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
Memory.
Twenty-five poems, ranked.
25 of the finest public-domain poems about memory, 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
They Flee From Me
Thomas Wyatt · 1557
“A man reflects on the women who once chose to be with him, especially one who held him close and kissed him — but has now moved on to someone else. He feels hur…”
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02
Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
William Shakespeare · 1609
“The speaker is having a terrible day — feeling like a failure, envious of those around him, and convinced that even God isn’t listening. But then he thinks of t…”
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03
Sonnet 30: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
William Shakespeare · 1609
“When the speaker sits quietly and lets his mind wander back to the past, he feels all his old losses and grief come rushing back — friends he’s lost, loves that…”
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The complete index
- 04
To a Mouse
Robert Burns · 1785
A Scottish farmer unintentionally destroys a mouse's nest while ploughing a field. Instead of simply moving on, he takes a moment to apologise to the mouse and reflect on their sha…
- 05
Auld Lang Syne
Robert Burns · 1788
Two old friends lift their cups in unison, reminiscing about the joyful times of their youth—the hills they raced across, the streams they jumped into, and the years that have draw…
- 06
Dejection: An Ode
Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1802
Coleridge sits alone on a stormy night, feeling utterly numb. He notices the beauty in nature but struggles to feel it. He attributes this to a loss of inner joy, which he thinks i…
- 07
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…
- 08
London, 1802
William Wordsworth · 1807
Wordsworth surveys England in 1802 and concludes that it has lost its moral compass—its churches, armies, writers, and homes have become weak and self-centered. He reaches out to t…
- 09
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…
- 10
Music, When Soft Voices Die
Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1824
This short poem expresses that beautiful things leave behind traces even after they fade away — music remains in your memory, the scent of violets lingers long after the flowers ha…
- 11
To Helen
Edgar Allan Poe · 1831
A man recalls a brief, enchanting meeting with a mysterious woman in a moonlit garden, realizing her gaze has lingered on him ever since. That night, everything else faded into the…
- 12
Concord Hymn
Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1837
Written to be sung at the dedication of a battle monument in Concord, Massachusetts, this poem honors the colonial farmers who fired the first shots of the American Revolution in 1…
- 13
Break, Break, Break
Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1842
A grieving speaker stands by the sea, watching the waves crash against the rocks, feeling overwhelmed by a loss he can't articulate. He observes joyful children playing and sailors…
- 14
A Dream Within a Dream
Edgar Allan Poe · 1849
Poe's speaker bids farewell to a loved one, confessing that his entire life has felt like a fleeting dream—unreal and escaping him. In the second part, he stands on a beach, watchi…
- 15
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways (Sonnets from the Portuguese 43)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning · 1850
A woman shares her deepest feelings with her beloved, just as he has given her flowers throughout the year. Just as his blooms flourished in her small, sunless room, her thoughts h…
- 16
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…
- 17
Remember
Christina Rossetti · 1862
A dying speaker asks her loved one to remember her after she’s gone. Yet, in a surprising twist, she says it’s okay to forget if that leads to happiness. The poem acts as a farewel…
- 18
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d
Walt Whitman · 1865
This poem is Walt Whitman's tribute to Abraham Lincoln, composed after Lincoln's assassination in April 1865. Whitman refrains from mentioning Lincoln by name; instead, he intertwi…
- 19
Growing Old
Matthew Arnold · 1867
Growing old, Arnold says, isn’t the dignified, wise, golden-sunset experience we pictured in our youth. Instead, it feels like a slow numbness — being stuck in the moment, disconne…
- 20
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…
- 21
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…
- 22
The Phantom Fleet
Alfred Noyes · 1902
A man falls asleep in a cottage adorned with naval paintings and awakens in a dream where the spirits of Britain's most legendary admirals — Nelson, Drake, Raleigh, and others — re…
- 23
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…
- 24
Kilmeny
Alfred Noyes · 1907
A British naval drifter named Kilmeny heads out to sea at dusk, undertakes a secret and lethal task during World War One, and returns with her skipper dead but her mission fulfille…
- 25
Miniver Cheevy
Edwin Arlington Robinson · 1907
Miniver Cheevy is a man who despises the era he was born into and longs for a glorious, romanticized past—like ancient Troy, Arthurian Camelot, or Renaissance Florence. Rather than…
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