Love and a Question by Robert Frost A STRANGER came to the door at eve, And he spoke the bridegroom fair. He bore a green-white stick in his hand, And, for all burden, care. He asked with the eyes more than the lips For a shelter for the night, And he turned and looked at…
His Dream by W. B. Yeats
His Dream by W. B. Yeats I swayed upon the gaudy stern The butt end of a steering oar, And everywhere that I could turn Men ran upon the shore. And though I would have hushed the crowd There was no mother’s son but said, What is the figure in a shroud Upon a gaudy…
Sonnet VI by William Shakespeare
Sonnet VI by William Shakespeare Then let not winter’s ragged hand deface, In thee thy summer, ere thou be distill’d: Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place With beauty’s treasure ere it be self-kill’d. That use is not forbidden usury, Which happies those that pay the willing loan; That’s for thy self to breed…
Kindliness by Rupert Brooke
Kindliness by Rupert Brooke When love has changed to kindliness Oh, love, our hungry lips, that press So tight that Time’s an old god’s dream Nodding in heaven, and whisper stuff Seven million years were not enough To think on after, make it seem Less than the breath of children playing, A blasphemy scarce worth…
Hap by Thomas Hardy
Hap by Thomas Hardy If but some vengeful god would call to me From up the sky, and laugh: “Thou suffering thing, Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy, That thy love’s loss is my hate’s profiting!” Then would I bear, and clench myself, and die, Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited; Half-eased in…
The Figure-Head by Herman Melville
The Figure-Head by Herman Melville The Charles-and-Emma seaward sped, (Named from the carven pair at prow,) He so smart, and a curly head, She tricked forth as a bride knows how: Pretty stem for the port, I trow! But iron-rust and alum-spray And chafing gear, and sun and dew Vexed this lad and lassie gay,…
Nightingales by Robert Bridges
Nightingales Robert Bridges Beautiful must be the mountains whence ye come, And bright in the fruitful valleys the streams, wherefrom Ye learn your song: Where are those starry woods? O might I wander there, Among the flowers, which in that heavenly air Bloom the year long! Nay, barren are those mountains and spent the streams:…
To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works by Phillis Wheatley
To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works by Phillis Wheatley TO show the lab’ring bosom’s deep intent, And thought in living characters to paint, When first thy pencil did those beauties give, And breathing figures learnt from thee to live, How did those prospects give my soul delight, A new creation…
The Poet and the Lily by A. B. S. Tennyson
The Poet and the Lily by A. B. S. Tennyson A poet was born in a modern time, ‘Neath Saturn and his Rings, He was a child of the world’s prime, Knew all beautiful things. He was a child of morning and mirth, Laughing for joy of the sun, His nostrils drank the scent of…
Only A Woman’s Hair by Lewis Carroll
Only A Woman’s Hair by Lewis Carroll Only a woman’s hair! Fling it aside! A bubble on Life’s mighty stream: Heed it not, man, but watch the broadening tide Bright with the western beam. Nay! In those words there rings from other years The echo of a long low cry, Where a proud spirit wrestles…