6 poems everyone should know

1. “Sonnet 116” – Shakespeare

No list of poetry would be complete without Shakespeare and this sonnet is perhaps his most beautiful of all. In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare describes what true love is. Though the lovers may grow old, love itself never fails. He writes: “love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove.” If you want to be reminded about the true nature of love and hear some beautiful Shakespearean poetry, Sonnet 116 is for you!

2. “Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening” – Robert Frost

One of Frost’s most famous poems, this poem is as shallow or as deep as you like. At first glance it is a beautiful poem depicting the silence of a snowy wood. Looking deeper, the forest becomes a temptation, and the poem transforms into a celebration of the self-control of the speaker who has “promises to keep / And miles to go before I sleep, / And miles to go before I sleep.”

3. “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning” – John Dunne

This poem was written by John Dunne when he was going on a long journey. He encourages his wife not to be sad at the loss, because he will always be reunited with her. Dunne uses a beautiful analogy of two legs on a compass which always return. He writes: “Thy firmness makes my circle just, / And makes me end where I begun.” It is a beautiful poem of faithfulness and marriage.

4. “A Psalm of Life” – William Wordsworth

Do you ever want to be reinspired to live life to the fullest? This poem by William Wordsworth will remind you of the goodness of life and its beauty. Not only that, but he writes about the immortality of the soul, that life goes on after death. He writes: “Life is real! Life is earnest! / And the grave is not its goal; / Dust thou art, to dust returnest, / Was not spoken of the soul.”

5. If– – Rudyard Kipling

This poem is perfect for parents to read to their sons. It has a list of all that a boy needs to live a virtuous life and become a man — though it certainly applies for women as well. The list includes a series of “If” statements including: “If you can dream — and not make dreams your master; If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same…” 

6. As Kingfishers Catch Fire – Gerard Manley Hopkins

This beautiful poem is by the Jesuit priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. Channelling the cadence and rhythms of poems like Beowulf, Hopkins points to all the ways in which God shines through his creation. He writes: “Christ plays in ten thousand places, / Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his / To the Father through the features of men’s faces.”