Best Poems About
A young boy who enjoyed collecting frogspawn from a nearby flax dam slowly loses his innocent joy in nature when he sees the frogs coming back to reclaim their eggs — and feels more fear than fascination. The poem captures the precise momen
This poem narrates the tale of Hiawatha's birth and upbringing. His grandmother Nokomis raises him by a vast lake, sharing the names and secrets of the stars, animals, and nature. When he is finally old enough to venture into the forest and
A young woman calls out to her virginity — imagined as a friend — wondering where it has gone since it departed from her. The virginity replies plainly: it will never return to her. This two-line poem captures the irreversible moment of gro
A young woman stands at the edge of girlhood and adulthood, and Longfellow uses the image of a brook meeting a river to illustrate that moment of uncertainty. He encourages her not to fear what’s ahead — life will have its challenges, but i
Wordsworth reflects on childhood and grieves the loss of a unique, almost magical perspective on life — a sparkle that dims as we age. However, rather than succumbing to despair, he finds solace in the notion that this fading serves as evid
*The Prelude* is Wordsworth's autobiographical poem that explores the development of his mind and imagination from childhood to young adulthood. He reflects on the "spots of time" — powerful memories from nature and personal experiences — t
*The Prelude* is Wordsworth's autobiographical work in verse, exploring how nature influenced his thoughts and creativity from childhood into early adulthood. He spent much of his life writing and revising it, but it was published posthumou
A wise older man advises a twenty-one-year-old to guard his heart, but the young man brushes off the warning. A year later, he discovers the truth in that advice the hard way. It’s a brief, impactful poem about how youth often turns a deaf
A young duckling chooses to be completely different from what he was born as — he doesn’t want webbed feet, waddling, or quacking — and disregards all warnings about a fox lurking in the rye. His stubbornness costs him his life, leaving beh
A poor boy, armed only with his imagination, creates magnificent dream-worlds in his mind, and that inner richness feels more than sufficient. Years later, he finds himself wealthy and respected but has lost the ability to dream. He comes t
Written on the day Percy Bysshe Shelley turned eighteen, this short poem reflects on how quickly time passes and the unsettling experience of seeing one's youth fade. Shelley gazes back at the years that have passed and ahead to a future th
A brother and sister are mourning the loss of their mother, and Lawrence uses the image of the moon fading in the night sky to illustrate how grief leaves you exposed and pushes you to continue on. The poem follows their path from shock and
A speaker returns to a wine he cherished in his youth, only to discover it tastes sour. The wine itself hasn't changed; he has. This short, bittersweet poem captures how time robs us of the joy we once experienced, leaving the things themse
Hiawatha, now a young man equipped with magical gear, heads west to face Mudjekeewis, the Wind-King and his father, who abandoned and hurt his mother. They engage in an epic battle across the mountains, but Mudjekeewis reveals that this was
A father carves a brief collection of life lessons into his young son's silver plate, transforming a simple object into a timeless moral compass. The engraving encourages the boy to be humble at the table, to show respect to both elders and
In this two-stanza poem, Lowell contrasts the romantic dreams of a twenty-year-old with the stark reality of middle age. The young individual envisions a magnificent medieval realm filled with knights and adventure, while the older person f
A seven-year-old girl waits in a dentist's office in Worcester, Massachusetts, flipping through a National Geographic, when a sudden scream from inside the office leaves her feeling lightheaded and disoriented — as if she's momentarily lost
A teacher observes his students and senses the familiar world shifting to welcome something new. He sees in the young men around him the vibrant energy of life itself—a creative force molding the next generation's dreams from the fluid mate
Lowell challenges Wordsworth's well-known notion that we lose our connection to heaven's glory as we age. He suggests that the divine light Wordsworth believes diminishes in adulthood is actually ever-present; we simply need the right kind
A young boy boasts about his bravery during the day—he isn't afraid of snakes, bugs, or anything else—but every night when the lights go out, shadowy figures emerge in his room and frighten him. He links these nighttime apparitions to the t
This passage is a commentary by James Russell Lowell on a pivotal moment in his narrative poem *The Vision of Sir Launfal* (1848). In it, Sir Launfal, clad in armor and full of pride, contemptuously tosses a gold coin to a leper instead of
Thalassius is Swinburne's expansive mythological poem centered on a boy nurtured by the sea and sun, who matures to encounter love, corruption, and ultimately, spiritual renewal. It unfolds like a coming-of-age myth: the main character desc
A speaker glances into a brook twice: first as a child and again as an adult. The brook's message has shifted entirely — where it once bubbled with excitement and energy, it now whispers softly about rest and the end of life. The poem refle
A father observes his young son as he plays with wooden blocks and listens to stories, recognizing in those simple moments the beginnings of a larger life to come. Longfellow encourages the boy: keep dreaming and keep building, for the real
A village church on Pentecost Sunday gets ready to welcome its young people for their first Communion, led by an elderly pastor whose sermon shifts from a solemn warning to heartfelt love. The pastor guides the children through themes of fa