100 Favorite Poems of Britain
To coincide with the National Poetry Day 1995, the BBC’s book programme, The Bookworm, conducted a poll to discover the nation’s favorite poem. Below is the result, from twelve thousand votes, in order of popularity.
1 If --, Rudyard Kipling 1865--1936
2 The Lady of Shalott, Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809--92
3 The Listeners, Walter de la Mare 1873--1956
4 Not Waving but Drowning, Stevie Smith 1903--1971
5 The Daffodils, William Wordsworth 1770--1850
6 To Autumn, John Keats 1795--1821
7 The Lake Isle of Innisfree, W.B. Yeats 1865--1939
8 Dulce et Decorum Est, Wilfred Owen 1893--1918
9 Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats 1795—1821
10 He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven, W.B. Yeats 1865--1939
11 Remember, Christina Rossetti 1830—94
12 Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Thomas Gray 1716—71
13 Fern Hill, Dylan Thomas 1914—53
14 Leisure, William Henry Davies 1871—1940
15 The Highwayman, Alfred Noyes 1880—1959
16 To His Coy Mistress, Andrew Marvel 1621—78
17 Dover Beach, Matthew Arnold 1822—88
18 The Tyger, William Blake 1757—1827
19 Twelve Songs IX, W.H. Auden 1907—73
20 Adlestrop, Edward Thomas 1878—1917
21 The Soldier, Rupert Brooke 1887—1915
22 Warning, Jenny Joseph 1932—
23 Sea-Fever, John Masefield 1878—1967
24 Upon Westminster Bridge. William Wordsworth 1770—1850
25 Sonnets from the Portuguese XLIII, Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806—61
26 The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot 1885—1965
27 Cargoes, John Masefield 1878—1967
28 Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll 1832—98
29 from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Part I, Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772—1834
30 Ozymandias of Egypt, Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792—1822
31 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Robert Frost 1874—1963
32 Abou Ben Adhem, Leigh Hunt 1784—1859
33 Everyone Sang, Siegfried Sassoon 1886—1967
34 The Windhover, Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844—89
35 Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, Dylan Thomas 1914—53
36 Sonnet 18, William Shakespeare 1564—1616
37 When You Are Old, W.B. Yeats 1865—1939
38 Lessons of the War (To Alan Michell) 1. Naming of Parts, Henry Reed 1914—86
39 The Darkling Thrush, Thomas Hardy 1840—1928
40 Please Mrs Butler, Allan Ahlberg 1938—
41 Kubla Khan, Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772—1834
42 Home-Thoughts, from Abroad, Robert Browning 1812—89
43 High Flight (An Airman’s Ecstasy), John Gillespie Magee 1922-41
44 Journey of the Magi, T.S. Eliot 1885—1965
45 The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, Edward Lear 1812—88
46 The Glory of the Garden, Rudyard Kipling 1865—1936
47 The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost 1874—1963
48 The Way through the Woods, Rudyard Kipling 1865--1936
49 Anthem for Doomed Youth, Wilfred Owen 1893—1918
50 Bloody Men, Wendy Cope 1945—
51 Emmonsail’s Heath in Winter, John Clare 1793—1864
52 La Figlia Che Piange, T.S. Eliot 1885—1965
53 The Whitsun Weddings, Philip Larkin 1922—80
54 from The Ballad of Reading Goal, Oscar Wilde 1854—1900
55 I Remember, I Remember, Thomas Hood 1799—1845
56 This Be the Verse, Philip Larkin 1922—80
57 Snake, D.H. Lawrence 1885—1930
58 The Great Lover, Rupert Brooke 1887—1915
59 A Red, Red Rose, Robert Burns 1759—1796
60 The Sunlight on the Garden, Louis MacNeice 1907—63
61 The Old Vicarage, Grantchester, Rupert Brooke 1887—1915
62 Diary of a Church Mouse, John Betjeman 1906—84
63 Silver, Walter de la Mare 1873--1956
64 Pied Beauty, Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844—89
65 Prayer before Birth, Louis MacNeice 1907—63
66 Macavity: The Mystery Cat, T.S. Eliot 1885—1965
67 Afterwards, Thomas Hardy 1840—1928
68 The Donkey, G.K. Chesterton 1874—1936
69 My Last Duchess, Robert Browning 1812—89
70 Christmas, John Betjeman 1906—84
71 The Thought-Fox, Ted Hughes 1930—
72 Preludes, T.S. Eliot 1885—1965
73 Love (III), George Herbert 1593—1633
74 The Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809--92
75 I Am, John Clare 1793—1864
76 The Hound of Heaven, Francis Thompson 1859—1907
77 The Passionate Shepherd to his Love, Christopher Marlowe 1564—93
78 The Song of Wandering Aengus, W.B. Yeats 1865--1939
79 She Walks in Beauty, George Gordon, Lord Byron 1788—1824
80 Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now, A.E. Housman 1859—1936
81 The Flea, John Donne 1572—1631
82 Ducks, F.W. Harvey 1888—1957
83 An Arundel Tomb, Philip Larkin 1922—80
84 Sonnet 116, William Shakespeare 1564—1616
85 Ulysses, Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809--92
86 Snow, Louis MacNeice 1907—63
87 Let Me Die a Youngman’s Death, Roger McGough 1937—
88 The Ruined Maid, Thomas Hardy 1840—1928
89 Toilet, Hugo Williams 1942—
90 Futility, Wilfred Owen 1893—1918
91 The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe 1809—49
92 Tam o’ Shanter, Robert Burns 1759—1796
93 Love’s Philosophy, Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792—1822
94 from The Song of Hiawatha, H.W. Longfellow 1807—82
95 God’s Grandeur, Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844—89
96 Chocolate Cake, Michael Rosen 1954—
97 Jenny Kissed Me, Leigh Hunt 1784—1859
98 Blackberry-Picking, Seamus Heaney 1939—2013
99 from The Prelude, William Wordsworth 1770—1850
100 Warming Her Pearls, Carol Ann Duffy 1955--
(taken from The Nation’s Favorite Poems. Foreword by Grief Rhys Jones. London: BBC, 1996)