By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Previously, we selected ten poems about fire, but what about fire’s elemental opposite? What are the best poems about ice and icy things, whether the poem deals in literal ice and icy landscapes, or in ice as a metaphor for extreme coldness of some kind?
Below, we select and introduce ten of the greatest icy poems, ranging from the Renaissance to the present day.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
A ‘quest’ is defined by the OED as ‘A search or pursuit in order to find something; the action of searching’. Poets have often used the quest motif to discuss all manner of subjects, from religion to nobility to that most important thing, the quest we as individuals take to find ourselves.
The following poems are some of the best quest poems ever written: they range from long narrative poems to short lyrics, from medieval poems to contemporary works. They represent different kinds of quest, but are united by their stirring focus on the important of searching for, and pursuing, something that matters.
Conversion and redemption are both important aspects of religion, and these terms can also be useful in other, more secular realms. What does it mean to be redeemed? How can religion, or some other force, offer us a second chance?
The following poems explore the issues of conversion and redemption in different ways, dating from the ninth century right through to the twentieth.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Previously, we picked ten of the best poems about flowers, to create a kind of anthology: the word ‘anthology’ stemming, we might recall, from the Greek for ‘collection of flowers’. Now, it’s the turn of that most emblematic flower: the rose. Roses are a common feature of love poetry, and are often associated with romance and beauty.
But what else have poets uses roses to represent? This selection of ten of the best rosy poems provides some idea …
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Poets often write about fate and how the world around us seems governed by some kind of Providence: we can call it God or destiny or merely a sense that things seem predetermined, whether because of our own unconscious drives or desires or because of a concatenation of circumstances which make certain things – falling in love, meeting the right person, landing the right job – seem inevitable.