Emily Dickinson is the undisputed master of concise verse, and her poem “The Secret” (XIV in Poems, Series 1) is a perfect example of her compressed, riddle-like genius. Dickinson, who rarely left her homestead, often pondered the grand …
Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” first published in The Crisis in June 1921, is one of the most famous and foundational poems of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes wrote the brief poem in 1920 while crossing the Mississip…
Bliss Carman’s “Nancibel,” published in 1895, is a shimmering piece of lyrical, late-Romantic poetry. It captures a moment of intense, fleeting natural beauty inextricably linked to human memory and presence. While Carman—one…
Ezra Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro,” first published in 1913, is a cornerstone of literary Modernism and the ultimate example of the Imagist movement. Clocking in at a mere fourteen words, it is a perfect example of why this p…
Dorothy Parker's "Unfortunate Coincidence," published in her iconic collection Enough Rope in 1926, is a masterful example of her cynical, witty verse. In just six lines, she sets a scene of perfect romantic climax only to deliver a devastating, con…
Edna St. Vincent Millay's "First Fig," published in 1920, is an iconic four-line poem that serves as a powerful manifesto for living life with passionate intensity. Its famous lines perfectly distill the rebellious spirit of the Jazz Age, making it …
Robert Frost’s “Fire and Ice” is a short, nine-line poem published in 1920 that tackles the vast, apocalyptic question of how the world will end. Its brevity and sharp insight make it a perfect fit for The Concise Verse, as it dist…
Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Wind," first published in his 1885 collection A Child's Garden of Verses, is a poem that captures the wonder of a natural force we can feel but can never see. In simple, musical language, Stevenson gives a voice and a p…
Carl Sandburg’s “Fog,” published in 1916, is one of the most famous examples of American Imagist poetry. It is a perfect choice for The Concise Verse because it does so much with so little. In just six brief lines, Sandburg paints …
Walter de la Mare’s “Silver,” first published in 1913, is a poem that uses imagery and alliteration to weave a spell of moonlit magic. It is a quiet masterpiece that slows the reader down, forcing them to observe the familiar world…
William Carlos Williams’s "The Red Wheelbarrow" is one of the most famous and, deceptively, one of the most revolutionary poems in American literature. Written in 1923, it stands as a perfect example of the Imagist movement, arguing that the t…