It’s that time of the week! I’m linking up again with Heather of Mama Knows, Honeychild to bring you five of my favorites. This week I’m sharing five of my favorite poems, which may be intensely boring to many (most?) of you, but I’m an English major so you are just going to have to put up with me. (Alternatively, if you are a literary snob, you will probably sneer at my choices for being too conventional.)
In no particular order:
1. The Daffodils by William Wordsworth
Daffodils are my favorite flower and always have been. Thanks to the beautification efforts of Lady Bird Johnson, our nation’s capital is covered in them in season. My roommate and I decided to memorize this poem while one of our long walks, inspired by sights like this:

I still know it by heart and could copy it out here for you, but instead I will give you a link.
2. The Master Speed by Robert Frost
You’ve probably never heard of this one. I looked it up after seeing a phrase from it used to title a book on marriage (Frost wrote it on the occasion of a wedding). And later it inspired me to write this story.
No speed of wind or water rushing by
But you have speed far greater. You can climb
Back up a stream of radiance to the sky,
And back through history up the stream of time.
And you were given this swiftness, not for haste
Nor chiefly that you may go where you will,
But in the rush of everything to waste,
That you may have the power of standing still-
Off any still or moving thing you say.
Two such as you with such a master speed
Cannot be parted nor be swept away
From one another once you are agreed
That life is only life forevermore
Together wing to wing and oar to oar
3. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
This one really needs no explanation. I used to know it almost by heart, because Jake and Teddy loved me to read it aloud to them when they were little. I love the rhyme and rhythm (“and the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain . . .”), and the depiction of endless depression makes my heart ache: “and my soul from out that shadow . . . shall be lifted–nevermore.” Read the whole thing here.
4. Remember by Christina Rossetti
Here’s another one I know by heart. I can’t remember how I discovered it, but I find it to be a lovely reflection on grief and healing. It’s repeated in full in this post.
5. Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
This is much less sentimental than my other choices, but I just love the way it sounds. I don’t know the whole thing by heart, but I wish I did. We had to write a paper analyzing this poem in my Sophomore Honors English class. This led to one of my most embarrassing moments ever in school when one of my friends told the professor that I had a very interesting interpretation, and I had to explain in front of everyone the sexual imagery I found in the poem.
What’s your favorite poem? Tell me in the comments! And don’t forget to check out the rest of the Five Favorites here.
It’s been a long time since I’ve read The Raven. It’s terribly grim – but the language! So vivid and expressive and poetic! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
🙂 I know! And it’s especially fun to read aloud.
I love these poems! Thanks for linking up to Quote Me Thursday!
Glad you like them and thank you so much for hosting. 🙂