When exploring the color red in poetry, it often symbolizes a range of emotions, sensations, and concepts. Red is frequently associated with intense emotions, particularly love and desire. The color red may symbolize both the intensity of emotions and the risks involved in love.
Red is also often associated with strength and power. Poems about red may convey themes of energy, assertiveness, and empowerment. The color red can symbolize life force, determination, and courage in the face of challenges.
These poems about red may draw upon cultural symbols, traditions, or historical events associated with the color, as well. For instance, red can be connected to themes of revolution, war, political movements, or religious symbolism.
‘The History of Red’ by Linda Hogan describes the life of the color “red” and how it has represented humankind’s will to live through time.
First
there was some other order of things
never spoken
but in dreams of darkest creation.
In ‘A Red, Red Rose,’ Robert Burns lyrically celebrates enduring love, promising everlasting commitment amidst a temporary farewell.
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
‘I Shall Paint My Nails Red’ by Carole Satyamurti is a poem about why a female speaker painted her nails. The simple premise is made more complicated as she lists out the reasons why she painted her nails red.
Because a bit of colour is a public service.
Because I am proud of my hands.
Because it will remind me I'm a woman.
Because I will look like a survivor.
‘Little Red Cap’ by Duffy is a feminist retelling of the classic tale, exploring the empowerment and growth of the little girl.
At childhood’s end, the houses petered out
into playing fields, the factory, allotments
kept, like mistresses, by kneeling married men,
the silent railway line, the hermit’s caravan,
‘Red Roses’ by Anne Sexton is a story of child abuse told by a narrator, but with the vernacular, that represents the emotions and thoughts of the child undergoing the abuse.
Tommy is three and when he's bad
his mother dances with him.
She puts on the record,
"Red Roses for a Blue Lady"
Harjo’s ‘My House is the Red Earth’ celebrates personal “centres of the world,” emphasizes the significance of places adored by individuals.
My house is the red earth; it could be the center of the world. I’ve heard New York, Paris, or Tokyo called the center of the world, but I say it is magnificently humble.
‘Yellow or Red’ by Buranasin rejects binary political labels, embracing a spectrum of identity beyond Thailand’s yellow-red divide.
You asked me if I am yellow or red.
After a long pause, I finally said:
“Well, sir. It’s rather a short allowance
To define my entire existence
‘Upon the Hearth the Fire is Red’ explores travel and excitement of unseen sights, reflecting on the journey’s allure and the notion of home.
Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
‘My Arkansas’ by Maya Angelou unveils a state’s history with vivid imagery, exploring resilience and transformation amid historical burdens.
There is a deep brooding
In Arkansas.
Old crimes like moss pend
From poplar trees.
‘The Red Wheelbarrow’ by William Carlos Williams is a short modernist poem depicting a red wheelbarrow glazed with rain.
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
‘Monument’ sees the poet observing some ants and remembering a time at her mother’s grave.
Today the ants are busy
beside my front steps, weaving
in and out of the hill they’re building.
I watch them emerge and—
‘Vermilion Flycatcher, San Pedro River, Arizona’ by Margaret Atwood discusses the ways that nature changes and doesn’t change over time as well as humanity’s impact (or lack thereof).
The river’s been here, violent, right where we’re standing,
you can tell by the trash caught overhead in the trees.
Now it’s a trickle, and we’re up to our knees
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