A Married State

Matrimony’s not quite so holy in Katherine Philips’ anti-marriage poem

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The Chimney-Sweeper

William Blake sweeps away the comforting lies that enable child exploitation

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Boey Kim Cheng asks whether nature’s champions can still save her

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Charles Mungoshi eulogises rural life in this deceptively simple poem from Zimbabwe

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Who is really being appreciated in this famously tender poem by William Shakespeare?

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Nurture trumps nature in Elizabeth Brewster’s austerely beautiful poem

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Alexander Pope examines our place in the grand scheme of things

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There’s plenty of reasons to be sad – and angry – in Gillian Clarke’s poem based on the events of the first Gulf War

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Language can both hurt and heal in Sujata Bhatt’s challenging poem about India’s past – and the place it could be again

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Love really hurts in Aphra Behn’s cherubic rework

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