Delights & Shadows (2004) is a highly regarded collection of poetry by one of the best known, most accessible, and most respected poets in the United States. Ted Kooser's Pulitzer Prizewinning bookcontains poems published previously in literary magazines from 1994 to 2004. Delights & Shadows sold more than fifty thousand copies, an extraordinary number for a collection of poetry in the United States. Kooser was named Poet Laureate of the United States soon after its publication.

Like much of Kooser's work, the poems in Delights & Shadows are written in a simple style with clear language and lucid yet challenging constructions. Kooser has lived much of his life in Iowa and Nebraska, and the poems reflect life as he knows it on the Great Plains. The poems in the collection touch on topics both bleak and celebratory, including impressions of strangers, family, memories, mortality, and history.

Throughout Delights & Shadows, Kooser repeatedly notes the unexpected in the smallest of objects, touches, and connections. He contrasts surprising images in his poems to create an emotional response in readers. In the Library Journal, reviewer Louis McKee noted, "That he often sees things we do not would be delight enough, but more amazing is exactly what he sees. Nothing escapes him; everything is illuminated." While some critics regard Delights & Shadows as the product of a regional writer, others believe that Kooser has transcended his background and reached a universal audience with this collection of poems.