Poems Every Child Should Know. Various
Shelley, Percy ByssheOde to a Skylark, 268Ozymandias in the Desert, 322
Smith, Samuel FrancisAmerica, 228
Southey, RobertThe Battle of Blenheim, 117The Inchcape Rock, 145The Legend of Bishop Hatto, 166The Well of St. Keyne, 186
Stevenson, Robert LouisMy Shadow, 9
Taylor, BayardThe Song in Camp, 64
Taylor, JaneThe Violet, 27
Tennyson, AlfredSweet and Low, 27The Owl, 40The Bugle Song, 66Lady Clare, 72The Lord of Burleigh, 75The Death of the Old Year, 86The Charge of the Light Brigade, 107Crossing the Bar, 124The Brook, 153The Lotos Eaters, 231The Revenge, 246Sir Galahad, 253
Thackeray, William MakepeaceLittle Billee, 41
Thaxter, CeliaThe Sandpiper, 71
Thomas, EdithMoly, 233The God of Music, 275
Trowbridge, J. T.Farmyard Song, 90
Turner, Charles TennysonLetty's Globe, 115
Watts, IsaacLet Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite, 4Love Between Brothers and Sisters, 20
Whitman, WaltO Captain! My Captain! 57Song of Myself, 344
Whittier, John G.The Three Bells of Glasgow, 67Barbara Frietchie, 96
Wolfe, C.The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna, 176
Woodworth, SamuelThe Old Oaken Bucket, 288
Wordsworth, WilliamThe Rainbow (a fragment), 28I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, 82Fidelity, 120Lucy, 27dThe World is Too Much With Us, 304She Was a Phantom of Delight, 305
Wotton, Sir HenryA Happy Life, 220
PART I.
The Budding Moment
The Arrow and the Song.
"The Arrow and the Song," by Longfellow (1807–82), is placed first in this volume out of respect to a little girl of six years who used to love to recite it to me. She knew many poems, but this was her favourite.
| I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight.I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For who has sight so keen and strong That it can follow the flight of song?Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke; And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend. |
Henry W. Longfellow.
The Babie.
I found "The Babie" in Stedman's "Anthology." It is placed in this volume by permission of the poet, Jeremiah Eames Rankin, of Cleveland (1828-), because it captured the heart of a ten-year-old boy whose fancy was greatly moved by the two beautiful lines:
"Her face is like an angel's face,
I'm glad she has no wings."
| Nae shoon to hide her tiny taes, Nae stockin' on her feet; Her supple ankles white as snaw, Or early blossoms sweet.Her simple dress o' sprinkled pink, Her double, dimplit chin, Her puckered lips, and baumy mou', With na ane tooth within.Her een sae like her mither's een, Twa gentle, liquid things; Her face is like an angel's face: We're glad she has nae wings. |
Jeremiah Eames Rankin.
Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite.
"Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite," by Isaac Watts (1674–1748), and "Little Drops of Water," by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810–97), are poems that the world cannot outgrow. Once in the mind, they fasten. They were not born to die.
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Let dogs delight to bark and bite, For God hath made them so; Let bears and lions growl and fight, For 'tis their nature too.But, children, you should never let Such angry passions rise; Your little hands were never made |