The World's Best Poetry, Volume 2: Love (Part 1)


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The second of ten volumes of poetry edited by Canadian poet laureate Bliss Carman (1861-1929). This collection, the first of two parts, includes a range of famous and influential love poems relating to such topics as admiration; love's nature; love's beginnings; and wooing and winning. It also includes an introductory essay by American poet John Vance Cheney (1848-1922). Summary by Tomas Peter.

Chapters

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The Future of Poetry by John Vance Cheney 19:00 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
When in the Chronicle of Wasted Time: Sonnet CVI by William Shakespeare 1:14 Read by Tomas Peter
Daybreak by Sir William Davenant 1:04 Read by Sonia
Shall I Compare Thee?: Sonnet XVIII by William Shakespeare 1:15 Read by Lian Pang
The Portrait by Thomas Heywood 2:33 Read by Anusha Iyer
Give Place, Ye Lovers by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey 2:09 Read by John Burlinson (1950-2024)
To His Mistress, Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia by Sir Henry Wotton 1:28 Read by cathar maiden
The Forward Violet Thus Did I Chide: Sonnet XCIX by William Shakespeare 1:23 Read by Sonia
There Is a Garden in Her Face: From 'An Houre's Recreation in Musicke,' 1606 by Anonymous 1:45 Read by Gaby
Olivia: From 'Twelfth Night,' Act I. Sc. 5 by William Shakespeare 0:44 Read by Lian Pang
Portia's Picture: From 'The Merchant of Venice,' Act III. Sc. 2 by William Shakespeare 1:09 Read by Tomas Peter
Song by Mark Akenside 1:54 Read by Gaby
Triumph of Charis by Ben Jonson 2:25 Read by John Burlinson (1950-2024)
Belinda: From 'The Rape of the Lock' by Alexander Pope 1:06 Read by Lian Pang
Hero's Beauty: From the First Sestiad of 'Hero and Leander' by Christopher Marlowe 2:58 Read by Tomas Peter
Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes: From 'The Forest' by Ben Jonson 1:09 Read by Tomas Peter
Eros Is Missing by Meleager 1:15 Read by Sonia
A Violet in Her Hair by Charles Swain 1:16 Read by Anusha Iyer
To Dianeme by Robert Herrick 0:53 Read by Lian Pang
Rosalynd by Thomas Lodge 3:13 Read by John Burlinson (1950-2024)
Disdain Returned by Thomas Carew 0:56 Read by Sonia
To a Lady Admiring Herself in a Looking-Glass by Thomas Randolph 2:36 Read by Gaby
Phillis Is My Only Joy by Sir Charles Sedley 1:20 Read by Tomas Peter
Constancy by Sir John Suckling 1:04 Read by Anusha Iyer
A Vision of Beauty by Ben Jonson 0:50 Read by Lian Pang
To the Princess Lucretia by Torquato Tasso 1:42 Read by John Burlinson (1950-2024)
My Lady by Dante Alighieri 1:22 Read by Anusha Iyer
Vision of a Fair Woman, from the Ancient Erse of Elizabeth A. Sharp's 'Lyra Celtica' 1:25 Read by Tomas Peter
Spring by Meleager 1:05 Read by Sonia
Song by Walther von der Vogelweide 1:59 Read by Gaby
The Girl of Cadiz by Lord Byron 3:27 Read by Anusha Iyer
I Fear Thy Kisses, Gentle Maiden by Percy Bysshe Shelley 0:45 Read by Lian Pang
A Budget of Paradoxes by John Martley 1:17 Read by cathar maiden
Love Dissembled: From 'As You Like It,' Act III. Sc. 5 by William Shakespeare 2:15 Read by Anusha Iyer
Her Likeness by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik 1:16 Read by Sonia
She Walks in Beauty: From 'Hebrew Melodies' by Lord Byron 1:39 Read by Gaby
She Is Not Fair to Outward View by Hartley Coleridge 1:12 Read by John Burlinson (1950-2024)
Verses Written in an Album by Thomas Moore 0:53 Read by Sonia
To Roses in the Bosom of Castara by William Habington 1:17 Read by Tomas Peter
To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe 1:02 Read by Tomas Peter
On a Girdle by Edmund Waller 1:09 Read by John Burlinson (1950-2024)
The White Rose (Sent by a Yorkish Lover to His Lancastrian Mistress) by Anonymous 0:47 Read by Lian Pang
A Song by Thomas Carew 1:22 Read by Sonia
Go, Lovely Rose by Edmund Waller 1:21 Read by Tomas Peter
Whenas in Silks My Julia Goes by Robert Herrick 0:44 Read by Lian Pang
O, Do Not Wanton with Those Eyes by Ben Jonson 1:00 Read by Sonia
Black and Blue Eyes by Thomas Moore 1:23 Read by Anusha Iyer
Blue Eyes by John Keats 1:46 Read by John Burlinson (1950-2024)
O, Saw Ye the Lass? by Richard Ryan 1:19 Read by Tomas Peter
A Health by Edward Coote Pinkney 1:55 Read by Tomas Peter
My Sweetheart's Face by John Allan Wyeth 1:00 Read by Lian Pang
Her Guitar by Frank Dempster Sherman 2:25 Read by Anusha Iyer
On Some Buttercups by Frank Dempster Sherman 1:19 Read by John Burlinson (1950-2024)
O, Fairest of the Rural Maids! by William Cullen Bryant 1:47 Read by Gaby
To a Lady (On Her Art of Growing Old Gracefully) by John James Piatt 0:39 Read by Lian Pang
On the Road to Chorrera by Arlo Bates 1:23 Read by Sonia
The Milking-Maid by Christina Georgina Rossetti 3:48 Read by Anusha Iyer
Lovely Mary Donnelly by William Allingham 2:48 Read by Tomas Peter
The Irish Spinning-Wheel by Alfred Perceval Graves 2:05 Read by Craig Franklin
The Low-Backed Car by Samuel Lover 2:59 Read by Gaby
A Gage d'Amour by Austin Dobson 3:45 Read by Anusha Iyer
An Experience and a Moral by Frederick Swartwout Cozzens 2:50 Read by Gaby
At the Church Gate by William Makepeace Thackeray 1:35 Read by Craig Franklin
Love: From 'The Merchant of Venice,' Act III. Sc. 2 by William Shakespeare 0:48 Read by Lian Pang
Love Is a Sickness by Samuel Daniel 1:00 Read by Lian Pang
The Shepherd and the King by Robert Greene 2:26 Read by Sonia
Love: From 'Hero and Leander' by Christopher Marlowe 1:18 Read by Gaby
Love and Woman: From 'Love's Labour's Lost,' Act IV. Sc. 3 by William Shakespeare 5:09 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Ah, How Sweet: From 'Tyrannic Love,' Act IV. Sc. 1 by John Dryden 1:35 Read by Tomas Peter
Welcome, Welcome, Do I Sing by William Browne 1:40 Read by Lian Pang
Love: From the 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' Canto III by Sir Walter Scott 1:57 Read by Sonia
Song by Sir Charles Sedley 1:42 Read by cathar maiden
If It Be True That Any Beauteous Thing by Michelangelo 1:32 Read by Craig Franklin
Sonnet by George Chapman 1:22 Read by Anusha Iyer
Love's Silence by Sir Philip Sidney 1:16 Read by Craig Franklin
When Will Love Come? by Pakenham Beatty 1:08 Read by cathar maiden
Why? by Mary Louise Ritter 1:24 Read by Anusha Iyer
The Annoyer by Nathaniel Parker Willis 1:59 Read by Tomas Peter
Three Loves by Lucy H. Hooper 1:07 Read by Sonia
Love Scorns Degrees: From 'The Mountain of the Lovers' by Paul Hamilton Hayne 0:56 Read by Lian Pang
Love Not Me for Comely Grace by Anonymous 1:03 Read by Anusha Iyer
Light by Francis W. Bourdillon 0:49 Read by Anusha Iyer
O Mistress Mine: From 'Twelfth Night,' Act II. Sc. 3 by William Shakespeare 1:28 Read by Tomas Peter
Philomela's Ode (That She Sung in Her Arbor) by Robert Greene 2:04 Read by Sonia
A Fiction: How Cupid Made a Nymph Wound Herself with His Arrow by 'A.W.' 3:01 Read by Tomas Peter
Wishes for the Supposed Mistress by Richard Crashaw 3:19 Read by Anusha Iyer
A Match by Algernon Charles Swinburne 2:20 Read by cathar maiden
My Choice by William Browne 1:48 Read by Craig Franklin
A Maiden's Ideal of a Husband: From 'The Contrivances' by Henry Carey 1:05 Read by cathar maiden
Rosalynd's Complaint by Thomas Lodge 1:46 Read by Lian Pang
Cupid Swallowed by Leigh Hunt 1:09 Read by Craig Franklin
Green Grow the Rashes O by Robert Burns 1:48 Read by Tomas Peter
Perfume by Edmund William Gosse 1:15 Read by Sonia
Life by Lizzie M. Little 1:25 Read by Anusha Iyer
Kate Temple's Song by Sir James Carnegie, Earl of Southesk 1:10 Read by cathar maiden
The First Kiss by Thomas Campbell 1:35 Read by Sonia
Tell Me, My Heart, If This Be Love by George, Lord Lyttelton 1:29 Read by Craig Franklin
Athulf and Ethilda by Sir Henry Taylor 2:24 Read by John Burlinson (1950-2024)
Blest as the Immortal Gods by Sappho 1:17 Read by Lian Pang
I Dreamt I Saw Great Venus by Bion 1:39 Read by Anusha Iyer
Francesca da Rimini: From the 'Divina Commedia: Inferno' by Dante Alighieri 2:21 Read by Anusha Iyer
Dinna Ask Me by John Dunlop 1:12 Read by Tomas Peter
O Swallow, Swallow, Flying South: From 'The Princess' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1:58 Read by cathar maiden
Song: From 'The Miller's Daughter' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1:09 Read by Lian Pang
If Doughty Deeds My Lady Please by Robert Graham of Gartmore 1:44 Read by Craig Franklin
The Kiss by Robert Herrick 1:51 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
An Opal by Ednah Procter Clarke Hayes 1:07 Read by Sonia
Cupid and Campaspe: From 'Alexander and Campaspe,' Act III. Sc. 5 by John Lyly 1:11 Read by Tomas Peter
Kisses by William Strode 0:50 Read by Anusha Iyer
Love's Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley 1:03 Read by Sonia
Kissing's No Sin by Anonymous 0:51 Read by Craig Franklin
Song of the Milkmaid: From 'Queen Mary' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1:15 Read by cathar maiden
Comin' Through the Rye by Robert Burns 1:36 Read by Tomas Peter
Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad by Robert Burns 2:17 Read by Tomas Peter
Sonnet Upon a Stolen Kiss by George Wither 1:21 Read by Craig Franklin
Caprice by William Dean Howells 2:24 Read by Anusha Iyer
Sly Thoughts by Coventry Patmore 0:48 Read by Anusha Iyer
The Whistle by Robert Story 1:47 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Behave Yoursel' Before Folk by Alexander Rodger 2:28 Read by Tomas Peter
Smile and Never Heed Me by Charles Swain 1:07 Read by cathar maiden
The Dule's I' This Bonnet o' Mine (Lancashire Dialect) by Edwin Waugh 2:14 Read by Craig Franklin
A Spinster's Stint by Alice Cary 1:50 Read by Anusha Iyer
The Telltale by Elizabeth Akers 4:13 Read by Anusha Iyer
Love in the Valley by George Meredith 5:45 Read by Sonia
Thoughts on the Commandments by George Augustus Baker 1:27 Read by Tomas Peter
The Love-Knot by Nora Perry 2:21 Read by Anusha Iyer
The Chess-board by Robert Bulwer Lytton (Owen Meredith) 2:14 Read by Anusha Iyer
Her Letter by Bret Harte 4:02 Read by Sonia
The Plaidie by Charles Sibley 1:05 Read by Tomas Peter
Kitty of Coleraine by Charles Dawson Shanly 1:22 Read by Sonia
Kitty Neil by John Francis Waller 2:13 Read by Sonia
The Little Milliner by Robert Buchanan 12:58 Read by cathar maiden
Atalanta's Race: From 'The Earthly Paradise' by William Morris 9:06 Read by Sonia
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe 1:32 Read by Tomas Peter
The Nymph's Reply by Sir Walter Raleigh 1:40 Read by cathar maiden
Golden Eyes by Rufinus 1:10 Read by Craig Franklin
Phillida and Corydon by Nicholas Breton 1:40 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington by Anonymous 2:47 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Where Are You Going, My Pretty Maid? by Anonymous 1:04 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
My Eyes! How I Love You by John Godfrey Saxe 1:31 Read by Craig Franklin
The Brookside by Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton 1:41 Read by Sonia
The Little Red Lark by Alfred Perceval Graves 1:16 Read by Sonia
Love by Samuel Taylor Coleridge 4:30 Read by Tomas Peter
Somebody by Anonymous 1:37 Read by Tomas Peter
The Exchange by Samuel Taylor Coleridge 0:46 Read by Tomas Peter
Love's Logic by Anonymous 2:06 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Night-piece by Robert Herrick 1:16 Read by Craig Franklin
Sweet Meeting of Desires: From 'The Angel in the House' by Coventry Patmore 1:59 Read by Tomas Peter
Story of the Gate by T.H. Robertson 2:32 Read by Anusha Iyer
Doris: A Pastoral by Arthur Joseph Munby 3:40 Read by Sonia
Among the Heather by William Allingham 1:36 Read by cathar maiden
Rory O'More; or, All for Good Luck by Samuel Lover 2:38 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Cooking and Courting by Anonymous 2:53 Read by Sonia
Ca' the Yowes by Isabel Pagan 1:45 Read by Tomas Peter
The Siller Croun by Susanna Blamire 1:22 Read by Tomas Peter
Duncan Gray Cam' Here to Woo by Robert Burns 2:05 Read by Craig Franklin
How to Ask and Have by Samuel Lover 1:35 Read by Tomas Peter
Live in My Heart and Pay No Rent by Samuel Lover 1:34 Read by Sonia
Widow Machree by Samuel Lover 1:59 Read by Tomas Peter
Widow Malone by Charles Lever 2:11 Read by Sonia
I'm Not Myself at All by Samuel Lover 2:35 Read by Craig Franklin
I Prithee Send Me Back My Heart by Sir John Suckling 1:31 Read by Anusha Iyer
Love Me Little, Love Me Long by Anonymous 2:13 Read by Sonia
The Courtin' by James Russell Lowell 4:52 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Popping Corn by Anonymous 2:11 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Friar of Orders Gray by Thomas Percy 5:00 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Hermit: From 'The Vicar of Wakefield' by Oliver Goldsmith 7:48 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Laird o' Cockpen by Carolina Oliphant, Baroness Nairne 2:23 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Othello's Defence: From 'Othello,' Act I. Sc. 3 by William Shakespeare 3:37 Read by Tomas Peter
The Earl o' Quarterdeck: A New Old Ballad by George MacDonald 6:05 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Aux Italiens by Robert Bulwer Lytton (Owen Meredith) 6:19 Read by Sonia