A formal, often ceremonious lyric poem that addresses and often celebrates a person, place, thing, or idea. Its stanza forms vary.
There's always room for debate when creating a "top 100" list, and let's face it, fame is a pretty fickle thing. It changes over time. But that said, we did our best to use available objective data in putting together this ranked list of the 100 most widely recognized and enduring poems ever written.
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Writing a poem is not about bringing some words together to create some charming sentences. It's so much deeper than that. Writing poetry is a bridge that allows people to express their feelings and make others live every single word they read. Poetry is to educate people, to lead them away from hate to love, from violence to mercy and pity.
A poem that speaks to the resilience of all things: "The world was never made; It will change, but it will not fade."
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