Clockwise: Nicole Sealey, Ishion Hutchinson, Marilyn Nelson, How Nguyen, Cathy Park Hong, WS Merwin

Sonnets by 11 Contemporary Poets

The name of this fourteen-line poetic form comes from the Italian sonetto, meaning "a little sound or song."
From left to right: Langston Hughes, Robert Hayden, Emily Dickinson, and Beah Richards

Celebrating National Poetry Month

Our best stories about poetry and poems offer free links to poems from contemporary and classic American poets.
Robert Hayden

Robert Hayden’s Relatable Fatigue

There’s a constant attention to the burdens of history in Robert Hayden’s poems. Even amid the beauties of life, the ghosts of the past linger.
Bernadette Mayer

Everyday Life, Revisited—with Bernadette Mayer’s Memory

In the poet’s work, the small and ordinary rise to the level of heroic adventures. If we value human life, then we should value what makes up a life.
Collage of contemporary poets

10 Ekphrastic Poems

Broadly defined, an ekphrastic poem describes another work of art. Here are some by Ocean Vuong, Aziza Barnes, Robert Hayden, Frank O’Hara, Danez Smith, and more.
JSTOR Daily Friday Reads

Marie Howe

Marie Howe has a new collection of poetry out. Get to know the beloved poet with these 7 poems, available for free PDF download.
nature poems orange foliage

Ten Breathtaking Nature Poems

In honor of National Poetry Month, we’ve gathered some of the best nature poems from JSTOR. Including Mary Oliver, Sylvia Plath, Dylan Thomas, and others.
red peony

Seven Favorite Flower Poems

Our editors pick flower poems from Poetry magazine, American Poetry Review, and the Kenyon Review.
Ossian Receiving the Ghosts of Fallen French Heroes, Anne-Louis Girodet, 1805

Ossian, Rude Bard of the North

Ossian once rivaled Homer in the Western literary canon. Whatever happened to him?
Luise Adelgunde Victoria Gottsched

Traduttore, Traditore: Is Translation Ever Really Possible?

Translator, traitor, goes the Italian expression, although something may be lost in the translation.