I was wondering, what's everyone's favorite poems of all time? I've constructed a list of the 100 poems that have inspired me the most. Tell me if you agree with some of these selections. (By the way, 3 of the poems on this list can be found on this site. Most of the entries are from the modern era, and a majority of them can be found in the Best American Poetry book series).

100. C.P. Cavafy- Ionian
99. Franz Wright- Depiction of Childhood
98. Robert Burns- A Red, Red Rose
97. Sappho- Anactoria
96. Emily Dickinson- Because I Could Not Wait For Death
95. Anne Bradstreet- To My Dear And Loving Husband
94. Ralph Waldo Emerson- A Nation's Strength
93. Robert Frost- The Road Not Traveled
92. Ira Sadoff- American
91. Jane Miller- Adoration
90. Lynda Schraufnagel- Trial
89. Julianna Baggott- Mary Todd On Her Deathbed
88. LestatDeLioncourt (GotPoetry)- Forbidden Love
87. Stephen Berg- First Song, Bankei, 1653
86. Edna St. Vincent Millay- What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why
85. Li Young Lee- This Hour And What Is Dead
84. Thomas Sayers Ellis- Atomic Bride
83. John Donne- Death, Be Not Proud
82. George Bilgere- Healing
81. Catie Rosemurgy- Mostly Mick Jagger
80. Richard Howard- The Rape Of The Daughters of Leucippus by Castor and Pollux
79. Mei Mei Berssenbrugge- Jealousy
78. Adrienne Rich- Miracle Ice Cream
77. Anne Carson- The Life Of Towns
76. Dylan Thomas- Do Not Go Softly Into That Dark Night
75. James Tate- Distance From Loved Ones
74. Billy Collins- Man Listening To Disc
73. Gregory Djanikian- Immigrant Picnic
72. Mark Jarman- Epistle
71. Catherine Bowman- No Sorry
70. Lord Byron- She Walks In Beauty
69. Liam Rector- The Night The Lightning Bugs Lit Last In The Field Then Went Their Way
68. Garrett Hongo- Canefire
67. Gary Soto- Chit Chat With The Junior League Women
66. Lynne McMahon- Barbie's Ferrari
65. Ciaran Berry- Electrocuting An Elephant
64. Arthur Rimbaud- The Seekers Of Lice
63. T.S. Eliot- The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock
62. Linh Dinh- The Most Beautiful Word
61. Kate Daniels- Homage To Calvin Spotswood
60. William Blake- The Poison Tree
59. Allen Ginsberg- Is About
58. Hayden Carruth- Crucifixion
57. Elizabeth Barrett Browning- How Do I Love Thee?
56. Mekeel McBride- All Hallows' Eve
55. Richard Blanco- Mango, Number 61
54. Robert Browning- Love In A Life
53. D.H. Lawrence- Last Words To Miriam
52. Jonathan Aaron- Dance Mania
51. Mark Jarman- Snoring
50. Olena Kalytiak Davis- Six Apologies, Lord
49. L.S. Asekoff- Rounding The Horn
48. Rita Dove- Adolescence II
47. Marvin Bell- Poseur
46. James Tate- National Security
45. Lydia Davis- Men
44. Susan Mitchell- Havana Birth
43. Charles Simic- The Initiate
42. Thylias Moss- There Will Be Animals
41. Natasha Trethewey- On Captivity
40. George Kalamaras- Francis Ponge Is On Fire
39. Aaron Fogel- The Chessboard Is On Fire
38. Ron Padgett- Method, Or Kenneth Koch
37. Christopher Davis- Dying In Your Garden Of Death To Go Back Into My Garden
36. Maxine Kumin- Though He Tarry
35. Denise Duhamel- Incest Taboo
34. C. Dale Young- Sepsis
33. Ralph Angel- Exceptions And Melancholies
32. Kenneth Koch- Talking To Patrizia
31. Ioanna Veronika Warwick- Eyeglasses
30. Edgar Allan Poe- The Raven
29. Robert Hass- My Mother's Nipples
28. W.H. Auden- The More Loving One
27. JPerry1980 (GotPoetry)- On Listening To The Jonestown Death Tape
26. Alice Notley- 2 Pages From A Long Poem In Progress
25. Edgar Allan Poe- Annabel Lee
24. David Lehman- A Little History
23. Mary Karr- Recuperation From The Dead Love Through Christ And Isaac Babel
22. Billy Collins- Introduction To Poetry
21. Kim Addonizio- Mermaid's Song
20. Rodney Jones- On The Bearing Of Waitresses
19. Robert Hass- I Am Your Waiter, And My Name Is Dmitri
18. Anna Akhmatova- In Memory Of M.B.
17. Donald Platt- History And Bikinis
16. Maya Angelou- Still I Rise
15. Yusef Komunyakaa- Facing It
14. Kaitlyncakes (GotPoetry)- Schizophrenic Carcass
13. Jennifer Knox- The Bright Light Of Responsibility
12. Dave Snyder- Hexagon: On Truth
11. Kim Addonizio- Virgin Spring
10. Thylias Moss- An Anointing
9. Susan Firer- The Bright Waterfall Of Angels
8. Arthur Rimbaud- Hellish Night
7. David Lehman- When A Woman Loves A Man
6. Rachel Srubas- I Want To Marry You
5. Frederick Seidel- Evening Man
4. Allen Ginsberg- Howl
3. Sylvia Plath- Daddy
2. Frederick Seidel- AIDS Days
1. Margaret Atwood- Helen Of Troy Does Countertop Dancing

Great list.

If I was going to identify one poem that tops it for me, I'd include the entirety of Ranier Maria Rilke's "The Duino Elegies." If I were to choose one, it would be the First Elegy. Preferably in the Stephen Mitchell translation.

Some of the poems listed above are there in our Old Masters Section.

Here are three favorites that just randomly crossed my mind:

"Richard Cory" -- Edwin Arlington Robinson

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" -- William Wordsworth

"The Shoelace" -- Charles Bukowski

Psalm 23 -- David & the Holy Spirit

I'll add more with they come to me. Peace.

a great list , i have not read many of them , now i will.
it will be huge fun to memorize at least half of them by the end of summer

One of my favorites of all time is by Gordon Parks. I cannot think of the title for the life of me, so I will just copy the poem here, because you will not be able to look it up without a title!

Summer is done with me-
the leaf, the petal, the flower.
But all is not over.
My spirit grows boundless,
soaring without worry, without tiring
through the most wreckful storms.
I see through death and refuse it.
Having known the firmness
of branches and vines;
of so many suns and moons;
of every ennobling cloud flake,
I have learned to endure.
No lament for this season.
Peace shares the space where harsh winds cry.
Summer has fallen silent,
but its virtues gather in waves.
No winter tears. No parting sorrow.
I am meant to grace this world
that blessed me with such abundance.
When this disgruntled season passes
I will wing my way back to you.
You will recognize my fragrance
strewn along your footways.
I will be all light.

-Gordon Parks

I love that poem....personally my top 5.

5. Margaret Atwood: Helen of Troy does countertop dancing
4. Edgar Allen Poe: The Raven
3. Robert Haas: My Mother's nipples
2. Sappho: Anactoria
1. Sylvia Plath: Daddy

Anybody agree?

I can't really pick my favorite poem of all time but one of my favorites is 'Work without hope- Samuel Taylor Coleridge'.

Blake's " Tyger " is a sweet drive into imagry and symbolism. Lorca's stuff is sweet in it's complexity and Shelley for the tragic beauty that fell so effortlessly off his pen.

Thanks for the responses. I'm glad to see that people approve of my list.
If I could go back and add more poems to my list that I have only recently discovered, these would definitely climb to the top:

Marge Piercy- 'Right To Life'
Richard Wilbur- 'Shame'
Ogden Nash- 'Portrait of the Artist as a Prematurely Old Man'
Charles Bukowski- 'The Secret Of My Endurance'
Lawrence Ferlinghetti- 'See, It Was Like This'
Reetika Vazirani- 'Dream Of The Evil Servant'
anything by Leonard Cohen or Patti Smith

Bukowski- Cornered
Collins- Suddenly
Cp Cavafy- Ithaca