"To the Skylark" by William Wordsworth

 

To the Skylark

Ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky!

Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound?

Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye

Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?

Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will,

Those quivering wings composed, that music still!

 

Leave to the nightingale her shady wood;

A privacy of glorious light is thine;

Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood

Of harmony, with instinct more divine;

Type of the wise who soar, but never roam;

True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home!

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music

poem video

https://youtu.be/TV5HyYHj7Eo

Who wrote the poem "To the Skylark"?

William Wordsworth  (April 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850)

William Wordsworth was an English poet who pioneered the Romantic Movement with his close friend and fellow poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He famously defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” Using the ordinary language “really used by men,” he wrote beautiful poetry with sweet imagery, often based around the natural world. He suffered from depression, which was reflected in somber undertones in his poems. He was the Poet Laureate for Queen Victoria from 1843 until his death from pleurisy in 1850.

"To the Skylark" explanation

In the poem, the speaker describes a skylark, who flies and sings high up in the air, still attending to its nest. The skylark in the poem is the symbol of the wise man who soars so high in the intellectual/ philosophical sphere and yet does not forget about his ordinary duties such as taking care of family. The poem was written in 1825 as a partially critical response to “To a Skylark” by Percy Bysshe Shelley which was written five years earlier.

"Mowing" by Robert Frost

 

Mowing

There was never a sound beside the wood but one,

And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.

What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself;

Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun,

Something, perhaps, about the lack of sound—

And that was why it whispered and did not speak.

It was no dream of the gift of idle hours,

Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf:

Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak

To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows,

Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers

(Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake.

The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.

My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/b4t6kuiwwHE

Who wrote the poem "Mowing"?

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.

"Mowing" explanation

In the poem, Frost uses natural imagery so eloquently to cherish the value of simple, hard labor. When your mind wanders and negative feelings creep in, try to do some simple manual labor. Often, it will clear your head and make you feel so much better.

"Beeny Cliff" by Thomas Hardy

 

Beeny Cliff 

I

O the opal and the sapphire of that wandering western sea,

And the woman riding high above with bright hair flapping free–

The woman whom I loved so, and who loyally loved me.

I I

The pale mews plained below us, and the waves seemed far away

In a nether sky, engrossed in saying their ceaseless babbling say,

As we laughed light-heartedly aloft on that clear-sunned March day.

III

A little cloud then cloaked us, and there flew an irised rain,

And the Atlantic dyed its levels with a dull misfeatured stain,

And then the sun burst out again, and purples prinked the main.

 

 

IV

—Still in all its chasmal beauty bulks old Beeny to the sky,

And shall she and I not go there once again now March is nigh,

And the sweet things said in that March say anew there by and by?

V

What if still in chasmal beauty looms that wild weird western shore,

The woman now is-elsewhere-whom the ambling pony bore,

And nor knows nor cares for Beeny, and will laugh there nevermore.

Enjoy the poem with soothing music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/aF0PGiwE8QE

Who wrote the poem "Beeny Cliff"?

Thomas Hardy (June 2, 1840 – January 11, 1928)

Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet. His father was a stonemason and local builder, and he trained and worked as an architect for ten years before beginning his successful writing career as a novelist in 1871. Later he left fiction writing for poetry and considered himself mainly as a poet. He was a Victorian realist, influenced by Romanticism, and his poetry often deals with cynical observations upon desolation of human condition. He had a strong influence on later poets such as Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, and Philip Larkin.

"Beeny Cliff" explanation

In the poem, the speaker recalls his memories of good times of him and his lover, who is no longer with him. Hardy met his first wife Emma in Cornwell in 1870, fell in love, and married in 1874. They became estranged, and Emma died in 1912 at the age of 72. Her death had a traumatic effect on Hardy, and he revisited places related to their relationship in Cornwell. He wrote this poem in 1913 about their visit to Beeny cliff in March 1870, when they were still in love, more than 40 years later.

"This World is Not Conclusion" by Emily Dickinson

 

This World is Not Conclusion

This World is not Conclusion.

A Species stands beyond -

Invisible, as Music -

But positive, as Sound -

It beckons, and it baffles -

Philosophy, dont know -

And through a Riddle, at the last -

Sagacity, must go -

To guess it, puzzles scholars -

To gain it, Men have borne

Contempt of Generations

And Crucifixion, shown -

Faith slips - and laughs, and rallies -

Blushes, if any see -

Plucks at a twig of Evidence -

And asks a Vane, the way -

Much Gesture, from the Pulpit -

Strong Hallelujahs roll -

Narcotics cannot still the Tooth

That nibbles at the soul -

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/a3_om8EkCIg

Who wrote the poem "This World is Not Conclusion"?

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.

"This World is Not Conclusion" explanation

In the poem, the speaker explores the relationship between physical world and the abstract and the role of faith in understanding life’s mysteries.

"The Sorrow of Love" by William Butler Yeats

 

The Sorrow of Love

The brawling of a sparrow in the eaves,

The brilliant moon and all the milky sky,

And all that famous harmony of leaves,

Had blotted out man's image and his cry.

 

A girl arose that had red mournful lips

And seemed the greatness of the world in tears,

Doomed like Odysseus and the labouring ships

And proud as Priam murdered with his peers;

 

Arose, and on the instant clamorous eaves,

A climbing moon upon an empty sky,

And all that lamentation of the leaves,

Could but compose man's image and his cry.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/RnquS7-AnDo

Who wrote the poem "The Sorrow of Love"?

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. 

"The Sorrow of Love" explanation

In the poem, the speaker brilliantly describes the transition from seemingly calm and beautiful imagery of nature to a gloomy and somber mood with the introduction of human sorrow and pain using tragic mythical imagery. This poem is about Maud Gonne, the poet’s life-long subject of unrequited love.

"For the Man Who Fails" by Paul Laurence Dunbar

 

For the Man Who Fails

The world is a snob, and the man who wins

Is the chap for its money’s worth:

And the lust for success causes half of the sins

That are cursing this brave old earth.

For it ’s fine to go up, and the world’s applause

Is sweet to the mortal ear;

But the man who fails in a noble cause

Is a hero that ’s no less dear.

 

‘T is true enough that the laurel crown

Twines but for the victor’s brow;

For many a hero has lain him down

With naught but the cypress bough.

There are gallant men in the losing fight,

And as gallant deeds are done

As ever graced the captured height

Or the battle grandly won.

 

We sit at life’s board with our nerves highstrung,

And we play for the stake of Fame,

And our odes are sung and our banners hung

For the man who wins the game.

But I have a song of another kind

Than breathes in these fame–wrought gales,—

An ode to the noble heart and mind

Of the gallant man who fails! 

 

The man who is strong to fight his fight,

And whose will no front can daunt,

If the truth be truth and the right be right,

Is the man that the ages want.

Tho’ he fail and die in grim defeat,

Yet he has not fled the strife,

And the house of Earth will seem more sweet

For the perfume of his life.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/3lo95X_Ei00

Who wrote the poem "For the Man Who Fails"?

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.

"For the Man Who Fails" explanation

In the poem, the speaker cherishes those unsung heroes who fought worthy fights but failed to win. In his view they are no less dear a hero than winners, if not dearer. We all have noble purposes and are facing our own battles in life. Are you willing to risk failures to pursue noble goals and fight worthy fights?

"Memorabilia" by ROBERT BROWNING

Memorabilia

Ah, did you once see Shelley plain,

And did he stop and speak to you?

And did you speak to him again?

How strange it seems, and new!

 

But you were living before that,

And you are living after,

And the memory I started at—

My starting moves your laughter!

 

I crossed a moor, with a name of its own

And a certain use in the world no doubt,

Yet a hand's-breadth of it shines alone

'Mid the blank miles round about:

 

For there I picked up on the heather

And there I put inside my breast

A moulted feather, an eagle-feather—

Well, I forget the rest.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/rOIbfBVsrJ0

Who wrote the poem "Memorabilia"?

Robert Browning (May 7, 1812 – December 12, 1889)

Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright in the Victorian era and was widely known for his dramatic monologues. His father was a bank clerk and assembled a personal library of 6,000 books, which became the foundation of Browning’s education. He married the eminent Victorian poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in 1846, and the couple moved to Italy and lived there until the wife’s death in 1861. He began to attain literary fame in his 50’s and was widely respected in his later years. 

"Memorabilia" explanation

In the poem, the speaker describes his encounter with someone who met Percy Bysshe Shelley, the great Romantic poet whom Browning admired but couldn’t meet in person. Although this incident meant a lot to the speaker, the person who met Shelley doesn’t seem to share the excitement. The speaker compares the encounter with picking up an eagle feather walking on a moor, a small remnant of the literary giant’s traces felt through someone else’s short experience.

"A Prayer in Spring" by Robert Frost

 

A Prayer in Spring

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springing of the year.

 

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,

Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;

And make us happy in the happy bees,

The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

 

And make us happy in the darting bird

That suddenly above the bees is heard,

The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,

And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

 

For this is love and nothing else is love,

The which it is reserved for God above

To sanctify to what far ends He will,

But which it only needs that we fulfil.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

 https://youtu.be/sZHVX1YiZsc

Who wrote the poem "A Prayer in Spring"?

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.

"A Prayer in Spring" explanation

In the poem, the speaker asks God to grant some peace and happiness in the present moment in the Spring nature, without worrying about the future.