"A Dirge" by Christina Rossetti

 

A Dirge

Why were you born when the snow was falling?

You should have come to the cuckoo’s calling,

Or when grapes are green in the cluster,

Or, at least, when lithe swallows muster

For their far off flying

From summer dying.

 

Why did you die when the lambs were cropping?

You should have died at the apples’ dropping,

When the grasshopper comes to trouble,

And the wheat-fields are sodden stubble,

And all winds go sighing

For sweet things dying. 

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/DGsVvkMr_U0

Who wrote the poem "Sonnets are full of love"?

Christina Rossetti (December 5, 1830 ~ December 29, 1894)

Christina Rossetti was an English poet who was lauded as one of the foremost female poets of the 19th-century Victorian era. She wrote romantic, devotional, and children's poems, marked by symbolism and intense feeling. Her literary status was often compared to that of Elizabeth Barren Browning, and upon Browning's death in 1861, Rossetti was hailed as Browning's rightful successor. She opposed slavery, cruelty to animals, and the exploitation of girls in under-age prostitution. Rossetti suffered from Graves' disease in the later decades of her life. In 1893, she was diagnosed of breast cancer and died of a recurrence in 1894.

"A Dirge" explanation

"A Dirge" by Christina Rossetti is a keen reflection on the timing of life and death, using the changing seasons as a metaphor. The speaker questions why the subject was born in winter, a time associated with coldness and death, rather than during the vibrant life of spring or summer. Similarly, the speaker laments the subject's death during spring, a time of birth and renewal, rather than in autumn or winter when nature itself is dying or dormant. This juxtaposition of life and death against the natural cycle of the seasons underscores the sense of loss and the harsh unpredictability of life.

"Tomorrow, At Dawn" by Victor Marie Hugo

 

Tomorrow, At Dawn

Tomorrow, at dawn, at the hour when the countryside whitens,

I will set out. You see, I know that you wait for me.

I will go by the forest, I will go by the mountain.

I can no longer remain far from you.

 

I will walk with my eyes fixed on my thoughts,

Seeing nothing of outdoors, hearing no noise

Alone, unknown, my back curved, my hands crossed,

Sorrowed, and the day for me will be as the night.

 

I will not look at the gold of evening which falls,

Nor the distant sails going down towards Harfleur,

And when I arrive, I will place on your tomb

A bouquet of green holly and of flowering heather.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇 

https://youtu.be/789qRPCiARE

Who wrote the poem "Tomorrow, At Dawn"?

Victor Marie Hugo (February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885)

Victor Hugo was a French writer and politician. He is the author of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862). He was also a prolific poet and produced 4,000 drawings. He is now lauded as one of the greatest French writers ever. 

"Tomorrow, At Dawn" explanation

Hugo’s eldest and favorite daughter, Léopoldine, was married to Charles Vacquerie in February, 1843. She drowned with her husband in the Seine River in a boat accident at the age of 19. Hugo was devastated by this tragedy. This poem was written on the fourth anniversary of her death. In the poem, the poet describes his walk to her tomb.

"The Last Rose of Summer" by Thomas Moore

 

The Last Rose of Summer 

‘Tis the last rose of Summer,

Left blooming alone;

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone;

No flower of her kindred,

No rose-bud is nigh,

To reflect back her blushes

Or give sigh for sigh!

 

I’ll not leave thee, thou lone one,

To pine on the stem;

Since the lovely are sleeping,

Go sleep thou with them.

Thus kindly I scatter

Thy leaves o’er the bed

Where thy mates of the garden

Lie scentless and dead.

 

So soon may I follow,

When friendships decay,

And from Love’s shining circle

The gems drop away!

When true hearts lie withered,

And fond ones are flown,

Oh! who would inhabit

This bleak world alone?

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music. 

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/taLo6FSFr-g

Who wrote the poem "The Last Rose of Summer"?

Thomas Moore (May 28, 1779 – February 25, 1852)

 

Thomas Moore was an Irish writer, poet, composer, lyricist, and political propagandist. He was known for bringing popular Irish culture to English audience by setting English verse to old Irish tunes. He was a close friend of Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. He was also famous for burning Byron’s memoirs (with the publisher John Murray), presumably to protect Byron.

"The Last Rose of Summer" explanation

Moore wrote this poem in 1805, reportedly inspired by a specimen of Rosa ‘Old Blush.’ The poem was set to a traditional Irish tune called “The Young Man’s Dream.” The poem and the tune were published in 1813 in Moore’s A Selection of Irish Melodies.

"A Dream Within A Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe

 

A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow--

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

 

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand--

How few! yet how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep--while I weep!

O God! can I not grasp

Them with a tighter clasp?

O God! can I not save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that we see or seem

But a dream within a dream? 

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/2m86ilFZwu8

Who wrote the poem "A Dream Within A Dream"?

Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849)

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. He is best known for his poetry as a central figure of Romanticism in the US and short stories as an important contributor in such emerging genres as mystery, detective fiction, and science fiction. He was also the first well-known professional writer, unfortunately resulting in a financially difficult career. Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1809, but his father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following year. He was raised as a foster child by John and Francis Allan in Virginia. His academic excellence was marred by his bad habits, and he had to leave the University of Virginia when his foster father refused to pay his gambling debts. In 1827, Poe joined the US Army and published his first collection of poems. Later he quit his military career, changed his focus to prose, and became editors of literary journals. In 1836, he married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm. After she died of tuberculosis in 1847, Poe’s depression and alcoholism got worse. Although he died in 1849 at age 40, the cause of his death is unknown and still controversial among disease, alcoholism, substance abuse, suicide, and others.

"A Dream Within A Dream" explanation

In the poem, the speaker laments his parting from someone significant and asks if his experiences with the person was just a dream or a reality. ‘A Dream within a Dream’ was published in 1849 as a revision of Poe’s earlier poem, ‘Imitation,’ published in 1827. Poe began a romantic relationship (possibly engaged) with Sarah Elmira Royster in 1825. Her father disapproved the relationship, and while Poe was studying at the University of Virginia, she married to another man. Later, Poe found out about this and presumably wrote this poem. After her husband’s death, Royster was engaged with Poe in 1848, right before his death in 1849.

"Have You News of my Boy Jack?" by Rudyard Kipling

 

Have You News of my Boy Jack?

"Have you news of my boy Jack?"

Not this tide.

"When d'you think that he'll come back?"

Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

 

 

"Has anyone else had word of him?"

Not this tide.

For what is sunk will hardly swim,

Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

 

 

"Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?"

None this tide,

Nor any tide,

Except he did not shame his kind -

Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

 

 

Then hold your head up all the more,

This tide,

And every tide;

Because he was the son you bore,

And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!

  

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/IkOhCAT8foU

Who wrote the poem "Have You News of my Boy Jack?"?

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 - January 18, 1936)

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English journalist, novelist, and poet. He was one of the most popular writers in England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was born in India, and his work including "The Jungle Book" showed much Indian influence. 

"Have You News of my Boy Jack?" explanation

In the poem, the speaker, the father of a sailor, asks for news of his son, seemingly lost at sea. The answers suggest that he will never return. It was written for Jack Cornwell, the 16 year old sailor killed in action during the WWI, who posthumously received the Victoria Cross. The poem is perhaps also affected by the tragic death of the poet’s own son, John Kipling. John was killed in action at the start of the WWI, at the age of 18. John’s initial attempts to enlist were rejected due to his poor eyesight. It was only the after his influential father requested that he was accepted into the military. The moderation and simplicity of the poem makes the overall feeling all the more poignant.

"A Complaint" by William Wordsworth

 

A Complaint

There is a change—and I am poor;

Your love hath been, nor long ago,

A fountain at my fond heart's door,

Whose only business was to flow;

And flow it did; not taking heed

Of its own bounty, or my need.

 

What happy moments did I count!

Blest was I then all bliss above!

Now, for that consecrated fount

Of murmuring, sparkling, living love,

What have I? shall I dare to tell?

A comfortless and hidden well.

 

A well of love—it may be deep—

I trust it is,—and never dry:

What matter? if the waters sleep

In silence and obscurity.

—Such change, and at the very door

Of my fond heart, hath made me poor.

 

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video

https://youtu.be/tSfyOaZHA1U

Who wrote the poem "A Complaint"?

William Wordsworth  (April 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850)

William Wordsworth was an English poet who pioneered the Romantic Movement with his close friend and fellow poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He famously defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” Using the ordinary language “really used by men,” he wrote beautiful poetry with sweet imagery, often based around the natural world. He suffered from depression, which was reflected in somber undertones in his poems. He was the Poet Laureate for Queen Victoria from 1843 until his death from pleurisy in 1850.

"A Complaint" explanation

In the poem, the speaker talks about loss of love or friendship toward an unspecified person (his lover or friend). Some scholars believe that the poem was about the poet’s friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who pioneered the Romantic Movement in England with Wordsworth. Coleridge suffered from various mental and physical illnesses including anxiety, depression, possibly bipolar disorder, and rheumatic fever. He was treated with laudanum, which made him a lifelong opium addict.

"Music, When Soft Voices Die" by Percy Bysshe Shelley

 

Music, When Soft Voices Die

Music, when soft voices die,

Vibrates in the memory –

Odours, when sweet violets sicken,

Live within the sense they quicken.

 

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,

Are heap’d for the belovèd’s bed;

And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,

Love itself shall slumber on.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/aIXqHLmgnuU

Who wrote the poem "Music, When Soft Voices Die"?

Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822)

Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets. His literary reputation steadily grew after his death, and he greatly influenced subsequent poets such as Browing, Hardy, and Yeats. He had suffered from family crises, ill health, and a backlash against his atheism and radical political views. His second wife, Mary Shelley, was the author of "Frankenstein." He died at the age of 29 in a boating accident.

"Music, When Soft Voices Die" explanation

In the poem, the speaker cherishes the power of memories associated with various experiences such as music and scents. This short poem (or perhaps a poetic fragment to be reworked later) was written in 1821, but published in 1824 (two years after the poet’s unexpected death) by his wife. T. S. Elliot praised the poem for having ‘a beauty of music and a beauty of content.’

"Requiescat" by Oscar Wilde

 

REQUIESCAT

Tread lightly, she is near

Under the snow,

Speak gently, she can hear

The daisies grow.

All her bright golden hair

Tarnished with rust,

She that was young and fair

Fallen to dust.

Lily-like, white as snow,

She hardly knew

She was a woman, so

Sweetly she grew.

Coffin-board, heavy stone,

Lie on her breast,

I vex my heart alone,

She is at rest.

Peace, Peace, she cannot hear

Lyre or sonnet,

All my life's buried here,

Heap earth upon it.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/akFA7kFMhXA

Who wrote the poem "Requiescat" ?

Oscar Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900)

Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet, playwright, and journalist. He attended Trinity College and Oxford University and became involved in the newly emerging aesthetic movement. His works include poetry, novels, and plays. His plays in particular became extremely popular in London in the 1890s. He married Constance Lloyd in 1884 and had two sons. At the pinnacle of his success, he began a homosexual affair with Lord Alfred Douglas and was arrested and tried for gross indecency. He was convicted and sentenced to two years’ hard labor, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. He was released with his health and reputation ruined and left for France and never returned. He soon died of meningitis in 1900 at the age of 46.

"Requiescat"  explanation

In the poem, the speaker describes the feelings of sorrow and loss upon the death and burial of a woman. ‘Requiescat’ is a Latin word meaning ‘(may he or she) rest in peace.’ The woman in this poem is thought to be Wilde’s sister, Isola Wilde, who died of fever at the age of 9 (when the poet was just 12). The poem, written in the 1880s before Wilde’s downfall, was his deeply personal response to his little sister’s death. 

"I Am!" by John Clare

 

I Am!

I am—yet what I am none cares or knows;

My friends forsake me like a memory lost:

I am the self-consumer of my woes—

They rise and vanish in oblivious host,

Like shadows in love’s frenzied stifled throes

And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed

 

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,

Into the living sea of waking dreams,

Where there is neither sense of life or joys,

But the vast shipwreck of my life’s esteems;

Even the dearest that I loved the best

Are strange—nay, rather, stranger than the rest.

 

I long for scenes where man hath never trod

A place where woman never smiled or wept

There to abide with my Creator, God,

And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,

Untroubling and untroubled where I lie

The grass below—above the vaulted sky.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/JWDI95GSTHc

Who wrote the poem "I Am!"

John Clare (July 13, 1793 – May 20, 1864)

John Clare was an English poet. As the son of a poor farm labourer, he received little formal education, and malnutrition from childhood may have contributed to his five-foot stature and poor physical health in later life. His works often celebrate the natural world and rural life and his love for his wife Patty and his childhood lover, Mary Joyce. Although his first book, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery (1820), published in an attempt to stop his parents’ eviction from their home, became popular to readers and critics, Clare struggled as a writer for most of his life. His works were reevaluated in the late 20^th century, and he is now considered as a major 19^th century poet.

"I Am!" explanation

In the poem, the speaker (most likely the poet himself) talks about his depression and loneliness and looks for the next life where he could find peace alongside God in Heaven. Despite early success in his writing career, Clare soon struggled professionally, which probably induced serious mental and physical illness in the late 1820s. When his health became unmanageable, plagued by delusions and depression, he was voluntarily committed to a mental asylum in 1837 and escaped in 1841. (He walked 80 miles back to his family.) He was committed again in 1842 until his death in 1864. This poem was written during his second stay in the asylum in the late 1840s.