Poetry can be used to address and explore a range of pressing social issues, and racial prejudice and racial identity are among these topics which poets have written about powerfully, from a range of perspectives. Whether it’s African-American poets writing at the time of the Civil Rights movement in the […]
‘Poetry’ and ‘love’ are almost synonymous in some people’s minds, with the very idea of poetry summoning images of the romantic – hopeless or otherwise – and rather highly-strung soul devoted to the beauty of words and the truth of love. But as well as celebrating being in love, wooing […]
Langston Hughes (1901-67) was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance in New York in the 1920s. Over the course of a varied career he was a novelist, playwright, social activist, and journalist, but it is for his poetry that Hughes is now best-remembered. But what are the best Langston […]
Poetry moves us; it can make us think, see the world in a different way; it can even make us laugh. But can poetry send a shiver down the spine? We think so. Below, we have selected ten of the scariest and most chilling poems. We introduce each of the […]
Poets are often writing about historical events, from wars and battles to key political moments. But what about poets who turn their thoughts to the past and write about not the present day, but history from hundreds of years ago?