Invictus by William Ernest Henley

Invictus [lwptoc] Invictus by William Ernest Henley Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but […]

Ruth by William Wordsworth

WHEN Ruth was left half desolate, Her Father took another Mate; And Ruth, not seven years old, A slighted child, at her own will Went wandering over dale and hill, In thoughtless freedom, bold. And she had made a pipe of straw, And music from that pipe could draw Like sounds of winds and floods; […]

Book Seventh [Residence in London] by William Wordsworth

SIX changeful years have vanished since I first Poured out (saluted by that quickening breeze Which met me issuing from the City’s walls) A glad preamble to this Verse: I sang Aloud, with fervour irresistible Of short-lived transport, like a torrent bursting, From a black thunder-cloud, down Scafell’s side To rush and disappear. But soon […]

Civil War Songs

Civil War Songs – a small collection of American Civil War Songs [lwptoc]   THE BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM by George F. Root, 1862 Yes, we’ll rally round the flag, boys rally once again, Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom And we’ll rally from the hillside We’ll gather from the plains, Shouting the Battle Cry […]

Who of you ever

Who of you ever This is a poem by an anonymous author.   And who of you ever And who of you ever, so that it is not in vain at all, Has dived to the bottom of the sea? So, somewhere in the Caribbean or on the Red Sea? And I was there. It’s […]

Sonnet, an encyclopedic definition

Sonnet, from the 1911 edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica SONNET (Ital. Sonetto, dim. of Suono, Fr. Sonnet). The sonnet in the literature of modern Europe is a brief poetic form of fourteen rhymed verses, ranged according to prescription. Although in a language like the English it does no doubt require considerable ingenuity to construct a satisfactory sonnet of octave and […]