This is a volume of Benjamin King's collected verse, published shortly after his sudden death in 1894. The American humorist was very famous during his lifetime, and is still widely referenced and quoted until today. This volume was published in Chicago after his death, reportedly outselling any other volume of poetry in Michigan for 25 years after being published. It is also prefaced by two short biographies by John McGovern and Opie Read. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of 27 poems read by volunteers for January 2017.

This is an 1898 volume of poetry by American poet George Cabot Lodge. Its title-poem refers to the Sea, and the Sea does seem to be the main character of this book, making its appearance in many of the poems throughout the first part of the volume. The second part of the book is a collection of 40 sonnets on more varied topics. - Summary by Carolin

This is a volume of Canadian poet Arthur Weir. Many of the poems are set around the turn of a year, referencing the season in different ways, and touching upon almost every emotion and association we might connect with winter. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of ten humorous verses by Lord Alfred Douglas. - Summary by Carolin

Robert Browning is still well-known today as a distinguished English poet. His poetry is still widely read, recited, and taught in schools. In this little volume, Rose Porter has compiled a collection of his poems concerning Easter. - Summary by Carolin

Andrew Marvell was an English metaphysical poet, satirist and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1678. During the Commonwealth period he was a colleague and friend of John Milton. His poems range from the love-song "To His Coy Mistress", to evocations of an aristocratic country house and garden in "Upon Appleton House" and "The Garden", the political address "An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland", and the later personal and political satires "Flecknoe" and "The Character of Holland". - Summary by Wikipedia

George R. Sims was a journalist of the Victorian era who was mostly concerned with social reforms. He was very interested in the life of the poor. This is a dramatic monologue by an inmate at a workhouse, exposing the hypocrisy of the law. A vivid ballad which you would not be able to resist. - Summary by Stav Nisser. This was the fortnightly poem for January 29, 2017.

This is a collection of poems by Michael Field, the pseudonym of Katharine Harris Bradley and Edith Emma Cooper. Those poems are of interest not only because they are beautiful examples of aesthetic poetry, but also because many of them contain homosexuality as a theme. The joint authors lived openly as a lesbian couple for forty years around the turn of the 20th century. - Summary by Carolin

This is a volume of collected poetry by American poet Marian Longfellow. The poems lack a uniform theme, but, as the author puts it, "Among these "Contrasted Songs" I trust that the reader will find something to which the heart may respond." - Summary by Carolin

Who shall strike the wax of mystery from those priceless amphoræ, and give to the unsophisticated nostrils of the average reader the ravishing bouquet of wine pressed in a garden in Mitylene, twenty-five centuries ago? - Maurice ThompsonThis is a collection of the poetry of Sappho, in a "rather creative translation" by American poet John Myers O'Hara. - Summary by Carolin

This is a volume of poems by Kate Slaughter McKinney, poet laureate of the State of Alabama of 1931, who often went by the pen-name Katydid. The poems are cute and amusing, children will enjoy them. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of 36 poems read by volunteers for April 2017.

This is a collection of Easter poems by Lucy Larcom. The poems cover the entire circle of religious holidays, customs, and bible verses around Easter. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of Easter poems by Louisa Parsons Stone Hopkins. The poems all center around the Easter holiday, in both a religious as well as a more generally festive tone. - Summary by Carolin

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.

My Grandma's father arrived in this country through New York City, and often spoke to my dad, when he was a boy, of what it was like to first see the Statue of Liberty. Most of my relatives arrived through Philadelphia or Boston, and didn't get to see the the "mighty woman with the torch" until later life, on vacation trips to New York City, when she was a must-see for them all. My Grandma always loved this Emma Lazarus poem, so I read this one especially for her, but also for all the other family members who came here "yearning to breathe free". And for those just like my family, who are still "♫♪coming to America, today♫♪".

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...

Whitman claimed that after years of competing for "the usual rewards", he determined to become a poet. He first experimented with a variety of popular literary genres which appealed to the cultural tastes of the period. As early as 1850, he began writing what would become Leaves of Grass, a collection of poetry which he would continue editing and revising until his death. Whitman intended to write a distinctly American epic and used free verse with a cadence based on the Bible. At the end of June 1855, Whitman surprised his brothers with the already-printed first edition of Leaves of Grass. Whitman paid for the publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass himself.

A concise collection of poems translated from the great German poet Rilke into formal English verse. Although the translation may be freer than some modern texts, this selection, which spans early and later writings and includes a preface refreshingly focused on the poet's artistic development, provides a nice entrée into Rilke's world.

Michael Earls, S.J. was a Jesuit priest, as well as a writer, poet, teacher, and administrator. - Summary by Wikipedia

This is a collection of 30 poems read by volunteers for August 2017.

This is the first published volume of poetry by Californian author and poet George Sterling. These poems are the beginning of Sterling's great career as a poet, and include a number of poems in the style for which he would become famous. That style is dark and with supernatural elements, in the tradition of Thomas Hood and Edgar Allan Poe. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of poems by DH Lawrence. Most of the poems concern love and neighboring emotions, but some poems also concern other themes. - Summary by Carolin

Thomas Fleming Day was an American sailboat designer and sailboat racer. He was the founding editor of Rudder, a monthly magazine about boats, and himself the first to win the annual New York to Bermuda race. Not so well-known today is the fact that Day also occasionally penned a poem about his passion for the sea and sailing. Those poems are collected in this volume. - Summary by Carolin and Wikipedia

This is a collection of 38 poems read by volunteers for September 2017.

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

This is a volume of ghost stories in verse by William Theodore Parkes. The poems in this volume are often humorous, and written in a parody of ye olde style of poetry."Dealing largely with ghosts and legends embracing a dash of diablerie such as would have been dear to the heart of Ingoldsby. There is a rugged force in 'The Girl of Castlebar' that will always make it tell in recitation; and even greater success in this direction has attended 'The Fairy Queen,' a story unveiling the seamy side, with quaint humour and stern realism...

The Dubliner, Thomas Moore, born in 1779 was a poet, composer, musician, and writer. He is most famous for the 10 volume work "Irish Melodies" published between 1807 and 1834 with Sir John Stevenson, which consists of 130 of his poems set to music, much of it based on old Irish airs. "The Last Rose of Summer" and "The Minstrel Boy" are two of the most well known. Many of these "Melodies" are included in this collection. He is perhaps most infamous for having burned, at the request of the Byron family, the manuscript of Byron's memoirs which Bryon had left to him for publication after his 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.

Louise Imogen Guiney was an American poet, well-connected in the art of her time. Much of her life was spent in England, mostly at London and Oxford. This volume of poems contains, among other poems, 24 sonnets written in those two cities. - Summary by Carolin

"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. "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke" tells the story of Bill, a larrikin of the Little Lonsdale Street push, who is introduced to a young woman by the name of Doreen. The book chronicles their courtship and marriage, detailing Bill's transformation from a violence-prone gang member to a contented husband and father. - Summary by Wikipedia