"My Shadow" by Robert Louis Stevenson

 

My Shadow

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;

And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

 

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;

For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,

And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all.

 

He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,

And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.

He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see;

I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

 

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;

But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,

Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

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Who wrote the poem "My Shadow"?

Robert Louis Stevenson 

(November 13, 1850 – December 3, 1894)

Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet, and travel writer. From an early age, Stevenson suffered from serious bronchial illnesses. Despite his poor health, Stevenson continued to write prolifically and travelled widely. His best known works include “Treasure Island” and “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” He gained great literary fame based on his profound ideas and catchy writing style.

"My Shadow" explanation

In the poem, the speaker (a child) finds great joy in the company of his own shadow. The child is amazed to see how his shadow follows him everywhere and grows taller, smaller, and sometimes invisible. In his innocent imagination, the child thinks his shadow is a coward, afraid of being alone. One day when he wakes up before the sunrise, he cannot find his shadow around him, and assumes that the shadow must still be sleeping. Through an innocent child’s curious and imaginative perspective on such ordinary things as his own shadow, the poem invites the reader to share the excitement of the child.

"Acquainted with the Night" by Robert Frost

 

Acquainted with the Night

I have been one acquainted with the night.

I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.

I have outwalked the furthest city light.

 

I have looked down the saddest city lane.

I have passed by the watchman on his beat

And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

 

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet

When far away an interrupted cry

Came over houses from another street,

 

But not to call me back or say good-bye;

And further still at an unearthly height,

One luminary clock against the sky

 

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.

I have been one acquainted with the night.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/uEvit55iGkM

Who wrote the poem "Acquainted with the Night"?

Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963)

 

Robert Frost was an American poet who was born in San Francisco, California. Frost’s life was marked by grief and loss. When he was 11, his father died of tuberculosis, leaving just eight dollars. Frost’s mother died of cancer when he was 26. Mental illness ran in his family. He and his mother suffered from depression, and his sister and his daughter were committed to mental hospitals. Using realistic depictions of rural life, his poems often examined complex social and philosophical themes. Frost’s first book was published at the age of 40, but he ended up winning four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry and becoming the most famous poet of his time.

"Acquainted with the Night" explanation

In the poem, the speaker walks the city streets at night, feeling deeply depressed, isolated, and lonely. He meets a watchman but refuses to interact. He listens to the sounds of the city but realizes that they are not for him. The moon in the sky tells him that time is meaningless for him. The speaker could easily be Frost himself, for he suffered from depression throughout his life.

"A Bird, came down the Walk" BY Emily Dickinson

 

A Bird, came down the Walk

A Bird, came down the Walk -

He did not know I saw -

He bit an Angle Worm in halves

And ate the fellow, raw,

And then, he drank a Dew

From a convenient Grass -

And then hopped sidewise to the Wall

To let a Beetle pass -

He glanced with rapid eyes,

That hurried all abroad -

They looked like frightened Beads, I thought,

He stirred his Velvet Head. -

Like one in danger, Cautious,

I offered him a Crumb,

And he unrolled his feathers,

And rowed him softer Home -

Than Oars divide the Ocean,

Too silver for a seam,

Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,

Leap, plashless as they swim.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music

Poem Video👇 

https://youtu.be/KUX1RRzuEn0

Who wrote the poem "A Bird, came down the Walk"?

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.

"A Bird, Came Down the Walk" explanation

In the poem, the speaker describes her interaction with a bird that comes down for food. She addresses the bird as a human, a male (“he”), which makes the poem more personal and relatable. Through the cautiousness and fear of the bird and shyness of the speaker, the poem explores the theme of nature’s beauty, human interaction with it, and self-consciousness of delicate tension between man and nature.

"When You Are Old" By William Butler Yeats

 

When You Are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

 

 

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

 

 

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/DH3lVj78D6I

Who wrote the poem "When You Are Old"?

William Butler Yeats (June 13, 1865 – January 28, 1939)

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, playwright, prose writer, and is widely considered as one of the greatest poets of the 20^th century. He was born to the Protestant, Anglo-Irish community that considered themselves English people born in Ireland and had largely controlled the economic, political, and social life of Ireland. However, Yeats strongly affirmed his Irish nationality and found inspiration in Irish legends and the occult in his early career. Later his poetry became more physical and realistic. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923. 

"When You Are Old" explanation

 In the poem, the speaker asks the reader (his beloved) to imagine ahead her old age, suggesting she will regret not accepting the speaker’s love. His love is genuine and permanent, for the speaker loves her restless soul itself whereas others love her for her beauty and youth, which will eventually fade away. This poem is generally thought to be addressed to Maud Gonne, an Irish actress with whom Yeats was enamored throughout his life. Yeats proposed to Gonne on four different occasions between 1891 and 1901, and she rejected each proposal and married to another man in 1903.

"The Road Not Taken " by Robert Frost

 

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

 

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

 

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

 

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇 

https://youtu.be/GxUx-U2Gavs

Who wrote the poem "The Road Not Taken"?

Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963)

 

Robert Frost was an American poet who was born in San Francisco, California. Frost’s life was marked by grief and loss. When he was 11, his father died of tuberculosis, leaving just eight dollars. Frost’s mother died of cancer when he was 26. Mental illness ran in his family. He and his mother suffered from depression, and his sister and his daughter were committed to mental hospitals. Using realistic depictions of rural life, his poems often examined complex social and philosophical themes. Frost’s first book was published at the age of 40, but he ended up winning four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry and becoming the most famous poet of his time.

"The Road Not Taken" explanation

 

In the poem, the speaker arrives at a critical juncture between two different paths. He chooses the less travelled road, and his future self looks back on his past decision with mixed feelings. Frost reportedly wrote this poem based on his Walsh friend named Edward Thomas who was always regretful of his past decisions. The poem also might be based on the poet’s own life. He tried to be a farmer to feed his family, which was very common at the time, but ended up a poet (“less travelled road”). He gave up farming in 1908, published his first book of poetry in 1915, and wrote this poem in 1916.

"Prayer" by Richard Aldington

 

Prayer

 

I am a garden of red tulips

And late daffodils and bay-hedges,

A small sunk garden

About an oblong pool

With three grey lead Dutch tanks—

I am this garden shattered and blown

With a day-long western gale

And bursts of rapid rain.

 

There are dank petals in the ruffled waters,

And muddy flowers upon the path.

The grass is covered with torn leaves.

 

God of gardens, dear small god of gardens,

Grant me faint glow of sunlight,

A last bird hopping in the quiet haze,

Then let the night swoop swiftly,

Fold round and crush out life

For ever.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video 👇

https://youtu.be/CS-mqeln7x0

Who wrote the poem "Prayer"?

Richard Aldington (July 8, 1892 – July 27, 1962)

Richard Aldington was an English writer and poet, and an early member of the Imagist movement, a style characterized by a minimalist free verse with succinct and vivid images. Other famous poets associated with the movement include Hilda Doolittle (Aldington’s wife), James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, and William Carlos Williams. Aldington’s poetry was also heavily influenced by Japanese art and Greek tragedies and myths. He joined the army in 1916 and was wounded on the Western Front. He never recovered from his World War I experiences, and his writings often reflected the horrors of the war.

"As a Decrepit Father Takes Delight" by William Shakespeare

 

As a Decrepit Father Takes Delight

As a decrepit father takes delight

To see his active child do deeds of youth,

So I, made lame by Fortune's dearest spite,

Take all my comfort of thy worth and truth.

For whether beauty, birth, or wealth, or wit,

Or any of these all, or all, or more,

Entitled in thy parts, do crowned sit,

I make my love engrafted to this store.

So then I am not lame, poor, nor despised,

Whilst that this shadow doth such substance give

That I in thy abundance am sufficed

And by a part of all thy glory live.

Look what is best, that best I wish in thee.

This wish I have; then ten times happy me!

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/WLDiXjNESwU

Who wrote the poem "As a Decrepit Father Takes Delight"?

William Shakespeare (April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616)

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor of the Renaissance era. He is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon." Few public records remain about his private life, causing speculations about his physical appearances, sexuality, religious beliefs and the authorship of some of his works. His works demonstrate a wide range of human emotions and conflicts, touching so many people's minds throughout the world for over 400 years.

"As a Decrepit Father Takes Delight" explanation

In the poem, the speaker celebrates youth, beauty, and the possibilities of the future of a young man as if he was the young man’s old father. The speaker wishes all the luck and happiness to the young man because then he will experience vicarious joy through the young man.

"The Way Through The Woods" by Rudyard Kipling

 

The Way Through The Woods

THEY shut the road through the woods

Seventy years ago.

Weather and rain have undone it again,

And now you would never know

There was once a path through the woods

Before they planted the trees:

It is underneath the coppice and heath,

And the thin anemones.

Only the keeper sees

That, where the ring-dove broods

And the badgers roll at ease,

There was once a road through the woods.

 

Yet, if you enter the woods

Of a summer evening late,

When the night-air cools on the trout-ring’d pools

Where the otter whistles his mate

(They fear not men in the woods

Because they see so few),

You will hear the beat of a horse’s feet

And the swish of a skirt in the dew,

Steadily cantering through

The misty solitudes,

As though they perfectly knew

The old lost road through the woods ...

But there is no road through the woods.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/5nHyuRcgJr0

Who wrote the poem "The Way Through The Woods"?

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. 

"The Way Through The Woods" explanation

In the poem, the speaker describes a conflicting perspective about a road in the woods. On the one hand, he mourns about the disappearance of the road and the loss of access to the beautiful nature inside the forest. On the other hand, he cherishes a resurgence of nature caused by the loss of the road.

"If Thou Must Love Me" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 

If Thou Must Love Me

If thou must love me, let it be for nought

Except for love's sake only. Do not say

I love her for her smile ... her look ... her way

Of speaking gently, ... for a trick of thought

That falls in well with mine, and certes brought

A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'—

For these things in themselves, Beloved, may

Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,

May be unwrought so. Neither love me for

Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—

A creature might forget to weep, who bore

Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!

But love me for love's sake, that evermore

Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/hf96Owpjk2M

Who wrote the poem "If Thou Must Love Me"?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (March 6, 1806 — June 29, 1861)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an English poet of the Victorian era, famous in England and the U.S. during her lifetime. She was the eldest of 12 children and wrote poetry from 11. She was an avid reader and writer, and Shakespeare was her favorite. From 15, she suffered from frail health due to intense head and spinal pain and lung problems throughout her life. After her 1844 volume "Poems" had a great success, Robert Browning, an English poet and playwright, was inspired to write to her, praising her work. The two met in 1845, fell in love, and soon got married. Their special bond had an important influence on their respective subsequent writings. Her work also had a great influence on famous contemporary writers such as the American poets Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson.

"If Thou Must Love Me" explanation

In the poem, the speaker expresses her desire not to be loved for any reason other than for love’s own sake. Such reasons for love as her smile, similar thoughts, or pity can change over time and eventually make love diminish. She asks her potential lover to love her for love’s sake only, not anything else so that the love will last forever.

"Be The Best Of Whatever You Are" by Douglas Malloch

 

Be The Best Of Whatever You Are

 If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill,

Be a scrub in the valley — but be

The best little scrub by the side of the rill;

Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

 

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,

And some highway happier make;

If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass —

But the liveliest bass in the lake!

 

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,

There's something for all of us here,

There's big work to do, and there's lesser to do,

And the task you must do is the near.

 

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,

If you can't be the sun be a star;

It isn't by size that you win or you fail —

Be the best of whatever you are!

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇 

https://youtu.be/ahoMIZSk5nQ

Who wrote the poem "Be The Best Of Whatever You Are"?

Douglas Malloch (May 5, 1877 – July 2, 1938)

Douglas Malloch was an American poet, short-story writer, and associate editor of Amercian Lumberman, a trade paper in Chicago. He was born in Muskegon, Michigan, a center of the lumbering industry. He grew up in the forest, surrounded by logging camps, sawmills and lumber yards. These simple roots were reflected in his poetry, and he became famous as a “Lumberman’s poet.” Malloch also wrote the Michigan State Song.

"Be The Best Of Whatever You Are" explanation

We all have different strengths and weaknesses. Success can be achieved when each person does what he or she has been called to do to the best of his or her ability and with pride. The poet, coming from humble roots himself, reminds the reader of this simple yet profound wisdom of life.

"One Sister Have I In Our House" by Emily Dickinson

 

One Sister Have I In Our House

One Sister have I in our house,

And one, a hedge away.

There's only one recorded,

But both belong to me.

 

One came the road that I came --

And wore my last year's gown --

The other, as a bird her nest,

Builded our hearts among.

 

She did not sing as we did --

It was a different tune --

Herself to her a music

As Bumble bee of June.

 

Today is far from Childhood --

But up and down the hills

I held her hand the tighter --

Which shortened all the miles --

 

And still her hum

The years among,

Deceives the Butterfly;

Still in her Eye

The Violets lie

Mouldered this many May.

 

I spilt the dew --

But took the morn --

I chose this single star

From out the wide night's numbers --

Sue - forevermore!

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/sn8XxctaOjg

Who wrote the poem "One Sister Have I In Our House"?

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.

"One Sister Have I In Our House" explanation

This poem is Emily Dickinson’s tribute to her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert Dickinson. Susan married Austin Dickinson, Emily’s only brother, in 1856, and developed a life-long close relationship with Emily, characterized by love, respect, and friendship. As a writer and poet herself, Susan served as an advisor and reader to Emily and a connection between Emily and worldly knowledge. Emily once praised Susan, saying “With the exception of Shakespeare, you have told me of more knowledge than any one living.” In the poem, Emily expresses her love for Susan by calling her another sister.