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
Loneliness.
Twenty-five poems, ranked.
25 of the finest public-domain poems about loneliness, 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
No Man Is an Island
John Donne · 1624
“John Donne's "No Man Is an Island" (from *Meditation XVII* in *Devotions upon Emergent Occasions*, 1624) expresses that every person is linked to one another —…”
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02
Ah! Sun-flower
William Blake · 1794
“A sunflower that constantly turns to follow the sun represents Blake's metaphor for every person who spends their life yearning for something just beyond their…”
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03
She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways
William Wordsworth · 1800
“This short poem tells the story of a woman named Lucy, who lived a quiet, unremarkable life in a secluded area of England. She was loved by few—only the speaker…”
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The complete index
- 04
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
William Wordsworth · 1807
A poet takes a solitary walk and unexpectedly discovers a vast field of daffodils by a lake. The sight brings him such joy that he stops in his tracks. He doesn't grasp the signifi…
- 05
The Solitary Reaper
William Wordsworth · 1807
A traveler strolling through the Scottish Highlands pauses to hear a young woman singing softly while she harvests grain. Though he can't grasp the words, the beauty and haunting q…
- 06
The Lady of Shalott
Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1832
A mysterious woman known as the Lady of Shalott is confined to an island, cursed to never look directly at the outside world — she can only observe it through a mirror and weave wh…
- 07
Meeting at Night
Robert Browning · 1845
A speaker embarks on a stealthy journey at night, traveling by boat and on foot to find their beloved. The poem unfolds in a swift current of movement — rowing in, traversing field…
- 08
Shall earth no more inspire thee
Emily Brontë · 1846
Nature is reaching out to a restless, dreaming poet, encouraging her to step away from her thoughts and reconnect with the tangible world of wind, sun, and mountains. The poem conv…
- 09
Sonnet 29 — 'I think of thee'
Elizabeth Barrett Browning · 1850
This sonnet is a love poem in which Browning expresses to her beloved that her thoughts of him are hindering her ability to truly connect with him. Her thoughts entwine around him…
- 10
Echo
Christina Rossetti · 1862
A speaker reaches out to a lost love, asking them to come back — not in reality, but in dreams. The poem balances on the line between memory and longing, where the only time the sp…
- 11
In a London Drawingroom
George Eliot · 1865
George Eliot gazes out a window in Victorian London and takes in a city that seems to have drained the vitality from everything — the sky, the people, the light. Each detail she ob…
- 12
A Noiseless Patient Spider
Walt Whitman · 1868
A spider rests on a small ledge, weaving thread after thread into the empty space, attempting to connect with something. Whitman then reflects on his own soul and remarks: that's e…
- 13
Alone
Edgar Allan Poe · 1875
A lone rider crosses a vast, scorching wilderness, witnessing his companions perish one by one until only he and his horse remain. The desert deceives him, presenting a mirage of c…
- 14
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
W. B. Yeats · 1890
A man in a bustling city yearns to escape to a small Irish island named Innisfree. There, he envisions constructing a modest cabin, cultivating beans, and ultimately discovering tr…
- 15
The Soul selects her own Society
Emily Dickinson · 1890
Emily Dickinson's poem explores the idea that the soul — the innermost essence of a person — has the authority to choose who it allows in, locking out everyone else permanently. No…
- 16
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Emily Dickinson · 1891
Emily Dickinson's brief poem applauds the beauty of being unknown and ordinary, presenting it as a shared secret among friends instead of a source of shame. She turns the narrative…
- 17
When You Are Old
W. B. Yeats · 1893
Yeats envisions his beloved, Maud Gonne, as an older woman reflecting on her life. She recognizes that while many admired her beauty, only one man — the poet himself — truly loved…
- 18
He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
W. B. Yeats · 1899
A speaker expresses his love by saying that if he had the wealth, he would lay the sparkling fabric of the night sky at their feet as a gift. Since he has nothing tangible, he offe…
- 19
Sympathy
Paul Laurence Dunbar · 1899
A caged bird sits amidst the beauty of the natural world it cannot touch, and Dunbar captures that feeling perfectly — the longing, the pain, and the fervent singing. The bird's so…
- 20
Sea Fever
John Masefield · 1902
A sailor experiences an irresistible draw back to the ocean and the free-spirited life it embodies. Each stanza echoes the same restless yearning, progressing from the sights and s…
- 21
Dead Man's Morrice
Alfred Noyes · 1907
A mysterious fiddler at a tavern plays a tune that the speaker can’t seem to forget, and the poem expands from that haunting melody into reflections on love, death, and the anxiety…
- 22
In a Station of the Metro
Ezra Pound · 1913
Two lines and fourteen words, and Ezra Pound captures the strange beauty of human faces flashing by in a Paris subway. He likens those faces to flower petals clinging to a dark, ra…
- 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
The Voice
Thomas Hardy · 1914
Thomas Hardy wrote "The Voice" in 1912, shortly after his wife Emma passed away. The poem explores his experience of hearing — or perhaps imagining he hears — her calling to him fr…
- 25
The Wood-Pile
Robert Frost · 1914
A man walks alone into a frozen swamp and comes across an old woodpile, left behind by the one who once cut and stacked it. The poem poses a quiet yet unsettling question: what kin…
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