The Poets of the 19th Century: Volume II – John Davidson to James Weldon Johnson

By Emily Dickenson, George Eliot and A E Housman

This is the century for the history books. (The Chinese curse of living in interesting times could not be more suited.)

A small island continued its expansion across the globe, bringing both good and evil in its march. Empires clashed. Revolution shook many. The Industrial age was upon us.

Poets spoke up against slavery, bringing social and political pressure upon an abominable horror.

It was also the age of the Romantics. Shelley, Keats, Byron lyrically rapture; Tennyson, Arnold, Browning rode a century of sweeping change, of dynamism and of great verse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Portable Poetry
• Release date: Nov 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781835470497

Book preview

The Poets of the 19th Century

Volume II – John Davidson to James Weldon Johnson

This is the century for the history books.  (The Chinese curse of living in interesting times could not be more suited.) 

A small island continued its expansion across the globe, bringing both good and evil in its march. Empires clashed.  Revolution shook many.  The Industrial age was upon us. 

Poets spoke up against slavery, bringing social and political pressure upon an abominable horror.

It was also the age of the Romantics.  Shelley, Keats, Byron lyrically rapture; Tennyson, Arnold, Browning rode a century of sweeping change, of dynamism and of great verse.

Index of Contents

The Ballad of Hell by John Davidson

To a Young Lady Whose Mother was Insane from Her Birth by Lucretia Maria Davidson

On My Mother's Fiftieth Birthday by Lucretia Maria Davidson

To My Dear Mother in Sickness by Lucretia Maria Davidson

A Fleeting Passion by W H Davies

Kingfisher by W H Davies

A Plain Life by W H Davies

I Saw Three Witches by Walter de la Mare

John Mouldy by Walter de la Mare

Nicholas Nye by Walter de la Mare

The Image by Anna de Noailles

Offering by Anna de Noailles

Bitto by Anna de Noailles

Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson

There Came a Wind Like a Bugle by Emily Dickinson

Autumn Overlooked My Knitting by Emily Dickinson

I Went To Heaven by Emily Dickinson

The Name of it is Autumn by Emily Dickinson

Breton Afternoon by Ernest Christopher Dowson

If We Must Part by Ernest Christopher Dowson

'Ware Holes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Advice To A Young Author by Arthur Conan Doyle

The End by Arthur Conan Doyle

To the Night Breeze by Alice & Caroline Duer

Ode to Ethiopia by Paul Laurence Dunbar

October by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Theology by Paul Laurence Dunbar

The Debt by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Summer in the South by Paul Laurence Dunbar

If I Had Known by Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson

Sonnet by Alice Dunbar-Nelson

Impressions by Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson

Blue Wings by George Eliot

Sweet Evenings Come and Go Love by George Eliot

Two Lovers by George Eliot

Count That Day Lost by George Eliot

Give All To Love by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Art by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fate by Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Nation's Strength by William Ralph Emerson

Good-bye by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Wind by Eugene Field

Inscription For My Little Son's Silver Plate by Eugene Field

In Amsterdam by Eugene Field

By My Sweetheart by Eugene Field

Unbosoming by Michael Field

Second Thoughts by Michael Field

On a Marsh Road by Ford Madox Ford

In the Little Old Market Place by Ford Madox Ford

The Great View by Ford Madox Ford

From Piccadilly in August by John Freeman

Sketches Among the Poor by Elizabeth Gaskell

A Little Ghost by Mary Gilmore

Good Night by Mary Gilmore

Re-Incarnation by Eva Gore-Booth

There is No Age by Eva Gore Booth

Secret Waters by Eva Gore-Booth

The Little Waves of Breffney by Eva Gore-Booth

See It Through by Edgar Albert Guest

The Poet by Radclyffe Hall

Ode To Sappho by Radclyffe Hall

The Blind Ploughman by Radclyffe Hall

A Twilight Fancy by Radclyffe Hall

September by Janet Hamilton

October Musings 1866 by Janet Hamilton

November Findings, November 1862 by Janet Hamilton

The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy

The Subalterns by Thomas Hardy

The Dead Man Walking by Thomas Hardy

In Vision I Roamed by Thomas Hardy

The Calf by Thomas Hardy

The Slave Mother by Frances E W Harper

My Mother's Kiss by Frances E W Harper

Caldwell of Springfield by Bret Harte

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

Between the Dusk of a Summer Night by William Ernest Henley

London Types - Bar Maid by William Ernest Henley

Prologue by Oliver Wendell Holmes

A Ballad of the Boston Tea Party by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Old Ironsides by Oliver Wendell Holmes

No! by Thomas Hood

Ballad by Thomas Hood

The Song of the Shirt by Thomas Hood

Autumn by Thomas Hood

I Remember I Remember by Thomas Hood

Epithalamion by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Spring by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Binsey Poplars by Gerard Manley Hopkins

In the Valley of The Elwy by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Loveliest of Trees, The Cherry Now by A E Housman

How Clear, How Lovely Bright by A E Housman

To An Athlete Dying Young by A E Housman

On Wenlock Edge the Wood's in Trouble by A E Housman

In My Own Shire, If I Was Sad by A E Housman

Mother's Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe

Battle Hymn of the Republic by Julia Ward Howe

The Unregarded Toils of the Poor by Mary Botham Howitt

Let Mammon's Sons with Visage Lean by Mary Botham Howitt

The Beacon In The Storm by Victor Hugo

Boaz Asleep by Victor Hugo

Serenade by Victor Hugo

A Night Rain in Summer by James Henry Leigh Hunt

To a Fish by James Henry Leigh Hunt

Sailing Beyond Seas by Jean Ingelow

An Ancient Chess Set by Jean Ingelow

A Calendar of Sonnets - January by Helen Hunt Jackson

The Fir Tree and the Brook by Helen Hunt Jackson

A Calendar of Sonnets - May by Helen Hunt Jackson

This Curse by Henry James

A Cry From An Indian Wife by Emily Pauline Johnson

The Song My Paddle Sings by Emily Pauline Johnson

The Creation by James Weldon Johnson

Down by the Carib Sea by James Weldon Johnson

Lazy by James Weldon Johnson

Sleep by James Weldon Johnson

THE POETS OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Volume II – John Davidson to James Weldon Johnson

The Ballad of Hell by John Davidson

'A letter from my love to-day!

Oh, unexpected, dear appeal!'

She struck a happy tear away,

And broke the crimson seal.

'My love, there is no help on earth,

No help in heaven; the dead-man's bell

Must toll our wedding; our first hearth

Must be the well-paved floor of hell.'

The colour died from out her face,

Her eyes like ghostly candles shone;

She cast dread looks about the place,

Then clenched her teeth and read right on.

'I may not pass the prison door;

Here must I rot from day to day,

Unless I wed whom I abhor,

My cousin, Blanche of Valencay.

'At midnight with my dagger keen,

I'll take my life; it must be so.

Meet me in hell to-night, my queen,

For weal and woe.'

She laughed although her face was wan,

She girded on her golden belt,

She took her jewelled ivory fan,

And at her glowing missal knelt.

Then rose, 'And am I mad?' she said:

She broke her fan, her belt untied;

With leather girt herself instead,

And stuck a dagger at her side.

She waited, shuddering in her room,

Till sleep had fallen on all the house.

She never flinched; she faced her doom:

They two must sin to keep their vows.

Then out into the night she went,

And, stooping, crept by hedge and tree;

Her rose-bush flung a snare of scent,

And caught a happy memory.

She fell, and lay a minute's space;

She tore the sward in her distress;

The dewy grass refreshed her face;

She rose and ran with lifted dress.

She started like a morn-caught ghost

Once when the moon came out and stood

To watch; the naked road she crossed,

And dived into the murmuring wood.

The branches snatched her streaming cloak;

A live thing shrieked; she made no stay!

She hurried to the trysting-oak—

Right well she knew the way.

Without a pause she bared her breast,

And drove her dagger home and fell,

And lay like one