Free summaries
Poetry — page 9
539 public-domain poetry books, summarised. Page 9 of 12.
Argonaut and Juggernaut
Osbert Sitwell
The horizon of the early twentieth century looms over these pages, where the wreckage of a global catastrophe is parsed with the sharp, unforgiving edge of a modern sensibility. This collection of verse acts as a bridge between the fading aestheticism of the nineteenth century and the jagged, disillusioned reality…
Out of the Flame
Osbert Sitwell
A restless, sharp-edged collection of verse, this book cuts through the polite veneers of early twentieth-century society to expose the profound disconnection between the human spirit and a world obsessed with hollow tradition.
Oxford poetry, 1921
Unknown
Emerging from post-war Oxford, these young poets capture the fragile beauty of English landscapes shadowed by ghosts, raw grief, and the quiet persistence of nature.
Poems of reflection
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
This collection of verse captures the Victorian and early twentieth-century American spirit, navigating the heavy currents of grief, domestic piety, and moral reform with earnest, rhythmic sincerity. It is a work of heartfelt observation, speaking directly to the ordinary burdens of the soul.
Songs of Labor, and Other Poems
Morris Rosenfeld
Over the clatter of needles and the deafening roar of machinery, a sweatshop tailor tries to remember what it feels like to be a human being.
The Witch-Maid, & Other Verses
Dorothea Mackellar
The vast, sun-drenched plains of Australia find a fierce and lyrical voice in this collection, where the landscape is not merely a setting, but a living, breathing participant in the human experience.
Mice & Other Poems
Gerald Bullett
The universe is a cruel, indifferent stage where humanity performs its brief, fragile dances before a silent audience. We are mere mice, scurrying beneath the gaze of a cat that watches our struggles with a cold, amused chuckle.
Our Profession and Other Poems
Jared Barhite
A school principal’s quiet, earnest reflections on the moral duty of teaching and the enduring solace of the natural world.
Sun-Up, and Other Poems
Lola Ridge
This collection of poetry captures the raw, jagged intensity of early 20th-century urban life, viewing the industrial world through the eyes of both the exploited and the dreaming. It is a work of fierce empathy, transforming the grim realities of poverty and labor into a resonant, rhythmic cry for liberation.
Aquarium
Harold Acton
HOOK This collection captures the brittle, jazz-age restlessness of the early 1920s, blending the mechanical hum of city life with the fevered, opulent dreams of youth.
Bees in Amber: A Little Book of Thoughtful Verse
John Oxenham
A quiet companion for the restless spirit, this collection of verse offers humble reflections on faith, duty, and the enduring presence of the divine in the midst of life's inevitable storms.
Blue and Purple
Francis Neilson
This collection of verse captures the ache of longing and the transformative power of a singular, idealized love. It serves as a lyrical record of one man’s devotion, charting the distance between profound isolation and the spiritual sanctuary found in his partner’s presence.
Foliage: Various Poems
W. H. (William Henry) Davies
This is a collection of verses that finds the miraculous in the mundane, holding the simple joys of nature against the crushing indifference of urban poverty. It is a lyrical meditation on the necessity of choosing beauty over bitterness.
Maurine and Other Poems
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
A young woman’s quiet, idyllic life is shattered when her dear friend falls in love with the man she herself secretly desires. This narrative poem explores the painful path of renouncing one’s own heart to ensure the happiness of another.
Poems of Adoration
Michael Field
These verses offer a sustained, rhythmic contemplation of the Christian narrative, moving with an intense, painterly focus from the suffering of the Crucifixion to the quiet mystery of the Eucharist. They function as a deliberate exercise in spiritual longing, inviting the reader into a world where the boundaries…
The poems of Thomas Gordon Hake
Thomas Gordon Hake
This collection captures the enduring voice of a nineteenth-century observer who translates deep, meditative stillness into rhythmic verse. It is a portrait of a poet who views the world through a lens of solemn, dreamlike contemplation.
By Still Waters: Lyrical Poems Old and New
George William Russell
The path to enlightenment does not climb toward a distant heaven, but dives inward to rediscover the starlight hidden within the clay of our own mortal existence.
Darkey Ways in Dixie
Margaret A. (Margaret Alice) Richard
A collection of dialect poetry captures the intimate, daily rhythms of African American life in the post-Reconstruction South, balancing labor and loss with resilience and faith.
Newfoundland Verse
E. J. (Edwin John) Pratt
The relentless power of the North Atlantic sea, indifferent to human life, serves as both stage and antagonist for the inhabitants of a rugged, unforgiving coast.
The flying parliament, and other poems
Edwina Stanton Babcock
This collection of verse captures the sudden, shattering intrusion of the First World War into the lives of both the young soldiers sent to the front and the civilians watching from home. With a blend of classical allusion and immediate, gritty observation, these poems act as a bridge between the old, romanticized…
The lost chimes, and other poems
Gustav Melby
A collection of lyrical meditations that move from the ruins of ancient empires to the quiet, rolling landscapes of the American Midwest, finding beauty in the fleeting nature of human endeavor.
How She Felt in Her First Corset, and Other Poems
Matthew W. Alderson
The persistent pull of human affection defines this collection, where the modest routines of frontier life are elevated by a sincere, often humorous devotion to the domestic and the romantic.
Love's crucifix
Francesco Petrarca
HOOK A lifetime of longing distilled into verse, this collection chronicles a poet’s devotion to a woman who remained, even after her death, his unreachable North Star.
My Lattice, and Other Poems
Frederick George Scott
This collection of verse captures the quiet, contemplative spirit of a nineteenth-century observer who finds the infinite hidden within the small and the familiar.
The Englishman and Other Poems
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
HOOK This collection captures the restless, turn-of-the-century spirit, balancing personal heartache with a fervent belief in human progress and the potential for a more compassionate world.
The wooden Pegasus
Edith Sitwell
Poetry is a house of mirrors and marionettes, where the bright, hard surfaces of modern life conceal a deep, haunting ache. This collection invites readers into a world of artificial, high-contrast imagery, where the mechanical and the human collide with startling intensity.
A spray of lilac, and other poems and songs
M. (Marie) Hedderwick-Browne
A delicate collection of verse that wanders through the quiet landscapes of memory, exploring the ache of lost time and the enduring, bittersweet comfort found in the small things of the earth.
A winter holiday
Bliss Carman
This collection of verse captures the transition from a harsh New England winter to the vibrant, sun-drenched sanctuary of the Bahamas. Through a series of lyrical meditations, it explores the tension between the artist’s need for travel and the profound contentment found in friendship and stillness.
Forty-Two Poems
James Elroy Flecker
This collection of forty-two poems distills a brief, brilliant life into verses that bridge the divide between the classical Mediterranean past and the haunting, smoky landscapes of early twentieth-century London. It is a work of restless curiosity, where the ache of mortality meets the defiance of the artist.
Archways of life
Mercedes de Acosta
The archways of human experience—love, ambition, and the inevitable decay of all things—form the landscape of these lyrical meditations. Through verse that balances sharp observation with a restless, searching spirit, the poet captures the fleeting nature of intimacy and the quiet weight of being alive.
The Bush Fire, and Other Verses
Ida Lee
The vast, sun-drenched Australian bush serves as both a cradle and a crucible, testing the mettle of those who seek to master its unforgiving landscape. These verses capture the spirit of a frontier where nature’s beauty and its terrifying power are inextricably linked.
When hearts are trumps
Tom Hall
This collection of verse captures the fleeting, often stingingly clever spirit of Gilded Age courtship, where a well-turned phrase could win a heart or ruin a reputation.
Poems from Punch, 1909-1920
Unknown
Through the shifting moods of war and peace, these pages capture a nation's daily laughter, preserving the sharp, affectionate wit of an era caught between two worlds.
The Call of the Mountains, and Other Poems
James E. Pickering
Amid the crystalline waters of Lake Leman and the shadow of ancient Alpine peaks, a solitary traveler wanders through centuries of memory, architectural ghosts, and quiet meditations on human transience.
All That Matters
Edgar A. (Edgar Albert) Guest
The true measure of a life is found not in grand ambition or status, but in the quiet, enduring grace of domestic love and daily service. This collection of verse captures the heartbeat of the ordinary, finding profound meaning in the simple rhythms of a home and the bonds between parents, children, and neighbors.
Landscape and Song
Unknown
A delicate interplay of nature's beauty and human emotion lingers long after the final verse fades away.
Rain and roses
Jeannette Fraser Henshall
In quiet rural byways and deep woodland solitudes, ordinary days hold the steady rhythm of passing seasons and quiet human grief.
Snowflakes
Esther Nelson Karn
Drifting snowflakes turn the brown earth to a sparkling velvet stage, while changing seasons and quiet rural vignettes unfold across country roads, quiet lakes, and memories of a bygone family life.
Songs Ysame
Annie F. (Annie Fellows) Johnston
Simple country lanes, glowing hearths, and the quiet passage of years evoke a deep, lingering nostalgia for simpler times and enduring human bonds.
Sonnets of Shakespeare's Ghost
Gregory Thornton
A spirit returns to answer skeptics, defending the deep, truth-born devotion of his earthly verse against charges of artifice and feigned affection.
Alcyone
Archibald Lampman
The stars and the soul share a common vastness. Through a sequence of lyrical meditations, this collection explores the tension between the finite life of man and the infinite, enduring beauty of the natural world.
Oklahoma Sunshine
Freeman Edwin Miller
A warm, frontier-town optimism radiates through every entry of a regional columnist’s daily dispatch from the newly settled American West, where neighborly grit and unfailing good cheer turn dusty plains into a home.
The Kingdom of Love
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The search for true affection leads through various illusions, ultimately revealing that the most enduring kingdom is not found in wealth or fame, but within the simple sanctuary of home.
Silken threads
Ruth Collie
Finding profound grace in the quiet margins of daily routines, these verses transform everyday domestic life, changing kitchens, changing seasons, and familiar faces into a celebration of simple human connection.
The Glebe 1914/09 (Vol. 2, No. 2): Poems
George W. (George William) Cronyn
The poetry of George W. Cronyn explores the jagged friction between raw primal impulses and the sobering restraints of civilization.
Thy Sea is Great, Our Boats are Small, and Other Hymns of To-Day
Henry Van Dyke
Fierce storms and shifting tides buffet human life, yet steady trust, shared labor, and quiet inward joy offer an anchor through every age of doubt and war.
Twenty Six Choice Poetical Extracts: Selected from Celebrated Authors, and Printed from Copper Plates Engraved Expressly for the Work, Each Embellished with a Beautiful Vignette, Illustrative of the Subject
Various
Through verse and devotion, a quiet collection opens ancient scriptures and rural landscapes to guide young souls toward spiritual reflection and eternal peace.
Verses
Susan Coolidge
Poetry is often treated as a distant, lofty pursuit, but this collection finds its strength in the quiet, accessible beauty of the everyday. It offers a gentle meditation on the small rhythms of life, the inevitability of loss, and the persistent hope found in faith.