Famous Sad Poems - Page 2

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  1. 21. Sympathy

    Paul Laurence Dunbar worked at the Library of Congress for slightly over a year from September 1897-December 1898. He was the first poet to give a poetry reading at the Library of Congress. During his time working there, he was inspired to write “Sympathy,” which was published the following year in a poetry collection. Paul Laurence Dunbar suffered from tuberculosis. Dealing with the dust of books in a hot and confined space negatively impacted his health. It made him feel like a bird stuck in a cage, calling out to be free to enjoy the wind, the grass, and the river. However, “Sympathy” also has a deeper symbolism of the oppression of African American people. Maya Angelou used the last line of this poem as the title of her bestselling autobiography.

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    I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
    When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
    When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
    And the river flows like a stream of glass;

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    If Paul Laurence Dunbar were still here on earth, I'd tell him how wonderful those words were in his poem called Sympathy. A bird needs to feel the wind beneath its wings, for the freedom...

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  3. 22. Windows

    You’ve probably heard the saying, “The grass is greener on the other side.” This poem captures that sentiment. Often, we look longingly at what others have while looking down on what is ours. The irony is that others see such beauty in what we have.

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    I looked through others' windows
    On an enchanted earth,
    But out of my own window-
    Solitude and dearth.

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  5. 23. Richard Cory

    A narrative poem, "Richard Cory" was first published in 1897, as part of The Children of the Night. It is one of Robinson's most popular and published poems. The poem describes a person who is wealthy, well-educated, mannerly, and admired by the people in his town. Despite all this, he takes his own life.

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    Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
    We people on the pavement looked at him:
    He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
    Clean favored, and imperially slim.

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    I read this poem as one of the mandatory literary pieces while in High School. Even at that tender age something about the absurdity of life struck me and it continued to haunt me. I tried to...

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  6. 24. I Sit And Look Out

    “I Sit and Look Out” captures the corruption of the world. Walt Whitman, an influential American poet, lived in the 1800s, a time that saw things like political slander, Trail of Tears, slavery, and the Civil War. In this poem, the speaker is merely an onlooker, not someone to get involved in all these negative affairs of society. However, readers might be inspired to do their part to create a positive influence on the world that will lessen the destruction.

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    I SIT and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all
            oppression and shame;
    I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with
            themselves, remorseful after deeds done;

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  7. 25. I Measure Every Grief I Meet

    In this poem, the speaker compares her grief to the grief of those around her. She talks about the different types of grief and tries to make this emotion tangible. Emily Dickinson’s poems have consistent components, and this poem follows many of them: dashes, capitals in the middle of lines, and four-line stanzas.

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    I measure every Grief I meet
    With narrow, probing, eyes –
    I wonder if It weighs like Mine –
    Or has an Easier size.

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    Penny, you are so right to be honest and tell it like it is for you because that's how I feel as well. It's ok not to be ok. My daughter died on May 23, 2019, of a drug overdose. She had...

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  8. 26. A Hero

    Robert William Service was a British-Canadian author who lived from 1874-1958. He spent much of his early career years as a banker, but his dream was to be a cowboy. This poem shows the dark side of a person, someone who wishes to kill another, and in the end decides it's better to kill himself.

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    Three times I had the lust to kill,
    To clutch a throat so young and fair,
    And squeeze with all my might until
    No breath of being lingered there.

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    Very well written but a very disturbing situation. Powerful and powerfully sad.

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  9. 27. The New Moon

    In Sara Teasdale's "The New Moon," the poet reflects on a day of hardship and struggle. Through the use of vivid imagery and personification, the poem portrays the day as a force that has physically and emotionally wounded her. However, amidst the bleakness, the poet discovers a glimmer of hope in the form of a delicate new moon. This celestial presence, described as a "maiden moon," brings beauty and inspiration, challenging bitterness and despair. Teasdale's skillful use of contrast and the moon's symbolism creates a sense of resilience and the power of finding solace in moments of darkness.

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    Day, you have bruised and beaten me,
    As rain beats down the bright, proud sea,
    Beaten my body, bruised my soul,
    Left me nothing lovely or whole—

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  10. 28. The Door

    In Jessie B. Rittenhouse's poignant poem "The Door," the poet employs metaphor and symbolism to convey a sense of missed opportunities and regret. The "door" represents a path or chance that was always available but overlooked in favor of less accessible ones. The "gust of wind" symbolizing the sudden and uncontrollable forces that close off these opportunities, leaving the speaker in darkness. The poem's simple yet powerful imagery encapsulates the universal experience of realizing too late the value of what was once within reach.

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    There was a door stood long ajar
    That one had left for me,
    While I went trying other doors
    To which I had no key.

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  11. 29. One Art

    Possibly her most famous poem, Elizabeth Bishop's,"One Art" is a villanelle, a 6 stanza poem that consists of five tercets (3 line stanzas), and one concluding quatrain (4 line stanza). For more about this challenging poetry form see How To Write a Villanelle.
    This poem is about loss and starts off light with a touch of humor, but loss is certainly not a humorous topic and as the stanzas go on the losses mount. Losing our most precious possessions, our friends and loved ones is a most difficult burden. Bishop lost both her parents as a child. Her father died when she was an infant and her mother was committed to an Insane Asylum when she was five. She never saw her mother again and grew up in the homes of various relatives.

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    The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
    so many things seem filled with the intent
    to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

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  12. 30. Circus In Three Rings

    Sylvia Plath was an American poet who lived from 1932-1963. Sylvia’s dad died during her childhood, and her husband left her for another woman. She experienced heartbreak and depression that ultimately led to her commit suicide at the age of 30. Her poetry was raw and honest, which can be seen in the chaos she captures in this poem. First published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1955, the hurricane mentioned in the poem could be compared to the personal struggles that swirled inside of her.

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    In the circus tent of a hurricane
    designed by a drunken god
    my extravagant heart blows up again
    in a rampage of champagne-colored rain

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  13. 31. When I Have Fears

    In this poem, John Keats (1795-1821) shares the fear of dying before accomplishing all he set out to do or finding the love he desires. We all have different things we want to achieve in life, and we don’t know how much time we will have to do them. Keats and his parents all died at a young age. Even though John Keats died at the age of 25, he had an incredible poetry career.

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    When I have fears that I may cease to be
    Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
    Before high-pilèd books, in charactery,
    Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;

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    My brief thoughts on what I believe makes this poem a Classic. We all want to make and leave a mark in life. We all have anxiety. I want to fear not life or death but take the chance called...

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  14. 32. Mirror

    Sylvia Plath was an American author and poet who lived from 1932-1963. She was a driven person, and she graduated summa cum laude from Smith College in 1955. Despite her success, Plath struggled with depression, and committed suicide in 1963. This poem shows the struggle a woman has with her identity as she grows older and begins to lose her youthfulness. It also uses personification by giving human characteristics to the mirror.

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    I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
    Whatever I see I swallow immediately
    Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
    I am not cruel, only truthful,

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    A mirror never lies. It shows what is what exactly. Just as Plath writes: "I am silver and exact". The truth of our mortality is what we keep on negating and the speaker too finds it hard to...

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  15. 33. An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was an Irish poet. This poem was written in 1918, near the end of World War I, and published the following year. In it, the speaker is coming to terms with the reality that he could die in the war. The speaker shares that the war will not make life better or worse. William Butler Yeats was highly involved in Ireland's politics, but the speaker of this poem did not fight in the war for political reasons. Instead, it was an “impulse of delight.” This poem does not have any stanza breaks, but it does follow the ABAB rhyme scheme.

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    I know that I shall meet my fate
    Somewhere among the clouds above;
    Those that I fight I do not hate,
    Those that I guard I do not love;

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  16. 34. Acquainted With The Night

    “Acquainted With The Night” was published in 1928. It has themes of sadness and isolation. The narrator avoids contact with people and tries to escape his despair. The narrator doesn’t want to let anyone in, which continues his cycle of loneliness. Robert Frost himself was familiar with despair. At the time of writing this poem, he had already lost two children. Two more of his six children would pass away before him in later years. This poem includes symbols such as night (depression) and the moon (hope). It’s written as a “terza rima,” which is a poem made up of tercets (three-line stanzas). Within those stanzas, the ending word of the second line sets up the rhyme of the first and third lines of the next stanza.

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    I have been one acquainted with the night.
    I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
    I have outwalked the furthest city light.

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    Each word of the poem is uttering its deep pain in the darkness of night. Highly weighted poem like any other poem of him. Only the one who has gone through this sea of sorrow can understand...

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  17. 35. On Another's Sorrow

    This poem was published in Songs of Innocence in 1789. The innocence suggested within the poem is that sympathy alone can comfort and heal.

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    Can I see another's woe,
    And not be in sorrow too?
    Can I see another's grief,
    And not seek for kind relief?

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    A soulful poem. Sometimes or many times for some people it's the "going through" the sorrows that make life worth living. A hard way to learn a life lesson, but it often turns out better than...

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  18. 36. Fire And Ice

    A poem about the end of days, when the world will end by either fire or ice. "Fire and Ice" is one of Robert Frost's most popular poems. It was first published in 1920 in Harper's Magazine.

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    Some say the world will end in fire,
    Some say in ice.
    From what I've tasted of desire
    I hold with those who favor fire.

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    Robert Frost is a poet of great repute. It is not within our jurisdiction to comment on such a literary giant. However, in view of your invitation, I would say that he might have been in...

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  19. 37. After Auschwitz

    Anne Sexton's poem "After Auschwitz" is a powerful emotional response to the Holocaust and slaughter of 6 million innocent Jewish men, women and children.. The speaker expresses anger towards the atrocities committed and questions why death doesn't seem to take those who deserve it. She condemns the men responsible for the Holocaust and suggests that all humanity must now bear guilt. For the depravity that the Nazis exhibited, demonstrated that all of us are capable of the same and that is a burden humanity must forever bear.

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    Anger,
    as black as a hook,
    overtakes me.
    Each day,

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  20. 38. Miss Rosie

    Lucille Clifton was an American poet who lived from 1936-2010. Many of her poems show a theme of having strength through adversity. In this poem, a passerby finds Miss Rosie along the street, and she hurls insult after insult at the homeless lady. But this old lady used to be the most beautiful lady in all of Georgia. The last line of the poem changes the tone that was used at the beginning.

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    when I watch you
    wrapped up like garbage
    sitting, surrounded by the smell
    of too old potato peels

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  21. 39. Does It Matter?

    Siegfried Sassoon's "Does it Matter?" uses a biting tone to expose the societal disconnect from the realities of war. Through a series of rhetorical questions about the impact of severe injuries, the poem presents a sarcastic view of how society might respond. Dismissive suggestions of "kindness" and "splendid work" for the wounded highlight the lack of true understanding for the physical and mental scars soldiers carry. The poem challenges readers to confront the true cost of war and question if society truly values the sacrifices made by veterans.

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    Does it matter?—losing your leg? . . .
    For people will always be kind,
    And you need not show that you mind
    When the others come in after hunting

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  22. 40. Suicide In The Trenches

    Siegfried Sassoon's "Suicide in the Trenches" paints a grim picture of war's toll on a young soldier. The poem starts with a joyful pre-war life, but the cheerful facade crumbles as the soldier faces the harsh realities of the trenches. The juxtaposition between his carefree past and his ultimate suicide in the trenches is a powerful indictment of war. The final lines, addressing the ignorant civilians who glorify war, leave a stinging criticism, urging them to confront the true cost of conflict.

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    I knew a simple soldier boy
    Who grinned at life in empty joy,
    Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
    And whistled early with the lark.

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