Short Poems

Our Short Poems Collection highlights the power of poetry through titles that make an impact in few words. These bite-sized selections offer a convenient starting place for readers new to analyzing poetry or anyone who appreciates short-form verse and its ability to move and inspire.

Greater Love

by Wilfred Owen

Publication year 1918

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Love, War, Death, Masculinity, Truth & Lies

Tags Lyric Poem, Military & War, Grief & Death, Trauma & Abuse, European History, World War I, British Literature, The Lost Generation

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Gretel in Darkness

by Louise Glück

Publication year 1975

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Gender Identity, Mental Health, Guilt, Family

Tags Lyric Poem, Symbolic Narrative, Mental Illness, Gender & Feminism, Arts & Culture, Mythology

Louise Glück is among the most lauded poets in the American canon. Glück’s writing is often surgically precise in terms of formal craft, and reveals a deep emotional complexity. She addresses sadness, mourning, trauma, and individual suffering metaphorically through the natural world, mythology, autobiographical events, or universal truths. She is known for alluding to cultural myths and personas in her work, some of which appear in “Gretel in Darkness” through the perspective of young Gretel... Read Gretel in Darkness Summary

Harlem

by Langston Hughes

Publication year 1951

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Future, Race, Justice, Equality, Nation

Tags Lyric Poem, Harlem Renaissance, African American Literature, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Race & Racism, US History, Urban Development

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Highland Mary

by Robert Burns

Publication year 1792

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Love, Grief, Memory, Death, Place

Tags Lyric Poem, Relationships, Grief & Death, Love & Sexuality, British Literature, Romanticism, Age of Enlightenment

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High Windows

by Philip Larkin

Publication year 1974

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Good & Evil, Religion & Spirituality

Tags Narrative Poem, Love & Sexuality, British Literature, World History, Philosophy, Philosophy, Classic Fiction

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Howl

by Allen Ginsberg

Publication year 1956

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Mental Health, Sexual Identity, Justice, Conflict

Tags The Beat Generation, Lyric Poem, Mental Illness, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Social Justice, American Literature, Education, Education, World History, LGBTQ+, Classic Fiction

American Beat-era poet Allen Ginsberg began writing “Howl” as a private recollection for friends, though he later published the long poem in his 1956 book Howl and Other Poems. Also known as “Howl: For Carl Solomon,” the poem cemented Ginsberg’s status as a prophet-poet in the romantic literature vein of Walt Whitman and William Blake (two major influences). “Footnote for Howl,” written in 1955, is the final portion, though it’s not always included with the... Read Howl Summary