Poems of Anxiety and Uncertainty
When major parts of our lives seem to change in a flash, we are reminded that poetry can help us to cope with new realities and assess the unknowns ahead. When we are stepping out into uncharted terrain, alone or together, poetry can capture our emotions. It can share our vulnerabilities and scars, along with our strengths.
Poets are seekers and questioners. They explore the unknown and help to give it shape. The insights and wisdom in the following poems below are hard-won; more often, it is simply the naming of the fear—personal, spiritual, or political—that offers solace, reminding us that people are connected by our worries and doubts as well as our joys. By resisting closure and easy answers and sounding out the darkness, these poems remind us that poetry has always been able to cope with uncertainties, ambiguities, and shades of gray.
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William Butler Yeats
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Walt Whitman
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Edna St. Vincent Millay
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William Shakespeare
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Jean Valentine
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Louis Simpson
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Nathaniel Tarn
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Adrienne Rich
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Walt Whitman
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Aaron Shurin
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Paul Celan
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Valerio Magrelli
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Maggie Smith
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Emily Dickinson
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Emily Dickinson
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Mary Ruefle
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Elizabeth Bishop
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Chungmi Kim
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Li-Young Lee
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Jamaal May
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Tarfia Faizullah
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Juliana Spahr
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June Jordan
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Cornelius Eady
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Carolyn Forché
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Mahmoud Darwish
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Basil Bunting