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Home  »  The World’s Best Poetry  »  Volume II. Love

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

Volume II. Love

Introductory Essay
The Future of Poetry by John Vance Cheney (1848–1922)
I. Admiration
When in the chronicle of wasted time” by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Daybreak by Sir William Davenant (1606–1668)
Shall I compare thee?” by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
The Portrait by Thomas Heywood (c. 1570–1641)
Give place, ye lovers” by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–1547)
To His Mistress by Sir Henry Wotton (1568–1639)
The forward violet thus did I chide” by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
There is a garden in her face”—Anonymous
Olivia by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Portia’s Picture by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Song: “The shape alone let others prize” by Mark Akenside (1721–1770)
Triumph of Charis by Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
Belinda by Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
Hero’s Beauty by Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
Drink to me only with thine eyes” by Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
Eros is missing” by Meleager of Gadara (1st Century B.C.)
A Violet in her Hair by Charles Swain (1801–1874)
To Dianeme by Robert Herrick (1591–1674)
Rosalynd by Thomas Lodge (1558–1625)
Disdain Returned by Thomas Carew (1595?–1639?)
To a Lady admiring Herself in a Looking-Glass by Thomas Randolph (1605–1635)
Phillis is my only joy” by Sir Charles Sedley (1639–1701)
Constancy by Sir John Suckling (1609–1642)
A Vision of Beauty by Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
To the Princess Lucretia by Torquato Tasso (1544–1595)
My Lady by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)
Vision of a Fair Woman by From the Ancient Erse
Spring by Meleager of Gadara (1st Century B.C.)
Song by Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170–c. 1230)
The Girl of Cadiz by Lord Byron (1788–1824)
I fear thy kisses, gentle maiden” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
A Budget of Paradoxes by John Martley (1844–1882)
Love Dissembled by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Her Likeness by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (1826–1887)
She walks in beauty” by Lord Byron (1788–1824)
She is not fair to outward view” by Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849)
Verses written in an Album by Thomas Moore (1779–1852)
To Roses in the Bosom of Castara by William Habington (1605–1654)
To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
On a Girdle by Edmund Waller (1606–1687)
The White Rose—Anonymous
Song: “Ask me no more where Jove bestows” by Thomas Carew (1595?–1639?)
Go, lovely rose” by Edmund Waller (1606–1687)
Whenas in silks my Julia goes” by Robert Herrick (1591–1674)
O, do not wanton with those eyes” by Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
Black and Blue Eyes by Thomas Moore (1779–1852)
Blue Eyes by John Keats (1795–1821)
O, saw ye the lass?” by Richard Ryan (1796–1849)
A Health by Edward Coate Pinkney (1802–1828)
My Sweetheart’s Face by John Allan Wyeth (1845–1922)
Her Guitar by Frank Dempster Sherman (1860–1916)
On Some Buttercups by Frank Dempster Sherman (1860–1916)
O, fairest of rural maids!” by William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878)
To a Lady by John James Piatt (1835–1917)
On the Road to Chorrera by Arlo Bates (1850–1918)
The Milking-Maid by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894)
Lovely Mary Donnelly by William Allingham (1824–1889)
The Irish Spinning-Wheel by Alfred Perceval Graves (1846–1931)
The Low-Backed Car by Samuel Lover (1797–1868)
A Gage D’Amour by Austin Dobson (1840–1921)
An Experience and a Moral by Frederick Swartwout Cozzens (1818–1869)
At the Church-Gate by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863)
II. Love’s Nature
Love by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Love is a sickness” by Samuel Daniel (1562–1619)
The Shepherd and the King by Robert Greene (1558–1592)
Love by Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
Love and Woman by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Ah, how sweet” by John Dryden (1631–1700)
Welcome, welcome, do I sing” by William Browne (c. 1590–c. 1645)
Love by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832)
Song: “Love still has something” by Sir Charles Sedley (1639–1701)
If it be true that any beauteous thing” by Michaelangelo (1475–1564)
Sonnet: “Muses, that sing Love’s sensual empirie” by George Chapman (1559?–1634)
Love’s Silence by Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)
When Will Love Come? by Pakenham Beatty (1855–1930)
Why? by Mary Louise Ritter
The Annoyer by Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–1867)
Three Loves by Lucy Hamilton Jones Hooper (1835–1893)
Love scorns degrees” by Paul Hamilton Hayne (1830–1886)
Love not me for comely grace”—Anonymous
Light by Francis William Bourdillon (1852–1921)
O mistress mine” by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Philomela’s Ode by Robert Greene (1558–1592)
A Fiction—Anonymous
Wishes for the Supposed Mistress by Richard Crashaw (c. 1613–1649)
A Match by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)
My Choice by William Browne (c. 1590–c. 1645)
A Maiden’s Ideal of a Husband by Henry Carey (1687?–1743)
Rosalynd’s Complaint by Thomas Lodge (1558–1625)
Cupid Swallowed by Leigh Hunt (1784–1859)
Greene grow the rashes O” by Robert Burns (1759–1796)
Perfume by Sir Edmund William Gosse (1849–1928)
Life by Lizzie M. Little (d. 1909)
III. Love’s Beginnings
Kate Temple’s Song by Sir James Carnegie, Earl of Southesk (1827–1905)
The First Kiss by Thomas Campbell (1777–1844)
Tell me, my heart, if this be love” by George, Lord Lyttelton (1709–1773)
Athulf and Ethilda by Sir Henry Taylor (1800–1886)
Blest as the immortal gods” by Sappho (fl. c. 610–580 B.C.)
I dreamt I saw great Venus” by Bion of Smyrna (fl. c. 100 B.C.)
Francesca Da Rimini by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)
Dinna ask me” by John Dunlop (1755–1820)
O Swallow, Swallow, flying South” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
Song: “It is the miller’s daughter” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
If doughty deeds my lady please” by Robert Graham of Gartmore (1735–1797)
The Kiss by Robert Herrick (1591–1674)
An Opal by Ednah Proctor Clarke Hayes
Cupid and Campaspe by John Lyly (1555?–1606)
Kisses by William Strode (1602–1645)
Love’s Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
Kissing ’s no Sin—Anonymous
Song of the Milkmaid by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
Comin’ through the rye” by Robert Burns (1759–1796)
O whistle, and I’ll come to you, my lad” by Robert Burns (1759–1796)
Sonnet upon a Stolen Kiss by George Wither (1588–1667)
Caprice by William Dean Howells (1837–1920)
Sly Thoughts by Coventry Patmore (1823–1896)
The Whistle by Robert Story (1795–1860)
Behave yoursel’ before folk” by Alexander Rodger (1784–1846)
Smile and never heed me” by Charles Swain (1801–1874)
The dule ’s i’ this bonnet o’ mine” by Edwin Waugh (1817–1890)
A Spinster’s Stint by Alice Cary (1820–1871)
The Telltale by Elizabeth Akers Allen (1832–1911)
Love in the Valley by George Meredith (1828–1909)
Thoughts on the Commandments by George Augustus Baker (1849–1906)
The Love-Knot by Nora Perry (1831–1896)
The Chess-Board by E. Robert Bulwer, Lord Lytton (Owen Meredith) (1831–1891)
Her Letter by Bret Harte (1836–1902)
The Plaidie by Charles Sibley
Kitty of Coleraine by Charles Dawson Shanly (1811–1875)
Kitty Neil by John Francis Waller (1810–1894)
The Little Milliner by Robert Buchanan (1841–1901)
Atalanta’s Race by William Morris (1834–1896)
IV. Wooing and Winning
The Passionate Shepherd to his Love by Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
The Nymph’s Reply by Sir Walter Raleigh (1554?–1618)
Golden Eyes by Rufinus
Phillida and Corydon by Nicholas Breton (1545–1626)
The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington—Anonymous
Where are you going, my pretty maid?”—Anonymous
My eyes! how I love you” by John Godfrey Saxe (1816–1887)
The Brookside by Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton (1809–1885)
The Little Red Lark by Alfred Perceval Graves (1846–1931)
Love by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
Somebody—Anonymous
The Exchange by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
Love’s Logic—Anonymous
The Night-Piece by Robert Herrick (1591–1674)
Sweet Meeting of Desires by Coventry Patmore (1823–1896)
Story of the Gate by Harrison Robertson (1856–1939)
Doris: A Pastoral by Arthur Joseph Munby (1828–1910)
Among the Heather by William Allingham (1824–1889)
Rory O’More by Samuel Lover (1797–1868)
Cooking and Courting—Anonymous
Ca’ the yowes” by Isabel Pagan (c. 1740–1821)
The Siller Croun by Susanna Blamire (1747–1794)
Duncan Gray cam’ here to woo” by Robert Burns (1759–1796)
How to Ask and Have by Samuel Lover (1797–1868)
Live in my Heart and Pay No Rent by Samuel Lover (1797–1868)
Widow Machree by Samuel Lover (1797–1868)
Widow Malone by Charles Lever (1806–1872)
I’m not Myself at all by Samuel Lover (1797–1868)
I prithee send me back my heart” by Sir John Suckling (1609–1642)
Love me little, love me long”—Anonymous
The Courtin’ by James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)
Popping Corn—Anonymous
The Friar of Orders Gray by Thomas Percy (1729–1811)
The Hermit by Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774)
The Laird o’ Cockpen by Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne (1766–1845)
Othello’s Defence by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
The Earl o’ Quarterdeck by George MacDonald (1824–1905)
Aux Italiens by E. Robert Bulwer, Lord Lytton (Owen Meredith) (1831–1891)
V. Cautions and Complaints
Let not woman e’er complain” by Robert Burns (1759–1796)
To Chloe by John Wolcot (Peter Pindar) (1738–1819)
A Woman’s Answer by Adelaide Anne Procter (1825–1864)
Love’s Blindness by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Full many a glorious morning” by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Alexis, here she stayed” by William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649)
Rivalry in Love by William Walsh (1663–1708)
My dear and only love” by James Graham, Marquis of Montrose (1612–1650)
The Faithful Lovers—Anonymous
The Chronicle by Abraham Cowley (1618–1667)
Constancy—Anonymous
The Age of Wisdom by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863)
The Common Doom by James Shirley (1596–1666)
The Author’s Resolution, in a Sonnet by George Wither (1588–1667)
Answer to Master Wither’s Song, “Shall I, Wasting in Despair” by Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
Forever Unconfessed by Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton (1809–1885)
Advice to a Girl by Thomas Campion (1567–1620)
Si Jeunesse Savait! by Edmund Clarence Stedman (1833–1908)
Waiting for the Grapes by William Maginn (1794–1842)
Give me more love or more disdain” by Thomas Carew (1595?–1639?)
Affaire d’Amour by Margaret Deland (1857–1945)
A Renunciation by Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford (1550–1604)
Why so pale and wan?” by Sir John Suckling (1609–1642)
A Woman’s Question by Adelaide Anne Procter (1825–1864)
VI. Lovers
Not at all, or all in all” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
When do I see thee most?” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
Beauty by Edward Hovell-Thurlow, Lord Thurlow (1781–1829)
Love in the Winds by Richard Hovey (1864–1900)
Kissing Her Hair by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)
My sweet sweeting”—Anonymous
Lines to an Indian Air by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
Serenade by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)
First Love by Lord Byron (1788–1824)
Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
I saw two clouds at morning” by John Gardiner Calkins Brainard (1795–1828)
My Beautiful Lady by Thomas Woolner (1825–1892)
My Love by Russell Powell Jacoby (1862–1899)
A Christmas Scene by Thomas Osborne Davis (1814–1845)
Bedouin Love-Song by Bayard Taylor (1825–1878)
Zara’s Ear-Rings by John Gibson Lockhart (1794–1854)
Hesperia by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)
Come into the garden, Maud” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
Lochinvar by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832)
When your beauty appears” by Thomas Parnell (1679–1718)
What my Lover Said by Homer Greene (1853–1940)
Palabras Cariñosas by Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907)
Seven times Three by Jean Ingelow (1820–1897)
When the Kye comes Hame by James Hogg (1770–1835)
The Milkmaid’s Song by Sydney Dobell (1824–1874)
Sally in our Alley by Henry Carey (1687?–1743)
On the Road by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)
Ganging to and Ganging frae by Eliza Cook (1818–1889)
The Spinning-Wheel Song by John Francis Waller (1810–1894)
The Welcome by Thomas Osborne Davis (1814–1845)
Fetching Water from the Well—Anonymous
Lady Clare by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
Curfew must Not Ring To-night by Rose Hartwick Thorpe (1850–1939)
The Sleeping Beauty by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
The Eve of St. Agnes by John Keats (1795–1821)
So sweet love seemed” by Robert Bridges (1844–1930)
Echoes by Thomas Moore (1779–1852)
Love’s Young Dream by Thomas Moore (1779–1852)
VII. Love’s Power
The might of one fair face” by Michaelangelo (1475–1564)
My true-love hath my heart” by Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)
Were I as base as is the lowly plain” by Joshua Sylvester (1563–1618)
When stars are in the quiet skies” by Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873)
Come, rest in this bosom” by Thomas Moore (1779–1852)
The Gillyflower of Gold by William Morris (1834–1896)
The Landlady’s Daughter by Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787–1862)
Believe me, if all those endearing young charms” by Thomas Moore (1779–1852)
Forget thee?” by John Moultrie (1799–1874)
Renouncement by Alice Meynell (1847–1922)
Love: “Such a starved bank of moss” by Robert Browning (1812–1889)
Last Night by Christian Winther (1796–1876)
Minstrels’ Marriage Song by Thomas Chatterton (1752–1770)
Summer Days by Wathen Marks Wilks Call (1817–1890)
Fly to the desert, fly with me” by Thomas Moore (1779–1852)
In a Gondola by Robert Browning (1812–1889)
Cleopatra by William Wetmore Story (1819–1895)
Love by Thomas Kibble Hervey (1804–1859)
Last Sonnet by John Keats (1795–1821)
Stanzas by Lord Byron (1788–1824)
The Song of the Camp by Bayard Taylor (1825–1878)
To Fidessa by Bartholomew Griffin (d. 1602)
Meeting at Night by Robert Browning (1812–1889)
Charlie Machree by William J. Hoppin (1813–1895)
Hope Deferred—Anonymous
The Old Maid by George Barlow (1847–1914?)
The Loveliness of Love by George Darley (1795–1846)
To One in Paradise by Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
An Old Sweetheart of Mine by James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916)
Rose Aylmer by Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
VIII. Wedded Love
Let me not to the marriage of true minds” by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)
    VI. Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand
    XIV. If thou must love me, let it be for naught
    XVIII. I never gave a lock of hair away
    XXI. Say over again, and yet once over again
    XXVIII. My letters! all dead paper,… mute and white!
    XXXV. If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
    XXXVIII. First time he kissed me, he but only kissed
    XXXIX. Because thou hast the power and own’st the grace
    XLIII. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
Sonnets by James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)
    I. “My Love, I have no fear that thou shouldst die
    II. “Our love is not a fading, earthly flower
    III. “I thought our love at full, but I did err
My Love by James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)
Adam Describing Eve by John Milton (1608–1674)
Adam to Eve by John Milton (1608–1674)
Brutus and Portia by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Lord Walter’s Wife by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)
Paulina’s Appeal by Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)
The Wife of Loki by Lady Charlotte Elliot (d. 1899)
Like a laverock in the lift” by Jean Ingelow (1820–1897)
Were I but his own wife” by Ellen Mary Downing (1828–1869)
Two Lovers by George Eliot (Mary Ann Cross) (1819–1880)
In Twos by William Channing Gannett (1840–1923)
Hebrew Wedding by Henry Hart Milman (1791–1868)
The Wedding-Day by Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599)
The Bride by Sir John Suckling (1609–1642)
Song: “The bride she is winsome and bonny” by Joanna Baillie (1762–1851)
The Newly-Wedded by Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802–1839)
The Poet’s Bridal-Day Song by Allan Cunningham (1784–1842)
Thou hast sworn by thy God, my Jeanie” by Allan Cunningham (1784–1842)
Possession by Bayard Taylor (1825–1878)
My Ain Wife by Alexander Laing (1787–1857)
My Wife ’s a Winsome Wee Thing by Robert Burns (1759–1796)
The Poet’s Song to His Wife by Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall) (1787–1874)
The day returns, my bosom burns” by Robert Burns (1759–1796)
She was a phantom of delight” by William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
Possession by E. Robert Bulwer, Lord Lytton (Owen Meredith) (1831–1891)
My Heart is a Lute by Lady Blanche Elizabeth Fitzroy Lindsay (1844–1912)
Reunited Love by Richard Doddridge Blackmore (1825–1900)
A Woman’s Complaint—Anonymous
Love Lightens Labor—Anonymous
Connubial Life by James Thomson (1700–1748)
The Retort by George Pope Morris (1802–1864)
The Eggs and the Horses—Anonymous
Woman’s Will by John Godfrey Saxe (1816–1887)
The Worn Wedding-Ring by William Cox Bennett (1820–1895)
If thou wert by my side, my love” by Reginald Heber (1783–1826)
There’s nae luck about the house” by Jean Adam (1704–1765)
Dolcino to Margaret by Charles Kingsley (1819–1875)
O, lay thy hand in mine, dear!” by Gerald Massey (1828–1907)
Faith and Hope by Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860)
Darby and Joan by Frederic Edward Weatherly (1848–1929)
The Golden Wedding by David Gray (1838–1861)
The Fire of Love by Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset (1638–1706)
Not ours the vows” by Bernard Barton (1784–1849)
Laodamia by William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
Till death us part” by Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815–1881)
The Old Man Dreams by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894)
John Anderson, my jo” by Robert Burns (1759–1796)