★best-of-all-time.comAll 50 lists

The top 50

Poetry collections of all time

50 standout choices selected for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

What earns a placeLanguage, influence, emotional range and reread value. Every pick combines lasting value with current availability.
#1

Leaves of Grass

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#2

The Complete Poems

The Complete Poems by Emily Dickinson is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#3

Ariel

Ariel by Sylvia Plath is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#4

The Collected Poems

The Collected Poems by Langston Hughes is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#5

Devotions

Devotions by Mary Oliver is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#6

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#7

Shakespeare's Sonnets

Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#8

The Waste Land and Other Poems

The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#9

The Raven and Other Poems

The Raven and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#10

Howl and Other Poems

Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#11

Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair

Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#12

Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#13

The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats

The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats by W.B. Yeats is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#14

Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost by John Milton is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#15

Les Fleurs du Mal

Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#16

The Poetry of Robert Frost

The Poetry of Robert Frost by Robert Frost is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#17

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#18

The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatorio - Paradiso

The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatorio - Paradiso by Dante Alighieri is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#19

The Essential Rumi

The Essential Rumi by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#20

100 Selected Poems

100 Selected Poems by E.E. Cummings is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#21

The Prophet

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#22

Four Quartets

Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#23

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#24

Duino Elegies

Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#25

The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#26

Illuminations

Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#27

Beowulf

Beowulf by Seamus Heaney is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#28

The Complete English Poems

The Complete English Poems by John Donne is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#29

The Waste Land

The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#30

Crush

Crush by Richard Siken is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#31

100 Love Sonnets

100 Love Sonnets by Pablo Neruda is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#32

The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke

The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke by Rainer Maria Rilke is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#33

Lunch Poems

Lunch Poems by Frank O'Hara is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#34

Poems from Reading Shakespeare

Poems from Reading Shakespeare by R Allen Shoaf is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#35

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Other Poems

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#36

The Iliad

The Iliad by Homer is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#37

Song of Myself

Song of Myself by Walt Whitman is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#38

Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses by Ovid is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#39

The Complete Poems 1927-1979

The Complete Poems 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#40

The Odyssey

The Odyssey by Homer is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#41

Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays

Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays by Robert Frost is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#42

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#43

The Complete Poetry and Prose

The Complete Poetry and Prose by William Blake is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#44

Poems New and Collected

Poems New and Collected by Wisława Szymborska is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#45

Selected Poems

Selected Poems by Lord Byron is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#46

The Portable Dorothy Parker

The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#47

The Collected Poems, Vol. 1: 1909-1939

The Collected Poems, Vol. 1: 1909-1939 by William Carlos Williams is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#48

The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins

The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins by Gerard Manley Hopkins is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#49

A World of Verse (ASMSG Collections #2)

A World of Verse (ASMSG Collections #2) by Christopher Shields is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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#50

If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho

If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho by Sappho is a durable poetry collection choice, recognized for language, influence, emotional range and reread value.

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