Witch-Wife by Edna St. Vincent Millay She is neither pink nor pale, And she never will be all mine; She learned her hands in a fairy-tale, And her mouth on a valentine. ? She has more hair than she needs; In the sun ’tis a woe to me! And her voice is a string of […]
Poems in History
THE LOOKING-GLASS BY RUDYARD KIPLING
THE LOOKING-GLASS by RUDYARD KIPLING The Queen was in her chamber, and she was middling old, Her petticoat was of satin, and her stomacher was gold. Backwards and forwards and sideways did she pass, Making up her mind to face the cruel looking-glass. The cruel looking-glass that will never show a lass As comely or […]
Sleepy Hollow by William Ellery Channing
SLEEPY HOLLOW No abbey’s gloom, nor dark cathedral-stoops, No winding torches paint the midnight air; Here the green pines delight, the aspen droops Along the modest pathways, and those fair Pale asters of the season spread their plumes Around this field, fit garden for our tombs. And shalt thou pause to hear some funeral bell […]
Kin to Sorrow by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Kin to Sorrow by Edna St. Vincent Millay Am I kin to Sorrow, That so oft Falls the knocker of my door? Neither loud nor soft, But as long accustomed, Under Sorrow’s hand? Marigolds around the step And rosemary stand, And then comes Sorrow? And what does Sorrow care For the rosemary Or the marigolds […]
WORDS FOR AN OLD AIR by Sara Teasdale
Sara Teasdale (1884-1933) was an American lyric poet known for her intimate and emotional poetry. Her collections, including
A PORTRAIT by Nathaniel Parker Willis
A PORTRAIT by Nathaniel Parker Willis She was not very beautiful, if it be beauty’s test To match a classic model when perfectly at rest; And she did not look bewitchingly, if witchery it be, To have a forehead and a lip transparent as the sea. The fashion of her gracefulness was not a follow’d […]
A BROOK IN THE CITY by Robert Frost
A BROOK IN THE CITY by Robert Frost The farm house lingers, though averse to square With the new city street it has to wear A number in. But what about the brook That held the house as in an elbow-crook? I ask as one who knew the brook, its strength And impulse, having dipped […]
The Foresaken by William Wordsworth
The Foresaken By William Wordsworth THE peace which others seek they find; The heaviest storms not longest last; Heaven grants even to the guiltiest mind An amnesty for what is past; When will my sentence be reversed? I only pray to know the worst; And wish as if my heart would burst. O weary struggle! […]
HUSH’D BE THE CAMPS TO-DAY by Walt Whitman
HUSH’D BE THE CAMPS TO-DAY by Walt Whitman (May 4, 1865) Hush’d be the camps to-day, And soldiers let us drape our war-worn weapons, And each with musing soul retire to celebrate, Our dear commander’s death. No more for him life’s stormy conflicts, Nor victory, nor defeat?no more time’s dark events, Charging like ceaseless clouds […]
To One in Paradise by Edgar Allan Poe
? To One in Paradise by Edgar Allan Poe Thou wast that all to me, love, For which my soul did pine? A green isle in the sea, love, A fountain and a shrine, All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers, And all the flowers were mine. Ah, dream too bright to last! Ah, starry […]
THE WORLD’S TRIUMPHS by Matthew Arnold
? THE WORLD’S TRIUMPHS by Matthew Arnold So far as I conceive the world’s rebuke To him address’d who would recast her new, Not from herself her fame of strength she took, But from their weakness who would work her rue. “Behold,” she cries, “so many rages lull’d, So many fiery spirits quite cool’d down; […]
XI.by Emily Dickinson
XI. by Emily Dickinson Much madness is divinest sense To a discerning eye; Much sense the starkest madness. ‘T is the majority In this, as all, prevails. Assent, and you are sane; Demur, ? you’re straightway dangerous, And handled with a chain.
A Sea Dirge by Lewis Carroll
A SEA DIRGE ?There are certain things – as, a spider, a ghost, The income-tax, gout, an umbrella for three – That I hate, but the thing that I hate the most Is a thing they call the Sea. Pour some salt water over the floor – Ugly I?m sure you?ll allow it to be: […]
To Papa by Louis M. Alcott
Louis May Alcott (1832 -1888) TO PAPA by Louisa M. Alcott In high Olympus’ sacred shade A gift Minerva wrought For her beloved philosopher Immersed in deepest thought. A shield to guard his aged breast With its enchanted mesh When he his nectar and ambrosia took To strengthen and refresh. Long may he live to […]
TO THE LAKE by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) TO THE LAKE In Spring of youth it was my lot To haunt of the wide world a spot The which I could not love the less – So lovely was the loneliness Of a wild lake, with black rock bound, And the tall pines that towered around. But when the […]