The Daily Poem

Gerard Manley Hopkins' "That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection"

01 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A joyous Eastertide and happy reading to you all! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonu...

Andrew Marvell's "A Dialogue, between the Resolved Soul and Created Pleasure"

30 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Due to the inconsistencies and ambiguities within his work and the scarcity of information about his personal life, Andrew Marvell has been a source o...

Lord Byron's "The Destruction of Sennacherib"

30 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

English peer and poet George Gordon Byron was one of the bad boys of the Romantic movement and, by some accounts, the first ‘celebrity.’ Like coun...

Louis Simpson's "American Poetry"

27 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Poet, editor, translator, and critic Louis Simpson was born in Jamaica to Scottish and Russian parents. He moved to the United States when he was 17 t...

A. E. Housman's "Loveliest of Trees (Shropshire Lad II)"

26 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Alfred Edward Housman was born in Fockbury, Worcestershire, England on March 26, 1859 and was the eldest of seven children. A year after his birth, Ho...

Two by John Robert Lee

25 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

John Robert Lee was born, and lives in St Lucia. He is the author of three collections of poetry, Elemental, (2008), Collected Poems 1975-2015, (20...

Billy Collins' "Marginalia"

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem takes the peripheral and makes it the primary. Happy reading! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscr...

Ezra Pound's "The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter"

21 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem from Ezra Pound (a poet with his own colorful history of exile) is after the style of Li Po, featured last week.Ezra Pound was born in ...

Robert Frost's "Out, Out–"

20 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem answers the question you never thought to ask: ‘What do Macbeth and a buzz saw have in common?’ This is a public episode. If you'd...

Poem-Prayers by Robert Herrick

19 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Some poets wind up writing prayers by accident; others do it on purpose. Today’s poems from Robert Herrick–“Grace For a Child” and “His Pray...

Two by Robert P. Tristram Coffin

18 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poems–”The Hill Place” and “Day’s Diamond”–come from Robert P. Tristram Coffin. Coffin (1892-1955) grew up in Brunswick, Maine...

David Lehman's "The Ides of March"

15 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem marks the ides (or idus) or March, a day classically associated with the settling of debts (and maybe old scores, too).One of the forem...

Li Po's "The Solitude of Night"

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is the work of an eighth-century poet whose reputation didn’t peak until the twentieth century. Li Po’s “The Solitude of Night”...

James Merrill's "The Octopus"

13 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"A master of forms, Merrill’s later poetry rarely feels formal. In the Atlantic Monthly, poet X.J. Kennedy observed that “Merrill never sprawls, n...

Hilaire Belloc's "Lines to a Don"

12 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is a master-class in snappy putdowns and the value of a fiercely-loyal and equally witty friend.Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (187...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Poet's Calendar"

11 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is a grand smorgasbord of poetical allusions from the unofficial patron of The Daily Poem. Happy reading! This is a public episode. If ...

Naomi Shihab Nye's "The Traveling Onion"

08 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Naomi Shihab Nye was born on March 12, 1952, in St. Louis to a Palestinian father and an American mother. During her high school years, she lived in R...

Colley Cibber's "The Blind Boy"

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem (from an oft-maligned poet) makes frequent appearances in poetry anthologies for children, but hides a satisfying subtlety.Colley Cibbe...

Bertolt Brecht's "A Worker Reads History"

06 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Bertolt Brecht (February 10, 1898 – August 14, 1956) was an influential playwright and poet. His poetry is collected in Poems 1913-1956 (1997) and P...

J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Road Goes Ever On"

05 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is a walking song composed by Bilbo Baggins, reworked and repurposed at several key moments in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Ha...

Dr. Seuss' "Did I Ever Tell You..?"

04 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is a piece of uncollected verse from one of the world’s most beloved children’s writers: Dr. Seuss.Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1...

Richard Wilbur's "The Death of a Toad"

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem comes from one of America’s most beloved and decorated poets, Richard Wilbur. Don’t be put off by the title; no matter the subject,...

Howard Nemerov's "De Anima"

29 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For the day that only comes ‘round once every four years, we have a haunting poem about missed connections–and from a poet with a “Leap Day” b...

Elizabeth Drew Barstow Stoddard's "Nameless Pain"

28 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Elizabeth Drew Barstow Stoddard (1823-1902) was a poet, fiction writer, and essayist born and raised in Mattapoisset, Massachusetts. The daughter of a...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Poet and His Songs"

27 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Happy Birthday to America’s great man of letters, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow!Get to know Longfellow better through his own verse, or in the pages of...

Edwin Arlington Robinson's "Richard Cory"

26 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Edwin Arlington Robinson was born in Head Tide, Maine on December 22, 1869 (the same year as W. B. Yeats). His family moved to Gardiner, Maine, in 18...

William Butler Yeats' "The Lake Isle of Innisfree"

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s classic poem from W. B. Yeats doubles as one of the greatest literary justifications for committing poems to memory. Happy reading! This is ...

Three by Edna St. Vincent Millay

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poems pay tribute to the soulful and spirited Edna St. Vincent Millay, first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. They are “First F...

W. H. Auden's "In Memory of W. B. Yeats"

21 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s poem one great poet pays passionate tribute to another. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers o...

Maurice Manning's "A Brief Refutation..."

20 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The full title of today’s poem from Maurice Manning says it all: “A Brief Refutation of the Rumor That I Allowed Willie and Tad to Relieve Themsel...

James Matthew Wilson's "The Scar of Odysseus"

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

James Matthew Wilson has published ten books, among them four collections of poems, including The Strangeness of the Good. His poems, essays, and revi...

Rainer Maria Rilke's "Love Song"

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem comes from Rilke and has a fairly straight-forward title–or does it? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with oth...

Ben Jonson's "Song to Celia"

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem from Ben Jonson (also know by its first line, “Drink to me only with thine eyes”) has been arranged and set to music numerous times...

Pablo Neruda's "Sonnet XVII"

14 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem from Pablo Neruda is characteristic of the passionate Chilean’s emphatic love poetry, but more chaste and decorous than some of his v...

John Donne's "The Flea"

13 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem comes from a young John Donne. Long before he became a serious clergyman writing Holy Sonnets for God, he was a young rake writing sauc...

William Shakespeare's Sonnets 98 & 99

12 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poems kick off a week of love poetry with two by the Master. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers...

William Cullen Bryant's "To a Waterfowl"

09 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) was a Fireside Poet, journalist, and nature writer with ties to the Hudson River School of art. He wrote poems, essa...

Elizabeth Bishop's "In the Waiting Room"

08 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is a rare departure for Elizabeth Bishop who usually avoided a confessional style of poetry–but everybody gets a little introspective...

Tracy K. Smith's "Solstice"

07 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy K. Smith was born in Massachusetts and raised in northern California. She earned a BA from Harvard University and an MFA in creative writing fro...

Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach"

06 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is the one you had to read in high school without really understanding it. (Or was that just me?)Among the major Victorian writers, Mat...

Langston Hughes' "Harlem"

05 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is one of the most recognizable and influential American poems of the twentieth century.Langston Hughes was a central figure in the Har...

Robert Herrick's "Ceremony Upon Candlemas Eve"

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem from Robert Herrick is not only an ode to the holiday of Candlemas, but a meditation on the everlasting revolution of the seasons.For m...

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Work Without Hope"

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you had to live the same day over and over again, you may as well use the time to memorize some poetry. That’s exactly what Phil Connors does in ...

Robert Browning's "Development"

31 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Although the early part of Robert Browning’s creative life was spent in comparative obscurity, he has come to be regarded as one of the most importa...

Emily Dickinson's "Fame is a bee."

30 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem from Emily Dickinson is a masterclass in poetic economy. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers...

Anne Bradstreet's "To My Dear and Loving Husband"

29 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Anne Bradstreet was the first woman to be recognized as an accomplished New World Poet. Her volume of poetry The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in Americ...

John Greenleaf Whittier's "Ichabod"

26 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, though potentially universal in its application, is ostensibly about Daniel Webster, who alienated abolitio...

Dana Gioia's "Entrance"

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is Dana Gioia’s interpretive spin on a Rilke poem about (among other things) poetics.Dana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed poet ...

Sylvia Plath's "Metaphors"

24 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genr...

John Keats' "When I have fears that I may cease to be"

23 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

John Keats was born in London on 31 October 1795, the eldest of Thomas and Frances Jennings Keats’s four children. Although he died at the age of tw...

Christina Rossetti's "Who Has Seen the Wind?"

22 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Poet Christina Rossetti was born in 1830, the youngest child in an extraordinarily gifted family. Her father, the Italian poet and political exile Gab...

Shakespeare's "Let's talk of graves" from Richard II

19 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem from Richard II tells “sad stories of the death of kings” and lowers the curtain on a week of Shakespearean speeches in verse. Thi...

Shakespeare's "Should we be silent" from Coriolanus

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What do the world’s greatest playwright and Rome’s greatest mama’s boy have in common? Today’s poem–Volumnia pleading with her son in the fi...

Shakespeare's "If I be not ashamed of my soldiers"

17 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s poem, the lovable cad, Sir John Falstaff, explains the dismal state of his troops (and the extra silver in his pocket). The speech is fro...

Shakespeare's "Be Absolute For Death"

16 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is the “anti-To Be or Not To Be” speech from Act 3, Scene 1 of the underrated Measure For Measure. This is a public episode. If you...

Shakespeare's "Prologue" to Henry V

15 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is an example of poetry we forget is poetry. Written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter), the opening prologue to Henry V calls...

Carl Sandburg's "Little Word, Little White Bird"

12 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem comes from Honey and Salt, the last collection Sandburg published before his death.“Trying to write briefly about Carl Sandburg,” s...

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Conqueror Worm"

11 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 - October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short fiction writer, critic, and accomplished editor known for his gloomy ...

Gelett Burgess' "The Purple Cow"

10 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is one of the most-anthologized works of light verse in the English language–and just plain fun.Frank Gelett Burgess was an American ...

Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends"

10 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A singer-songwriter, cartoonist, screenwriter, award-winning children’s writer, and actor, Shel Silverstein grew up in Chicago. He started out as a ...

Jane Kenyon's "Taking Down the Tree"

08 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kenyon published four volumes of poetry during her life: From Room to Room (1978), The Boat of Quiet Hours (1986), Let Evening Come (1990), and Consta...

Lawrence Ferlinghetti's "The world is a beautiful place"

05 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti is another fitting meditation at the beginning of a new year. Happy reading (and listening)! This is a public ...

William Carlos Williams' "January"

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"There is no optimistic blindness in Williams," wrote Randall Jarrell, "though there is a fresh gaiety, a stubborn or invincible joyousness."-via Poet...

Philip Appleman's "To the Garbage Collectors in Bloomington, Indiana, the First Pickup of the New Year"

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Poet, novelist, editor, and Darwin expert Philip Appleman was born in Indiana and holds degrees from Northwestern University, the University of Michi...

W. S. Merwin's "To the New Year"

02 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

William Stanley (W.S.) Merwin was born in New York City in 1927 and raised in New Jersey and Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of a Presbyterian ministe...

Robert Burns' "Auld Lang Syne"

01 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Happy New Year! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.sub...

Richard Wilbur's "Year's End"

29 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ring out the old year with one of The Daily Poem’s favorite poets–Richard Wilbur. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with oth...

Wendell Berry's "Satisfactions of the Mad Farmer"

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Poet, novelist, and environmentalist Wendell Berry lives in Port Royal, Kentucky near his birthplace, where he has maintained a farm for over 40 year...

Dorianne Laux's "Family Stories"

27 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dorianne Laux is the author of several collections of poetry, including What We Carry (1994), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; S...

John Mason Neale's "Good King Wenceslas"

26 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Mason Neale was born in London to evangelical parents. His father’s early death meant that Neale attended many different schools; he eventually...

Two Poems for Christmas

25 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Merry Christmas from The Daily Poem! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, v...

T. S. Eliot's "Journey of the Magi"

23 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is T. S. Eliot’s unconventional look at the very familiar story of the Three Wise Men. This is a public episode. If you'd like to dis...

Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening"

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is a familiar favorite, just right for the “darkest evening of the year.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this w...

Ruth Moose's "My Father's Fruitcake"

20 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ruth Moose is the author of Making the Bed (Main Street Rag Press, 2004) and The Sleepwaker (Main Street Rag Press, 2007). Her poetry has been pub...

Gerard Manley Hopkins' "The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo"

19 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Gerard Manley Hopkins is considered to be one of the greatest poets of the Victorian era. However, because his style was so radically different from t...

G. K. Chesterton's "A Child of the Snows"

18 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

G. K. Chesterton was one of the dominating figures of the London literary scene in the early 20th century. Not only did he get into lively discussions...

Mark Doty's "Messiah (Christmas Portions)"

15 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Doty is a poet, essayist, memoirist and author of nine books of poetry. His book Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems won the 2008 National Book ...

W. H. Auden's "O Tell Me the Truth About Love"

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh." -Wystan Hugh Aud...

Three Poems for St. Lucy's Day

13 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

December 13 is St. Lucy’s day, traditionally a day celebrating light in the midst of the darkest, coldest time of the year. Today’s poems–from E...

Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush"

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas Hardy (born June 2, 1840 - died January 11, 1928) was born in Dorset, England. The son of a stone mason, he trained as an architect and worked ...

Lawrence Ferlinghetti's "Constantly Risking Absurdity"

11 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Bo...

Mary Jo Salter's "Advent"

08 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mary Jo Salter is the author of eight books of poetry including The Surveyors (2017) and, most recently Zoom Rooms: Poems (2022). She is also a lyrici...

Czeslaw Milosz' "Blacksmith Shop"

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Czesław Miłosz (30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry i...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith"

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"The spirit of the smithy is so close to the spirit of song that it has mixed in a million poems, and every blacksmith is a harmonious blacksmith. Eve...

Robert Burns' "To a Mouse"

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Robert or "Rabbie" Burns (born 25 January 1759, died 21 July 1796) hailed from Alloway, Scotland. Like his father, Burns was a tenant farmer. However,...

Rainer Maria Rilke's "Archaic Torso of Apollo"

04 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

“Rilke’s most immediate and obvious influence has been upon diction and imagery. [He expressed ideas with] physical rather than intellectual symbo...

James Whitcomb Riley's "When the Frost is on the Punkin"

01 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

James Whitcomb Riley (born October 7, 1849; died July 22, 1916) was author of numerous beloved poetry volumes, and widely known for books such as The...

Mary Oliver's "The Mangroves"

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s poem, Mary Oliver helps us develop affinity for the unfamiliar. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subs...

A. E. Stallings' "Denouement"

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A. E. Stallings is a poet and translator mining the classical world and traditional poetic techniques to craft works that evoke startling insights abo...

William Blake's "Jerusalem"

28 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Poet, Painter, Prophet–Blake “neither wrote nor drew for the many, hardly for work’y-day men at all, rather for children and angels; himself  ‘...

Richard Howard's "Oystering"

27 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Howard (born Oct 13, 1929, died march 31, 2022) was credited with introducing modern French fiction—particularly examples of the Nouveau Rom...

William Matthews' "On a Diet"

24 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

William Procter Matthews III (November 11, 1942 – November 12, 1997) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He earned a BA from Yale and MFA from the Univers...

Ben Jonson's "Inviting a Friend to Supper"

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Happy Thanksgiving from The Daily Poem! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers...

Two Poems About Butter

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today we pay tribute, with poems by Andrea Cohen and Elizabeth Alexander, to the indispensable golden wonder. This is a public episode. If you'd like ...

W. S. Gilbert's "National Anthem"

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collabo...

Allen Tate's "Edges"

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Orley Allen Tate (November 19, 1899 – February 9, 1979) was a poet, critic, biographer, and novelist. Born and raised in Kentucky, he earned hi...

Ted Kooser's "Selecting a Reader"

17 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s poem Ted Kooser describes his ideal reader. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access ...

Walt Whitman to His Reader

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s poems, Walt Whitman welcomes the reader. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to ...

Marianne Moore's "Poetry"

15 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s poem, Marianne Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) gets candid about poetry itself.One of American literature’s foremost poe...

Billy Collins' "Dear Reader"

15 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s poem is Billy Collins’ take on the time-honored poetic trope: the address to the reader. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discus...