Poems of courage and solace

April is National Poetry Month, and if there ever was a good time to read more poetry, it’s now. While we shelter at home, it’s easy to drown ourselves in news, or binge watch Netflix, or lose hours in video game worlds. (Not me on the last one, but my youngest has spent much time preaching the merits of “Animal Crossing”.)

Since many of us have extra time, let’s spend it stimulating our minds and lifting our souls. Let’s read poems! The Academy of American Poets has a page dedicated to “Shelter in Poems”, where readers share poems that help them find “courage, solace, and actionable energy”. Here are two of my favorites from that page. (Both are in the public domain, so I can quote them entirely. )

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,   
  Black as the Pit from pole to pole,   
I thank whatever gods may be   
  For my unconquerable soul.   

In the fell clutch of circumstance 
  I have not winced nor cried aloud.   
Under the bludgeonings of chance   
  My head is bloody, but unbowed.   

Beyond this place of wrath and tears   
  Looms but the Horror of the shade, 
And yet the menace of the years   
  Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.   

It matters not how strait the gate,   
  How charged with punishments the scroll,   
I am the master of my fate:
  I am the captain of my soul.

Word Nerd Note: Invictus means undefeated in Latin. It’s also the title of a pretty awesome movie starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman about post apartheid South Africa.

And here’s another one, by Emily Dickenson, that I’ve shared before, but it’s so appropriate, and a great one to memorize and meditate on, that I’m sharing again.

I hope you find these encouraging and inspiring. Stop by poets.org to find more Shelter in Poems. Poem in Your Pocket Day will be April 30 this year. Start looking for a short, sweet poem to share!

Where do you find solace and courage these days? Do you have any poems you can recommend?

Thanks for getting poetic with me!

Julia Tomiak
I believe in the power of words to improve our lives, and I help people find interesting words to read. Member of SCBWI.

6 Comments

  1. For these stay at home times I think the most appropriate poem is “Summer with Monika” by Roger McGough. It’s a long poem, takes up a whole, albeit thin, book. It tells of spending a whole summer inside (with Monika).
    Roger has also recorded it, set to music. It was this way that I first encountered it. If you’d like to hear it, you can find it at…
    https://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2014/01/elder-music-roger-mcgough.html
    (down at the bottom of that column)

  2. Thanks for posting these! I’m finding solace in old childhood favorites~ Roald Dahl books, Anne of Green Gables, etc.

  3. I LOVE both of these poems! I am a fan of Jason Reynolds’ poetry. I discovered it on Goodreads – if you click on his name. He’s posting a poem everyday this month. Woah. Here is his Easter one:

    EASTER IN QUARANTINE

    the thing is

    i too have risen

    and still feel

    the holes there

    both dead and alive

    supreme somber this

    sunday i wonder

    when they gon’ come

    see about me

    when they gon’ roll

    away my stone

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