swap_horiz Ithaka Alternatives

1

The Waste Land

T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” published in 1922, is a significant modernist poem exploring the disillusionment followin...

Lyric Modernist Classroom Poem

9.9 Brilliant

2

The Second Coming

W.B. Yeats’ “The Second Coming” is a seminal modernist poem published in 1919. It explores themes of societal collapse a...

Lyric Modernist Classroom Poem

9.7 Brilliant

3

Song of Myself

Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is an expansive 1855 poem central to American literary history. It's notable for its inn...

Lyric Epic 19TH Century Poem

9.7 Brilliant

4

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” examines a speaker contemplating a choice between similar paths in a wood. Published...

Lyric Modernist Classroom Poem

9.6 Brilliant

5

Sailing to Byzantium

W.B. Yeats’ “Sailing to Byzantium” is a 1928 lyric poem examining themes of aging and artistic aspiration. The work cont...

Lyric Philosophical Modernist Poem

9.6 Brilliant

6

Kubla Khan

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Kubla Khan explores themes of imagination and the subconscious through a vivid, dreamlike narr...

Lyric Romantic Classroom Poem

9.5 Brilliant

7

Because I could not stop for Death

Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” explores themes of mortality through a carefully constructed meta...

Lyric 19TH Century Classroom Dickinson

9.5 Brilliant

8

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is a renowned lyric poem published in 1923. It portrays a traveler...

Lyric Modernist Classroom Poem

9.4 Excellent

9

Fern Hill

Dylan Thomas’s ‘Fern Hill’ is a 1945 poem exploring the idyllic experiences of childhood on a Welsh farm. It uses rich i...

Nature Lyric Modernist Poem

9.4 Excellent

10

The Tyger

William Blake’s “The Tyger” explores profound questions about creation and destruction through vivid imagery. Published...

Lyric Romantic Classroom Poem

9.4 Excellent

11

Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey

William Wordsworth’s “Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” explores the profound connection between individual...

Nature Lyric Romantic Poem

9.4 Excellent

12

Dover Beach

Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” is a powerful lyric poem from 1867 exploring themes of loss and uncertainty. Set against...

Lyric Victorian Classroom Poem

9.4 Excellent

13

Howl

Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” is a landmark 1956 poem central to the Beat Generation. It powerfully critiques mainstream Ameri...

Lyric Classroom Poem Beat Generation

9.4 Excellent

14

Auld Lang Syne

“Auld Lang Syne,” penned by Robert Burns in 1788, is a Scottish poem exploring themes of memory and friendship. Its endu...

Lyric 18TH Century Ceremonial Poem

9.4 Excellent

15

To His Coy Mistress

Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” is a 17th-century lyric poem exploring themes of time and desire. The work utiliz...

Lyric Marvell 17TH Century Metaphysical

9.3 Excellent

16

Harlem (A Dream Deferred)

Langston Hughes’ “Harlem (A Dream Deferred)” explores the consequences of unrealized aspirations. The poem utilizes powe...

Lyric Harlem Renaissance Classroom Poem

9.3 Excellent

17

Goblin Market

Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market is a Victorian narrative poem exploring themes of temptation and sacrifice. The work...

Lyric Narrative Victorian Poem

9.3 Excellent

18

Aubade

“Aubade” is a contemporary lyric poem by Philip Larkin exploring themes of mortality and anxiety. Written in 1977, it’s...

Lyric Contemporary Philosophical Poem

9.3 Excellent

19

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam presents a sequence of fourteen rhyming couplets originally written by the 11th-century Per...

Lyric 19TH Century Philosophical Poem

9.2 Excellent

20

Desiderata

Max Ehrmann's 1927 American prose poem offering philosophical life advice, which became widely known after a 1956 reprin...

Inspirational Lyric 20TH Century Poem

8.3 Great