By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Pain can take many forms: it might be acute physical pain, or emotional pain (heartache, for instance, or what Hamlet calls ‘the pangs of despised love’), or a more psychological form of hurting. Poets, never ones to shy away from the grief and torment that love and other things can provoke, have often written powerfully about pain of all kinds, so below we introduce ten of the best poems about hurt and pain.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Discoveries can take many forms: an explorer discovering a new land, an astronomer discovering a whole new planet or galaxy, or a poet discovering the truth about love, nature, or even, for that matter, truth itself.
The following ten poems are our pick of the best ‘discovery’ poems: poems which are about people discovering things, or something about the world in some way. They range from metaphysical poems about settlers arriving on a new island to Romantic poems about discovering the joys of reading classical poetry in translation. We hope you enjoy them.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Poetry can be used to say all sorts of things which affect us deeply: the love we feel for that special someone, or the gratitude we hold for someone who has been there and supported us. And so poems for best friends – best friends forever or ‘BFF’ in particular – are especially useful when we wish to reach out and tell our closest friends just how much they mean to us.
Below, we select and introduce ten of the very best poems about best friends: poems which are ideal to share with that special ‘best friend forever’.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
What are the best poems about progress – whether they celebrate progress, call for things to improve in the world, or focus on specific examples of social change and reform?
Below, we introduce ten of the best poems which deal with social and political progress of various kinds. These poems belong to different literary periods and are written by poets from various countries, but they are all united by their focus on the power of social change as a tool for good.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Love poetry’ is a wide and varied thing, but perhaps of all the loves in the world, the purest and most valuable is unconditional love: love given without expectation of reciprocity, love that will endure no matter what.
But what are the best poems about this unconditional love which age cannot wither? Below, we introduce ten of the greatest poems which embody, pay tribute to, and explore the strong and rare bond which is unconditional love, whether the love given by a parent to a child, or to a beloved who will never return that affection.