Poetry
Please!
100 Popular Poems
from the
BBC Radio 4.
Programme
Foreword by
Charles Causley
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Illustrated by
M e i l o So
By arrangement
with the
British Broadcasting
Corporation
PHCENIX
Contents
Introduction
1
ANON
Preparations (early 16th century)
2
ANON
Indian Prayer (traditional)
3
ANON
Pain
4
MARTIN ARMSTRONG (1882-1974)
from Miss Thompson Goes Shopping
5
MATTHEW ARNOLD (1822-88)
The Forsaken Merman
6
W. H. AUDEN (1907-73) ,
If I Could Tell You ' .
7
WILLIAM BARNES (1801-86)
The Geate A-Vallen To
8
HENRY CHARLES BEECHING (1859-1919)
Going Down Hill on a Bicycle: A Boy's Song
9
ETHEL LYNN BEERS (1827-79)
Which Shall It Bei
10
HILAIRE BELLOC (1870-1953)
Tarantella
H
JOHN BETJEMAN (1906-84)
Diary of a Church Mouse
U
LAURENCE BINYON (1869-1943)
from The Burning of Leaves
-Z3
WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)
The Little Black Boy
14
WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES (1762-1850)
Time and Grief
45
ANNE BRONTE (1820-49)
Farewell
16
RUPERT BROOKE (1887-1915)
; The Old Vicarage, Grantchester
1J
ROBERT BROWNING (1812-89)
Prospice
18
AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR (1878- )
A Song of Living
1<) THOMAS CAMPBELL (1777-1844)
Lord Ullin's Daughter
20
CHARLES CAUSLEY (1917- )
Timothy Winters
21
PATRICK R. CHALMERS ( -1942)
Roundabouts and Swings
22
JOHN CLARE (1793-1864)
Morning
23
ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH (1819-61)
Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth
24
PADRAIC COLUM (1881-1972)
An Old Woman of the Roads
25
SARAH DOUDNEY (1843-1923)
The Water Mill
26
JOHN DRINKWATER (1882-1937)
The Crowning of Dreaming John of Grafton
27
SIR EDWARD DYER (1545-1607)
My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is
28
V. L. EDMINSON ( - )
Temper in October
29
MAX EHRMANN (1872-1945)
Desiderata
30
ELEANOR FARJEON (1881-1965)
Mrs Malone
31
JAMES T. FIELDS (1817-81)
The Owl Critic
32
EDWARD FITZGERALD (1809-83)
from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam of Naishapiir
33
JAMES ELROY FLECKER (1884-1915)
Brumana
34
WILFRID WILSON GIBSON (1878-1962)
The Ice Cart
3$
OLIVER GOLDSMITH (1728-74)
from The Deserted Village
36
THOMAS GRAY (1716 r 71)
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
3J
THOMAS HARDY (1840-1928)
The Darkling Thrush
38
F. W. HARVEY (1888-1957)
Ducks
39
M. LOUISE HASKINS (1875-1957)
The Gate of the Year
40
JOHN HAY (1838-1905)
The Enchanted Shirt
41
J. MILTON HAYES (1884-1940)
The Green Eye of the Yellow God
42
W. E. HENLEY (1849-1903)
Invictus
43
GEORGE HERBERT (1593-1633)
The Pulley
44
THOMAS HOOD (1799-1845)
The Song of the Shirt
45
ELLEN S. HOOPER (1812-48)
Duty
46
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS (1844-89)
i God's Grandeur
47
A. E. HOUSMAN (1859-1936)
Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now
48
WILLIAM HOWITT (1792-1879)
The Wind in a Frolic
49
LEIGH HUNT (1784-1859)
Abou Ben Adhem
50
JEAN INGELOW (1820-97)
The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire, 1571
$1
D. GERAINT JONES (1922-44)
Let Me Not See Old Age
$2
JENNY 'JOSEPH (1932- )
Warning
$3
JOHN KEATS (1795-1821)
Meg Merrilies
54
HENRY KING (1592-1669)
from An Exequy on his Wife
$5
CHARLES KINGSLEY (1819-75)
Ode to the North-East Wind
56
RUDYARD KIPLING (1865-1936)
The Glory of the Garden
57
E. V. KNOX (1881-1971)
The Meadow Wreath
58
PHILIP LARKIN (1922-85)
Love Songs in Age
59
D. H. LAWRENCE (1885-1930)
Snake
60
LAURENCE LERNER (1925- )
A Wish
"^
61
C. DAY LEWIS (1904-72)
Walking Away
62
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW (1807-82)
The Legend Beautiful {from The Theologian's Tale)
63
TOM LOVATT-WILLIAMS ( - )
Oxford
64
MARIA LOVELL (1803-77)
So What Is Lovei
'
65
LOUIS MACNEICE (1907-63)
Prayer Before Birth
66
JOHN GILLESPIE MACEE (1922-41)
High Flight (An Airman's Ecstasy)
67
WALTER DE LA MARE (1873-1956)
Nicholas Nye
68
LEO MARKS (1920- )
The Life That I Have
69
JOHN MASEFIELD (1878-1967)
Sea-Fever
70
CHARLOTTE MEW (1869-1928)
The Farmer's Bride
71
ALICE MEYNELL (1847-1922)
Renouncement
72
EDNA ST VINCENT MILLAY (1892-1950)
Dirge Without Music
73
HAROLD MONRO (1879-1932)
Overheard on a Saltmarsh
74
ROBERT NATHAN (1893-1985)
Dunkirk (A Ballad)
75
SIR HENRY NEWBOLT (1862-1938)
He Fell Among Thieves
76
LADY CAROLINE NORTON (1808-77)
i. An Arab's Farewell to his Steed
77
ALFRED NOYES (1880-1958)
The Highwayman
78
JOHN OXENHAM (1852-1941)
Adieu! And Au Revoir
79
COVENTRY PATMORE (1823-96)
The Toys (from The Unknown Eros)
80
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI (1830-94)
from Goblin Market
81
SIR WALTER SCOTT (1771-1832)
from Canto Sixth (1) of The Lay of the Last Minstrel
82
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)
Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Dayi
S3
STEVIE SMITH (1902-71)
Not Waving but Drowning
84
ROBERT SOUTHEY (1774-1843)
The Inchcape Rock
85
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850-94)
The Vagabond
86
MURIEL STUART ( -1967)
The Seed-Shop
87
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON (1809-92)
from The Brook
88
A. S. J. TESSIMOND (1902-62)
Black Monday Lovesong
89
DYLAN THOMAS (1914-53)
Fern Hill
90
EDWARD THOMAS (1878-1917)
Adlestrop
91
R. S. THOMAS (1913- )
Cynddylan on a Tractor
92
FRANCIS THOMPSON (1859-1907)
Daisy
93
ROSA HARTWICK THORPE (1850-1939)
The Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight
94
W. J. TURNER (1889-1946)
Romance
95
WILLIAM WATSON (18.58-1935)
A Ballad of Semmerwater
96
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER (1807-92)
Barbara Frietchie
97
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX (1850-1919)
Solitude
98
CHARLES WOLFE (1791-1823)
The Burial of Sir John Moore After Corunna
99
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770-1850)
Lucy Gray; or, Solitude
100
W. B. YEATS (1865-1939)
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
Acknowledgements
Index of first lines