While it’s been established that many poets are inspired by sadness, that doesn’t mean that all poetry is doom and gloom – to the contrary, happy poems also abound!

Joy and happiness are just as ubiquitous in poems as sadness and grief, and poets have found their inspiration for happy poems in a myriad of places.

For Emily Bronte (1818-1848), happiness is found in the extremes of nature, as she explains in “How Still, How Happy:”

Happiness is both the breeze of spring and the chill of winter to Bronte, who delights in the simple joys of the world around her.

John Keats (1795-1821) also found happiness at home, and explained it in “Happy Is England! I Could Be Content:”

Keats, like Bronte, finds joy in his surroundings, but never more so than when those surroundings are those of home.

Simple pleasures inspired John Dryden (1631-1700) to write “Happy the Man,” which reveled in the joy of the moment:

Dryden’s joys are the joys of his own experience, the joys of a man who finds happiness within.

The best-known poems may be those with gloomier themes, but happy poems reflect emotions no less important and strong. It can’t rain all the time, and all poetry cannot be sad. Happy poems are the perfect antidote to a blue day.