"A Day of Sunshine" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

A Day of Sunshine

O gift of God! O perfect day:

Whereon shall no man work, but play;

Whereon it is enough for me,

Not to be doing, but to be!

 

Through every fibre of my brain,

Through every nerve, through every vein,

I feel the electric thrill, the touch

Of life, that seems almost too much.

 

I hear the wind among the trees

Playing celestial symphonies;

I see the branches downward bent,

Like keys of some great instrument.

 

And over me unrolls on high

The splendid scenery of the sky,

Where though a sapphire sea the sun

Sails like a golden galleon,

 

Towards yonder cloud-land in the West,

Towards yonder Islands of the Blest,

Whose steep sierra far uplifts

Its craggy summits white with drifts.

 

Blow, winds! and waft through all the rooms

The snow-flakes of the cherry-blooms!

Blow, winds! and bend within my reach

The fiery blossoms of the peach!

 

O Life and Love! O happy throng

Of thoughts, whose only speech is song!

O heart of man! canst thou not be

Blithe as the air is, and as free?

 

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/MgmLaerOv54

Who wrote the poem "A Day of Sunshine"?

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882)

 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator. He was one of the most famous American poets of the 19th century, both domestically and internationally, and was one of the few American writers honored in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine (then still part of Massachusetts). He studied at Bowdoin College and became a professor there and later at Harvard University. His poems were known for their musicality, often including stories of mythology and legend.

"A Day of Sunshine" explanation

In the poem, the speaker celebrates the beauty of one particular sunny day. He celebrates the sky, sea, clouds, mountains, and winds. The poem demonstrates the poet’s love for nature through his masterful use of such literary devices as simile, imagery, and caesura.

"Death Is Nothing At All" by Henry Scott Holland

 

Death Is Nothing At All

Death is nothing at all.

It does not count.

I have only slipped away into the next room.

Nothing has happened.

 

Everything remains exactly as it was.

I am I, and you are you,

and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.

Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

 

Call me by the old familiar name.

Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.

Put no difference into your tone.

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

 

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.

Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.

 

Life means all that it ever meant.

It is the same as it ever was.

There is absolute and unbroken continuity.

What is this death but a negligible accident?

 

Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you, for an interval,

somewhere very near,

just round the corner.

 

All is well.

Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.

One brief moment and all will be as it was before.

How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

 

Enjoy this poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/sRrERstTnIk

Who wrote the poem "Death Is Nothing At All"?

Henry Scott Holland (January 27, 1847 – March 17, 1918)

Henry Scott Holland was Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford and a canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral. He was deeply interested in social justice and formed a group called PESEK (Politics, Economics, Socialism, Ethics, and Christianity), which blamed capitalist exploitation for urban poverty. He also founded the Christian Social Union to provide direction to various social reforms.

"Death Is Nothing At All" explanation

This passage was not intended as a poem but was a part of a sermon by Holland in May 1910, delivered at St. Paul’s Cathedral after the death of King Edward VII. In the sermon, titled “Death the King of Terrors,” Holland talked about contradictory perceptions to death: the fear of the unknown and the belief in continuity. From his discussion of the latter was drawn this famous passage, “Death is Nothing at All.”

"Hope Is The Thing With Feathers" by Emily Dickinson

 

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers

'Hope' is the thing with feathers—

That perches in the soul—

And sings the tune without the words—

And never stops—at all—

 

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—

And sore must be the storm—

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm—

 

I've heard it in the chillest land—

And on the strangest Sea—

Yet, never, in Extremity,

It asked a crumb—of Me.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/xhU3PEUsCts

Who wrote the poem "Hope Is The Thing With Feathers"?

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886)

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet who was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. She spent most of her adult life at the family home in isolation, attending to her ill mother. Introverted and timid, she never married or sought a permanent romantic relationship all her life. Although she wrote nearly 1,800 poems during her lifetime, her poetry was largely misunderstood or underrated while she was alive. Her poems were quite original and disregarded many conventional rules, containing short lines, typically lacking titles, and often using imperfect rhyme and odd-looking syntax. Her poetry however captures universal feelings in a simple sentence with unique but resonating metaphors and reflects the poet’s lively, imaginative, and dynamic inner world. Her poetic genius began to be appreciated only after her death when her sister published her works. Now Dickinson is regarded as one of the most important American poets.

"Hope Is The Thing With Feathers" explanation

This is one of the best known of Emily Dickenson’s poems. The poet likens hope to a feathered bird that perches in everyone’s soul. (Dickinson loved birds.) And the bird keeps singing to inspire even when times get rough. No matter how difficult the circumstances, we all have hope within ourselves to help us overcome the worst adversities.

"Pray To What Earth" by Henry David Thoreau

 

Pray To What Earth

Pray to what earth does this sweet cold belong,

Which asks no duties and no conscience?

The moon goes up by leaps, her cheerful path

In some far summer stratum of the sky,

While stars with their cold shine bedot her way.

The fields gleam mildly back upon the sky,

And far and near upon the leafless shrubs

The snow dust still emits a silver light.

Under the hedge, where drift banks are their screen,

The titmice now pursue their downy dreams,

As often in the sweltering summer nights

The bee doth drop asleep in the flower cup,

When evening overtakes him with his load.

By the brooksides, in the still, genial night,

The more adventurous wanderer may hear

The crystals shoot and form, and winter slow

Increase his rule by gentlest summer means.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/gwxTEdfwN3Y

Who wrote the poem "Pray To What Earth"?

Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862)

Henry David Thoreau was an American poet, essayist, naturalist, and philosopher. He was a leading transcendentalist and is best known for this book “Walden,” a personal reflection upon simple living in nature. His writings display a unique combination of a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and attention to practical detail. Thoreau was a lifelong abolitionist, and he pioneered modern-day environmentalism. His political philosophy of civil disobedience, which argued for disobedience to an unjust state, later greatly influenced such historical figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. He died of tuberculosis at 44.

 

"Pray To What Earth" explanation

In the poem, the speaker depicts the beauty of nature using such literary devices as personification and imagery.

"Music" by Bessie Rayner Parkes

 

Music

Sweet melody amidst the moving spheres
Breaks forth, a solemn and entrancing sound,
A harmony whereof the earth's green hills
Give but the faintest echo; yet is there
A music everywhere, and concert sweet!
All birds which sing amidst the forest deep
Till the flowers listen with unfolded bells;
All winds that murmur over summer grass,
Or curl the waves upon the pebbly shore;
Chiefly all earnest human voices rais'd
In charity and for the cause of truth,
Mingle together in one sacred chord,
And float, a grateful incense, up to God.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/FC7YrL3_gG8

Who wroth the poem "Music"?

Bessie Rayner Parkes (June 16, 1829 – March 23, 1925)

Bessie Rayner Parkes was an English poet, essayist, and journalist. She was one of the most important English feminists and campaigners for women’s rights in Victorian times. Parkes was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England to caring, affluent parents, who were avid consumers of the arts. Having been exposed to the cultured life as a child, Parkes developed passion for writing. She also became aware of the unjust situation of women in England and later greatly contributed to improvement of women’s status through her activism. She was a devout Christian, and her faith influenced greatly her political and literary life. At 38, Parkes fell in love with Louis Belloc, a Frenchman of feeble health, got married, and had two children. 5 years later, her husband suddenly died of sunstroke, and she never got over her husband’s death. After the marriage and the death of her husband, her active involvement of organized feminist movements abated. She continued writing, and died in 1925, aged 95.

"Music" explanation

In this simple and beautiful poem, the speaker describes a concert created by nature for any attentive listeners.

"A Golden Day" by Paul Laurence Dunbar

 

A Golden Day

I found you and I lost you, 
 All on a gleaming day. 
The day was filled with sunshine,
 And the land was full of May. 

A golden bird was singing
 Its melody divine, 
I found you and I loved you, 
 And all the world was mine. 

I found you and I lost you, 
All on a golden day, 
But when I dream of you, dear, 
It is always brimming May.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/ur6uNdpU2No

Who wrote the poem "A Golden Day"?

Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906)

Paul Laurence Dunbar was an African-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Born to parents who were freed slaves from Kentucky, Dunbar began writing stories and poems from 6 and published his first poem at 16. He was the only African-American student at Central High School in Dayton, Ohio. But he was well accepted among students and was elected as president of the school’s literary society, and became the editor of the school newspaper. Dunbar later became one of the first African-American writers to gain an international literary fame. He died from tuberculosis in Dayton, Ohio at 33.

"A Golden Day" Explanation

In the poem, the speaker calmly talks about his or her past love and good memories. The poem is quite short and simple, and yet it still brings about such powerful, universal feelings as loneliness and yearning.

"Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep" by Mary Elizabeth Frye

 

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sun on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of Quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there; I did not die.

Enjoy the poem with music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/xXRsasnScnw

Who wrote the poem "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep"?

Mary Elizabeth Frye (November 13, 1905 – September 15, 2004)

Mary Elizabeth Frye was an American poet and florist who became famous almost exclusively for a single poem: “Do not stand at my grave and weep.” She was born in Dayton, Ohio, and lost her parents at 3. With no formal education, she was an avid reader and had a remarkable memory. In 1927, she married Claud Frye, a clothing business owner, and became a housewife and florist. In 1932, she wrote the poem “Do not stand at my grave and weep” to console her houseguest, a young Jewish woman, Margaret Schwarzkopf, for her loss of her mother. She died in 2004 at the age of 98.

"Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep" explanation

Margaret Schwarzkopf, who was staying with Frye in 1932, couldn’t visit her dying mother in Germany because of the rabid anti-Semitism. At the news of her mother’s death, Schwarzkopf told Frye that she had never had the chance to “stand by my mother’s grave and shed a tear.” Frye wrote this poem on a brown paper shopping bag to console Schwarzkopf, who greatly valued it and said that she would keep it forever. Because people liked the poem, Frye circulated it privately. She never published or copyrighted the poem. She said “I thought it belonged to the world; it didn’t belong to me. I still feel that way … it was written out of love, for comfort.” For so long, the author of this mysterious poem had been disputed until Frye’s authorship was finally confirmed in 1998 by Abigail Van Buren, the newspaper columnist better known as “Dear Abby.” The poem has been read at funerals and other memorial services including those for the Challenger space shuttle and the 9-11 terror attack.

"Across the Border" by Sophie Jewett

 

Across the Border

I have read somewhere that the birds of fairyland

are white as snow.—W. B. Yeats

 

Where all the trees bear golden flowers,

And all the birds are white;

Where fairy folk in dancing hours

Burn stars for candlelight;

 

Where every wind and leaf can talk,

But no man understand

Save one whose child-feet chanced to walk

Green paths of fairyland;

 

I followed two swift silver wings;

I stalked a roving song;

I startled shining, silent things;

I wandered all day long.

 

But when it seemed the shadowy hours

Whispered of soft-foot night,

I crept home to sweet common flowers,

Brown birds, and candlelight.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/ci0G_6gTDhU

Who wrote the poem "Across the border"?

Sophie Jewett (June 3, 1861 – October 11, 1909)

Sophie Jewett, also known as the pseudonym Ellen Burroughs, was an American poet, translator, and professor at Wellesley College. The poet’s early life was marked by loss and displacement. When she was 7, she was called from sleep to observe her mother’s passing. Two years later, her father, a country doctor, died. Jewett and her 3 siblings were raised by their uncle and their grandmother, both of whom died during her adolescence. Jewett initially published poetry under the pseudonym Ellen Burroughs which was borrowed from her mother’s name, Ellen Ransom Burroughs Jewett. An American poet Richard Watson Gilder called her a true poet with a golden gift.

"Across the Border" Explanation

In the poem, the poet introduces two worlds, separated at the border. An epigraph, a quote from W.B. Yeats, opens the poem, serving as the key to one of the two worlds. She then describes this imaginary fairyland. This “fairyland,” where all the magical things can be real, symbolizes an ideal life or a lifelong goal for every person. The poem ends with the speaker going back to her reality and home. It symbolizes the disappointment after realizing a chasm between hope and reality. But the speaker learns to appreciate for her mundane reality (“I crept home to sweet common flowers”) despite not being able to find “fairyland.” The poem talks about a gap between fantasy and reality and inspires us to overcome the disappointment and still be optimistic about the future.

"Thinking" by Walter D. Wintle

 

Thinking

If you think you are beaten, you are;

If you think you dare not, you don't.

If you'd like to win, but you think you can't,

It is almost a cinch you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you've lost;

For out in this world we find

Success begins with a person's will

It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclassed, you are;

You've got to think high to rise.

You've got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win the prize.

Life's battles don't always go

To the stronger or faster man;

But sooner or later the person who wins

Is the one who thinks he can!

Enjoy "Thinking" with inspirational music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/qFkLlSkSNhA

Who wrote the poem "Thinking"?

Walter D. Wintle (late 19C-early 20C)

Almost nothing is known about Walter D. Wintle’s life other than he was a poet who lived in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Even his name may be a pseudonym. He is best known for writing the famous poem “Thinking.”

"Thinking" explanation

Different versions of the poem had been published in the 20th century under different titles and with different wordings. The version presented here is the 1905 version published in “Unity” College Magazine, which is believed to be the original. The poem inspires you to trust yourself and make bold attempts to accomplish something great in your life.

"I Carry Your Heart With Me" by E. E. Cummings

 

I Carry Your Heart With Me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

 

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

 

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Enjoy "I Carry Your Heart With Me" with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/wVk-9jPXV8k

Who wrote the poem "I Carry Your Heart With Me"?

Edward Estlin Cummings 

(October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962)

E. E. Cummings was an American poet, painter, essayist, and playwright. He is regarded as one of the most important American poets of the 20^th century with his modernist free-form poetry. His works include 2,900 poems, two novels, four plays, and several essays. He wanted to be a poet from childhood and wrote poems daily from age 8 to 22. His poems have idiosyncratic syntax and use lower-case spellings for poetic expressions.

"I Carry Your Heart With Me" explanation

In the poem, the speaker is directly telling his beloved how much he loves her. This relatively short love poem has resonated with so many readers, using such poetic devices as imagery and repetition. The poem also shows the poet’s unusual uses of capitalization and punctuation.

"If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking" by Emily Dickinson

 

If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

Enjoy "If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking" with inspirational music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/MeXeTYkkkeE

Who wrote the poem "If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking"?

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 ~ May 15, 1886)

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was not widely known during her life, but now she is respected as one of the greatest American poets. She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, and lived there all her life in isolation. She wouldn't invite any guests nor get out of her bedroom, and maintained social intercourses only by letters in her later years. Dickinson wrote nearly 1,800 poems, but published only 10 poems and one letter during her lifetime.

"If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking" explanation

The main theme of the poem is selfless love. The speaker expresses her willingness to help those in trouble. Her selfless love in turn makes her life meaningful. The poet spent most of her life attending to her ill mother, secluded from the world. Reflecting the poet’s own life, the poem succinctly but effectively shows her kindness and compassion.

"Invictus" by William Ernest Henley

 

Invictus

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 unbowed.

 

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

 

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

 

Enjoy "Invictus" with inspirational music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/YmXpTx0R3iU

Who wrote the poem "Invictus"?

William Ernest Henley (August 23, 1849 - July 11, 1903)

William Ernest Henley was an English poet, writer, critic, and editor in late Victorian era. From 12, Henley suffered from tuberculosis and lost his left leg below the knee as a result at 16. In his early life, he periodically suffered from extreme pain due to the draining of his tuberculosis abscesses. After such painful treatments, the young Henley hopped around the room laughing loudly as if the pain couldn't reach him. His strong physique and contrasting mental and creative capacities inspired his close friend, Robert Louis Stevenson, to create the famous character, Long John Silver, in "Treasure Island (1883)."

"Invictus" explanation

In his early 20's, after being diagnosed that a second amputation of his remaining right leg was the only way to save his life, Henley spent three years in hospital to fight the diagnosis, eventually saving his right leg. While recovering in the hospital, he wrote this poem. "Invictus" is a latin word which means "unconquered," "invincible," or "undefeated." The poem remains a cultural touchstone as a model of Victorian stoicism of self-discipline and fortitude in adversity, which became a British character trait.