Some of the best loved British poetry from over the years

Tags

poetry / literature / writing / auden / shakespeare / britain / gb / uk

Warning
A humorous poem concerning retirement plans!
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If
One of the most popular poems of all time in the UK: Kipling’s tribute to traditional British virtue
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Sonnet CXVI
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds": Shakespeare’s definition of love
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Sonnet XVIII
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?": Shakespeare’s famous love sonnet
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O what is that sound
A ballad of fear and trepidation
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O tell me the truth about love
Light hearted musings on love
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Funeral blues
Auden’s exploration and expression of grief
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The unknown citizen
Auden’s brilliantly satirical epitaph of a man described exclusively from the point of view of government organisations
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Marvell
A collection of some of Andrew Marvell's finest works
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The Owl and the Pussy Cat
Edward Lear’s whimsical childhood classic
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The British
Benjamin Zephaniah sums up British society
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Who's Who
Zephaniah’s take on roles and stereotypes
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SOS (Save Our Sons)
A political comment by Benjamin Zephaniah about the role of race within society
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The Sun Rising
John Donne's lazy, cheeky take on love
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The Flea
Donne’s attempt to seduce his lover using a particularly interesting conceit
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Sonnets from the Portuguese: XLIII
"How do I love thee?": Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s immortal love poem
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Porphyria's Lover
Love, possession, adultery – and murder
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My Last Duchess
Looking at a portrait exposes the duke for the proud, unattractive character he is
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They are all gone into the world of light!
Vaughan’s beautiful, haunting poem regarding his longing for heaven
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Not waving but drowning
Stevie Smith’s famous poem about a misinterpreted plea for help
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I wandered lonely as a cloud
Wordsworth’s famous poem, inspired by daffodils seen during a walk he took with his sister in the Lake District
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The Lady of Shalott
Tennyson’s take on life as an artist: to create art celebrating it or simply live it?
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Do not go gentle into that good night
One of Dylan Thomas’ finest works, as he tries to convince his ailing father to fight against death
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She walks in beauty
Byron’s celebration of the subject’s beauty
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Kubla Khan
The result of an opium-induced dream: a poem about the temperamental nature of inspiration
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Remember
Rossetti’s thoughts on impending separation as the result of death
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I Remember, I Remember
Larkin’s humorous satire of the depiction of a writer’s childhood
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High Windows
The agnostic world view of Philip Larkin
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This be the verse
Larkin’s memorable comment upon parents
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Ted Hughes
A collection of poetry by Ted Hughes
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