Freedom poems are liberating and uplifting, often celebrating the spirit of independence, self-determination, and unbridled joy. They explore themes of emancipation – from oppressive systems, limiting beliefs, or inner demons. The poet uses empowering language and evocative imagery to portray the exhilaration of breaking free.
These poems resonate with a spirit of rebellion and resilience, inspiring the reader to reach for their own liberation, to break their chains and embrace their personal freedom.
‘Lioness Asleep’ by Babette Deutsch describes the plight of a captive lioness who’s only temporary escape is through her dreams.
‘Lioness Asleep’ by Babette Deutsch is a Shakespearean sonnet that tells of the plight of a captive lioness whose only escape is through her dreams. The poem perfectly depicts the lioness entering an intensely realistic dream after eating a meal. The food sent her a few moments of bliss in which she imagined herself dozing in the desert of Africa. It is only there, in her dreams, that she is able to live the life that she wants and have true freedom.
Content that now the bleeding bone be swept Out of her reach, she lay upon her side. In a blonde void sunk deep, she slept, she slept Bland as a child, slept, breathing like a bride.
‘The Lake Isle’ by Ezra Pound echoes themes from W.B. Yeats’ ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree,’ as it explores the speaker’s yearning for escape from the modern world through simple desires like owning a tobacco shop.
The poem begins with the speaker asking the gods, this time it is a tobacco shop. This simple building and business represent something larger in the poem—freedom and escape from the bustling modern world. As the poem progresses, Pound’s speaker asks for other things, much of which would be contained within his shop. In conclusion, the speaker who has begun to sound more and more like Pound himself, asks that the gods to do anything, to remove him from his “damn’d profession of writing”.
O God, O Venus, O Mercury, patron of thieves,
Give me in due time, I beseech you, a little tobacco-shop,
‘Warning’ by Jenny Joseph describes what the future has in store as one ages and throws off societal restraints and expectations.
This poem describes what the future has in store as one grows older and throws off societal restraints and expectations and enters into a new period of freedom the speaker is going to be able to engage in and experience when she is an “old woman.” All of these things are impossible now because of one’s ingrained sense of what is socially acceptable. The speaker plans to wear whatever she wants, eat as many samples from shops as she can, and say whatever comes to her mind.
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
‘Every Man A King’ by Timothy Thomas Fortune is a passionate poem that calls for ideals like liberty to be distributed equally amongst all people.
A powerful emotion inherent to the poem is the speaker's tireless calls for freedom. This desire for liberty is expressed through some of the poem's more impactful images. Which, in turn, calls for the downfall of all tyrants and kings who would seek to limit the freedom of others in order to consolidate their own power.
‘Sympathy’ by Paul Laurence Dunbar evokes a profound sense of empathy in its attempt to understand the forlorn song of those who feel they are captives unable to reach the world beyond their respective cages.
An important feeling expressed in Dunbar's poem is a desire for freedom. For the bird, this freedom is a temporal one in the form of a home that they yearn to be reunited with. But for the speaker, that freedom is far more elusive and is instead represented by the limitations imposed by White society on Black people.
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ is a scathing critique of the penal system and an exploration of complex human emotions.
This poem recounts Wilde's prison observations, focusing on Charles Thomas Wooldridge, condemned for murdering his wife in 1896. It details Wooldridge's brave acceptance of death, contrasts it with other prisoners' fears, and describes their haunted nights. The narrative concludes with Wooldridge's funeral, his body covered in lime, and reflects on Wilde's critiques of the justice system and the pursuit of redemption through God.
‘Lochinvar’ is a ballad about a young and courageous knight who saves his beloved, the fair lady Ellen, from marrying another man.
Though he is forbidden to marry Ellen, Lochinvar knows how to get what he wants. The knight rides all alone across wild and rough terrain, giving him the persona of a cowboy or an outlaw who lives by his own rules. In stealing away Ellen and disappearing into the countryside, Lochinvar shows the listener that he is willing to break any boundary for love.
O young Lochinvar is come out of the west,
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best;
‘At Home’ describes the plight of a ghost who is kept separate from happiness, friends, and her no longer possible future.
'At Home' by Rossetti explores a ghost's isolation from her previous life and friends post-death. Initially, she observes her friends enjoying life, their future planning causing her the most sorrow, highlighting her entrapment in the past—a place nobody yearns for. The poem captures her confinement within her unchanged home, underscoring the profound alterations death has imposed on her existence, contrasting her static surroundings with her transformed state.
‘Ode to a Nightingale,’ written in 1819, is one of John Keats’ six famous odes. It’s the longest, with eight 10-line stanzas, and showcases Keats’ signature style of vivid imagery and emotional depth, exploring themes like beauty and mortality.
In this poem, the nightingale plays an important role. The speaker listens to it sing, and feels jealous of its carefree life. Inspired by the song, he considers giving himself over to the woods and trying to seek out the same kind of freedom the nightingale has. He even thinks about allowing himself to die in the woods. This beautiful vision that the speaker has been entranced by is broken when the bird flies off and leaves the speaker alone.
‘The Stars Go Over the Lonely Ocean’ by Robinson Jeffers is a complex poem that suggests that the speaker’s contemporary world is falling apart and is only going to get worse before it gets better.
Unlike the speaker, who is still tied to the human world now embroiled in war, the wild boar is free to do whatever it wants. Nature, though still affected, is not bound by mankind's destructively petty decisions. Civilization might be left a ruin but the stars will never stop going over the lonely ocean, nor will the boar ever believe in anything more than itself.
‘Poem About My Rights’ by June Jordan is a one-stanza poem revealing a speaker’s thoughts on misogyny, sexism, and racism from their experience. It is celebrated for accurately portraying the struggles of women and men of color in a patriarchial and predominantly white society.
This poem is ultimately about the fight for freedom to express certain rights.
‘Wild Swans’ by Edna St. Vincent Millay tells of a speaker’s desperation to get out of her current physical and emotional space and find a bird-like freedom.
This poem narrates a speaker's yearning for liberation from her stifling existence, inspired by the sight of wild swans. Struck by their freedom, she resolves to shed the constraints of her "Tiresome" life, envisioning herself soaring above her town with a newfound liberty akin to the swans. Her determination culminates in a decision to leave her home, longing for the swans' return to guide her flight towards endless possibilities, symbolizing her heart's release from past burdens and her embrace of a future unbound.
I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over.
‘The Eagle’ is a poem that captures the strength of the majestic bird, inspiring readers to reach for the heights of their own potential.
The eagle's ability to fly freely and independently is a central theme of the poem. The eagle's freedom is contrasted with the constrained life of human beings, who are tied to the earth and unable to escape their mundane existence.
‘Golden Retrievals’ is a poignant poem that personifies man’s best-friend in an attempt to remind us that happiness and shelter from life’s woes is best found in the present.
An emotion expressed within Mark Doty's poem is a sense of freedom. Again, this is rooted in the speaker's excitement and sense of liberty they enjoy while out on their walk. Unlike their owner, they're crucially not afflicted by painful memories of the past, leaving them free to frolic unburdened by such thoughts.
Edward Thomas’s ‘The Gypsy’ explores a transformative encounter with gypsy music, offering a glimpse into a world of unfettered freedom and deep emotion.
'The Gypsy' delves into an evocative meeting with a band of gypsies, whose vibrant music and festivities usher the speaker into a realm of unprecedented freedom and emotional depth. Conversations with a gypsy woman and the lively performances within the camp create a "Bacchanal" atmosphere. Thomas crafts a narrative that marries form with the fluidity of the experience, expressing gratitude for the profound inspiration it provides, an invaluable gift that defies repayment.
A fortnight before Christmas Gypsies were everywhere:
Vans were drawn up on wastes, women trailed to the fair.
‘My gentleman,’ said one, 'you’ve got a lucky face.’
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