3 Must-Read August Poems

Poems about August often embody the transition from summer to fall, reflecting on themes of abundance, change, and the passage of time. They celebrate the last days of warmth and the beauty of ripening fruits, evoking feelings of nostalgia as nature prepares for the coming seasons.

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Loving Someone You Can't Have

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Under the Waterfall

by Thomas Hardy

‘Under the Waterfall’ is a nostalgic poem where plunging into water revives memories of lost love and an enduring symbol – a glass.

The memory the speaker returns to happened in August, and the season adds to the warmth and vividness of that day. She remembers the sun, the greenery, and the stillness that surrounded them. It was a peaceful moment set during late summer, a time often connected to calm, ripeness, and still beauty. August here works as more than just a date. It becomes a symbol for a golden moment that never truly faded.

'Whenever I plunge my arm, like this,

In a basin of water, I never miss

The sweet sharp sense of a fugitive day

Fetched back from its thickening shroud of gray.

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August 1945

by Hayden Carruth

‘August 1945’ by Hayden Carruth takes the reader into a scene at the end of World War 2, as four soldiers come to terms with their experiences.

This poem is named 'August 1945,' but the month is only really important in its historical context because it was between the end of the war in Europe and the war in Asia. There is no real description of August itself, and it is only really important because of the events around it.

Sweating and greasy in the dovecote where one of them lived

four young men drank "buzzy" from canteen cups, the drink

made from warm beer mixed half-and-half with colorless Italian

distilled alcohol. A strange fierce taste like bees in the mouth.

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Lanarkshire Girls

by Liz Lochhead

‘Lanarkshire Girls’ by Liz Lochhead is a vibrant, exciting story of teenage girls making their way into Glasgow from their rural homes.

August is mentioned once in the second stanza, and there are mentions of summer throughout the poem, but overall the setting of summer is more important than the specific month.

Coming into Glasgow

in our red bus through those green fields. And

Summer annoyed us thrusting

leafy branches through the upstairs windows.

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3 Must-Read August Poems

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3 Must-Read August Poems

Under the Waterfall

by Thomas Hardy

August 1945

by Hayden Carruth

Lanarkshire Girls

by Liz Lochhead

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