Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 18’ praises timeless beauty, rooted in virtues that endure beyond the fleeting beauty of the youth.
Beauty is a central motif of this poem, which explores the nature of aesthetic perfection and its relationship to mortality. The poem celebrates the beauty of the speaker's beloved but also acknowledges that beauty is a fleeting and transient quality. Shakespeare's exploration of beauty reflects the 16th century's fascination with aesthetics and the visual arts and continues to inspire artists and thinkers today.
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
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94/100
‘Sonnet 54’ contrasts a rose’s lasting beauty with a canker-bloom’s ephemeral charm, likening the Fair Youth’s enduring allure to the rose.
‘Sonnet 54,’ also known as ‘O how much more doth beauty beauteous seem,’ is a memorable poem that uses two similar, yet different, flowers to speak about the Fair Youth. One of these, a rose, is beautiful and filled with life and death. The other, a wildflower is known as a canker-bloom, has a temporary beauty, one that does not extend into death. The speaker sees the youth as more of a rose in that his beauty will live on, through the poet’s work.
O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give.
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour, which doth in it live.
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94/100
‘The Rose’ by Richard Lovelace explores beauty, love, and their brief nature through the symbolism of a rose.
Beauty is one of the thematic concerns considered in the poem; it is depicted by the use of imagery and symbols. The poem describes the rose blossoming across the beloved’s environment, which creates a feeling of admiration accompanied by desire. As Lovelace depicts the rosiness of the flower’s petals and the delicious smell of the rose, we are plunged once more into the temptation and the makingover of nature.
Sweet serene sky-like flower,
Haste to adorn her bower;
From thy long cloudy bed
Shoot forth thy damask head!
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93/100
‘I died for beauty but was scarce’ by Emily Dickinson reflects her fascination for death and the possible life to follow.
This is a lesser-known Emily Dickinson poem. In this piece, she speaks about truth and beauty by addressing the speaker’s own death. The male speaker died for Beauty, and when he was laid to rest, he found himself in a tomb with the truth. The two compare lives and deaths and realize that they are brethren.
I died for Beauty - but was scarce
Adjusted in the Tomb
When One who died for Truth, was lain
In an adjoining Room -
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92/100
‘Sonnet 131,’ also known as ‘Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,’ is a poem about how the Dark Lady’s beauty moves the speaker. He knows she’s untraditionally beautiful but he doesn’t care!
The theme of beauty is explored in detail in ‘Sonnet 131.’ Shakespeare does not delve deeper into the meaning of beauty but rather prefers to talk about the physical aspects of it. He directly begins the sonnet with a contrast between the beautiful women of his time and the Dark Lady. They are similar in their way of holding the power over their admirers or loved ones.
Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,
As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel;
For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart
Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel.
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92/100
‘Still will I harvest beauty where it grows’ is a lovely poem in which readers are asked to appreciate the world on a deeper level.
This is a lovely poem that speaks on the wide variety of types of beauty that can be found in the world and the speaker’s desire to seek it out and “harvest” it. She might find it like mold, fungi, in a “ditch and bog,” or in “rust and oil.” If one does not take the time to look closely, they’re going to miss out on much of what the world has to offer in terms of beauty.
Still will I harvest beauty where it grows:
In coloured fungus and the spotted fog
Surprised on foods forgotten; in ditch and bog
Filmed brilliant with irregular rainbows
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91/100
‘A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever’ is famous as the first book in John Keats’ epic, ‘Endymion.’ It is based on the tale of Endymion, whose beauty was of such joy to Selene that it immortalized him for the rest of his days.
‘Endymion’ is a long poem and one of Keats’ most famous. It is dedicated to Thomas Chatterton and is based around the Greek myth of Endymion, the shepherd much loved by Selene, the moon goddess. The poem is separated into four books, totally more than four thousand lines. Although the poem was met with brutal criticism when it was published, it’s now considered one of the masterpieces of the 19th century.
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
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91/100
‘Essential Beauty’ is one of the poems of Philip Larkin that deals with the gap between the advertising world and the real world.
This is a thoughtful poem about reality and the beauty that’s presented to us within adverting images. It is one of several poems Larkin wrote on this topic and likely the most impactful for the majority of readers. Larkin spends the poem exploring the differences between the lives depicted in advertisements and those that real people live.
In frames as large as rooms that face all ways
And block the ends of streets with giant loaves,
Screen graves with custard, cover slums with praise
Of motor—oil and cuts of salmon, shine
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90/100
‘Beautiful’ by Carol Ann Duffy explores the physical and mental damage that can come from beauty by tracing the lives of four women.
Beauty is the most important theme in this piece. It's seen through the poet's references to individual women through history (and mythology) and how people treated them because of how they looked. The poem suggests that society's approach to beauty, and beauty standards, is incredibly unfair and controlling.
She was born from an egg,
a daughter of the gods,
divinely fair, a pearl, drop-dead
gorgeous, beautiful, a peach,
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90/100
‘She Walks in Beauty’ by Lord Byron glorifies the atypical beauty of a woman whom the speaker lovingly adores.
Beauty takes on a variety of forms as observed by the speaker of Byron's poem. In the first stanza, the woman's beauty is as tangible as the night, with "all that's best of dark and bright" appearing in her eyes. Stanza two continues this motif of darkness as a symbol of beauty, focusing on her "raven" hair while also musing over the "thoughts serenely sweet" that dwell in her mind. The poem then ends with the speaker praising the charm and eloquence she seems to exude, proclaiming it a sign of her heart's innocence and purity.
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
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89/100
Sonnet 130, ‘My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun,’ satirizes and subverts traditional love poetry, presenting a new perspective.
Presenting a modern stance, the sonnet challenges the conventional standards of ideal beauty shown in sonnets. In contrast with the usual poetic description of a beautiful woman, the speaker differentiates his beloved from the perfect beauty. For instance, he states - her 'eyes are nothing like the sun' and 'Coral is far more red than her lips' red.' Nevertheless, he doesn't debase his mistress but appreciates her for her real human beauty while rejecting the unachievable beauty standards accentuated in love poetry.
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
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88/100
‘Clair de lune’ by Paul Verlaine is a poignant introspection that imagines the soul as a landscape upon which beauty and sadness find themselves manifested in the moon’s beams of light.
One of the primary themes of Verlaine's poem is an illustration of the beauty that both touches and lives within our respective souls. Much of the imagery in the poem develops this sublime splendor, from the "chosen landscape" that symbolizes the soul to the music and dance that unfolds upon it.
Your soul is a chosen landscape
On which masks and Bergamasques cast enchantment as they go,
Playing the lute, and dancing, and all but
Sad beneath their fantasy-disguises.
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88/100
‘Csontváry’s Flowers’ is a fascinating insight into one extraordinary artist’s view of the work of another.
The beauty of the titular painting is evident throughout the poem, as Bleakney uses a range of devices to convey it to the reader, as though they were there to witness it with her.
The thin ribbon of sky, and thinner still,
blued hints of the easterly Carpathians
then down into the whole arboretum of blue-greens and greens
closing in around the valley town of Selmecbánya
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87/100
‘Carpet-weavers, Morocco’ is a challenging poem which explores issues such as child labour as well as examining the myriad origins of beauty.
The poem's central conflict is between beauty and suffering as it attempts to unravel the truth of the relationship between them.
The children are at the loom of another world.
Their braids are oiled and black, their dresses bright.
Their assorted heights would make a melodious chime.
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86/100
‘Loveliest of Trees’ by A. E. Housman is a joyful nature poem in which the speaker describes how powerful the image of cherry blossom trees is in his life. He takes a great deal of pleasure from looking at them.
The theme of beauty is explored in the very first stanza in which Housman describes the blossoming cherry tree using simple language. He draws an image of the tree adorned with white flowers as if it is getting ready for Easter.
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
