Change

15+ Must-Read Poems about Change

(15 to start, 300+ to explore)

Change in poetry reflects the inevitable transformations in life, whether they are personal, societal, or natural. Poems on this theme explore the emotions and experiences associated with transitions, such as growth, loss, and renewal.

These poems often capture the bittersweet nature of moving from one state to another, acknowledging both the challenges and opportunities that come with change.

Poems about Change Visual Representation

Poem Explorer Poetry Archives

#1

Nationality: English

Themes: Aging, Death, Identity, Immortality, Love

Emotions: Confidence, Hope, Love for Him, Pride, Resilience

Topics:

99

History, Memory, Mortality, Personification, Philosophical, Time

Form: Shakespearean Sonnet

Genre: Lyric

"> 99/100

Sonnet 123

by William Shakespeare

‘Sonnet 123,’ also known as ‘No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change,’ is a poem about time and change. The speaker asserts that time isn’t going to change him as it does others.

This poem is directed toward a personified version of “Time.” It addresses change and growth throughout one’s lifetime. The years continue to pass, the narrator gets older, but he doesn’t feel that he needs to change his personality accordingly. He resolves that no matter what happens in his life that he’s going to be true to himself.

No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change:

Thy pyramids built up with newer might

To me are nothing novel, nothing strange;

They are but dressings of a former sight.

#2

Nationality: English

Themes: Aging, Beauty

Emotions: Grief, Regret, Sadness

Topics:

97

Form: Quatrain

"> 97/100

Why Flowers Change Color

by Robert Herrick

‘Why Flowers Change Color’ by Robert Herrick is a short poem that speaks about virginity, virgins, and the reason that flowers change colors. The poem is often interpreted in different ways due to the few details Herrick provides in the four lines.

This is a simple, short poem in which his speaker uses flowers as an image of change and aging. He also relates them to women and a loss of virginity.

Turn'd to Flowers. Still in some

Colours goe, and colours come.

#3

Nationality: English

Theme: Nature

Emotions: Grief, Pain

Topics:

96

Autumn, Seasons

"> 96/100

Autumn Song

by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

‘Autumn Song’ by Dante Gabriel Rossetti describes the pains experienced by nature at the end of autumn and how these pains are translated to humankind.

In this poem, the poet describes the pain experienced by nature at the end of autumn as the seasons change. These same pains are then translated to similar ones experienced by humankind. The emotional impacts of the changing seasons are like the emotional ups and downs everyone experiences during periods of plenty and periods of loss.

Know’st thou not at the fall of the leaf

How the heart feels a languid grief

Laid on it for a covering,

#4

Nationality: English

Themes: Disappointment, Love, Nature, Relationships

Emotion: Love for Him

Topics:

94

Seasons, Unrequited Love, Winter

Forms: Ballad, Sonnet

"> 94/100

Change Upon Change

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

‘Change Upon Change’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a poem about lost love and change. The poet depicts her internal changes through images of the changing seasons.

In this lesser-known Browning poem, the speaker depicts the changes that come over a landscape from spring to winter while at the same time alluding to a relationship. The tears “have drifted to” her “eyes” as “slow as the winter snow.”

Five months ago the stream did flow,

The lilies bloomed within the sedge,

And we were lingering to and fro,

Where none will track thee in this snow,

#5

Topics:

93

Childhood, Home, Transformation

"> 93/100

Originally

by Carol Ann Duffy

‘Originally’ by Carol Ann Duffy describes a child’s transformation after unwillingly emigrating to a very new, different country.

This poem describes the personal experience of a child who transforms as she emigrates to a new country. She loses her original accent and begins to sound like all the other students. She’s gained a lot, but she’s also lost a lot.

We came from our own country in a red room

which fell through the fields, our mother singing

our father’s name to the turn of the wheels.

#6

73

Nationality:

71

Themes:

79

75

73

76

78

Emotions:

78

84

68

77

72

Topics:

72

93

28

85

69

Form:

73

Genres:

78

74

"> 93/100

The Frog Prince

by Stevie Smith

In ‘The Frog Prince’ by Stevie Smith, the principal subject of contemplation is a frog and everything that is linked with enchantment, satisfaction, and transformation into the subject of true happiness.

The notion of the change is developed through the poem’s protagonist, who is waiting for the change and deliverance from the spell. It is for this reason that the story focuses on change as the key concept, given the many instances pointing at the maiden’s kiss as well as the later promise of more royal times. The very desire of the speaker to lead a different life is a common check people have where they want to be something different and program themselves for the better.

I am a frog

I live under a spell

I live at the bottom

of a green wall.

#7

70

Nationality:

78

Themes:

87

62

68

Emotions:

56

70

62

Topics:

50

92

54

68

60

Form:

72

"> 92/100

Looking At Your Hands

by Martin Carter

‘Looking At Your Hands’ urges the importance of human empathy and solidarity in resisting and transcending injustice.

The repeated refrain that appears in the second and third stanzas revolves around the idea that one should dream not to escape but to change the world. Persistent and resistant to any that would stop them, the speaker sets out to do two things: find those who similarly desire to change the world and then do exactly that. In doing so, they reveal a refusal to either be silenced or remain neutral, choosing instead to loudly declare themselves for those who wish to bring about change.

No!

I will not still my voice!

I have to much to claim

If yo see me looking at books

#8

91

"> 91/100

Revolving Days

by David Malouf

‘Revolving Days’ by Malouf reflects on past love, exploring themes of memory, change, and the enduring nature of emotional connections.

This poem discusses themes of change connected to the past and memory, as well as personal relationships. The speaker explains how he used to be a lover, but now he’s leading a different life. He distinctly remembers how he fell in love and the complex emotions he felt then.

That year I had nowhere to go, I fell in love — a mistake

of course, but it lasted and has lasted.

#9

80

Nationality:

74

Themes:

85

90

90

Emotions:

85

85

78

Topics:

90

92

74

98

Form:

92

Genre:

95

"> 90/100

The Tables Turned

by William Wordsworth

Wordsworth’s ‘The Tables Turned’ asks readers to quit books and rediscover the natural world’s beauty and wisdom.

'The Tables Turned' discusses the change in one's mindset when thinking about knowledge and education. The speaker wants to convince the reader that their way of thinking, which is also the way of most scholars, is incorrect and that the way the speaker is describing will teach them more in the long run. This is a profound and fundamental change to the reader, whether or not they decide the speaker is correct by the poem's end.

Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;

Or surely you'll grow double:

Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;

Why all this toil and trouble?

#10

42

Nationality:

44

Themes:

32

35

37

42

Emotions:

37

17

37

32

19

Topics:

22

27

89

40

38

Form:

38

"> 89/100

Modern Love: X

by George Meredith

In ‘Modern Love: X’ by George Meredith, the speaker laments unspoken emotions, contrasting love’s intricacy with life’s rigidity, regretting idealism’s impact on reality.

This is one of the several poems with the same name and a different numerical designation that Meredith wrote throughout his life. For example, ‘Modern Love VI.‘ In this ‘Modern Love X,’ his speaker asks questions about change, how he got where he is, and who he wanted to be.

But where began the change; and what’s my crime?

The wretch condemned, who has not been arraigned

Chafes at his sentence. Shall I, unsustained,

Drag on Love’s nerveless body thro’ all time?

#11

88

"> 88/100

The Journey

by Mary Oliver

‘The Journey’ captures the essence of self-discovery, portraying the brave trek from external noise to inner truth and peace.

This moving poem depicts the emotional turmoil someone experiences in order to end one dark period of their life and start a new one. The poem describes this unknown person reaching a point in their life where they knew they had to make an important change. They decided they’d wasted enough of their life.

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

#12

62

Nationality:

64

Themes:

68

52

76

Emotions:

62

70

52

50

Topics:

88

83

60

70

64

Form:

66

Genre:

49

"> 88/100

The Lockless Door

by Robert Frost

‘The Lockless Door’ is a short narrative poem that details an attempt to hide from inevitable change as both futile and hindersome.

Change is a major topic in Frost's poem, appearing in the form of the knock, a symbol of a disruption meant to alter their stagnant existence. The time they've spent in seclusion ("It went many years") illustrates their commitment to resisting and hiding from anything that might try to intrude upon them. Yet the knock affirms that change is unavoidable no matter how long it’s delayed. The frantic decision to climb out of the window only underscores that idea, as it leads to a forced acceptance of change in which the speaker ends their self-imposed isolation.

It went many years,

But at last came a knock,

And I thought of the door

With no lock to lock.

#13

54

Nationality:

50

Themes:

32

77

34

Emotions:

50

57

Topics:

87

80

40

74

World War Two (WWII)

81

Form:

53

"> 87/100

November

by William Stafford

‘November’ by William Stafford is a heart-wrenching and important poem that was inspired by the WWII bombing of Hiroshima.

Change is less than subtly hinted at through the transition from rain to snow. The gentle transformation of weather mirrors the potential for personal and societal transformation through forgiveness. The speaker also (and interestingly) contemplates the possibility of being called upon to bring about change by delivering a pure message. The poem suggests that change is often quiet and understated, but its impact can be profound and transformative.

From the sky in the form of snow

comes the great forgiveness.

Rain grown soft, the flakes descend

and rest; they nestle close, each one

#14

70

Nationality:

73

Themes:

69

71

65

Emotions:

62

82

78

Topics:

87

85

58

81

Form:

64

Genre:

72

"> 87/100

Polar Exploration

by Stephen Spender

‘Polar Exploration’ reflects upon peaceful isolation and urban life, particularly how the latter appears to make the former impossible.

Perhaps above all else, the poem acknowledges the difficulties one can experience when their environment changes very quickly or very drastically. In the case of the narrator, both these things are true, and they struggle to deal with it.

Our single purpose was to walk through snow

With faces swung to their prodigious North

Like compass iron. As clerks in whited Banks

With bird-claw pens column virgin paper

#15

64

Nationality:

52

Themes:

69

62

62

72

66

62

64

Emotions:

62

56

42

53

58

Missing Someone

32

65

62

62

Topics:

86

90

62

68

57

72

72

Adversity, Humanity

Form:

59

"> 86/100

Odysseus’ Decision

by Louise Glück

‘Odysseus Decision’ offers a fresh and original depiction of one of literature’s most enigmatic figures, the Greek hero Odysseus.

Glück's poem is layered with contrasts but perhaps the most powerful one is that between things that change and things that don't. It is the central conflict that runs through all Greek mythology: how do immortal gods relate to finite mortals? Like many heroes, Odysseus occupies a liminal space between these two worlds and must choose which route to take.

The great man turns his back on the island.
Now he will not die in paradise
nor hear again
the lutes of paradise among the olive trees,

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