by Homer
Upon the glyttering wave doth playe:
Such play is a pitteous plight! 40
The glaunce into my heart did glide,
Hey ho, the glyder!
Therewith my soule was sharply gryde;
Such woundes soone wexen wider.
Hasting to raunch the arrow out, 45
Hey ho, Perigot!
I left the head in my hart roote:
It was a desperate shot.
There it ranckleth ay more and more,
Hey ho, the arrowe! 50
Ne can I find salve for my sore:
Love is a cureless sorrowe.
And though my bale with death I brought,
Hey ho, heavie cheere!
Yet should thilk lasse not from my thought: 55
So you may buye gold to deare.
But whether in paynefull love I pyne,
Hey ho, pinching payne!
Or thrive in welth, she shalbe mine.
But if thou can her obteine. 60
And if for gracelesse griefe I dye,
Hey ho, graceless griefe!
Witnesse, shee slewe me with her eye:
Let thy follye be the priefe.
And you that sawe it, simple shepe, 65
Hey ho, the fayre flocke!
For priefe thereof my death shall weepe,
And mone with many a mocke.
So learnd I love on a hollye eve, —
Hey ho, holidaye! 70
That ever since my hart did greve:
Now endeth our roundelay.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Easter
Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)
MOST glorious Lord of Lyfe! that, on this day,
Didst make Thy triumph over death and sin;
And, having harrowd hell, didst bring away
Captivity thence captive, us to win:
This joyous day, deare Lord, with joy begin; 5
And grant that we, for whom thou diddest dye,
Being with Thy deare blood clene washt from sin,
May live for ever in felicity!
And that Thy love we weighing worthily,
May likewise love Thee for the same againe; 10
And for Thy sake, that all lyke deare didst buy,
With love may one another entertayne!
So let us love, deare Love, lyke as we ought,
— Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
What Guile Is This?
Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)
WHAT guile is this, that those her golden tresses
She doth attire under a net of gold;
And with sly skill so cunningly them dresses,
That which is gold or hair may scarce be told?
Is it that men’s frail eyes, which gaze too bold, 5
She may entangle in that golden snare;
And, being caught, may craftily enfold
Their weaker hearts, which are not well aware?
Take heed, therefore, mine eyes, how ye do stare
Henceforth too rashly on that guileful net, 10
In which, if ever ye entrappèd are,
Out of her bands ye by no means shall get.
Fondness it were for any, being free,
To cover fetters, though they golden be.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Fair Is My Love
Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)
FAIR is my love, when her fair golden hairs
With the loose wind ye waving chance to mark;
Fair, when the rose in her red cheeks appears;
Or in her eyes the fire of love does spark.
Fair, when her breast, like a rich-laden bark, 5
With precious merchandise she forth doth lay;
Fair, when that cloud of pride, which oft doth dark
Her goodly light, with smiles she drives away.
But fairest she, when so she doth display
The gate with pearls and rubies richly dight; 10
Through which her words so wise do make their way
To bear the message of her gentle sprite.
The rest be works of nature’s wonderment:
But this the work of heart’s astonishment.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
So Oft as I Her Beauty do Behold
Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)
SO oft as I her beauty do behold,
And therewith do her cruelty compare,
I marvel of what substance was the mould,
The which her made at once so cruel fair,
Not earth, for her high thoughts more heavenly are; 5
Not water, for her love doth burn like fire;
Not air, for she is not so light or rare;
Not fire, for she doth freeze with faint desire.
Then needs another element inquire
Whereof she mote be made — that is, the sky; 10
For to the heaven her haughty looks aspire,
And eke her mind is pure immortal high.
Then, sith to heaven ye likened are the best,
Be like in mercy as in all the rest.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Rudely Thou Wrongest My Dear Heart’s Desire
Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)
RUDELY thou wrongest my dear heart’s desire,
In finding fault with her too portly pride:
The thing which I do most in her admire,
Is of the world unworthy most envied;
For in those lofty looks is close implied 5
Scorn of base things, and ‘sdain of foul dishonour,
Threatening rash eyes which gaze on her so wide,
That loosely they ne dare to look upon her.
Such pride is praise, such portliness is honour,
That boldened innocence bears in her eyes; 10
And her fair countenance, like a goodly banner,
Spreads in defiance of all enemies.
Was never in this world aught worthy tried,
Without some spark of such self-pleasing pride.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
One Day I Wrote Her Name Upon the Strand
Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)
ONE day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washèd it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide and made my pains his prey.
Vain man (said she) that dost in vain assay 5
A mortal thing so to immortalise;
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eke my name be wipèd out likewise.
Not so (quod I); let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame; 10
My verse your virtues rare shall eternise,
And in the heavens write your glorious name:
Where, when as Death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Like as the Culver, on the Bared Bough
Edmund Spenser (1552–1599)
LIKE as the culver, on the barèd bough,
Sits mourning for the absence of her mate;
And, in her songs, sends many a wishful vow
For his return that seems to linger late:
So I alone, now left disconsolate, 5
Mourn to myself the absence of my love;
And, wandering here and there all desolate,
Seek with my plaints to match that mournful dove
Ne joy of aught that under heaven doth ho
ve,
Can comfort me, but her own joyous sight 10
Whose sweet aspect both God and man can move,
In her unspotted pleasance to delight.
Dark is my day, whiles her fair light I miss,
And dead my life that wants such lively bliss.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
William Habington
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
To Roses in the Bosom of Castara
William Habington (1605–1654)
YE blushing virgins happy are
In the chaste nunnery of her breasts —
For he’d profane so chaste a fair,
Whoe’er should call them Cupid’s nests.
Transplanted thus how bright ye grow! 5
How rich a perfume do ye yield!
In some close garden cowslips so
Are sweeter than i’ th’ open field.
In those white cloisters live secure
From the rude blasts of wanton breath! — 10
Each hour more innocent and pure,
Till you shall wither into death.
Then that which living gave you room,
Your glorious sepulchre shall be.
There wants no marble for a tomb 15
Whose breast hath marble been to me.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Nox Nocti Indicat Scientiam
William Habington (1605–1654)
WHEN I survey the bright
Celestial sphere;
So rich with jewels hung, that Night
Doth like an Ethiop bride appear:
My soul her wings doth spread 5
And heavenward flies,
Th’ Almighty’s mysteries to read
In the large volume of the skies.
For the bright firmament
Shoots forth no flame 10
So silent, but is eloquent
In speaking the Creator’s name.
No unregarded star
Contracts its light
Into so small a character, 15
Removed far from our human sight,
But if we steadfast look
We shall discern
In it, as in some holy book,
How man may heavenly knowledge learn. 20
It tells the conqueror
That far-stretch’d power,
Which his proud dangers traffic for,
Is but the triumph of an hour:
That from the farthest North, 25
Some nation may,
Yet undiscover’d, issue forth,
And o’er his new-got conquest sway:
Some nation yet shut in
With hills of ice 30
May be let out to scourge his sin,
Till they shall equal him in vice.
And then they likewise shall
Their ruin have;
For as yourselves your empires fall, 35
And every kingdom hath a grave.
Thus those celestial fires,
Though seeming mute,
The fallacy of our desires
And all the pride of life confute: — 40
For they have watch’d since first
The World had birth:
And found sin in itself accurst,
And nothing permanent on Earth.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Christopher Marlowe
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
COME live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and field,
Or woods or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks 5
And see the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies, 10
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroider’d all with leaves of myrtle.
A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull,
Fair linèd slippers for the cold, 15
With buckles of the purest gold.
A belt of straw and ivy buds
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my Love. 20
The silver dishes for thy meat
As precious as the gods do eat,
Shall on an ivory table be
Prepared each day for thee and me.
The shepherd swains shall dance and sing 25
For thy delight each May-morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my Love.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Her Reply (Written by Sir Walter Raleigh)
Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
IF all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd’s tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy Love.
But Time drives flocks from field to fold; 5
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold;
And Philomel becometh dumb;
The rest complains of cares to come.
The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward Winter reckoning yields: 10
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall.
Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies,
Soon break, soon wither — soon forgotten, 15
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.
Thy belt of straw and ivy-buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs, —
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy Love. 20
But could youth last, and love still breed,
Had joys no date, nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy Love.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Richard Rowlands
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Our Blessed Lady’s Lullaby
Richard Rowlands (1565–1620)
UPON my lap, my Sovereign sits,
And sucks upon my breast;
Meanwhile his love sustains my life,
And gives my body rest.
Sing, lullaby, my little boy, 5
Sing, lullaby, my livës joy.
When thou hast taken thy repast,
Repose, my babe, on me.
So may thy mother and thy nurse,
Thy cradle also be. 10
Sing, lullaby, my little boy,
Sing, lullaby, my livës joy.
I grieve that duty doth not work
All that my wishing would,
Because I would not be to thee 15
But in the best I should.
Sing, lullaby, my little boy,
Sing, lullaby, my livës joy.
Yet as I am and as I may,
I must and will be thine, 20
Though all too little for thyself
Vouchsafing to be mine.
Sing, lullaby, my little boy,
Sing, lullaby, my livës joy.
My wits, my words, my deeds, my thoughts, 25
And else what is in me,
&
nbsp; I rather will not wish to use,
If not in serving thee.
Sing, lullaby, my little boy,
Sing, lullaby, my livës joy. 30
My babe, my bliss, my child, my choice,
My fruit, my flower, and bud,
My Jesus, and my only joy,
The sum of all my good.
Sing, lullaby, my little boy, 35
Sing, lullaby, my livës joy.
My sweetness, and the sweetest most
That heaven could earth deliver,
Soul of my love, spirit of my life,
Abide with me for ever. 40
Sing, lullaby, my little boy,
Sing, lullaby, my livës joy.
Live still with me, and be my love,
And death will me refrain,
Unless thou let me die with thee, 45
To live with thee again.
Sing, lullaby, my little boy,
Sing, lullaby, my livës joy.
Leave now to wail, thou luckless wight
That wrought’st thy race’s woe, 50
Redress is found, and foilèd is
Thy fruit-alluring foe.
Sing, lullaby, my little boy,
Sing, lullaby, my livës joy.
The fruit of death from Paradise 55
Made the exiled mourn;