Spooky Halloween Poems That Will Definitely Make Your Hair Curl

The following collection of spooky Halloween poems will provide you with tricks and treats this Halloween. These poems feature ghosts, goblins, vampires, haunted houses, and ghouls.

As the annual celebration of ghosts and goblins approaches, enjoy these great short Halloween poems.

Halloween poems funny and scary

The Spider and the Ghost of the Fly

This poem by Mary Howitt has a creepy nursery rhyme. It spins the classic horror story of predator and prey. With each verse, the sensation of risk grows. It's the ideal poem for a dramatic Halloween reading.

“Once I loved a spider

When I was born a fly,

A velvet-footed spider

With a gown of rainbow-dye.

She ate my wings and gloated.

She bound me with a hair.

She drove me to her parlor

Above her winding stair.

To educate young spiders

She took me all apart.

My ghost came back to haunt her.

I saw her eat my heart.”

—Vachel Lindsay

From the Hand of Glory

"From the Hand of Glory" is a captivating poem co-authored by John Dryden and Nathaniel Lee, two prominent figures in English literature. Known for its vivid imagery and powerful themes, "From the Hand of Glory" delves into the mystical and the macabre, captivating readers with its richly woven narrative. Dryden and Lee's combined talents make this work a standout piece, reflecting the depth and complexity of their literary prowess.
 

“O 'tis a fearful thing to be no more;

Or if to be, to wander after death;

To walk as Spirits do, in Brakes all day;

And when the darkness comes

to glide in paths

That lead to graves: and in the silent Vault,

Where lyes your own pale shrowd,

to hover o'er it,

Striving to enter your forbidden Corps;

And often, often, vainly breathe your Ghost

Into your lifeless lips.”

—John Dryden and Nathaniel Lee

Famous poems about Halloween

Halloween Party

Halloween Party is a fantastic children's poetry about one young speaker's perception of Halloween at his school. Through the child's eyes, the reader is transported back to their own childhood and vacation memories. One of the best portions of 'Halloween Party' is at the end, when the speaker reveals a hilarious fact about himself and when Halloween is. This poem should interest readers of all ages, but it was created with children in mind. 

“We’re having a Halloween party at school.

I’m dressed up like Dracula. Man, I look cool!

I dyed my hair black, and I cut off my bangs.

I’m wearing a cape and some fake plastic fangs.

 

I put on some makeup to paint my face white,

like creatures that only come out in the night.

My fingernails, too, are all pointed and red.

I look like I’m recently back from the dead.

 

My mom drops me off, and I run into school

and suddenly feel like the world’s biggest fool.

The other kids stare like I’m some kind of freak—

the Halloween party is not till next week.”

—Kenn Nesbitt

Haunted

“We are all preoccupied, 

haunted by the people

we should be. 

By the ghosts of everything

we promised ourselves,

as children we would be,

until we faced life with all its cruelty

and it turned us into graveyards

of our dreams, our choices, 

of what should have been our history.”  

—Reading Under The Radar

Some Halloween short poems

Witch Crossing

"Witch Crossing" by Lydia Raven is an enchanting and evocative poem that delves into themes of Halloween. The poem invites readers into a world where magic and reality intertwine, showcasing Raven's ability to create vivid imagery and deep emotional resonance. 

“Bewitching and charming,

my lady in black.

A glance so alarming,

I had to look back. 

 

To ensure that no dream

could excite or beguile,

to subdue or redeem

her half-crooked smile.”

—Lydia Raven

Seasonal Spirit

“Autumn nights, witches in flight,

The ghosts remember when,

The pumpkins grinned, and the veil was thin,

On a night when scarecrows dance again.

 

When bats spread their wings, black cats screech,

From moonlit graveyards where ghouls roam,

To barren roads where skeletal trees reach,

The denizens of the dark have come home.

 

Seas of dead leaves herald the season,

The nights grow long to remind us,

We once feared the dark for a very good reason,

It’s Halloween night and the dead are ravenous. “

—John Grover

Top scary Halloween poems

Autumn Offering

"Autumn Offering" by Judith A. Lawrence is a beautifully crafted poem that celebrates the splendor and transitions of the autumn season. Known for her keen observation and evocative imagery, Judith A. Lawrence captures the essence of fall, highlighting its vibrant colors, crisp air, and the sense of change it brings. 

“I shall be Autumn

this Halloween,

with leaf draped skirt,

and folds of

boysenberry velvet wine

flowing to the ground.

 

Brown stained face,

eyes rimmed in gold,

nails dripping sunset,

a crown of twigs

to cover my head.

 

You may gather from me

the spring of my youth,

my summer of maturity,

and hold onto with me,

the solace of these days

of remembering

before the frost.”

—Judith A. Lawrence

Monster

Halloween is coming and it’s time to explore the spookier subjects that haunt our imaginations and translate them into poetry. Like this monster by Richard Maxson, the emotions overflow over the page, forcing us to confront the things that fear us the most. 

“Love was in the hopelessness of you,

each word a part of how you would be.

 

Imaginings have a way of forming themselves

from a wish for light, a wager to conceive a ghost.

 

This is how you were born from her, barely born herself.

You, created twice, a story and a story’s child.

 

A god less knowing watched her write each page,

the glory and the fear that was your life,

 

rising out of her desire, rising from a myth

before her eyes, piece by piece, from dream to fire.”

—Richard Maxson

Creepy poems for Halloween

Continual Conversation with a Silent Man

In the "Continual Conversation with a Silent Man", we find ourselves bumping up against obdurate, wordless, and emotionless Reality, exemplified this time not by the north wind and the swaying trees, but by "the old brown hen" and "the old blue sky."

“The old brown hen and the old blue sky,

Between the two we live and die —

The broken cartwheel on the hill.

 

As if, in the presence of the sea,

We dried our nets and mended sail

And talked of never-ending things,

 

Of the never-ending storm of will,

One will and many wills, and the wind,

Of many meanings in the leaves…”

—Wallace Stevens

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Cirque

“The clown is dead when last we found

a grave excuse to look around

and peer inside the shadowed door

upon the third and final floor

we listened but heard not a sound.

 

The house sits back upon the ground—

suspended, still, a merry-go-round

and no one goes there anymore

the clown is dead.”

—Sara Barkat

Sink

“Down in the depths

of the murky deep

are the discarded Jack-O’-Lanterns

That no one ever keeps  

 

After that night

Called All Hallows’ Eve

When they light up the dark

Until the trick or treaters leave 

 

Then their candles grow dim

And at the chime of midnight

All the Jacks are collected

Under filtered moonlight”

—Jess M. Collette

Creepy Halloween poems

From The Haunted Palace

"The Haunted Palace" is an allegorical narrative poem by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839 in the American Museum, a literary magazine owned by Poe's friend Nathan C. Brooks. The poem depicts a palace that once radiated brightness and beauty but has since fallen into decay and chaos, symbolizing the gradual descent into ruin of a person tormented by inner demons. Comprising 48 lines arranged in six stanzas of eight lines each, "The Haunted Palace" is also featured in Poe's renowned short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," where the character Roderick Usher performs the poem.
 

“And travellers, now, within that valley

Through the red-litten windows see

Vast forms, that move fantastically

To a discordant melody

While, like a ghastly rapid river

Through the pale door

A hideous throng rush out forever

And laugh - but smile no more.”

—Edgar Allan Poe

The Haunted Oak

A horrible story of racial brutality told from the perspective of an oak tree limb is made all the more frightening by its ballad-like format.

“Pray why are you so bare, so bare

Oh, bough of the old oak-tree;

And why, when I go through the shade you throw

Runs a shudder over me?

 

My leaves were green as the best, I trow

And sap ran free in my veins

But I saw in the moonlight dim and weird

A guiltless victim's pains.”

—Paul Laurence Dunbar

Spooky poems Halloween short

Song Of The Witches

“Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.

Harpier cries "'Tis time, 'tis time."

 

Round about the cauldron go;

In the poison'd entrails throw.

Toad, that under cold stone

Days and nights has thirty-one

Swelter'd venom sleeping got

Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.”

—William Shakespeare

Her Strong Enchantments Failing

Alfred Edward Housman wrote a short poem titled "Her strong enchantments failing." The poem is supernatural in nature, depicting a conflict between a young slayer and 'The Queen of air and darkness'.

“Her strong enchantments failing

Her towers of fear in wreck

Her limbecks dried of poisons

And the knife at her neck

 

The Queen of air and darkness

Begins to shrill and cry

"O young man, O my slayer

To-morrow you shall die."

 

O Queen of air and darkness

I think 'tis truth you say

And I shall die tomorrow;

But you will die to-day.”

—Alfred Edward Housman

Short poems about Halloween

Because they are a component of the trick-or-treat activity, candies have a special significance around Halloween. In addition, you will require some desserts to serve your visitors.