One of the most difficult creative skills to master, poetry can be a life changing experience. While we all have that one or two poems that have changed our lives, the below sites contain the top 100 sites to study, teach, and share poetry so that you may find many more.
Best Comprehensive Poetry Sites
Visit these sites first for the best in studying and sharing poetry online.
1. Lulu Poetry: Stop by for the free poetry contests and poems of the day. Stay for the impressive reference section, a greatest poems option, and much more.
2. Poets.org: The Academy of American Poets keeps an updated and impressive site. Essential tools include essays, interviews, tips for both reading and writing, and even a section for educators.
3. Poetry Archive: A United Kingdom based site, you can find many tools for learning or teaching poetry. There are sections for educators, students, and librarians. A must see feature of this site includes historic recordings with poets such as Rudyard Kipling and George Mackay Brown.
4. Library of Congress: With a special section for poetry, visitors can get poetry webcasts, read about the current Poet Laureate, and get resources for teachers. There is also information on poetry prizes and fellowships.
5. The Poetry Trust: Stop here for learning, events, and a poetry festival located in the United Kingdom. There is also a poetry channel with many podcasts for the listening.
6. Poetry Slam, Inc.: A slam is competitive spoken word performance in which participants have three minutes to prove themselves to judges who have just been randomly selected from the audience. You can learn more, view past winners, or find a slam in your area.
Best Sites to Read Poetry
Find a new favorite poem, get inspiration, or something to share by visiting these sites with literally millions of free poems for the viewing.
7. Poetry Daily: Stop here for a new poem every day. You can also get a featured poet and book, picks, a prose feature, and more.
8. Famous Poets and Poems: With 628 poems and counting, this site is dedicated to poetry and to the people who make it possible. You can choose by theme, quote, or even the top 50 poems.
9. Poem Hunter: This poetry section has a database of 310,931 poems in every imaginable genre. There are also several poetry forums to choose from, and there is even a section with music lyrics.
10. 100 Poems: With over 86 million votes, view the winners for free on this site. Categories include the top 100 love poems, teen poems, and even a best of the best.
11. Poetry Out Loud: Created by the National Endowment for the Arts, this site runs a national recitation contest. In addition to learning more about the contest, you can browse the database of poems, and there is even a resource for audio or video poems.
12. Electronic Poetry Center: Created by poet Charles Bernstein and Loss Pequeno Glazier, this site is sponsored by the State University of New York at Buffalo. You can get e-poetry, author information, portals, blogs, and more.
13. Famous Poetry Online: Visit here for a free, online resource providing famous poems by the world’s most popular poets. Select a category or poet, and there is even a top 20 list.
14. Inspiration Peak: These specialty poems are sure to help you, not just in your writing, but life as well. You can also find inspirational quotes, stories, and eCards.
Best Sites to Teach Poetry Online
Both students and teachers of all levels will enjoy these poetry teaching sites.
15. Poetry 180: The Library of Congress offers this free poetry tool to provide a daily poem for each of the 180 school days. Intended for high school students, there is even help for reading a poem out loud.
16. PoetryClass: This site is a solution for teachers wanting to bring poetry alive in the classroom. It contains lessons, resources, and even tools for teaching children.
17. Moving Words: Open University offers online activities to teach poetry. Five different lessons include Search For My Tongue, Macbeth, and I Have A Dream.
18. ReadWriteThink: This site gives lessons, standards, and web resources for teachers and students. Current poetry specific resources include a lesson on preposition through poetry and a review of “Diamante Poems.”
19. Modern American Poetry: The syllabi section has many free resources for teachers. You can download courses, recommended readings, and even get links back to the author’s website.
20. The Poetry Teacher: Steffani Gilligan is a teacher who helps other teachers in poetry. Visit her site to get poems, reading strategies, or order her specialized book.
21. Poetry America: Scroll down to get tips on writing poetry. You can also choose from how to write limericks, sonnets, how to teach love poetry, and more.
22. Poetry Magic: Poetry guides on this site include approaches, critiquing, imagery, performing, and more. You can also get a ton of tips on publishing your works.
23. Poetry.org: Here you can learn about the history, meaning, and types of poetry, as well as common terminology. There is also the option to get term meanings by country or region.
24. Poetry Testing Kit: The Poetry Book Society offers memberships to educators who want to teach poetry. Non members can get these top tips for poetry readers by Simon Armitage including the eye test, pH test, and IQ test.
25. Poetry Teachers: If you are teaching poetry to grade school students, this is the site for you. It has tips on how to teach poetry, school poems, and even a teacher discount on their items.
Best Sites to Share Poetry Online
If you have a perfected work, or just want to read some more poetry, check out these sites for the best in online poetry sharing.
26. Every Poet: Visit the showcase to join the 3,600 other members in sharing your poetry online. There is also a forum, classic poems, and much more.
27. Poetry Poem: Visit here to join the 90,000 other poets who have posted their work here. Start your very own poetry site for free, and get or offer feedback to other poets.
28. The Other Pages: An alternative to traditional poetry sites, they have many different options for those who want to share or read poetry. There is a Poets’ Corner, UniVerse, and many other artistic choices.
29. Funny Poets: Whether you have a humorous poem or just need a good laugh, you can find poems of all sorts here. View the top ten, occasion specific poem, or read-at-your-own-risk.
30. Editor Unleashed: Maria Schneider was an editor with “Writer’s Digest” and gives prospective ones many useful tips for sharing their work. Popular posts include The 10 Best Books for Writers, The Query Letter in 3 Parts, and Writer’s Business Cards.
31. Potato Hill: This site is ideal for students or teachers who want to share their poetry. There is also a contest and monthly exercise for the classroom.
Best Sites to Publish Poetry
Go beyond online poetry sharing to get the best in publishing tips from these sites for books, contests, and more.
32. Agent Query: Need an agent to help sell your poetry? Then visit this site for a guide of agents, along with tips for how to get and choose one.
33. Query Tracker: If you use the above, get a free membership at this useful site. In addition to the database of agents, you can also organize and track your query letters.
34. Winning Writers: Why bother to research all the writing and poetry contests on the net when this site does it all for you? Just subscribe to the newsletter to get information on over 150 quality poetry contests.
35. Writing Contests: Similar to the above, this site posts several times a day on the newest in writing contests. They have info on over 500 poetry contests including entry fee and prizes.
36. Books and Tales: Visit here for a side by side comparison of print on demand publishers. There is also information on the top four publishers and a forum for those with questions.
Best Poetry Communities
Not enough poets on Facebook or Twitter? Then stop by these leading online communities for poets.
37. WeRead: Whether you love classics or popular fiction, this is a place where you can find others who share your reading tastes and discover new works that you will love. Authors and poets can create their own pages for sharing, and they even have special book clubs and quizzes.
38. All Poetry: Join this community to get free poetry classes, contests, and read the literally millions of poems. You can even start your own contest and get resources for kids.
39. Poets Forum: With a simple registration process, you can join in on this active forum just for poetry. Visitors can even read the posts with no registration, and there is no shortage of topics.
40. Speakeasy: Stop here to connect with many other writers of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The forums also list tips for contests, sending your work out, agencies, and more.
41. Writing.com: This online community has over 700,000 members and is for writers of all kinds, including poetry. You can read a poem, join the forums, or enter a contest.
42. Neo Poet: With many live poetry related events, this community is worth a look. A free registration gives you access to the forums and streams.
43. The Poet’s Lounge: Part of the Ning community, members can make their own page, post poetry, and more. There is also a chat room and member blogs.
Best Sites to Study, Teach, and Share Poetry for Kids
Visit here for the best in poetry for younger students.
44. Giggle Poetry: This site has hundreds of poems of all kinds and for all ages on this site. You can read and rate, take the virtual poetry class, do fill-in-the-blank poems, join the theater, and much more.
45. Poetry 4 Kids: Kenn Nesbitt’s poetry playground features funny poems and poetry books for children, games, lessons, discussion forums, and lots more. There is even a rhyming dictionary for kids who are stuck and contests for those who have a completed poem.
46. The Poetry Zone: If you are between the ages of four and 18, visit here to submit your own poem, or read those of others. There is also a top ten, teacher zone, and poets talk.
47. Poetry Writing With Jack Prelutsky: A U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate, he shows kids how to write their own poem in four easy steps. There are also tons of other writing resources on the site.
48. Kristin George: An English poet, she has a special corner just for kids. Children can read or listen to poems, get fun activities, and there is also a section for teachers.
49. Funny Poems and Children’s Poetry: Robert Pottle shares funny poems and books online. Kids can also learn about poetry in two, multi-part lessons.
50. Eric Ode: Stop here for both poetry and music for kids. You can read several of his poems and even get resources just for kids or teachers.
51. That Poetry Guy!: Ted Scheu is a children’s writer and teacher. He has poems available to read or listen to, writing advice for young poets, and tips for teachers.
52. Laugh A Lot Poetry: Darren has poetry riddles, activities, and games just for kids. Be sure to check out the school visit videos if he isn’t visiting your school soon.
Best Poetry Blogs
Study, learn, and share with the best poets by checking out their blogs with tons of information on poetry.
53. Lulu Poetry Blog: An outstanding feature of this blog is the constant updates to the poetry contest winners. They even link to the winning poems and give you updates on their site.
54. Silliman’s Blog: Ron Silliman has been blogging on contemporary poetry and poetics since 2002. Entries are regularly updated, often lengthy, and tie poetry into the modern world.
55. Poetic Asides: Robert Lee Brewer is a contributor for “Writer’s Digest” and keeps this blog just for poetry. Categories include advice, interviews, challenges, publishing, and more.
56. New Pages: Stop here before purchasing a literary or poetry magazine to get an independent review. You can also get information on the alternative media, as well as links to good reading.
57. 32 Poems: The blog of a magazine of the same name, this is also the home of Deborah Ager. Recent posts include what to take to a conference, poet vs. poet, and no tell motel.
58. The Best American Poetry: This blog features a different American poem on a regular basis. Analysis and links to similar poems are also provided.
59. Poems for Free: Not technically a blog, but you can still get the newest poems from Nicholas Gordon here. He offers over two thousand poems on all sorts of occasions.
60. The Other Weblog: Stop here for an ongoing discussion of topics and poems covered on the main site. In addition to poetry, they also post on photography and quotes.
Best Media Sites to Study, Teach, and Share Poetry
These sites contain the best in television, magazines, and other print publications to help your poetry.
61. BBC-Arts-Poetry: This site gets top seating just for its audio of “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Lord Tennyson, recorded in 1890. You can also get other readings of top poems by Seamus Heaney, W.H. Auden, and Sylvia Plath.
62. Poetry Magazine: You don’t need a subscription to learn or share poetry on this site. You can utilize the poetry tool, tour the gallery, get a reading guide, or even submit a poem of your own for publication.
63. Poets & Writers: Go from inspiration to publication with the help of this magazine that contains many tools for writers. Choose from various databases, job listings, top ten topics for writers, and more.
64. BBC Poetry Season: This leading British channel has tons of resources to discover poetry. There are television and radio specials and even poetry guides, currently with tips on how to perform poetry in public.
65. Poetry International Web: If you are a poet outside of the U.S. or U.K., this online news site for you. It contains the latest poetry from all over the world and many are available for reading, viewing, or listening.
66. Writer’s Digest: This magazine has tips and tools for writers of all kinds. Sections worth a visit include write better, get creative, and get published.
67. The Atlantic: The fiction and poetry section of this leading magazine has many resources for poets. You can both read or listen to poems, and don’t forget to check out the “So You Want to Be a Writer” section with tips from top poets.
68. The Writer’s Chronicle: Part of The Association of Writers & Writing Programs, visitors can get free articles on the craft of poetry. There is also information on contests and a directory of poetry publishers.
69. Poetry Magazines: This site gives free access site to the full-text digital library of 20th and 21st century UK poetry magazines. Titles include “Atlas,” “Dream Catcher,” “Equinox,” and more.
Best Sites for Love Poetry Online
Stop here to learn and share the best in romantic and love poetry.
70. LovePoetry: Get thousands of poems on love by classic poets, along with newer ones. Choose from categories such as quotes, reflections, and more.
71. Love Poems and Quotes: Similar to the above, you can get poems and quotes for both romantic and friendly love. You can also get romantic ideas, a wedding section, or enter their contest.
72. ILovePoems: Visit here for categories such as love poems and quotes, romantic ideas, and wedding poetry. There are even poetic greeting cards you can send over the internet.
73. Best Love Poems: This site contains original love poems by poets from all over the world. Submit your own, or view the top rated.
74. Poem of Quotes: With a special section for love poetry, you can read many original works online. There are also classic poems and even poetry for break ups.
75. Poems Lovers: This site has love letters and stories in addition to poems. There is also a poem of the week and popular love quotes.
Best Audio Sites to Study, Teach, and Share Poetry
Because poems were meant to be heard, as well as read, check out these sites with tons of poetry audio.
76. Poets.org Audio & Video: Stop here for a massive database of both audio and video including poetry readings and a free album download. Be sure to make time for Poets Reading Poets to get classic poems as read by modern poets.
77. Poem Present: Visit this University of Chicago website to get an impressive selection of reading and lectures available as a QuickTime file or MP3. Current poets include Juliana Spahr and Eliot Weinberger.
78. Lannan Foundation: The audio archives section of this site contain popular readings and conversations with many leading poets. You can also get Bookworm Interviews or listen to their newest podcast.
79. Wired for Books: Get tons of poems, literature, and more on this site available at no charge for RealPlayer. You can choose by award winners and there is even a section for children.
80. From the Fishouse: Stop here for an audio archive of emerging contemporary poets. In addition to reading their own poems, they answer questions about poetry and the writing process.
81. Funny Poetry Podcast: Intended for children, these podcasts contain poems as read by professionals. Current ones include “Don’t Ever Ask A Centipede,” “At Hamster Sam’s Rodeo,” and “Has Anyone Seen My Chameleon?”
82. Lyrikline: Stop her for poems available to listen to, or to read, in their original languages and various translations. You can choose by author or language, or get the site itself in five different languages.
83. Poetry Unplugged: Now ten years old, this is London’s Premier Poetry open mic. You can listen to their latest episode or stop by the specialty shows such as Exiled Writers and The Cellar.
84. UBUWEB Sound: This site encompasses all types of sound including art, historical, and contemporary. You can get pioneers such as Guillaume Apollinaire reading his "Calligrammes" in 1913, or listen to current practitioners such as Vito Acconci or Kristin Oppenheim.
Best Podcasts to Study, Teach, and Share Poetry
Experts review their own poetry, along with the works of others, and more on these poem podcasts.
85. The Poetry Foundation: Choose from several impressive podcasts on this site. Shows include Poem of the Day, Poetry Radio Project, Essential American Poets, Poetry Lectures, and more.
86. PennSound: The University of Pennsylvania runs this site with audio poems, podcasts, and more. They even have a top ten resources with their leading poets.
87. Poem Talk: Sponsored by various poetry supporters, this podcast has 20 episodes and counting. Poems are featured, read, and discussed.
88. Poetry Please: Roger McGough of the BBC presents a weekly selection of favorite poetry requested by listeners. Recent episodes are on Tennyson and 30 years of the people’s poetry.
89. Slate Poetry Podcast: Get a weekly podcast on poetry from this popular online news source. Current episodes feature Joseph J. Capista, Erica Ehrenberg, and Robert Pinsky.
90. The Poetic Voice: Houghton Mifflin offers poetry lovers an opportunity to hear celebrated poets reading and talking about their work. Choose from Donald Hall, David Tucker, and others.
Best Specialty Sites to Study, Teach, and Share Poetry
These sites contain a specific genre or audience in poetry.
91. Speaking Volumes: This initiative aims to bring the enjoyment of reading to people with a visual impairment. Located in the Yorkshire and Humber regions of the United Kingdom, you can join a group or even listen to one online.
92. Mr. Africa Poetry Lounge: Give this site a visit for the best and latest in African American poetry. Choose from the newest poems, famous writers, and even a section just for ladies.
93. The Southbank Centre: Stop here for a virtual poem creator with a drag and drop feature. You can also get information on competitions and book publishers.
94. Favorite Poem Project: What started out as a project to select a favorite poem has exploded into one that has thousands of poetry lovers reading their favorites. You can watch the videos, purchase the DVD, or get resources for teachers.
95. Writers Online Workshops: Try one of the two workshops just for poets risk free. There are also other courses for writers of various levels.
96. The Haiku Society of America: Get information on this unique form of poetry with collections, a newsletter, and frogpond. You can also stop by the collections area to get links to award winning haikus.
97. Free Poetry eBooks: If you still haven’t read enough poems, stop here for hundreds of free, downloadable poetry books. There is also a top download section if you need help choosing something.
98. Rhyme Zone: Simply type in the word and enter to get rhymes. You can also get other tools such as Shakespeare, famous quotes, and more.
99. The Quotations Page: Search the database of over 26,000 famous figures to get a timeless quote. In addition to poets, you can also get such notable people as Aristotle, Benjamin Franklin, and Mark Twain.
100. Greeting Card Poems: Get short, concise poems by visiting this site. Categories include baby, birthday, Christmas, get well, and others.
Regardless of age, gender, or poetry level, visitors can find all they need to know from these 100 sites to study, teach, and share poetry online. Also useful if you need help publishing, expert feedback, or just a few poet friends.