Poems Every Child Should Know

<h3><SPAN name="A_Wish" id="A_Wish"></SPAN>A Wish.</h3> <div class="pre_poem"><p>"A Wish" (by Samuel Rogers, 1763-1855) and "Lucy" (by Wordsworth, 1770-1850) are two gems that can be valued only for the spirit of quiet and modesty diffused by them.</p> </div> <table class="poem" summary="poem"><tr><td><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Mine be a cot beside the hill;<br/></span> <span class="i2">A bee-hive's hum shall soothe my ear;<br/></span> <span class="i0">A willowy brook that turns a mill<br/></span> <span class="i2">With many a fall shall linger near.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The swallow, oft, beneath my thatch<br/></span> <span class="i2">Shall twitter from her clay-built nest;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Oft shall the pilgrim lift the latch,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And share my meal, a welcome guest.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Around my ivied porch shall spring<br/></span> <span class="i2">Each fragrant flower that drinks the dew;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And Lucy, at her wheel, shall sing<br/></span> <span class="i2">In russet gown and apron blue.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The village church among the trees,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Where first our marriage-vows were given,<br/></span> <span class="i0">With merry peals shall swell the breeze<br/></span> <span class="i2">And point with taper spire to Heaven.<br/></span></div> </td></tr></table> <p class="quotsig"><span class="smcap">S. Rogers.</span></p> <h3><SPAN name="Lucy" id="Lucy"></SPAN>Lucy.</h3> <table class="poem" summary="poem"><tr><td><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">She dwelt among the untrodden ways<br/></span> <span class="i2">Beside the springs of Dove;<br/></span> <span class="i0">A maid whom there were none to praise,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And very few to love.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A violet by a mossy stone<br/></span> <span class="i2">Half-hidden from the eye!<br/></span> <span class="i0">Fair as a star, when only one<br/></span> <span class="i2">Is shining in the sky.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">She lived unknown, and few could know<br/></span> <span class="i2">When Lucy ceased to be;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But she is in her grave, and, oh,<br/></span> <span class="i2">The difference to me!<br/></span></div> </td></tr></table> <p class="quotsig"><span class="smcap">William Wordsworth.</span></p> <h3><SPAN name="Solitude" id="Solitude"></SPAN>Solitude.</h3> <table class="poem" summary="poem"><tr><td><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Happy the man, whose wish and care<br/></span> <span class="i0">A few paternal acres bound,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Content to breathe his native air<br/></span> <span class="i12">In his own ground.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Whose flocks supply him with attire;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Whose trees in summer yield him shade,<br/></span> <span class="i12">In winter fire.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Blest, who can unconcern'dly find<br/></span> <span class="i0">Hours, days, and years slide soft away<br/></span> <span class="i0">In health of body, peace of mind,<br/></span> <span class="i12">Quiet by day,<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Sound sleep by night; study and ease<br/></span> <span class="i0">Together mixt, sweet recreation,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And innocence, which most does please<br/></span> <span class="i12">With meditation.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Thus unlamented let me die;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Steal from the world, and not a stone<br/></span> <span class="i12">Tell where I lie.<br/></span></div> </td></tr></table> <p class="quotsig"><span class="smcap">Alexander Pope.</span></p> <h3><SPAN name="John_Anderson" id="John_Anderson"></SPAN>John Anderson</h3> <div class="pre_poem"><p>"John Anderson," by Robert Burns (1759-96). This poem is included to please several teachers.</p> </div> <table class="poem" summary="poem"><tr><td><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">John Anderson, my jo, John,<br/></span> <span class="i0">When we were first acquent<br/></span> <span class="i0">Your locks were like the raven,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Your bonnie brow was brent;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But now your brow is bald, John,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Your locks are like the snow;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But blessings on your frosty pow,<br/></span> <span class="i0">John Anderson, my jo.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">John Anderson, my jo, John,<br/></span> <span class="i0">We clamb the hill thegither,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And mony a canty day, John,<br/></span> <span class="i0">We've had wi' ane anither;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Now we maun totter down, John,<br/></span> <span class="i0">But hand in hand we'll go,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And sleep thegither at the foot,<br/></span> <span class="i0">John Anderson, my jo.<br/></span></div> </td></tr></table> <p class="quotsig"><span class="smcap">Robert Burns.</span></p> <h3><SPAN name="The_God_of_Music" id="The_God_of_Music"></SPAN>The God of Music.</h3> <div class="pre_poem"><p>"The God of Music," by Edith M. Thomas, an Ohio poetess now living. In this sonnet the poetess has touched the power of Wordsworth or Keats and placed herself among the immortals.</p> </div> <table class="poem" summary="poem"><tr><td><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The God of Music dwelleth out of doors.<br/></span> <span class="i0">All seasons through his minstrelsy we meet,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Breathing by field and covert haunting-sweet<br/></span> <span class="i0">From organ-lofts in forests old he pours:<br/></span> <span class="i0">A solemn harmony: on leafy floors<br/></span> <span class="i0">To smooth autumnal pipes he moves his feet,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Or with the tingling plectrum of the sleet<br/></span> <span class="i0">In winter keen beats out his thrilling scores.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Leave me the reed unplucked beside the stream.<br/></span> <span class="i0">And he will stoop and fill it with the breeze;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Leave me the viol's frame in secret trees,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Unwrought, and it shall wake a druid theme;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Leave me the whispering shell on Nereid shores.<br/></span> <span class="i0">The God of Music dwelleth out of doors.<br/></span></div> </td></tr></table> <p class="quotsig"><span class="smcap">Edith M. Thomas.</span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />