Poetry For Dummies Cheat Sheet

A crash course in poetic history

Poems represent some of the greatest works of literature assembled. Peruse these noteworthy poems to see some of the early creations and how poetry evolved:

• The Odyssey by Homer

• Rubaiyat XII by Omar Khayyam

• “Farewell” by Chao Li-hua

• Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare

• The Inferno by Dante

• Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin

• “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” by Walt Whitman

• “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” by Emily Dickinson

• “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats

• “Walking Around” by Pablo Neruda

• “Requiem: 1935–1940” by Anna Akhmatova

• “Song of the Initiate” by Léopold Sédar Senghor

• “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath

• “Under a Certain Little Star” by Wislawa Szymborska

• “Monster Mash” by David Trinidad

How to read a poem aloud

Poems are designed to be read aloud — you’ll get a better experience and understanding of the whole poem. Try these tips for reading poetry out loud:

• Read silently first.

• Note surprises and unfamiliar words.

• Establish a positive, conversational tone.

• Follow the music.

• Don’t rush.

• Pause for emphasis.

• Treat line endings with care, pausing briefly or raising your tone of voice.

• Repeat for best results.

Quick poetry quiz

Test your knowledge of poetry by taking this quick quiz. You can learn some cool facts about poets and their works — and impress your friends the next time you get together.

1. Who was the first official U.S. Poet Laureate — Robert Penn Warren, Muriel Rukeyser, Ezra Pound, or Russell Edson?

2. Who was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry — Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sara Teasdale, or Mona Van Duyn?

3. What is said to be the longest poem in world history — The Mahabharata; Howl by Allen Ginsberg; Paradise Lost by John Milton; or “Poem #312” by Emily Dickinson?

4. Who wrote the poem “Funeral Blues,” which was recited in the movie Four Weddings and A Funeral — Victor Hugo, Amy Clampitt, Pablo Neruda, or W.H. Auden?

5. Which statement about Emily Dickinson is not true?

a. She lived at her parents’ house her entire life.

b. She published fewer than a dozen poems during her lifetime.

c. She was left at the altar.

d. She was a bread judge at the local cattle show.

6. What did Robert Bridges, Thomas Campion, William Carlos Williams, and Henry Vaughan have in common?

7. Which one of these poets doesn’t belong in this group and why?

a. Amenhotep

b. Léopold Sédar Senghor

c. Jimmy Carter

d. William Shakespeare

8. True or False: A line of iambic pentameter must have ten syllables.

9. Name the popular film from 1961 starring Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty that took its title from William Wordsworth’s “Ode: Intimations of Immortality.” Was it Leaves of Grass, Love Canal, Splendor in the Grass, or The Grapes of Wrath?

10. Connect the place on the left with the poet associated with that place on the right:

Answers: 1. Robert Penn Warren, in 1986; 2. Sara Teasdale, in 1918; 3. The Mahabharata; 4. W.H. Auden; 5. c; 6. They were all physicians; 7. d (Shakespeare was not a head of state); 8. False; 9. Splendor in the Grass; 10. Lesbos, Sappho; Martinique, Césaire; New Hampshire, Frost; Paris, Baudelaire; Wisconsin, Niedecker; Chicago, Sandburg; San Francisco, Ferlinghetti.