Homework Help: Famous Poets

Playing with Poetry

Have you ever listened to the words of a song and felt happy or excited? If you have, you’ve been listening to a great poem.

A poem is a group of words that help us feel and understand certain things. Usually, a poem is arranged into verses and has great rhythm. Sometimes a poem rhymes, but not always. A poem can be put to music to make a song, or written down in a book.

Famous Poets Alfred Tennyson, engraving from 1878, photo by D Walker.

Can you name any famous poets? You’ve probably heard of famous writers, like Charles Dickens and Jane Austin, but have you ever heard of famous poets like Alfred Tennyson, Robert Frost or Maya Angelou? And did you know Shakespeare is known as a famous poet, as well as a playwright?

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou grew up during the 1940s and lived through some difficult times. Here is the first verse from one of her most famous poems, Still I Rise:

Still I Rise (Verse III)
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

What do you feel when you read this verse? Happy, full of energy or something else? The poem is about being strong, no matter what happens in life. Many people feel very strong emotions when they read it, which is part of the poem’s magic. It also has great rhythm and rhyme.

 

Robert Frost

Robert Frost was born over 140 years ago. Here is the last verse from one of his most famous poems, The Road Not Taken.

The Road Not Taken (Last Verse)
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

This poem is about choices. When you are given a choice, do you take the choice everyone else takes, or are you brave, and choose something different – the road less travelled?

 

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare's engraving from the 1800s. English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. Engraved by E. Scriven and published in London by Charles Knight, Ludgate Street.

William Shakespeare is one of the most famous writers in history. He wrote poems and plays. His plays are popular with school teachers, so if you haven’t read one of them yet, you soon will! Shakespeare’s plays were made up of long poetic verses, so most people agree that his most famous plays were also famous poems. William Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford Upon Avon, England

Do you recognise this verse from one of William Shakespeare’s plays, Romeo and Juliet?

Romeo and Juliet

Juliet:    

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name. […we’ve cut out a bit here]
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.

It’s true, isn’t it? If you called a rose something else, it would still smell the same. Shakespeare is very clever with words and uses them to make us see the world differently.

 

Poetry Corner

What have you seen in real life that made you look at the world in a different way?

We always love receiving your creative poems, jokes, letters and pictures! So why don't you give poetry a go today!  Click here to enter your poem