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Bullying is a less-common topic in poetry but something that lovers of poetic works may come across at some point. Bullying poems are often written from the perspective of someone who has experienced this form of trauma firsthand.
The poem might be written from the perspective of someone enduring daily bullying at school or from their peers outside of school. It’s also possible to find these poems written from the perspective of someone watching bullying happen and trying to figure out how to stop it.
While most bullying poems are written about young children contending with difficult situations at school, not all of them follow this pattern. You may find bullying poems that explore how an adult is forced into a particular action due to peer pressure. This can come from friends (and be unintentional or intentional) or come from those that the subject is trying to impress, like a boss or partner.
‘My Parents’ by Stephen Spender is a poem based on bullying and the desire to make friends.
My parents kept me from children who were rough
Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes
Their thighs showed through rags they ran in the street
And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams.
John Walsh’s ‘I’ve Got an Apple Ready’ appears in The New Oxford Book of Children’s Verse. This poem features a child who is in a hurry and keeps an apple in case she needs it on the way.
My hair’s tightly plaited;
I’ve a bright blue bow;
I don’t want my breakfast,
And now I must go.
‘Behind Grandma’s House’ by Gary Soto is a short humorous poem about a problematic child who craves attention and their grandma who gives them this attention in the most unexpected way.
At ten I wanted fame. I had a comb
And two coke bottles, a tube of Bryl-creem.
I borrowed a dog, one with
Mismatched eyes and a happy tongue,
‘Southern Gothic’ is an autobiographical poem that looks at the racist attitudes the author encountered as a child.
I have lain down into 1970, into the bed
my parents will share for only a few more years.
Early evening, they have not yet turned from each other
‘Please Mrs. Butler’ by Allan Ahlberg is a children’s poem that conveys a frustrating and purposeless conversation between a student and their teacher.
Please Mrs Butler
This boy Derek Drew
Keeps copying my work, Miss.
What shall I do?
‘Be Not Sad’ is a short poem that explores the strength a relationship can achieve if they block out the noises from the outside.
Be not sad because all men
Prefer a lying clamour before you:
Sweetheart, be at peace again — -
Can they dishonour you?
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