I never saw that you did painting need, And therefore to your fair no painting set; I found, or thought I found, you did exceed That barren tender of a poet's debt: And therefore have I slept in your report,...

Universal

William Shakespeare

107 words

Poetry

Hayeswater

A region desolate and wild. Black, chafing water: and afloat, And lonely as a truant child In a waste wood, a single boat: No mast, no sails are set thereon; It moves, but never moveth on: And welters like a...

Distant Hills

What is there in those distant hills My fancy longs to see, That many a mood of joy instils? Say what can fancy be? Do old oaks thicken all the woods, With weeds and brakes as here? Does common water...

Lord Byron's Verses on Sam Rogers

Nose and Chin that make a knocker, Wrinkles that would puzzle Cocker; Mouth that marks the envious Scorner, With a Scorpion in each corner Curling up his tail to sting you, In the place that most may wring you; Eyes...

Universal

George Gordon, Lord Byron

374 words

Poetry

Clock-a-Clay

In the cowslip pips I lie, Hidden from the buzzing fly, While green grass beneath me lies, Pearled with dew like fishes' eyes, Here I lie, a clock-a-clay, Waiting for the time of day.

The Starlight Night

Look at the stars! look, look up at the skies! O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air! The bright boroughs, the circle-citadels there! Down in dim woods the diamond delves! the elves'-eyes! The grey lawns cold where gold, where quickgold lies!

Universal

Gerard Manley Hopkins

116 words

Poetry

To the Republicans of North America

between you and me Whirlwinds sweep and billows roar: Yet in spirit oft I see On thy wild and winding shore Freedom's bloodless banners wave,-- Feel the pulses of the brave Unextinguished in the grave,-- See them drenched in sacred...

On the Portrait of Two Beautiful Young People

A Brother and Sister O I admire and sorrow! The heart’s eye grieves Discovering you, dark tramplers, tyrant years. A juice rides rich through bluebells, in vine leaves, And beauty’s dearest veriest vein is tears. Happy the father, mother of these!

Universal

Gerard Manley Hopkins

271 words

Poetry

The Old Cottagers

The little cottage stood alone, the pride Of solitude surrounded every side.

Bridal Ballad

The ring is on my hand, And the wreath is on my brow; Satins and jewels grand Are all at my command. And I am happy now.

Sonnet 33: Full many a glorious morning have I seen

Full many a glorious morning have I seen Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye, Kissing with golden face the meadows green, Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy; Anon permit the basest clouds to ride With ugly rack on his...

Emmonsail's Heath in Winter

I love to see the old heath's withered brake Mingle its crimpled leaves with furze and ling, While the old heron from the lonely lake Starts slow and flaps his melancholy wing, And oddling crow in idle motions swing On...

A DREAM

Once a dream did weave a shade O'er my angel-guarded bed, That an emmet lost its way Where on grass methought I lay. Troubled, wildered, and forlorn, Dark, benighted, travel-worn, Over many a tangle spray, All heart-broke, I heard her say: "Oh my children!

Since Thou Hast Given Me This Good Hope, O God

SINCE thou hast given me this good hope, O God, That while my footsteps tread the flowery sod And the great woods embower me, and...

Universal

Robert Louis Stevenson

123 words

Poetry

Sonnet 62: Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye

Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye And all my soul, and all my every part; And for this sin there is no remedy, It is so grounded inward in my heart.

Holy Sonnet VI: This Is My Play's Last Scene

This is my play's last scene, here heavens appoint My pilgrimage's last mile; and my race Idly, yet quickly run, hath this last pace, My span's last inch, my minute's latest point, And gluttonous death, will instantly unjoint My body...

Farewell and Defiance to Love

Love and thy vain employs, away From this too oft deluded breast! No longer will I court thy stay, To be my bosom's teazing guest. Thou treacherous medicine, reckoned pure, Thou quackery of the harassed heart, That kills what it...

Translation From Horace

Justum et tenacem propositi virum. 'Odes', iii.

Universal

George Gordon, Lord Byron

150 words

Poetry

Holy Sonnet I: Thou Has Made Me

Tho has made me, and shall thy work decay? Repair me now, for now mine end doth haste; I run to death, and death meets me as fast, And all my pleasures are like yesterday.

Sonnet 53: What is your substance, whereof are you made

What is your substance, whereof are you made, That millions of strange shadows on you tend? Since every one, hath every one, one shade, And you but one, can every shadow lend.

I know some lonely Houses off the Road

I know some lonely Houses off the Road A Robber'd like the look of -- Wooden barred, And Windows hanging low, Inviting to -- A...

Sonnet 70: That thou art blam'd shall not be thy defect

That thou art blam'd shall not be thy defect, For slander's mark was ever yet the fair; The ornament of beauty is suspect, A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air.

Sonnet 140: Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press

Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press My tongue-tied patience with too much disdain; Lest sorrow lend me words, and words express The manner of my pity-wanting pain.

Universal

William Shakespeare

109 words