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25 Beautiful Short Poems by Famous Poets from Various Eras

Poetry has been the lifeblood of art since the earliest days of civilization, passed on through folklore and myth. The Greeks had the great Sun God Apollo, a master of music and poetry. The Norse Gods spit to life Kvasir, the bard whose blood became the mead of poetry, enabling all who drink it to create beautiful lyrical lines. And who could forget Cacophonix, the bard from the Adventures of Asterix! 

Poets were, in fact, the tellers of these great legends and folktales, and not just key players in them. From Homer’s Iliad to Dante Alighieri's Inferno, epics ballads have made their way across borders and languages, giving us all gripping tales and captivating terms to sink our teeth into. The world of poetry continued and continues to develop, with artists like Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, and Maya Angelou. Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken is still among the most well known in the world. Of course, while these epic and endless verses are absolutely incredible, the poems that truly stick with you are the short and sweet ones. Famous poets like Robert Frost and Shel Silverstein wrote poems of every length imaginable, as long as 20 verses and as short as 2. These are a few quick but lovely poems that you can carry with you wherever you go.  

1. Winter Morning Poem

By Ogden Nash

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, Winter Morning Poem, By Ogden Nash

Winter is the king of showmen,
Turning tree stumps into snowmen
And houses into birthday cakes
And spreading sugar over lakes.
Smooth and clean and frosty white,
The world looks good enough to bite.
That's the season to be young,
Catching snowflakes on your tongue!
Snow is snowy when it's snowing.
I'm sorry it's slushy when it's going

2. The Rainbow

By Christina Rossetti

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, The Rainbow, By Christina Rossetti

Boats sail on the rivers,
And ships sail on the seas;
But clouds that sail across the sky
Are prettier far than these.
There are bridges on the rivers,
As pretty as you please;
But the bow that bridges heaven,
And overtops the trees,
And builds a road from earth to sky,
Is prettier far than these.

3. I Shall Not Care

By Sara Teasdale 

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, I Shall Not Care, By Sara Teasdale

When I am dead and over me bright April
Shakes out her rain-drenched hair,
Tho' you should lean above me broken-hearted,
I shall not care.
I shall have peace, as leafy trees are peaceful
When rain bends down the bough,
And I shall be more silent and cold-hearted
Than you are now.

4. Nothing Gold Can Stay 

By Robert Frost

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, Nothing Gold Can Stay, By Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

5. If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking 

By Emily Dickinson 

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking, By Emily Dickinson

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

6. The Eagle

By Alfred Tennyson

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, The Eagle, By Alfred Tennyson

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

7. Fog

By Carl Sandburg

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, Fog, By Carl Sandburg

The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

8. Snowball 

By Shel Silverstein 

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, Snowball, By Shel Silverstein

I made myself a snowball
As perfect as could be.
I thought I'd keep it as a pet
And let it sleep with me.
I made it some pajamas
And a pillow for its head.
Then last night it ran away,
But first it wet the bed.

9. Ebb

By Edna St. Vincent Millay

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, Ebb, By Edna St. Vincent Millay

I know what my heart is like
Since your love died:
It is like a hollow ledge
Holding a little pool
Left there by the tide,
A little tepid pool,
Drying inward from the edge

10. Risk

By Anaïs Nin 

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, Risk, By Anaïs Nin

And then the day came,
when the risk
to remain tight
in a bud
was more painful
than the risk
it took
to Blossom. 

11. My Life Has Been The Poem

By Henry David Thoreau 

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, My Life Has Been The Poem, By Henry David Thoreau

My life has been the poem
I would have writ,
But I could not both live
and utter it.
 

12. The Sick Rose 

By William Blake 

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, The Sick Rose, By William Blake

O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm: 
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

13. A Girl 

By Ezra Pound 

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, A Girl, By Ezra Pound

The tree has entered my hands,
The sap has ascended my arms,
The tree has grown 
in my breast-Downward,
The branches grow out of me, like arms.
Tree you are,
Moss you are,
You are violets with wind above them.
A child - so high - you are,
And all this is folly to the world. 

14. An Evening 

By Gwendolyn Brooks

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, An Evening, By Gwendolyn Brooks

A sunset's mounded cloud;
A diamond evening-star;
Sad blue hills afar;
Love in his shroud.
Scarcely a tear to shed;
Hardly a word to say;
The end of a summer day;
Sweet Love dead.

15. Dreams 

By Langston Hughes 

Beautiful Short Poems by famous and brilliant poets and authors, Dreams, By Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow

16. Trees

By Joyce Kilmer
Short Poems Joyce Kilmer – Trees
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree

17. Love Is a Place

By E.E. Cummings

Short Poems Love Is A Place” by E.E. Cummings

Love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places

yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds

18. Nothing Gold Can Stay

By Robert Frost

Short Poems Nothing Gold Can Stay  By Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay

19. Hope Is the Thing with Feathers

By Emily Dickinson

Short Poems Hope Is the Thing with Feathers – Emily Dickinson
‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers —
That perches in the soul —
And sings the tune without the words —
And never stops — at all —
And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard —
And sore must be the storm —
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm —
I’ve heard it in the chillest land —
And on the strangest Sea —
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb — of Me

20. So Tired Blues

By Langston Hughes

Short Poems So Tired Blues – Langston Hughes
With the sun in my hand
Gonna throw the sun
Way across the land – 
Cause I’m tired,
Tired as I can be

21. Eight O’Clock

By Sarah Teasdale

Short Poems Eight O’Clock – Sarah Teasdale

Supper comes at five o’clock,
At six, the evening star,
My lover comes at eight o’clock—
But eight o’clock is far.

How could I bear my pain all day
Unless I watched to see
The clock-hands laboring to bring
Eight o’clock to me

22. Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

By Mary Elizabeth Frye

Short Poems Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep – Mary Elizabeth Frye
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die

23. Who Has Seen the Wind?

By Christina Rosetti

Short Poems Who Has Seen the Wind? – Christina Rosetti

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by

24. Hug O' War

By Shel Silverstein

Short Poems Hug O' War – Shel Silverstein
I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins

25. How to Get There

By Leunig

Short Poems How to Get There By Leunig
Go to the end of the path until you get to the gate.
Go through the gate and head straight out towards the horizon.
Keep going towards the horizon.
Sit down and have a rest every now and again,
But keep on going, just keep on with it.
Keep on going as far as you can.
That’s how you get there
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