Summer Poetry

Let’s Celebrate July With Some Perfect Summer Poetry

I love poetry. I love the way it takes me somewhere in so few lines, the way I can dip in and out of a book of poetry and learn so much. Poetry is sometimes seasonal. So, there’s no better way to enjoy summer poetry than right now!

‘Poppies in July’ – Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath is a very well-known as a writer and she was married to Ted Hughes, one of Britain’s famous 20th Century poets. In ‘Poppies in July’, Plath uses some beautiful imagery to show the reader what poppies mean to her. She says how they are ‘… little hell flames…’ and how they have ‘… little bloody skirts’. She also uses the simile ‘… like the skin of a mouth’ to show what poppies look like. Even though poppies are stunningly beautiful and striking, Plath looks at them from a slightly different angle, one that shows them as having a negative side.

Epilogue To ‘Through the Looking Glass’ – Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll is particularly well-known for Alice in Wonderland and all of the wonderfully imaginative things that happen in this book. However, take this, the first stanza of one of his poems:

A boat, beneath a sunny sky
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July –

For me, this perfectly sums up a summer’s evening – even if it is far from a lot of people’s realities, it’s lovely to think of a calm, warm evening relaxing in a boat!

‘Answer July’ – Emily Dickinson

Way back in the 1800s, American poet Emily Dickinson wrote this intriguing poem about July. Here, she addresses the month itself, hence the reason the title is ‘Answer July’ – clearly, she wants answers about the month. In the first stanza, she writes:

Where is the Bee—
Where is the Blush—
Where is the Hay?

It is somewhat unusual to address a month in this way but Dickinson clearly wants answers – and this poem is worth a read for a unique taken on this summer month.

There are lots more to enjoy – so why don’t you spend some time this summer finding poems that have a monthly theme?