Poem Guides

A contemporary take on an ancient Arabic form.

Did the poems of this 18th-century poet prefigure modern hip-hop rivalries?

Ezra Pound thought she ruined imagism, but her erotic lyricism turned it into a style all her own.

Anne Bradstreet became a cultural icon for speaking out. Anne Hutchinson was banished.

Are these pieces translations, inventions, or interventions that add to a story that has been lost to us?

How poetry became the 18th century’s social media network.

The impersonal power of a confessional classic.

A melancholy medieval rent collector’s sorrows, scribbled on the back of a legal document

A madcap fracas! Law and dastards clash! All As!

The ambassador of South American surrealism.

A poet anticipates the contemporary narrative lyric—and her own unfortunate end.

A poem about death is actually a celebration of life.

Chronicle of a poet's rebirth in his Rust Belt poems.

A Modern poet’s message and her mediums.

An escape leads a young poet to confront her impulses.

What can we assume when we read a poem?

A secret romance made (almost) public.

How the poet devoted 20 years to immortalizing a moment in her classic poem.

The child elegy and the 19th-century poet.

The poet puts her vast imagination on display at the beach.