Poems Teachers Ask For Selected By Readers Of Normal Instructor

Chapter 1

Chapter 12,314 wordsPublic domain

Produced by Charles Aldarondo and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

POEMS TEACHERS ASK FOR

Selected by READERS OF "NORMAL INSTRUCTOR-PRIMARY PLANS"

COMPRISING THE POEMS MOST FREQUENTLY REQUESTED FOR PUBLICATION IN THAT MAGAZINE ON THE PAGE "POEMS OUR READERS HAVE ASKED FOR"

INDEX

Abou Ben Adhem _Hunt_ 30 Abraham Lincoln _T. Taylor_ 16 All Things Bright and Beautiful _Alexander_ 41 American Flag, The _Drake_ 133 Answer to "Rock Me to Sleep" 103 Arrow and the Song, The _Longfellow_ 74 Asleep at the Switch _Hoey_ 56 At School-Close _Whittier_ 65 Aunt Tabitha 45 Autumn Woods _Bryant_ 48

Baby, The _Macdonald_ 22 Barbara Frietchie _Whittier_ 71 Barefoot Boy, The _Whittier_ 176 Bay Billy _Gassaway_ 104 Be Strong _Babcock_ 174 Better Than Gold _Smart_ 143 Bingen on the Rhine _Norton_ 121 Blue and the Gray, The _Finch_ 183 Bluebird's Song, The _E.H. Miller_ 73 Bobby Shaftoe 8 Boy and His Stomach, A 93 Boy's Song, A _Hogg_ 172 "Breathes There the Man" _Scott_ 185 Brier-Rose _Boyesen_ 144 Brook, The _Tennyson_ 162 Brown Thrush, The _Larcom_ 181 Bugle Song, The _Tennyson_ 183 Builders, The _Longfellow_ 181 Building of the Ship, The _Longfellow_ 63 Burial of Sir John Moore, The _Wolfe_ 190

Calf Path, The _Foss_ 110 Casey at the Bat _Thayer_ 100 Casey's Revenge _Wilson_ 101 Chambered Nautilus, The _Holmes_ 169 Character of the Happy Warrior _Wordsworth_ 165 Charge of the Light Brigade, The _Tennyson_ 166 Children's Hour, The _Longfellow_ 70 Children, The _Dickinson_ 53 Child's Thought of God, A _E.B. Browning_ 183 Christ in Flanders 18 Christmas Everywhere _Brooks_ 158 Cloud, The _Shelley_ 159 College Oil Cans _McGuire_ 122 Columbus _Joaquin Miller_ 83 Concord Hymn, The _Emerson_ 99 Corn Song, The _Whittier_ 171 Crossing the Bar _Tennyson_ 186 Curfew Must Not Ring To-night _Thorpe_ 24 Custer's Last Charge _Whittaker_ 91

Daffodils _Wordsworth_ 179 Darius Green and His Flying Machine _Trowbridge_ 153 Day Well Spent, A 38 Dead Pussy Cat, The _Short_ 64 Diffidence 23 Don't Give Up _P. Cary_ 182 Driving Home the Cows _Osgood_ 88 Drummer Boy of Mission Ridge 49

Each in His Own Tongue _Carruth_ 58 Echo _Saxe_ 20 Engineers Making Love _Burdette_ 21 Eternal Goodness, The _Whittier_ 87

Fable, A _Emerson_ 177 Face Upon the Floor, The _D'Arcy_ 108 Fairies, The _Allingham_ 173 Fence or an Ambulance, A _Malins_ 127 First Settler's Story, The _Carleton_ 197 First Snow-fall, The _Lowell_ 99 Flag Goes By, The _Bennett_ 45 Fountain, The _Lowell_ 186 Four-leaf Clover, The _Higginson_ 134 Frost, The _Gould_ 171

Give Us Men _Holland_ 33 God's Judgment on a Wicked Bishop _Southey_ 124 Golden Keys 134 Good Night and Good Morning _Houghton_ 184 Gradatim _Holland_ 96 Green Mountain Justice, The _Reeves_ 74 Guilty or Not Guilty 22

Hand That Rules the World, The _Wallace_ 113 House by the Side of the Road, The _Foss_ 56 How Cyrus Laid the Cable _Saxe_ 58 How He Saved St. Michael's _Stansbury_ 119 Huskers, The _Whittier_ 152

If-- _Kipling_ 51 I Like Little Pussy _J. Taylor_ 178 Incident of the French Camp _R. Browning_ 182 In Flanders Fields _McCrae_ 195 In Flanders Fields: An Answer _Galbreath_ 195 In School-Days _Whittier_ 31 Inventor's Wife, An _Ewing_ 13 Invictus _Henley_ 29 Is It Worth While? _Joachim Miller_ 36 I Want to Go to Morrow 72

Jane Conquest _Milne_ 76 Jane Jones _King_ 59 Johnny's Hist'ry Lesson _Waterman_ 62 June _Lowell_ 163

Kate Ketchem _P. Cary_ 81 Kate Shelly _Hall_ 25 Katie Lee and Willie Grey 30 Kentucky Belle _Woolson_ 10 Kentucky Philosophy _Robertson_ 32 Kid Has Gone to the Colors, The _Herschell_ 9 King Robert of Sicily _Longfellow_ 147

Lady Moon _Houghton_ 185 Landing of the Pilgrims, The _Hemans_ 8 Lasca _Desprez_ 129 Last Hymn, The _Faringham_ 126 Leak in the Dike, The _P. Cary_ 187 Leap for Life, A _Morris_ 74 Leap of Roushan Beg, The _Longfellow_ 60 Leedle Yawcob Strauss _Adams_ 35 Legend of Bregenz, A _Procter_ 141 Legend of the Organ-Builder, The _Dorr_ 106 L'Envoi _Kipling_ 67 Life's Mirror _Bridges_ 37 Lips That Touch Liquor, The _Young_ 79 Little Birdie _Tennyson_ 173 Little Black-Eyed Rebel, The _Carleton_ 37 Little Boy Blue _Field_ 195 Little Brown Hands _Krout_ 71 Little Plant, The _Brown_ 192 Lost Chord, The _Procter_ 69 Love of Country _Scott_ 185 ("Breathes There the Man")

Main Truck, The _Morris_ 74 Mandalay _Kipling_ 82 Man With the Hoe, The _Markham_ 115 Maud Muller _Whittier_ 205 Miller of the Dee, The _Mackay_ 39 Moo Cow Moo, The _Cooke_ 40 Mother's Fool 31 Mothers of Men _Joaquin Miller_ 43 Mount Vernon's Bells _Slade_ 95 Mr. Finney's Turnip 96 My Love Ship _Wilcox_ 114 My Mother 138

Nathan Hale _Finch_ 78 Never Trouble Trouble _Windsor_ 33 Nobility _A. Cary_ 169 "Not Understood" 136 November _A. Cary_ 173

O Captain! My Captain _Whitman_ 7 October's Bright Blue Weather _Jackson_ 144 Old Clock on the Stairs, The _Longfellow_ 17 Old Ironsides _Holmes_ 61 Old Red Cradle, The _Grannies_ 39 O Little Town of Bethlehem _Brooks_ 168 On His Blindness _Milton_ 172 On the Shores of Tennessee _Beers_ 93 Opportunity _Ingalls_ 175 Opportunity _Malone_ 175 Order for a Picture, An _A. Cary_ 41 Our Folks _Beers_ 107 Out in the Fields _E.B. Browning_ 73 Over the Hill to the Poorhouse _Carleton_ 131 Overworked Elocutionist, The 9 Owl and the Pussy-Cat, The _Lear_ 170 Owl Critic, The _Fields_ 64

Paul Revere's Ride _Longfellow_ 193 Penny Ye Mean to Gie, The 34 Perfect Day, A _Bond_ 80 Pippa's Song _R. Browning_ 185 Plain Bob and a Job _Foley_ 44 Planting of the Apple-Tree _Bryant_ 164 Poet's Prophecy, A _Tennyson_ 7 Polonius' Advice to Laertes _Shakespeare_ 177 Poorhouse Nan _Blinn_ 116 Psalm of Life, A _Longfellow_ 61

Quality of Mercy, The _Shakespeare_ 181

Raggedy Man, The _Riley_ 203 Recessional, The _Kipling_ 86 Ride of Jennie M'Neal, The _Carleton_ 111 Riding on the Rail _Saxe_ 62 Rivers of France, The 46 Robert of Lincoln _Bryant_ 189 Robert Reese (The Overworked Elocutionist) 9 Rock Me to Sleep _Allen_ 102

Say Not the Struggle Nought Availeth _Clough_ 39 Second Table _Waterman_ 52 Seein' Things _Field_ 203 Seven Times One _Ingelow_ 46 Seven Times Two _Ingelow_ 47 Seven Times Three _Ingelow_ 47 Seven Times Four _Ingelow_ 48 Sheridan's Ride _Read_ 167 She Walks in Beauty _Byron_ 180 Sister and I 207 Sister's Best Feller _Lincoln_ 84 Sleep, Baby, Sleep _Elizabeth Prentiss_ 69 Smack in School, The _Palmer_ 128 Somebody's Mother _Brine_ 136 Song of Our Flag, A _Nesbit_ 89 Song of the Camp, The _B. Taylor_ 180 Song of the Sea _Cornwall_ 23 Song of the Shirt _Hood_ 157 Song: The Owl _Tennyson_ 174 So Was I _Smiley_ 36 Suppose _P. Cary_ 178 Sweet and Low _Tennyson_ 175

Tapestry Weavers, The _Chester_ 85 Teacher's Dream, The _Venable_ 140 Telling the Bees _Whittier_ 135 Thanatopsis _Bryant_ 196 Thanksgiving-Day _Child_ 178 There's But One Pair of Stockings 27 To a Butterfly _Wordsworth_ 179 To a Skylark _Shelley_ 160 To a Waterfowl _Bryant_ 137 To-day _Carlyle_ 191 To-day _Waterman_ 35 To the Fringed Gentian _Bryant_ 179 Tree, The _Bjornson_ 186 Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star _J. Taylor_ 185 Two Glasses, The _Wilcox_ 15

Village Blacksmith, The _Longfellow_ 97 Visit from St. Nicholas, A _Moore_ 54

Walrus and the Carpenter, The _Carroll_ 138 We Are Seven _Wordsworth_ 19 What I Live For _Banks_ 114 What is Good _O'Reilly_ 34 When the Cows Come Home _Mitchell_ 90 When the Minister Comes to Tea _Lincoln_ 89 When the Teacher Gets Cross 86 Where the West Begins _Chapman_ 85 Whistling in Heaven 67 White-Footed Deer, The _Bryant_ 94 Who Won the War? _Pulsifer_ 43 Why Should the Spirit of Mortal Be Proud! _Knox_ 118 Wild White Rose, The _Willis_ 66 Wind and the Moon, The _Macdonald_ 191 Wind, The _Rossetti_ 170 Wishing _Allingham_ 190 Woman's Question, A _Lathrop_ 129 Wonderful World, The _Rands_ 174 Woodman, Spare That Tree _Morris_ 70

You and You _Wharton_ 97 Young Man Waited, The _Cooke_ 28 Your Mission _Gates_ 55

PREFACE

Seldom does a book of poems appear that is definitely a response to demand and a reflection of readers' preferences. Of this collection that can properly be claimed. For a decade NORMAL INSTRUCTOR-PRIMARY PLANS has carried monthly a page entitled "Poems Our Readers Have Asked For." The interest in this page has been, and is, phenomenal. Occasionally space considerations or copyright restrictions have prevented compliance with requests, but so far as practicable poems asked for have been printed. Because it has become impossible to furnish many of the earlier issues of the magazine, the publishers decided to select the poems most often requested and, carefully revising these for possible errors, to include them in the present collection. In some cases the desired poems are old favorite dramatic recitations, but many of them are poems that are required or recommended for memorizing in state courses of study. This latter feature will of itself make the book extremely valuable to teachers throughout the country. We are glad to offer here certain poems, often requested, but too long for insertion on our magazine Poetry Page. We are pleased also to be able to include a number of popular copyright poems. Special permission to use these has been granted through arrangement with the authorized publishers, whose courtesy is acknowledged below in detail:

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS--_Seein' Things_ and _Little Boy Blue_, by Eugene Field; _Gradatim_ and _Give Us Men_, from "The Poetical Works of J.G. Holland"; and _You and You_, by Edith Wharton, copyright 1919.

HARPER AND BROTHERS--_Over the Hill to the Poor-House_, _The Ride of Jennie M'Neal_, _The Little Black-Eyed Rebel_, and _The First Settler's Story_, by Will Carleton.

THE DODGE PUBLISHING COMPANY--_The Moo Cow Moo_ and _The Young Man Waited_, by Edmund Vance Cooke.

LOTHROP, LEE AND SHEPARD COMPANY--_The House by the Side of the Road_ and _The Calf Path_, by Sam Walter Foss.

LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY--_October's Bright Blue Weather_, by Helen Hunt Jackson.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY--Poems by John G. Whittier, Alice Cary, Phoebe Cary, James T. Fields, and Lucy Larcom.

THE PUBLISHERS.

POEMS TEACHERS ASK FOR

* * * * *

O Captain! My Captain!

(_This poem was written in memory of Abraham Lincoln._)

O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won; The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But, O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen, cold and dead.

O Captain! My Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills, For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding, For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head! It is some dream that on the deck You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still; My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse or will; The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done; From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Exult, O shores! and ring, O bells! But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen, cold and dead.

_Walt Whitman._

A Poet's Prophecy

For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be; Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales; Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue; Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm, With the standards of the peoples plunging through the thunderstorm; Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battleflags were furl'd In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe, And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law.

_Tennyson, "Locksley Hall," 1842._

The Landing of the Pilgrims

The breaking waves dashed high On a stern and rock-bound coast, And the woods against a stormy sky Their giant branches tossed;

And the heavy night hung dark The hills and waters o'er, When a band of exiles moored their bark On the wild New England shore.

Not as the conqueror comes, They, the true-hearted, came,-- Not with the roll of the stirring drums, And the trumpet that sings of fame;

Not as the flying come, In silence and in fear; They shook the depths of the desert's gloom With their hymns of lofty cheer.

Amidst the storms they sang; And the stars heard, and the sea; And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang To the anthem of the free.

The ocean eagle soared From his nest by the white wave's foam; And the rocking pines of the forest roared-- This was their welcome home!

There were men with hoary hair Amidst that pilgrim band: Why had they come to wither there Away from their childhood's land?

There was woman's fearless eye, Lit by her deep love's truth; There was manhood's brow serenely high, And the fiery heart of youth.

What sought they thus afar? Bright jewels of the mine? The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?-- They sought a faith's pure shrine.

Ay, call it holy ground,-- The soil where first they trod! They have left unstained what there they found-- Freedom to worship God!

_Felicia Hemans._

Bobby Shaftoe

"Marie, will you marry me? For you know how I love thee! Tell me, darling, will you be The wife of Bobby Shaftoe?"

"Bobby, pray don't ask me more, For you've asked me twice before; Let us be good friends, no more, No more, Bobby Shaftoe."

"If you will not marry me, I will go away to sea; And you ne'er again shall be A friend of Bobby Shaftoe."

"Oh, you will not go away For you've said so twice to-day. Stop! He's gone! Dear Bobby, stay! Dearest Bobby Shaftoe!

"Bobby Shaftoe's gone to sea, Silver buckles on his knee, But he'll come back and marry me, Pretty Bobby Shaftoe.

"He will soon come back to me, And how happy I shall be, He'll come back and marry me, Dearest Bobby Shaftoe."

"Bobby Shaftoe's lost at sea, He cannot come back to thee. And you ne'er again will see Your dear Bobby Shaftoe.

"Oh, we sadly mourn for thee, And regret we ne'er shall see Our friend Bobby, true and free, Dearest Bobby Shaftoe."

"Bobby Shaftoe's lost at sea. And can ne'er come back to me, But I'll ever faithful be, True to Bobby Shaftoe."

"Darling, I've come home from sea, I've come back to marry thee, For I know you're true to me, True to Bobby Shaftoe."

"Yes, I always cared for thee, And now you've come back to me, And we will always happy be, Dearest Bobby Shaftoe."

"Bobby Shaftoe's come from sea, And we will united be, Heart and hand in unity, Mr. and Mrs. Shaftoe."

The Overworked Elocutionist

(Or "ROBERT REESE")

Once there was a little boy Whose name was Robert Reese, And every Friday afternoon He had to speak a piece.