Rupert Chawner Brooke (August 3, 1887 – April 23, 1915) was an English poet known for his idealistic War Sonnets written during the First World War (especially The Soldier), as well as for his poetry written outside of war, especially The Old Vicarage, Grantchester and The Great Lover. He was also known for his boyish good looks, which prompted the Irish poet William Butler Yeats to describe him as “the handsomest young man in England”.

This book is intended to give the reader an account of the origin and history of Hallowe’en, how it absorbed some customs belonging to other days in the year,—such as May Day, Midsummer, and Christmas. The context is illustrated by selections from ancient and modern poetry and prose, related to Hallowe’en ideas.

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

Sam Walter Foss was an American librarian and poet. For many years the opening lines from Foss' The Coming American ("Bring me men to match my mountains / Bring me men to match my plains / Men with empires in their purpose / And new eras in their brains") were inscribed on a granite wall at the United States Air Force Academy to inspire cadets and officers, but they were removed in 2003 to harmonize in perception to the Air Force Academy's having become coeducational.

Delia is a cycle of Petrarchan love sonnets written by Renaissance poet Samuel Daniel . He was also a noted playwright and historian, and a close contemporary of Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare. Delia may have influenced Shakespeare’s sonnets. This project contains the first 30 sonnets from the collection "Delia".

LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of To The Gnat by Samuel Rogers. This was the Weekly Poetry project for May 19, 2013.Some comments from our readers.. "It might seem a tad mellow dramatic, but if you live in the country as I do, this might just resonate. Here it is the mosquito that presents as my mortal enemy, and if it infiltrates my room at night, there is no sleeping until it has been vanquished. (Arielph)"Coming from Scotland as I do where we have the dreaded Midgie, which feels like it has the teeth of a Doberman, I can sympathize with the poet on his anticipation of a sleepless night...

Samuel Rogers was an English poet, during his lifetime one of the most celebrated, although his fame has long since been eclipsed by his Romantic colleagues and friends Wordsworth, Coleridge and Byron. His recollections of these and other friends such as Charles James Fox are key sources for information about London artistic and literary life, with which he was intimate, and which he used his wealth to support. He made his money as a banker and was also a discriminating art collector. - Summary by Wikipedia

LibriVox volunteers bring you 21 recordings of Answer to a Child's Question by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This was the Weekly Poetry project for October 6, 2013.

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...

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

Sara Teasdale was an American lyric poet.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 21 recordings of Mastery by Sara Teasdale. This was the Weekly Poetry project for April 28th, 2013.

Autumn, interchangeably known as fall in North America, is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March (Southern Hemisphere), when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier and the temperature cools considerably. One of its main features is the shedding of leaves from deciduous trees. In North America, autumn is usually considered to start with the September equinox (21 or 22) and end with the winter solstice (21 or 22 December). (Wikipedia)

LibriVox volunteers bring you 10 recordings of The Old Maid by Sara Teasdale. This was the Weekly Poetry project for September 8, 2013.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 13 recordings of Spring, 1918 by Sara Teasdale. This was the Weekly Poetry project for May 11th, 2014.

Sara Teasdale was an American lyric poet. She was born Sara Trevor Teasdale in St. Louis, Missouri, and used the name Sara Teasdale Filsinger after her marriage in 1914. Teasdale's first poem was published in Reedy's Mirror, a local newspaper, in 1907. Her first collection of poems, Sonnets to Duse and Other Poems, was published that same year.

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

volunteers bring you 24 recordings of The Solitary by Sara Teasdale. This was the Weekly Poetry project for June 19, 2022. ------ Sara Teasdale was American Pulitzer Prize-winning lyric poet. This poem was published during the lonely final period of her life, when her husband was traveling extensively for business. Perhaps it was as much a pep talk to herself as it was a declaration. - Summary by TriciaG

LibriVox volunteers bring you 12 recordings of The Widows' House by Sarah Orne Jewett. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for November 11, 2012.Sarah Orne Jewett was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for her local color works set along or near the southern seacoast of Maine.

Sarojini Naidu was a remarkable woman. Known as the Nightingale of India, she started writing at the age of thirteen and throughout her life composed several volumes of poetry, writing many poems which are still famous to this day. As well as being a poet, Naidu was an activist and politician, campaigning for Indian independence and became the first Indian woman to attain the post of President of the Indian National Congress. This volume contains the beautiful 'Indian Love-Song', as well as many other moving verses...

volunteers bring you 17 recordings of The Gift of India by Sarojini Naidu. This was the Weekly Poetry project for April 18, 2021. ------ Sarojini Naidu, was the female activist who worked with Gandhi during India's struggle for independence from Britain. This piece is about soldiers from British India who fought in World War I. This poem is taken from The Broken Wing - Songs of Love, Death & Destiny 1915 - 1916 - Summary by Vik1

Follow the explorations of a comical pair of bears from the Wild West of America as they roam over Europe. All ages will laugh and enjoy the antics told in lively rhyme.

Sidney Clopton Lanier was an American musician, poet and author. He served in the Confederate army, worked on a blockade running ship for which he was imprisoned (resulting in his catching tuberculosis), taught, worked at a hotel where he gave musical performances, was a church organist, and worked as a lawyer. As a poet he used dialects. He became a flautist and sold poems to publications. He eventually became a university professor and is known for his adaptation of musical meter to poetry. Many schools, other structures and two lakes are named for him.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 9 recordings of My Springs by Sidney Lanier. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for April 7th, 2013. This rather lovely poem is the poet's tribute to his wife's eyes.

Although best known for the creation of the detective Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle did not only write works of mystery and of advenure - he was also a rather successful poet. This is a collection of poems written by the famous author.

This is a collection of poems by Arthur Conan Doyle centering around the theme of war, action and adventure.

This is a volume of poems by Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1919. Many of them concern wartime experiences.

This is a volume of poetry by Canadian poet and prose writer Sir Charles G.D. Roberts. This volume starts with a series of poems on New York City, and then includes some other poems on miscellaneous subjects. The poems of the "Father of Canadian Poetry" will be enjoyed by all modern listeners who are fans of New York. - Summary by Carolin

Sir John Suckling (1609-42) was one of the Cavalier poets at the court of King Charles I of England. He took up arms in the conflicts of that era but was said to be more fit for the boudoir than the battlefield. He was a prolific lover, a sparkling wit and an excessive gamester and is credited with inventing the card game, Cribbage. Cavalier poetry was witty, decorous and sometimes naughty. The Constant Lover displays these elements as well as Suckling’s conversational ease and charm.

Astrophil and Stella is a sonnet sequence written by Philip Sidney, an Elizabethan poet and courtier. It details the frustrated love of Astrophil (whose name means “star-lover”) for his beloved Stella (whose name means “star”). It is likely that Sidney based his poems on his own unrequited passion for a married woman. The sequence inspired other sonnet writers of the period, such as Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, and Lady Mary Wroth.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 11 recordings of To Sleep by Sir Philip Sidney. This was the Weekly Poetry project for January 23, 2014. Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586) was an English poet, courtier and soldier, who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age.

volunteers bring you recordings of Double Sestina - Ye Goatherd Gods by Phillip Sidney. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for May 5, 2019. ------ Poem is included in the book "Countesse of Pembroke's Arcadia" Ye Goatherd Gods" depicts the sorrows of two shepherds who love the same woman. She has left them both, however, and the two shepherds are dejected and heartbroken. They appeal to the gods, to nature, and to the heavens in their angst, and everything they see is altered because of their sorrows...

Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1552 – 29 October 1618) was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England.Raleigh's poetry is written in the relatively straightforward, unornamented mode known as the plain style. C. S. Lewis considered Raleigh one of the era's "silver poets", a group of writers who resisted the Italian Renaissance influence of dense classical reference and elaborate poetic devices.In poems such as "What is Our Life" and "The Lie", Raleigh expresses a contemptus mundi (contempt of the world) attitude more characteristic of the Middle Ages than of the dawning era of humanistic optimism...

In stunning narrative poetry, the story begins during the time when Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick has been hunted out of Scotland into exile by the English and their allies. Bruce returns over sea from the Island of Rachrin: but is forced to land close to hostile forces at Artonish Castle on the seacoast of Argylshire. Seeking refuge from tempestuous seas, Bruce begs shelter from Ronald, Lord of the Isles: inadvertently on the day of his marriage feast to the beautiful Edith of Lorn.Bruce's very...

Harold the Dauntless is a rhymed, romantic, narrative-poem by Sir Walter Scott. Written in 1817, it weaves together elements of popular English legends and folklore using dramatic themes.The poem recounts the exploits and the personal spiritual journey of a doubtful knight errant - Harold the son of Danish Count Witikind: who seeks to recover his lands and wed a suitable spouse.Fire-breathing Harold is as much a stranger to love as he is addicted to dangerous adventure: yet his own confrontations with the spirit-world shake his faith in supposed omnipotence of the traditional Norse pantheon...

The narrative poems in this collection are written by Sir Walter Scott - the well-known English poet and novelist. Each of these five poems are based loosely upon German ballads: rewritten in flowing English meter.The Chase - a.k.a. The Wild Huntsman - A profligate, noble-born keeper of the royal forest - avidly addicted to the pleasures of the hunt - cruelly uses and mistreats his fellow-men. One day God's messengers come to test him: executing sentence immediately in just proportion to the huntsman's responses...

Scott's The Bridal of Triermain is a rhymed, romantic, narrative poem which weaves together elements of popular English legend using dramatic themes. This beautiful poem celebrates the exploits of a knight errant - Sir Roland De Vaux - as he seeks to rescue (and hopefully espouse) a beautiful maiden, Gyneth. Gyneth is the illegitimate daughter of King Arthur: doomed by Merlin 500 years previously to an enchanted sleep inside a magic castle. The enchantment can only be broken by a rescuer both brave and noble enough to overcome the temptations used successively to distract and overcome him, namely: fear, wealth, pleasure and pride.(Introduction by Godsend)

The scene of the following Poem is laid chiefly in the vicinity of Loch Katrine, in the Western Highlands of Perthshire. The time of Action includes Six Days, and the transactions of each Day occupy a Canto.

This is the final installment in Sophocles's Theban Plays, following Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. Oedipus's daughter Antigone deliberately breaks the laws of Thebes when she buries her brother's body and is sentenced to death. She clashes with Creon, the King of Thebes, over what constitutes justice and morality: the laws of the state or the laws of the individual.

Published in 1899, just a year before his death, War Is Kind by Stephen Crane evokes again the dark imagery of war which made his fortune in The Red Badge Of Courage. Unlike that book, this collection leaves the battlefield itself behind to explore the damage war does to people’s hearts and minds. Reeking of dashed hopes, simultaneously sympathetic with the victims of war and cynical about the purposes of war, Crane implicitly criticizes the image of the romantic hero and asks if Love can survive...

Written in a purgative frenzy of pure imagination , Stephen Crane’s The Black Riders and Other Lines is a strange, enigmatic, and sparsely-written collection of free verse that bristles with Old Testament fury, seethes with cosmic cynicism, and touches on themes of lost faith and existential terror. - Summary by ChuckW

Stephen Vincent Benét (July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American author, poet, short story writer and novelist. He is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown’s Body (1928), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1929, and for two short stories, “The Devil and Daniel Webster” and “By the Waters of Babylon”. It was a line of Benét’s poetry that gave the title to Dee Brown’s famous history of the destruction of Native American tribes by the United States: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

volunteers bring you 17 recordings of Music by Stephen Vincent Benét. This was the Weekly Poetry project for October 30, 2022. ------ Stephen Vincent Benét was from a family with roots in Florida, which explains the Spanish name. He attended Yale starting in 1915 and that same year published his first book of poems, `Five Men and Pompey'. `Young Adventure' is considered his first mature book of poetry, and he went on to win two Pulitzer Prizes, in 1929 for `John Brown's Body' and in 1944 for `Western Star'. )

Susan Coolidge was the pen name of Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, who is best known for her What Katy Did series. This is the first of three volumes of her verse.

Susan Coolidge was the pen name of Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, who is best known for her What Katy Did series. This is the second of three volumes of her verse.

Susan Coolidge was the pen name of Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, who is best known for her What Katy Did series. This is the last of three volumes of her verse. - Summary by Rachel

volunteers bring you 10 recordings of Christmas by Susan Coolidge. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for December 15, 2019. ------ Sarah Chauncey Woolsey was an American children's author who wrote under the pen name Susan Coolidge. Woolsey worked as a nurse during the American Civil War , after which she started to write. She is best known for her classic children's novel What Katy Did . The fictional Carr family was modeled after her own, with Katy Carr inspired by Woolsey herself. - Summary by Wikipedia

volunteers bring you 7 recordings of After-Glow by Susan Coolidge . This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for July 25, 2021. ------ Sarah Chauncey Woolsey was an American children's author who wrote under the pen name Susan Coolidge. Woolsey worked as a nurse during the American Civil War , after which she started to write. She is best known for her classic children's novel What Katy Did

'Roughing It In the Bush' is Susanna Moodie's account of how she coped with the harshness of life in the woods of Upper Canada, as an Englishwoman homesteading abroad. Her narrative was constructed partly as a response to the glowing falsehoods European land-agents were circulating about life in the New World. Her chronicle is frank and humorous, and was a popular sensation at the time of its publication in 1852.

volunteers bring you 19 recordings of The Pause by Susanna Moodie. This was the Weekly Poetry project for March 22, 2020. ------ Susanna Moodie was an English-born Canadian author who wrote about her experiences as a settler in Canada, which was a British colony at the time. This poem is taken from ENTHUSIASM AND OTHER POEMS, By SUSANNA STRICKLAND, - Summary by Wikipedia

volunteers bring you 26 recordings of A Canadian Song by Susanna Moodie.. This was the Weekly Poetry project for October 25, 2020. ------ Susanna Moodie was an English-born Canadian author who wrote about her experiences as a settler in Canada which was a British colony at the time. Here she celebrates the waterways of Canada. - Summary by Wikipedia

We have all had mysterious charges added on to our hotel bills. - Summary by David Lawrence

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

Written in the 14th century by the Gawain poet, 'Pearl' is an elegiac poem reflecting on the death of a young daughter, pictured as a pearl lost in a garden. It is considered a masterpiece of Middle English verse, incorporating both the older tradition of alliterative poetry as well as rhyme, centered around the development of an intricately structured image. Sophie Jewett's translation from the Northern dialect of the original renders much of the poem's liveliness and beauty accessible to modern readers, whilst encouraging them to pursue their reading further, to read the original itself.This recording is dedicated to the memory of Pearl Jean Shearman, 1914-2012.

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...

Pearl is a structurally complex mediaeval poem that combines narrative, allegory, dream vision, elegy, affirmation of Christian faith and meditation on grief. This recording is of Jessie Laidlay Weston’s translation from the Middle English.

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

volunteers bring you 19 recordings of The Dreamers by Theodosia Garrison. This was the Weekly Poetry project for May 9, 2021. ------ Theodosia Garrison was a New Jersey poet and a friend of Ella Wheeler Wilcox, she attained a high level of popularity during her lifetime. - Summary by Carolin

The Lays of Ancient Rome comprise four narrative poems comprised by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay: recalling popular episodes from Roman historical-legends that were strongly moral in tone: exemplifying Roman virtue against Latine perfidy.The four poems are:- Horatius - Horatius and two companions seek to hold back a large invading Etruscan force at the far end of a bridge over the Tiber River. The trio are willing to lay down their lives so as to prevent the Etruscans crossing and sacking the otherwise ill-defended Rome: it is a desperate gamble to buy enough time for the Romans to destroy the bridge in advance of the hostile army...