Tomorrow is National Poetry Day, and believe it or not, poetry was one of the first forms of writing I ever picked up.
During my first few years of college I always had a book of poetry with me. I loved Richard Wilbur, Pablo Neruda, Rainer Maria Rilke, and William Carlos Williams.
But for some reason, years ago, I stopped writing and reading poetry altogether. So, for the last 20 days I’ve been reading 25 poems a day from Poem Hunter’s Top 500 poems list. (Note: I have no idea how they determined the “Top 500,” so I’m just going with it for now)
Below you’ll find my favorite poems on the list, along with a few extras I wish were included.
Unbelievable
- If by Rudyard Kipling
- The Tyger by William Blake
- Love’s Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Still amazing
- Caged Bird by Maya Angelou
- Invictus by William Ernest Henly
- Television by Roald Dahl
- A Poison Tree by William Blake
- O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman
- Why Do I Love You Sir by Emily Dickinson
- We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
- We Wear The Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar
- The Panther by Rainer Maria Rilke
Should have been in the Top 500
- Children by Khalil Gibran
- Tonight I Can Write The Saddest Lines by Pablo Neruda
- The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams
What about you?
When was the last time you read a poem?
What’s your favorite poem?
Let me know in the comments below.
You have a great taste in poetry! I just love most of the poems too, especially The Tyger and Oh, Captain! My Captain!
I wonder if you like Russian poets such as Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov? It seems to me you can appreciate the beauty of To The Clouds by Lermontov https://keytopoetry.com/mikhail-yuryevich-lermontov/poems/to-the-clouds/? The poem is my favourite.
The moon in the bureau mirror looks out at a million miles
and perhaps at herself, though she never ever smiles.
Elizabeth Bishop
I ran with my memory earlier and got it incorrect. Not happy.