Poetry: Family & Home

In this Collection, we've gathered a selection of poems focused on themes related to Family & Home. Through rhyme and verse, the poets represented in this Collection muse and lament upon themes that include the complexities of familial relationships and love, childhood nostalgia, and the concept of home.

Publication year 1922Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: GriefTags Lyric Poem

Publication year 2020Genre Poem, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / PerseveranceTags Lyric Poem, Grief / Death, American Literature

Publication year 2017Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Fate, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Life/Time: The Future, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: FearTags Lyric Poem, Race / Racism, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Black Lives Matter, African American Literature

Publication year 1919Genre Poem, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Fathers, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Emotions/Behavior: NostalgiaTags Lyric Poem, Parenting, Mythology

“A Prayer for my Daughter” by William Butler (W.B.) Yeats was originally published in his collection Michael Robartes and the Dancer in 1921. This book also includes one of Yeats’s most famous poems—“The Second Coming”—and was Yeats’s eighth collection of lyrical poems. “A Prayer for my daughter” was written in 1919, a year that marked the beginning of the Irish War of Independence. The war lasted until 1921 and heavily influenced Yeats. The poem’s location... Read A Prayer for My Daughter Summary


Publication year 2009Genre Poem, FictionThemes Society: Economics, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Science & Technology, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Society: Community, Society: NationTags Narrative / Epic Poem, Finance / Money / Wealth

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Dorianne Laux
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Publication year 1990Genre Poem, FictionThemes Society: Class, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Values/Ideas: Fate, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Relationships: FamilyTags Lyric Poem, Arts / Culture, Climate Change

Publication year 1990Genre Poem, FictionThemes Identity: Race, Life/Time: Birth, Life/Time: The Past, Relationships: FamilyTags Lyric Poem, History: U.S., Trauma / Abuse / Violence, African American Literature

Marilyn Nelson is part of a coterie of writers who published in the late-1970s and 1980s after the revolutionary fervor of the Black Arts Movement. Though the period during which Nelson wrote is less acknowledged than those aforementioned, it was a time when diverse Black poetic talents emerged. Nelson’s contemporaries included Afaa Michael Weaver, Yusef Komunyakaa, Rita Dove, Ntozake Shange, Melvin Dixon, and Essex Hemphill. Their work grappled with the aftermath of the Vietnam War... Read Chosen Summary


Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Relationships: Fathers, Society: Education, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: The Past, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: NostalgiaTags Relationships, Agriculture, Lyric Poem

Publication year 1986Genre Poem, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Relationships: Family

Publication year 1717Genre Poem, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: ApathyTags Narrative / Epic Poem, Love / Sexuality, Relationships, Religion / Spirituality, Age of Enlightenment

“Eloisa to Abelard” is a poem published in 1717 by Alexander Pope. The poem discusses the ill-fated love affair of a real-life couple from 12th-century France: Heloïse d’Argenteuil, a gifted 18-year-old student, and Peter Abelard, a renowned French scholar, philosopher, and poet of the Medieval era who was 20 years older than Heloïse. The poem is a heroic verse epistle, which is a genre first made famous in Ovid’s Heroides. Pope adopts Eloisa’s persona and... Read Eloisa to Abelard Summary


Publication year 1989Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: MemoryTags Lyric Poem, African American Literature

Publication year 1986Genre Poem, FictionThemes Natural World: Environment, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / PerseveranceTags Lyric Poem, American Literature, Food

Publication year 2006Genre Poem, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: FamilyTags Lyric Poem, Grief / Death

Publication year 1975Genre Poem, FictionThemes Identity: Gender, Identity: Mental Health, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Relationships: FamilyTags Lyric Poem, Allegory / Fable / Parable, Mental Illness, Gender / Feminism, Arts / Culture, Mythology

Louise Glück is among the most lauded poets in the American canon. Glück’s writing is often surgically precise in terms of formal craft, and reveals a deep emotional complexity. She addresses sadness, mourning, trauma, and individual suffering metaphorically through the natural world, mythology, autobiographical events, or universal truths. She is known for alluding to cultural myths and personas in her work, some of which appear in “Gretel in Darkness” through the perspective of young Gretel... Read Gretel in Darkness Summary


Publication year 1959Genre Poem, FictionThemes Identity: Mental Health, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Relationships: FamilyTags Narrative / Epic Poem, Confessional

Publication year 1986Genre Poem, FictionThemes Identity: Race, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / PerseveranceTags Lyric Poem, Immigration / Refugee, Mythology

Publication year 2004Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Relationships: Fathers, Life/Time: Childhood & YouthTags Gender / Feminism, Parenting, Trauma / Abuse / Violence

Publication year 1961Genre Poem, FictionThemes Identity: Femininity, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Relationships: Mothers, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Identity: GenderTags Lyric Poem, Parenting, Gender / Feminism

Publication year 1939Genre Poem, FictionThemes Life/Time: Aging, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Relationships: FamilyTags Lyric Poem

Publication year 2014Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: LoveTags Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Immigration / Refugee, Vietnam War

Publication year 2013Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Fathers, Identity: Masculinity, Relationships: FamilyTags Race / Racism

Publication year 1968Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: FamilyTags Lyric Poem, Food, Religion / Spirituality, African American Literature

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Edna St. Vincent Millay
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Publication year 1923Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: FamilyTags Free verse, Grief / Death

Publication year 1966Genre Poem, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Relationships: Family, Life/Time: Childhood & YouthTags Lyric Poem, Grief / Death, Irish Literature

Publication year 2004Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Fathers, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Daughters & SonsTags Narrative / Epic Poem, Relationships

Publication year 2001Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Relationships: FathersTags Lyric Poem, African American Literature

Publication year 1976Genre Poem, FictionThemes Life/Time: Aging, Relationships: Fathers, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / PerseveranceTags Lyric Poem, Relationships, American Literature

Simon J. Ortiz originally published “My Father’s Song” in his poetry/story collection entitled A Good Journey (1977). Ortiz is a major writer in the Native American Renaissance, a movement which began in the 1960s and marked a significant increase in the production of literary works by Native Americans in the United States. The poem was written at a time when Ortiz was collecting and recounting stories from Indigenous tribes across the United States, and his... Read My Father's Song Summary


Publication year 2016Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Natural World: Space & The Universe

Publication year 1980Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: NostalgiaTags Lyric Poem, Relationships

Publication year 1994Genre Poem, FictionThemes Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Society: War, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Relationships: FamilyTags Free verse

Publication year 1982Genre Poem, FictionThemes Life/Time: Aging, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Appearance & RealityTags Science / Nature

Publication year 1991Genre Poem, FictionThemes Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Emotions/Behavior: HopeTags Lyric Poem, Love / Sexuality

Publication year 1994Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Society: Community, Natural World: Nurture v. Nature, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Emotions/Behavior: HopeTags Narrative / Epic Poem, Parenting

Publication year 1865Genre Poem, FictionThemes Natural World: Environment, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Relationships: FamilyTags Lyric Poem, Science / Nature, Transcendentalism

Publication year 1856Genre Poem, FictionThemes Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Society: Politics & Government, Society: Nation, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / PerseveranceTags Lyric Poem, Auto/Biographical Fiction, Transcendentalism

“Song of Myself” is a free verse poem by the American writer, journalist, and poet Walt Whitman. The poem is often classified as a work of transcendentalist literature. Originally self-published by Whitman himself in 1855, it was considerably revised and expanded over subsequent decades. In 1889, “Song of Myself” was released in its final form as part of the last edition of the collection Leaves of Grass. This final version—the version referenced in this guide—is... Read Song of Myself Summary


Publication year 1963Genre Poem, FictionThemes Values/Ideas: Equality, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Relationships: FamilyTags Narrative / Epic Poem, Race / Racism, Social Justice

Publication year 1949Genre Poem, FictionThemes Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Relationships: Family, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Natural World: Nurture v. NatureTags Race / Racism, Gender / Feminism, Relationships

Publication year 2005Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: FamilyTags Lyric Poem, Relationships, American Literature, Animals

Publication year 2018Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Society: Community, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Literature, Values/Ideas: Fame, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Equality, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Identity: LanguageTags Lyric Poem, Race / Racism, Diversity, Social Justice

Publication year 1961Genre Poem, FictionThemes Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Nurture v. Nature, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Values/Ideas: Literature, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / PerseveranceTags Relationships

Publication year 1984Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & AngerTags Lyric Poem, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, American Literature

Publication year 2018Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / PerseveranceTags Immigration / Refugee, History: Asian

Publication year 1998Genre Poem, FictionThemes Life/Time: Coming of Age, Relationships: Mothers, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Relationships: FamilyTags Lyric Poem, Parenting, American Literature

Publication year 1991Genre Poem, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Identity: RaceTags LGBTQ, Black Arts Movement, Poverty

Publication year 2018Genre Poem, FictionThemes Society: Nation, Society: Politics & Government, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / PerseveranceTags Lyric Poem, Race / Racism, African American Literature, Mythology

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Anne Sexton
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Publication year 1962Genre Poem, FictionThemes Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Emotions/Behavior: ConflictTags Lyric Poem, Confessional, Science / Nature