Great poems
/ page 389 of 549 /
Original Preface.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In addition to those portions of Goethe's poetical works which
are given in this complete form, specimens of the different other
classes of them, such as the Epigrams, Elegies, &c., are added,
as well as a collection of the various Songs found in his Plays,
making a total number of about 400 Poems, embraced in the present
volume.
On A Change Of Masters At A Great Public School
© George Gordon Byron
WHERE are those honours, Ida! once yow own,
When Probus fill'd your magisterial throne?
As ancient Rome, fast falling to disgrace,
Hail'd a barbarian in her Cæsar's place,
Blindman's Buff.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Can through the bandage see!
Although thine eyes are bound,
By thee I'm quickly found,
A Girl's Sin - In Her Eyes
© Francis Thompson
Cross child! red, and frowning so?
'I, the day just over,
Gave a lock of hair to--no!
How DARE you say, my lover?'
The Wanderer's Storm-song.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Him whom thou ne'er leavest, Genius,
Thou wilt place upon thy fleecy pinion
When he sleepeth on the rock,--
Thou wilt shelter with thy guardian wing
In the forest's midnight hour.
Gift Of The Great English Translation
© Rabindranath Tagore
Having suffered a lot
Those whose minds are wrought
Preface To The Second Edition.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I need scarcely add that I have availed myself of this opportunity
to make whatever improvements have suggested themselves to me in
my original version of these Poems.
The Pupil In Magic.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I AM now,--what joy to hear it!--Of the old magician rid;
And henceforth shall ev'ry spiritDo whate'er by me is bid;I have watch'd with rigourAll he used to do,And will now with vigourWork my wonders too.
Wander, wanderOnward lightly,So that rightlyFlow the torrent,And with teeming waters yonderIn the bath discharge its current!And now come, thou well-worn broom,And thy wretched form bestir;
Thou hast ever served as groom,So fulfil my pleasure, sir!On two legs now stand,With a head on top;Waterpail in hand,Haste, and do not stop!
November Song.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
To the great archer--not to himTo meet whom flies the sun,
And who is wont his features dimWith clouds to overrun--But to the boy be vow'd these rhymes,Who 'mongst the roses plays,
Who hear us, and at proper timesTo pierce fair hearts essays.Through him the gloomy winter night,Of yore so cold and drear,
Brings many a loved friend to our sight,And many a woman dear.Henceforward shall his image fairStand in yon starry skies,
The Godlike.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
NOBLE be man,
Helpful and good!
For that alone
Distinguisheth him
From all the beings
Unto us known.
Hero And Leander. The Third Sestiad
© George Chapman
New light gives new directions, fortunes new,
To fashion our endeavours that ensue.
Starting From Paumanok
© Walt Whitman
Of earth, rocks, Fifth-month flowers, experienced-stars, rain, snow,
my amaze;
Having studied the mocking-bird's tones, and the mountainhawk's,
And heard at dusk the unrival'd one, the hermit thrush from the
swamp-cedars,
Solitary, singing in the West, I strike up for a New World.
After Sixty Years
© Edith Nesbit
RING, bells! flags, fly! and let the great crowd roar
Its ecstasy. Let the hid heart in prayer
Fragments - Lines 0667 - 0682
© Theognis of Megara
If I had money, Simonides, I would not feel such pain
As I do now, when in the company of the noble.
Trilogy of Passion: III. ATONEMENT.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Eternal beauty has its fruit to bear;
The eye grows moist, in yearnings blest reveres
The godlike worth of music as of tears.
The Slavery Of Greece
© George Canning
Unrivall'd Greece! thou ever honor'd name,
Thou nurse of heroes dear to deathless fame!
Though now to worth, to honor all unknown,
Thy lustre faded, and thy glories flown;
Yet still shall Memory, with reverted eye,
Trace thy past worth, and view thee with a sigh.
With A Golden Necklace.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
THIS page a chain to bring thee burns,That, train'd to suppleness of old,
On thy fair neck to nestle, yearns,In many a hundred little fold.To please the silly thing consent!'Tis harmless, and from boldness free;
By day a trifling ornament,At night 'tis cast aside by thee.But if the chain they bring thee ever,Heavier, more fraught with weal or woe,
I'd then, Lisette, reproach thee neverIf thou shouldst greater scruples show.1775.*
When Nobody Listens
© Franklin Pierce Adams
_At not at all infrequent spells
I hear--and so do you--
The tales that everybody tells
And no one listens to._
The Vanity of Human Wishes: The Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Imitated by Samuel Johnson
© Samuel Johnson
Yet still the gen'ral Cry the Skies assails
And Gain and Grandeur load the tainted Gales;
Few know the toiling Statesman's Fear or Care,
Th' insidious Rival and the gaping Heir.
The Sea-voyage.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
MANY a day and night my bark stood ready laden;
Waiting fav'ring winds, I sat with true friends round me,
Pledging me to patience and to courage,
In the haven.
