Poems about Fog

Poem Explorer Poetry Archives

PDF Guide

Nationality: American

Themes: Beauty, Nature

Emotions: Amusement, Contentment

Topics:

Fog

Animals

Form: Free Verse

"> 96/100

‘Fog’ by Carl Sandburg is a poem that expresses the author’s appreciation for the little events that occur in nature. The poem characterizes the fog as a graceful cat, which endears it in the eye of the reader.

Despite its brevity, Sandburg's poem is one of the best depictions of its titular weather pattern. The comparison with a cat imbues the fog with personality, suggesting it is predatory in the ways cats can be. However, given the fact cats are also common pets, Sandburg could also be suggesting that there is little to fear from the fog and that it is merely passing through in the same nonchalant ways that cats move through the world as if they own it.

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

Sheep In Fog

The poem ‘Sheep In Fog’ describes Sylvia Plath’s feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, helplessness, and depression.

Written just months before she committed suicide, 'Sheep in Fog' is a desperate attempt to find solace for a poet who was languishing in the depths of despair. The fog, through which vision is deeply impaired, mirrored the way in which Plath could not see a way out of her depression, eventually leading her to take her own life in 1963.

The hills step off into whiteness.

People or stars

Regard me sadly, I disappoint them.

A Wife in London

Hardy’s ‘A Wife in London’ reveals the irony of war, as a widow receives her fallen husband’s hopeful letter after his death.

Fog is more than just a part of the setting. It reflects the wife’s confusion, sadness, and emotional distance. The thick fog surrounding the city mirrors how unclear and heavy her mind feels after receiving tragic news. The way the fog grows thicker the next day also shows how grief becomes harder with time. This use of fog gives the poem a quiet and heavy tone that stays with the reader long after reading.

She sits in the tawny vapour

That the Thames-side lanes have uprolled,

Behind whose webby fold-on-fold

Like a waning taper

We are Adrift

‘We are Adrift’ expresses an intense uncertainty as the speaker becomes unmoored during their observations of a darkling sea.

The fog in the poem, much like the night, acts as an obscuring force that prevents the reader from seeing what they know is beyond their windows. It is also rendered as one of the images that creates the illusion that the sunroom the speaker is inside is "adrift with the moon." A foghorn, as a result of the thick fog, is heard echoing through the darkness, adding another ominously melancholic layer to the poem's scenery.

At night

our sunroom is closer

to the water —

we are adrift with the moon.

From the Republic of Conscience

‘From the Republic of Conscience’ by Seamus Heaney is a poem that imagines what it would be like to land in a new country where the process of immigration was based on more humane ideas of conscience rather than the current systems that are in place.

Fog is mentioned briefly at the start of the second stanza with regards to how it relates to the belief system of the people. Fog is representative of the idea of ignorance blinding people to the things that they should see.

When I landed in the republic of conscience

it was so noiseless when the engines stopped

I could hear a curlew high above the runway.

5 Must-Read Fog Poems

General

Poetry+

Discover

Useful Links

5 Must-Read Fog Poems

Fog

by Carl Sandburg

Sheep In Fog

by Sylvia Plath

A Wife in London

by Thomas Hardy

We are Adrift

by Sujata Bhatt

From the Republic of Conscience

by Seamus Heaney

Narrow Your Search

We Look Deep into Poetry

General

Poetry+

Discover

Useful Links