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10 Greatest Poems Ever Written

 The Society
 
 January 7, 2016
 
 Culture , Essays , For Educators , Poetry , Popular Poetry Archives
 
202 Comments
by Evan Mantyk

What is poetry? What is great poetry? These poems answer these questions. From least greatest
(10) to greatest greatest (1), the poems in this list are limited to ones originally written in the English
language and which are under 50 lines, excluding poems like Homer’s  Iliad, Edgar Allan Poe’s
“Raven,” Dante Alighieri’s  Divine Comedy, and Lord Byron’s mock epic  Don Juan. Each poem is
followed by some brief analysis. Many good poems and poets had to be left off of this list. In the
comments section below, feel free to make additions or construct your own lists. You can also
submit analyses of classic poetry to submissions@classicalpoets.org. They will be considered for
publication on this website.
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10. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Meaning of the Poem

This poem deals with that big noble question of “How to make a difference in the world?” On first
reading, it tells us that the choice one makes really does matter, ending: “I took the one less traveled
by, / And that has made all the difference.”

A closer reading reveals that the lonely choice that was made earlier by our traveling narrator maybe
wasn’t all that significant since both roads were pretty much the same anyway (“Had warn them
really about the same”) and it is only in the remembering and retelling that it made a difference. We
are left to ponder if the narrator had instead traveled down “The Road Not Taken” might it have also
made a difference as well. In a sense, “The Road Not Taken” tears apart the traditional view of
individualism, which hinges on the importance of choice, as in the case of democracy in general
(choosing a candidate), as well as various constitutional freedoms: choice of religion, choice of
words (freedom of speech), choice of group (freedom of assembly), and choice of source of
information (freedom of press). For example, we might imagine a young man choosing between
being a carpenter or a banker later seeing great significance in his choice to be a banker, but in fact
there was not much in his original decision at all other than a passing fancy. In this, we see the
universality of human beings: the roads leading to carpenter and banker being basically the same
and the carpenter and bankers at the end of them—seeming like individuals who made significant
choices—really being just part of the collective of the human race.

Then is this poem not about the question “How to make a difference in the world?” after all? No. It is
still about this question. The ending is the most clear and striking part. If nothing else, readers are
left with the impression that our narrator, who commands beautiful verse, profound imagery, and
time itself (“ages and ages hence”) puts value on striving to make a difference. The striving is
reconstituted and complicated here in reflection, but our hero wants to make a difference and so
should we. That is why this is a great poem, from a basic or close reading perspective.

 
 9. “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus
(1849-1887)
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Meaning of the Poem

Inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, this sonnet may have the greatest placement
of any English poem. It also has one of the greatest placements in history. Lazarus compares the
Statue of Liberty to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Like
the Statue of Liberty, the Colossus of Rhodes was an enormous god-like statue positioned in a
harbor. Although the Colossus of Rhodes no longer stands, it symbolizes the ancient Greek world
and the greatness of the ancient Greek and Roman civilization, which was lost for a thousand years
to the West, and only fully recovered again during the Renaissance. “The New Colossus” succinctly
crystallizes the connection between the ancient world and America, a modern nation. It’s a
connection that can be seen in the White House and other state and judicial buildings across
America that architecturally mirror ancient Greek and Roman buildings; and in the American political
system that mirrors Athenian Democracy and Roman Republicanism.

In the midst of this vast comparison of the ancient and the American, Lazarus still manages to
clearly render America’s distinct character. It is the can-do spirit of taking those persecuted and poor
from around the world and giving them a new opportunity and hope for the future, what she calls “the
golden door.” It is a uniquely scrappy and compassionate quality that sets Americans apart from the
ancients. The relevance of this poem stretches all the way back to the pilgrims fleeing religious
persecution in Europe to the controversies surrounding modern immigrants from Mexico and the
Middle East. While circumstances today have changed drastically, there is no denying that this open
door was part of what made America great once upon a time. It’s the perfect depiction of this
quintessential Americanness that makes “The New Colossus” also outstanding.