Morality by Matthew Arnold
Morality By Matthew Arnold We cannot kindle when we will The fire which in the heart resides; The spirit bloweth and is still, In mystery our soul abides. But tasks in hours of insight...
Tagged: poem
As Kingfishers Catch Fire
As Kingfishers Catch Fire by Gerard Manley Hopkins As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme; As tumbled over rim in roundy wells Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s Bow swung...
The Vulture by Hilaire Belloc
In Hilaire Belloc’s humorous book of More Beasts (for Worse Children), a companion volume to The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts, you will find poetic descriptions of real and imaginary beasts. Many like “The...
March Poems
Poems about the month of March Each month has its share of poetic musings, and March is no exception. As children, we learn that “March comes in like a lion and goes out like...
Casey at the Bat by Ernest Thayer
Casey at the Bat A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 by Ernest Thayer The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville Nine that day; the score stood four to two, with...
The White Ship by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
The White Ship, a ballad by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, tells the story of the sinking of the White Ship, and the death of William Adelin, the son and heir to King Henry I. The ship...
The Hind and the Panther, Part 3
The Hind and the Panther, Part Three by John Dryden “The Hind and the Panther” by John Dryden was published in 1687. It is an allegory told in heroic couplets, and it has also been described as...
The Hind and the Panther, Part 2
The Hind and the Panther, Part Two by John Dryden “The Hind and the Panther” by John Dryden was published in 1687. It is an allegory told in heroic couplets, and it has also been described as...
The Hind and the Panther by John Dryden
The Hind and the Panther, Part 1 by John Dryden “The Hind and the Panther” by John Dryden was published in 1687. It is an allegory told in heroic couplets, and it has also been described as...
To Winter by William Blake
To Winter by William Blake (1757 – 1827) O Winter! bar thine adamantine doors: The north is thine; there hast thou built thy dark Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs Nor bend thy pillars...
Journey of the Magi by T. S. Eliot
“A cold coming we had of it . . . “ Journey of the Magi, by T. S. Eliot Here are two readings of “Journey of the Magi” by T. S. Eliot. The first reading...
Shakespeare Resources
Why do William Shakespeare’s plays still touch us today? This Renaissance playwright, poet, and actor had a unique way with words and a timeless grasp of human nature. His works are considered to be...
The Wind and the Moon by George MacDonald
There are poems especially suitable for memorization and recitation, and George MacDonald’s “The Wind and the Moon” is an excellent example. The rhythm and cadence of the language is delightful to young readers young...
A Leak in the Dike by Phoebe Cary
A Leak in the Dike A Story of Holland by Phoebe Cary THE good dame looked from her cottage At the close of the pleasant day, And cheerily called to her little son Outside the...
The Village Blacksmith by Longfellow
THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms...
In the Bleak Midwinter by Christina Rossetti
In the Bleak Midwinter by Christina Georgina Rossetti In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow,...
Christina Rossetti Biography
Christina Rossetti Biography Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 – 1894) was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children’s poems. She is famous for writing the words to the Christmas carol In the Bleak Midwinter. The Life...
Advent Poems by Christina Georgina Rossetti
Christina Rossetti’s classic Christmas carol, “In the Bleak Midwinter,” offers a vivid poetic look at the Incarnation. In a similar way, her less-known Advent poems describe the season of waiting and watching. Advent (1851) ‘Come,’ Thou dost say...
William Butler Yeats Poetry
William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939) was an Irish Symbolist poet, as well as a two-term Irish Senator. He was a master of traditional poetry forms, and is widely considered one of the most...
The Courtship of Miles Standish by Longfellow
The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow This narrative poem written in 1858 by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow tells a charming tale of a courtship during the early days of Plymouth...
Silence by Edgar Allan Poe
Silence by Edgar Allan Poe There are some qualities — some incorporate things, That have a double life, which thus is made A type of that twin entity which springs From matter and light,...
The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats
In this brief radio broadcast from the 1930’s, William Butler Yeats explains how he prefers to have his poem read, and then he reads a few of his poems, including “The Lake Isle of...
The Wild Swans at Coole by William Butler Yeats
The Wild Swans at Coole by William Butler Yeats Written between 1916 and early 1917, “The Wild Swans at Coole” is a lyric poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Literary scholar Daniel Tobin suggests...
Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins GLORY be to God for dappled things— For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim: Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;...
Melani Study Guide On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer
On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer, by John Keats This Chapman’s Homer Study Guide is by Dr. Lilia Melani Classification of poem Type of poem: lyric poem Type of lyric poem: sonnet Type of...
The Raven Poem by Edgar Allan Poe
“The Raven” by American writer Edgar Allan Poe is a narrative poem that tells the story of a mysterious talking raven’s visit to the narrator, who is mourning the loss of his love, Lenore....
Upon First Looking into Chapman’s Homer by John Keats
“On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” by English Romantic poet John Keats. This sonnet tells of the delight and astonishment the author felt while reading the ancient Greek poet Homer in a new translation...
A E Housman Poetry
Alfred Edward Housman (1859 – 1936), usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet. His cycle of poems, A Shropshire Lad evoke the dooms and disappointments of youth in the...
Brontë Resources Index
The Brontë sisters read widely, wrote passionately, and created enduring works drawn from their surroundings and imagination. Explore their writings and their world through the resources below. Charlotte Brontë Emily Brontë Brontë Sisters Context...
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear
One of the first poems I recite when trying to soothe a fussy infant is “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat,” a poem I memorized through endless readings when I was a child. Its rollicking...
