National Poetry Month

"To be, or not to be: that is the question..." Shakespeare is one of the world's most famous poets, and he is credited with inventing nearly 1700 words that we use in daily speech, from "bedroom" to "lonely". We don't always think of poetry as contributing to our everyday lives, but without Shakespeare's poetry, we would not have mountains of words and expressions!

Poet Amanda Gorman

The month of April is a time to celebrate poetry, whether you love the classics, such as Shakespeare, Yeats, or Plath, or if you are more interested in the more contemporary poets, such as Rupi Kaur, Courtney Peppernell, or Atticus. The written word is essential to the human experience. Throughout time poetry has evolved and grown into a written culture of its own that contributes to our society by showing us how to feel and to see the world around us by using words. Whether a reader prefers blank verse, or rhyming couplets, there are many forms of poetry to enjoy. In every generation there are new poets that speak to the relevant ideas of their time.

Book suggestions from our collection:

Songs and Poems by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare basics for grown-ups: everything you need to know about the bard

How we became human: new and selected poems by Joy Harjo

E.E. Cummings, The Complete Poems 1904-1962

Sylvia Plath, The Collected Poems

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes

I Shall Not Be Moved by Maya Angelou

Averno by Louise Gluck

A short list of contemporary poets to check out at your local library:

Amanda Gorman

Rupi Kaur