Poems List
Explore poems from our collection
Exaggeration
Exaggeration
WE overstate the ills of life, and take
Imagination (given us to bring down
The choirs of singing angels overshone
By God's clea…
De Profundis
De Profundis
I
The face, which, duly as the sun,
Rose up for me with life begun,
To mark all bright hours of the day
With hourly love, …
Comfort
Comfort
SPEAK low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet
From out the hallelujahs, sweet and low
Lest I should fear and fall, and miss Thee so
Who …
Cheerfulness Taught By Reason
Cheerfulness Taught By Reason
I THINK we are too ready with complaint
In this fair world of God's. Had we no hope
Indeed beyond the zenith and the slope …
Adequacy
Adequacy
NOW, by the verdure on thy thousand hills,
Beloved England, doth the earth appear
Quite good enough for men to overbear
The will of …
Aurora Leigh (excerpts)
Aurora Leigh (excerpts)
[Book 1]
I am like,
They tell me, my dear father. Broader brows
Howbeit, upon a slenderer undergrowth
A Woman's Shortcomings
A Woman's Shortcomings
She has laughed as softly as if she sighed,
She has counted six, and over,
Of a purse well filled, and a heart well tried -
O…
A Sea-Side Walk
A Sea-Side Walk
We walked beside the sea,
After a day which perished silently
Of its own glory---like the Princess weird
Who, combating the Genius,…
A Man's Requirements
A Man's Requirements
I
Love me Sweet, with all thou art,
Feeling, thinking, seeing;
Love me in the lightest part,
Love me in full being…
A Curse For A Nation
A Curse For A Nation
I heard an angel speak last night,
And he said 'Write!
Write a Nation's curse for me,
And send it over the Western Sea.'…
Now he muses deep the meaning of the Heaven-words as they come.
Now he muses deep the meaning of the Heaven-words as they come.
Speak not! he is consecrated--Breathe
no breath across his eyes.
Lifted up and separated,…
There Was an Old Man with a Beard
There Was an Old Man with a Beard
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared! --
Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,
There was an Old Man of Calcutta
There was an Old Man of Calcutta
There was an old man of Calcutta,
Who perpetually ate bread & butter;
Till a great bit of muffin on which he was stuffin…
There was an Old Man of Thermopylae
There was an Old Man of Thermopylae
There was an old man of Thermopylæ,
Who never did anything properly;
But they said, "If you choose, To boil eggs in y…
There Was an Old Lady Whose Folly
There Was an Old Lady Whose Folly
There was an Old Lady whose folly
Induced her to sit in a holly:
Whereupon by a thorn
Her dress being torn,
The Two Old Bachelors
The Two Old Bachelors
Two old Bachelors were living in one house;
One caught a Muffin, the other caught a Mouse.
Said he who caught the Muffin to him who…
The Quangle Wangle's Hat
The Quangle Wangle's Hat
I.
On the top of the Crumpetty Tree
The Quangle Wangle sat,
But his face you could not see,
On account of his Beaver…
The Pelican Chorus
The Pelican Chorus
King and Queen of the Pelicans we;
No other Birds so grand we see!
None but we have feet like fins!
With lovely leathery throats…
The New Vestments
The New Vestments
There lived an old man in the kingdom of Tess,
Who invented a purely original dress;
And when it was perfectly made and complete,
The Duck and the Kangaroo
The Duck and the Kangaroo
Said the Duck to the Kangaroo,
'Good gracious! how you hop!
Over the fields and the water too,
As if you never would stop…
The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo
The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo
I
On the Coast of Coromandel
Where the early pumpkins blow,
In the middle of the woods
Lived the …
The Daddy Long-Legs and the Fly
The Daddy Long-Legs and the Fly
Once Mr Daddy Long-Legs,
Dressed in brown and gray,
Walked about upon the sands
Upon a summer's day;
And ther…
The Akond of Swat
The Akond of Swat
Who, or why, or which, or what, Is the Akond of SWAT?
Is he tall or short, or dark or fair?
Does he sit on a stool or a sofa or a…
Parody of Tennyson'sTo Edward Lear on His Travels in Greece
Parody of Tennyson'sTo Edward Lear on His Travels in Greece
Delirious Bulldogs; -- echoing calls
My daughter, -- green as summer grass; --
The long supine…