“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness."

--Robert Frost

Below is a list of famous poems by famous poets that students should know going into a college literary class. Like all poems, these should be reread as once gets older, as the poems will change meaning with the reader.

COMEDY

• 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
• Animal House (1978)
• The Big Lebowski (1998)
• The Birdcage (1996)
• Blazing Saddles (1974)
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
• The Breakfast Club (1985)
• Dr. Strangelove (1964)
• Duck Soup (1933)
• Father of the Bride (1991)
• Ghostbusters (1984)
• Groundhog Day (1993)
• The Graduate (1967)
• Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
• It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
• It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
• A Night at the Opera (1935)
• The Odd Couple (1968)
• Office Space (1999)
• Shawn of the Dead (2004)
• Some Like It Hot (1958)
• The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
• To Catch a Thief (1955)
• Young Frankenstein (1974)

 
ROMANCE

• Adam’s Rib (1949)
• Amelie (2001)
• Annie Hall (1977)
• The Apartment (1960)
• Garden State (2004)
• Gone With the Wind (1939)
• Love Actually (2003)
• The Notebook (2004)
• On Golden Pond (1981)
• The Philadelphia Story (1940)
• The Princess Bride (1987)
• Roman Holiday (1953)
• Sabrina (1954)
• Titanic (1997)
• A Walk to Remember (2002)
• When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

 
ANIMATION

• Beauty and the Beast (1991)
•  “Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarfs” (1943)
• “Duck Amuck” (1953)
• Dumbo (1941)
• Fantasia (1940)
• The Lion King (1994)
• “One Froggy Evening” (1955)
• “Porky in Wackyland” (1938)
• “Rabbit Seasoning” (1952)
• “Red Hot Riding Hood” (1943)
• Spirited Away (2001)
• Street of Crocodiles (1986)
• Toy Story (1995)
• Up (2009)
• WALL-E (2008)
• “What’s Opera, Doc?” (1957)

 
DRAMA & TRAGEDY

• 12 Angry Men (1957)
• All About Eve (1950)
• American Beauty (1999)
• A Clockwork Orange (1971)
• Citizen Kane (1941)
• Cruel Intentions (1999)
• The Dark Knight (2008)
• Dead Poets Society (1989)
• Do the Right Thing (1989)
• Forest Gump (1994)
• Good Will Hunting (1997)
• Lincoln (2012)
• Million Dollar Baby (2004)
• On the Waterfront (1954)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
• Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
• Rocky (1976)
• Schindler’s List (1993)
• The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
• Taxi Driver (1976)
• The Upside of Anger (2005)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
• Unforgiven (1992)
• What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

ACTION & ADVENTURE

• Back to the Future (1985)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
• Casablanca (1942)
• Die Hard (1988)
• Fight Club (1999)
• The Goonies (1985)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• Inception (2010)
• Jaws (1975)
• Jurassic Park (1994)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Run Lola Run (1998)
• Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• The Sting (1973)
• True Grit (1969)

 
SCI FI & FANTASY

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989)
• Alien (1979)
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
• Dracula (1931)
• E.T. the Extraterrestrial (1982)
• Forbidden Planet (1956)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• Gattaca (1997)
• Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
• King Kong (1933)
• Metropolis (1927)
• The Planet of the Apes (1968)
• Star Wars (1977)
• The Terminator (1984)

 
MUSICALS

• Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
• Cabaret (1972)
• Chicago (2002)
• Grease (1978)
• Mary Poppins (1964)
• Moulin Rouge! (2001)
• Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
• The Sound of Music (1959)
• South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut (1999)
• West Side Story (1961)
• The Wizard of Oz (1939)

 
CRIME & MYSTERY

• Chinatown (1974)
• Dial M for Murder (1954)
• Dr. No (1962)
• Fargo (1996)
• The Godfather (1972)
• Goodfellas (1990)
• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• No Country for Old Men (2007)
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
• Rear Window (1954)
• Reservoir Dogs (1992)
• Seven (1995)
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• The Third Man (1949)
• The Usual Suspects (1995)
• Wait Until Dark (1967)

 
SUSPENSE AND HORROR

• 28 Days Later (2002)
• The 39 Steps (1935)
• The Birds (1963)
• Carrie (1976)
• Dawn of the Dead (1978)
• Gremlins(1984)
• Halloween (1978)
• Night of the Living Dead (1968)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• Psycho (1960)
• Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
• Scream (1996)
• The Shining (1980)
• Vertigo (1958)

 
DOCUMENTARY

• Bowling for Columbine (2002)
• Food, Inc. (2008)
• Gunner Palace (2004)
• Guns, Germs, and Steel (2005)
• Man on Wire (2008)
• Night and Fog (1955)
• Race to Nowhere (2009)
• Supersize Me (2004)
• This Film is Not Yet Rated (2006)
• This is Spinal Tap (1984)