October 2026 packs a lot into thirty-one days for poets — first-book prizes, single-poem contests, translation awards, and a few big travel opportunities all close this month. Below is a curated roundup of poetry contests October 2026 and related calls we verified on official contest or publisher pages. Always double-check guidelines (fees, eligibility, and formatting) before … [Read more...] about Poetry Submission Deadlines October 2026
A Visit from St. Nicholas, By: Clement Clarke Moore
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the houseNot a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;The children were nestled all snug in their beds,While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;And Mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,Had just settled our brains for a … [Read more...] about A Visit from St. Nicholas, By: Clement Clarke Moore
In Flanders Fields, By: John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved and were loved, and now we lie,In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throwThe … [Read more...] about In Flanders Fields, By: John McCrae
What Is La Belle Dame sans Merci About?
What is La Belle Dame sans Merci about? John Keats's ballad tells of a knight found wandering, pale and sick, by a dead lake in late autumn. He explains that he met a beautiful faery woman, fell in love, and was lulled to sleep in her grotto, where he dreamed of kings and warriors she had already enchanted. He woke alone on a cold hillside, and he cannot leave. Read the full … [Read more...] about What Is La Belle Dame sans Merci About?
I’m Nobody! Who Are You? Summary and Analysis
This I'm Nobody! Who Are You? summary starts with the joke at its center. Emily Dickinson's speaker happily calls herself a "nobody," finds another nobody in the reader, and asks them to keep it secret. Then she mocks the idea of being "somebody": being famous, she says, is like being a frog croaking its own name all day to an admiring swamp. The poem prefers privacy to fame. … [Read more...] about I’m Nobody! Who Are You? Summary and Analysis
London Summary and Analysis (William Blake)
This London summary covers William Blake's poem, not the city. In it, the speaker walks through the streets of London and sees suffering on every face. He hears it in every cry: men, babies, chimney sweeps, soldiers, young prostitutes. He blames the powerful institutions of the day, church, palace and marriage law, and the "mind-forged manacles" that keep people from seeing a … [Read more...] about London Summary and Analysis (William Blake)