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.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning Was Both a Celebrity and a Superfan

As celebrity culture developed in nineteenth-century England, authors were at turns celebrated and celebrators of artists they admired. 
Reprint of engraving by Martin Droeshout

The Artist Behind Shakespeare’s Most Famous Portrait

Though considered a limited artist, Martin Droeshout engraved the only portrait of Shakespeare, which appeared on the cover of the first folio.
Time is money.

It Turns Out Ordinary Life is Full of Poetry (Metaphorically Speaking)

The metaphor isn't just a literary device; it informs our conceptual understanding of language and the world.
Pilot flying an airplane enjoying the view.

The Poetry Up There: An Interview With Skyfaring Author and Pilot Mark Vanhoenacker

Mark Vanhoenacker, pilot and onetime PhD candidate in East African history speaks about Skyfaring, his debut book about aviation.
Credit: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Read the Poems of “Genius” Grant Recipients Ellen Bryant Voigt & Ben Lerner

We've made available two poems each by Ellen Bryant Voigt and Ben Lerner, 2015 recipients of the MacArthur "Genius" Grant.
"Juan felipe ferrera 9150360" by slowking4 - Own work. Licensed under GFDL 1.2 via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Juan_felipe_ferrera_9150360.jpg#/media/File:Juan_felipe_ferrera_9150360.jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a>

The History of the Poet Laureate

Juan Felipe Herrera is the new U.S. Poet Laureate. It is a position that has had a long life, dating back to the Greeks.