Ozymandias BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions…
POEM – April 20
On Monsieur’s Departure BY QUEEN ELIZABETH I I grieve and dare not show my discontent, I love and yet am forced to seem to hate, I do, yet dare not say I ever meant, I seem stark mute but inwardly do prate. I am and not, I freeze and yet am burned, Since from myself…
POEM – April 19
EXCERPTED FROM The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue BY GEOFFREY CHAUCER Here bygynneth the Book of the tales of Caunterbury Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licóur Of which vertú engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete…
POEM – April 18
Preludes BY T. S. ELIOT I The winter evening settles down With smell of steaks in passageways. Six o’clock. The burnt-out ends of smoky days. And now a gusty shower wraps The grimy scraps Of withered leaves about your feet And newspapers from vacant lots; The showers beat On broken blinds and chimney-pots, And…
POEM – April 17
EXCERPTED FROM LAUSTIC BY MARIE DE FRANCE No-one detected their subterfuge, No-one could tell her not to stare Out her own window–and he’d be there. Long had they loved each other dear When there came the summer of one year. Now woods and meadows are green again, Orchards in blossom are seen again, The…