100 Most Famous Poems | DiscoverPoetry.com (2024)

The following is a list of the top 100 most famous poems of all time in the English language. There's always room for debate when creating a "top 100" list, and let's face it, fame is a pretty fickle thing. It changes over time. But that said, we did our best to use available objective data in putting together this ranked list of the 100 most widely recognized and enduring poems ever written. To create this list, the following criteria was used: 1) Only poems that have "stood the test of time" were considered. Therefore, modern poetry of the last century was not included. 2) Each poem's ranking is based on its relative fame within the English language. 3) In order to create more even ground for comparison, we have not included in this list nursery rhymes, or poems whose fame was primarily gained from being set to music.

More Lists of Famous Poems

1. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe Once upon a midnight dreary,While I pondered, weak and weary,
2. Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley I met a traveler from an antique landWho said: 'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
3. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel both
4. Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe It was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by the sea,
5. Invictus by William Ernest Henley Out of the night that covers me,Black as the pit from pole to pole,
6. Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost Nature's first green is gold,Her hardest hue to hold.
7. Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day by William Shakespeare Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
8. O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
9. Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost Whose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though;
10. No Man is an Island by John Donne No man is an island,Entire of itself,
11. Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play
12. Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson Because I could not stop for Death,He kindly stopped for me;
13. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot Let us go then, you and I,When the evening is spread out against the sky
14. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hills,
15. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge It is an ancient Mariner,And he stoppeth one of three.
16. Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Listen, my children, and you shall hearOf the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
17. If— by Rudyard Kipling If you can keep your head when all about youAre losing theirs and blaming it on you,
18. Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge “In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure-dome decree:”
19. In Flanders Fields by John McCrae In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,
20. Hope is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson Hope is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soul,
21. Endymion by John Keats A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:Its loveliness increases; it will never
22. Old Ironsides by Oliver Wendell Holmes Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!Long has it waved on high,
23. Sonnet 43: How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrett Browning How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
24. She Walks in Beauty by George Gordon, Lord Byron She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;
25. Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold The sea is calm tonight.The tide is full, the moon lies fair
26. The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson Half a league, half a league,Half a league onward,
27. Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant To him who in the love of nature holdsCommunion with her visible forms, she speaks
28. Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
29. Fire and Ice by Robert Frost Some say the world will end in fire,Some say in ice.
30. The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson On either side the river lieLong fields of barley and of rye,
31. John Barleycorn by Robert Burns There was three kings into the east,Three kings both great and high,
32. The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.
33. The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
34. The World is Too Much With Us by William Wordsworth The world is too much with us; late and soon,Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
35. Mending Wall by Robert Frost Something there is that doesn't love a wall,That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
36. The Sun Rising by John Donne Busy old fool, unruly sun,Why dost thou thus,
37. Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness painsMy sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
38. We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar We wear the mask that grins and lies,It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
39. A Dream Within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe Take this kiss upon the brow!And, in parting from you now,
40. The Tyger by William Blake Tyger Tyger, burning bright,In the forests of the night;
41. See It Through by Edgar Albert Guest When you’re up against a trouble,Meet it squarely, face to face;
42. I heard a Fly buzz when I died by Emily Dickinson I heard a Fly buzz when I died;The stillness round my form
43. Ode to the West Wind by Percy Bysshe Shelley O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
44. The Wreck of the Hesperus by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow It was the schooner Hesperus,That sailed the wintry sea;
45. The Passionate Shepherd To His Love by Christopher Marlowe Come live with me and be my love,And we will all the pleasures prove,
46. Song: to Celia by Ben Jonson Drink to me only with thine eyes,And I will pledge with mine;
47. The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service There are strange things done in the midnight sunBy the men who moil for gold;
48. Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost I have been one acquainted with the night.I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
49. To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet If ever two were one, then surely we.If ever man were loved by wife, than thee;
50. Crossing the Bar by Alfred, Lord Tennyson Sunset and evening star,And one clear call for me!
51. I felt a funeral in my brain by Emily Dickinson I felt a funeral in my brainAnd mourners, to and fro,
52. A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman A noiseless patient spider,I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
53. When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be by John Keats When I have fears that I may cease to beBefore my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
54. Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes by William Shakespeare When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast state,
55. A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Tell me not, in mournful numbers,Life is but an empty dream!
56. The Soldier by Rupert Brooke If I should die, think only this of me:That there’s some corner of a foreign field
57. Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar I know what the caged bird feels, alas!When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
58. Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud by John Donne Death, be not proud, though some have called theeMighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
59. Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson It little profits that an idle king,By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
60. A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns O my Luve is like a red, red roseThat’s newly sprung in June;
61. Much madness is divinest sense by Emily Dickinson Much Madness is divinest SenseTo a discerning eye;
62. Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,The lowing herd winds slowly o’er the lea,
63. A Poison Tree by William Blake I was angry with my friend;I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
64. To a Mouse by Robert Burns Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie,O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
65. Success is counted sweetest by Emily Dickinson Success is counted sweetestBy those who ne'er succeed.
66. Birches by Robert Frost When I see birches bend to left and rightAcross the lines of straighter darker trees,
67. Love and Friendship by Emily Brontë Love is like the wild rose-briar,Friendship like the holly-tree—
68. Love’s Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,
69. When I consider how my light is spent by John Milton When I consider how my light is spent,Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
70. Snow-Bound by John Greenleaf Whittier The sun that brief December dayRose cheerless over hills of gray,
71. A Valentine by Edgar Allan Poe For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes,Brightly expressive as the twins of Loeda,
72. My life had stood — a loaded gun by Emily Dickinson My life had stood — a loaded gun —In Corners — till a Day
73. To Autumn by John Keats Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
74. I Have a Rendezvous with Death by Alan Seeger I have a rendezvous with DeathAt some disputed barricade
75. Auguries of Innocence by William Blake To see a world in a grain of sand,And a heaven in a wild flower,
76. Love’s Secret by Percy William Blake Never seek to tell thy love,Love that never told can be;
77. Horatius at the Bridge by Thomas Babington Macaulay Lars Porsena of Clusium,By the Nine Gods he swore
78. Abou Ben Adhem by Leigh Hunt Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
79. Tell all the truth but tell it slant by Emily Dickinson Tell all the truth but tell it slant —Success in Circuit lies
80. The Village Blacksmith by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Under a spreading chestnut-treeThe village smithy stands;
81. Good Timber by Douglas Malloch The tree that never had to fightFor sun and sky and air and light,
82. My Heart Leaps Up by William Wordsworth My heart leaps up when I beholdA rainbow in the sky:
83. The Destruction of Sennacherib by Lord Byron The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
84. Trees by Joyce Kilmer I think that I shall never seeA poem lovely as a tree.
85. The Hayloft by Robert Louis Stevenson Through all the pleasant meadow-sideThe grass grew shoulder-high,
86. Who Has Seen the Wind? by Christina Rossetti Who has seen the wind?Neither I nor you;
87. Frost at Midnight by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The frost performs its secret ministry,Unhelped by any wind. The owlet’s cry
88. All the world's a stage by William Shakespeare All the world’s a stage,And all the men and women merely players;
89. A bird came down the walk by Emily Dickinson A bird came down the walk:He did not know I saw;
90. Pioneers! O Pioneers! by Walt Whitman Come, my tan-faced children,Follow well in order, get your weapons ready;
91. Alone by Edgar Allan Poe From childhood’s hour I have not beenAs others were—I have not seen
92. I'm nobody! Who are you? by Emily Dickinson I'm nobody! Who are you?Are you nobody, too?
93. The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,Sails the unshadowed main,—
94. Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson By the rude bridge that arched the flood,Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
95. Remember by Christina Rossetti Remember me when I am gone away,Gone far away into the silent land;
96. Sea Fever by John Masefield I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
97. Fog by Carl Sandburg The fog comeson little cat feet.
98. When We Two Parted by George Gordon, Lord Byron When we two partedIn silence and tears,
99. The Night Has a Thousand Eyes by Francis William Bourdillon The night has a thousand eyes,And the day but one;
100. Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms by Thomas Moore Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,Which I gaze on so fondly to-day,