On a Fly Drinking Out of His Cup

by William Oldys. Performed by rhapsode Bob Gonzalez. William Oldys (14 July 1696 – 15 April 1761) was an English antiquarian and bibliographer. Nevertheless, American anthologist Oscar Williams found this poem worthy of inclusion in his classic collection, Immortal Poems of the English Language.

To a Dog

by John Jay Chapman. Performed by rhapsode Bob Gonzalez. John Jay Chapman (March 2, 1862 – November 4, 1933) was an American author, more known for essays and fiction than verse. Nevertheless, this poem to one of the most popular pets of all time is worth the listen.

The First Kiss of Love

by George Gordon, Lord Byron. Performed by rhapsode Bob Gonzalez. George Gordon Byron (later Noel), 6th Baron Byron, FRS (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was an English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and the short lyric "She Walks in Beauty.”

The Vagabond

by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Song Against Songs

by G.K. Chesterton.

Simplex Munditiis

by Ben Jonson.

Petals

by Amy Lowell.

Lovers

by Emily Dickinson.

The Fiddler of Dooney

by William Butler Yeats. Performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode. William Butler Yeats (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939) was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms. Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and, along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn, and others, founded the Abbey Theatre, where he served as its chief during its early years. In 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature as the first Irishman so honoured for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation". (Wikipedia)

The 90th Psalm Versified

by Robert Burns. Performed by rhapsode Bob Gonzalez. Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known as Rabbie Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire and various other names and epithets, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide.

The Flea

by John Donne. John Donne (22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet and a cleric in the Church of England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons.

To an Athlete Dying Young

by A.E. Housman. Alfred Edward Housman (26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936), usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems wistfully evoke the dooms and disappointments of youth in the English countryside. Their beauty, simplicity and distinctive imagery appealed strongly to late Victorian and Edwardian taste, and to many early 20th-century English composers both before and after the First World War. Through their song-settings, the poems became closely associated with that era, and with Shropshire itself.

A Fish Answers

by Leigh Hunt. James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 1784 – 28 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist, poet, and writer.

To a Fish

by Leigh Hunt. James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 1784 – 28 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist, poet, and writer.

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost. Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in America. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. One of the most popular and critically respected American poets of the twentieth century, Frost received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.

The New Colossus

by Emma Lazarus. Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 – November 19, 1887) was an American poet born in New York City. She is best known for this sonnet written in 1883; its lines appear inscribed on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty installed in New York Harbor in 1903, a decade and a half after Lazarus's death.

Sonnet 75

(One Day I Wrote Her Name Upon the Strand) by Edmund Spenser. Edmund Spenser (1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of nascent Modern English verse, and is often considered one of the greatest poets in the English language.

Song (Go and Catch a Falling Star)

by John Donne. John Donne (22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet and a cleric in the Church of England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor, especially compared to that of his contemporaries. He wrote secular poems as well as erotic and love poems. He is particularly famous for his mastery of metaphysical conceits.

Psalm of the Day

by Emily Dickinson. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet, born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Although part of a prominent family with strong ties to its community, Dickinson lived much of her life as an introvert. After studying at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth, she briefly attended the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's house in Amherst. Considered an eccentric by locals, she developed a noted penchant for white clothing and became known for her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even to leave her bedroom. Dickinson never married, and most friendships between her and others depended entirely upon correspondence.

Pied Beauty

by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode. Reverend Father Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and a Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame established him among the leading Victorian poets. His experimental explorations in prosody (especially sprung rhythm) and his use of imagery established him as a daring innovator in a period of largely traditional verse.

Ozymandias

by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets, and is regarded by some as among the finest lyric, as well as epic, poets in the English language. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not see fame during his lifetime, but recognition for his poetry grew steadily following his death. Shelley was a key member of a close circle of visionary poets and writers that includedLord Byron; Leigh Hunt; Thomas Love Peacock; and his own second wife, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.

Jabberwocky

by Lewis Carroll. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon, and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, which includes the poem “Jabberwocky,” and the poem “The Hunting of the Snark,” all examples of the genre of literary nonsense. He is noted for his facility at word play, logic, and fantasy. 

It is a Beauteous Evening

by William Wordsworth. William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads (1798).

In a Library

by Emily Dickinson. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet, born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Although part of a prominent family with strong ties to its community, Dickinson lived much of her life as an introvert. After studying at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth, she briefly attended the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's house in Amherst. Considered an eccentric by locals, she developed a noted penchant for white clothing and became known for her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even to leave her bedroom. Dickinson never married, and most friendships between her and others depended entirely upon correspondence.

A Poison Tree

by William Blake. William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. 

Abou Ben Adhem

by Leigh Hunt. James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 1784 – 28 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist, poet, and writer. Friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats.

Two Anonymous Poems

"My Love in Her Attire" and "There is a Lady Sweet and Kind"

The Noblest Roman

Antony's funeral oration over the body of Julius Caesar starts a civil war. Brutus and Cassius are defeated and both commit suicide by falling on their own swords. When Antony encounters the body of Brutus, he speaks this spontaneous, brief eulogy.

If You Have Tears

Marc Antony, who enters carrying the body of Caesar, succeeds in gaining and holding the attention of the crowd of Roman citizens, whom Brutus has turned against Caesar and him. Now he asks their permission to descend and speak to them over the body of Caesar.

O, Pardon Me, Thou Bleeding Piece of Earth

After the conspirators plunge their daggers repeatedly into Caesar, Marc Antony cautiously requests permission to eulogize his great friend. Though Cassius objects, Brutus allows it, saying that, "It shall advantage more than do us wrong." When the conspirators leave, Antony is left alone with the body of Caesar and speaks these words over it.

Well, Brutus, Thou Art Noble

After bending Brutus' ear, arguing passionately against Caesar, whom he portrays as an arrogant, weak, womanish fool, Cassius, left alone, reveals his dark intentions to sway Brutus to join the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar.

Wherefore Rejoice?

The tribune Marullus chastises a gaggle of plebians celebrating the triumphal arrival of Julius Caesar in Rome, bidding them remember Pompey, an earlier great Roman military leader.

It Must Be By His Death

Brutus, having calmly heard the argument of his fellow senator, Cassius, on the dangers facing Rome because of Julius Caesar's ambition, turns the matter over for himself. From Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare.

I Know That Virtue

Cassius, a Roman senator, speaks to persuade his fellow senator, Brutus, of the low character of Julius Caesar.

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I Could Be Well Moved

Julius Caesar rebukes the senators in their plea for mercy on Publius Cimber, little suspecting that they are merely using this supplication as a ruse to draw near enough to stab him with their hidden daggers. From William Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, Act III, scene i.

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Hamlet's Speech to the Players

From The Tragedy of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. In Act III, scene ii, Prince Hamlet advises the players of the traveling theatre troupe that has arrived at Elsinore castle on how to perform the speech he has written to insert into their upcoming performance of The Murder of Gonzago.

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I Will Redeem All This

King Henry IV calls his profligate son Hal in for sound reprimanding, being thoroughly fed up with the prince's wastreling. In the heat of his outrage, he tells Hal that, by all his neglect of his princely decorum and duties, he is more an enemy of his father's than his political rival, Sir Henry Percy, known as Hotspur. Chastised and humbled, Prince Hal swears his undying allegiance to his father and his crown and vows to either destroy Hotspur or die trying.

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I Know You All

Prince Hal, the profligate son of King Henry IV, has been spending much of his time with Sir John Falstaff and his cronies, Poins and Francis, a group of low-lifes dedicated to drinking sack and petty theft. After bandying words with them a while, Prince Hal is left alone on stage. Looking in the direction of where they exited, Hal reveals his future intentions.

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I Know Thee Not Old Man

Prince Hal, now King Henry V, rebukes his old friend, Sir John Falstaff.

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