November 2026 is the season's big book-prize month for poets. Yale, BOA, Georgia, Nightboat, Fordham's Poetic Justice prizes and Beloit's Chad Walsh chapbook all close, plus a handful of single-poem contests, broadsides and paying journal calls. Below is a curated roundup of poetry contests November 2026 and related calls we verified on official contest or publisher pages. … [Read more...] about Poetry Submission Deadlines November 2026
What Is When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d About?
What is When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd about? It is Walt Whitman's long elegy for President Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated in April 1865, just as the Civil War was ending. The poem never names Lincoln. Instead, it weaves grief together with three symbols: a lilac bush blooming in spring, a great star sinking in the western sky, and a hermit thrush singing in a … [Read more...] about What Is When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d About?
The Donkey Summary and Analysis (G.K. Chesterton)
This The Donkey summary begins with a creature mocked by the world. In G.K. Chesterton's poem, a donkey speaks. It says it was born in a strange, upside-down moment, with an ugly head, a terrible cry and ears like wings. People starve it, beat it and laugh at it. But the donkey keeps a secret: it once had its glorious hour, when crowds shouted and laid palms before its feet. It … [Read more...] about The Donkey Summary and Analysis (G.K. Chesterton)
After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes Summary and Analysis
This After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes summary begins just after a terrible loss or shock. Emily Dickinson describes the numb, stiff calm that follows great suffering. The nerves sit solemnly like tombs, the heart is confused about time, and the feet move mechanically. She calls it "the hour of lead," and compares it to freezing to death: first chill, then stupor, then … [Read more...] about After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes Summary and Analysis
Luck Among Strangers, By: Andrew Cyr
On the subway, waiting— shadows swallow rays, drizzle smothers the sun. Some eat Halloween candy, loot from their kids. Chin in hand, worry jitters— knee bouncing. Granddad claimed God made me steel. I steal his faith on long walks. Thuds crack ties. Tense neck— I knead out kinks. Across, a woman glows blue in her phone's light. Dark skirt, tinted frames— success … [Read more...] about Luck Among Strangers, By: Andrew Cyr
Where to Start with Walt Whitman
Where to start with Walt Whitman? Begin with short poems that show his voice quickly: I Hear America Singing, O Captain! My Captain!, When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer and O Me! O Life! Then read the opening sections of Song of Myself, his masterpiece, and move on to the Civil War poems and the great elegy When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd. Poetry Catalog has hundreds … [Read more...] about Where to Start with Walt Whitman