The World's Best Poetry, Volume 1: Home and Friendship (Part 1)


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The first of ten volumes of poetry edited by Canadian poet laureate Bliss Carman (1861-1929). This collection, the first of two parts, includes a trove of poetry about home and family life, focusing especially on verses about children, verses for children, and fun for little folk. It also includes a general introduction to the series by Carman himself, as well as an introductory essay to the volume by University of Chicago English professor William Darnall MacClintock (1858-1936). (Summary by Tomas Peter)

Chapters

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The Purpose of Poetry by Bliss Carman 39:50 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Young People and the Poets by William Darnall MacClintock 35:40 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Baby by Kalidasa 0:50 Read by Anusha Iyer
Birth by Annie R. Stillman (Grace Raymond) 1:24 Read by Anusha Iyer
The Baby by George MacDonald 1:51 Read by Sonia
Weighing the Baby by Ethelinda Elliott Beers (Ethel Lynn) 2:14 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Laus Infantium by William Canton 1:35 Read by Jason in Panama
Étude réaliste by Algernon Charles Swinburne 2:05 Read by Sonia
The Babie by Jeremiah Eames Rankin 1:26 Read by Craig Franklin
The Angel's Whisper by Samuel Lover 1:38 Read by Sonia
Lullaby: From 'The Princess' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1:24 Read by Leanne Yau
The Happy Hour by Mary Frances Butts 1:28 Read by Tomas Peter
Cradle Song by Anonymous 1:15 Read by Jason in Panama
Cradle Song: From 'Bitter-Sweet' by Josiah Gilbert Holland 2:52 Read by Sonia
Japanese Lullaby by Eugene Field 1:34 Read by Leanne Yau
Philip, My King by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik 2:26 Read by Tomas Peter
Baby May by William Cox Bennett 2:57 Read by Craig Franklin
Little Feet by Elizabeth Akers 2:47 Read by Jason in Panama
Baby Louise by Margaret Eytinge 1:31 Read by Craig Franklin
Silent Baby by Ellen Bartlett Currier 1:53 Read by Anusha Iyer
The Household Sovereign: From 'The Hanging of the Crane' by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1:56 Read by Tomas Peter
On the Picture of an Infant (Playing Near a Precipice) by Leonidas of Alexandria 1:06 Read by Anusha Iyer
The Mother's Sacrifice by Seba Smith 1:43 Read by Anusha Iyer
Mother and Child by William Gilmore Simms 2:07 Read by Sonia
Children by Walter Savage Landor 1:01 Read by Sonia
Polly by William Brighty Rands 1:32 Read by Leanne Yau
To My Infant Son by Thomas Hood 3:22 Read by Sonia
Letty's Globe by Charles Tennyson Turner 1:26 Read by Anusha Iyer
Willie Winkie by William Miller 1:40 Read by Tomas Peter
To J. H. (Four Years Old: A Nursery Song) by Leigh Hunt 4:34 Read by Sonia
Seven Times Four: Maternity by Jean Ingelow 1:47 Read by Craig Franklin
The Mother's Hope by Laman Blanchard 2:55 Read by Jason in Panama
Bedtime by Francis, Earl of Rosslyn 1:20 Read by Tomas Peter
To Hartley Coleridge (Six Years Old) by William Wordsworth 2:21 Read by Craig Franklin
My Little Girl by Samuel Minturn Peck 1:22 Read by Leanne Yau
Little Goldenhair by Mrs. F. Burge Smith 2:24 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Unfinished Prayer by Anonymous 1:29 Read by Sonia
Cuddle Doon by Alexander Anderson 2:33 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Witch in the Glass by Sarah M. B. Piatt 1:05 Read by Anusha Iyer
Small and Early by Tudor Jenks 2:29 Read by Anusha Iyer
Seven Times One by Jean Ingelow 2:09 Read by Anusha Iyer
The Lost Heir by Thomas Hood 8:51 Read by Sonia
The Gambols of Children by George Darley 1:07 Read by Jason in Panama
The Child in the Garden by Henry van Dyke 1:21 Read by Tomas Peter
A Portrait by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 3:34 Read by Anusha Iyer
To a Child During Sickness by Leigh Hunt 2:33 Read by Sonia
Baby Bell by Thomas Bailey Aldrich 5:05 Read by Leanne Yau
Our Wee White Rose by Gerald Massey 2:26 Read by Tomas Peter
Baby's Shoes by William Cox Bennett 1:48 Read by Jason in Panama
Baby Zulma's Christmas Carol by Augustus Julian Requier 4:12 Read by Tomas Peter
On the Death of an Infant by Dirk Smits 1:41 Read by Craig Franklin
She Came and Went by James Russell Lowell 1:35 Read by Jason in Panama
Three Years She Grew by William Wordsworth 2:29 Read by Anusha Iyer
We Are Seven by William Wordsworth 3:09 Read by Leanne Yau
Boyhood by Washington Allston 1:11 Read by Craig Franklin
Pictures of Memory by Alice Cary 2:01 Read by Sonia
The Mitherless Bairn by William Thom 2:48 Read by Craig Franklin
My Mother's Picture by William Cowper 7:24 Read by Sonia
I Remember, I Remember by Thomas Hood 1:41 Read by Leanne Yau
The Barefoot Boy by John Greenleaf Whittier 5:04 Read by Jason in Panama
Rain on the Roof by Coates Kinney 2:21 Read by Leanne Yau
Whittling (A National Portrait) by John Pierpont 2:45 Read by Tomas Peter
The Old Oaken Bucket by Samuel Woodworth 2:30 Read by Craig Franklin
The Old Arm-chair by Eliza Cook 2:11 Read by Leanne Yau
Woodman, Spare That Tree by George Pope Morris 1:39 Read by Sonia
A Parable by Mathilde Blind 1:30 Read by Anusha Iyer
The Piper by William Blake 1:26 Read by Tomas Peter
Choosing a Name by Mary Lamb 1:35 Read by Sonia
What Does Little Birdie Say?: From 'Sea Dreams' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1:16 Read by Leanne Yau
A Cradle Hymn by Isaac Watts 4:05 Read by Tomas Peter
Go Sleep, Ma Honey by Edward D. Barker 2:33 Read by Tomas Peter
No Baby in the House by Clara G. Dolliver 1:25 Read by Jason in Panama
A Dutch Lullaby by Eugene Field 2:34 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Half-Waking by William Allingham 1:15 Read by Sonia
Twinkle, Twinkle by Anonymous 2:40 Read by Leanne Yau
Pretty Cow by Jane Taylor 1:00 Read by Craig Franklin
The Three Little Kittens (A Cat's Tale, with Additions) by Eliza Lee Follen 2:09 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Land of Counterpane by Robert Louis Stevenson 1:07 Read by Jason in Panama
How Doth the Little Busy Bee by Isaac Watts 1:09 Read by Leanne Yau
Try Again by Anonymous 1:10 Read by Sonia
Good Night and Good Morning by Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton 2:01 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt 4:08 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Thread and Song by John Williamson Palmer 1:24 Read by Tomas Peter
Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite by Isaac Watts 1:28 Read by Craig Franklin
The Children's Church by Karl von Gerok 2:32 Read by Jason in Panama
Child's Evening Hymn by Sabine Baring-Gould 3:39 Read by Tomas Peter
'It Is Finished' by Christina Georgina Rossetti 2:31 Read by Craig Franklin
A Little Child's Hymn (For Night and Morning) by Francis Turner Palgrave 1:32 Read by Jason in Panama
Sheep and Lambs by Katharine Tynan Hinkson 1:22 Read by Jason in Panama
'By Cool Siloam's Shady Rill' by Reginald Heber 2:57 Read by Tomas Peter
The Romance of the Swan's Nest by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 5:06 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
A Good Play by Robert Louis Stevenson 1:09 Read by Anusha Iyer
A Life-Lesson by James Whitcomb Riley 1:22 Read by Leanne Yau
The Dead Doll by Margaret Vandegrift 3:14 Read by Anusha Iyer
Foreign Children by Robert Louis Stevenson 1:15 Read by Sonia
The Unseen Playmate by Robert Louis Stevenson 1:41 Read by Craig Franklin
The Shadows by Frank Dempster Sherman 1:26 Read by Sonia
The Dancers by Michael Field 1:07 Read by Anusha Iyer
My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson 1:32 Read by Leanne Yau
Little Bell by Thomas Westwood 4:05 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Wings by Mary Louise Ritter 1:03 Read by Anusha Iyer
Foreign Lands by Robert Louis Stevenson 1:17 Read by Leanne Yau
Under My Window by Thomas Westwood 1:45 Read by Leanne Yau
The Land of Story-books by Robert Louis Stevenson 1:44 Read by Anusha Iyer
Fairy Days by William Makepeace Thackeray 2:49 Read by Leanne Yau
The Wind in a Frolic by William Howitt 3:01 Read by Anusha Iyer
The Wind by Robert Louis Stevenson 1:16 Read by Sonia
The Man in the Moon by James Whitcomb Riley 2:51 Read by Tomas Peter
The Fairies of the Caldon Low (A Midsummer Legend) by Mary Howitt 4:39 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Elf and the Dormouse by Oliver Herford 1:24 Read by Anusha Iyer
A Little Dutch Garden by Harriet Whitney Durbin 1:24 Read by Jason in Panama
The First Rose of Summer by Oliver Herford 1:05 Read by Sonia
A Belated Violet by Oliver Herford 2:17 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Frost by Hannah Flagg Gould 2:22 Read by Anusha Iyer
A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore 3:51 Read by Tomas Peter
Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley 2:43 Read by Craig Franklin
Old-School Punishment by Anonymous 1:07 Read by Sonia
In School-Days by John Greenleaf Whittier 2:35 Read by Leanne Yau
Seein' Things by Eugene Field 2:30 Read by Tomas Peter
A Mortifying Mistake by Anna Maria Pratt 1:49 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Smack in School by William Pitt Palmer 2:28 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
There Was a Little Girl by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1:07 Read by Jason in Panama
The Story of Cruel Frederick: From 'The English Struwwelpeter' by Heinrich Hoffmann 1:50 Read by Sonia
The Dreadful Story about Harriet and the Matches: From 'The English Struwwelpeter' by Heinrich Hoffmann 3:18 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Story of Johnny-Head-in-Air: From 'The English Struwwelpeter' by Heinrich Hoffmann 2:52 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Three Children by Anonymous 0:57 Read by Craig Franklin
The Owl and the Pussy-cat by Edward Lear 2:14 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Mr. and Mrs. Spikky Sparrow by Edward Lear 3:47 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Walrus and the Carpenter: From 'Alice in Wonderland' by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) 5:01 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Good King Arthur by Anonymous 0:55 Read by Leanne Yau
From 'Max and Maurice' by Wilhelm Busch 10:32 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Jumblies by Edward Lear 3:37 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The History Lesson by Anonymous 1:20 Read by Tomas Peter
Sage Counsel by Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch 1:29 Read by Craig Franklin
Limericks: From 'A Book of Nonsense' by Edward Lear 6:18 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
There Was a Small Boy of Quebec by Rudyard Kipling 0:41 Read by Anusha Iyer
More Limericks by Anonymous 0:53 Read by Anusha Iyer
Finis by Anonymous 0:47 Read by Anusha Iyer