John Drinkwater was an English poet and dramatist. In the period immediately before the First World War he was one of the group of poets associated with the Gloucestershire village of Dymock, along with Rupert Brooke and others. - Summary by Wikipedia

In 1867 Jean Baptiste Nicolas , scholar and career diplomat, published the first major French translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. This version is in prose and the collection contains 464 verses.In Nicolas’ view, Omar was no Epicurean reveler but rather a relentless spiritual seeker – his frequent allusions to wine and lovers are metaphors, expressive of a divine discontent that can only be resolved by union with a mystical beloved. However, most other translators and commentators regard Omar as a man who sampled and enjoyed both earthly and philosophical delights...

This is a collection of 41 poems read by volunteers for October 2017.

This is a collection of 34 poems read by volunteers for December 2017.

Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest short story writer". He was the son of the poet, publisher and feminist Louisa Lawson. - Summary by Wikipedia

This is a small volume of beautiful melancholy verses by Canadian poet Bliss Carman. The poems share a common theme which is the death of persons known and unknown to the poet. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of poetry by Robert Bridges. This collection also contains some poems written right after World War I, reflecting the state of international politics very impressively. "This miscellaneous volume is composed of three sections. The first twelve poems were written in 1913, and printed privately by Mr. Hornby in 1914. The last of these poems proved to be a “war poem,” and on that follow eighteen pieces which were called forth on occasion during the War, the last being a broadsheet on the surrender of the German ships...

This is a collection of poems by Louise Imogen Guiney. The collection is split into four parts. After the titular poem, which is its own part, this volume contains ten narrative poems concerning some well-known and some lesser known legends. The third part of the volume is one of lyrics, and the fourth contains a number of sonnets. - Summary by Carolin

This is a volume of poetry by Ronald Ross. It was composed in India during Ross' intensive research of malaria. Ross was first to discover how mosquitoes transmit malaria and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for this work in 1902. While this research is still well-known today, it is not very well-known that Ross also wrote poetry. This volume contains some of his poems, composed during his stay in India. - Summary by Carolin

This is a small volume of poetry by Roger Casement. Casement was a diplomat for years, active especially in Africa, where he witnessed the dark side of British Imperialism. He began to devote his life to human rights, and is still recognised for his important work particularly in the Congo and in Peru. - Summary by Carolin

Cawein's poetry allied his love of nature with a devotion to earlier English and European literature, mythology, and classical allusion. - Summary by Wikipedia

This poem is part of the "Ecclesiastical Sonnets," writen by Wordsworth between 1821 - 22. - Summary by David Lawrence

This is a collection of 27 poems read by volunteers for January 2018

"Bill & Doreen's Married Life " is the sequel to "Bill & Doreen's Courtship" and "Bill & Doreen Get Hitched", the latter two being "Selections from 'The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'". "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke" is a verse novel by Australian novelist and poet C. J. Dennis. The work was first published in book form in 1915 and sold over 60,000 copies in nine editions within the first year. A special pocket edition was even printed for the Australian soldiers in the trenches during the Great War...

"What is life?" we ask. "Just one darned thing after another," the cynic replies. Yes, a multiplicity of forces and interests, and each of them, even the disagreeable, may be of real help to us. It's good for a dog, says a shrewd philosopher, to be pestered with fleas; it keeps him from thinking too much about being a dog. - Summary by from the poem preface

George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. - Summary by Wikipedia

Archibald Lampman FRSC was a Canadian poet. "He has been described as 'the Canadian Keats;' and he is perhaps the most outstanding exponent of the Canadian school of nature poets." The Canadian Encyclopedia says that he is "generally considered the finest of Canada's late 19th-century poets in English." Lampman is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets, a group which also includes Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Duncan Campbell Scott. - Summary by Wikipedia

This Fortnightly Poem is taken from Underneath the Bough, A Book of Verses by Michael Field. - Summary by David Lawrence

This is a volume of poetry by a poet only going by the initial "L.". The poems are veried in tone and subject, set in different parts of the British Isles and Europe. Most of them have a historic background, though set several centuries after the titular "Dark Ages". - Summary by Carolin

This is a volume of poetry by Charles Godfrey Leland. The first half of this volume is taken up by the Songs of the Sea, with rather romantic songs about seafaring, mermaids, and adventures, and the second half of the volume contains the Lays of the Land, with poems focused on the things a seaman may encounter when he enters a port. - Summary by Carolin

This is, as the title already describes, the rhymed story of Chanticleer the Rooster, and his adventures. Follow the bird through his youth and school years, on a journey, through adventures, becoming a father and a family man and eventually a grandfather. - Summary by Carolin

This is a little volume of poetry by Herbert Bashford. The subjects and style of the poems are varied, but most share a dark tone. The titular Sea appears in many of the poems as well, connecting the poems in this volume to one another. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of 24 sonnets by Laurens Maynard. This rather unknown poet brings many classical themes into this volume, with biblical figures beginning the circle and then in somewhat chronological order arriving in the poet's present day life. All readers should find a sonnet to their tastes in this collection. - Summary by Carolin

Edith Matilda Thomas was an American poet who "was one of the first poets to capture successfully the excitement of the modern city." This poem taken from the The Little Book of Modern Verse. 1917.; Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. - Summary by Wikipedia

This is a collection of 45 poems read by volunteers for November 2017.

This year's Hollowe'en offering is an eerie tale by Walter de La Mare.

Subtitled 'A Book of Poetic Short Stories and Poems', this collection reads years ahead of its time. Set mainly in Jazz Age New York City, the poems and tales are a series of profiles of people in seedier parts of town, along with bizarre love songs and even a trip to Mars. Not for the easily offended.

This is a collection of poems by C. Maurice Stebbins. The titular poem is a Christmas poem, but it is dark and somber in tone. The following shorter pieces are very varied, making for a beautiful little collection. - Summary by Carolin

Her death was tragic. Full of the desire of life she yet was forced to go, leaving her work all unfinished. Her last year was spent in exile at Saranac Lake. From her window she looked down on the graveyard — "Trudeau's Garden," she called it, with grim-gay irony. from the forward to Verse, by Claude Bragdon - Summary by from the forward to Verse,by Claude Bragdon

Reprinted from Scribner’s Magazine for June, 1904, in an edition of forty copies for private distribution, by the courtesy of Charles Scribner’s Sons

This poem tells the story of a boy in Australia who leaves the farm at harvest time. "and to run from home was a crime." The story is set in the Riverina, New South Wales in the town of Gundagai.

A tribute to the autumn season, taken from THE COMING OF THE PRINCESS, AND OTHER POEMS - Summary by David Lawrence