What are the greatest English-language poems of all time?

[Il Dante]

If this topic has been discussed before, I apologize.

Here's the premise: what are the top English-language poems of all time? What would you say are the top five? the top ten?

I leave the definition of "greatest" somewhat open. Feel free to evaluate either all English-language poems or "England-only" English-language poems. Feel free to include poems from Old English and Middle English too. Plays do not count, even thought they often involve poetry.

It would be nice if posters could explain briefly why they think each poem is great. This way we could get some vigorous and invigorating discussion going rather than simply posting lists. But if you want to simply post a list, that's OK.

My list (with reasons; but not in any order) is:
—Four Quartets by T.S. Elliot
—The Wasteland by T.S. Elliot
—Paradise Lost by John Milton
—The Prelude by William Wordsworth
—Sonnets by Shakespeare
—In Memoriam by Alfred Tennyson

Four Quartets is an extremely profound reflection on time, eternity, religion, humanity, and much more; and it shows forth Elliot's superlative intellect and mastery of using the English language in highly creative ways.

The Wasteland defies comment. So I won't try.

Paradise Lost has a certain magnificence in scope and subject in the same way that the Aeneid does. Although some may not agree with the Garden of Eden story, it is difficult not to be impressed by the grandeur and seriousness of Milton's epic.

Shakespeare's sonnets are highly human. They're earthy in every sense of the word. They do not attempt to address super-lofty subjects such as God, the universe, or existence; rather, their subject is the human experience. And in this regard they are virtually unsurpassed in lending utterance to so many common human feelings.

In Memoriam is an excellent statement of and reflection on an era—the Victorian era. It embodies so many of the feelings, thoughts, considerations, and intellectual conflicts that existed in that time. But what makes it so great is that it is not simply a reflection on the Victorian psyche, but also a deeply human poem that links a human tragedy (the death of Arthur Hallum) with the larger Victorian context. Thus it is the intersection of Tennyson's personal life and consideration and the Victorian soul at large. Thus it has a wonderful emotional and intellectual richness.

[Lokasenna]

How picky are we going to be over what we mean by English? Do Old English and Middle English count? I'm in agreement with you over Milton and Eliot, so I won't mention them either.

Beowulf is on the list (if that's allowed?) - powerful, deep and symbolically complex. There's a reason its the best known ancient poem, although if I'm honest The Wanderer, though shorter and more abstract, demonstrates a greater deal of emotional intensity.

I'm going to forego Chaucer (who is self-evidently brilliant) and go for the more unconventional Piers Plowman by Langland. It's something of a marmite poem (you either love it or hate it), but it is undeniably a work of vivid imagination and incredibly detailed construction.

John Dryden's A Song for St. Cecilia's Day is simply breathtaking. The last nine lines are probably the finest in English poetry.

Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is deeply intellectual, powerfully emotive, highly thought-provoking and everyone should read it.

Wordsworth's Ode: Intimations of Immortality is his greatest masterpiece, and possibly the best Romantic poem out there (Ode on a Nightingale is the only other one that comes close).

Finally, Elizabeth Barrett-Browning's The Cry of the Childern is deeply moving, to the point of being heart-breaking. I doubt anyone could read that with out feeling the grip of ice in their soul.

[Il Dante]

Yes, Auld Aenglish and Midle Aenglish aere aloude. :yesnod:

And thanks for mentioning that Dryden poem! I hadn't heard of it and will check it out!

[stlukesguild]

I would not be without Spenser's Faerie Queene and his Sonnets and Epithalimion... an absolutely stunning cycle of poems following his courtship of the future Mrs. Spenser culmination in the magnificent wedding song. Its hard to select a single best for Blake... or even limit him to the Songs of Innocence and Experience... there's far to much of real merit to be found in his epics and elsewhere. And then there's Coleridge's Kublai Khan, Christabel, and Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, Tennyson's In Memoriam and Ulysses, Whitman's Leaves of Grass, and Byron's Don Juan... and Donne... and Herrick... and Traherne... and Dickinson, and Keats... and Shelley's Adonais... and oh so many!

[Jozanny]

There is no greatest poem written in English. There may be poetic masterpieces; there may be classics; there may be some poems that are better than others, but there is no such thing as greatest.

Bearing that qualification in mind, I'd say Chaucer is closest in English literature towards nearly being the equal of Dante, because he manages to be the first to "create humanity" to paraphrase Bloom.

I have little stomach for Spencer and never closely studied Milton, and refuse to get into the sonnets, but there should be less of the superlative tossed about. Poetry as a whole has too many aspects to be placed in a pissing match about which poets knock each other over.

[hellsapoppin]

I presume English language includes American poems. And if this is so, in my mind, nothing tops William Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis":

http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/thanatopsis.html


I have heard that Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" has sold more copies than any other poem or collection of poems in the modern era. If this is true, then one might make a good case as to why this is the best ever written.

[Il Dante]

I presume English language includes American poems. And if this is so, in my mind, nothing tops William Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis":


I had not read that poem. It's an exquisite piece!

[OrphanPip]

I presume English language includes American poems.

hahaha... Yes I'd say it would be a fair assumption that American poems written in English are English language poems.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Wouldn't disagree with any mentioned, but feel the need to sound the horn of Keats a little more - I mean?:

From Endymion

A THING of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
’Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.

:eek: