James Russell Lowell was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets. These poets usually used conventional forms and meters in their poetry, making them suitable for families entertaining at their fireside. "Lowell's poem "The Present Crisis," an early work that addressed the national crisis over slavery leading up to the Civil War, has had an impact in the modern civil rights movement...

This is the second part of James Russell Lowell's collected poems: the Miscellaneous Poems. This series of poems covers, as the title implies, a wide range of topics, shaped into Lowell's beautiful poetry. - Summary by Carolin

LibriVox volunteers bring you 8 recordings of The Voyage to Vinland by James Russell Lowell. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for March 10, 2013.Although this version of the poem is sometimes printed separately, it is really only part of a longer poem (approximately one fifth of the whole). The complete work has 3 parts and this is only part of the last section. Only about one fourth of Gudrida's song of prophecy is included here.

The soul of Irish wit is captured in this unique tale of a barstool philosopher, the concluding story from 'Here Are Ladies' by James Stephens. (Introduction by iremonger)

James Thomas Fields was an American publisher, editor, and poet. At the age of 14, Fields took a job at the Old Corner Bookstore in Boston. His first published poetry was included in the Portsmouth Journal in 1837 but he drew more attention when, on September 13, 1838, he delivered his “Anniversary Poem” to the Boston Mercantile Library Association.

The Seasons is a series of four long poems in blank verse by the Scottish poet James Thomson, each poem describing one of the four seasons. The poems are replete with various scenes of nature described with loving detail, as well as Thomson's view of the proper relationship between humans and nature, which anticipates the attitudes of the Romantics. "Spring," which was published in 1728, first brought Thomson to mainstream attention. He followed it up with "Summer," "Winter," and "Autumn," publishing all four as The Seasons in 1730...

Here is a sweet little poem to touch your heart and share with your best friends. The words are heartfelt, simple and trip off the tongue in sing-song fashion. The challenge becomes, as my English teacher and the poetry pundits oft complain of, how to read it without that sing-song pattern becoming monotonous. Let's see how ourers do. - Summary by Michele Fry

James Weldon Johnson was an American author, educator, lawyer, diplomat, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Johnson is best remembered for his leadership within the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he started working in 1917, being chosen as the first black executive secretary of the organization, effectively the operating officer. He was first known for his writing, which includes poems, novels, and anthologies collecting both poems and spirituals of black culture.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 14 recordings of "Sunset in the Tropics." This is the Weekly Poetry for the week of August 10, 2014.The author of this poem, James Weldon Johnson, served as U. S. Consul to Venezuela and Nicaragua, was an early leader in the NAACP and contributed to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. He had a broad appreciation for black artists, musicians and writers, and worked to heighten awareness of their creativity. (from Wikipedia)

Riley was an American writer known as the “Hoosier poet”, and made a start writing newspaper verse in Hoosier dialect for the Indianapolis Journal in 1875. His favorite authors were Burns and Dickens. This collection of poems is a romanticized and mostly boy-centered paean to a 19th century rural American owning-class childhood. I’ve included the pieces I did because they’re the ones I most enjoyed when I read a copy of the collection handed down from my great-grandfather.

James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best selling author, born in the town of Greenfield, Indiana. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively. His poems tended to be humorous or sentimental, and of the approximately one thousand poems that Riley authored, the majority are in dialect.

James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively. His poems tended to be humorous or sentimental, and of the approximately one thousand poems that Riley authored, the majority are in dialect. Riley began his career writing verses as a sign maker and submitting poetry to newspapers. Thanks in part to an endorsement from poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, he eventually earned successive jobs at Indiana newspaper publishers during the latter 1870s...

volunteers bring you 16 recordings of Lockerbie Street by James Whitcomb Riley. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for August 28, 2022. ------ James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer and poet, who lived in Indianapolis. Here among his books and his souvenirs, the poet spent his happy and contented days. To reach this restful spot, the pilgrim must journey to Lockerbie Street, a miniature thoroughfare half hidden between two more commanding avenues. It is little more than a lane, shaded, unpaved, and from end to end no longer than a five minutes' walk, but its fame is for all time.

James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively. His poems tended to be humorous or sentimental, and of the approximately one thousand poems that Riley authored, the majority are in dialect. His famous works include "Little Orphant Annie" and "The Raggedy Man".

volunteers bring you 18 recordings of Pansies by James Whitcomb Riley. This was the Weekly Poetry project for May 3, 2020. ------ Another ode to Spring and one of the popular flowers starting to bloom. Taken from Rhymes of Childhood by James Whitcomb Riley - Summary by David Lawrence

James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. His poems tended to be humorous or sentimental, and of the approximately one thousand poems that Riley authored, the majority are in dialect. His famous works include "Little Orphant Annie" and "The Raggedy Man". - Summary by Wikipedia

volunteers bring you 23 recordings of If I knew What Poets Know by James Whitcomb Riley. This was the Weekly Poetry project for July 5, 2020. ------Riley's chief legacy was his influence in fostering the creation of a Midwestern cultural identity and his contributions to the Golden Age of Indiana Literature. With other writers of his era, he helped create a caricature of Midwesterners and formed a literary community that produced works rivaling the established eastern literati. There are many memorials dedicated to Riley, including the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children.

Lockwood, Brooks & Co. Have nearly ready the volume of “Easter Hymns” selected by Miss J.E.C. Chapman, an accomplished lady of Boston, and introduced by a note from her uncle, Rev. Dr. J.I.T. Coolidge. The hymns are excellently chosen, and the volume will be brought out in tasteful style. It will commend itself to the favor of all Episcopalians, and to the devout in all denominations, to whom Easter is not a mere churchly date but a day of deep and glad significance. – The Publisher’s Weekly, March 18th, 1876.

To take you back to your childhood, LibriVox volunteers bring you 28 recordings of The Star by Jane Taylor. This was the Weekly Poetry project for March 24, 2013.

This early 19th-century children's poetry collection by Jane and Ann Taylor is little-known today, but contains the original version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, known then as just The Star. Also included are poems about why you shouldn't kill kittens, birds and flies, a poem about how you can be seriously scarred if you play with fire, and a poem about a homeless man who cries himself to sleep because of how naughty he was a child.

Several of La Fontaine’s fables, translated into English by W. T. Larned.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 8 recordings of The Old Man and the Ass by Jean de La Fontaine. (There was no translator acknowledged in the text.) This was the Weekly Poetry project for July 7, 2013.Jean de La Fontaine was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional languages.According to Flaubert, he was the only French poet to understand and master the texture of the French language before Hugo...

Jean de la Fontaine's fables were very well-known all over Europe during his life, and are now slowly being rediscovered. This edition contains 240 fables or fairy tales and a biography of Jean de la Fontaine and Aesop, containing the most well-known fables in existence, as well as some lesser-known fables and stories. Walter Thornbury's translation furthermore sets the fables into memorable rhymes. - Summary by Carolin

This is the second part of a collection of poetry written by English female poets. This part of From Queen's Gardens is a collection of 30 poems by Jean Ingelow. - Summary by Carolin

Jean McKishnie Blewett (4 November 1862 – 19 August 1934) was a Canadian journalist, author and poet. Blewett was a regular contributor to The Globe, a Toronto newspaper and in 1898 became editor of its Homemakers Department. In 1919, assisted by the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, she published a booklet titled Heart Stories to benefit war charities. During this time she regularly lectured on topics such as temperance and suffragism. She used the pseudonym Katherine Kent for some of her writing...

volunteers bring you 9 recordings of Christy and The Pipers by Jean McKishnie Blewett. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for November 4, 2018. ------ This poem, set in Scotland, tells of a woman's reaction to the Pipes .

This is a volume of poetry by Jean Blewett. In this collection, the Canadian poet's most beautiful love songs and poetry is brought together. - Summary by Carolin

This poem is taken from A Book of Women’s Verse published in 1921. (

volunteers bring you 13 recordings of The Churchyard by the Sea by Jesse C. Howden. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for April 18, 2021. ------ Mrs. Jesse Howden was a Scottish Poet. Some of her work was featured in the Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Art. This poem is taken from the No. 8.—Vol. I., Saturday, February 23, 1884 issue. - Summary by David Lawrence

volunteers bring you 12 recordings of Blessings for Chanukah by Jessie E. Sampter. This was the Weekly Poetry project for December 9, 2018. ------ Jessie Sampter was a Jewish educator, poet, and Zionist pioneer. She was born in New York City and immigrated to Palestine in 1919. In her twenties, she joined the Unitarian Church and began writing poetry. Her poems and short stories emphasized her primary concerns: pacifism, Zionism, and social justice. - Summary by Wikipedia

Jessie Pope was an extremely patriotic English poet, writer and journalist, who remains best known for her patriotic motivational poems published during World War I. This poem is from Paper Pellets (1907), an anthology of humorous verse.

Hallel (Hebrew: הלל‎ “Praise [God]“) is part of Judaism’s prayers, a verbatim recitation from Psalms 113-118, which is used for praise and thanksgiving that is recited by observant Jews on Jewish holidays. Summary from WikipediaRead by Délibáb, D.E. Wittkower, Jc Guan, Katie Gibboney, Leon Mire, and Scott Sherris

Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play in two parts. It is Goethe's most famous work and considered by many to be one of the greatest works of German literature.This first part of Faust is not divided into acts, but is structured as a sequence of scenes in a variety of settings. After a dedicatory poem and a prelude in the theatre, the actual plot begins with a prologue in Heaven and Scene 1 in Faust's study.

Also known as the "Roman Elegies," Erotica Romana is von Goethe's literary tribute to human sexuality and eroticism. Written in 24 elegies to emulate classical Roman elegy writers such as Tibullus, Propertius, and Catullus, von Goethe creates a lyrical work of art that has often been subject to censorship.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and statesman. His works include four novels; epic and lyric poetry; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; and treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour. In addition, there are numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him extant.

This collection of hymns have been translated from the poetry to the Latin church, arranged in the order of the Christian year. "This volume is intended for hours of devotion, and the vast storehouse of sacred poetry of the Latin Church has been put under tribute to supply the material," writes the author, Reverend John Brownlie, in the preface. The collection includes hymns for Christmas, Easter, All Saints' Day, Advent, and more.

John Clare (1793 – 1864) was a farm labourer in the village of Helpstone, Northamptonshire, who became arguably England’s greatest nature poet. He rose to fame when his ‘Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery’ was published in 1820. His language preserves many local dialect words in a mixture of classical forms and heart-felt love of country life and nature. The poems in this collection are from his early career, and are largely free of pointers to his later mental illness.

John Clare was a working-class English poet, best known for his poetic descriptions of the English Countryside. He is also one of the few popular poets of the 19th century, who, after being largely forgotten for years after their deaths, is being rediscovered in our time. This is a selection of John Clare's poems, suitable as an introduction into his work for those who do not know him. Readers who already did know Clare may like to discover poems that are not quite as well-known today. - Summary by Carolin

John Donne (1572 – March 31, 1631) was a Jacobean poet and preacher, representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. His works, notable for their realistic and sensual style, include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and immediacy of metaphor, compared with that of his contemporaries. Towards the end of his life Donne wrote works that challenged death, and the fear that it inspired in many men, on the grounds of his belief that those who die are sent to Heaven to live eternally...

John Donne was an English Jacobean preacher, sometime lawyer, later in life a Member of Parliament and Royal Chaplain. Marrying for love against the wishes of his influential father-in-law; Donne's career was cast into shadow: forcing him to support his wife, Anne, as best he might under a specter of unforgiving penury. Despite such hardships - perhaps because of them - Donne's writings demonstrate a mastery of poetry layered with metaphysical meaning and mystery: which continues to delight and challenge modern-day readers...

John Donne was an English poet and cleric in the Church of England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor, especially compared to that of his contemporaries. Donne's style is characterised by abrupt openings and various paradoxes, ironies and dislocations...

Elizabeth Drury, daughter of Donne's patron, Sir Robert Drury, died in 1610. A year later Donne laments her hyperbolically as the soul of the created universe. In "An Anatomy of the World: The First Anniversary," he poetically scrutinizes that year-old corpse, the world, as if he were performing an autopsy (an "anatomy"). He finds it corrupt in every part, the dead woman having carried with her every spark of goodness it once contained. To commemorate the second anniversary of Miss Drury's death,...

John Donne was an English poet and cleric in the Church of England. Despite his great education and poetic talents, Donne lived in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. He spent much of the money he inherited during and after his education on womanising, literature, pastimes, and travel. In 1601, Donne secretly married Anne More, with whom he had twelve children. In 1615, he became an Anglican priest, although he did not want to take Anglican orders. He did so because King James I persistently ordered it. In 1621, he was appointed the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London. He also served as a member of Parliament in 1601 and in 1614.

Donne’s Style In John Donne’s day, a satire was such a poem as a satyr might compose. Satyrs were rough, savage creatures in Greek mythology, human to the waist but goat from there down. That is the reason that Donne’s style in these poems exceeds his normal difficulty in syntax, vocabulary, thought, and meter. His age enjoyed untangling such puzzles, and some poets cultivated obscurity as an art, called asprezza. Wordplay like “while bellows pant below” , where the same syllables, stressed differently, produce two different words almost side by side, entertained them...

The Holy Sonnets—also known as the Divine Meditations or Divine Sonnets—are a series of nineteen poems by the English poet John Donne (1572–1631). The sonnets were first published in 1633—two years after Donne's death.

This is a volume of poetry by John Drinkwater. The English poet and playwright was a close associate of, among others, Rupert Brooke, before World War I, and continued a successful career as author and playwright after the war and until his death in 1937. This is a small collection of only 19 of his earlier poems. - Summary by Carolin

John Drinkwater was an English poet and dramatist. In the period immediately before the First World War he was one of the group of poets associated with the Gloucestershire village of Dymock, along with Rupert Brooke and others. - Summary by Wikipedia

John Dryden published Absalom and Achitophel: A Poem in 1681. It is an elaborate historical allegory using the political situation faced by Kind David (2 Samuel 14-18) to mirror that faced by Charles II. Each monarch had a son whom a high-ranking minister attempted to use against him. James Scott, first Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son, was detected planning a rebellion late in 1681, supposedly instigated by the Earl of Shaftesbury, who was tried for high treason, and it is believed that Dryden wrote the poem in an effort to sway the jury in his trial...

Throughout history there have been many creative artists whose fame depends largely on their association with a much greater artist. Such the case of Thomas Shadwell, poet and prolific writer of low brow comedies, who is today most famous as the butt of satire by one of greatest and most influential English poets, John Dryden. Shadwell and Dryden were at first colleagues and collaborators, but later fell out over some sharp divergences of opinion. In particular, Dryden disagreed with Shadwell's high estimation of Ben Jonson, and even more of the latter's claim to be be Jonson's artistic heir...

volunteers bring you 23 recordings of Listening by John Frederick Freeman. This was the Weekly Poetry project for March 20, 2022. ------ The poet describes a pasture in the evening.

The Dial was an art magazine, which ran to five issues between 1889 and 1897. It was edited and published by Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon from The Vale, their shared home in Chelsea, London. Contributors to this first number include the editors, R. Savage, and the poet John Gray . - Summary by Rob Marland

A 750-line idyllic poem about a snow-storm from the narrator’s childhood.

John Greenleaf Whittier was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the Fireside Poets, Whittier was influenced by the Scottish poet Robert Burns.

John Milton Hay was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, Hay's highest office was United States Secretary of State under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Hay was also an author and biographer and wrote poetry and other literature throughout much of his life. - Summary by Wikipedia

A collection of adult stories and poems - sad, humorous, and adventurous - about Man's Best Friend. NOTE: Most of these selections contain violence that will be objectionable to some listeners. - Summary by TriciaG

LibriVox readers bring you 19 recordings of The Red Cross Spirit Speaks by John H. Finley.At this time of year, all around the world, we remember the fallen and those who served their countries in time of war and other calamity. This poem reminds us of the dedication of the Red Cross, and the comfort they brought and, together with the Red Crescent, still bring, to the wounded, dying and distressed. John Huston Finley headed the Red Cross Commission in Palestine during the First World War.

Reprinted from Scribner’s Magazine for June, 1904, in an edition of forty copies for private distribution, by the courtesy of Charles Scribner’s Sons

John Keats is perhaps the most talented poet of the English Romantic Period. Although his life was cut short by disease at the age of 25, he produced some of the most famous poems in world literature. Less erudite and philosophical than Shelley and not so technically versatile as Byron, he displayed a sure poetic instinct and an amazing ability to appeal powerfully to the senses and to the emotions by the brilliance of his diction. Thus his poetry is noted more for exquisite feeling than for thought, but in his particular sphere he was unmatched. His influence upon later poets has been immense. (Introduction by Leonard Wilson)

Early poems of this famous English lyric poet, in which he openly expresses indebtedness to, and reverence for, his poetic predecessors, especially Spenser, into whose chivalric world he boldly ventures; and also for Milton, and the classic poets. There are also glimpses of his personal, family and political relationships. These poems are of medium length and often pastoral and contemplative in nature with many classical references. His lyric genius and love for humanity are clearly displayed.( Peter Tucker)

volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Fragment Of An Ode To Maia by John Keats. This was the Weekly Poetry project for February 7, 2021. ------ This Weekly Poem is taken from The Poetical Works Of John Keats - Summary by David Lawrence

In his wonderful interpretation of the classic tale of Lamia - the mythological entity portrayed as being a deadly threat especially to children and young men - master poet John Keats construes this timeless and enigmatic story with a view towards intrigue, deception, loyalty, honor and fervor of a young man's lust for a life of passionate bliss with the newly found woman of his dreams. In retrospect, considering certain aspects of her past and recent serpent-like incarnation, the beautiful and seductive Lamia was a poor choice for the young man Lycius...

There should be a bit of poetry in every day, and John Kendrick Bangs wrote a fitting poem for each day in the year. In 1920, a book was published with one of Bangs' poems for each day. This project covers the month of November. - Summary by Carolin

There should be a bit of poetry in every day, and John Kendrick Bangs wrote a fitting poem for each day in the year. In 1920, a book was published with one of Bangs' poems for each day. This project covers the month of April. - Summary

There should be a bit of poetry in every day, and John Kendrick Bangs wrote a fitting poem for each day in the year. In 1920, a book was published with one of Bangs' poems for each day. This project covers the month of March. - Summary by Carolin

There should be a bit of poetry in every day, and John Kendrick Bangs wrote a fitting poem for each day in the year. In 1920, a book was published with one of Bangs' poems for each day. This project covers the month of October. - Summary by Carolin

There should be a bit of poetry in every day, and John Kendrick Bangs wrote a fitting poem for each day in the year. In 1920, a book was published with one of Bangs' poems for each day. This project covers the month of December. - Summary by Carolin

There should be a bit of poetry in every day, and John Kendrick Bangs wrote a fitting poem for each day in the year. In 1920, a book was published with one of Bangs' poems for each day. This project covers the month of February. - Summary by Carolin