Here is a curated collection of creepy poems from famous poets. They are good for Halloween or anytime you are in need of a fright. You can may also be interested in our collection of creepy quotes.
- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Coleridge's famous poem contains the lines: "Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink."
- "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" by Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson's creepy poem contains the lines:"And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,"
- "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe
Poe's classic horrror poem begins, "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary."
- "La Belle Dame sans Merci" by John Keats
Keat's ballad contains the lines: "She took me to her Elfin grot, And there she wept and sighed full sore, And there I shut her wild wild eyes "
- "Her Strong Enchantments Failing" by A.E. Housman
Housman's poem begins with: "Her strong enchantments failing, Her towers of fear in wreck, Her limbecks dried of poison And the knife at her back,"
- "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti
The poem contains the lines: "Chuckling, clapping, crowing, Clucking and gobbling, Mopping and mowing,"
- "The King of Owls" by Louise Erdrich
Erdrich's poem starts with the lines: "They say I am excitable! How could I not scream? The Swiss monk’s tonsure spun till it blurred yet his eyes were still."
- "Antigonish" by Hughes Mearns
Means' poems begins:"Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn't there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away.."
- "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes
Noyes' narrative poem includes the lines: "And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked; His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,"
- "The Darkness" by Lord Byron
The frightening poem contains the lines: "Of famine fed upon all entrails—men Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh; The meagre by the meagre were devour'd, "
- "Haunted Houses" by Henry Wadsworth Longfello
Longfellow's scary poem includes the lines: "The stranger at my fireside cannot see The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;"
- "Ulalume" by Edgar Allan Poe
Poe's poem contains the lines:"And I said—"What is written, sweet sister,
On the door of this legended tomb?"
She replied—"Ulalume—Ulalume—"
- "Adventures Of Isabel" by Ogden Nash
Nash's poem contains the lines:"Isabel met a hideous giant,
Isabel continued self reliant.
The giant was hairy, the giant was horrid,
He had one eye in the middle of his forhead"
- Stephen King's Creepy Muse - the famous novelist has a beast-like muse
- The Edward Gorey Alphabet - learn about this creepy alphabet book
- Horror Prompt - use scary words to write your own horror poem or short story
You can find more poems in our Poems section
