I’ve finally picked my ten favorite poems in the public domain for Semicolon’s Top 100 Classic Poems Project. The thing is, I'm supposed to rank them, and I hate ranking things. Hate it! I could probably pick out my favorite, but ordering them from least to most favorite? I could agonize over that for years and still not have a satisfactory order. So for now, my list is still in no particular order—they’re all favorites:
Sonnet 130, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”, William Shakespeare
"Pied Beauty", Gerard Manley Hopkins
“He ate and drank the precious words”, Emily Dickinson
"The Tyger", William Blake
"Delight in Disorder", Robert Herrick
"The Lake Isle of Innisfree", William Butler Yeats
Sonnet 22, “When our two souls stand up erect and strong” Elizabeth Barrett Browning
"Nothing Gold Can Stay", Robert Frost
"God’s Grandeur", Gerard Manley Hopkins
Sonnet 64, “When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defaced”, William Shakespeare
How about you? Any favorites you want to share?
