Writers often sought inspiration from other artists. They try to enrich their thoughts with the knowledge of former poets.
In the following list, readers can find poems written about poets. Through these poems, the writers try to express their gratitude to old masters. While, in some poems, they try to express their love for their fellow poets.
The ‘Ars Poetica’ is a 476-line didactic epistolary poem by the Roman poet Horace. This humorous, engaging verse teaches the wannabe poet how to write good stories and develop meaningful art.
Horace's 'Ars Poetica' is the ultimate poem about poets. This poem leads the listener through Horace's tips on how to become a good poet. He humorously and thoughtfully covers topics such as form and structure, poetic tradition, how to behave like a poet, and how to get feedback from others. It's an essential poem for any person who wants to begin writing.
‘The Poet’ by Hermann Hesse uncovers the bittersweet realities of the poet’s purpose and destiny as a visionary for the world and all those in it.
Many poems have tried to convey the essence of the poet. Hesse seeks to highlight the lonely nature of such an existence, which in turn is tempered by the poet's perceptive emotional connection with all things. Ultimately, the poet is there to communicate and illustrate to humanity its possibly ideal future.
‘Bards of Passion and of Mirth’ by John Keats is one of the poet’s early odes. In it, Keats confirms that bards, or authors, have two souls, with one rising to heaven, and the other staying on earth.
'Bards of Passion and of Mirth' is practically an ode to poetry in which Keats explains that poets and other storytellers, unlike the rest of humanity, get two souls and two eternal lives. Poets are teachers and the people who can understand the divine truth in this poem, thus elevating them and praising them.
‘London, 1802’ by William Wordsworth is an Italian sonnet that invokes Milton as a means of reclaiming England’s eroded moral values in the industrial age.
Wordsworth's poem touches on the immense value of a poet, particularly a great one, like Milton to a country such as England. In acknowledging his contributions, the speaker reveals them to be far from restricted to the realm of literature. Instead, they're attributed with influencing everything from politics and social ethics to the spiritual. According to them, there is no greater tonic for a languishing nation than the renewal of the teachings of a mythic poet.
‘As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days’ by Walt Whitman offers a timeless examination of the poet’s purpose in a world that is constantly changing due to forces that only appear more tangible than poetry.
Although it doesn't start out this way, Walt Whitman's poem ends up being a passionate plea and justification for the importance of the poet. One that is needed, especially in times of peace and great progress, as they are the ones who announce visions of the attainable future. The speaker earnestly likens its significance to things like science and industrialization.
As I walk these broad majestic days of peace,
(For the war, the struggle of blood finish'd, wherein, O terrific Ideal,
Against vast odds erewhile having gloriously won,
Now thou stridest on, yet perhaps in time toward denser wars,
‘Poetry’ by Pablo Neruda captures the moment of the speaker’s first encounter with poetic inspiration that led to a spiritual awakening.
This poem is about the speaker's poetic awakening when the mystical force of poetry called upon him, and he began his journey as a poet. It presents the poet's inspiration and creativity as innate and mystical, stemming from the unknowable forces of nature as they call upon the speaker who gradually understands and begins with writing 'first, faint line' and eventually finds his existential purpose and life meaning in poetry as the forces catalyze a spiritual understanding and connection with the larger cosmos. Thus, this poem shows poets as chosen by some higher power that bestows poetry. Withal, the poem might refer to the experience of the poet Neruda himself.
‘What He Thought’ by Heather McHugh is a thoughtful poem about the meaning of poetry.
This poem successfully tackles questions about the nature of the poet. The speaker of "What He Thought" spends a lot of time thinking about what might make someone a poet and makes assumptions about the other poets around her, most notably the Italian guide who immediately judges as "the most politic and least poetic, so it seemed". However, she never really gives a reason for this dismissal, suggesting that her understanding of what it means to be "poetic" is surface-level and without basis.
‘An Essay on Criticism’ begins with an analysis of critics themselves, who Pope views as akin to unlearned parasites.
Pope dedicates significant attention to poets, offering guidance on effective writing. He advises them to follow Nature's principle and the wisdom of the ancients in systemizing this principle, and he emphasizes that true genius must be tempered by judgment and art. He distinguishes accomplished poets from those who write poorly due to pride, ignorance, or a lack of discipline. The poem thus sets rigorous standards for artistic creation, aiming to elevate the overall quality of contemporary verse.
‘Come, said My Soul’ by Walt Whitman expresses a poetic desire to intimately entwine one’s identity, body and soul, with their art.
Many of Walt Whitman's poems thin the barriers between speaker and author. This one does so rather emphatically when the speaker signs their name as "Walt Whitman." As a result, the poem unfolds as this expression of a desire held by many poets. One that revolves around the longevity of their words and memory long after they've died.
Come, said my Soul
Such verses for my Body let us write, (for we are one,)
In Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 106,’ ‘When in the chronicle of wasted time,’ the speaker exalts the Fair Youth’s beauty to quasi-divine status unmatched in history.
Though the speaker claims that the ancient poets were unknowingly prophesying the Fair Youth's beauty instead of explaining what they were seeing in ladies or knights, the ancient poets are still endowed with a divine vision, implying the classical understanding of poets as seers who have heightened perception and can see beyond ordinary reality as if they are connected with transcendental powers. Moreover, the speaker shows deep reverence towards the ancient poets, elevating them above themselves and present poets telling the old poets could not entirely capture the addressee's beauty because they couldn't see him directly while the present poets who are able to encounter his beauty directly lack the abilities or poetic talent of the old poets and thus cannot articulate it.
Ted Hughes’ ‘The Thought-Fox’ explores a poet’s creative process, using a fox’s movements as a metaphor for the writer’s inspiration.
The poem presents the creative process and the intense efforts of poets invested in writing poetry, rejecting the idea of an external divine aid. It is about the creative writing process of the speaker, a poet. He is likely Hughes himself; Hughes mentioned that the poem was inspired by a dream in which a talking fox advised him on his poetic approach. Thus, while presenting Hughes's creative process, the poem also presents hard work, voluntary isolation, focus, aimless wandering, and the perseverance of poets.
‘Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand’ by Walt Whitman presents itself as a declaration of how best to engage with the poet’s ardently intimate verses.
Whitman's poem is a useful piece of verse for anyone beginning a journey into his work. It advocates for the reader to not read this or any of his poems cooped up inside, but rather outside where it was composed and inspired. Seldom do poets speak so plainly or beautifully about the very nature of their poems.
Whoever you are holding me now in hand,
Without one thing all will be useless,
I give you fair warning before you attempt me further,
‘Ravenna’ by Oscar Wilde is the poet’s recollection of a trip to the culturally and historically important Italian city of Ravenna.
Two long sections of this poem are largely dedicated to, respectively, Byron and Dante, two of the greatest poets of the past, both of whom were associated with Ravenna, the subject of Oscar Wilde's poem of the same name. While Wilde values other aspects of Ravenna's history, the connection to these legendary poets is the most important thing for him.
A year ago I breathed the Italian air,
And yet, methinks this northern Spring is fair,
These fields made golden with the flower of March,
‘Poetry Readings’ by Charles Bukowski is an interesting poem that critiques poetry readers and those who hold onto false hopes.
The poets in the poem are shown as lacking in courage and authenticity, trapped in a cycle of self-support and delusion. They symbolize a failure to connect with the real world and a betrayal of the artistic ideal.
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