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William Shakespeare
Contents
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I. Introduction poem.

II. Life
III. The Sonnets
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William Shakespeare

Introduction

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616), English playwright and poet,

the greatest of all dramatists. He had a remarkable knowledge of
human behavior, which he was able to communicate through his
portrayal of a wide variety of characters. More…
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William Shakespeare

Life

Shakespeare composed his plays during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who
Ruled England from 1558 to 103, and during the early part of her cousin
James Vi of Scotland, who took England's throne as James I after
Elizabeth’s death in 1603. During this period England saw an outpouring
Of poetry and drama, led by Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser and
Christopher Marlowe, that remains unsurpassed in English literary history.
More on Shakespeare’s life. More…
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William Shakespeare
The Sonnets

The first 126 sonnets are addressed to a handsome young nobleman. The

poems express the writer’s selfless but not entirely uncritical devotion to
the young man. The next 28 sonnets are written to a “dark lady”. The form
of the poems is an English variation of the traditional fourteen-line sonnet.
The lines, which each have ten syllables, are arranged into three quatrains,
or groups of four lines, and a final couplet. The rhyme scheme of the sonnets
is abab, cdcd, efef, gg. A theme is developed and elaborated in the
quatrains, and a concluding thought is presented in the couplet. More...
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William Shakespeare

Globe Theatre Interior Globe Theatre in London Birthplace Burial Site

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Unthrifty
FROM fairestloveliness,
creatures whywedost thou
desire spend
increase,
Upon thyself thy beauty's legacy?
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
Nature's
But as bequest
the ripergives nothing
should by timebutdecease,
doth lend,
And being frank she lends to those
His tender heir might bear his memory: are free.
Then,
But beauteous
thou, niggard,
contracted why own
to thine dostbright
thou abuse
eyes,
The bounteous largess given thee to give? fuel,
Feed'st thy light'st flame with self-substantial
Profitless
Making usurer,
a famine why abundance
where dost thou use
lies,
William Shakespeare Thyself thy foe, to thy sweetcanst
So great
ThouForthat
a sum
having
of sums,
traffic
art now
yet not cruel.
self too
with thyself
the world's
live?
freshalone,
ornament
ThouAndof thyself thy sweet self dost
only herald to the gaudy spring, deceive.
Then how,thine
Within whenownnature
bud calls thee
buriest thytocontent
be gone,
Sonnet 1 What acceptable audit canst thou leave?
And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding.
  Thy unused
  Pity the beauty must
world, or bethis
else tomb'd withbe,
glutton thee,
Sonnet 4   To  Which,
eat the world's due,th'
used, lives byexecutor
the gravetoand
be.thee.
Sonnet 8
Sonnet 10
Sonnet 13 Record and replay
When my your
love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
Sonnet 16 own sound. Click here.
That she might think me some untutored youth,
Sonnet 138 Unlearnèd in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Sonnet 151 Although she knows my days are past the best,
Sonnet 153 Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth supressed.
Sonnet 154 But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
Oh, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told.
Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered by.
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John Keats
Contents
Poems Images
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Images

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provides Check out the Click here to
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famous
I. Introduction poem.

II. Early Life

III. Life As A Poet
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John Keats

Introduction

Keats, John (1795-1821), major English poet, despite his early

death from tuberculosis at the age of 25. Keats’s poetry describes
the beauty of the natural world and art as the vehicle for his poetic
imagination. His skill with poetic imagery and sound reproduces this
sensuous experience for his reader. Keats’s poetry evolves over his
brief career from this love of nature and art into a deep compassion
for humanity. Read more…
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John Keats

Early Life

Keats was born in north London, England. From 1803 to 1811 Keats attended

School. Toward the end of his schooling, he began to read widely
and even undertook a prose translation of the Aeneid from the Latin.
After he left school at the age of 16, Keats was apprenticed to a
surgeon for four years. During this time his interest in poetry grew.
He wrote his first poems in 1814 and passed his medical and druggist
examinations in 1816. Read more…
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John Keats

Life As A Poet

In May 1816 Keats published his first poem, the sonnet "O Solitude,“

marking the beginning of his poetic career. In writing a sonnet,
a 14-line poem with a strict rhyme scheme, Keats sought to take
his place in the tradition established by great classical, European,
and British epic poet. Read more…
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John Keats

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Description.
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Bright
When star,
I have
wouldfears
I were
thatstedfast
I may ceaseas thou
to be
art--
Before
Not inmy lonepen
splendour
has glean'dhungmy aloft
teeming
the night
brain,
Before
And watching,
high-piledwith
books,
eternal
in charactery,
lids apart,
Hold
Likelike
nature's
rich garners
patient,the sleepless
full ripen'd
Eremite,
grain;
When
The moving
I behold,waters
upon atthetheir
night's
priestlike
starr'dtask
face,
Of Huge
pure ablution
cloudy symbols
round earth's
of a high human
romance,
shores,
And
Or gazing
think that
on the
I may
newnever
soft-fallen
live to mask
trace

John Keats Their

Of snow
And
shadows,
No--yet
upon the
whenstill
withmountains
I feel,
the magicand
stedfast,
fair creature
hand theofmoors--
chance;
still unchangeable,
of an hour,
Pillow'd
That Iuponshallmynever
fair look
love'supon
ripening
thee more,
breast,
Bright Star To
Never
feel have
Of Awake
for ever
unreflecting
relish
for ever
itsinsoft
the fall
love;--then
in a sweet
faery andpower
onunrest,
swell,
the shore
When I Have Fears Still,
Of the still
wide
to hear
worldherI stand
tender-taken
alone, and breath,
think

Ode On Melancholy Till

Andloveso live
andever--or
fame to else
nothingness
swoon todo death.
sink.

Ode To Psyche
Hyperion
Record and replay yourfill the measure of the year;
Four Seasons
Ode to a nightingale There are four seasons in the mind of man:
own sound. ClickHehere.
To Autumn has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
Takes in all beauty with an easy span:
The Human Seasons He has his Summer, when luxuriously

To Homer Spring's honied cud of youthful thought he loves

To ruminate, and by such dreaming high
To Sleep Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness--to let fair things
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forego his mortal nature.
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William Wordsworth
Contents
Poems Images
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provides Check out the Click here to
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I. Introduction famous
poem.
II. Early Life
III. Wordsworth With
Coleridge
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William Wordsworth

Introduction

Wordsworth, William (1770-1850), born on April 7, 1770, in Cockermouth,

Cumberland; English poet, one of the most accomplished and influential of
England's romantic poets, whose theories and style created
a new tradition in poetry. More…
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William Wordsworth

Early Life

Wordsworth developed a keen love of nature as a youth, and during school

vacation periods he frequently visited places noted for their scenic beauty.
After receiving his degree in 1791 he returned to France, where he became
an enthusiastic convert to the ideals of the French Revolution (1789-1799).
Disheartened by the outbreak of hostilities between France and Great
Britain in 1793, Wordsworth nevertheless remained sympathetic to the
French cause. Wordsworth had met the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an
enthusiastic admirer of his early poetic efforts in 1797. More…
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William Wordsworth

Wordsworth With Coleridge

Wordswroth collaborated with Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Lyrical Ballads,

(1798) which was generally taken to mark the beginning of the Romantic
Movement in English poetry. Wordsworth wrote almost all the poems
in the volume, including the memorable “Tintern Abbey”; Coleridge
contributed the famous “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Representing a
revolt against the artificial classicism of contemporary English verse,
Lyrical Ballads was greeted with hostility by most leading critics of the
day. More…
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William Wordsworth
Wordsworth at
young age

Medieval Tintern Abbey,

made known by
Wordsworth

Wordsworth’s House
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I wandered lonely as a cloud A slumber did my spirit seal;

that floats on high o’er vales and hills, I hadOut-did
no humanthe fears—
sparking waves in glee;
When all at once I saw a crowd, She seemed aAthing
poet that
couldcould
not but
not be
feel
gay,
A host, of golden daffodils, The touch In of
such
earthly
a jocund
yearscompany;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, No motion Ihasgazed—and
she now, no gazed—but
force; little thought
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. She neither
What hears
wealthnor
thesees;
snow to me had brought:
Continuous as the stars that shine Rolled round For
in earth’s
oft, when
diurnal
on my
course,
couch I lie
William Wordsworth and twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
With rocks, in
They
and
vacant
stones,
flash
or in
upon
and
pensive
trees.
that
mood,
inward eye
Along the margin of a bay; Which is the bliss of solitude
A slumber did my Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
spirit seal The waves beside them danced; but they

I wandered lonely
as a cloud
From low to high doth dissolution climb,
The Birth of Love Record and replay your
And sink from high to low, along a scale
Of awful notes, whose concord shall not fail;
The Thorn own sound. Click here.
A musical but melancholy chime,
Which they can hear who meddle not with crime,
Mutability Nor avarice, nor over-anxious care.
Truth fails not; but her outward forms that bear
Expostulation And The longest date do melt like frosty rime,
That in the morning whitened hill and plain
Reply And is no more; drop like the tower sublime
Of yesterday, which royalty did wear
The Borders His crown of weeds, but could not even sustain
Some casual shout that broke the silent air,
The Excursion Or the unimaginable touch of Time.

The Recluse
Peter Bell
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Robert Frost
Contents
Poems Images
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Check out the
provides open audio
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a series of clips
Collections here
Frost’s famous
poem.
I. Introduction
II. Life
III. Works
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Robert Frost

Introduction

Frost, Robert (1874-1963), American poet, who drew his images from the

New England countryside and his language from New England speech.
Although Frost’s images and voice often seem familiar and old, his
Observations have an edge of skepticism and irony that make his work,
upon rereading, never as old-fashioned, easy, or carefree as it first
appears. Frost’s poetry helped provide a link between the American poetry
of the 19th century and that of the 20th century. Read more…
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Robert Frost

Life

Robert Lee Frost was born in San Francisco, California, the son of William

Prescott Frost, Jr., of New Hampshire and Isabelle Moodie of Scotland.
When Frost was 11 years old, his father died of tuberculosis. The Frost
family then moved to Massachusetts, where William Frost wanted to be
buried. Frost attended high school in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and began
writing poetry. Read more…
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Robert Frost

Works

Frost's poetry mainly reflects life in rural New England, and the language

he used was the uncomplicated speech of that region. Although Frost
concentrates on ordinary subject matter, he evokes a wide range of
emotions, and his poems often shift dramatically from humorous tones
to tragic ones. Much of his poetry is concerned with how people interact
with their environment, and though he saw the beauty of nature, he also
saw its potential dangers. Read more…
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Robert Frost
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One of my wishes is that those dark trees,
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as 'twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom.

I should not be withheld but that some day

into their vastness I should steal away,
Fearless of ever finding open land,

Robert Frost or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.

We make ourselves a place apart

I do not see why I should e'er turn back,
Behind light words that tease and flout,
Or those should not set forth upon my track
Into My Own But oh, the agitated hear
To overtake me, who should miss me here
Till someone really find us out.
And long to know if still I held them dear.
Revelation
Two 'Tis
roads diverged in a yellow wood,
A Prayer in Spring They would
And
pity
notsorry
find I
if the case
mecould
changed
not
require
from him
travel
(Or so we say) that in the end both the knew--
OnlyAnd
more sure of all I though I was true.
In Neglect Webe
AndThe
one the
speak
looked
traveler,
literallong
down one asoffar
stood
to inspire
as I could
understanding a friend.
Love and a Question To where it bent in the undergrowth;

My November Guest Thensotook

But
And At
withthe
having
all, other, as justthat
from babes
perhaps the better
as fair,
play
claim,
hid-and-seek to God afar,
The Road Not Taken Record and replay your
Because it was
So all whograssy
hide too and wanted
well away wear;

October own sound. Click here.

Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
The Trial by And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Existence Oh, I kept the first for another day!
The Fear Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.