By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
In the early 1580s, Sir Philip Sidney wrote An Apology for Poetry; he was using the word ‘apology’ in its older sense of ‘defence’ or ‘argument for’, but there are a number of classic poems which take apologies, and saying sorry, as their (loose) theme. Here are ten of the very best ‘sorry’ poems, whether they find the poet saying sorry for doing something, or expressing sorrow over something regrettable or unfortunate.