- Poetry / Elegies & Odes / Free Verse / Lyric / Sonnets
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Christmas Tales and Christmas Verse
This is a collection of Christmas short stories and poems by Eugene Field, published in 1912. The stories beautifully evoke an old-fashioned spirit of Christmas, each presenting a different angle of this special holiday. -
Dark Ages, and Other Poems
This is a volume of poetry by a poet only going by the initial "L.". The poems are veried in tone and subject, set in different parts of the British Isles and Europe. Most of them have a historic background, though set several centuries after the titular "Dark Ages". -
Songs of a Sentimental Bloke
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke is a verse novel by Australian novelist and poet C. J. Dennis. The book sold over 60,000 copies in nine editions within the first year, and is probably one of the highest selling verse novels ever published in Australia.
The novel tells the story of Bill, a larrikin of the Little Lonsdale Street Push, who is introduced to a young woman by the name of Doreen. The book chronicles their courtship and marriage, detailing Bill's transformation from a violence-prone gang member to a contented husband and father. C.J. Dennis went on to publish three sequels to this novel: The Moods of Ginger Mick (1916), Doreen (1917) and Rose of Spadgers (1924(Introduction from Wikipedia) -
Christmas in Poetry - Carols and Poems
This is a volume of Christmas poems and carols, by various authors and from various times. -
Little Girl to Her Flowers
This is a small volume with short poems about flowers. Listeners may wish to refer to the online text, which includes very neat illustrations. -
Poems of Optimism
This is a volume of Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. The topic of this volume is "optimism". -
Suppressed Poems
This is a collection of poems by German classical poet Friedrich Schiller. These poems have all been suppressed in the past for different reasons. Some of these reasons are evident, others less so. All of the poems are very interesting to read and to listen to. -
Sea Poems
This is a collection of poems by Cale Young Rice. In this collection, the sea is a recurring theme. The Kentucky poet uses it to express emotions and to paint an atmosphere. -
Suffrage Songs and Verses
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, one of the most prominent American suffragists, was not only known as an accomplished author of fiction and non-fiction, but also her poetry remains worth reading until today. -
'Twixt Earth and Stars
This is a volume of poetry by Radclyffe Hall. The poet and novelist led a highly scandalous lifestyle for the norms of her contemporary society, living openly lesbian in Germany and England. Some of the poems in this volume are also love poems to other women, a fact which was not generally known at the time the book was published. -
Birds, Vol. III, No 6, June 1898
] Birds, Illustrated by Color Photography was a monthly publication of the Nature Study Publishing Company of Chicago. It includes short poems, anecdotes and factual descriptions of birds with accompanying color plates. The magazine was published from 1898-1907 under the various titles, "Birds," "Birds and all Nature," "Nature and Art" and "Birds and Nature." Later issues were expanded to include animals, plants, etc -
Old Soak, and Hail And Farewell
Published in 1921 (Prohibition went into effect in January 1920), "Hail and Farewell" is a collection of poems in honour of alcohol, drunkenness, and all things related.
In "The Old Soak", an old codger grumbles and connives to get alcohol in the age of Prohibition. Part is narrative, and part is installments from The Old Soak's papers.
“I'm writing a diary. A diary of the past. A kind of gol-dinged autobiography of what me and Old King Booze done before he went into the grave and took one of my feet with him. In just a little while now there won't be any one in this here broad land of ours, speaking of it geographically, that knows what an old-fashioned barroom was like. They'll meet up with the word, future generations of posterity will, and wonder and wonder and wonder just what a saloon could have resembled, and they will cudgel their brains in vain, as the poet says."
“Have you got any of it written?” we asked him. “Here's the start of it,” said he.
We present it just as the Old Soak penned it. -
Andromeda, and Other Poems
This is a collection of the most famous poems of Charles Kingsley. Kingsley was an extremely versatile man, Wikipedia lists him as "broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian and novelist. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working men's college, and forming labour cooperatives that failed but led to the working reforms of the progressive era. He was a friend and correspondent with Charles Darwin." All those varied interests and backgrounds are reflected in his poetry, which is as versatile as the author himself. -
Reading of Life, with Other Poems
This is a volume of poetry by George Meredith. The first four poems are the cycle A Circle of Life, the rest of the poems are miscellaneous collected poems. -
Poems from the Inner Life
Collection of reflective poetry by celebrated medium and clairvoyant, Lizzie Doten. She claims these poems were sent by her 'inner heaven', often while she was in a trance. She credits some of the poems to the spirits of Poe, Burns and Sprague, with whose work she was, apparently, unfamiliar.( Lynne Thompson) -
Poems on Slavery
This is a short volume of abolitionist poetry by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first published in 1842. As Wikipedia notes, Longfellow himself was not entirely satisfied with his work: "However, as Longfellow himself wrote, the poems were 'so mild that even a Slaveholder might read them without losing his appetite for breakfast'. A critic for The Dial agreed, calling it 'the thinnest of all Mr. Longfellow's thin books; spirited and polished like its forerunners; but the topic would warrant a deeper tone'. The New England Anti-Slavery Association, however, was satisfied enough with the collection to reprint it for further distribution." Despite these shortcomings, however, this volume is of historical importance and will interest many listeners. -
Yesterdays
This is a volume of early poetry by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. As much of Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poetry, this volume also conveys a number of different emotions in the different poems. Ms Wilcox herself suggests the alternative title "Ghosts of old dreams" for this volume. -
Century of Roundels
A roundel (not to be confused with the rondel) is a form of verse used in English language poetry devised by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909). It is a variation of the French rondeau form. It makes use of refrains, repeated according to a certain stylized pattern. A roundel consists of nine lines each having the same number of syllables, plus a refrain after the third line and after the last line. The refrain must be identical with the beginning of the first line: it may be a half-line, and rhymes with the second line. It has three stanzas and its rhyme scheme is as follows: A B A R ; B A B ; A B A R ; where R is the refrain. Swinburne had published a book A Century of Roundels. He dedicated these poems to his friend Christina Rossetti, who then started writing roundels herself, as evidenced by the following examples from her anthology of poetry: Wife to Husband; A Better Resurrection; A Life's Parallels; Today for me; It is finished; From Metastasio. -
Culprit Fay and Other Poems
A collection, The Culprit Fay and Other Poems, was published posthumously by his daughter in 1835. His best-known poems are the long title-poem of that collection and the patriotic "The American Flag" which was set as a cantata for two soloists, choir and orchestra by the Czech composer Antonin Dvorák in 1892-93, as his Op. 102. In the early part of the 19th Century both Drake and his friend Halleck were widely hailed by Americans as among the leading literary personalities and talents produced by this country. That they had been leading lights in the New York area was true, but the glimmer for both could not really hold. It was finally diminished by Edgar Allan Poe when he wrote a serious study of the two poets called The Halleck - Rodman Review. Looking at The Culprit Fay by Drake, Poe showed that the imagery many marveled at was quite second-rate and ordinary. In fact, he briefly invented new lines to show how easily it could be done. The reputations of both Drake and Halleck never recovered. (Summary excerpted from Wikipedia) -
Aucassin and Nicolette
Aucassin and Nicolette is a medieval romance written in a combination of prose and verse called a “song-story.” Created probably in the early 13th century by an unknown French author, the work deals with the love between the son of a count and a Saracen slave girl who has been converted to Christianity and adopted by a viscount. Since Aucassin’s father is strongly opposed to their marriage, the two lovers must endure imprisonment, flight, separation in foreign lands, and many other ordeals before their ardent love and fierce determination finally bring them back together. Aucassin is the very model of an intrepid knight, totally devoted to his love; and Nicolette is daring and ingenious in her staunch perseverance against all odds. This translation, completed in 1887, is by Scottish poet, novelist, critic, and collector of folk tales Andrew Lang (1844-1912). -
Dawn and the Day
The Dawn and the Day, or, The Buddha and the Christ, Part 1 is a text similar to the epic poetry of Homer or, more accurately, classic Hindu texts, such as the Baghavad-Gita. - Summary written by not.a.moose -
Passionate Pilgrim
The Passionate Pilgrim was published by William Jaggard, later the publisher of Shakespeare's First Folio. The first edition survives only in a single fragmentary copy; its date cannot be fixed with certainty since its title page is missing, though many scholars judge it likely to be from 1599, the year the second edition appeared with the attribution to Shakespeare.
This version of The Passionate Pilgrim, contains 15 romantic sonnets and short poems. The works contained, while disputed as to authorship, are in this writer's most humble opinion among the best of the age. -
Beyond the Hills of Dream
William Wilfred Campbell was a Canadian author and poet. Some of his poems are among the most famous Canadian poems of all time, and many contemporary Canadians interested in poetry may be familiar with one or two of his poems. The rest of his work is not very well-known today - a pitiful oversight. This collection contains 36 of his poems, and may serve as a good reintroduction into Campbell's poetry. -
Spook Ballads
This is a volume of ghost stories in verse by William Theodore Parkes. The poems in this volume are often humorous, and written in a parody of ye olde style of poetry.
"Dealing largely with ghosts and legends embracing a dash of diablerie such as would have been dear to the heart of Ingoldsby. There is a rugged force in 'The Girl of Castlebar' that will always make it tell in recitation; and even greater success in this direction has attended 'The Fairy Queen,' a story unveiling the seamy side, with quaint humour and stern realism. It is specially worthy of note that Mr. Parkes's skill in versification has received the warmest acknowledgment from those best qualified to appreciate the bright local coloring as well as the blending of fancy and fun."— Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper. -
Behind the Arras: A Book of the Unseen
This is a volume of some of Bliss Carman's most beautiful narrative poems. All of the poems share a rather melancholy tone, which Carman uses to bring out beautiful images of feeling. -
Sheaf of Verses
This is a volume of poetry by Radclyffe Hall. At the time of publication of this novel, Radclyffe Hall was living in Bad Homburg in Germany, in a lesbian relationship. Some of the poems in this volume are love poems, and to spare the public's delicate sensibilities, the names of the people to whom the poems were dedicated are removed. -
Dark Month
This is a sequence of poems by Algernon Charles Swinburne. The poems were written in 1881, during the one month in which his seven year old neighbor, Herbert (Bertie) Mason was away.Swinburne describes in 31 poems his feelings at the loss of his young companion, resulting in haunting images of loneliness and grief. -
Rose Leaf and Apple Leaf
This is the first volume of poetry published by Rennell Rodd, British diplomat, poet and politician. Rodd received help publishing this volume from his friend Oscar Wilde, who also wrote the introduction for this volume. -
Mother's Dream, and Other Poems
This is a volume of poetry by Hannah Flagg Gould. Ms Gould was an immensely popular author of children's poetry during her lifetime, and her poems will still be enjoyed by children as well as adults today. -
October and Other Poems
This is a collection of poetry by Robert Bridges. This collection also contains some poems written right after World War I, reflecting the state of international politics very impressively.
"This miscellaneous volume is composed of three sections. The first twelve poems were written in 1913, and printed privately by Mr. Hornby in 1914.
The last of these poems proved to be a “war poem,” and on that follow eighteen pieces which were called forth on occasion during the War, the last being a broadsheet on the surrender of the German ships. All of these verses appeared in some journal or serial. There were a few others, but they are not included in this collection, either because they are lost, or because they show decidedly inferior claims to salvage.
The last six poems or sonnets are of various dates." -
Songs of the Sea and Lays of the Land
This is a volume of poetry by Charles Godfrey Leland. The first half of this volume is taken up by the Songs of the Sea, with rather romantic songs about seafaring, mermaids, and adventures, and the second half of the volume contains the Lays of the Land, with poems focused on the things a seaman may encounter when he enters a port. -
Chimneysmoke
A collection of short poems on various themes by the author. -
Gleams of Sunshine
This is a volume of religious, and as the subtitle of the book says, 'optimistic' poems by J.H. Chant, a Canadian minister of the United Church. -
Orpheus and Other Poems
This is a volume of poetry by the rather obscure Canadian poet Edward Burrough Brownlow, published posthumously after his death in 1896. The poems in this volume have varied subjects, reflecting the interests of the poet. -
Songs Ysame
This is a volume of poetry written by the sisters Albion Fellows Bacon and Annie Fellows Johnston. Both of the sisters reached quite a level of fame in their own right, Ms Bacon primarily as a social reformer and Ms Johnston as an author of children's books. In this volume of poetry, they bring their two sets of skills together to write beautiful verses. -
London Lyrics
London is one of the most interesting cities in the world, and is inspiring poets until today. This particular volume on the charms of that metropolis is written by native Londoner Frederick Locker-Lampson, originally published in 1857. -
Book of the Little Past
This is a very cute little book of children's poetry. All poems are short and suitable for very young children to read or listen to. -
Custer, and Other Poems
This is a volume of poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. The final poem of this volume is an epic narrative poem glorifying the life and deeds of George Armstrong Custer (1839-1876), who served in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. -
Red Flower: Poems Written in War Time
These are verses that came to me in this dreadful war time amid the cares and labors of a heavy task.
Two of the poems, "A Scrap of Paper" and "Stand Fast," were written in 1914 and bore the signature Civis Americanus—the use of my own name at the time being impossible. Two others, "Lights Out" and "Remarks about Kings," were read for me by Robert Underwood Johnson at the meeting of the American Academy in Boston, November, 1915, at which I was unable to be present.
The rest of the verses were printed after I had resigned my diplomatic post and was free to say what I thought and felt, without reserve.
The "Interludes in Holland" are thoughts of the peaceful things that will abide for all the world after we have won this war against war.
SYLVANORA, October 1, 1917. -
Bab Ballads, The
The Bab Ballads are a collection of light verse by W. S. Gilbert, illustrated with his own comic drawings. Gilbert wrote the Ballads before he became famous for his comic opera librettos with Arthur Sullivan. In writing the Bab Ballads, Gilbert developed his unique "topsy-turvy" style, where the humour was derived by setting up a ridiculous premise and working out its logical consequences, however absurd. The Ballads also reveal Gilbert's cynical and satirical approach to humour. They became famous on their own, as well as being a source for plot elements, characters and songs that Gilbert would recycle in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The Bab Ballads take their name from Gilbert's childhood nickname, and he later began to sign his illustrations "Bab". -
Carolina Chansons: Legends of the Low Country
This is a collection of poems about Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry. DuBose Heyward was a Charleston native best known for his novel Porgy, which was the basis for the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess. Hervey Allen, who later wrote Anthony Adverse, met Heyward after moving to Charleston to teach. Together they founded the Poetry Society of South Carolina, which is still active today. -
Poems
This is a very varied collection of poems by Samuel G. Goodrich, alias Peter Parley. Some of the poems in this volume are rather dark and somber, others of a more light-hearted tone. Some of the poems are addressed to children, some are better enjoyed by adults. In any case, each reader, or listener, should find something suited to his or her tastes and moods in this collection. -
Songs, Merry and Sad
This is the only volume of poetry published during John Charles McNeill's lifetime, containing 59 of his 400+ poems. McNeill was considered the unofficial poet laureate of his home state North Carolina until this position was established officially after World War II. His poetry enjoys enduring popularity, and is favoured by teachers and students for its accessibility. -
Among the Trees Again
This is a volume of poetry by Evaleen Stein. Special about this volume is, among other things, that many of the poems point to certain seasons and months. This volume thus refers to each part of the year. -
Misrepresentative Men
This is a volume of poetry by Harry Graham. Graham was known for his satirical poetry, and this volume is a great example of his art. In this volume, Graham charicatures several famous historical or legendary personages, and allows himself some reflections on the story of that person's life. -
Maurine and Other Poems
This is a volume of earlier poetry by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. The Title poem, Maurine, is a narrative poem about the tragedy and happiness of the life of Maurine. Besides that long narrative poem, this collection also includes a number of Ella Wheeler Wicox's famous shorter pieces of poetry. -
Many Gods
This is a volume of poetry by Cale Young Rice. The poems in this volume reflect Rice's experiences while travelling across Asia, and many of them have, as their theme, a person or incident set in that area or culture. The title Many Gods then also refers to the different religions Rice would have encountered on his journey. -
Poems on Travel
This volume of poetry takes the reader, or rather the listener, along on a literary tour through Europe. R.M. Leonard has collected the finest (as of 1914) poems by some of the most celebrated poets of the English language, all covering the subject of travel, and often concerning travelling to a certain city or region in Europe. -
Philosophies
This is a volume of poetry by Ronald Ross. It was composed in India during Ross' intensive research of malaria. Ross was first to discover how mosquitoes transmit malaria and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for this work in 1902. While this research is still well-known today, it is not very well-known that Ross also wrote poetry. This volume contains some of his poems, composed during his stay in India. -
Undertones
This is a collection of poems by Madison Cawein. This volume includes some of the magnificent nature descriptions that Cawein is famous for, and can evoke many different emotions with the reader and listener.