mystery—what happens when people die—and the poem can be read both as the anticipation of a heavenly Christian afterlife and as something altogether more bleak and down-to-earth. Theme: Mortality and Immortality - occupy this poem. We find out that the memory of the speaker's death day is being told centuries into the afterlife. So, in this poem, Dickinson explores the idea of perpetual life. In this poem there is life after death, which offers an explanation as to why the speaker's so calm about everything. Death's not the end, just one step closer to eternity.

"Upon Julia's Clothes" - Robert Herrick (Cavalier Poet - 1648, opposed Metaphysical - "celebrate beauty, love, nature, sensuality, drinking, good fellowship, honor, and social life." In many ways, this poetry embodies "carpe diem")

Plot: a short, six-line poem that depicts a speaker's lust for a woman through a description of her clothes. The speaker expresses his longing for Julia by describing the water-like nature of her clothes. Theme: Awe/Amazement of Beauty - The Speaker is stunned by the beauty of Julia's clothes, or at least by his perception of that beauty. He describes her clothes with phrases that strongly suggest some type of amazement or sense of awe about Julia and her awesome outfit. Indeed, by the end of the poem he is taken; he's quite literally in awe of all that glitter.

"Howl" - Allen Ginsberg (Beat Movement - 1956)

Plot: the speaker tells us that he has been a witness to the destruction of "the best minds" of his generation. They were not people whom most middle-class folks in the 1950s would have identified with the best America had to offer. According to the speaker, they are drug users, drop outs, world travelers, bums, musicians, political dissidents, and, yes, poets. He blames Moloch (In the Hebrew Bible, Moloch was an idolatrous god to whom children were sacrificed by placing them in fire.) For Ginsberg, Moloch is associated with war, government, capitalism, and mainstream culture, all of which might be summed up by one of the poem's most important concepts: the "machine" or "machinery." Theme: Rules and Order - No group defied the rules that defined orderly life in 1950s America quite like the Beats. Ginsberg was no anarchist, but he believed that the severity of the justice and health systems stunted the creativity of the nation's most promising individuals. We have to take him at his word when he refers to all the poem's rebels as "the best minds of my generation." What could have caused them to go so awry? Howl praises people who stage political protests, smuggle drugs, engage in anonymous public sex, jump off bridges, and plot revolutions.

"I heard a Fly buzz - when I died - Emily Dickinson (Romantic - 1896)

Plot: this death seems to follow standard protocol—the speaker is on their deathbed and surrounded by mourners, and their will is squared away. However, the irritating figure of the fly arrives and undermines the seriousness and gravity of the occasion. Though spoken from the great beyond, the poem offers no easy answers about death, instead casting doubt on religious and social comforts. - Ambiguous Theme: Mortality - Dickinson uses the poem to explore all kinds of things about death. She thinks about how it might feel, how it tends to happen, what we expect from it, etc. She looks at the idea from a bunch of different angles - before, during, and after the moment of death - and maybe tries to get us to think about it in new ways.

"A Narrow Fellow in the Grass" - Emily Dickinson (Romantic - 1865)

Plot: uses the image of an encounter with a snake to explore the nature of fear and anxiety—especially the fear of deception/dishonesty. Like the proverbial "snake in the grass," this snake is a creature of secretive, treacherous menace. Theme: Fear - a good example of how fear can create such a rush that it is pleasurable and that pleasure can be so extreme that it causes fear. (Think about the lure of extreme sports, only here it's snake-hunting.) In the end, though, fear seems to win out. While the speaker expresses interest and wonder in the snake, he ends his story on a chilling and unsettling note.

"Mac Flecknoe" - John Dryden (Restoration - 1682)

Summary: Satire - Mac Flecknoe is the poet-king of the realm of nonsense. After many years as ruler, however, it comes time for him to step down. Ultimately, he chooses his son Thomas Shadwell, a poet of unparalleled dreadfulness, as his successor. Shadwell is the worst writer in all the land, and thus, the perfect man for the job. In the end, crowned and ready to rule in his father's footsteps, Shadwell is poised to sink poetry to an even lower level. Theme: Respect/Reputation - Shadwell thought himself to be following in the footsteps of great playwright Ben Jonson. He even copied Jonson's style in many of his plays. Dryden wants to make it abundantly clear that the words "Shadwell" and "Jonson" should never be uttered in the same sentence. From a historical perspective, it seems like Shadwell's biggest break came with "Mac Flecknoe"—but unfortunately for him, for the wrong reasons.

"When Malindy Sings" - Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1903 - African American - Civil War / Romantic)

Summary: The narrator, himself apparently a house servant, cautions all to keep quiet as Malindy, probably a field slave, sings various songs of religious import. Miss Lucy, perhaps the plantation mistress, is told that her trained singing from a written score is no competition for Malindy's natural talent; indeed, the birds, though they sing sweetly, hush of their own accord when Malindy sings her superior melodies. Whenever Malindy sings, the narrator observes, it is a singular spiritual experience, one that should be taken advantage of every time. Theme: Appreciation of African American Heritage - He is simply appreciated the way and lyrics of the song sang by Malindy.

"Emancipation" - Paul Lawrence Dunbar (African American- Civil War / Romantic)

Summary: He is calling for the rising up of African Americans through hard work, ambition, and good deeds Theme: Freedom - Blacks have a sense of freedom since they were freed from slavery

"Design" - Robert Frost (Modernism - 1936)

o Plot: Frost concludes that if it were "design" that brought these three together (white spider, white flower, white moth), it must be some pretty dark design. In other words, it's not a comforting thought to think that God went out of his way just to make sure this moth got eaten. But that's the crucial "if" of the last line: if design does govern these small things. The reader is left with just as many questions as Frost. This short poem takes a simple little thought and pushes us all the way to questioning the very nature of creation and life as we know it. Theme: Existentialism - It's based on the idea of existence itself—not existence in our minds, but our living, breathing selves. Frost examines life as he finds it in the physical world and wonders about all the big questions: Why are we here? Where did we come from? Were we made this way?

"Buffalo Bill's" E.E. Cummings (Modernist - 1920)

Plot: The poem speaks about the showmanship of Buffalo Bill (A famous American hunter - Buffalo Bill Cody). It also illustrates that life has no escape; everyone has to taste death. Theme: Death - No matter how famous, skilled, or even reckless (defunct) one is, death will take everyone.

"Leda and the Swan" - William Butler Yeats (Romantic,Modernist - 1923)

Plot: A big white bird clocks a young girl and knocks her off balance. The swan beats its wings ferociously as it lands on top of her. He caresses her thighs with his webbed feat and holds the back of her neck in his bill. She can't escape as the swan presses down with his chest on her own. The bird opens the girl's thighs, and her hands are too frightened and confused to resist. The fast-moving bird on top of her looks like a blur of white feathers, and she can feel his heart beating. The swan completes the act, and Leda becomes pregnant. She will give birth to Helen of Troy, the woman over whom the Trojan War will be fought. In Ancient Greek mythology - and in Yeats's poem - Leda's rape is taken as an indirect a cause of war. The speaker wonders if Leda acquired any of Zeus's knowledge as the swan overpowered her. Did she know she was having sex with a god? She didn't have too long to think about it, because as soon as the swan had gotten what he wanted, he let her fall to the ground as if he couldn't care less. Theme: Transformation/Violence and War - There are two major transformations in "Leda and the Swan." First and most obviously, the Greek god Zeus transforms himself into a swan in order to have sex with Leda. Why exactly did it have to be a swan? We're not sure, but it may not be that important. In Greek and Roman literature, people and gods turned into animals all the time, and vice versa. The famous word to describe this kind of transformation is metamorphosis. The second kind of transformation is historical. The rape of Leda ends with the conception of Helen of Troy, whose abduction leads to the Trojan War and the beginning of modern civilization.

"The Lotos-Eaters" - Alfred Lord Tennyson (Victorian, 1832)

Plot: A crew of sailors is about to arrive in a new and strange country. they meet the natives, called the "Lotos-eaters," who are a mysterious bunch with "dark faces" who look both gentle and sad. Even more importantly, they are carrying some of their favorite food, an "enchanted" plant called the Lotos. Some of the sailors try the Lotos, and it has a strange effect on them. It makes them incredibly sleepy and lazy. The rest of the poem is taken up by the sailors talking about how tired they are, and how, even though they miss their families and their home, it would just be too much work to get back there. Finally they decide to stay forever Theme: Time - Time is really screwy in this poem. The land of the Lotos-eaters seems to be stuck in some kind of endless afternoon, and the speakers of the poem are obsessed with eternity, death, and endless sleep. Over the course of the poem, we lose track of when and where we are. Tennyson takes us out of the everyday world of appointments and schedules and minutes and hours. He immerses us in a place where reality is subtly altered, and the strangeness of time is one of the big clues to that difference.

"Mother to Son" - Langston Huges (Harlem Renaissance - 1922)

Plot: A dramatic monologue - The poem is about a mother giving advice to her son about the challenges of life. It also illustrates how sometimes life becomes too heavy, but a person should never give up. The poem comprises the thoughts of a mother whose life is surrounded by misery. However, she knows that the best means of combating these situations are her abilities to be strong. Theme: Perseverance - The poem explores the dignity and determination of a person when facing problems. The speaker compares her life to a ragged staircase and conjures up an idea that one should not give up. She says that life is full of tests, challenges, and confusion and a person should confront with courage and determination. Throughout the poem, she instructs her son to continue his struggle with patience, resilience, and hope, giving her own life's example.

"Ballad of the Goodly Fere" - Ezra Pound (Modernist, 1909)

Plot: In the poem, "Fere" is an Old English word for "companion." The speaker is Simon Zealotes (one of the more silent of Christ's disciples) after the crucifixion. A "capon" is a castrated rooster (it's done so that they'll be more edible.) Pound wanted to write a poem about Jesus which depicted him as more of a man's man and less effeminate. Theme: Humanizing Jesus - Pound positioned himself against religious thought

"The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter" - Ezra Pound (Modernist, 1915)

Plot: A lonely housewife hasn't seen her husband for five months, so she decides to write him a letter. In the letter, she recalls her first memory of their meeting. Then she recalls how she acted after they first got married—at the tender age of fourteen. Then, when she was fifteen, the wife started to feel more settled in the marriage. But when she was sixteen, her husband had to go to work. While the husband travels and sells his goods, the wife tells him (through this letter) all the beautiful things he's missing and how she can't wait for him to get home. Theme: Love - We observe the wife remembering how she first fell in love with her husband, and how that love has survived his five-month absence. Even though we only get the wife's side of the story, we have no reason to assume that the love is not mutual. Still, for the wife, her love doesn't seem to have been immediate. Instead, she seems to have grown into loving her husband. She may have even resisted her role as wife at first. But who can blame her? She was fourteen!

"Resolution and Independence" - William Wordsworth (Romantic, 1807)

Plot: A man walks through the countryside after a night of rain. The creatures around him are lively and refreshed. At first, he shares their joy, but his mood soon turns as he reflects that care and pain are the inevitable balance to the care-free life he has lead so far: "We poets in our youth begin in gladness; But thereof come in the end despondency and madness." He comes upon an old man staring into a muddy pond. The man seems weighed down with care; he is so still he seems dead. He greets the man and asks what he is doing. The old man is a leech-gatherer, leeches being needed by eighteenth-century doctors. He wanders the moors, sleeping outside, and thus makes a steady living. The wanderer resolves not to give in to misery, but to think instead of the courage and firm mind of the leech gatherer. Theme: Appreciation of the "common man" / Wisdom - Wordsworth had a firm belief in the wisdom of what he called "the common man." The leech gatherer has wisdom and determination that can elevate the wiser poet. The poet's art and aim is not to instruct, but to reflect the beauty of the world.

"The Parable of the Old Man and the Young" - Wilfred Owen (Romantic, 1920)

Plot: Abram rises, chops the wood, taking fire and a knife with him. Father and son journey together, and Isaac, the first-born, asks, as he has observed the preparations, where the lamb is for the burnt offering. Abram binds his son and builds up the earthen walls and trenches. He holds the knife out to slay his son. Suddenly an angel from heaven calls out and tells him not to touch his son. There is a ram caught by its horns in a thicket and Abram should use this "Ram of Pride" instead. The old man decides not to use the ram and slays his son instead; he then slays half of Europe's young men, "one by one". Theme: Inhumanity - The 'old' leaders of nations made willing sacrifices of their 'young' for the sake of maintaining their own military and political status.

"Theme for English B" - Langston Hughes (Harlem Renaissance - 1951)

Plot: It is a poem about the acute realization of racial segregation. It was first published in 1951. The poem speaks about the narrator's quest for identity in a constantly changing world. It illustrates how he skillfully connects his simple English assignment to his life. Theme: Identity/Racial Segregation - The speaker establishes a ground reality that America is a land of diversity and people influence each other regardless of their identities and skin color.

"When You Are Old" - William Butler Yeats (Romantic/Modernist, 1893)

Plot: As this poem is about love, the speaker directly addresses his beloved and invites her to throw her mind forward to the future when she will not be attractive, beautiful or glamorous, but a fair old lady poking by the fire. He asks her to recall her past youth, how many people would have loved and admired her for her startling looks and eye-catching features. However, he mentions that there was only one person who loved her sincerely despite knowing the transient qualities of her beauty. He adds that he could have been the right choice for her, but she rejected him. As their love would not last, and she would surely regret her decision for the rest of her life. What enchants the reader is the way he has drawn a metaphorical comparison to show his genuine love for his mistress. Theme: Transience of Beauty - Throughout the poem, he tries to make her realize that her existing company loves her for her beauty, but one day she would grow old and regret lost opportunities.

"I Wandered as Lonely as a Cloud" - William Wordsworth (Romantic, 1807)

Plot: As this poem is about the captivating beauty of nature, it has been written from the subjective point of view. It details the poet's encounters with the majestic daffodils in the field beside the lake. The feeling of enjoying the spellbinding beauty of nature and its impacts on the human mind can leave the reader desiring to spend more time with nature. Theme: Appreciation of Nature - He is captivated by the startling view of nature. This everlasting impact, triggered by nature, often serves as a delight for the poet, when he feels low or in loneliness.

Sonnet 74 - Sir Philip Sidney (Renaissance, 1580)

Plot: Astrophel denies any contact with the Muses that might inspire him to write poetry. He describes himself as nothing more than a "poor layman" who has no claim to the poetic creativity of the Muses and lacks the motivation to plagiarize from another poet. Then how is Astrophel still able to write successful poetry? At the end of the sonnet, Astrophel finally explains that his sole inspiration is Stella's kiss. Theme: Lust as a Motive - In this sonnet, Astrophel steps out of character to construct a witty reference to the stolen kiss. This sonnet is widely considered to be the comic masterpiece of the sonnet sequence because of Astrophel's tongue-in-cheek response and lack of remorse for the kiss.

Sonnet 16 - Sir Philip Sidney (Renaissance, 1580)

Plot: Astrophel describes his loves before he first beheld Stella. He saw beautiful women and, as a hot-blooded young man, he became attracted to them. Believing that this emotion was love, Astrophel mocked the other men who claimed to be filled with such suffering from love. Since he did not feel the flames of love, he believed that the other men were simply cowards or weak. But then Astrophel saw Stella, and suddenly he learned the truth of the love that the others had suffered. Theme: Astrophel is unable to determine whether his first glimpse of Stella was a curse or a blessing. Although he finally learned the true meaning of love through his sight of her, he also now undergoes terrible suffering because of it. Love is described as a sort of poison that appeals to lovers even as it drains their lives away. Astrophel also describes the situation as a lesson in a classroom. He was ill educated about love before Stella, and she opened his eyes to a new world and a new knowledge. But, he asks, what was the price of that knowledge?

Sonnet 69 - Sir Philip Sidney (Renaissance, 1580)

Plot: Astrophel is filled with unspeakable joy, a joy too great to express in the words of his poetry. He urges Envy to blind itself so that it cannot see his happiness, and he calls to his friends so that he can tell them the good news. Stella has finally admitted her love for Astrophel, and she gave him the monarchy of her heart. But this love has been given with a clear condition: their love must be platonic. Theme: The Joy of being Loved - Astrophel is thrilled that Stella returns his love and that he can finally call her his own. He barely notices the condition for her love at this point; he simply tacks it on to the last line of the sonnet. Yet, Stella's insistence on a platonic relationship between the two will have disastrous consequences. Because Astrophel's love for Stella has such a strong physical element, Stella's condition will manifest itself as yet another form of torture.

"The Second Coming" - William Butler Yeats (Romantic/Modernist, 1920)

Plot: In medieval times, people would use falcons or hawks to track down animals at ground level. In this image, however, the falcon has gotten itself lost by flying too far away, which we can read as a reference to the collapse of traditional social arrangements in Europe at the time Yeats was writing. The speaker laments that only bad people seem to have any enthusiasm nowadays. The speaker takes the violence which has engulfed society as a sign that "the Second Coming is at hand." Finally, at the end of the poem, the speaker asks a rhetorical question which really amounts to a prophecy that the beast is on its way to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, to be born into the world. Theme: Good VS Evil - Yeats's generation had just witnessed the worst war in modern history (World War I) - one in which there were no "good guys," because every nation was sending its men to live for months in horrible trenches, often fighting over a few feet of land. The implication throughout the poem is that society has strayed too far from its values to act responsibly.

"In a Station of the Metro" - Ezra Pound (Modernist, 1913)

Plot: It briefly encapsulates the main driving idea behind the Imagist movement. Pound once defined an image as 'an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time', and this is exactly what this poem offers. Pound wrote it after having a spiritual experience in a Paris metro (subway) station. Theme: Versions of Reality - The poem blends two images into one. In the process, it seems to downplay the reality of everyday life as an "apparition," (the appearance of something remarkable/unexpected) while the spiritual life of memory and the imagination is heightened. Pound thought that a great image could reveal the "higher" reality of something that already seems real to us, like people getting on a subway.

"The Emperor of Ice-Cream" - Wallace Stevens (Modernist, 1922)

Plot: It comprises the death ceremony of a lady and illustrates how people celebrate the arrival of death. The first stanza does not reveal the main idea as the speaker summons a muscular man to whip the ice cream in kitchen cups. The second stanza shifts the scene and starts with command about a sheet embroidered with birds to cover the head of an old dead lady. All these details suggest that there is nothing extraordinary about death. Theme: Transience (everyone dies, so what is the big deal?) - The poem illustrates two things; the attitude of the people gathers around the dead body and the state of old woman after death. Instead of being mournful, people are celebrating her death by distributing ice cream. Also, the body of that lady is not wrapped in new clothes. Instead, an old and used sheet is brought to cover her body. The speaker emphasizes the reality of death while comparing it with ice cream, and conveys a message that one should be the ruler of his own life before it melts away.

"Sunday Morning" - Wallace Stevens (Modernist, 1915)

Plot: It explores the idea 'of the origin and end of eras of human belief' by first introducing the reader to a woman who on a Sunday morning relaxes in her dressing gown (peignoir) instead of presumably going to church. The woman is going through a minor crisis or loss of faith - she represents Christianity - and the speaker is there to reassure her that a new approach to the natural world - paganism or humanism - will be enough to sustain her spiritually. Theme: Religion/Nature - For the protagonist at the beginning of the poem, "religion" means duty and sacrifice. Go to church. Go to Palestine, the location of Jesus' burial. But, this view seems rather naïve. In the middle of the poem, the poet suggests that religions are myths that spring from the human imagination and fill a hidden need we have. The poet embraces the perspective of pagans who celebrate each moment, and accept death and change as natural processes. By the end of the poem, the woman turns away from belief in the supernatural, and the poet imagines a world where man is alone in nature.

"Ozymandias" - Bysshe Shelley (Romantic, 1818)

Plot: It imagines a meeting between the narrator and a 'traveller' who describes a ruined statue he - or she - saw in the middle of a desert somewhere. The description of the statue is a meditation on the fragility of human power and on the effects of time. Theme: Transience - The very fact that the statue is a "colossal wreck" (13) says loudly and clearly that some things just don't last forever. But the poem isn't just about how really big statues eventually succumb to the ravages of time; the statue is a symbol of Ozymandias's ambition, pride, and absolute power, and thus the poem also implies that kingdoms and political regimes will eventually crumble, leaving no trace of their existence except, perhaps, pathetic statues that no longer even have torsos.

"Spring and Fall" - Gerard Hopkins (Victorian - 1918)

Plot: It is dedicated to a child. The speaker is talking to a kiddo named Margaret, who is crying her little eyes out over something or other. The speaker decides that she's crying because all the leaves in the forest of Goldengrove have died and fallen off the trees. The speaker tells the child that as she gets older, she might not notice or care as much, but he also says that crying over the fallen leaves means something else: it shows that Margaret is starting to think about mortality and, yes, her own eventual death. This is a poem about death, addressed to a young child. Theme: Death/Loss of Innocence - It's about the moment in a child's life when she or he realizes that childhood isn't permanent and that everyone has to die someday.

Sonnet 97 - Shakespeare (Renaissance, 1609)

Plot: It may be summer, but since I'm away from you, my beloved, it feels like winter to me. He is describing how he felt when he was separated from his lover. Theme: Isolation and Love - He emphasizes how much being apart from someone you love can cause pain.

Sonnet 73 - Shakespeare (Renaissance, 1609)

Plot: Like many of Shakespeare's first 126 sonnets, it is a love poem that is usually understood to address a young man. The poem uses natural metaphors of decline and decay to grapple with the onset of old age, and ultimately suggests that the inevitability of death makes love all the stronger during the lovers' lifetimes Theme: Love and Transience - The poem makes it clear that aging and death are inevitable, but it also affirms that the person the speaker is addressing still loves the speaker just the same—in fact, this person loves the speaker even more knowing that their time together is limited.

"The Recessional" - Rudyard Kipling (Victorian, 1897)

Plot: No one should forget that God saw them through dark times and brought them triumphantly into the light. As the poem continues the speaker flushes out his concerns about the state of the Empire. He is worried that the nation is becoming complacent and forgetful of the love they owe God. Theme: Lack of Religious Guidance - In the final lines the speaker calls on God to have mercy on "Thy People, Lord!" He hopes God will hear him and take pity on the British people who he sees as having fallen out of God's favor.

Sonnet 5 - Sir Philip Sidney (Renaissance, 1580)

Plot: Sidney lists a series of truths. First, we are born to serve reason alone. Second, lovers have only themselves to blame for succumbing to Cupid's dart. Third, virtue is beauty in its true form, rather than the superficial appearance that is usually regarded as beauty. The final truth here is that people are only pilgrims on this earth who should concentrate on their souls. Despite his knowledge of all of these truths, he concludes that he still loves Stella. His love for her is truth for him even though all of the other truths contradict it. Theme: Power of Love - All of the force he establishes with the idea of truth in the first thirteen lines is used in the last line to prove his final truth: that he must love Stella. Astrophel agrees to become a "rebel to Nature" and a "foole" to Cupid's power. Yet, he emphasizes that he does not have a choice in the decision; he "must" love Stella with an urgency that is beyond his control.

Sonnet 65 - Shakespeare (Renaissance, 1609)

Plot: Sonnet 65 continues the theme of the two sonnets preceding it, addressing the passage of time with the similar approach of how it destroys all earthly things. Theme: Passage of Time - The poet seems heavily concerned with age and the inevitability of change or even death to things that cannot withstand the onslaught of decay.

From Astrophil and Stella - Sonnet 1 - Sir Philip Sidney (Renaissance, 1580)

Plot: The author opens this first sonnet by explaining his motivation for composing the sonnet sequence. He believes that if his love were to read the sonnets, she would eventually return his affection. He argues that her pleasure in his pain would cause her to read his sonnets, and her reading of the sonnets would allow her to know the extent of his affection, which might make her pity the author's situation-and this pity may transform into grace and love. The author has realized that the only way to fully express his love for Stella in his poetry is to write from his heart. Theme: Love/Desire - This sonnet demonstrates the first of many clashes between reason and passion that appear in the sonnet sequence. He already seems to know that he will never truly win Stella, but he cannot help but desire her.

Sonnet 71 - Sir Philip Sidney (Renaissance, 1580)

Plot: The first 13 lines of the sonnet are public praise for Stella, beginning with the metaphor of a book. The observer who "reads" Stella will understand the beauty and virtue of the world. Moreover, the vices of the observer will be scattered by Stella's beauty. Just as the light shining in Stella's eyes scares away night birds, her beauty and the power of reason can force away vices. Not only does her beauty attract people, but also it persuades people to become virtuous. In the last line, Astrophel suddenly shifts to a personal view of Stella and his own guilt. Despite her beauty and virtue, he still urgently desires Stella and regrets his position. Theme: Lust/Desire - Two distinct types of love are set against one another: one is dignified and confident; the other is spontaneous and passionate. There are thirteen lines reflecting the first kind of love, but just one line of the other kind of love is enough to undercut the rest of the poem. (This is a common trick among sonnets, using the last line to undercut the rest.) Sidney shows the power of desire. No matter how much Astrophel wants to adhere to a pure and unimpassioned love for Stella, he is overwhelmed with desire.

"Paul Revere's Ride" - Henry Longfellow (Romantic/Fireside, 1861)

Plot: The main idea of this poem is that Paul Revere wanted to free America from England. He was not afraid to ride on his horse and warn the people of Massachusetts of the arrival of England's army. Theme: Remembrance of the Revolutionary War - This whole poem leads up to the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The main part isn't focused on violence and war, but images of battle and struggle and fighting are everywhere. We can feel the war hanging over the poem, filling it with excitement and tension but also sadness.

"England in 1819" - Bysshe Shelley (Romantic, 1839)

Plot: This sonnet provides a kind of journalistic report on the state of England in 1819. King George III was "old, mad, blind, despised, and dying," with his son ruling England (King George IV) because George III was unable to do so. The people are "starved and stabbed," while the army and the laws simultaneously exert power and hurt the people. The Christian leaders are "Christless." Yet, maybe some new, calm light will arise from the best of old England. Theme: Politics - The king is dying, old, blind, insane, and despised. His sons are objects of public scorn. His ministers run the country for their own selfish interests. The people are hungry and oppressed. The army is used to destroy liberty and to collect booty. The law is manipulated to protect the rich and enchain the poor. Religion is in a state of apathy. Parliament denies Roman Catholics their civil rights. But out of this unhappy state of affairs may come a revolution that will right all wrongs.

"Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey" - William Wordsworth (Romantic, 1798)

Plot: The poem opens with the poet visiting a place called Tintern Abbey on the banks of the River Wye in southeast Wales. He's visited it before, but not for five years. He remembers almost every detail: the sound of the "mountain-springs," "this dark sycamore," and the "hedge-rows." He looks back on the past five years that have gone by since his first visit to the place, and remembers how much the memory of this scene meant to him when he was cooped up in the city. In fact, he practically relied on his memories of the beauty of the place to keep him sane while he was living in "the din/ Of towns and cities". Now that he's finally back in the same spot again, he finds himself looking out at the landscape and experiencing an odd combination of his present impressions, the memory of what he felt before, and the thought of how he'll look back on this moment in the future. He imagines that he'll change as time goes by from what he was during his first visit: a kid with a whole lot of energy to "boun[d] o'er the mountains". Back in the day, nature meant everything to him. Theme: Nature - The speaker of this poem has discovered, in his maturity, that his appreciation of natural beauty has allowed him to recognize a divine power in nature. Nature means several things in the context of this poem (and in most of Wordsworth's poetry, actually): it can mean 1) physical nature (a.k.a. the Great Outdoors), or 2) it can mean the sense of unity or connection between everything (a.k.a. the "Force" in Star Wars), or 3) it can refer to a divine "presence" in Nature, like Mother Nature.

"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" - Walt Whitman (Transcendentalism/Realism, 1865)

Plot: The poem opens with the speaker admiring some lilacs in a dooryard and the "western fallen star." The lilacs remind him of the "one he loved." We later realize that man is Lincoln. The speaker then takes us through a number of funeral processions for fallen soldiers. The entire country is in a state of mourning because of the Civil War and Lincoln's assassination. The speaker lays a lilac upon a coffin as a reminder of life's resilience. We then end up in a swamp with a hermit bird "warbling a song." The speaker hangs out for a bit and begins to consider death in a more natural and optimistic sort of way. In turn he creates his own song for death and "the one he loved." Then, we're reminded again of the consequences of the war and all of the dead that litter the land. By the very end we see the lilacs, hermit bird, and western star all hanging out together in the peaceful swamp. Theme: Perseverance - Those perennial lilacs remind us of life's perseverance and fertility (not to mention a pretty sweet gardening set-up). The bustling cities and hardworking folks in America also remind us of life's continuance and the American spirit that perseveres, even in the face of hard times. The sun, the stars, even the thrush chilling out on his lonesome in the swam—all of these reminds us that the world goes on, no matter what.

"To Autumn" - John Keats (Romantic, 1820)

Plot: The poem praises autumn, describing its abundance, harvest, and transition into winter, and uses intense, sensuous imagery to elevate the fleeting beauty of the moment Theme: Appreciation of Nature - It contains very specific natural landscapes and images. The first stanza offers images of the interaction between humans and the plants that surround them. The second describes the production of agriculture, a natural process that is controlled by people. The third stanza moves outside of the human perspective to include things that are not used or consumed by humans, such as gnats and swallows. This third section captures some of the "wildness" and unpredictability of nature.

"The Barefoot Boy" - John Greenleaf Whittier (Fireside Poet, 1855)

Plot: The poem speaks about the little barefoot boy who enjoys his childhood without worrying about the world. It also illustrates how that child makes the poet relives his own childhood. He believes that wearing shoes is being far from nature. As he watches carefree lad, he too dives deep into his childhood. Theme: Childhood Memories - Toward the end, the speaker gets back to the present time, where he asks the boy to enjoy this carefree time to the fullest, as the duties of adulthood will steal this pleasure from him.

"To His Coy Mistress" - Andrew Marvell (Metaphysical, 1681)

Plot: The speaker attempts to persuade his resistant lover that they should have sexual intercourse. He explains that if they had all the time in the world, he would have no problem with their relationship moving this slowly. Theme: Transience/Lust - The speaker thinks that time is a super-villain out to get him. He wants to flip the script and control time. It's not surprising that Marvell was concerned with time. It was a hot topic in the 1600s. Marvell lived during the time of both Galileo Galilei and Sir Isaac Newton, both of whom revolutionized the way we think about time today. Time remains a mystery to us, and Marvell's poem gives us an opportunity to explore that mystery.

"Church Going" - Philip Larkin (Modernist - 1954)

Plot: The speaker of the poem sneaks into a church after making sure it's empty. He can't help but wonder what he's looking for when he keeps coming back to this place, and also asks himself about what will happen to churches when there are no more believers left in the world. Nearing the end of the poem, the speaker asks what will happen to the world when religion is gone altogether. Humanity, he concludes, will always have a hunger to ask those big questions like "Why are we here?" and "Where do we go when we die?" And for this reason, the kind of urge that created religion in the first place will never go away, even if organized churches do. Theme: Religion/Spirituality - In this poem, you have a speaker who only has a slight knowledge of religion, yet this knowledge has a huge impact on him because he often wonders whether or not he's approaching spiritual questions in the "right way." Ultimately, it doesn't look like he can get behind religion, but he (and the poem as a whole) definitely admits to the appeal of religion, especially for people who want to find something in life that's worth taking seriously.

"Whoso List to Hunt" - Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder (Renaissance, 1530)

Plot: The speaker says that, for those folks who are into hunting, he knows where to find a hind (female deer). He is no longer interested in chasing it, but darn he can't help himself. He keeps going after it, despite the fact that it's driving him nuts. He knows he'll never catch her, and he says that anybody else who even tries won't get her either. Trying to catch this hind (which is really a code word for a "woman") could be dangerous. As it turns out, she belongs to Caesar, a not so-subtle-reference to Henry VIII (supposedly). Theme: Lust - Take the whole hunting metaphor; you hunt something with the intention of killing it, dominating it, controlling it. The idea is expressed pretty clearly when the speaker compares hunting the deer to trying to throw a net around the wind. Throw in that whole bit about "do not touch me" and this poem starts to look like a description of frustrated lust.

"Ode to a Nightingale" - John Keats (English Romantic - 1819)

Plot: The speaker wishes he had a special wine distilled directly from the earth. He wants to drink such a wine and fade into the forest with the nightingale. He wants to escape the worries and concerns of life, age, and time. He uses poetry to join the nightingale's nighttime world, deep in the dark forest where hardly any moonlight can reach. He can't see any of the flowers or plants around him, but he can smell them. He thinks it wouldn't be so bad to die at night in the forest, with no one around except the nightingale singing. But the nightingale can't die. The nightingale must be immortal, because so many different kinds of generations of people have heard its song throughout history, everyone from clowns and emperors to Biblical characters to people in fantasy stories. The speaker's vision is interrupted when the nightingale flies away and leaves him alone. He feels abandoned and disappointed that his imagination is not strong enough to create its own reality. He is left confused and bewildered, not knowing the difference between reality and dreams. Theme: Becoming one w/ nature- The speaker of "Ode to a Nightingale" loves nature, but he can't get on board with the whole natural-things-have-to-die-sometime thing. He even fancies that the nightingale is some immortal, godlike creature. However, nature is his best hope for escape from the world of work, stress, responsibility, and complicated human relationships. Although he begins the poem sitting just outside of a wooded area, he will not be satisfied until he can experience the forest from the perspective of one of its creatures: from the inside. He imagines becoming intoxicated from the smells of all the forest plants and flowers.

"Lucy poems" - William Wordsworth (Romantic, 1798)

Plot: These poems admire Lucy and then go on to talk about how he misses her. Theme: Eternal Love - While Lucy may have died young and before the speaker ever had a chance to have a life with her, she remains his beloved. Through recollections of her, the speaker conveys how lovely she was and how her memory has impacted his life. Lucy's existence solidified his loyalty to his home country of England, making the speaker a great lover of both a woman and his native land. While the age of the speaker is unknown, the speaker nonetheless relays the passage of time through his travels. This creates the impression that he is no longer a young man himself, and thus has been carrying a torch for his beloved Lucy for many years now.

"Sailing to Byzantium" - William Butler Yeats (Romantic/Modernist, 1928)

Plot: This poem is about a man escaping from his country to a place where he can revive his soul with glorious work of art. As a speaker of the poem, he declares he does not belong to his country as it is full of young people. To him, the young generation lives in the present moment and do not think about death. They are absorbed in gaining worldly pleasures, which never allows them to understand the cyclical nature of life. Therefore, they not only neglect the old men that are wiser than them but also neglect the art that neither dies nor grows old. The old speaker feels helpless and decides to move on. This is how he imaginatively sails to Byzantium to illuminate his soul with glorious works of art. He wishes to get transformed into a golden bird so that he could become an eternal piece of art. Theme: Wisdom/Nature comes w/ age - The speaker wants to escape from the world where wise people are neglected. The young generation is so much caught up with life that they fail to understand what the natural world offers to them. Being wise, he knows that man can find solace and satisfaction in the lap of nature. Hence, he prefers leaving his country and happily sailing to Byzantium, which offers him immense pleasure and fruits of eternity.

"Easter, 1916" - William Butler Yeats (Romantic/Modernist, 1921)

Plot: Yeats starts the poem off by talking about the dudes he runs into in the street when the shops and offices are closing up around Dublin. But he doesn't really value his interactions with any of these people. Next, Yeats breaks off and starts going through a list of all the people who were involved with the Easter Uprising of 1916. He mentions a woman who helped out with the effort, along with some other guys who might have had bright futures if they hadn't gotten themselves executed for treason. At the end of the day, Yeats isn't sure how much he admires the people he's talking about. Yeats closes the poem by repeating the phrase "A terrible beauty is born," which he's mentioned several times in the poem. Basically, this phrase closes the poem by suggesting that even though the deaths of the Easter Uprising are terrible, history tends to remember bloody battles and self-sacrifice more than anything else. Theme: Admiring Sacrifice - While he may not be sure about whether he admires the Irish fighters, Yeats can definitely get behind the fact that these people totally sacrificed themselves for something they believed in. In doing so, they show a level of passion and courage that Yeats doesn't seem to have himself. He's content to stand back and write poetry about what's happening around him.

Sonnet 71 - Shakespeare (Renaissance, 1609)

Plot: a love poem in which the speaker urges the lover not to spend too much time in mourning after the speaker dies. Theme: Death and Transience - In the same way that it would be futile for the young lover to spend too much time mourning the speaker's death, then, it would be futile for the speaker to lament death's approach. Consequently, the speaker views death as little more than a fact of life that, though sad, should not be dwelled upon or obsessed over.

"My Lost Youth" - Henry Longfellow (Fireside Poet/Romantic, 1858)

Plot: a poem about wanting what has already past and no matter how hard we try, we cannot regain what we lost. He describes what Portland, Maine was like during his youth and speaks about the many different sounds and sights were like. He even mentions his early loves and friendships. Theme: Time/Past - The repeated phrase, "A boy's will is the wind's will, / And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts." simply means we spend a lot of time thinking about our past when we can't have it.

"The Wild Swans at Coole" - William Butler Yeats (Romantic/Modernist, 1917)

Plot: he speaker describes seeing fifty-nine swans swimming at twilight on a gorgeous October evening. Apparently, he's been watching these swans for quite a while—years, even. And while he's watching, they all take flight in a big flurry-hurry. As it turns out, this kind of breaks this poor young guy's heart. That's because his life has changed so much since the first time he saw these swans. The swans on the other hand, haven't changed much at all. They haven't grown old, and they still go where they please. But in his heart, the speaker knows these swans won't be around forever, and he wonders where exactly they'll be hangin' when he wakes up to find that they've finally ditched him for greener pastures (or clearer waters, as the case may be). Theme: Transience - We can't help feeling that this is a really sad poem. The speaker picks a gloomy time of year (October) and keeps talking about twilight and how everything has changed (and for the worse, it seems). He talks about his heart being "sore" and exudes a powerful sense of melancholy throughout. In short, this guy has a sad. Why? There are several good candidates, but the most pressing of these is his wrinkle-phobia, an acute consciousness of his old age.

"On Giles and Joan" - Ben Johnson (Founder of Neoclassism)

Plot: this poem is satirizing married couples who aren't exactly happy with one another. The word "married" is emphasized in line three with the word "repents" so we can see how grave a mistake Giles thinks he's made in marrying Joan. Theme: Marriage - Giles's and Joan's relationship is based not on romance, "sweet nothings," and beauty, but on the agreement to disagree with everything the other wants, just as the couple's relationship

Aeneid, Book 7 (The Shield of Aeneas) - Virgil (Ancient Rome)

Virgil again calls on the Muses to help him tell of the war Aeneas must fight to claim his fate in Italy, the "history" of Rome. He specifically invokes Erato, muse of love, because the war is fought over the right to marry a woman (Lavinia). Theme of overall story - Fate and Free Will: It seems we're being constantly reminded that the Trojans are going to found a new city in Italy. When we see the souls of future Roman heroes in the underworld, waiting to be born, or the exciting images of Roman history on Aeneas's shield, these strongly suggest that the Trojans are going to be successful. You might think that this takes away from the poem's suspense, but that's kind of missing the point. You see, the ancients had a pretty nuanced view of Fate. As the goddess Juno never gets tired of reminding us in the Aeneid, destiny may determine that the Trojans will find a city in Italy, but it doesn't specify how they end up doing it. Juno uses that as her angle to give the Trojans an incredible amount of trouble. The flip-side of this is that, even though the ancients believed in Fate, this didn't mean that they disbelieved in Free Will. Thus, when Aeneas tells Dido, "I sail for Italy not of my own free will," he doesn't mean that the Fates are forcing him to go there. What he means is, he has an obligation to go there, which he is choosing to live up to.