Popular Poetry from the Past

 Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

April is National Poetry Month. In honor of this, it seemed appropriate to share some of the more popular poems from the 1800s. 

Christina Rossetti is a favorite of mine. Here is her poem 'Echo'

Echo

Come to me in the silence of the night;

   Come in the speaking silence of a dream;

Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright

   As sunlight on a stream;

      Come back in tears,

O memory, hope, love of finished years.

Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,

   Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,

Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;

   Where thirsting longing eyes

      Watch the slow door

That opening, letting in, lets out no more.

Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live

   My very life again tho’ cold in death:

Come back to me in dreams, that I may give

   Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:

      Speak low, lean low,

As long ago, my love, how long ago.

 

Of course, you can't talk about 1800s poetry without mentioning Emily Dickinson. Here is her poem: 'Sometimes with the Heart'

Sometimes with the Heart

Seldom with the Soul

Scarcer once with the Might

Few - love at all.

Anytime you speak about poets of the 1800s, you usually include Tennyson. Here is a poem some of you may recognize:

Lullaby - Poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Sweet and low, sweet and low,

         Wind of the western sea,

Low, low, breathe and blow,

         Wind of the western sea!

Over the rolling waters go,

Come from the dying moon, and blow,

         Blow him again to me;

While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.

Sleep and rest, sleep and rest,

         Father will come to thee soon;

Rest, rest, on mother's breast,

         Father will come to thee soon;

Father will come to his babe in the nest,

Silver sails all out of the west

         Under the silver moon:

Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep.

Image (C) Doris McCraw

I will leave you with a favorite of mine from Helen Hunt Jackson:

Last Words

Dear hearts, whose love has been so sweet to know,
That I am looking backward as I go,
Am lingering while I haste, and in this rain
Of tears of joy am mingling tears of pain;
Do not adorn with costly shrub, or tree,
Or flower, the little grave which shelters me.
Let the wild wind-sown seeds grow up unharmed,
And back and forth all summer, unalarmed,
Let all the tiny, busy creatures creep;
Let the sweet grass its last year's tangles keep;
And when, remembering me, you come some day
And stand there, speak no praise, but only say,
" How she loved us'! 'Twas that which made her dear! "
Those are the words that I shall joy to hear.

Here's to the beauty of poetry. When you get a moment, stop by and read some of the other poets who were creating pictures and emotions with words. Poetry was enjoyed by many, and you might be surprised by who was writing and what they wrote about.

Until next time.

Doris Gardner-McCraw

Author, Speaker, Historian

Specializing in Colorado and Women's History