Sandburg’s ‘Horses and Men in the Rain’ weaves the contrasting cozy present reflections with the harsh past of laborers and knights.
With the musical repetition of the phrase “Let us sit” Sandberg speaks on collects images of mundane life. They are made beautiful through his use of language and the way in which he’s able to collect each. He wants to draw the reader’s attention to the “golden days,” and “all the olden golden men who rode horses in the rain”. The horses are part of an image of the past that, in this moment at least, Sandburg wants to celebrate.
Let us sit by a hissing steam radiator a winter's day, gray wind pattering frozen raindrops on the window,
And let us talk about milk wagon drivers and grocery delivery boys.
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98/100
‘At Grass’ by Philip Larkin is a poem about fame and happiness. It focuses on racehorses and how they found new homes away from their previous lives.
This poem focuses on retired racehorses that are now grazing peacefully in a meadow. Larkin describes the horses in detail, highlighting their physical appearance and behavior, and portrays them as symbols of endurance, resilience, and grace.
The eye can hardly pick them out
From the cold shade they shelter in,
Till wind distresses tail and mane;
Then one crops grass, and moves about
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96/100
Robert Browning’s ‘Boot and Saddle’ captures a cavalier’s urgent call to arms during the English Civil War.
Browning uses repetition, and even a marked chorus, to describe the progress of character riding on horseback. He repeats the phrase “Boot, saddle, to the horse, and away!” several times in the poem, emphasizing this call to action. Each line is full of power and purpose as the speaker describes charing off to “Rescue my Castle” before the sun is fully risen. He travels through the suburbs, speaks of friends cheering him on, and then discusses the impossibility of surrendering.
Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!
Rescue my Castle, before the hot day
Brightens the blue from its silvery grey,
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95/100
In ‘The White Horse,’ Lawrence captures a silent, profound connection between a youth and a horse, transcending into a shared otherworld.
This is a very short four-line poem that depicts a youth and a white horse. In the four lines, the young man walk-up to the horse and puts “its / halter on”. The horse does nothing but stares at the boy “in silence”. The entire poem has a quiet contemplation about it that encourages a reader to dig deeper into each line and the complexities of animal/human relationships. The two, Lawrence concludes, are so silent they are “in another world”
The youth walks up to the white horse, to put its halter on
and the horse looks at him in silence.
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93/100
‘The Undertaker’s Horse’ by Rudyard Kipling is a strangely dark poem in which the speaker uses the image of a horse to discuss death and how, no matter where one hides, it’s impossible to escape from it.
This poem speaks on themes of death through the image of a horse. This particular horse belongs to the undertaker and is in charge of ferrying dead bodies. The horse walks “hideously suggestive…professional and placid”. The speaker addresses the horse, considering its power, its job, and the way that time will eventually come for it as well despite its placid and professional movements.
The eldest son bestrides him,
And the pretty daughter rides him,
And I meet him oft o' mornings on the Course;
And there kindles in my bosom
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91/100
‘The Highwayman’ by Alfred Noyes is a gothic narrative of tells of the story of the highwayman, the red coats who wanted to capture him and his lover.
The poem tells the story of a highwayman, romantic in profession and belief, who falls in love with a landlord’s daughter named Bess. Their story is not a happy one in life, but in death, they are reunited. Throughout the poem, Noyes uses rhyme, rhythm and figurative language to create a compelling story.
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
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89/100
Lindsay’s ‘The Old Horse in the City’ crafts a horse’s longing for escape in the city, weaving freedom, cruelty, and unfulfilled dreams.
Lindsay writes from the perspective of a horse longing for freedom. He discusses the setting, the hay that’s been “Heaped up for me to eat” and contrasts moments of peace with those of pain. The men beat the horse until he is “sore” and he determines that one day he’s going to “break the halter-rope / And smash the stable-door” and escape. He will run free and see the hills of corn and the rises sun as he never could before.
The moon’s a peck of corn. It lies
Heaped up for me to eat.
I wish that I might climb the path
And taste that supper sweet.
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87/100
‘The Horse Poisoner’ is a mysterious and absurd poem that delves into a series of horse deaths in a single town. The events are very unusual and, at times, frightening.
This poem tells the story a reader might expect from the title. It begins with the mystery of the dying horses “two from two farms over” and a variety of others from the area. There should be, some people thought, a connection between all the horse deaths. The poem ends mysteriously and compellingly.
No one knew why horses were dying — two from two farms over,
one in town, three at the poor farm (not in great shape,
anyway, so no
concern at first), then the mayor’s son’s pony,
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85/100
Rekdal’s ‘Why Some Girls Love Horses’ explores freedom and self-discovery through a girl’s bond with her horse, Dandy.
This poem speaks on themes of childhood and coming of age. The poem also delves into relationships between children and animals. It expresses a speaker’s admiration for a horse that was “smarter than most of the children” the child when to school with. The speaker ages as the poem progress and they learn to love the horse for its own freedom and how it is a slave to no one.
And then I thought, Can I have more of this, would it be possible for every day to be a greater awakening: more light,
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83/100
Bunyan’s ‘On the Horse and His Rider’ uses horse-riding as a metaphor for life’s journey, exploring human nature.
In this poem Bunyan depicts both horse and rider, contrasting one with the other. The speaker goes into the differences between riders and the horses they ride. There are some who “go as if they did not greatly care” or go “their way without a check”. It is all about riders learning horses and their different personalities as well as seeing how men ride horses and learning theirs.
There's one rides very sagely on the road,
Showing that he affects the gravest mode.
Another rides tantivy, or full trot,
To show much gravity he matters not.
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80/100
Ted Hughes’ ‘The Horses’ captures a serene dawn, where ten still horses symbolize nature’s quiet power amidst the changing light.
The poem focuses on the presence of horses, showing them in a way that makes them seem both powerful and mysterious. They stand completely still, almost blending into the landscape, yet they hold a quiet strength. The poet seems fascinated by them, as if they are more than just animals but part of something greater. Their presence gives the poem a deep and lasting sense of wonder.
I climbed through woods in the hour-before-dawn dark.
Evil air, a frost-making stillness,
Not a leaf, not a bird,—
A world cast in frost. I came out above the wood
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73/100
‘Ariel’ by Sylvia Plath uses the imaginary thrill of a horseback ride to signify the psychological transformation the rider goes through.
The poem centers on a real horse named Ariel, which Sylvia Plath rode during her time in the English countryside. The horse becomes more than an animal; it symbolizes the force that propels the speaker into a physical and emotional journey. Its speed and uncontrollable power serve as the driving force behind the poem’s energy. The horse’s movement mirrors the speaker’s mental state, turning the ride into a metaphor for inner turmoil and transformation.
Stasis in darkness.
Then the substanceless blue
Pour of tor and distances.
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72/100
‘The Man from Snowy River’ by Banjo Paterson is an example of a Bush Ballad. It deals with the Australian ideology of horsemanship.
Horses play a symbolic role in the poem, representing both the beauty and the wildness of nature. The rider’s pursuit of these powerful creatures reflects a larger theme of mastering or coming to terms with the untamed elements of the world. The horses also symbolize freedom and the untamable spirit, which the rider both respects and challenges.
There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around
That the colt from Old Regret had got away,
And had joined the wild bush horses - he was worth a thousand pound,
So all the cracks had gathered to the fray.
