A reader-first anthology

The right poem, when you need it

1245 classic and original poems, organized by theme, form, poet, and occasion — for weddings, funerals, cards, classrooms, and quiet evenings.

Love Life Funny Sad Nature Death & Loss Friendship For Kids

Poem of the day

We Wear the Mask

Paul Laurence Dunbar · 1895

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

Read the poem →

Browse the anthology

Find a poem your way

By form

23 poem types

Haiku to sonnet to limerick — what each form is and how to write one.

By poet

63 poets

Dickinson, Frost, Hughes — lives, voices, and best-loved poems.

By theme

31 themes

Love, loss, hope, and laughter — poems sorted by what they're about.

By occasion

17 occasions

Weddings, funerals, birthdays — the right reading for the day.

The canon

Famous poems

The 50 most famous →

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

William Shakespeare · 1609

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

14 lines · sonnet

Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds

William Shakespeare · 1609

Let me not to the marriage of true mindsAdmit impediments. Love is not loveWhich alters when it alteration finds,

14 lines · sonnet

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning · 1850

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

14 lines · sonnet

A Red, Red Rose

Robert Burns · 1794

O my Luve is like a red, red roseThat's newly sprung in June;O my Luve is like the melody

16 lines · ballad

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron · 1814

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that's best of dark and bright

18 lines · lyric

When You Are Old

W. B. Yeats · 1893

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,And nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

12 lines · lyric

Annabel Lee

Edgar Allan Poe · 1849

It was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may know

41 lines · ballad

Remember

Christina Rossetti · 1862

Remember me when I am gone away,Gone far away into the silent land;When you can no more hold me by the hand,

14 lines · sonnet

To My Dear and Loving Husband

Anne Bradstreet · 1678

If ever two were one, then surely we.If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.If ever wife was happy in a man,

12 lines · lyric

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About QuillOak

QuillOak is a reader-first poetry library. Every classic poem here is in the public domain and presented in full, with a short editorial note on why it matters. Original poems for modern occasions are written by our editors and free to use personally — print one in a card, read one at a wedding. New poems are added weekly.