A tribute to fatherhood by a little known author, - Summary by David Lawrence

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

In 1867 Jean Baptiste Nicolas , scholar and career diplomat, published the first major French translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. This version is in prose and the collection contains 464 verses.In Nicolas’ view, Omar was no Epicurean reveler but rather a relentless spiritual seeker – his frequent allusions to wine and lovers are metaphors, expressive of a divine discontent that can only be resolved by union with a mystical beloved. However, most other translators and commentators regard Omar as a man who sampled and enjoyed both earthly and philosophical delights...

This is a collection of 41 poems read by volunteers for October 2017.

This is a collection of 34 poems read by volunteers for December 2017.

Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest short story writer". He was the son of the poet, publisher and feminist Louisa Lawson. - Summary by Wikipedia

This is a small volume of beautiful melancholy verses by Canadian poet Bliss Carman. The poems share a common theme which is the death of persons known and unknown to the poet. - Summary by Carolin

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...

This is a collection of poems by Louise Imogen Guiney. The collection is split into four parts. After the titular poem, which is its own part, this volume contains ten narrative poems concerning some well-known and some lesser known legends. The third part of the volume is one of lyrics, and the fourth contains a number of sonnets. - Summary by Carolin

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. - Summary by Carolin

This is a small volume of poetry by Roger Casement. Casement was a diplomat for years, active especially in Africa, where he witnessed the dark side of British Imperialism. He began to devote his life to human rights, and is still recognised for his important work particularly in the Congo and in Peru. - Summary by Carolin

Cawein's poetry allied his love of nature with a devotion to earlier English and European literature, mythology, and classical allusion. - Summary by Wikipedia

This poem is part of the "Ecclesiastical Sonnets," writen by Wordsworth between 1821 - 22. - Summary by David Lawrence

This is a collection of 27 poems read by volunteers for January 2018

"Bill & Doreen's Married Life " is the sequel to "Bill & Doreen's Courtship" and "Bill & Doreen Get Hitched", the latter two being "Selections from 'The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'". "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke" is a verse novel by Australian novelist and poet C. J. Dennis. The work was first published in book form in 1915 and sold over 60,000 copies in nine editions within the first year. A special pocket edition was even printed for the Australian soldiers in the trenches during the Great War...

"What is life?" we ask. "Just one darned thing after another," the cynic replies. Yes, a multiplicity of forces and interests, and each of them, even the disagreeable, may be of real help to us. It's good for a dog, says a shrewd philosopher, to be pestered with fleas; it keeps him from thinking too much about being a dog. - Summary by from the poem preface

George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. - Summary by Wikipedia

Archibald Lampman FRSC was a Canadian poet. "He has been described as 'the Canadian Keats;' and he is perhaps the most outstanding exponent of the Canadian school of nature poets." The Canadian Encyclopedia says that he is "generally considered the finest of Canada's late 19th-century poets in English." Lampman is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets, a group which also includes Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Duncan Campbell Scott. - Summary by Wikipedia

This Fortnightly Poem is taken from Underneath the Bough, A Book of Verses by Michael Field. - Summary by David Lawrence

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". - Summary by Carolin

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. - Summary by Carolin

This is, as the title already describes, the rhymed story of Chanticleer the Rooster, and his adventures. Follow the bird through his youth and school years, on a journey, through adventures, becoming a father and a family man and eventually a grandfather. - Summary by Carolin

This is a little volume of poetry by Herbert Bashford. The subjects and style of the poems are varied, but most share a dark tone. The titular Sea appears in many of the poems as well, connecting the poems in this volume to one another. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of 24 sonnets by Laurens Maynard. This rather unknown poet brings many classical themes into this volume, with biblical figures beginning the circle and then in somewhat chronological order arriving in the poet's present day life. All readers should find a sonnet to their tastes in this collection. - Summary by Carolin

Edith Matilda Thomas was an American poet who "was one of the first poets to capture successfully the excitement of the modern city." This poem taken from the The Little Book of Modern Verse. 1917.; Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. - Summary by Wikipedia

This is a collection of 45 poems read by volunteers for November 2017.

This year's Hollowe'en offering is an eerie tale by Walter de La Mare.

Subtitled 'A Book of Poetic Short Stories and Poems', this collection reads years ahead of its time. Set mainly in Jazz Age New York City, the poems and tales are a series of profiles of people in seedier parts of town, along with bizarre love songs and even a trip to Mars. Not for the easily offended.

This is a collection of poems by C. Maurice Stebbins. The titular poem is a Christmas poem, but it is dark and somber in tone. The following shorter pieces are very varied, making for a beautiful little collection. - Summary by Carolin

Her death was tragic. Full of the desire of life she yet was forced to go, leaving her work all unfinished. Her last year was spent in exile at Saranac Lake. From her window she looked down on the graveyard — "Trudeau's Garden," she called it, with grim-gay irony. from the forward to Verse, by Claude Bragdon - Summary by from the forward to Verse,by Claude Bragdon

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

This poem tells the story of a boy in Australia who leaves the farm at harvest time. "and to run from home was a crime." The story is set in the Riverina, New South Wales in the town of Gundagai.

A tribute to the autumn season, taken from THE COMING OF THE PRINCESS, AND OTHER POEMS - Summary by David Lawrence

Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ was an English poet, Catholic and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame established him among the leading Victorian poets. His manipulation of prosody established him as an innovative writer of verse. Two of his major themes were nature and religion.

This is the first volume of the 15-volume series of The World’s Story: a history of the World in story, song and art, edited by Eva March Tappan. Each book is a compilation of selections from prose literature, poetry and pictures and offers a comprehensive presentation of the world's history, art and culture, from the early times till the beginning of the 20th century. Topics in Part I include China, Korea, Japan and the Islands of the Pacific. - Summary by Sonia Cast list for The Sorrows of...

"Yone Noguchi was an influential Japanese writer of poetry, fiction, essays, and literary criticism in both English and Japanese. Critical evaluations of Noguchi, while varying drastically, have frequently stressed the enigmatic character of his work. Arthur Symons referred to him as a "scarcely to be apprehended personality." Arthur Ransome called him "a poet whose poems are so separate that a hundred of them do not suffice for his expression." Ezra Pound, on first reading The Pilgrimage in 1911 wrote that "His poems seem to be rather beautiful...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. Her best-known work was Poems of Passion. Her most enduring work was "Solitude", which contains the lines "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone". - Summary by Wikipedia

A companion piece to From Jerusalem to Revelations in the catalogue . Pearl, believed to have been written by the author of the Pagano-Christian beheading tale, Gawain and the Green Knight, enters the vision of a grieving father at his daughter's graveside that carries him with us into the spirit world in which she finds her dwelling place now, a pure unspotted girl, her father's pride, now a Pearl of great price and her Saviour's bride. She chides him, much Beatrice does Dante in his Divine Comedy with the plain and incontrovertible fact that she now lives in the New Jerusalem in the rapture of eternal bliss, while he is wholly wrapped in his desire to be again with her...

This is a collection of 46 poems read in English by volunteers for October 2019. With a number of spooky ones for Halloween!

Edith Matilda Thomas was an American poet who "was one of the first poets to capture successfully the excitement of the modern city.

Thomas William Hodgson Crosland was a British author, poet, journalist and friend of royalty. Thomas was a humanitarian who frequently wrote in his poems about the impoverished and sick and unemployed, especially caring about returned soldiers in the First World War. - Summary by Wikipedia

This is a collection of 23 poems read by volunteers for February 2018

William Henry Rhodes will long be remembered by his contemporaries at the Bar of California as a man of rare genius, exemplary habits, high honor, and gentle manners, with wit and humor unexcelled. His writings are illumined by powerful fancy, scientific knowledge, and a reasoning power which gave to his most weird imaginations the similitude of truth and the apparel of facts. W.H.L.B.

This is a collection of 44 poems read by volunteers for March 2018

Browning, when at his best in vigor, clearness, and beauty, is peculiarly a poet for young people. His freedom from sentimentality, his liveliness of conception and narration, his high optimism, and his interest in the things that make for the life of the soul, appeal to the imagination and the feelings of youth. - TEACHERS' COLLEGE, NEW YORK, July, 1899.

This Weekly Poem is taken from Flame and Shadow, Copyright, 1920 by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. - Summary by David Lawrence

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He wrote the poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, as well as the major prose work Biographia Literaria. Throughout his adult life Coleridge had crippling bouts of anxiety and depression; it has been speculated that he had bipolar disorder, which had not been defined during his lifetime...

This is a volume by Canadian poet and educator Theodore H. Rand. The poems are short and varied, with beautiful expressions and reflecting many different emotions. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of poems by Louise Imogen Guiney. - Summary by Carolin

Francis William Lauderdale Adams was an essayist, poet, dramatist, novelist and journalist who produced a large volume of work in his short life. A self-professed 'Child of his Age', Adams combined in his life and work many distinctive features of both fin de siècle British culture and the Australian radical nationalism of the 1890s, including a strong sympathy with socialist and feminist movements. - Summary by Wikipedia

Sonnets from the Portuguese chronicles the deeply personal stages of courtship.

"Gifted with poesy as are the Highlanders, and given to the praise of their country and their leaders, it would be expected that many poems would still be extant concerning the MacLeans and their ancestral dominions," wrote John Patterson MacLean in his "A History of the Clan MacLean," These selections, collected and arranged by J.P. Maclean comprise part of Note C of MacLean's treatise , although they were written by different authors for different reasons. Dealing with incidents experienced by...

Our Valentine Poem is by Arthur William Symons, a British poet, critic and magazine editor., taken from his collection Silhouettes . - Summary by David Lawrence

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.

This Weekly Poem is taken from The Poems of Madison Cawein, Volume II, New World Idylls and Poems of Love - Summary by David Lawrence

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. Her best-known work was Poems of Passion. Her most enduring work was "Solitude", which contains the lines "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone". Her autobiography, The Worlds and I, was published in 1918, a year before her death. This Fortnightly Poem is taken from Poems of Purpose - Summary by Wikipedia

This is the second volume of the 15-volume series of The World’s Story: a history of the World in story, song and art, edited by Eva March Tappan. Each book is a compilation of selections from prose literature, poetry and pictures and offers a comprehensive presentation of the world's history, art and culture, from the early times till the beginning of the 20th century. Topics in Part II include India, Siam, Afghanistan, Persia, Mesopotamia and Palestine. - Summary by Sonia Cast list for Sakoontala, or the lost ring: King: Tomas Peter First Attendant: Eva Davis Second Attendant: TJ Burns Child: lorda Sakoontala: Monika M...

This is a collection of 54 poems read in English by volunteers for September 2019.

Despite the bittersweet outcome of the romance in this work, the poem still manages to conclude in an uplifting fashion. - Summary by SonOfTheExiles

Joseph Horatio Chant was born at Stoke Underham, Somersetshire, England. His parents moved to Canada in 1840, and settled in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Chant attended schools in the area and upon graduation taught for two years in Cathcart, Burford township. In 1864 he attended Victoria College and entered the ministry, being ordained in 1868. - Summary by David Lawrence

His verse is eminent for sweet and gracious fluency; this is a real note of the 'Elizabethan' poets. His subjects are frequently pastoral, with a classical tinge, more or less slight, infused; his language, though not free from exaggeration, is generally free from intellectual conceits and distortion, and is eminent throughout for a youthful NAIVETE.

This is a collection of 45 poems read in English by volunteers for June 2019.

Not all of the English poets laureate have been the greatest masters of verse. Alfred Austin, who assumed this post after Alfred Lord Tennyson, was one of the less distinguished - if more prolific - late Victorian poets. In modern times, his verse has become celebrated not for its smooth earnestness, but rather for the occasional howlers it contains. A notable example is this song from his pastoral epic Fortunatus the Pessimist, the final couplet of which is a popular favourite in anthologies of bad verse. - Summary by Algy Pug

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 January. - 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

This is a collection of poems by Connecticut poet Frances Louisa Bushnell. Ms Bushnell was an eminent person in her local social circles, and she herself and her poetry were highly respected. This volume contains a selection of her poetry, privately published after her death. - Summary by Carolin

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.

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 April. - Summary

Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of the dramatic monologue made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. His poems are known for their irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings, and challenging vocabulary and syntax. When Browning died in 1889, he was regarded as a sage and philosopher-poet who through his writing had made contributions to Victorian social and political discourse. Unusually for a poet, societies for the study of his work were founded while he was still alive. Such Browning Societies remained common in Britain and the United States until the early 20th century.

Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame established him among the leading Victorian poets. His manipulation of prosody established him as an innovative writer of verse. Two of his major themes were nature and religion. - Summary by Wikipedia

Of all recent poets of his kind, Flecker is the most successful. The classical tradition of poetry has been mocked and mutilated by many of the noisy young in the last few years. Flecker was a poet who preserved the ancient balance in days in which want of balance was looked on as a sign of genius. That he was what is called a minor poet cannot be denied, but he was the most beautiful of recent minor poets. by Robert Lynd; Ch 9 - James Elroy Flecker )

This is the third volume of the 15-volume series of The World’s Story: a history of the World in story, song and art, edited by Eva March Tappan. Each book is a compilation of selections from prose literature, poetry and pictures and offers a comprehensive presentation of the world's history, art and culture, from the early times till the beginning of the 20th century. Topics in Part III include Egypt, Northern, Western and Central Africa, South Africa and Arabia. - Summary by Sonia Cast list for The Death of Cleopatra: Dolabella: Tomas Peter Charmian: Monika M...

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 May. - 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 June. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of fun poems by West Virginia poet M. Ignatius Brennan. In his poems, the poet makes fun of the people in his surroundings, and the society in which he lived. In most instances his humor is benevolent, but can turn malicious, for instance where Kentucky and Kentuckians are concerned. - Summary by Carolin

In the Author's Preface to Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, he describes this poem as Curtal-Sonnet "that is they are constructed in proportions resembling those of the sonnet proper, namely 6 + 4 instead of 8 + 6, with however a halfline tailpiece ." - Summary by Wikipedia

Thomas Carew was one of the Cavalier poets, a group associated with the unfortunate King Charles I, who was a notable connoisseur of poetry. Other poets in this school included Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace. John Suckling and Ben Jonson. Carew’s verse generally eschews epic and grandiose subjects, and focuses on more intimate and profane matters. In the words of Edmund Gosse: “Carew's poems, at their best, are brilliant lyrics of the purely sensuous order.” - Summary by Algy Pug

Michael Field was a pseudonym used for the poetry and verse drama of Katharine Harris Bradley and her niece and ward Edith Emma Cooper . As Field they wrote around 40 works together, and a long journal Works and Days. Their intention was to keep the pen-name secret, but it became public knowledge, not long after they had confided in their friend Robert Browning. They wrote a number of passionate love poems to each other, and their name Michael Field was their way of declaring their inseparable oneness...

The sestina has enjoyed intermittent popularity in English writing and translation since the sixteenth century, and this selection highlights some of the varied ways the form has been used and adapted. - Summary by Newgatenovelist

Harold Edward Monro was an English poet born in Brussels and proprietor of the Poetry Bookshop in London, which helped many poets bring their work before the public. In his later years, Monro reflected on whether the Poetry Bookshop had fulfilled its purpose and whether it should be closed, but he was too deeply attached to it. According to the English literary historian Dominic Hibberd, "By now Monro was a disappointed man, appalled at the state of Europe and feeling forgotten by the poets he had helped." He had used up most of his money in subsidizing the shop. - Summary by Wikipedia

This is a collection of 41 poems read in English by volunteers for February 2019.

A saucy little poem commenting upon all men that Ms. Parker didn't marry, perhaps implying that upon marrying, the husband becomes far more special than all the other men in the world. It's sort of the same theme embodied in Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, who was saddened to discover that his rose was like any other rose, except when he further realized that his rose depended upon him alone for her care, and was the only rose that belonged to him. ~ Summary by Michele Fry

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 July. - 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 August. - 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 September. - 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 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 December. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of 48 poems read in English by volunteers for May 2019.

This is the first part of a collection of poetry written by female poets. This part of From Queen's Gardens is a collection of 30 poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. - 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

This is the third part of a collection of poetry written by English female poets. This part of From Queen's Gardens is a collection of 29 poems by Adelaide Anne Procter. - Summary by Carolin

This is the fourth part of a collection of poetry written by English female poets. This part of From Queen's Gardens is a collection of 47 poems by Christina Rossetti. - Summary by Carolin

This is the final part of From Queen's Gardens. The previous four parts were collections of poetry by eminent English poets: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Jean Ingelow, Adelaide A. Procter, and Christina Rossetti. This final part of the same volume is a collection of individual poems by less well-known female poets, or, sometimes, well-known writers known more for their novels than for their poetry. - Summary by Carolin

This is the first published volume of poetry by notable American journalist and author of horror stories Leonard Lanson Cline. These poems were published when Cline was only 21 years old, but the talent that would lead HP Lovecraft to admire his work is already clearly visible. - Summary by Carolin

This is a volume of poetry by notable American horror story author Vincent O'Sullivan. These poems are as dark as most of his other writings, and are best enjoyed by those who are not faint of heart. - Summary by Carolin

This Weekly Poem is taken from The Queens' Garden - Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and others. - Summary by David Lawrence

This is a book of sonnets by George G. Currie. Currie was a Canadian-born lawyer and business man, but also an accomplished author and poet. While he traveled the United States and Europe extensively throughout his life, he settled in Florida. Both the theme of traveling as well as Florida occur frequently in his poetry. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of love songs by Canadian-born Floridian Poet Laureate George Graham Currie. As poetry is the key to the hearts of many people, all listeners are well-advised to pay special attention to these collected poems. - Summary by Carolin