'To Althea, From Prison' is written by Richard Lovelace in 1642. This is his one of the best known romantic poems which is especially famous for its final stanza's first line; 'Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage.'
The poem 'Sheep in Fog' by Sylvia Plath is a confessional poem about the depression, dissatisfaction, anxiety, and feeling of helplessness of a young lady. 'Sheep in fog' refers to a person who is lost in the mist of confusion, uncertainty and helplessness. The speaker of the poem sees the hills step off into whiteness.
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time published in 1648 in the verse collections 'Hesperiods' by Robert Herrick is probably the best verse to admire the notion of the theme popularly known as Carpe diem. The motto of the Carpe diem theme is life is very short and beautiful, so one must enjoy it to the fullest now and here. This short poem catches the true sentiment of Carpe diem theme.
The poem 'Amnesia' by Adrienne Rich is a feminist poem with the problem of amnesia that every woman suffers in a patriarchal society. Amnesia is the loss of memory due to certain injury or shock or unpleasant experience. But, in the poem Amnesia refers to an unpleasant experience of women who were tortured in a patriarchal society by the males and due to the continuous domination of the males, the women are forced to have amnesia.
In Memory of Radio by the most respected and famous African-American poet Amiri Baraka was first published in Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note in 1961. Written in free verse in conversational style, this poem primarily deals with the ideas of discrimination, technology, imagination, individuality and the poet’s role in the society. Radio has been a symbol of nostalgia or the sense of loss in the poem.
The Thought Fox was first published in Ted Hughes’s poetry collection The Hawk in the Rain in 1957. This poem is his breakthrough which indicates his turn from metaphysical poetry towards mythmaking. This poem is particularly significant for the inclusion of his main themes and stylistic approaches. The poem basically deals with the writing process.
To Speak of Woe that is in Marriage by Robert Lowell is a confessional poem. In this poem, a married woman speaks about the problem of her marital life. She has been betrayed in her love and marriage by her husband. The intoxicated husband drops disputes at his home and hits the streets seeking for prostitutes in a carefree manner, moving along the razor's edge. The crazy man might kill his wife and then take a serious promise. His lust is so monotonous and meanness.
Diving into the Wreck by the American poet Adrienne Rich was first published in her collection Diving into the Wreck in 1973. This poem is one of the significant work of Rich that stand tall in the literature of second wave feminism of the 1960s that lasted for nearly 20 years.
Paradoxes and Oxymorons composed by famous postmodern American poet John Ashbery was written in 1979. It was first published in the Times Literary Supplement and later in his collection of poems Shadow Train in 1981.
Elegy for Jane by Theodore Roethke is an elegy by a teacher on the untimely demise of one of her students; Jane. The girl, Jane, was thrown by a horse, resulting in her untimely demise. It blends the tone of nostalgia, sympathy, love and moral dilemma. The speaker in this poem is the teacher of the dead girl, which shows the reader's curiosity about the nature of the relationship between the victim and the person telling the story.