Collections of Poetry

This page features collections of poetry. Sites and Activities for Specific Poets and Lesson Plans and Activities for Poetry are also available.

The Academy of American Poets
A searchable collection of contemporary poetry, some not necessarily appropriate for school.

American Life in Poetry
A collection of contemporary American poems, copyright cleared for classroom use.

American Verse Project
The University of Michigan Humanities Text Initiative (HTI) and the University of Michigan Press joined forces at this site. The result? An electronic archive of American poetry prior to 1920.

Barking Spiders
Poetry and short stories by children's author CJ Heck, some read/sung by the author herself. Site also has poetry for preschool through high school, silly poems to finish, tongue twisters, audios and videos, quotations, an online store, and contact information.

Children's Poetry Archive
Search by author or theme.

Contemporary American Poetry Archive
CAPA archives texts of out-of-print volumes of contemporary poetry.

Cowboy Poetry at the Bar-D Ranch
Omar West presents poetry about cowboys and the West.

The E-Server Poetry Collection
This index of Western canonical verse has a wide variety, from Angelou's "On the Pulse of Morning," the inauguration poem, to Wordsworth and Coleridge.

Favorite Poem Project
A collection of poems people have chosen as their favorites and videos of them reading.

First World War Poetry Digital Archive
An online repository of over 4000 items of text, images, audio, and video including Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Robert Graves, Vera Brittain, Edward Thomas, and others.

In the Heydays of His Eyes
An anthology of poems about being young and growing up. Includes both original and classic poetry.

Internet Poetry Archive
Selected poems from a number of contemporary poets.

Library of Congress Poetry Resources
Links to webcasts, Civil War poetry, official state poems and state Poets Laureate, more.

Literary Kicks: BeatGen
Historical information about Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, William S. Burroughs, and later Beats.

Poem Hunter
This database of poetry can be searched by poet, title, or text, for those times when you only remember a line or two.

The Poet Speaks of Art
A collection of paintings and the poems they inspired.

Poetry 180
Former Poet Laureate of the United States Billy Collins presents a program in which students read poetry aloud daily.

Poetry Foundation
Searchable database of poems sponsored by the Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine.

Poetry Out Loud
This website devoted to the national poetry recitation contest includes a database of poems and teaching resources.

Representative Poetry Online
Poetry is indexed by poet, by title, and by first line. Also available: a keyword search of words in the poems; a timeline, of poets, poems, and events; a calendar, the year's days; a glossary of poetic terms and forms; writings on poetry by great poets and readers, and a link to UTEL, the University of Toronto English Library.