Father’s Day Poetry

The role of fathers is fraught with difficulty and the effort of combining both the tenderness of love and support with the age old virtues of strength and leadership troubles many men. Unsurprisingly, poets have celebrated this challenging position over the years and have characterized fathers with both a courageous view of life and dependability to be there for their children.

In this collection many of our greatest poets including Rudyard Kipling, Walt Whitman, and Emily Bront├½ express their opinions of that unique role of fatherhood—whether as one themselves or as a child reaching for that same mantle.