Ghosts have long fascinated poets who seek to explore the realms of the supernatural and the mysteries of existence.
These verses capture the intangible essence of ghosts, painting a captivating portrait of their enigmatic nature. Poets delve into the realm of the supernatural, exploring themes of mortality, memory, and the persistence of the past.
These poems often evoke a sense of melancholy, inviting readers to contemplate the boundaries between the seen and the unseen, the tangible and the ethereal.
‘The Haunter’ by Thomas Hardy is an emotional poem that features the words of a ghost who follows around the man they love and tries to contact him.
The main character of this poem is a ghost. They are also the persona that the poet is channeling in order to write this piece. The speaker has passed away and is haunting the man they loved. The exact details of their death are unknown, with the poet spending far more time exploring the ghost's emotional state.
‘The House of Ghosts’ by Margaret Widdemer describes a speaker’s nightmare in which she fears not being remembered by her family members.
Widdemer's poem portrays the terrifying possibility of becoming a ghost, only to be unable to communicate with one's loved one who are still alive. By centering the perspective of the ghost, the poet superbly subverts the typical dynamic by implying that the ghost is somehow haunted by the living rather than the other way around.
Rossetti’s ‘The Poor Ghost’ portrays love’s limits with a dialogue between a man and his lover’s ghost, questioning love beyond death.
Rossetti's poem shows great sensitivity to the ghostly woman as, if ghosts did exist, they would have every bit as much reason to be heartbroken as their living counterparts, as both of them would be cut off from those they love. The sympathetic portrayal of the ghostly woman is strengthened by the fact that her lover seems hesitant, perhaps implying his love for her was never as true as he had made it out to be.
‘Two’s Company’ by Raymond Wilson is a funny and lighthearted poem about a man who mocks ghost stories but ends up meeting a ghost himself.
This poem is centered around the idea of ghosts. The man enters a house that’s said to be haunted, just to prove ghosts aren't real. At first, he mocks the whole thing. But as night falls and strange things happen, the thought of ghosts starts to feel more real to him. The twist ending, where a ghost actually speaks to him, shows that this isn’t just about fear—it’s also about what we believe when we’re truly alone.
In ‘Part V: The Rime of The Ancient Mariner,’ the dead crew rises, guided by spirits, in a quest for redemption. Supernatural meets divine.
This part is filled with ghost-like moments. The dead crew rise and begin to work, yet they do not speak or react in any normal human way. The mariner sees his nephew beside him, but the body is silent. Later, he hears voices in the air with no clear source. These events do not feel like life returning but rather a haunting presence taking hold of the ship, making this topic especially strong here.
‘Before You Were Mine’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a beautiful and nostalgic poem that features a woman’s contemplations of her mother’s life before the latter gave birth to her.
In this poem, ghosts are depicted as echoes of the past. As Duffy looks at a photograph of her mother as a young woman, she imagines seeing her in the same places, separated only by time. She sees this metaphorical ghost "clattering" towards her, so close and yet completely apart. Duffy's use of ghosts in this poem also serves to underscore the death of her mother's identity- the version of her in the photographs is gone, never to return.
I’m ten years away from the corner you laugh on
with your pals, Maggie McGeeney and Jean Duff.
The three of you bend from the waist, holding
each other, or your knees, and shriek at the pavement.
‘One need not be a Chamber to be Haunted’ by Emily Dickinson explores the nature of the human mind. She presents the reader with images of mental and physical threats and how they can be confronted.
Ghosts in this poem stand for the haunting thoughts that live in our minds. Dickinson compares the mind to a haunted house with its own corridors, making the reader think about the memories, fears, or regrets that hide within. These ghosts are not just from stories but are part of ourselves. She shows how these invisible things can feel just as real and scary as anything in the physical world.
‘Your Last Drive’ reflects on the eerie prelude to his wife’s death, weaving themes of love, loss, and existential contemplation.
Toward the end of the poem, Hardy directly calls his wife a “dear ghost,” showing how her memory remains close to him even though she is physically gone. She lingers in his thoughts, not in a haunting way, but in quiet presence. This imagined conversation feels like a way for him to work through his sorrow. The ghost here is a symbol of memory, not fear, making it a gentle and emotional part of the poem.
‘The Cremation of Sam McGee’ is one of the best-known poems of Robert W. Service. The poem presents the cremation of Sam McGee who freezes to death in the prospect of gold.
The ghostly twist at the end is what makes this poem unforgettable. When the speaker opens the furnace and sees Sam sitting calmly inside, it’s creepy, strange, and kind of funny too. That one moment adds a mysterious and chilling feeling to the whole story. It turns the tale into something more than just a hard journey—it becomes a ghost story that sticks with you.
‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came’ by Robert Browning is journey of perseverance in a desolate landscape, confronting fear and embracing defiance against insurmountable odds.
This poem addresses the topic of ghosts metaphorically, representing past failures and doubts haunting the protagonist. Roland's encounters with eerie landscapes and ominous figures evoke a sense of spectral presence, symbolizing his inner turmoil and unresolved conflicts. The poem delves into the psychological aspects of haunting memories and the lingering specters of past experiences that shape Roland's journey towards the Dark Tower.
Berry’s ‘Ghosts’ explores loss, longing, and memory, inspired by Burial’s haunting words, in a reflection filled with absence and sadness.
Emily Berry's poem focuses on our tendency to fixate of people and experiences that have been and gone. This desire to remember effectively functions as a means of sustaining some remnant of that person or event, so much so that it become a spectral figure in our lives. Berry cleverly examines the liminal boundary between memory and ghosts.
You can invest everything in someone. This one feeling chopping you up. Anyone can go into the night. I just want to be gone. I want to be unknown. There’s a storm coming.
‘A Rhyme for Halloween’ by Maurice Kilwein Guevara captures the macabre side of the fun Halloween holiday.
As a poem about Halloween, ghosts, of course, feature within it. Everything from the speaker's descriptions of themselves to the dead woman could be categorized as being ghostly in nature. The effect blurs the line between reality and the supernatural to the point that it becomes impossible to discern the dividing line between the two.
‘Mr. Flood’s Party’ by Edwin Arlington Robinson describes a man’s later years in life and how lonely he has become. It suggests that a long life is not always a blessing.
Mr. Flood speaks to himself, or to ghosts of his past, throughout this poem.
‘The Ghost’ by Sara Teasdale describes a speaker’s unwelcome experience after reuniting with two ex-lovers in a city she used to know.
Rather than featuring the ghost of a deceased person, this poem suggests that we all carry ghosts of our former selves around with us, as we are constantly changing, meaning former versions of ourselves 'die' all the time. In particular, the poet implies that the ghost of old relationships can return to haunt our experience of the present even long after those relationships came to an end.
‘The Call’ depicts the dreaded return of a love the speaker agonizes through the night to repel, imagining it as a menacing spirit.
The ghost that terrorizes the speaker in Freeman's poem serves as a symbol of suppressed emotions like love. Their fear of the spirit rests on an inability to let go or fully hide themselves from the past, so instead, they cower in their home, hoping the visitor eventually leaves. However, the remark that the cries echo "within me now" indicates their haunting is an internal one.
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