The World's Greatest Inspirational Poems & Posters March 17 2024

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to our post featuring the world's most inspirational poetry and posters (paper, canvas, framed), for some of them.

The history of inspirational poems dates back centuries and is intertwined with the development of literature and human expression. Various cultures and time periods have produced inspirational poetry, often drawing on religious, philosophical, and personal experiences to provide motivation and guidance.

Early examples can be found in religious texts, such as the Psalms in the Bible or the works of Rumi and Hafiz in Sufi poetry. In modern times, poets like William Wordsworth, Emily Dickinson, William Henley, Rudyard Kipling and Maya Angelou have all contributed to the genre.

Inspirational poems today, continue to evolve, adapting to the changing needs and values of society as it changes.

You can view all our Inspirational Poem posters here

INDEX

1 Introduction

2 What is 'inspirational poetry'?

3 How can inspirational poetry motivate you?

4 Inspirational poems in English

5 Inspirational poems about life

6 Inspirational poems for women

7 inspirational poems for students

8 Inspirational poems for success

9 Our favourite inspirational poetry quotes

10 Where can you buy our inspirational poem posters?

WHAT IS 'INSPIRATIONAL POETRY'?

Inspirational poetry is a genre of poetry that aims to uplift, motivate, and inspire its readers or listeners. It often conveys positive messages, encourages personal growth, and instills a sense of hope and optimism through the use of vivid and emotional language.

HOW CAN INSPIRATIONAL POETRY MOTIVATE YOU?

Providing Perspective: It offers fresh perspectives on life's challenges, helping you see difficulties as opportunities for growth.
Boosting Confidence: Inspirational poems instill self-belief and confidence, reminding you of your inner strength.
Igniting Passion: They can reignite your passion for pursuing dreams and goals, rekindling your enthusiasm.
Encouraging Resilience: These poems often emphasize resilience and perseverance, urging you to keep going in the face of adversity.
Fostering Positivity: They promote a positive mindset, helping you focus on the brighter side of life.
Offering Comfort: Inspirational poetry can provide solace during tough times, offering emotional support and reassurance.
Setting Goals: They encourage setting and working toward meaningful goals, motivating you to achieve your aspirations.
Strengthening Determination: These poems can fortify your determination to overcome obstacles and achieve success.

Overall, inspirational poetry can serve as a powerful source of emotional and mental inspiration, driving you to take action and lead a more fulfilling life.

INSPIRATIONAL POEMS IN ENGLISH

INVICTUS by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

custom lettering Invictus poster posterama

See all our Invictus poster designs, including this one in more detail here.

“HOPE” is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

IF by Rudyard Joseph Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

IF RUDYARD KIPLING POSTER 'PENSIVE MAN' framed

View the world's finest collection of typographic IF Rudyard Kipling posters, including this one in more detail here

DESIDERATA by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

DESIDERATA POEM TYPOGRAPHY POSTER 11 posterama

See all our Desiderata poster designs, including this one in more detail here.

WHERE THE MIND IS WITHOUT FEAR by Rabindranath Tagore

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore poem poster- Where the Mind is without fear

Enjoy Tagore's Mind is without fear poster in more detail or buy it here

THE BRAIN IS WIDER THAN THE SKY by Emily Dickinson

The Brain is Wider Than The Sky image from yale.edu

THE GUY IN THE GLASS by Dale Wimbrow

When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,

And the world makes you King for a day,

Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,

And see what that guy has to say.

For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife,

Who judgement upon you must pass.

The feller whose verdict counts most in your life

Is the guy staring back from the glass.

He's the feller to please, never mind all the rest,

For he's with you clear up to the end,

And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test

If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may be like Jack Horner and "chisel" a plum,

And think you're a wonderful guy,

But the man in the glass says you're only a bum

If you can't look him straight in the eye.

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,

And get pats on the back as you pass,

But your final reward will be heartaches and tears

If you've cheated the guy in the glass.

THE MAN IN THE GLASS POSTER 2 (DALE WIMBROW)

Enjoy The Guy in the Glass in more detail or buy it here

INSPIRATIONAL POEMS ABOUT LIFE

OUR DEEPEST FEAR by Marianne Williamson

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

OUR DEEPEST FEAR, MARIANNE WILLIAMSON CARTOON POSTER

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THE MAN IN THE ARENA by Theodore Roosevelt

(Though technically not a poem, from his Citizenship in a Republic speech)

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

DREAMS by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

IT COULDN'T BE DONE by Edgar Albert Guest

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done

But he with a chuckle replied

That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one

Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

On his face. If he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn’t be done, and he did it!

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;

At least no one ever has done it;”

But he took off his coat and he took off his hat

And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,

Without any doubting or quiddit,

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,

There are thousands to prophesy failure,

There are thousands to point out to you one by one,

The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,

Just take off your coat and go to it;

Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing

That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

HELP YOURSELF TO HAPPINESS by Helen Steiner Rice

Everybody, everywhere
seeks happiness, it's true,
But finding it and keeping it
seem difficult to do.
Difficult because we think
that happiness is found
Only in the places where
wealth and fame abound.
And so we go on searching
in palaces of pleasure
Seeking recognition
and monetary treasure,
Unaware that happiness
is just a state of mind
Within the reach of everyone
who takes time to be kind.
For in making others happy
we will be happy, too.
For the happiness you give away
returns to shine on you.

THE GUEST HOUSE by Jalaluddin Rumi

Translated by Coleman Barks

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

UNION by Robert Fulghum

(One of the world's most popular wedding recitals. Though technically not a poem, even though it is often called one.)

"You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making promises and agreements in an informal way. All those conversations that were held riding in a car or over a meal or during long walks - all those sentences that began with "When we're married" and continued with "I will and you will and we will" - those late night talks that included "someday" and "somehow" and "maybe" - and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding. The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, "You know all those things we've promised and hoped and dreamed—well, I meant it all, every word." Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another - acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, and even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in these last few years. Now you shall say a few words that take you across a threshold of life, and things will never quite be the same between you. For after these vows, you shall say to the world, this - is my husband, this - is my wife."

UNION, ROBERT FULGHUM LETTERING POSTER 1

Enjoy Union (by Robert Fulghum) poster in more detail or order it here

IMMORTALITY by Clare Harner

(Penned after the sudden death of her brother, Harner's poem gained traction as an inspiring eulogy read at funerals even today.)

Do not stand
   By my grave, and weep.
I am not there,
   I do not sleep—
I am the thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain.
As you awake with morning’s hush,
I am the swift, up-flinging rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight,
I am the day transcending night.
Do not stand
   By my grave, and cry—
I am not there,
   I did not die.

INSPIRATIONAL POEMS FOR WOMEN

STILL I RISE by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise.

MUSHROOMS by Sylvia Plath

Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.

PHENOMENAL WOMAN by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I’m telling lies.

I say,

It’s in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It’s the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can’t touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them,

They say they still can’t see.

I say,

It’s in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

Now you understand

Just why my head’s not bowed.

I don’t shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing,

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It’s in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

the palm of my hand,

The need for my care.

’Cause I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

BEAUTIFUL WOMEN by Walt Whitman

Women sit, or move to and fro- some old,
some young;
The young are beautiful- but the old are more beautiful than the
young.

INSPIRATIONAL POEMS FOR STUDENTS

IF, by Rudyard Kipling (featured above)

INVICTUS, by William Henley (featured above)

DESIDERATA, by Max Ehrmann (featured above)

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN, by Robert Frost (featured above)

STILL I RISE, by Maya Angelou (featured above)

HOPE is the thing with feathers, by Emily Dickinson (featured above)

INSPIRATIONAL POEMS FOR SUCCESS

THE POWER OF ONE by Ashish Ram

One song can spark a moment
One flower can wake the dream
One tree can start a forest
One bird can herald spring
One smile begins a friendship
One handclasp lifts a soul
One star can guide a ship at sea
One word can frame the goal
One vote can change a nation
One sunbeam lights a room
One candle wipes out darkness
One laugh will conquer gloom
One step must start each journey
One word must start each prayer
One hope will raise our spirits
One touch can show you care
One voice can speak with wisdom
One heart can know what’s true
One life can make the difference

You see, it’s up to you!!

If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you like to win but think you can't,
It's almost a cinch you won't.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will.
It's all in the state of mind.
If you think you are outclassed,you are.
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win the prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But sooner or later,the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can .

INFLUENCE by Joseph Norris

Drop a pebble in the water,
And its ripples reach out far;
And the sunbeams dancing on them
May reflect them to a star.

Give a smile to someone passing,
Thereby making his morning glad;
It may greet you in the evening
When your own heart may be sad.

Do a deed of simple kindness;
Though its end you may not see,
It may reach, like widening ripples,
Down eternity.

OUR FAVOURITE INSPIRATIONAL POETRY QUOTES

"It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul"—Invictus by W.E.Henley

INVICTUS POEM QUOTE POSTER ANCHOR 1 posterama

Enjoy all our INVICTUS poem posters in more detail or order this here

“If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat these two imposters just the same" —If by Rudyard Kipling

Enjoy Kipling's Triumph & Disaster quote poster in more detail or order it here

"You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I'll rise"—Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

"Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light"—Do Not Go Gentle by Dylan Thomas

‘Do not go gentle’ Dylan Thomas quote by seb lester

Do Not Go Gentle (Dylan Thomas) lettering poster by Seb Lester

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference" The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

road-not-taken-robert-frost-typography-poster-paths posterama

See Road Not Taken quote poster in more detail or order it here

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you...Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it"—If by Rudyard Kipling

close up of IF RUDYARD KIPLING POSTER 'CUSTOM BLACK' posterama

View the world's finest collection of typographic IF Rudyard Kipling posters, including this one in more detail here

WHERE CAN YOU BUY OUR INSPIRATIONAL POEM POSTERS?

You can view all our Inspirational Poem posters here

The World's Greatest Inspirational Poems & Posters March 17 2024

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