Read my post about why you should read poetry, among other great literature, even if it intimidates you: I Don’t Know Enough So Where Do I Begin? This list is not even a “beginning” for poetry though. It is more like a quick sample, a dabble, a taste. There are dozens of wonderful introductions and resources out there for reading poetry. Right now, I chose to simply dive in and begin somewhere.

• The Daily Poem - If you are looking for an easy way to jump into poetry with little introduction and without having to buy a book or do a lot of research, check out this Circe Institute podcast made available through their Close Reads Podcast Network, (which I promise we will talk about more elsewhere.)

• Here are links to just a few compilations. 

  • The Owl and the Pussycat and Other Nonsense Poetry 

  • John Donne’s Holy Sonnets

  • The Romantic Poets Blake, Wordsworth, and Coleridge by Ignatius Press

  • John Keats

  • The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry for a modern sampling. 

• Read Shakespeare. He is the master of English. I could share some of my favorite plays, but I would rather encourage you to pick one according to the story you are most interested in. I will, however, share an excellent way to introduce yourself to his plays if you are not quite confident enough to dive into the originals. 

  • Charles and Mary Lamb retold many of Shakespeare’s plays and they are lovely, accessible, and the perfect introduction to the great bard. 

  • And if you don’t own a collection of his sonnets, you really should.

• Here are a few beautiful poems you can read right now, online.

  • When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be by John Keats

  • Bright Star, Would I Were Stedfast as Thou Art by John Keats

  • I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth

  • It Is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free by William Wordsworth

  • Sonnet 16 by William Shakespeare 

  • Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins 

  • That Holy Thing by George MacDonald