# What was the last culturally significant poem? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** poetry\ **Created:** [December 21, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919 "2025-12-21T18:27:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/21 "2025-12-21T19:59:01Z")
To clarify: you’re also talking specifically American culture, or the English-speaking world? My impression is that in Arabic-speaking culture, poetry is much more prominent. I also suspect that there are some significant poems in the Maoist tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/22 "2025-12-21T20:00:57Z")
The last one I can recall that commanded any attention related to world events was [Adrian Mitchell’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Mitchell) [To Whom it may Concern (Tell Me Lies about Vietnam)](https://www.poetryinternational.com/en/poets-poems/poems/poem/103-13605_TO-WHOM-IT-MAY-CONCERN-TELL-ME-LIES-ABOUT-VIETNAM) ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/23 "2025-12-21T20:09:08Z")
It very mildly annoys me that books on “recent famous poems” often include stuff from the 19th century. I guess poetry, outside of music and children’s books, has aged like jazz. “Still I Rise” is a good choice, published in 1978, almost fifty years ago. Lander’s poem, “This Be The Verse” from 1971 is also well known and liked. They f\*ck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the [faults](https://www.definitions.net/definition/faults) they had And add some extra, just for you. But they were [fucked](https://www.definitions.net/definition/fucked) up in [their](https://www.definitions.net/definition/their) turn By [fools](https://www.definitions.net/definition/fools) in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were soppy-stern And half at one another’s throats. Man [hands](https://www.definitions.net/definition/hands) on [misery](https://www.definitions.net/definition/misery) to man. It [deepens](https://www.definitions.net/definition/deepens) like a [coastal](https://www.definitions.net/definition/coastal) shelf. Get out as [early](https://www.definitions.net/definition/early) as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself. > **[This Be The Verse by Philip Larkin](https://www.poetry.com/poem/160188/this-be-the-verse)** > > Read, review and discuss the This Be The Verse poem by Philip Larkin on Poetry.com More recent examples tend to be from rap, music, musicals, the occasional TV show, in children’s literature, or as an incidental in books. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/24 "2025-12-21T20:12:10Z")
I don’t know if it was the most recent significant poem but I think many people would recognize some of the lines from Allen Ginsberg’s _Howl_. _I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,_ _dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix_ But that was written in 1956 so there is plenty of room for something more recent. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/25 "2025-12-21T20:24:50Z")
Bob Dylan won the 2016 Nobel prize in literature for his poetry. wiki- _The Nobel Prize committee announced on October 13, 2016, that it would be awarding Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.__[[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Nobel_Prize_in_Literature#cite_note-NobelCite-4)_ ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/26 "2025-12-21T22:29:37Z")
I’m going back a bit further, to [“In Flanders Field”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields) > If ye break faith with us who die > We shall not sleep, though poppies grow > In Flanders fields. which is why poppies are still worn in the Commonwealth for Remembrance Day eta: And now I see that @Dr.Drake already put that in post 3. Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/27 "2025-12-21T22:36:03Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > My impression is that in Arabic-speaking culture, poetry is much more prominent. I also suspect that there are some significant poems in the Maoist tradition. No, that’s a good point. Definitely not just English not that I’d be able to judge what counts as widely culturally influential. Poetry was historically even more prominent in Arabic culture than western European culture. Has that continued into recent years? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/28 "2025-12-21T22:42:41Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > To clarify: you’re also talking specifically American culture, or the English-speaking world? My impression is that in Arabic-speaking culture, poetry is much more prominent. I also suspect that there are some significant poems in the Maoist tradition. And the verse epics Mahabharata and Ramayana remain hugely significant in Hindu culture. I suspect that a lot of cultures retain traditional verse recitation, and consequently poems as cultural touchstones, to a degree that we in the English speaking world just don’t expect. (That said, I nominate the “30 days hath September, April, June and November” couplet as the poem that remains the most universally recognized and culturally embedded fo English speakers.) As for most recent in that category, I think a lot of people recognize Jenny Joseph’s 1961 “Warning (When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple)”. It consistently appears in various meditations on aging, and inspired the present day [Red Hat Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Society). ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/29 "2025-12-21T22:46:28Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > And the verse epics Mahabharata and Ramayana remain hugely significant in Hindu culture. Clearly, as with the Psalms in western culture. But in the OP I was asking about the most recently written poem that is “culturally significant” not for older poems that are still significant. > [@Kimstu](#): > > That said, I nominate the “30 days hath September, April, June and November” So that doesn’t count as it dates back to the 15th century. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/30 "2025-12-21T22:49:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Allen Ginsberg’s _Howl_ Yeah that counts definitely. Though “Still I rise” also does IMO and is more recent. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/31 "2025-12-21T22:51:13Z")
True, sorry, I was circling back to the “most recent” criterion as I edited my post but you got in ahead of me. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/32 "2025-12-21T22:53:53Z")
I agree “Still I Rise” is more recent than “Howl”. But I question whether it’s well enough know to qualify as culturally significant. I feel the same about some of other recent poems that have been mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/33 "2025-12-21T22:53:59Z")
I think “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron is the most culturally significant poem of the most recent famous poems. It’s still inspiring memes ‘n’ stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/34 "2025-12-21T22:57:42Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > All the Hebrew prayers come with tunes, usually both traditional tunes and a variety of other options. > > The Psalms were sung – they are attributed to David, who played the harp, and according to Wikipedia: In fact, the same Hebrew word (_shir_) is used for both “song” and “poem”. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/35 "2025-12-21T23:05:00Z")
Let’s face it though, probably the most significantly culturally relevant poem of a similar vintage is [that 1960-something “Footprints” thing.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footprints_(poem)) I wish Scott-Heron’s had that kind of reach but I bet not. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/36 "2025-12-21T23:06:06Z")
“I have a dream” is the most culturally significant recent-ish poetry I can think of. And yes, I think that _does_ count as poetry. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/37 "2025-12-21T23:08:56Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > The Revolution Will Not Be Televised > [@Kimstu](#): > > vintage is [that 1960-something “Footprints” thing.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footprints_(poem)) Yup I’d agree with both of these. But Still I Rise(1978) has them both beaten at 1970 and 1964(ish) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/38 "2025-12-21T23:09:36Z")
And Leonard Cohen was a published poet before he became a songwriter. Why should some of his verses called “poems” and other “songs”? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/39 "2025-12-21T23:15:59Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > But Still I Rise(1978) has them both beaten at 1970 and 1964(ish) I don’t think it compares in cultural impact, though. I’d guess there are 10-20 Americans who’ve encountered the”Footprints” poem for every one who’s aware of Angelou’s or Scott-Heron’s. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919/40 "2025-12-21T23:21:49Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > How about Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb,” from Joe Biden’s inauguration? I’m not sure if it truly fits what you’re talking about, but it’s the first thing that came to mind. First thing that came to my mind also: but if we’re supposed to rule out anything that hasn’t had long term influence, doesn’t that automatically exclude anything recent? Which is going to make it difficult to even try to name a “last” one. And during much of the time when poetry was a or the major form of human verbal culture, wasn’t a great deal of it sung? It seems very odd to me also to exclude sung poetry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-culturally-significant-poem/1025919.md?page=3)