Guest columnist Beth Ann Fennelly analyzes Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 for its enduring relevance. The sonnet describes a speaker's journey from self-pity and envy to finding joy through love. Shakespeare ...

Commonly, auditions require contrasting one-minute classical and contemporary monologues. Shakespeare’s well-known speeches remain stalwarts of dramatic literature, and for good reason. However, how ...

Our critic A.O. Scott marvels at the power and paradox of a sonnet by Gwendolyn Brooks. Isabella Cotier By A.O. Scott Here’s a poem about patience, about self-control, about the need to conserve your ...

Oliver de la Paz’s poem is part of a series of “diaspora sonnets,” in which this one, along with others, create a whole, while each sonnet can still operate on its own. These sonnets don’t have all ...

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson (1875–1935) figured significantly in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s. Though prominent as a diarist, journalist, and activist for ...

Shakespeare’s sonnets are considered some of the literary genius' most popular works, with some - such as Sonnet 18’s “Shall I compare thee to a summer's day” - becoming the best-known works in ...

Recently we challenged listeners to write an American Sonnet: A non-rhyming, free verse, 14 line poem. We got a number of contributions, but it also ignited a debate over whether sonnets without a ...

The words of Emma Lazarus’s famous 1883 sonnet “The New Colossus” have seemed more visible since Donald Trump’s election. They can be found on the news and on posters, in tweets and in the streets.

Love poems? Let's see how well you know them. Do you know the difference between a ballad and an elegy? Can you tell what a lyric is? Or can identity what a five line witty poem with a distinctive ...