"Success Is Counted Sweetest" by Emily Dickinson

 

Success Is Counted Sweetest

Success is counted sweetest

By those who ne'er succeed.

To comprehend a nectar

Requires sorest need.

 

Not one of all the purple Host

Who took the Flag today

Can tell the definition

So clear of victory

 

As he defeated – dying –

On whose forbidden ear

The distant strains of triumph

Burst agonized and clear!

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music

Poem Video👇

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Who wrote the poem "Success Is Counted Sweetest"?

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.

"Success Is Counted Sweetest" explanation

 

In the poem, the speaker suggests that only those who have experienced failure can truly appreciate the value of success. Inevitable defeats or failures in our life will only make the feeling of success sweeter when it finally comes about.

Stanzas ["Oh, come to me in dreams, my love!"] by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

 

Stanzas 

["Oh, come to me in dreams, my love!"]

Oh, come to me in dreams, my love!

I will not ask a dearer bliss;

Come with the starry beams, my love,

And press mine eyelids with thy kiss.

 

 

’Twas thus, as ancient fables tell,

Love visited a Grecian maid,

Till she disturbed the sacred spell,

And woke to find her hopes betrayed.

 

 

But gentle sleep shall veil my sight,

And Psyche’s lamp shall darkling be,

When, in the visions of the night,

Thou dost renew thy vows to me.

 

 

Then come to me in dreams, my love,

I will not ask a dearer bliss;

Come with the starry beams, my love,

And press mine eyelids with thy kiss.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

 Poem Video👇

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Who wrote the poem 'Stanzas ["Oh, come to me in dreams, my love!"]'?

 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (August 30, 1797 – February 1, 1851)

 

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist who wrote the famous novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” (1818). Her husband was the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin. Her mother died soon after giving birth to her. In 1814, she fell in love with one of her father’s political followers, Percy Bysshe Shelley, a married man. They married in 1816 after Percy Shelley’s first wife committed suicide. Out of 4 children they had, 3 except the last son died prematurely. After her husband drowned in a sailing accident in 1822, she focused on raising her son and writing professionally. She remained a political radical throughout her life. She died presumably of a brain tumor at the age of 53.

 

'Stanzas [“Oh, come to me in dreams, my love!”]' explanation.

In this beautiful love poem, the poet is referring to the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche. Psyche, a beautiful girl, made Venus, a goddess of love and beauty, jealous and hateful, who ordered her son, Cupid, to go punish Psyche by making her fall in love with the most hideous thing around. Psyche’s beauty, however, made even Cupid get clumsy and scratch himself with his own arrow, falling helplessly in love with her. He brought her to his palace but visited her only at night, not allowing her to know who he really was. Psyche’s jealous sisters urged her to look at him when he’s asleep with a lamp. This act of violating trust separated them, and she had to overcome many trials to get him back.

"The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls

The tide rises, the tide falls,

The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;

Along the sea-sands damp and brown

The traveller hastens toward the town,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

 

 

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,

But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls;

The little waves, with their soft, white hands,

Efface the footprints in the sands,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

 

 

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls

Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;

The day returns, but nevermore

Returns the traveller to the shore,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/P4FCGDA0pIs

Who wrote the poem "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls"?

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.

"The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" explanation

In this short and simple poem, the poet shows the transience and finiteness of life through the beauty and eternity of nature, in an artistic and masterful way. The constant rises and falls of the tides symbolize the recurring cycle of life (birth and death). The traveler (human beings) hastens his journey, and the constant tides erases the footprints. Although the traveler is gone and never coming back, the tide still rises and falls.

"The Stick-Together Families" by Edgar Albert Guest

 

The Stick-Together Families

The stick-together families are happier by far

Than the brothers and the sisters who take separate highways are.

The gladdest people living are the wholesome folks who make

A circle at the fireside that no power but death can break.

And the finest of conventions ever held beneath the sun

Are the little family gatherings when the busy day is done.

 

There are rich folk, there are poor folk, who imagine they are wise,

And they're very quick to shatter all the little family ties.

Each goes searching after pleasure in his own selected way,

Each with strangers likes to wander, and with strangers likes to play.

But it's bitterness they harvest, and it's empty joy they find,

For the children that are wisest are the stick-together kind.

 

There are some who seem to fancy that for gladness they must roam,

That for smiles that are the brightest they must wander far from home.

That the strange friend is the true friend, and they travel far astray

they waste their lives in striving for a joy that's far away,

But the gladdest sort of people, when the busy day is done,

Are the brothers and the sisters who together share their fun.

 

It's the stick-together family that wins the joys of earth,

That hears the sweetest music and that finds the finest mirth;

It's the old home roof that shelters all the charm that life can give;

There you find the gladdest play-ground, there the happiest spot to live.

And, O weary, wandering brother, if contentment you would win,

Come you back unto the fireside and be comrade with your kin.

 

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music

Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/sx-5Toakb8s

Who wrote the poem "The Stick-Together Families"?

Edgar Albert Guest (August 20, 1881 ~ August 5, 1959)

Edgar Albert Guest was a Britishborn American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th century. He wrote 11,000 poems which were syndicated in 300 newspapers. He became known as the People's Poet because his poems were easy to read and had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life with such themes as family, work, children, and God.

"The Stick-Together Families" explanation

The main theme of the poem is the importance of family relationship. The speaker suggests that the families that stick together through thick and thin are the happiest ones, rich and poor. Many people try to find joy among strangers while neglecting family relations, only to find it empty. The speaker advises the reader to pay more attention to one’s family and take care of one’s family members.

"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.