14 Notable Poems about Grandmothers

Poems about grandmothers capture the profound love, warmth, and nurturing spirit that grandmothers bring into their grandchildren’s lives.

Grandmothers are often portrayed as pillars of love and strength, embodying a sense of warmth and comfort. Poems about grandmothers celebrate the tenderness and care they offer, creating a safe haven for their grandchildren.

They depict grandmothers as gentle nurturers, always ready with a hug, a soothing voice, or a comforting presence during challenging times. These poems often explore the wisdom and life lessons grandmothers impart to their grandchildren.

Poems about Grandmothers Visual Representation

Poem Explorer Poetry Archives

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My Grandmother’s Houses

by Jackie Kay

‘My Grandmother’s Houses’ by Jackie Kay is a thoughtful recollection of youth and a young speaker’s relationship with her eccentric grandmother, who is forced to move homes.

The relationship between the child and her grandmother is perhaps less tender than a reader might expect, but there is an undeniable intimacy and tenderness to the poetic rendering of the grandmother.

She is on the second floor of a tenement.

From her front room window you see the cemetery.

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The Minuet

by Mary Mapes Dodge

‘The Minuet’ by Mary Mapes Dodge alludes to the many changes that the passage of time presents. This is specially related to the way that one speaker’s grandmother has changed.

The grandmother's experience as a young woman and how it contrasts with her grandchild's perception of her is an important part of this poem. The child would not be nearly as entertained by the idea of their grandmother dancing if it weren't for their relationship.

Grandma told me all about it,

Told me so I couldn’t doubt it,

How she danced—my Grandma danced!—

Long ago

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Our Grandmothers

by Maya Angelou

‘Our Grandmothers’ by Maya Angelou celebrates the strength and resilience of generations of women, honoring heritage and perseverance.

African American grandmothers are at the forefront of this appreciative poem, as Angelou highlights the generations of trials that they face and endure. In the beginning, the woman is featured as a mother, protecting her children from their enslaver. As the poem progresses, it transitions to the present day, in which the woman - now as a grandmother - stands in front of an abortion clinic. This highlights the various forms of oppression she suffers throughout her storied life, worrying for the next generation as she is "confounded" by the lack of options for women, even in the present day.

She lay, skin down in the moist dirt,

the canebrake rustling

with the whispers of leaves, and

loud longing of hounds and

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A Portable Paradise

by Roger Robinson

‘A Portable Paradise’ by Roger Robinson is an inspiring poem that reminds readers of how peace and calm can be found within even the most stressful moments.

The poet's grandmother is an important part of this poem in that she taught him this specific way of finding paradise. It was his grandmother who made sure he knew how to create paradise within his mind.

And if I speak of Paradise,

then I’m speaking of my grandmother

who told me to carry it always

on my person, concealed, so

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Behind Grandma’s House

by Gary Soto

‘Behind Grandma’s House’ by Gary Soto is a short humorous poem about a problematic child who craves attention and their grandma who gives them this attention in the most unexpected way.

The setting of the poem is behind the speaker's grandmother's house. This is apparently where she punched her grandchild. Up until that disciplinary moment, the poem paints a picture of a gentle grandma, which is typically what readers would expect. However, her appearance in the poem called for situational irony.

At ten I wanted fame. I had a comb

And two coke bottles, a tube of Bryl-creem.

I borrowed a dog, one with

Mismatched eyes and a happy tongue,

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At My Grandmother’s

by David Malouf

‘At My Grandmother’s’ by David Malouf explores the haunting presence of the past and the interplay between memory, time, and mortality.

The poem depicts grandmothers as figures of memory and connection to the past. The grandmother in the poem serves as a vessel for grief and memories while also being a source of fear and unease for the speaker. Grandmothers are depicted as powerful individuals who hold the weight of ancestral history, influencing the present and shaping the understanding of time and mortality.

An afternoon, late summer, in a room

Shuttered against the bright, envenomed leaves;

An under-water world, where time, like water

Was held in the wide arms of a gilded clock,

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For My Grandmother Knitting

by Liz Lochhead

‘For My Grandmother Knitting’ is a poem that utilizes repeated wording, a lack of punctuation, a distinct choice of perspective, and simplistic ideas.

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Grandmother

by Paula Gunn Allen

‘Grandmother’ (1991) is written by the Native American feminist poet Paula Gunn Allen. This poem is about the role of a speaker’s grandmother in her family.

Out of her own body she pushed

silver thread, light, air

and carried it carefully on the dark, flying

where nothing moved.

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Iris

by David St. John

‘Iris’, a heart-touching poem about death and love, appears in the American poet David St. John’s collection Study For The World’s Body. This poem is dedicated to the poet’s grandmother Vivian St. John.

There is a train inside this iris:

You think I'm crazy, & like to say boyish

& outrageous things. No, there is

#10

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My Grandmother

by Elizabeth Jennings

‘My Grandmother’ by Elizabeth Jennings is a thoughtful poem about one person’s relationship with her grandmother and her grandmother’s passion—collecting antiques.

She kept an antique shop – or it kept her.

Among Apostle spoons and Bristol glass,

The faded silks, the heavy furniture,

#11

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My Grandmother

by Jackie Kay

‘My Grandmother’ by Jackie Kay depicts the poet’s understanding of her grandmother. The includes a juxtaposition between her positive and negative qualities.

My grandmother is like a Scottish pine,

tall, straight-backed, proud and plentiful,

a fine head of hair, greying now

tied up in a loose bun.

#12

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My Grandmother’s House

by Kamala Das

‘My Grandmother’s House’ mourns the lost love and warmth of her ancestral home, contrasting it with her loveless present.

There is a house now far away where once

I received love……. That woman died,

The house withdrew into silence, snakes moved

Among books, I was then too young

#13

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