Today is World Poetry Day! The United Nations observes this day on 21st March each year to recognize “the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind.”
According to the UN website, this day “is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities.”
On this day, here are a few lines from some iconic and classic poems that have been remembered since ever, and will be for generations to come.
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
“Daffodils” by William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
“Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
“If” by Rudyard Kipling
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
“Hope is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all
“A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
Of course, there are tons of other poems that are very iconic and might have touched your heart and soul. Which other poems are close to your heart? Do let us know in the comments section below.
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