"Artist's Life" by Wheeler Wilcox

 

Artist's Life 

Of all the waltzes the great Strauss wrote,

mad with melody, rhythm--rife

From the very first to the final note,

Give me his 'Artist's Life!'

 

It stirs my blood to my finger ends,

Thrills me and fills me with vague unrest,

And all that is sweetest and saddest blends

Together within my breast.

 

It brings back that night in the dim arcade,

In love's sweet morning and life's best prime,

When the great brass orchestra played and played,

And set our thoughts to rhyme.

 

It brings back that Winter of mad delights,

Of leaping pulses and tripping feet,

And those languid moon-washed Summer nights

When we heard the band in the street.

 

It brings back rapture and glee and glow,

It brings back passion and pain and strife,

And so of all the waltzes I know,

Give me the 'Artist's Life.'

 

For it is so full of the dear old time--

So full of the dear friends I knew.

And under its rhythm, and lilt, and rhyme,

I am always finding--you.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/oHC2EoCuG2Y

Who wrote the poem "Artist's Life"?

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.

"Artist's Life" explanation

The speaker in the poem is addressing the listener (perhaps her beloved) about her love for the song, “Artist’s Life” by Johann Strauss. She loves the music because of all the memories with the listener it brings back and various strong emotions related to those memories. Strauss was an Austrian composer of light music of the 19^th century. Strauss wrote “Artist’s Life” in 1867 after the Austrian army’s defeat in the Battle of Königgrätz against Prussia to uplift the morale of his people.

"Four-Feet" by Rudyard Kipling

 

Four-Feet

I have done mostly what most men do,

And pushed it out of my mind;

But I can't forget, if I wanted to,

Four-Feet trotting behind.

 

Day after day, the whole day through --

Wherever my road inclined --

Four-Feet said, "I am coming with you!"

And trotted along behind.

 

Now I must go by some other round, --

Which I shall never find --

Somewhere that does not carry the sound

Of Four-Feet trotting behind.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video 👇

https://youtu.be/fh8zMugs3IE

Who wrote the poem "Four-Feet" ?

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. 

"Four-Feet"  explanation

In the poem, the speaker describes his love and companionship for his dog and the sorrow for its loss. In Kipling’s another verse “The Power of the Dog,” the poet also warns of heartbreak in wait for any dog lovers because of their short lifespan relative to humans’.

"One Day I Wrote her Name" by Edmund Spenser (Amoretti LXXV)

 

Amoretti LXXV: One Day I Wrote her Name

One day I wrote her name upon the strand,

But came the waves and washed it away:

Again I wrote it with a second hand,

But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.

"Vain man," said she, "that dost in vain assay,

A mortal thing so to immortalize;

For I myself shall like to this decay,

And eke my name be wiped out likewise."

"Not so," (quod I) "let baser things devise

To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:

My verse your vertues rare shall eternize,

And in the heavens write your glorious name:

Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,

Our love shall live, and later life renew."

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/8yE-1UNxWNg

Who wrote the poem "One Day I Wrote her Name"?

Edmund Spencer (1552 or 1553 – January 13, 1599)

Edmund Spencer was an English poet, often considered as one of the greatest poets in the English language. Little is known about his family and childhood. He attended the Merchant Taylor School and later studied literature and religion at Cambridge University. Along with his poetry, he also had a political career, serving various official posts including a secretary to the Lord Deputy of Ireland. After his first wife died in 1594, he soon married Elizabeth Boyle, for whom he wrote many love poems.

"One Day I Wrote her Name"  explanation.

This poem is part of Amoretti, a sonnet cycle written by Spenser to cherish his love and marriage to Elizabeth Boyle. In the poem, the speaker tries to write his beloved’s name on the sand only to be washed away by the waves. But he keeps trying to make his love for his beloved immortal.

"A Fairy Song" by William Shakespeare

 

A Fairy Song

Over hill, over dale,

Thorough bush, thorough brier,

Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire!

I do wander everywhere,

Swifter than the moon's sphere;

And I serve the Fairy Queen,

To dew her orbs upon the green;

The cowslips tall her pensioners be;

In their gold coats spots you see;

Those be rubies, fairy favours;

In those freckles live their savours;

I must go seek some dewdrops here,

And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/6mFIe0E0L8I

Who wrote the poem "A Fairy Song"?

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.

"A Fairy Song" explanation

This poem is a musical monologue in Shakespeare’s famous play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is sung by a fairy in response to Robin Goodfellow’s question, “How now, spirit? Whither wander you?” The speaker describes fairies’ work, referencing some elements from the play.

"If You Have Seen" by Thomas Moore

 

If You Have Seen

Good reader! if you e'er have seen,

When Phoebus hastens to his pillow

The mermaids, with their tresses green,

Dancing upon the western billow:

If you have seen, at twilight dim,

When the lone spirit's vesper hymn

Floats wild along the winding shore:

If you have seen, through mist of eve,

The fairy train their ringlets weave,

Glancing along the spangled green;--

If you have seen all this and more,

God bless me! what a deal you've seen!

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/GwpgSNi55as

Who wrote the poem "If You Have Seen"?

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

Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, satirist, musician, and political writer. He was a close friend of the famous poets, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. He graduated Trinity College, Dublin, in 1799 and studied law at Middle Temple in London. He gave up his legal career (against his mother’s hope) to become a full-time writer and became famous as a poet, translator, and musician. Today, he is often considered as the Bard of Ireland and an important figure in the British literature.

"If You Have Seen" explanation

In the poem, the speaker asks the reader if he/she has seen various elements of life, some real and natural, some unreal and imaginative. By describing these intriguing moments, worth noticing to fully appreciate our life and the world, the poet shows his unique perspectives.

"Brown Penny" by William Butler Yeats

 

Brown Penny

I whispered, 'I am too young,'

And then, 'I am old enough';

Wherefore I threw a penny

To find out if I might love.

'Go and love, go and love, young man,

If the lady be young and fair.'

Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,

I am looped in the loops of her hair.

 

O love is the crooked thing,

There is nobody wise enough

To find out all that is in it,

For he would be thinking of love

Till the stars had run away

And the shadows eaten the moon.

Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,

One cannot begin it too soon.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/8mrm01sseOE

Who wrote the poem "Brown Penny"?

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. 

"Brown Penny" explanation

The main theme of the poem is love. The speaker tosses a brown penny to see if he is old enough to fall in love. The coin tells him to “go and love.” Yet love is too complicated to be completely understood. The poet shows the inevitable and enigmatic nature of love using the symbol of brown penny.

"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. 

"Friends" by Abbie Farwell Brown

 

Friends

How good to lie a little while

And look up through the tree!

The Sky is like a kind big smile

Bent sweetly over me.

 

The Sunshine flickers through the lace

Of leaves above my head,

And kisses me upon the face

Like Mother, before bed.

 

The Wind comes stealing o'er the grass

To whisper pretty things;

And though I cannot see him pass,

I feel his careful wings.

 

So many gentle Friends are near

Whom one can scarcely see,

A child should never feel a fear,

Wherever he may be.

 

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇 

https://youtu.be/n-nd2ps3Llg

Who wrote the poem "Friends"?

Abbie Farwell Brown (August 21, 1871 – March 5, 1927)

Abbie Farwell Brown was an American author and poet. She was born in Boston, as the first of two daughters. (Her sister also became an author and illustrator.) She graduated from the Bowdoin School as valedictorian and attended the Girls’ Latin School, where she contributed to creating school newspaper, The Jabberwock, one of the oldest newspapers in the U.S. She began her literary career at Girls’ Latin School, writing for magazines. Her works include stories for children and poetry for children and adults. She also wrote song lyrics, including (partly) the official song of the Girl Scouts of the USA, “On the Trail.” She died of cancer at the age of 55.

"Friends"  explanation

In the poem, the speaker describes love, joy, and comfort one can feel about natural elements such as sky, sunlight, and wind. The straightforward rhyme scheme and simple texts make some people believe that this poem was intended as a children’s parable.

"Somewhere I Have Never Travelled, Gladly Beyond" by E.E. Cummings

 

Somewhere I Have Never Travelled, Gladly Beyond

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond

any experience,your eyes have their silence:

in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,

or which i cannot touch because they are too near

 

your slightest look easily will unclose me

though i have closed myself as fingers,

you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens

(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

 

or if your wish be to close me,i and

my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,

as when the heart of this flower imagines

the snow carefully everywhere descending;

 

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals

the power of your intense fragility:whose texture

compels me with the colour of its countries,

rendering death and forever with each breathing

 

(i do not know what it is about you that closes

and opens;only something in me understands

the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)

nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/McdmbaZJs5Q

Who wrote the poem "Somewhere I Have Never Travelled, Gladly Beyond"?

E. E. 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.

"Somewhere I Have Never Travelled, Gladly Beyond"  explanation

In the poem, the speaker explores the theme of mutual impact between him and his reader. The reader has the power to open or close the speaker and yet is so fragile and multi-layered. The speaker finds this interaction with his reader very meaningful and precious. The poem also shows the poet’s unusual use of grammar (no capitalization, no periods, and unique use of parenthesis), as if it follows the speaker’s consciousness itself.