What is it about poetry in movies and TV that makes me sit up and listen? Maybe it’s the beauty, the romance, or the tension of a scene that pours even more meaning into the poet’s carefully chosen words. I always love discovering poetry woven into film and television—and then diving deeper into the works themselves.
One standout example is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which takes its title from a line in Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope. That connection alone makes it instantly memorable and intriguing to me.
Dead Poets Society is an obvious choice for this list, as it’s filled with classic poetry. One of its most powerful moments is Walt Whitman’s majestic O Captain! My Captain!, a poem that resonates deeply within the film’s themes of passion and defiance.
A baseball movie might seem like an unlikely place for poetry—until you remember Bull Durham. This film is packed with quotable lines about the love of the game, but it also features Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray, adding to the romanticism of America’s pastime.
Here are more movies and TV shows that beautifully incorporate poetry—each one worth watching and listening to for the way they bring verse to life.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence which includes The Stolen Child by W.B. Yeats
Before Sunrise shedding light on As I Walked Out One Evening by W. H Auden
Apocalypse Now which showcases The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot
Blade Runner digitizing America a Prophecy by William Blake
Dickinson (available on Apple TV+ via Roku) includes many selections by, you guessed it, Emily Dickinson
Paradise (available on Hulu via Roku) incorporates Darkness by Lord Byron
Breaking Bad which crystalizes many poems by Walt Whitman
