3 Best Mystery Poems

Mystery poetry incorporates elements of suspense, intrigue, and often, elements of the uncanny, to create engaging and thought-provoking pieces.

These poems often involve a puzzle or question that needs solving, challenging the reader’s deductive reasoning and inviting them to actively engage with the text.

This genre, although not as common as others, effectively combines the narrative tension of mystery fiction with the expressive language and imagery of poetry, resulting in a unique literary experience that both stimulates and satisfies the reader’s curiosity.

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The Listeners

by Walter de la Mare

‘The Listeners’ by Walter de la Mare describes a traveler knocking at the door of a deserted home inhabited by phantoms at night in a forest.

The poem begins with many unanswered questions and ends leaving readers still guessing while presenting more confusing small details and questions throughout; it does not tell who the traveler is, who the phantoms are, to whom the traveler made the promise, to whom the house belonged, how the traveler knew house's host, etc. Further, the imagery of a haunting nighttime forest, a dark abandoned house dimly lit with moonlight, the sound of knocking and champing in eerie silence, and the traveler's anticipation after knocking create suspense and intrigue. With the addition of supernatural elements, the phantoms transform the forest into a mysterious, otherworldly realm beyond human access.

‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,

Knocking on the moonlit door;

And his horse in the silence champed the grasses

Of the forest’s ferny floor:

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The Frog Prince

by Stevie Smith

In ‘The Frog Prince’ by Stevie Smith, the principal subject of contemplation is a frog and everything that is linked with enchantment, satisfaction, and transformation into the subject of true happiness.

Regarding the style, the mystery is hinted at by the contemplation of the speaker and the viewer on their fairy-tale life and a change yet to happen. Since the enchantment is mysterious and the effects of disenchantment are unpredictable, the reader will feel suspense when the character is thinking about the ways to remove the witch’s spell. This mystery also contributes to the poem’s appeal; questions about the maiden, the spell, and, more importantly, the possibility of change are left unanswered.

I am a frog

I live under a spell

I live at the bottom

of a green wall.

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The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants-

by Emily Dickinson

‘The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants’ by Emily Dickinson personifies the mushroom and nature while depicting its mysterious and fleeting life.

The mushroom's existence seems mysterious and almost surreal, as the speaker calls it, 'the Elf of Plants.' The poem makes assumptions about its strange lifecycle, calling it a 'juggler,' 'The Germ of Alibi,' and 'surreptitious Scion,' as it appears and disappears suddenly, and no one can tell where it'd pop up next. The creative metaphors emphasize the mysterious and extraordinary nature of the mushroom, making readers wonder about this otherwise usual natural phenomenon.

The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants -

At Evening, it is not

At Morning, in a Truffled Hut

It stop opon a Spot

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3 Best Mystery Poems

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3 Best Mystery Poems

The Listeners

by Walter de la Mare

The Frog Prince

by Stevie Smith

The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants-

by Emily Dickinson

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