15+ Must-Read Poems about School

(15 to start, 19+ to explore)

Poems about school capture the essence of learning, growth, and camaraderie within the classroom walls. These verses evoke nostalgia for childhood and the pursuit of knowledge.

They celebrate the guidance of teachers, the friendships formed, and the memorable experiences that shape individuals. Poets may highlight the challenges faced in academic settings, acknowledging education’s joys and struggles.

These poems often serve as a testament to the transformative power of learning, encouraging readers to cherish the lessons and memories cultivated in the hallowed halls of the school.

Poems about School Visual Representation

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School’s Out

by Amanda Gorman

‘School’s Out’ by Amanda Gorman is a powerful poem that explores the experiences of young people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

School is one of the most important themes in this poem. The poet's speaker is a student, or group of students, who knows something is going wrong around them. They acknowledge that things are changing, and soon there won't be any chance to go to school. COVID-19 restrictions meant that all the young people alluded to in this text were separated from one another and forced to attend school in alternative ways.

The announcement

Swung blunt as an axe-blow:

All students were to leave

Campus as soon as possible.

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Death of a Teacher

by Carol Ann Duffy

‘Death of a Teacher’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a moving poem. In it, the poet discusses a personal loss she suffered and how it affected her.

The big trees outside are into their poker game again,

shuffling and dealing, turning, folding, their leaves

drifting down to the lawn, floating away, ace high,

on a breeze. You died yesterday.

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The Good Teachers

by Carol Ann Duffy

‘The Good Teachers’ by Carol Ann Duffy describes the school life of a young girl who has strong opinions about which teachers are good and which are not.

In 'The Good Teachers,' the speaker recalls her days in school, thinking back and contemplating the way she felt about her various teachers.

You run round the back to be in it again

No bigger than your thumbs, those virtuous women

size you up from the front row. Soon now,

Miss Ross will take you for double History.

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The History Teacher

by Billy Collins

In ‘The History Teacher,’ the titular educator neglects to teach his students about the cold, hard realities of the past in order to protect their innocence from reality.

Trying to protect his students' innocence

he told them the Ice Age was really just

the Chilly Age, a period of a million years

when everyone had to wear sweaters.

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Half-Past Two

by U. A. Fanthorpe

‘Half-Past Two’ utilizes childish vernacular and mismatched capitalization to reflect the stress of a young boy, who in the past was punished for “Something Very Wrong.”

This setting of the poem is a school room, probably that of a preparatory school or kindergarten. In this piece, Fanthrope presents how the school frames the worldview of a child right from an early age.

Once upon a schooltime

He did Something Very Wrong

(I forget what it was).

And She said he’d done

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In Mrs Tilscher’s Class By Carol Ann Duffy

by Carol Ann Duffy

‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ paints a vivid picture of a young child’s transition from innocence to experience in primary school under the tutelage of the much-loved Mrs. Tilscher.

This is the strongest and most clearly presented topic in the entire poem. Every part of the speaker’s experience takes place inside a classroom. From geography lessons to the sound of the bell, the setting shapes everything. The classroom is more than just a physical space; it becomes a symbol of comfort, learning, and change. The poem reflects what school can mean to a child when it feels like a second home and a safe place to grow.

You could travel up the Blue Nile

with your finger, tracing the route

while Mrs Tilscher chanted the scenery.

Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswân.

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The Best of School

by D.H. Lawrence

D. H. Lawrence’s ‘The Best of School’ describes a teacher’s growing wonder as he watches his students make discoveries in the course of their studies.

This is an excellent poem about the importance of education and the joys of teaching. The speaker witnesses his students make breakthroughs in their studies, feeling their triumphs as if they were his own.

The blinds are drawn because of the sun,

And the boys and the room in a colourless gloom

Of underwater float: bright ripples run

Across the walls as the blinds are blown

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Loving Someone You Can't Have

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I am very bothered

by Simon Armitage

In ‘I am very bothered’, the Speaker takes on the role of confessor, as he shares a shameful event from his past and offers it up to the Reader to make up their minds about the misdemeanor.

Set in a chemistry lab, the poem uses the school environment as the backdrop for a disturbing memory. The familiar setting contrasts sharply with the seriousness of the act, showing that painful events can happen even in routine places. The Bunsen burner, a common classroom tool, becomes part of a harmful act, giving the scene a sharper impact. The poem suggests that school is not only a place of learning but also a place where deep mistakes can happen.

I am very bothered when I think

of the bad things I have done in my life.

Not least that time in the chemistry lab

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Theme for English B

by Langston Hughes

‘Theme for English B’ is one of Langston Hughes’ best-known poems. It explores themes of identity and race, framed within a black student’s college writing assignment.”

This poem was inspired by a school assignment and the speaker is a twenty-two-year-old African American student. He acknowledges unique position as the only Black student in their class and it's this fact that inspires his discussion of the assignment.

I wonder if it’s that simple?

I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.

I went to school there, then Durham, then here

to this college on the hill above Harlem.

#10

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The Heart Block Poem

by Undefined Poet

‘The Heart Block Poem’ is a short, four-line poem that was written in order to help medical students and medical professionals remember the degrees of heart blocks.

The poem is a valuable resource for those in medical school, where learning complex subjects is a part of the curriculum. It shows how poetic techniques can make studying more engaging and memorable, helping students grasp difficult concepts and fostering a deeper understanding of the medical conditions they will encounter in their careers.

If the R is far from the P, then you’ve got a 1st degree!

PR gets longer, longer, longer, drops, it’s a case of Wenckebach!

If some R’s don’t get through, prepare to pace that Mobitz II!

If the R’s & P’s don’t agree, prepare to pace that 3rd degree!

#11

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Please Mrs. Butler

by Allan Ahlberg

‘Please Mrs. Butler’ by Allan Ahlberg is a children’s poem that conveys a frustrating and purposeless conversation between a student and their teacher.

This poem takes place in a school classroom.

Please Mrs Butler

This boy Derek Drew

Keeps copying my work, Miss.

What shall I do?

#12

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Among School Children

by William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats wrote this poem, ‘Among School Children,’ most probably in 1926 after his visit in that year to a progressive convent school at Waterfront, St. Otteran’s School.

I walk through the long schoolroom questioning;

A kind old nun in a white hood replies;

The children learn to cipher and to sing,

To study reading-books and history,

#13

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Children

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

‘Children’ celebrates the joy of childhood, using nature metaphors to contrast youthful light against adult melancholy.

Come to me, O ye children!

For I hear you at your play,

And the questions that perplexed me

Have vanished quite away.

#14

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First Day At School

by Roger McGough

‘First Day At School’ by Roger McGough is an interesting poem about a child’s experience on their first day. They are lost, confused, and feeling left out throughout the day.

A millionbillionwillion miles from home
Waiting for the bell to go. (To go where?)
Why are they all so big, other children?

#15

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Head of English

by Carol Ann Duffy

‘Head of English’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a witty and satirical take on the conservative and orthodox teaching of poetry.

Today we have a poet in the class.

A real live poet with a published book.

Notice the inkstained fingers, girls. Perhaps

we're going to witness verse hot from the press.

Home » Collection » Poems about School

15+ Must-Read Poems about School

(15 to start, 19+ to explore)

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15+ Must-Read Poems about School

(15 to start, 19+ to explore)

by Amanda Gorman

by Carol Ann Duffy

by Carol Ann Duffy

by Billy Collins

by U. A. Fanthorpe

by Carol Ann Duffy

by D.H. Lawrence

by Simon Armitage

by Langston Hughes

by Undefined Poet

by Allan Ahlberg

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