Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Poet: Lawrence Ferlinghetti Born: 24 March 1919, New York, USA American

He mourns for the Change that has come upon him and his Beloved, and longs for the End of the World by William Butler Yeats

Poet: William Butler Yeats Born: 13 June 1865, Sandymount, Ireland Irish Died: 28 January 1939, Cannes, France Buried: Drumcliff Cemetery, Ireland

William Cullen Bryant

Poet: William Cullen Bryant Date of Birth: 3 November 1794, Massachusetts, USA American Date of Death: 12 June 1878, New York, USA

Anniversary Hymn by Katharine Lee Bates

Poet: Katharine Lee Bates Born: 12 April 1859, Massachusetts, USA American Died: 28 March 1929, Massachusetts, USA

In Departing Light by Robert Gray

Poet: Robert Gray Born: 23 February 1945, Port Macquarie, Australia Australian

A Supermarket in California by Allen Ginsberg

Irwin Allen Ginsberg was a poet, philosopher and writer. In the 1940s as a student of Columbia College he began a close friendship with WS Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Generation

Daisy Time by Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall

Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall was a writer and poet born in England but lived in Canada from the age of seven. She was considered to be the best Canadian poet of her generation.

Louisa May Alcott

Poet: Louisa May Alcott Born: 29 May 1832, Pennsylvania, USA American Died: 6 March 1888, Massachusetts, USA

A Man’s Praise to his Wife by Confucius

Confucius was a philosopher and politician of the Chinese Spring and Autumn period. His philosophy, known as Confucianism, placed emphasis on personal and governmental morality, social correctness, justice and sincerity.

Fairy Land 1 by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was a poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. His works consist of 39 plays. 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and other verses. His work has been translated into every major language and his plays are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

The Mother by Gwendolyn Brooks

The Mother by Gwendolyn Brooks Abortions will not let you forget. You remember the children you got that you did not get, The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,

The Phoenix by Heinrich Heine

Poet: Heinrich Heine Born: 13 December 1797, Dusseldorf, Germany Germany Died: 17 February 1856, Paris, France Christian Johann Heinrich Heine poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic

Character of a Happy Warrior by William Wordsworth

Poet: William Wordsworth Born: 7 April 1770, Cumberland, England English Died: 23 April 1850, Westmorland, England William Wordsworth was a poet and along with Samuel Taylor Coleridge launched the Romantic Age of English literature.

Tower of Song by Leonard Cohen

Poet: Leonard Cohen Born: 21 September 1934, Westmount, Canada Canadian Died: 7 November 2016, California, USA Leonard Norman Cohen was a singer, songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored the subjects of religion, politics, isolation, romantic relationships and sexuality.

The Plough of Time by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti is a poet, socialist activist, painter and co-founder of Lights Booksellers and Publishers. He is best known for his collection of poems

The Golden Toddy by Simon Armitage

Poem of the Week The Golden Toddy Poet: Simon Armitage Born: 26 May 1963, Yorkshire, UK British

Large Bad Picture by Elizabeth Bishop

Elizabeth Bishop was a poet and short-story writer. She is considered one of the finest poets of the 20th century. From 1949 to 1950 she was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.

A Death Song by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Poem of the Week Poet: Paul Laurence Dunbar Born: 27 June 1872, Ohio, USA American Died: 9 February 1906, Ohio, USA

Down Behind the Dustbin by Michael Rosen

Michael Rosen is a children’s novelist and poet with over 140 books to his credit. He was Children’s Laureate June 2007 and June 2009. He is also well known as a television presenter and political columnist.

Bas-Relief by Carl Sandburg

Carl August Sandburg was a poet, biographer, writer and editor. He won two Pulitzer Prizes for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. As a major figure of American literature, Lyndon B Johnson at Sandburg’s death in 1967 said ‘Carl Sandburg was more than the voice of America, more than the poet of its strength and genius. He was America.’

An Hymn to Humanity by Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley was the first published African-American poet. She was transported to America from Africa after she was sold into slavery at the age of 7 or 8.

Mild Is the Parting Year by Walter Savage Landor

Poet: Walter Savage Landor Romanticism English 1775 – 1864

I Come from There by Mahmoud Darwish

Poet: Mahmoud Darwish Palestinian 1941 – 2008 Mahmoud Darwish was a poet and author and is regarded as the Palestinian national poet. His work, which often used Palestine as a metaphor for the downfall of Eden, resurrection and birth amid the anguish of dispossession and exile, has received numerous awards.

A Presentiment by William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant was a poet, journalist and editor of the New York Evening Post. His family genealogy can be traced to passengers on The Mayflower. His poetry is thoughtful and meditative in character and he is considered one of the leading American poets of the Romantic era.

Fairy Song by Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist and poet. Her first critical success in writing came in the 1860s. Early in her career she used the pen name A M Bernard, under which she wrote novels involving espionage, revenge and cross-dressing for teens and young adults. An abolitionist and feminist she remained unmarried. She died from a stroke two days after her father’s death.

Ballad of Another Ophelia by David Herbert Lawrence

Ballad of Another Ophelia Date: 1915 Poet: David Herbert Lawrence English 1885 -1930

Last Love by Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev

Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev was a poet and statesman. He loved to travel and would volunteer for diplomatic courier work thus combining business with pleasure. He was particularly drawn to the Swiss lakes and mountains which inspired much of his work. A Pan-Slavist he would often berate the Western powers with no particular reason, including the Vatican and Ottoman empire. Tyutchev died in Tsarskoye Selo following a series of strokes.

Octopus by Arthur Clement Hilton

Poet: Arthur Clement Hilton English 1851 – 1877 Arthur Clement Hilton was educated at Marlborough College and St. John’s College, Cambridge. He was responsible for the burlesque magazine, The Light Green, which appeared at Cambridge in 1872. Hilton was ordained in 1874 and became curate at Sandwich, where he died in 1877.

A Nation’s Strength by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Date: 1881 Poet: Ralph Waldo Emerson American 1803 – 1882 Ralph Waldo Emerson was an essayist, philosopher, lecturer and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century.

A Long, Long Sleep by Emily Dickinson

Poem of the Week One of America’s greatest and most original poets, Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born in Massachusetts. She was considered an eccentric by her local community and never married, instead she spent most of her life in reclusive isolation

Imitation by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin

I saw the Death, and she was seating By quiet entrance at my own home, I saw the doors were opened in my tomb, And there, and there my hope was a-flitting I'll die, and traces of my past In days of future will be never sighted, Look of my eyes will never be delighted …

Luna by Victor Marie Hugo

Poet: Victor Marie Hugo Romantic Movement French 1802 - 1885

Happiness and Vision by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Poem of the Week Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a writer and statesman. Among his writings are four novels, epic and lyric poetry, prose and verse dramas.

An Old Picture by John Boyle O’Reilly

Poem of the Week Poet: John Boyle O'Reilly was a poet, journalist, author and activist. As a youth he was a member of the Fenians which led to him being transported to Australia. He escaped to the USA and became a prominent speaker for the Irish community and culture as editor of The Pilot.

A Prayer in Darkness by Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Poet: GK Chesterton Poem: A Prayer in Darkness

The Young Captive by Toru Dutt

Poem of the Week Poet: Toru Dutt British Indian 1856 – 1877

Children by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Poet: Letitia Elizabeth Landon Post-Romantic Era English 1802 - 1838

A Last Confession by William Butlers Yeats

William Butler Yeats was a poet and one of the foremost figures in 20th Century literature. In his later years he served as a senator of the Irish Free State for two terms. He studied poetry from an early age and became fascinated by Irish legends....

Leave the River Full of Lotuses by Narsinh Mehta

Unable to speak until he was 8 years old Narsinh Mehta, also known as Narsi Mehta or Narsi Bhagat was a saint poet and bhakta. He was an exponent of Vaishnava poetry. He is revered in Gujarati literature as an Adi Kavi and was a favourite of Muhatma Ghandi. He lost his parents when he was 5 years old and was raised by his grandmother.

For a Girl in a Book by Ben Jonson

Kim, composite of all my loves, less real than most, more real than all; of my making, all the good and some of the bad, yet of yourself; sole, unique, strong, alone, whole, independent, one: yet mine in that you cannot be unfaithful   Date: 1609 Poet: Ben Jonson English 1572 - 1637 Benjamin Jonson …

A Cabbage Patch by Robert William Service

Folk ask if I'm alive, Most think I'm not; Yet gaily I contrive To till my plot. The world its way can go, I little heed, So long as I can grow The grub I need. For though long overdue, The years to me, Have taught a lesson true, --Humility. Such better men than I …

About the Nightingale by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

From a letter from Coleridge to Wordsworth after writing The Nightingale: In stale blank verse a subject stale I send per post my Nightingale; And like an honest bard, dear Wordsworth, You'll tell me what you think, my Bird's worth. My own opinion's briefly this-- His bill he opens not amiss; And when he has …

Requiem for the Croppies by Seamus Heaney

The pockets of our greatcoats full of barley... No kitchens on the run, no striking camp... We moved quick and sudden in our own country. The priest lay behind ditches with the tramp. A people hardly marching... on the hike... We found new tactics happening each day: We'd cut through reins and rider with the …

Afternoon by Dorothy Parker

When I am old, and comforted And done with this desire With Memory to share my bed And Peace to share my fire I'll comb my hair in scalloped bands Beneath my laundered cap And watch my cool and fragile hands Lie light upon my lap And I will have a sprigged gown With lace …

Dear Chains by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin

Rose-maiden, no, I do not quarrel With these dear chains, they don't demean. The nightingale embushed in laurel, The sylvan singers' feathered queen, Does she not bear the same sweet plight? Near the proud rose's beauty dwelling, And with her tender anthems thrilling The dusk of a voluptuous night Poet: Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin Romantic Era …

Cape Breton by Elizabeth Bishop

Out on the high "bird islands," Ciboux and Hertford, the razorbill auks and the silly-looking puffins all stand with their backs to the mainland in solemn, uneven lines along the cliff's brown grass-frayed edge, while the few sheep pastured there go "Baaa, baaa." (Sometimes, frightened by aeroplanes, they stampede and fall over into the sea …

Chorus from Hellas by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The world's great age begins anew, The golden years return, The earth doth like a snake renew Her winter weeds outworn: Heaven smiles, and faiths and empires gleam Like wrecks of a dissolving dream. A brighter Hellas rears its mountains From waves serener far; A new Peneus rolls his fountains Against the morning star. Where …

America, A Prophecy by William Blake

The shadowy Daughter of Urthona stood before red Orc, When fourteen suns had faintly journey'd o'er his dark abode: His food she brought in iron baskets, his drink in cups of iron: Crown'd with a helmet and dark hair the nameless female stood; A quiver with its burning stores, a bow like that of night, …

A Summer Evening Churchyard, Lechlade, Gloucestershire by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The wind has swept from the wide atmosphere Each vapour that obscured the sunset's ray, And pallid Evening twines its beaming hair In duskier braids around the languid eyes of Day: Silence and Twilight, unbeloved of men, Creep hand in hand from yon obscurest glen. They breathe their spells towards the departing day, Encompassing the …

The Mother Moon by Louisa May Alcott

The moon upon the wide sea Placidly looks down, Smiling with her mild face, Though the ocean frown. Clouds may dim her brightness, But soon they pass away, And she shines out, unaltered, O'er the little waves at play. So 'mid the storm or sunshine, Wherever she may go, Led on by her hidden power …