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Hear the voice of the Bard! Who Present, Past, & Future sees Whose ears have heard The Holy Word That walk'd among the ancient trees. --from "Songs of Experience" Both as poet and painter, William Blake created uncompromising, highly original art. He was strongly influenced by the spiritual: he claimed to have seen angels, and to have spoken with the many supernatural beings who populated his verses and visual images. The many remarkable works gathered...
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On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the word and meet the sky; And thro' the field the road runs by To many-tower'd Camelot. --From The Lady of Shalott Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poems found inspiration in sources as diverse as Greek myths (Tithonius), Arthurian legends (Idylls of the King), Shakespeare (Mariana), and contemporary history (Charge of the Light Brigade). But his most famous and heartfelt work, In...
9) W.B. Yeats
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All things can tempt me from this craft of verse: One time it was a woman's face, or worse- The seeming needs of my fool-driven land; Now nothing but comes readier to the hand Than this accustomed toil. --From All Things Can Tempt Me Nobel Prize winner W.B. Yeats laid the foundations for an Irish literary revival, drawing inspiration from his country's folklore, the occult, and Celtic philosophy. A writer of both poems and plays, he helped found Dublin's...
13) John Donne
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Sophisticated wit and intense emotion, religious fervour and erotic sensuality, delight in life's pleasures and fascination with death, are all to be found in the paradoxical poetry of John Donne. One of the foremost metaphysical poets, Donne's ingenious metaphors and inspired use of language, has earned him affection and reverence in near equal measure to Shakespeare.
14) Oscar Wilde
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Wilde the writer is known to us from his plays and prose fiction, but apparently it was in his conversation that his genius reached its summit. His talk is lost and his autobiography was never written, but his letters reveal him at his spontaneous, sparkling best. Wilde the writer is known to us from his plays and prose fiction, yet it was in his conversation that his genius reached its summit. His talk is lost, his autobiography was never written,...
15) Ovid
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Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) was born at Sulmo in central Italy in 43 BC. After holding some minor judicial positions, he abandoned a career in public service for writing, and was soon acknowledged as the leading Roman poet of his generation. But in AD 8 he was suddenly banished by the Emperor Augustus for reasons which remain the subject of much speculation. Despite complaints and pleas to Augustus, and later to his successor, Tiberius, Ovid remained...
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Let other poets raise a fracas 'Bout vines, an' wines, an' drucken Bacchus, An' crabbit names an' stories wrack us, An' grate our lug: I sing the juice Scotch bear can mak us, In glass or jug. --from "Scotch Drink" Robert Burns, the son of a tenant farmer in Ayshire, Scotland, endured great hardship before emerging as a poet and songwriter in his native dialect, as well as in English. This "Bard of Scotland" caught the spirit of his country, as these...
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The Moving Finger writes; and having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. --From the Rubaiyat The best-selling poem of all time, Omar Khayaam₂s Rubaiyat (₃Quatrains₄), was first published in the West in 1859 by translator Edward FitzGerald. Excerpts from his well-loved version appear here, accompanied by Bird Parliament, a delightful work by Khayyam₂s contemporary,...