Poetry is the voice and sometimes the body of the human condition put into words. Reading and writing poetry encourages us to indulge different perspectives and feelings that we may have never considered before.
I’ve always loved poetry, and I’ve read hundreds of poems. I even thrifted and repaired a typewriter to write my first manuscript of poems at fourteen! They were mostly full of pubescent angst, but they allowed me to express myself. Poetry in all its forms is both transformative and informative of humanity. It can spark individual growth outside of the emotions we already experience. Experimenting with forms of self-expression helps us better understand ourselves and the world around us.
To supplement this process, here are five poems for the springtime that’ll shake off the cold winter vibes.
1 . “Prologue To Spring” by Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath is one of the most famous American poets, and she has more than earned her renown through her amazing oeuvre. Her most famous and slightly controversial work is The Bell Jar. Plath was born in 1932 and included myriad racist stereotypes of the time in the novel. While she offended and degraded a number of races and cultures, her poetry has remained popular long after her untimely death by suicide in 1963.
One of the most popular poems, “Prologue To Spring,” delves into the coldness of winter. Plath describes the stagnating winter through sharp, metallic imagery, which is starkly juxtaposed by the hints of change that she sprinkles in the poem’s ending. Melodic birds emerge from their nests as the spring ice of winter begins to melt, marking the genesis of spring.
Another spring-centric poem by Sylvia Plath is “I Am Vertical.” Its vivid nature overtones are breathtaking, and its strong hook will immediately draw you in. I would also recommend “Tulips,” though it departs from the spring theme. Told from the perspective of a hospitalized girl, the poem emulates the same feminine madness of The Bell Jar, making for a highly compelling read.
2 . “It Comes Unadorned” by Toni Morrison
The famous American poet Toni Morrison is one of my favorite authors. Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Morrison passed away in 2019 at 88 years of age after making a huge impact on the culture and literature as a whole.
Morrison’s influential poem “It Comes Unadorned” is one of my personal favorites. The final line, “It comes naked into the world like a charm,” emphasizes rebirth and opportunity. This poem depicts spring with vibrant imagery and magical language, cultivating a unique liminal energy that perfectly encapsulates the time after winter and before spring!
I recommend all of Morrison’s work, as it achieves precisely what poetry and art strive to do: provide a new or alternative perspective of the human experience. Her novel The Bluest Eye delves into the complex racial experiences of an 11-year-old black girl growing up in Ohio. Equally excellent is Morrsion’s Sula.
Circling back to Morrison’s poems, I would check out “Eve Remembering” and “I am Not Seaworthy.”
3 . “Fireflies” by Jacqueline Woodson
Jacqueline Woodson is an American writer from Columbus, Ohio, who was born in 1963. She has earned a long list of awards for her work, including the NAACP Award in Outstanding Literature for Youth and Teens in 2021, 2019, and 2015, the Coretta Scott King Award for Authors, and more! Woodson is an incredibly talented Author with more books/novels out than poems. However, Woodson’s poetry is lifelike and creative, perfect for her younger audience.
The Woodson poem that’ll undoubtedly warm your heart this spring is “Firefly,” a shorter but powerful poem set in “almost May.” In the poem, the speaker describes the experience of catching and wishing on a firefly, relying less on nature and seasonal language and more on a specific springtime childhood memory. The poem presents a sweet and heartwarming throwback, as we often neglect such simple pleasures in adult life. The childlike joy and whimsy are palpable in Woodson’s writing.
Woodson also wrote the famous Brown Girl Dreaming, a free-verse poetry book based on Woodson’s childhood. The book received the National Book Award and a Newbery Honor! It’s an essential read for young black girls and anyone attempting to step into their shoes. Another poem by Woodson, “When I Tell My Family” from Brown Girl Dreaming, discusses her experience telling her family she wants to be a writer. As an aspiring author, it is particularly relatable and highly recommended!
4 . “Ode to the Whitman Line ‘When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d'” by Kimiko Hahn
Kimiko Hahn is another American poet with several highly awarded poetry collections. Hahn is a poet and professor at Queens College, CUNY. She received the American Book Award for The Unbearable Heart and the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts for her poetry. Born in 1955, Hahn has successfully carved a space for the Japanese and German American experience in her work.
The fourth poem in the list is an ode to the Walt Whitman poem “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” which was written in 1865 to honor President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination. Whitman penned the poem during the summer of 1865, and it was published later that year. It’s quite lengthy and was written in an antiquated version of our modern English. While Whitman is a classic poet and writer, I much prefer Hahn’s “Ode to the Whitman Line ‘When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d,” which employs more accessible language in its depiction of love.
Hahn has an abundance of incredible poetry; “Foreign Body,” “Erasing Love,” and “A Dream of Toast” all display her immense talent. She also has several published poetry collections: The Ghost Forest, Brain Fever, and Unbearable Heart. The variety and depth of her work, compared to her shorter, more abstract poems like “A Dream of Toast” serve as testaments to Hahn’s remarkable flair.
5. “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver is the final American poet featured in this list. She was born in 1935 and passed away in 2019 as a highly acclaimed author and poet. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1984, the National Book Award for poetry in 1992, and the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts in 1980, among other honors! A renowned, influential, and critical female poet, Oliver is well remembered for her poetry collections and her ability to simplify life. Her humanistic approach to poetry is essential in a society leaning farther and farther away from empathy and emotion.
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver is the perfect poem to end on because it functions as a hug from Oliver. In particular, the line “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves” reminds us to be and feel. Featuring plenty of geese and nature imagery, the poem is short and sweet, like a warm day unfolding in front of you. I love its simple, delicate beauty.
Oliver has a long list of published works, mostly consisting of poetry. She also published a guide to understanding and writing poems entitled A Poetry Handbook. It’s perfect for anybody just getting into poetry and wanting to learn more. Other notable poems by Oliver include: “The Journey,” “The Summer Day,” and “From This River, When I Was a Child, I Used to Drink.”
Why Poems Matter
As someone who has read and written poetry since my early teens, the power of the genre is abundantly clear to me. However, countless individuals are only introduced to Shakespeare and the traditional haiku or sonnet through middle or high school literature. Some poems can feel like hard work to read, let alone understand. But once understood even partially, their meaning can stick with you for life. I’ve come to love poetry for the emotions it evokes, whether they’re happy or sad. Moreover, writing poetry provides an outlet for these feelings.
Interested in flash fiction with poetic resonance? Here’s an excellent breakdown of a 2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut that will shock with its dystopian depiction of the future. Still struggling with the form? Never fear! Poetry is a dynamic, thriving art form with new poets and collections emerging all the time, and if you want to learn more, give Isis Whipps’s article a read: What Self-Discovery Poems Can Teach Us About Ourselves.
