Poets and Poetry

Richard Crashaw offers the hope of eternity for wedded love.

Richard Crashaw (1613-1649) was an Anglican clergyman and scholar who was forced into exile in France in 1643 for his traditional beliefs, after Oliver Cromwell captured Cambridge in the Civil War. In this short poem, he assures us that the bond of wedded love lasts to eternity. (Crashaw is pronounced cray-shaw.)

Read

A poem of nostalgia tinged with regret.

Thomas Hood is better known for his humorous verse; this is a poignant little reflection on childhood innocence lost.

Read

In Coleridge’s epic poem, the Ancient Mariner, amid the horrors of a ship of dead men, sees a sight both beautiful and surreal.

The Ancient Mariner has wantonly killed an albatross, and brought death and destruction on his ship. Surrounded now by the dead bodies of the crew, a new and ghostly sight meets his eyes.

Read

Humorist Thomas Hood obviously didn’t like to see the nights drawing in

November weather isn’t always as miserable as Hood makes out. But the sun doesn’t rise until half-past seven in the morning, and it sets just after four o’clock, so the days are a little short.

Read

The glory of political power soon passes away.

Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote this poem in friendly competition with fellow-poet Horace Smith. Ozymandias is an ancient Greek name for Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II (1279-1213 BC).

Read

The poet reflects on the obscure lives that most of us lead.

We find in a churchyard people who had the same talents as the great figures of English history and poetry, but not their chance to achieve fame.

Read