4 Must-Read Poems about Doors

Doors, both literal and metaphorical, serve as powerful symbols in poetry. They represent opportunities, transitions, and the threshold between different realms or states of being. Poems about doors explore the themes of change, discovery, and the mysteries that lie beyond.

These poems may capture the anticipation and trepidation that accompanies the opening or closing of a door. They delve into the choices we face and the transformative journeys that await on the other side.

Metaphorical doors in poetry can represent personal growth, new beginnings, or the pursuit of dreams. They symbolize the courage to step into the unknown, embracing the uncertainty and embracing the possibilities that lie ahead.

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The Heart

by Jill Alexander Essbaum

Jill Alexander Essbaum’s ‘The Heart’ is a short poem that dictates the intricacies of dealing with heartfelt emotions. It describes the human heart as a room with four chambers and thousands of doors.

The poem uses doors as a metaphor for the emotional complexity of the heart, illustrating how each door symbolizes a different relationship or memory. This imagery shows how the heart contains countless emotions and experiences, creating a maze-like structure that represents the intricate and layered nature of human connections and feelings.

The Heart

Four Simple Chambers.

A thousand Complicated Doors.

One of them is yours.

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The Forge

by Seamus Heaney

‘The Forge’ elevates blacksmithing to a sacred act, blending the physical and spiritual in a vivid, non-traditional sonnet form.

The idea of doors plays a big role in how the poem begins and ends. The speaker says all he knows is a door into the dark, which feels both mysterious and symbolic. That doorway becomes the entry into the blacksmith’s world, where things are shaped and brought to life. Later, the blacksmith leans against the door to observe the world outside, showing how the door connects his inner work to the larger life beyond it.

All I know is a door into the dark.

Outside, old axles and iron hoops rusting;

Inside, the hammered anvil’s short-pitched ring,

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Shut Not Your Doors to Me Proud Libraries

by Walt Whitman

‘Shut Not Your Doors to Me Proud Libraries’ by Walt Whitman is a poem about the imperative of a poet to share their art with the world for its benefit.

One of the more obvious topics that Walt Whitman's poem touches on is the symbolism and imagery of a door being shut. That kinesthetic imagery is crucial to the poem's themes, which center on a desire to share poetry that uplifts and unburdens the "soul of man." The speaker desires to share their book with the libraries and sees it as a disservice to the nation if they shut them out.

Shut not your doors to me, proud libraries,

For that which was lacking among you all, yet needed most, I bring;

A book I have made for your dear sake, O soldiers,

And for you, O soul of man, and you, love of comrades;

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Plague

by Jackie Kay

‘Plague’ by Jackie Kay is a poem about death, specifically about the plague in London and how a mother is forced to contend with the knowledge that both her sons are going to die.

Our black door has a white X.

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4 Must-Read Poems about Doors

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4 Must-Read Poems about Doors

The Heart

by Jill Alexander Essbaum

The Forge

by Seamus Heaney

Shut Not Your Doors to Me Proud Libraries

by Walt Whitman

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