Poems About Horses

Acaptivatinganthologythatcelebratesoneofnature’smostmajesticcreaturesandtheage-oldbondbetweenhumansandhorses.Allkindsofequinecharactersgracethesepages,frommagnificentwarhorsestocowboys’trustysteeds,frombroken-downnagstoplayfulcolts,fromwildhorsestodreamhorses.WeencounterthefamousTrojanhorseinVirgil’sAeneid,andthenseeitfromawhollydifferentperspectiveinMattheaHarvey’swhimsical“InsidetheGoodIdea.”Longfellow’sPaulReveredefiesanempireonthebackofahorse,whileShakespeare’sRichardIIIvainlyoffershiskingdomforone.RobertBurns’s“AuldFarmer”dotesaffectionatelyonhisagingmare,whilethemaresofthekingofCorinthinPaulMuldoon’s“Glaucus”devourtheirowner.RobertFrost’slittlehorsestoppingbythewoodsisgentlypuzzledbyhumanbehavior,andTedHughesisdazzledbyastunningvisionofhorsesatdawn:“Greysilentfragments/Ofagreysilentworld.”Mythicalandmetaphoricalhorsescavortalongsidevividlyrealanimalsinthesepoems,whethertheybehumbleservants,noblecompanions,belovedfriends,oremblemsofthewildbeautyoftheworldbeyondourgrasp.