"Christmas Bells" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

Christmas Bells

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

 

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

 

Till ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

 

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

 

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

 

And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth," I said;

For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/pAggQjm7sYQ

Who wrote the poem "Christmas Bells"?

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.

"Christmas Bells" explanation

The poem was written during the American Civil War. Charles Longfellow, the poet’s son, fought and got injured during the war, and this led the poet to write this poem, which later became the basis for the Christmas carol, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Longfellow supported the abolitionist cause, but reportedly desired peace earnestly.

 

Sonnet 29: "When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes" by William Shakespeare

 

Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings. 

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/1Sp-s_AF_Os

Who wrote the poem "When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes"?

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.

Sonnet 29: "When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes" explanation

In the poem, the speaker laments over his state, his fate, and his misfortune at first. But when the speaker remembers “thy sweet love,” his state is elevated higher than a king.The poem is a part of the “Fair Youth” sequence of 129 sonnets, where the speaker cherishes his love for a young man.

"A Day" by Emily Dickinson

 

A Day

I’ll tell you how the sun rose, —

A ribbon at a time.

The steeples swam in amethyst,

The news like squirrels ran.

 

The hills untied their bonnets,

The bobolinks begun.

Then I said softly to myself,

“That must have been the sun!”

 

But how he set, I know not.

There seemed a purple stile

Which little yellow boys and girls

Were climbing all the while

 

Till when they reached the other side,

A dominie in gray

Put gently up the evening bars,

And led the flock away.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇 

https://youtu.be/zvaDYL0RB78

Who wrote the poem "A Day"?

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 Day" explanation

In the poem, the speaker describes the rising and setting of the sun, while metaphorically expressing the transition from life to death with various religious allusions

"Be A Friend" by Edgar Albert Guest (friendship poem)

 

Be A Friend

Be a friend. You don't need money;

Just a disposition sunny;

Just the wish to help another

Get along some way or other;

Just a kindly hand extended

Out to one who's unbefriended;

Just the will to give or lend,

This will make you someone's friend.

 

Be a friend. You don't need glory.

Friendship is a simple story.

Pass by trifling errors blindly,

Gaze on honest effort kindly,

Cheer the youth who's bravely trying,

Pity him who's sadly sighing;

Just a little labor spend

On the duties of a friend.

 

Be a friend. The pay is bigger

(Though not written by a figure)

Than is earned by people clever

In what's merely self-endeavor.

You'll have friends instead of neighbors

For the profits of your labors;

You'll be richer in the end

Than a prince, if you're a friend.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/nJcKzs8KGiY

Who wrote the poem "Be A Friend"?

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.

"Be A Friend" explanation

In the poem, the speaker talks about the importance and benefits of becoming someone’s friend by helping them in one way or other.

"Thanksgiving" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

 

Thanksgiving

We walk on starry fields of white

And do not see the daisies;

For blessings common in our sight

We rarely offer praises.

We sigh for some supreme delight

To crown our lives with splendor,

And quite ignore our daily store

Of pleasures sweet and tender.

 

Our cares are bold and push their way

Upon our thought and feeling.

They hand about us all the day,

Our time from pleasure stealing.

So unobtrusive many a joy

We pass by and forget it,

But worry strives to own our lives,

And conquers if we let it.

 

There’s not a day in all the year

But holds some hidden pleasure,

And looking back, joys oft appear

To brim the past’s wide measure.

But blessings are like friends, I hold,

Who love and labor near us.

We ought to raise our notes of praise

While living hearts can hear us.

 

Full many a blessing wears the guise

Of worry or of trouble;

Far-seeing is the soul, and wise,

Who knows the mask is double.

But he who has the faith and strength

To thank his God for sorrow

Has found a joy without alloy

To gladden every morrow.

 

We ought to make the moments notes

Of happy, glad Thanksgiving;

The hours and days a silent phrase

Of music we are living.

And so the theme should swell and grow

As weeks and months pass o’er us,

And rise sublime at this good time,

A grand Thanksgiving chorus. 

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music

poem video 👇

https://youtu.be/KLjHw0ENooQ

Who wrote the poem "Thanksgiving"?

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (November 5, 1850 – October 30, 1919)

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet who wrote “Solitude,” which contains the famous lines “Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone.” Popular among people rather than among literary critics, she often displayed in her poems cheerful and optimistic sentiments in plain and rhyming words. After she married Robert Wilcox in 1884, the couple became interested in spiritualism and promised each other that whoever died first would return and communicate with the other. After her husband died in 1916 after over 30 years of marriage, she was overwhelmed by grief and waited long to hear from her deceased husband in vain. She also believed in reincarnation. She died of cancer in 1919.

"Thanksgiving" explanation

In our lives, we often don’t appreciate what we already have, taking it for granted, in the pursuit of what we don’t have. The poem reminds us to be grateful for all the things and people around us.

"The Harvest Moon" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

The Harvest Moon

It is the Harvest Moon! On gilded vanes

And roofs of villages, on woodland crests

And their aerial neighborhoods of nests

Deserted, on the curtained window-panes

Of rooms where children sleep, on country lanes

And harvest-fields, its mystic splendor rests!

Gone are the birds that were our summer guests,

With the last sheaves return the laboring wains!

All things are symbols: the external shows

Of Nature have their image in the mind,

As flowers and fruits and falling of the leaves;

The song-birds leave us at the summer's close,

Only the empty nests are left behind,

And pipings of the quail among the sheaves.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇 

https://youtu.be/jFe1y3atdTw

Who wrote the poem "The Harvest Moon"?

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 Harvest Moon" explanation

In the poem, the speaker calmly describes a rural landscape at night around Thanksgiving, where moonlight illuminates various objects. The subtle images invoke mixed feelings of peacefulness, security, and loneliness.

“O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman

 

O Captain! My Captain!

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

 

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Here Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head!

It is some dream that on the deck,

You’ve fallen cold and dead.

 

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Exult O shores, and ring O bells!

But I with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

 

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/PxNu0rR_XWw

Who wrote the poem “O Captain! My Captain!”?

Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892)

Walt Whitman was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. Whitman is one of the most important American poets, often called the father of free verse. His major poetry collection, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 at his own expense and became popular and controversial due to its overt sensuality. Whitman greatly admired Abraham Lincoln, and on Lincoln’s death, he wrote famous poems, “O Captain! My Captain!” and “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.” Modernist poet Ezra Pound called Whitman “America’s poet… He is America.”

“O Captain! My Captain!” explanation

The poem was written as a tribute to Abraham Lincoln upon his tragic death, whom the poet admired very much. The poem, written in the form of elegy, shows the poet’s respect and love for the great leader and grief for the loss of him. So many people from all over the world have adored the poem on account of its artistic merit as well as admiration of “the Captain.”

"Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins

 

Pied Beauty

Glory be to God for dappled things –

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;

And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

 

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/dvhuY-C3jeY

Who wrote the poem "Pied Beauty"?

Gerard Manley Hopkins (July 28, 1844 – June 8, 1889)

Gerard Manley Hopkins was an English poet and Jesuit priest and is regarded as one of the greatest poets of the Victorian era. He never published his poems during his lifetime. His friend poet, Robert Bridges, published his poems after his death. His poetry was famous for its inventiveness and rich aural patterning. He often praised God through vivid use of imagery and nature in his poems.

"Pied Beauty" explanation

In the poem, the speaker celebrates the beauty and diversity of things in the universe and praises God for creating them.