Robert Burns: Farewell To Ballochmyle:
Farewell To Ballochmyle 1785 Type: Song Tune: Miss Forbe’s farewell to Banff. The Catrine woods were yellow seen, The flowers decay’d on Catrine lee, Nae lav’rock sang on hillock green, But nature sicken’d on the e’e. Thro’ faded groves Maria sang, Hersel’ in beauty’s bloom the while; And aye the wild-wood ehoes rang, Fareweel […]
Robert Burns: Tho’ Cruel Fate Should Bid Us Part:
Tho’ Cruel Fate Should Bid Us Part 1785 Type: Song Tune: The Northern Lass Tho’ cruel fate should bid us part, Far as the pole and line, Her dear idea round my heart, Should tenderly entwine. Tho’ mountains, rise, and deserts howl, And oceans roar between; Yet, dearer than my deathless soul, I still […]
Grandmother’s Teaching poem – Alfred Austin
“Grandmother dear, you do not know; you have lived the old-world life, Under the twittering eaves of home, sheltered from storm and strife; Rocking cradles, and covering jams, knitting socks for baby feet, Or piecing together lavender bags for keeping the linen sweet: Daughter, wife, and mother in turn, and each with a blameless […]
Grandmother’s Teaching poem – Alfred Austin
“Grandmother dear, you do not know; you have lived the old-world life, Under the twittering eaves of home, sheltered from storm and strife; Rocking cradles, and covering jams, knitting socks for baby feet, Or piecing together lavender bags for keeping the linen sweet: Daughter, wife, and mother in turn, and each with a blameless […]
The Golden Age poem – Alfred Austin
Long ere the Muse the strenuous chords had swept, And the first lay as yet in silence slept, A Time there was which since has stirred the lyre To notes of wail and accents warm with fire; Moved the soft Mantuan to his silvery strain, And him who sobbed in pentametric pain; To which […]
The Door Of Humility poem – Alfred Austin
ENGLAND We lead the blind by voice and hand, And not by light they cannot see; We are not framed to understand The How and Why of such as He; But natured only to rejoice At every sound or sign of hope, And, guided by the still small voice, In patience through the darkness […]
The Dance At Darmstadt poem – Alfred Austin
In the city of Darmstadt, the Sabbath morn Shone over the broad Cathedral Square, And to nobly, richly, and lowly born, The belfry carilloned call to prayer. Then banker, and burgher, and learn’d in law, With clean-cut forehead and firm-set jaw, Master, and prentice, and tradesman trim, Pikemen stalwart of port and limb, Pledged […]
Sacred And Profane Love poem – Alfred Austin
In the dark shadow of the windless pines Whose gloomy glory lines the obsequies Of the gaunt Claudian Aqueduct along The lone Campagna to sepulchral Rome, A Northern youth, companionless, reclined, Pondering on records of the Roman Past, Kingdom, Republic, Empire, longwhile gone. Hard-by, through marble tomb revivified, Rippled and bubbled water crystalline, Inwelling […]
“`Roses crimson, roses white” poem – Alfred Austin
`Roses crimson, roses white, Deadly pale or lovely blushing, Both in love with May at sight, And their maiden blood is rushing To and fro in hope to hide Tumult it but thus discloses. Bring the Bridegroom to the Bride! Everywhere are roses, roses.’ `Every wall is white with roses `Every wall is white […]
Poet’s Corner poem – Alfred Austin
I stand within the Abbey walls, Where soft the slanting sunlight falls In gleams of mellow grace: The organ swells, the anthem soars, And waves of prayerful music pours Throughout the solemn space. Slowly the chanted yearning dies: Then spoken supplications rise, Upfloating to the sky; The organ peals anew, again Is silent, and […]
Poet’s Corner poem – Alfred Austin
I stand within the Abbey walls, Where soft the slanting sunlight falls In gleams of mellow grace: The organ swells, the anthem soars, And waves of prayerful music pours Throughout the solemn space. Slowly the chanted yearning dies: Then spoken supplications rise, Upfloating to the sky; The organ peals anew, again Is silent, and […]
Three Sonnets Written In Mid-Channel poem – Alfred Austin
I Now upon English soil I soon shall stand, Homeward from climes that fancy deems more fair; And well I know that there will greet me there No soft foam fawning upon smiling strand, No scent of orange-groves, no zephyrs bland, But Amazonian March, with breast half bare And sleety arrows whistling through the […]
The Season poem – Alfred Austin
In honest times, when purer manners reigned, And Virtue never save by Vice was pained, The Poet’s pen might flagrant scandals call By manly names, the property of all, And, like the prophets bold of Sacred Writ, Discard the sleight of circumambient wit. Now, so corruptly chaste our ways are grown, E’en words, turned […]
The Reply Of Q. Horatius Flaccus To A Roman “Round-Robin” poem – Alfred Austin
Good friends, you urge my Odes grow trite, And that of worthless station, Of fleeting youth and joy, I write With endless iteration. But say, in mortals, base or great, Have you a change detected? Are they, when victors, less elate, When vanquished, less dejected? Do they no more in mundane mire For golden […]
The Human Tragedy ACT IV poem – Alfred Austin
Personages: Gilbert- Miriam- Olympia- Godfrid. Protagonists: Love- Religion- Patriotism- Humanity. Place: Rome-Paris. Time: August 1870 -Close of May1871 And Miriam’s prayer was heard. The hosts of France Low in the dust, low in dishonour, lay: Broken her tumbrils, blunted was her lance, And tinsel Empire vanished in a day. The serried tramp of men, […]
The Human Tragedy ACT III poem – Alfred Austin
Personages: Godfrid- Gilbert- Miriam- Olympia. Protagonists: Love- Religion- * Patriotism. Place: Capri-Mentana. Time: October-November 1867 The laggard Child of Liberty and Light, Long travailed by the centuries, now was born: She had put off the obloquy of night, And like a Goddess stood, facing the morn. Minerva’s self had not more full-grown might At […]
The Human Tragedy ACT II poem – Alfred Austin
Personages: Olympia- Godfrid- Gilbert- Olive. Protagonists: Love- Religion. Place: Spiaggiascura-Milan-Florence. Time: March 1858-May 1859 There is a little city in the South, A silent little city by the sea, Where a swift Alpine torrent finds its mouth, And billowy mountains subside smilingly. It knows nor weeping skies nor dewless drouth, No seasons, save when […]
The Human Tragedy ACT I poem – Alfred Austin
Personages: Olive- Godfrid- Gilbert. Protagonist: Love. Place: England. Time: June-November 1857 Love! all-creating Love, primordial Power, By whom the Heavens, from whom the stars had birth, Fountain and force of air, light, season, shower, Growth, and the green apparel of the Earth, Source of the seed and secret of the flower, Parent of all […]
Grandmother’s Teaching poem – Alfred Austin
“Grandmother dear, you do not know; you have lived the old-world life, Under the twittering eaves of home, sheltered from storm and strife; Rocking cradles, and covering jams, knitting socks for baby feet, Or piecing together lavender bags for keeping the linen sweet: Daughter, wife, and mother in turn, and each with a blameless […]
Farewell To Italy poem – Alfred Austin
Incomparable Italy, farewell! Tears not unmanly trespass to the eyes, From thy soft touch and glance unspeakable Compelled to turn and suffer other skies. E’en as I leave thee, the maternal vine Under the weight of clustering fruitage bends; And the plump fig, beyond where tendrils twine, Shows greener, moister, as the sap ascends. […]
At Delphi poem – Alfred Austin
I Apollo! Apollo! Apollo! II Where hast thou, Apollo, gone? I have wandered on and on, Through the shaggy Dorian gorges, Down from where Parnassus forges Thunder for the Phocian valleys; Where the Pleistus springs and sallies Past ravines and caverns dread, Have, like it, meanderëd; But I cannot see thee, hear thee, Find […]
An April Fool poem – Alfred Austin
I sallied afield when the bud first swells, And the sun first slanteth hotly, And I came on a yokel in cap and bells, And a suit of saffron motley. He was squat on a bank where a self-taught stream, Fingering flint and pebble, Was playing in tune to the yaffel’s scream, And the […]
An Answer poem – Alfred Austin
Come, let us go into the lane, love mine, And mark and gather what the Autumn grows: The creamy elder mellowed into wine, The russet hip that was the pink-white rose; The amber woodbine into rubies turned, The blackberry that was the bramble born; Nor let the seeded clematis be spurned, Nor pearls, that […]
All Hail To The Czar! poem – Alfred Austin
All hail to the Czar! By the fringe of the foam That thunders, untamed, around Albion’s shore, See multitudes throng, dense as sea-birds whose home Is betwixt the deaf rocks and the ocean’s mad roar; And across the ridged waters stand straining their eyes For a glimpse of the Eagle that comes from afar: […]
A Tale Of True Love poem – Alfred Austin
Not in the mist of legendary ages, Which in sad moments men call long ago, And people with bards, heroes, saints, and sages, And virtues vanished, since we do not know, But here to-day wherein we all grow old, But only we, this Tale of True Love will be told. For Earth to tender […]
A Question poem – Alfred Austin
Love, wilt thou love me still when wintry streak Steals on the tresses of autumnal brow; When the pale rose hath perished in my cheek, And those are wrinkles that are dimples now? Wilt thou, when this fond arm that here I twine Round thy dear neck to help thee in thy need, Droops […]
A Letter From Italy poem – Alfred Austin
I Lately, when we wished good-bye Underneath a gloomy sky, “Bear,” you said, “my love in mind, Leaving me not quite behind; And across the mountains send News and greeting to your friend.” II Swiftly though we did advance Through the rich flat fields of France, Still the eye grew tired to see Patches […]
A Defence Of English Spring poem – Alfred Austin
Unnamed, unknown, but surely bred Where Thames, once silver, now runs lead, Whose journeys daily ebb and flow ‘Twixt Tyburn and the bells of Bow, You late in learnëd prose have told How, for the happy bards of old, Spring burst upon Sicilian seas, Or blossomed in the Cyclades, But never yet hath deigned […]
The Duel poem – Alexander Pushkin
A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation FROM “EUGENE ONEGIN “ 28 Yes, foes!-How many days, bethink you, Since hatred stepped the two between, And since in hours of thought and leisure, At work, at table, they have been As comrades! Now, with purpose dread, Like men in mutual […]
The Bakchesarian Fountain poem – Alexander Pushkin
A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation A TALE OF THE TAURIDE. Mute sat Giray, with downcast eye, As though some spell in sorrow bound him, His slavish courtiers thronging nigh, In sad expectance stood around him. The lips of all had silence sealed, Whilst, bent on him, each […]
Boris Godunov poem – Alexander Pushkin
A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation A Drama in Verse DRAMATIS PERSONAE BORIS GODUNOV, afterwards Tsar. PRINCE SHUISKY, Russian noble. PRINCE VOROTINSKY, Russian noble. SHCHELKALOV, Russian Minister of State. FATHER PIMEN, an old monk and chronicler. GREGORY OTREPIEV, a young monk, afterwards the Pretender to the throne of […]
A Winter Evening poem – Alexander Pushkin
A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation Sable clouds by tempest driven, Snowflakes whirling in the gales, Hark–it sounds like grim wolves howling, Hark–now like a child it wails! Creeping through the rustling straw thatch, Rattling on the mortared walls, Like some weary wanderer knocking– On the lowly pane […]
The Dunciad: Book IV poem – Alexander Pope
A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period Yet, yet a moment, one dim ray of light Indulge, dread Chaos, and eternal Night! Of darkness visible so much be lent, As half to show, half veil, the deep intent. Ye pow’rs! whose mysteries restor’d I sing, […]
Spring – The First Pastoral ; or Damon poem – Alexander Pope
A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period First in these fields I try the sylvan strains, Nor blush to sport on Windsor’s blissful plains: Fair Thames, flow gently from thy sacred spring, While on thy banks Sicilian Muses sing; Let vernal airs tho’ trembling osiers […]
Sappho to Phaon (Ovid Heroid XV) poem – Alexander Pope
A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period Say, lovely youth, that dost my heart command, Can Phaon’s eyes forget his Sappho’s hand? Must then her name the wretched writer prove, To thy remembrance lost, as to thy love? Ask not the cause that I new […]
Autumn – The Third Pastoral, or Hylas and Ægon poem – Alexander Pope
A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period Beneath the shade a spreading Beech displays, Hylas and Aegon sung their rural lays, This mourn’d a faithless, that an absent Love, And Delia’s name and Doris’ fill’d the Grove. Ye Mantuan nymphs, your sacred succour bring; Hylas […]
The Rape of the Lock: Canto 3 poem – Alexander Pope
A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period Close by those meads, for ever crown’d with flow’rs, Where Thames with pride surveys his rising tow’rs, There stands a structure of majestic frame, Which from the neighb’ring Hampton takes its name. Here Britain’s statesmen oft the fall foredoom […]
The Rape of the Lock poem – Alexander Pope
A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period Part 1 WHAT dire Offence from am’rous Causes springs, What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things, I sing — This Verse to C—, Muse! is due; This, ev’n Belinda may vouchfafe to view: Slight is the Subject, but […]
Imitations of Horace: The First Epistle of the Second Book poem – Alexander Pope
A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period Ne Rubeam, Pingui donatus Munere (Horace, Epistles II.i.267) While you, great patron of mankind, sustain The balanc’d world, and open all the main; Your country, chief, in arms abroad defend, At home, with morals, arts, and laws amend; How […]
Essay on Man poem – Alexander Pope
A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period The First Epistle Awake, my ST. JOHN!(1) leave all meaner things To low ambition, and the pride of Kings. Let us (since Life can little more supply Than just to look about us and to die) Expatiate(2) free […]