Editor's note
Ranking is generated by Storgy's classification model, which scores each poem's thematic depth on this subject relative to the rest of the corpus. The list is re-indexed weekly as new poems enter the public-domain corpus.
Best poems about — Storgy
Funeral.
Twenty-five poems, ranked.
25 of the finest public-domain poems about funeral, ranked by thematic depth. Scored by Storgy's classification model against the rest of the corpus, and re-indexed weekly as new works enter the canon.
The leading three
01
A Dirge
Percy Bysshe Shelley
“A Dirge is a brief, eight-line lament where Shelley invokes natural forces — like the wind, storm, bare trees, caves, and the sea — to express a sorrow so profo…”
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02
Adonais
Percy Bysshe Shelley
“Adonais is Shelley's lengthy elegy for the poet John Keats, who passed away in Rome in 1821 at the young age of twenty-five. Shelley holds hostile critics respo…”
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03
After the Burial
James Russell Lowell
“A father has just buried his young daughter and is resisting a well-meaning friend's attempts at offering religious comfort. He expresses that faith is helpful…”
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The complete index
- 04
A Lyke-Wake Song
Algernon Charles Swinburne
A beautiful, proud person is directly addressed as they lie in state for burial — the poem removes all their adornments and ego, reminding them that death brings equality to all. E…
- 05
An Elegy on the Death of John Keats,
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Adonais is Shelley’s lengthy elegy expressing sorrow for the death of fellow poet John Keats, who passed away in Rome in 1821 at the young age of 25. Shelley envisions Keats as a m…
- 06
Ave Atque Vale
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Written as a farewell elegy for the French poet Charles Baudelaire, "Ave Atque Vale" ("Hail and Farewell") expresses the deep sorrow of Swinburne for a fellow artist he admired but…
- 07
Burial of the Minnisink
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A Native American war chief is carried to his grave by his tribe in a solemn funeral procession, accompanied by his weapons, clothing, and even his horse. The horse is sacrificed a…
- 08
Coplas De Manrique
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Longfellow's "Coplas de Manrique" translates and adapts the 15th-century Spanish elegy by Jorge Manrique, which honors his father, Rodrigo Manrique, after his passing. The poem shi…
- 09
Dirge for Two Veterans
Walt Whitman
A funeral procession brings two soldiers — a father and son — to their shared grave after they died together in battle. Whitman observes and listens as bugles, drums, and moonlight…
- 10
Epitaphium
Percy Bysshe Shelley
This Latin poem was penned by a young Shelley, translating the well-known epitaph from Thomas Gray's *Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard*. It portrays a young man who passed awa…
- 11
Funeral Rites
Seamus Heaney
Funeral Rites is an expansive three-part poem in which Heaney transitions from the personal rituals of preparing the deceased in his Northern Irish Catholic community to a vision o…
- 12
I Felt a Funeral in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
A speaker conveys the sensation of losing their mind by picturing a funeral taking place within their own brain. The mourners, the service, the coffin, and ultimately the tolling b…
- 13
In Time of Mourning
Algernon Charles Swinburne
This short poem captures Swinburne's grief after losing a dear one—someone whose kindness and warmth impacted everyone nearby. He recognizes our deep desire to bring back the decea…
- 14
La Tombe De Timas
Sappho
This short poem expresses sorrow for Timas, a young woman who passed away before her wedding. In their grief, her friends cut their long hair and placed it on her tomb as a tribute…
- 15
Lycidas
John Milton
Lycidas is John Milton's elegy for Edward King, a friend and fellow student at Cambridge who drowned in 1637. Milton employs the traditional format of the pastoral elegy—where poet…
- 16
Prom the Greek of Bion
Percy Bysshe Shelley
This is Shelley's translation of a lament from ancient Greece by the poet Bion, expressing sorrow over the death of Adonis — the handsome young man cherished by Venus (Aphrodite).…
- 17
Spoon River Anthology
Edgar Lee Masters
*Spoon River Anthology* is a collection of free-verse epitaphs where the deceased residents of a fictional Illinois town voice their stories from beyond the grave, each uncovering…
- 18
The Grave
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A grave is depicted as a house built for everyone before they're even born — a cold, dark, doorless space where worms are your only companions. The poem guides you through this ble…
- 19
Threnodia
James Russell Lowell
Lowell wrote this poem to grieve the loss of a young child, probably an infant or toddler, while also providing solace to the grieving mother. Each stanza returns to the painful re…
- 20
Crier of the Dead
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This brief poem envisions a town crier breaking the night’s silence, calling on everyone asleep to awaken and pray for the departed souls. It conveys a powerful moment — a voice pi…
- 21
Epitaph
Percy Bysshe Shelley
This short poem serves as an inscription for two close friends who passed away and were buried side by side. Shelley expresses a wish for their graves—and the memories of them—to r…
- 22
On the Death of Sir Henry Taylor
Algernon Charles Swinburne
This poem is Swinburne's heartfelt tribute to the poet and playwright Sir Henry Taylor, who passed away at eighty-five. Swinburne celebrates Taylor's lengthy life and the enduring…
- 23
Home Burial
Robert Frost · 1914
A husband and wife stand on a staircase after losing their baby. What begins as a tense discussion about what she keeps looking at out the window escalates into a fierce argument a…
- 24
Buffalo Bill's Defunct
E. E. Cummings · 1920
Buffalo Bill's Defunct is a brief, impactful elegy for the renowned Wild West showman William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Cummings employs his signature jumbled typography and rapid rh…
- 25
The Burial of the Dead
T. S. Eliot · 1922
This is the opening section of T. S. Eliot's influential poem *The Waste Land* (1922), and it lays the groundwork for the entire piece: a world where spring feels more like a curse…
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