15+ Significant Travel Poems

(15 to start, 75+ to explore)

Poems about travel take us on journeys of the mind and soul, weaving tales of exploration and adventure.

They transport readers to distant lands, exotic landscapes, and unfamiliar cultures, allowing us to see the world through different lenses. These verses capture the thrill of stepping into the unknown, embracing the freedom of wanderlust, and collecting memories like souvenirs.

Poems about travel ignite the flames of curiosity and leave a longing to embrace the diversity of our planet, fostering a deeper appreciation for the beauty that lies beyond our doorstep.

Poems about Travel Visual Representation

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Over 2,000 Illustrations and a Complete Concordance

by Elizabeth Bishop

‘Over 2,000 Illustrations and a Complete Concordance’ is about a struggle to reconcile the immediacy of experience with the abstraction of meaning.

The primary concern of the poem is to compare two different experiences of travel: the overwhelmingly vivid and disorienting recollections of circumnavigating the globe; and the imaginary travels one undertakes by reading a book, which are less animated, but easier to comprehend and relate to meaning.

Thus should have been our travels:

serious, engravable.

The Seven Wonders of the World are tired

and a touch familiar, but the other scenes,

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From A Railway Carriage

by Robert Louis Stevenson

‘From a Railway Carriage’ by Robert Louis Stevenson wakes up rather sudden and instantaneous images of the rustic countryside; it overcomes the reader with impressions of the brevity of life and its rich variety.

Travel is felt by painting the picture by actually describing the essence of traveling through the countryside by train. Thus, the author of the poem depicts the idea of a train ride and conveys the notion of the speed at which objects are observed from the window. It creates an atmosphere of exploring and discovering; the poem touches the reader’s sight and sense as if they are swift in traveling through the world.

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;

And charging along like troops in a battle,

All through the meadows the horses and cattle:

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Theories of Time and Space

by Natasha Trethewey

‘Theories of Time and Space’ by Natasha Trethewey navigates a journey of displacement and memory, urging readers to embrace change.

This poem explores the theme of travel through the speaker's journey along Mississippi Highway 49. The shifting landscapes and fragmented imagery symbolize the physical and metaphorical journey through life. The act of traveling represents a quest for understanding and self-discovery. The poem emphasizes the transformative power of travel in shaping one's identity and perspective on the world.

You can get there from here, though

there’s no going home.

Everywhere you go will be somewhere

you’ve never been. Try this:

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A Giraffe and a Half

by Shel Silverstein

‘A Giraffe and a Half’ by Shel Silverstein playfully narrates a giraffe’s absurd journey, brimming with humor, imagination, and unexpected twists.

Travel is celebrated through the giraffe's whimsical journey of exploration and discovery. Each new encounter represents a new destination to explore, inviting readers to join the giraffe on his fantastical adventure. Through playful language and vivid imagery, the poem captures the excitement and wonder of travel, inspiring readers to embrace the journey and discover new horizons.

If you had a giraffe

And he stretched another half

You would have a giraffe and a half.

If he put on a hat

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Night Drive

by Seamus Heaney

‘Night Drive’ by Seamus Heaney captures the two sides of a long drive. There is the tangible (the physical journey) and the emotional or mental journey that accompanies it.

Travel serves both as the poem's setting and as a metaphor. It allows for a sequence of observations and experiences that lead to a fuller understanding of the self and the other. This makes the concept of travel integral to the poem's narrative arc.

The smells of ordinariness

Were new on the night drive through France;

Rain and hay and woods on the air

Made warm draughts in the open car.

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Slow and reluctant was the long descent

by George Santayana

‘Slow and reluctant was the long descent’ by George Santayana elucidates the bittersweetness of undertaking a solo journey and finding solace in one’s tranquil environment.

It's perhaps self-evident that travel is another important part of the poem. The speaker's hike downward is one that is both literal and metaphorical, one in which they confront their own anxieties and misgivings about their journey. The fact that it ends with them at rest, entertaining charming dreams, might insinuate they've overcome those worries.

Slow and reluctant was the long descent,

With many farewell pious looks behind,

And dumb misgivings where the path might wind,

And questionings of nature, as I went.

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What He Thought

by Heather McHugh

‘What He Thought’ by Heather McHugh is a thoughtful poem about the meaning of poetry.

This poem excellently sums up the feeling of traveling and experiencing different cultures. Though all the characters in the poem are united by their status as poets, there is a divide between how the speaker talks about the American and the Italian poets, as one might expect when traveling with certain biases. The speaker brings all her assumptions and biases about Italians and Italian poets.

We were supposed to do a job in Italy

and, full of our feeling for

ourselves (our sense of being

Poets from America) we went

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Through the Inner City to the Suburbs

by Maya Angelou

‘Through the Inner City to the Suburbs’ by Maya Angelou is a poem about the differences between the inner city and the suburbs and how one is far superior to the other.

In this poem, the speaker is traveling from the inner city out to the suburbs. The train takes them away from the liveliness of the city and into the boring uniformity of the suburbs.

Secured by sooted windows

And amazement, it is

Delicious. Frosting, filched

From a company cake.

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Milano-Bruxelles

by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

‘Milano-Bruxelles’ by Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a poem that vividly describes the landscapes that pass by as a train travels across Western Europe.

Travel is central to this poem. The poem describes a journey from Milan to Brussels and the scenery that the poet sees as he passes through different landscapes. The poet shows that the journey itself can be just as interesting and worthwhile as the destination itself, and he shows how the train passes from country to country.

Lost train shunted

through the Simplon Tunnel

as through a telescope

and out through the white peaks

#10

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Ravenna

by Oscar Wilde

‘Ravenna’ by Oscar Wilde is the poet’s recollection of a trip to the culturally and historically important Italian city of Ravenna.

Travel is a significant topic in this poem because the poem is all about the experience Oscar Wilde had while traveling to the Italian city of Ravenna. The poem could be seen as an example of how travel can broaden and enrich a person's mind. Seeing the city of Ravenna had a major impact on Wilde.

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,

The throstle singing on the feathered larch,

#11

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The Swallows

by Charles Sangster

‘The Swallows’ unfolds as a dialogue between the first spring swallow and a speaker who pines for the freedom of a migratory bird.

Travel is another evident topic of Sangster's poem as illustrated by both the physical journey of the swallow and the metaphorical one engaged by the speaker's thoughts. The latter displays a probing fascination with the swallow’s migration, revealing their own earnest longing to similarly take flight and leave behind the dreary winter. Described as being "without bound," the bird enjoys a freedom not shared by many other creatures (including humans). Yet the poem also implies that travel can transcend physical boundaries, as a journey of the mind is similarly limitless and liberating.

I asked the first stray swallow of the spring,
"Where hast thou been through all the winter drear?
Beneath what distant skies did'st fold thy wing,
Since thou wast with us here,

#12

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The Lake Isle of Innisfree

by William Butler Yeats

‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ takes the reader through a speaker’s fantastical daydream to leave their world behind for the peace that nature brings.

In this poem, the poet alludes to a real place in County Sligo, Ireland. It's there that he traveled with his family, as a child. When this poem was written, he could still recall how peaceful it was there.

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

#13

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The Song of Hiawatha: Hiawatha and Mudjekeewis

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

‘The Song of Hiawatha: Hiawatha and Mudjekeewis’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is the fourth part of ‘The Song of Hiawatha.’ The poem details exciting moments in Hiawatha’s physical and spiritual journey.

This poem is filled with journeys, both literal and metaphorical. Hiawatha's travels through landscapes are more than physical movement; they symbolize his spiritual and emotional journeys. These travels are part of his learning, growth, and fulfillment of his destiny. They represent a larger motif in literature where travel often symbolizes self-discovery and transformation.

Out of childhood into manhood

Now had grown my Hiawatha,

Skilled in all the craft of hunters,

Learned in all the lore of old men,

#14

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Day Trip to Donegal

by Derek Mahon

Derek Mahon’s ‘Day Trip to Donegal’ is a lyric about a speaker’s trip to the titular town and the melancholic feelings that soon follow the trip.

The poem is centered on travel, however short this duration of travel is. The speaker goes on a day trip, arriving at Donegal in the early afternoon and returning to his suburbs at eight. This duration of travel (less than eight hours), alongside other factors revealed in the poem, has readers strongly believing that the speaker did not enjoy his trip.

At dawn I was alone far out at sea

without skill or reassurance — nobody

to show me how, no promise of rescue —

#15

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From the Republic of Conscience

by Seamus Heaney

‘From the Republic of Conscience’ by Seamus Heaney is a poem that imagines what it would be like to land in a new country where the process of immigration was based on more humane ideas of conscience rather than the current systems that are in place.

This poem discusses the poet's travel - how he travelled to this country, how he entered it and what his experiences were. He details the people's belief systems and how they affect their politics. At the end of the poem, the poet leaves to travel again and take away the things that he has learned there.

When I landed in the republic of conscience

it was so noiseless when the engines stopped

I could hear a curlew high above the runway.

Home » Collection » Poems about Travel

15+ Significant Travel Poems

(15 to start, 75+ to explore)

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15+ Significant Travel Poems

(15 to start, 75+ to explore)

by Elizabeth Bishop

by Robert Louis Stevenson

by Natasha Trethewey

by Shel Silverstein

by Seamus Heaney

by George Santayana

by Heather McHugh

by Maya Angelou

by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

by Oscar Wilde

by Charles Sangster

by William Butler Yeats

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

by Derek Mahon

by Seamus Heaney

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